AZ's Missed Opportunities: Meerdink's Struggles in Europa League Opener

AZ walked off the pitch in Sunderland knowing the scoreline lied. A 1-0 defeat in their Europa League opener, yet a game full of chances that never turned into goals. For Khalid Boulahrouz, that wastefulness cut deepest, and one moment in particular stuck with him.

With ten minutes left, Mexx Meerdink had the game at his feet. A huge opportunity to level it. Time, space, the angle. Everything a striker could want. He delayed. Took one touch too many. His finish dribbled low and lacked conviction, and Robin Roefs’ outstretched leg did the rest.

In the Ziggo Sport studio, Boulahrouz didn’t bother to sugar-coat it.

"At this level, at least one of them has to go in," he said, looking back over AZ’s missed chances. That Meerdink miss? Unforgivable in his eyes. "It is just hit too weakly, low to the ground. If you are ruthless, you just smash it into the roof of the net."

Theo Janssen had already framed the standard for a modern striker. You have to become a killer. Boulahrouz ran with that line, tying it directly to Meerdink’s ambitions. If the forward truly wants to reach the Netherlands national team, these are the moments that define him. These are the chances that separate promise from reality.

For Boulahrouz, the problem was as much mental as technical. Meerdink’s hesitation told its own story.

"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."

The irritation was obvious. It wasn’t just that one miss. It was the pattern.

"These are things he really has to cut out," Boulahrouz continued. "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 didn’t hide. He fronted up after the game 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. The word he kept coming back to was consistency. "My area for development is that I have to keep doing it consistently."

On the key chance, there was no attempt to dodge responsibility. He echoed almost exactly what the analysts had demanded of him.

"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 buy him a little goodwill. It didn’t. Not from Janssen.

The former midfielder listened to Meerdink’s assessment and bristled at the tone.

"Interesting," he said, before cutting straight to the point. "He has the feeling that he still played quite a decent match. He is quite satisfied."

Janssen’s advice was as sharp as any tackle.

"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 criticism came wrapped in a kind of backhanded compliment. Janssen clearly likes the player. That, if anything, made his words harsher.

"He is a very enjoyable footballer, he is technically refined, has all the attributes to be a good player," he 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’s Europa League campaign has barely started, but the message around their young striker is already brutally clear: talent is no longer the question. The next time a chance like that drops in Europe, will Mexx Meerdink still hesitate?