Mohammed Kudus played for the first time as a defensive midfielder in the match between Ajax and FC Groningen (3-1) on Sunday. Erik ten Hag, trainer of the Amsterdammers, is particularly pleased with the performance of the twenty-year-old Ghanaian. Analyst Leonne Stentler is in the program Studio Football of the NOS less positive about Ten Hag’s experiment with Kudus.
“I chose for power in the back and creativity in the midfield against this Groningen,” he says Football International from the mouth of Ten Hag after the match between Ajax and FC Groningen. “I knew there was going to be a lot of spaces there, so I needed players who have the ability to play people out under a lot of pressure. With Gravenberch and Kudus you have ball-resistant players and with Klaassen and Haller you have a good tandem that can play the depth behind in combination with Tadic and Neres. ”
“I thought he played very strongly in the first phase of the match, just as we imagined,” the coach continues. He notes that Kudus sank somewhat in the second half. “But that is also logical. He has to build on his race condition, he needs more minutes for that. I can really enjoy him, that he is always able to find solutions under this pressure and that he knows how to play freely and often also has a very good continuation. ”
“I thought he was very searching,” Stentler analyzes Kudus’s game Studio Football. “There were some moments in which you saw the typical Kudus: strong in the duel, easy turning. You can see that he would like to have the ball. But he was trying to figure out how to do it defensively. He let his opponent run and bet that it would turn out okay. If you see him feeling a bit, you would say you miss a player who knows what he is doing defensively. He is much better at ten where he can anticipate and use his speed. I did not find this very convincing. ”
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