Kenneth Perez does not understand that Erik ten Hag chose on Thursday evening to take Edson Álvarez to the side in the second half against AS Roma (1-1). According to the analyst of ESPN Ajax was seriously weakened by the absence of Álvarez, who was relieved by Mohammed Kudus. “The question is: do you have to change? It was great in the second half. They started really well,” said Perez.
“The strange thing is: Ajax makes the 0-1, then the 0-2 is rejected and then Mohammed Kudus comes in for Edson Álvarez”, the Dane continues. “It is an offensive substitution, but that actually only makes it worse. Ajax was the parent team and perhaps it is a logical reaction to also make an offensive substitution, but it made sure that it was actually completely gone. no more opportunities created. “
Ronald de Boer had also not taken Álvarez out. “I thought Ryan Gravenberch played very poorly”, says De Boer. “With Kudus for Gravenberch you would actually be one-on-one the same. We have often criticized Álvarez, but if you are going to play a bit more opportunistically, you have to have one person to watch the store, and two minutes later lay- he was already in it. And I have to say: Gravenberch was just not in the game at all, really not at all. It was not the Gravenberch at the start of the season, which everyone was enthusiastic about. You expected him to lead Ajax in tow In a match like this. Can you expect him to? At least that he directs the team towards dangerous attacks. That didn’t happen at all. “
Looking at the diptych between Ajax and AS Roma, Perez speaks of ‘two special matches’. “Perhaps it is much too Dutch how we sit here talking: ‘Roma really can’t do anything about it.’ But you can also say: maybe Ajax is not that good that they can really make a difference. These two games were decided at crucial moments: Dusan Tadic who missed the penalty in the first leg and the referee (Antony Taylor, ed.) tonight can also think: well, I will stay away from that “, he says about the rejected goal of Tadic. Nicolás Tagliafico went hard on Henrikh Mkhitaryan prior to that.
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