Khalid Boulahrouz Critiques AZ's Missed Opportunities Against Sunderland

Khalid Boulahrouz left the Ziggo Sport studio with the feeling AZ had let Sunderland off the hook.

A 1-0 defeat in their Europa League opener, plenty of chances, no goals. And in his eyes, one moment summed it all up: Mexx Meerdink, ten minutes from time, clean through, and hesitating just long enough for Robin Roefs to throw out a leg and save.

“At this level, at least one of them has to go in,” Boulahrouz said, visibly irritated as he watched the replays of AZ’s missed opportunities roll by.

You have to become a killer

The former defender did not sugarcoat his verdict on Meerdink’s big miss.

“This chance for Meerdink. It is simply hit too tamely, low to the ground,” he snapped. “If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net. Theo (Janssen) rightly said: you have to become a killer as a striker. Especially if he wants to get to the Netherlands national team. Then these are the chances in which you can distinguish yourself.”

The sequence that bothered him most was the extra touch. That split-second of doubt.

“Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are no longer quite set yourself,” Boulahrouz explained. “As a result, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a hundred per cent chance.

“These are things he really has to cut out. Looking at the whole match, he was simply too sloppy, not good as a focal point… And the chances he got, you have to take them.”

Meerdink: “In the box I have to be deadly”

Meerdink did not hide. He faced the cameras and admitted he fell short.

“I think at certain moments I still lost the ball a little too easily, but I also had a number of good moments,” he reflected. “The point for my development is that I have to keep doing it consistently.”

On the late miss, he was blunt with himself.

“That ball at the end, I have to smash it in. No thinking, just with the instep. In the box I have to be deadly, become deadly.”

His honesty drew a nod, but not leniency, from Theo Janssen.

Janssen’s harsh reality check

Janssen listened to Meerdink’s assessment, then pushed back hard.

“Interesting. He has the feeling he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied,” Janssen said. “I would advise him to watch this match back calmly once more, because it comes down to a number of moments in which you have to be deadly as a striker and in which you have to be strong to give your team some calm. Those few moments are not enough, friend.”

The former midfielder clearly rates Meerdink’s raw ability, which only sharpened his criticism.

“He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player,” Janssen continued. “Only he lacks that hunger. You have to do everything for it. He must always give everything for it, and I sometimes miss that a little with him. He has so much potential, but he is not getting everything out of it.”

AZ leave their opener with no points, a catalogue of missed chances, and a young striker under the microscope. The question now is simple: does Mexx Meerdink turn this bruising night into the edge and hunger his critics say he lacks, or does another big European chance slip away the same way his shot did in Sunderland?