Valentijn Driessen advises Ajax coach Erik ten Hag to shake up his basic formation following the 1-2 defeat against AZ. The chief of football of The Telegraph writes in his column that some Ajax players ‘deliver too little to be guaranteed a basic place’. According to Driessen, Daley Blind and Ryan Gravenberch are ‘exponents’ of this.
“It was all impossible, especially in Europe. It has already been announced that every misstep by Ajax nationally can only be blamed on Ajax itself. To a certain extent this is correct if the qualities in the selection of trainer Erik ten Hag are compared with those of opponents or if the European campaign serves as a benchmark,” Driessen writes. However, according to him, it is also about ‘the attitude, the mental willingness to go to great lengths against less appealing opponents themselves and for the team to pull out victories’ and that is what he places on the basis of the results in this Eredivisie match. season at Ajax are questionable.
Driessen found Ajax almost easy-going in the matches in which point loss was suffered – against FC Twente, Go Ahead Eagles, Heracles Almelo, FC Utrecht and AZ. “The Ajax players don’t radiate that they are still so hungry that they can hurt themselves with sacrifice runs, defend to the max and make dirty meters to give back. A very dangerous development for a team that has already won several top prizes. Where saturation threatens, it is up to the trainer-coach on duty to stop and reverse this trend.”
Driessen found the accusations of Ten Hag after the game too easy, because, according to him, the trainer is largely responsible for the attitude of his team. “He has the resources to deal with this, ranging from a different tactic to a different approach to the game to shaking up his base formation. Some Ajax players deliver too little to be guaranteed a basic place.”
“Daley Blind and Ryan Gravenberch are exponents of that. It won’t hurt if Ten Hag sends out a signal. There are plenty of alternatives on the bench,” Driessen continues. He encourages Ten Hag not to do this in next Wednesday’s cup match against the amateurs of Barendrecht, but next Sunday in the Classic against Feyenoord. “That would be a really credible sign with which he would sharpen things internally and shake up his selection. Because in the Eredivisie, the saturated Ajax is on a slippery slope.”