Schaars: "It's time to look in the mirror"

Sunday 27 September 2009

Reigning champions AZ underlined their lack of form on Saturday by losing 1-0 at the hands of FC Utrecht.

It was the fourth defeat of the new season which increased the gap with leaders PSV and FC Twente to 8 points.

"This is very disappointing," said Mounir el Hamdaoui.

"After that early goal we were chasing the game. That doesn't make things easier, especially away from home. We had some chances, but no real big ones. After this new defeat it's clear that we are not feeling well."

Yet the forward remains confident that AZ will soon find the way up.

"We know we can play well. The fact that we have lost a few games doesn't mean we have forgotten how to do that. We are all going through a phase in which things are not working out well. What we need to do is to keep on working hard as a team. That's where it all starts."

"You can feel that everybody wants to beat last year's champions," said captain Stijn Schaars.

"Opponents put us under a lot of pressure, which leaves us little room to play. We have to find an answer to that. When we all take a good look in the mirror we should be strong enough to turn the tide. A victory would of course be very helpful."

"But the way we played against FC Utrecht anyone can beat us. Hopefully we can make a difference when we beat Standard in the Champions League on Tuesday. We have to stop looking back at last year. We didn't play so many games then. We love to be part of the top-3, but we're not there yet."