Prior to Ajax – PSV, Marciano Vink is critical of the way the Amsterdam team has put pressure this season. That's what the analyst says ESPN in The Grandstand. Steven Berghuis, among others, has to pay the price at Vink.

“You defend as a team,” the former midfielder of both Ajax and PSV begins his analysis. “But if you look at the pace and pressure Ajax generates on a ball… If you compare that with Feyenoord or PSV, there is so much space between the players.”

Various images are then shown of the way in which Ajax put pressure on the opponent in various Eredivisie matches in recent months.

Including images of the match against PEC Zwolle, just before the Zwolle team got a big chance. “I find this quite distressing,” Vink is critical. “Look at the pressure they put on the ball here. If you do this against PSV, it will simply be 0-8.”

“What I don't understand is that since Steijn's period we have been showing people with images on TV what kind of spaces are being created at Ajax. They also all have video analysts at Ajax, who show the players what is going wrong. What I don't understand is that the childish mistakes from the beginning are still happening now, after nineteen games. That's actually not possible.”

According to Vink, applying pressure in a good way is also a matter of willingness. “If you as an attacker are not prepared to walk five meters behind your man, and you also shout very loudly on TV that you are not interested, then you will get problems from the entire team. It starts at the front and trickles down to the back. If the quality at the back is not good enough, you have a problem.”

With this, Vink seems to be taking a swipe at Berghuis. The Ajax attacker adjusted last month after the Ajax – RKC Waalwijk (4-1 win) ESPN that the problems for the people of Amsterdam mainly lie at the back. “We are attackers. We cannot be concerned with what is happening behind us,” Berghuis said about himself and teammate Steven Bergwijn.

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