Boulahrouz Reflects on AZ's Missed Opportunities Against Sunderland

Khalid Boulahrouz walked out of the Ziggo Sport studio with one thought stuck in his head: AZ should never have left Sunderland empty-handed.

They had the chances. Plenty of them. Yet the Europa League opener finished 1-0 to the English side, and for Boulahrouz, that made the evening hard to swallow.

The moment that summed it all up came ten minutes from time.

AZ were chasing the equaliser when the ball fell to Mexx Meerdink. The striker had exactly what every forward wants in Europe: time, space, and the goal right in front of him. He hesitated. One touch too many, one heartbeat too long. His shot stayed low, not cleanly struck, and Robin Roefs threw out a leg to block.

The chance was gone. So, in Boulahrouz’s eyes, was AZ’s right to complain.

"At this level, at least one of them has to go in," he said in the Ziggo Sport studio, looking back over the string of missed opportunities. Meerdink’s miss stood out. "This chance from Meerdink. It is just hit too weakly, low to the ground. If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net."

The former defender backed up Theo Janssen’s earlier verdict. "Theo 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 set yourself apart."

For Boulahrouz, the problem was not only the finish, but the decision before it.

"Delaying it once more, taking another touch, that means you are not quite in the right position yourself," he argued. "Because of that, you can no longer strike it the way you want. This is simply wasting a 100 per cent chance."

His tone sharpened as he widened the lens from one moment to the whole performance. "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 finish them."

Meerdink did not hide. He faced the cameras and admitted his own shortcomings.

"I think at some moments I lost the ball a bit too easily, but I also had a number of good moments," he reflected. "My area for development is that I have to keep doing it consistently." On the decisive miss, he did not argue. "That ball at the end, I have to smash it in. Not think and just hit it with the instep. In the box I have to be, become, deadly."

You might expect that honesty to ease the criticism. It did not.

Janssen, sitting alongside Boulahrouz, listened to the interview and bristled. "Interesting. He has the feeling that he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied," Janssen said, before cutting straight to his point. "I would advise him to calmly watch this match back again, because it comes down to a number of moments in which, as a striker, you have to be deadly and in which you have to be strong to give your team some calm. Those few moments are not enough, my friend."

The former midfielder did not question Meerdink’s talent. That, in his eyes, was exactly the issue.

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

AZ leave Sunderland with nothing on the board and a clear message ringing in their striker’s ears: chances at this level don’t just define matches. They decide careers.