Peter Bosz has told his Vitesse team they must believe they still have a chance of overcoming a 3-0 deficit against Southampton if they are to stand a chance of doing it.
Bosz took heart from the chances his team created at St Mary’s a week ago, even though they failed to take any.
They face a huge uphill task if they are to challenge Saints for a place in the play-off round of the Europa League when the sides meet again at the GelreDome this evening.
However, Bosz insists his team have a chance.
“If you are realistic it’s going to be really difficult,” he said.
“What I felt in the first game was they got more mature quality than we have, but then again also in the game we played in Southampton we had pretty good chances to score.
“If you score in an away game it’s big before the home game and we had pretty big chances so it is possible.
“We expect 20,000 people which is fantastic if you have lost 3-0. Our fans were outstanding in Southampton so we also want to perform for them.
“There’s always a chance. If you score early, you never know what’s going to happen.”
Vitesse are expecting a near sell-out of 20,000 fans at their ground for this evening’s game. And Bosz has told his players they must not give up for their supporters.
“Everything is possible,” he reflected.
“Of course the fans can help us and they did in that away game, even at 3-0 they were still celebrating and it was a fantastic atmosphere.
“We have to do it, the players, they must believe in it.
“There is still a chance. Why not?”
Chelsea loanee Nathan Baker is a possible starter for Vitesse tonight but Bosz was not giving too much away.
“Nathan is training with us for one week and played 65-70 minutes two days ago so we can use him,” he said.
“If you can train with the team and play a game with the team is a different kind of fitness.
“We will see how he is after that game we played and then we pick.”
One player who can’t figure is Dominic Solanke, who is also spending this season at Vitesse as part of their tie-up with Chelsea.
Solanke is one of the most talked about young strikers in European football but has not registered in time to take on Saints, though Bosz is expecting big things of him.
“Obviously he’s young but he’s gifted. You can tell when you see him play because we have seen him play,” admitted the Vitesse manager.
“He trained yesterday the first time with us and even though he’s just 17 you can feel the quality.
“It’s his first touch, his awareness, the way he looks around him.
“I always like to work with intelligent players, I hate not intelligent players because intelligent players can get better.
“He can help us, he’s a goalscorer and this is the most difficult position in the team.
“We have an offensive way of playing, we always want to play a good possession game and then you need a number nine who can play that way. It’s the most difficult position in the team but I believe he can play that.”
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