26 Feb 2024 at 06:29
Although Ajax had to accept a painful defeat on Sunday against AZ (2-0), the Amsterdam team was also cautiously optimistic afterwards about the system change from 4-3-3 to 5-3-2. “This bears repeating.”
Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip already hinted at thinking about a system change after the league match against NEC (2-2 draw). “4-3-3 is no longer sacred for Ajax. Maybe we should do it differently,” said the coach.
Seven days later, Van ‘t Schip made the decision: in the Eredivisie cracker against AZ he broke with the traditional Ajax system on Sunday. The sixty-year-old coach opted for a formation with five defenders, three midfielders and two attackers.
Van ‘t Schip hoped to create more defensive security, after weeks in which Ajax gave away goals and opportunities with ease. The low point was the flood of opportunities that FK Bodø/Glimt (1-2 win) had against the Amsterdam team on Thursday.
Although the system change did not earn Ajax any points on Sunday, Van ‘t Schip was happy with his choice afterwards. “We have given little away. I see no reason to say that this is a failed experiment,” Van ‘t Schip said at the press conference in the AFAS Stadium.
As a fan of Johan Cruijff’s football, Van ‘t Schip said he did not have to “overlook” anything to play more defensively. “I look at what kind of players we have. That’s why I make this choice.”
AZ shoots ‘only’ eight times towards the Ajax goal
In addition to the hope for defensive stability, Van ‘t Schip’s experiment also resulted from personnel problems. In addition to the long-term injured Steven Bergwijn, Steven Berghuis dropped out of the match against AZ.
As a result, Van ‘t Schip had little choice on the flanks. Midfielder Branco van den Boomen therefore found the system change devised by his coach “logical”. “And if you look at our players, I think 5-3-2 suits the team well,” said Van den Boomen.
According to defender Jorrel Hato, Ajax executed the pre-arranged plan in Alkmaar reasonably well. Despite conceding two goals through Ruben van Bommel, the team from Amsterdam gave away significantly less than in recent weeks.
AZ shot ‘only’ eight times towards goal. “We didn’t give away many chances, although I don’t think we did a great job either,” Hato said. After all, Ajax itself only fired nine times towards the enemy goal.
Moreover, Ajax was hardly dangerous in large phases of the match. “It is clear that we did not play enough opportunities together, but I was not at all dissatisfied in terms of football,” said Van ‘t Schip.
Foto: Pro Shots
Ajax trained only once on 5-3-2
Ajax trained on Saturday for the first and only time on the 5-3-2 system, which made it quite difficult for the players to get used to the match. “We would have preferred to have more time to train on it,” Hato said.
Van ‘t Schip did not want to make that theme bigger than it is. “One day of training is short, but the new system was a bit similar to the more defensive way we played against Bodø/Glimt, so it wasn’t completely new. And we tried to explain it well to the players.”
Next week, Van ‘t Schip will have more time to go through the system with his players, in the hope that it will yield results for Ajax. The Amsterdam team will only be in action again on Sunday, at home against FC Utrecht.
After the match against AZ, Van ‘t Schip did not want to say whether he would also opt for a 5-3-2 system in that match, but kept the option open.
“Even if boys come back from injuries, for example Stevie (Berghuis, ed.), we can play like this. I’m not saying we will do that, but it is possible. This was certainly worth repeating.”
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2024-02-26 05:29:12
#Ajax #coach #Van #Schip #switching #formation #Wort #repeat #NU.nl