Reaction to Austria's 3-2 defeat of Netherlands

BERLIN, Germany :Following is reaction after Austria beat Netherlands 3-2 in their Euro 2024 Group D clash in Berlin on Tuesday:

Netherlands coach Ronald Koeman: "I am ultimately responsible. I put this team together because I thought it was the best. But that wasn't the case. I'm also disappointed in myself that we're starting (games) like this. I thought the beginning was a poor performance, but not the entire match. We knew that they play with high backs, so we indicated: close that passing line. Then the back zone must hold. But if one or the other doesn't happen, this is what you get. During the match I also tried to say that central defenders should pick up the emerging backs. The communication was also one of the bad things, especially at the beginning of the match."

Netherlands captain Virgil van Dijk: "We started the match weakly, in possession of the ball and in our duels. Then you are behind the game. We lacked energy. We talked about it at halftime. This is incomprehensible, at a finals tournament. I have no explanation for this at the moment. We all have to do a lot more for this is bad. If we want to achieve something at this European Championship, something has to change very quickly. We are all responsible for this."

Netherlands forward Cody Gakpo: "We were not happy. Hard words from the coach and the players. Maybe sharpness, we still have to see it again. If we knew, we would change it. We didn't start well, not sharp. We didn't get around to playing football. It went better in the second half, but it wasn't enough."

Netherlands midfielder Jerdy Schouten "We didn't get the pressure on properly, so the field looked very big. They took full advantage of that. It wasn't good tactically. We dealt with it a lot,