The analysts of Studio Football don’t seem that impressed with Ajax yet. Pierre van Hooijdonk does not understand why Ajax supporters buy shirts en masse from the veteran, while Ibrahim Afellay does not see a player in Henderson who will make the team better in terms of football. Afellay jokingly calls Henderson a traffic warden.
Van Hooijdonk finds it ‘very difficult’ to assess Henderson after his debut against PSV (1-1). “He is a player who you could give credit to if the team gets a good result. But if you look at what he actually did on the field… I had to keep an eye on him all the time. His long ball to Kenneth Taylor was one of the rare balls he has played forward. He has not made any tackles, nor any unnecessary mistakes. 92 percent of his passes were successful, but I think half of them went to Sutalo and the rest to Hato and Taylor at a short distance,” the former striker points out.
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“I don’t think he is a player who, if you believe Ajax, has sold the most shirts in a short period of time. Little boys want shirts of players who score goals and provide assists. He doesn’t have any of that. He plays for the defense at Ajax. He did a reasonable job, but that was also because Ajax was slumping badly against PSV,” Van Hooijdonk continues.
© Imago
The analyst saw Henderson do a lot of coaching on the field. “Yes, I’ve seen him point a lot.” Afellay answers with a laugh: “He wouldn’t look out of place as a traffic controller. He is not a player who will make Ajax better at football. Sure, he sets a good example in the gym and the warm-up, but he is not going to give you splitting passes between the lines like Schouten or Veerman.” However, according to commentator Jeroen Stekelenburg, Henderson is doing what he was brought in for. “I very much agree with you, but you can’t expect him to score three either. He must be the cement between the players, he must coach, he has experience, he is what Ajax missed in the first half of the season.”
Van Hooijdonk thinks the expectations surrounding Henderson are too high. “He is a player who can of course compete well in the Netherlands, but you should not make him bigger than he is. He can perform well if Brobbey, Bergwijn and Berghuis perform well. Then he gets credits. I would like to see him against lesser opponents, in the rooms he will end up in. Nowadays the playmakers play at number 6, but he is not.”
Picasso
Afellay is enthusiastic about the pass that Steven Berghuis sent to Brian Brobbey in the run-up to the 0-1. A beautiful ball with the outside of the foot reached Brobbey, but the striker played the ball too far in front of him. Ultimately he managed to reach Berghuis, who had rushed over, and the latter scored. “Oh man, that was Picasso,” Afellay says about Berghuis’ pass. “It’s a shame about the assumption, but this ball was so beautifully cut in the barrel. You can only applaud more for such a pass.”
Are you happy with Jordan Henderson at Ajax so far?
2024-02-04 22:55:03
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