Peter Bosz: 'If you are as good as he is, then you also have to show it...'

Peter Bosz spoke warmly after PSV's convincing 5-1 win over FC Groningen about Ruben van Bommel and the new one-minute rule for injuries. The coach saw his side come from an early deficit to win comfortably, but stressed that the scoreline did not tell the full story of the match.

"The result suggests something different from what the first half was like," Bosz told ESPN afterwards. "I thought Groningen played really well." PSV fell behind early through a goal from Brynjólfur Willumsson, but the Eindhoven side still went on to take complete control of the match.

Bosz felt PSV struggled at first with the visitors' style of play. "This is a very unusual match, because both Groningen and we play one-on-one all over the pitch. That means your midfield is matched up and then you have to track your man. A number of times we did not defend that well."

By the end, though, Bosz saw the gap in individual quality clearly in the second half. "Groningen are genuinely a good team, but we have better players. Then it is simply a matter of making sure those better players also show that they are better. I thought we showed that in the second half."

Van Bommel was one of the players who, according to Bosz, did that excellently. "If you are as good as Ruben, then you also have to show it. In every action you make, and not just once every 20 minutes. I have spoken to him about that a lot."

What pleased Bosz most was the way Van Bommel imposed himself in the first half. "He made the difference in the first half in particular," said the PSV coach.

At the press conference, Bosz also addressed the new one-minute rule for injuries, which has been in force since this season. A player who is treated on the pitch by the medical staff must remain off the field for at least one minute before being allowed to return, unless a card has been shown for the preceding foul.

Bosz is clearly a big supporter of the measure and did not mince his words. "I think this is a fantastic rule. It annoyed me so much, those players who just kept lying there and then the physio had to come over with the water bag. Be a man. Get up and play on. Now that they have to go off for a minute, it turns out they can do that as well."