Friday, August 27, 2021 at 8:23 PM• Dominic Mostert • Last update: 20:31

Wim Kieft notices ‘a degree of saturation’ at Ajax. In his column for The Telegraph Kieft expresses his concerns about a wrong attitude that would dominate in Amsterdam; he calls on trainer Erik ten Hag to take the lead, together with the ‘leading players’, to ensure change. For the time being, however, Kieft is not pleased with the way in which Ten Hag speaks about the preparation and the first weeks of the new season.

Ten Hag has recently spoken of a ‘four-phase preparation’. In his view, the first phase started at the start of the preparation, the second phase started during the training camp in De Lutte, the third phase started when the internationals of the Dutch joined after the European Championship and the fourth phase when Edson Álvarez and Antony returned from vacation. . The latter made his first minutes of the season against FC Twente (1-1) on Sunday. Ten Hag expressed the ambition a month ago to ‘be there by mid-September’. On September 14 or 15, Ajax will play its first match in the group stage of the Champions League.

“He talks about a four-phase preparation, about players who come back later from vacation or international obligations and about players who then have to get used to the Ajax system. In those cases, it almost always concerns players who play longer at Ajax, often the better players, because international”, Kieft points out. “Such guests really know what is expected of them at Ajax. Or does Ajax play a system that is unique in the whole world and which you have forgotten after a few weeks? No, of course not. Really nonsense. don’t come up with these kind of weak texts. At Ajax you have to be there from day 1”, the former football player makes clear.

“Only the current Ajax is simply not there, despite the fact that everyone is available. The sharpness is missing. You saw that not only against FC Twente on Sunday, but despite the large victory also against NEC and against PSV in the match for the Johan Cruijff Scale .” Kieft signals ‘sufficient quality’ in Amsterdam, but finds the game ‘matted’ and notices ‘a degree of saturation’. “Or players think they can do the job with two fingers in the nose. Such an attitude is the beginning of the end. As a coach, Ten Hag will have to take the lead together with the leading players to not let this happen. PSV as a hungry pursuer in your wake.”