The international match has divided the Ajax selection into three groups, Erik ten Hag notes in The Telegraph. After the 0-2 away match against sc Heerenveen, the Ajax coach announced what problems the international obligations have caused for his selection.
“Three groups are created”, according to Ten Hag, who had to do without Antony, Nicolás Tagliafico and Edson Álvarez in Friesland. Argentinian international Lisandro Martínez had traveled to the Abe Lenstra Stadium and came in as a substitute after the break. “There are internationals who play everything,” Ten Hag says about the first group. “That is perfect in principle, but they are overloaded, because they have to play two or three international matches in a very short period.
“And then there are the guys who go to the national team, but don’t play. They are underloaded and that is annoying,” continues Ten Hag, who sees the laggards without international obligations as the third group. “Which is very small with us. I can’t put a full load on them, because the resistance on the workouts is very low. They train with players who are many times less in terms of level.”
“It is a lost period for a lot of players, after which we have to switch up quickly. That is why it is nice that we won against Heerenveen, because that means we are back in the rhythm,” said Ten Hag, who does not expect any problems for Tuesday’s group match in the Champions League against Borussia Dortmund. “As a staff we have done our job and will take the players very quickly into the plan we have towards Tuesday.”