Leeroy Echteld has made his feelings clear about Weslley Patati, who gave away a penalty against Sunderland. The beaten AZ coach felt the winger should have read the situation better. The Alkmaar side eventually lost 1-0 in the opening game of their Europa League campaign.
Midway through the second half, Patati brought down Enzo Le Fée in the penalty area and handed Sunderland a spot-kick. The French midfielder then stepped up and secured the three points for the home side.
''You mustn't do that,'' sighed a disappointed Echteld afterwards in conversation with a Ziggo Sport reporter when the penalty incident was raised.''It's frustrating to concede a goal in this way.''
''We lost the ball fairly high up the pitch, and after that we could no longer put it right. It was an unfortunate penalty, I think. It's such a shame that you don't put one of those chances away afterwards. We had enough chances. But this match just ended in a very frustrating way,'' said the losing coach.
After a reasonably bright start, AZ came under real pressure in Sunderland. ''After that, we only broke out sporadically. And in the second half we put a few things right. I tried to make the group aware that you have to show much more courage against these kinds of teams. And that we had to play our own game.''
In the closing stages, AZ missed chances that Echteld will look back on again. ''We were the better team in the second half,'' concluded the AZ coach.
Next up in the Europa League, AZ are at home. Hapoel Be'er Sheva visit Alkmaar on 15 October.