Dirk Kuyt thinks that Roger Schmidt gave Ajax too little recognition after the 4-0 victory over Borussia Dortmund two weeks ago. The day after that spectacular victory, the PSV coach said that Ajax played a ‘good match’ and that Dortmund was ‘far removed from its top level’. “So it was a very clear victory for Ajax,” said Schmidt. In the preview of the reunion between Ajax and Dortmund, Kuyt calls the statements ‘a sign of weakness’.
“Dortmund did drop some stitches, but you would really do Ajax short by saying that it was Dortmund’s fault”, the analyst of RTL7 clear. “It was simply a top performance by Ajax. I thought it was very remarkable, a weakness actually, that the PSV trainer indicated a day later that Dortmund was so bad. That is of course also due to Ajax.” Despite this, Kuyt admits that Dortmund could have done better defensively. “You saw, for example, that Erling Braut Haaland stood on Edson Álvarez and Dortmund wanted to put pressure on the defense of Ajax with the wingers. However, the solidarity, the joint pressure, was sometimes hard to find.”
“Haaland did not switch when it had to; Axel Witsel did not stay in his position well. The mutual cooperation between Malen and the left back (Nico Schulz, ed.) was also not good. You saw several times, especially in the first half , that Dortmund was very vulnerable,” says Kuyt when showing images of the game two weeks ago. “Not everyone participated in the pressure. If that happens, you can put pressure much more aggressively. Ajax players were now always free between the lines. If you can pick up Ajax somewhere, it is in the physical, even though Ajax is there has also become stronger in it. Ajax puts aggressive pressure and then the space is often in the depths. Dortmund made too little use of that.”
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