Wesley Sneijder blames Ajax draw on at least two ‘weak links’


Wednesday, February 23, 2022 at 11:42 PM• Mart van Mourik • Last update: 23:50

Wesley Sneijder thinks that Ajax was vulnerable on the left side of the field. In the Champions League match with Benfica, the team from Amsterdam enjoyed a 1-2 lead halfway through, which was relinquished after the break: 2-2. The analyst finds it unnecessary that the team of trainer Erik ten Hag gave away the advantageous margin. Daley Blind and Ryan Gravenberch in particular underperformed, according to Sneijder.

“A lot went wrong on the left side of the field”, Sneijder started in the studio after the draw. RTL 7† “You are 1-2 and you see that you create too little and that you are no longer in the game. Then just defend those 1-2.” Looking at various moments in the game, the analyst shows that Blind suffered unnecessary loss of the ball several times. He lost the ball in the 59th minute in the opponent’s half, after which Benfica became life-threatening via Rafa Silva and Darwin Núñez from a lightning-fast counter.

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Sneijder sees that both Blind and Gravenberch were too deep in the lead. “You have no business there man, you are 1-2 with only twenty minutes left to play football. I think it’s youthful actually.” In the 71st, Blind is the deepest striker when Jurriën Timber loses the ball in the hostile sixteen. “In the end, the 2-2 comes out, and that just shouldn’t happen. You saw before that Ten Hag wanted to intervene with Tagliafico and Klaassen. Then I also think: yes, you could have done that sooner.”

“You should have just defended that 1-2, because then you will of course go into that match more comfortably”, concludes Sneijder, who is supported by Jan Boskamp. “At one point you just saw them playing one-on-one in the back. Then you also call it out on yourself. Why are you opening it all the way? You really have to ask yourself that.”