Hans Kraay junior and Henk Fraser are in on Sunday morning Good morning Eredivisie praising the development Jurriën Timber is going through at Ajax. The central defender has been a strong duo in the back with Lisandro Martínez for some time and against Willem II (0-1) the ‘zero’ was once again kept by the leader in the Eredivisie. Fraser thinks Timber will eventually be able to compete with players such as Matthijs de Ligt and Stefan de Vrij in the central positions in the Dutch national team.
“I really think Timber is fantastic”, Fraser compliments ESPN† “You could talk about his height (1.82 meters, ed.), because you just indicated his height. But in the Netherlands that is no problem at all. Look, I don’t know how it is. Seeing the World Cup against really great men physically. But he’s very smart, so I’m not worried about that to be honest.” Table mate Mario Been then asks Fraser whether Timber, with six international matches to his name, is ready for a central position at the the Dutch squad, with someone like De Ligt, De Vrij or Virgil van Dijk next to him.
Jurriën Timber laughs at press conference: ‘Everyone asks me that question’
The Ajax defender had to laugh on Saturday at the time when he scored against Willem II.
“Yes, I think it is correct”, the Sparta Rotterdam trainer indicates. “Because he is so comfortable on the ball. But he is also so smart defensively. His body is also very powerful. I’m not worried about that at all.” Kraay junior is also a Timber fan and the analyst cum reporter is in any case very impressed with Ajax’s defense this season. “I have been able to do Ajax a lot this season and as a defender you also look a bit. What you normally have is that if the right back goes forward, you stay left back. And if you go left back, then the right back stays for a while. to give a little backing.”
“But at Ajax Erik ten Hag thinks it’s fine if they both go. But that does mean that if they both go, Timber and Martínez will play together over a width of 68 meters,” Kraay junior continues. “And then give away so little, support each other so well and provide such good backing, where you occasionally still have the help of Edson Álvarez. The backs are often gone. That is really unbelievably good.”