30 Oct 2023 at 05:09
Despite the 5-2 defeat against PSV and the historic last place in the Eredivisie, Ajax is holding on to the good first half. John van ‘t Schip faces the tough job of making the norm at the shaky Amsterdam bottom line.
An hour after Ajax dropped to last place in the Eredivisie on Sunday, interim coach Hedwiges Maduro tried to put the disastrous defeat against PSV into perspective. “We created many chances before halftime and should have been ahead more. And that against the number one in the Netherlands,” Maduro said. He repeated that last sentence again later.
In fact, the Ajax coach was right. At the same time, the enormous respect for the Eindhoven club says everything about the situation of the Amsterdammers. Such a statement seemed unthinkable for a long time at the club that defeated Borussia Dortmund at home and away two seasons ago.
Yet it is the reality for the bottom of the Eredivisie, who remained without a win on Sunday for the tenth game in a row. Ajax has been in a sporting crisis for months that it has never experienced before in the club’s history. Logically, he wanted to leave it behind in Eindhoven.
But given predictions of 5-0 or 6-0 – which had meant a historic punishment for Ajax – the Amsterdam club also seemed to be at peace with the 5-2 final score.
Plus: the overall feeling on both the PSV and Ajax sides was that the Amsterdam visitors themselves had left it in the Philips Stadium. “We played really well before halftime and created plenty of chances. Then you have to score more often and go into halftime with a bigger difference than two goals,” sighed Maduro.
Hedwiges Maduro was interim coach of Ajax for two matches and lost both. Photo: Pro Shots
Reinforcements in winter
The plan of Maduro and occasional assistant Dave Vos, which was praised by several players afterwards, worked well before half time. Defensively, the spaces at Ajax were no longer as large as in the weeks before. And the team made a frivolous impression offensively, after having been powerless against Brighton & Hove Albion (2-0 defeat) in midweek.
Ajax suddenly appeared to be able to reach a high level. Until the team collapsed like a plum pudding after the break. Ajax once again looked the shaky team it has been all season, including individual errors. Previously, people often pointed out the wrong approach of the now departed trainer Maurice Steijn.
Maduro blames the implosion of the Amsterdam team on the depth in PSV’s play, fatigue, a lack of sharpness and bad luck. The players did not get beyond terms such as “lack of character” and “we started weakly”. In short: no one had an unambiguous explanation, let alone a solution to prevent such a decline in future.
Branco van den Boomen did put his finger on the sore spot and said that he lacked ‘maturity’ at Ajax, which was very easily defeated. “You are short of that in some crucial positions. We may have to make up for that with reinforcements,” he said. But the fact is that Ajax cannot sign any new players until the winter break.
The only transfer that Ajax can complete is appointing a new trainer. That will be Van ‘t Schip, with Michael Valkanis as assistant. The former national coach of Greece will almost certainly start his job in Amsterdam on Monday. But he will have to make do with the current group of players.
The PSV supporters tease the Ajax supporters with a meaningful banner. Photo: Pro Shots
Relatively ‘easy’ schedule for Ajax
The 59-year-old Van ‘t Schip faces the tough task of setting the standard for the way Ajax played against PSV in the first half. A basic level on which the Amsterdam team can always fall back is still completely lacking this season.
One advantage: on paper Van ‘t Schip seems to have a favorable program with Ajax, as far as the club can speak of that at the moment. On Thursday, the North Holland cellar-breaker against FC Volendam awaits in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, after which matches with SC Heerenveen (home) and Almere City (away) will follow in the competition.
Only with victories in those matches and good results in the following weeks can the ridicule that is now descending on Ajax be stopped. People in Eindhoven still enjoyed it to the fullest on Sunday. There was a living ‘relegation ghost’ walking over the stands during the match. And the Eindhoven supporters came with a banner with Ajax’s #RoadToKKD.
According to everything and everyone at Ajax, things will not get to that point. “We will certainly not stay in eighteenth place,” said striker Brian Brobbey afterwards. And Maduro also knows that for sure. “If we play like we did before halftime in the near future, we will score a lot of points.”
Photo: NU.nl
2023-10-30 04:09:21
#Van #Schip #Ajax #PSV #norm #NU.nl
