Theo Lucius has on behalf of The Telegraph seven Ajax players included in its Team of the Week. Of all the basic players against PSV, only Lisandro Martínez, Ryan Gravenbech, Edson Álvarez and Antony have not been given a place in the star team of the former international. According to Lucius, Daley Blind is the absolute star of the last round.
Remko Pasveer, Noussair Mazraoui, Jurriën Timber, Blind, Steven Berghuis, Sébastien Haller and Dusan Tadic have won a place from Lucius in his Team of the Week. The former defender thinks it’s great how Timber manifests himself at Ajax. “He is an absolute added value for Ajax and they will enjoy him for a long time. Or not, if the interest of other clubs becomes massive. If he’s smart, he’ll stay with Ajax for a few more years, but he also strikes me as a boy who makes wise choices. It is great that he is performing so consistently at such a young age, even in top duels.”
Lucius picks Blind as his player of the week. “He has such a sense of space, the sense of responding to the right man and makes football seem so easy. Really very handsome. Even if you put pressure on him, he will kick himself out of it. He was by far the best in the top match,” said Lucius about Blind, who was also named Player of the Week in the Champions League last week after his Man of the Match-appearance against Borussia Dortmund (4-0 win).
The role of Berghuis in the top match against PSV is also highlighted by Lucius. The attacking midfielder signed for the 1-0 and, according to Lucius, is ‘decisive at crucial moments’. “If you manifest yourself like this after a difficult initial phase, with a lot of criticism and commentary, the negative publicity because of his switch from Feyenoord: then you have real character. It is almost impossible to imagine him without this Ajax. It is not for nothing that he even keeps a fantastic player like Davy Klaassen on the bench.”
Team of the Week according to Theo Lucius: feather; Mazraoui, Timber, Blind, Malacia; Berghuis, Til, Ramselaar; Toornstra, Haller, Tadic.