Erik ten Hag 'annoyed' by Ajax mistakes in cup final defeat to PSV | OneFootball

Erik ten Hag claimed Ajax were responsible for their own downfall in Sunday’s 2-1 defeat to rivals PSV in the KNVB Cup final.

Ryan Gravenberch put the Amsterdam side ahead at De Kuip, but goals from Erick Gutiérrez and Cody Gakpo inside the first five minutes of the second half saw the Eindhoven side triumph on home turf.

While Noussair Mazraoui and Davy Klaassen both had goals chalked off by VAR, ten Hag was more concerned by the decisive errors that his side were guilty of.

“Lots of things went wrong. We didn’t execute properly on the free-kick at 1-1. At 2-1, we just handed over a ball,” the Ajax head coach said, per club media.

“After that, we defended very poorly against Cody Gakpo. That just can’t happen.

“We scored a couple of good goals ourselves, however two were disallowed unfortunately. Until we started taking a lot of risks, we didn’t allow them any space. So, it’s really annoying that we are standing here with nothing to show for it.”

Defeat quashed Ajax’s hopes of completing a domestic double, but their boss urged them to respond by ensuring they pip PSV to the league title.

“We’re going to get past it,” he said.

“We now have five finals to go. We need to pick ourselves up and stay calm. But we need to take the lessons from today’s match on board.”

Ajax currently hold a four-point lead atop the Eredivisie as they seek to retain the trophy.