The recent stab of Daley Blind to the press has surprised Wim Kieft. ‘s columnist The Telegraph recently saw the Ajax defender give a ‘haughty’ interview, in which he indicated that he ‘didn’t take the media seriously’. “That’s not part of Blind. He doesn’t put it together that way,” says Kieft, who indicates that Blind’s ‘strange attitude’ ‘comes across as a bit of a diversion on his part’.
Blind became Sunday after the lost game against FC Utrecht (0-1) by the NOS asked whether it does anything to Ajax that the outside world is praising the game and the performance. For example, Pierre van Hooijdonk recently said that Ajax has the potential to reach the Champions League final. “We don’t take you so seriously,” the the Dutch international responded. “After PSV (0-4 defeat in the Johan Cruijff Scale, ed.) we couldn’t do anything about it anymore; then we were suddenly the favorite and we were the best. The trainer (Erik ten Hag) also said recently: there is nothing in between. It’s one or the other. I think we’ve also been in the Champions League final since last week, so, as I said, we don’t take it so seriously.”
Bee #Ajax take them #StudioFootball not serious.
“It’s always easier and more fun if you don’t set the bar too high.” pic.twitter.com/CaXSVNHpvF
— NOS Football (@NOS Football) October 3, 2021
Kieft points out in his column that Blind’s status has changed since his return in 2018 and the subsequent successful 2018/19 season. His ‘favourite positions’ in the team are now being occupied by other players: Lisandro Martínez is preferred in the center back and Edson Álvarez must guard the defensive balance in midfield. In the left back position, Blind competes with Nicolás Tagliafico, who was in the starting lineup against Utrecht. Kieft thinks that Ten Hag did not dare to post Blind opposite ‘the lightning-fast right winger Moussa Sylla’. “Blind is a smart boy and he feels this on his clogs,” says the former attacker.
“It is slowly slipping out of his hands. In fact, the same applies to his position with the Dutch national team. If there is a good left back, then all places in the team have been taken there too. It is a natural process and there will be frustration with Blind. come from. It is understandable, but such an attitude, that haughty, Blind must stay far from that. That does not suit him,” concludes Kieft. On Friday evening, Blind will play as a left back against Latvia in the World Cup qualifier against Latvia. It will be his 86th international match for the 31-year-old defender.