Ajax escaped on Sunday in the final phase of the top match against PSV (1-1). After Lisandro Martínez’s kick against Eran Zahavi was not noticed by the referee and the VAR did not come into action either. “One hundred percent”, Kenneth Perez replied ESPN when presenter Jan Joost van Gangelen broached that the Argentinian might have been given a red card. “This is not necessary for anything,” agreed fellow analyst Marciano Vink.
Then he plays the murdered innocence. He just puts his foot down. I do not understand that the VAR does not intervene ”, Vink emphasized from the television studio. “I think Martínez is doing that consciously. Ajax was 1-0 down and he was a bit irritated. What Zahavi is doing is also blood irritating. But on a whim he puts his foot on it and that’s just red. The VAR should have looked at this, one hundred percent. ”
Former arbitrator Mario van der Ende agreed wholeheartedly. “VAR / arbitration should also have intervened in the Martinez / Zahavi situation”, he emphasized via social media. Erik ten Hag, however, had his reservations about it. “I haven’t seen it again yet, but I thought that quite a bit of acting talent was involved in that situation”, the Ajax coach pointed the finger of blame at Zahavi. “If it is, then I’ll talk to him about it. You shouldn’t take that risk if it actually happened. ”
Fighting Ajax
Ajax was seen as a team without the ability to cross the line in fighting matches, but that is different now. “I have to compliment my team. We will find out, but straighten our back again, ”said Ten Hag. “If you manage to get a 1-1 out of the fire here, that’s fine. Even though there was some luck with that equalizer. A good point, great point, but we can do better. We have already shown that in many competitions this season. ”
Late goals from Ajax were decisive in the battle against Lille OSC, but also earlier against Willem II and FC Twente. “If you drag another point out so late, then you’re happy. It was not the best match, but you can see that we fight a lot and do not give up. Against Lille, yes, but we’ve been showing that mentality all season. We show that we have a good group, a group that will fight to the end ”, emphasized Daley Blind, who agreed that things must be better.
“If we keep simple balls in the team and dare to play balls forward, we will play football and you will destroy them,” he assured. “But now the balls very often ended up at Maarten Stekelenburg. We can do better, but don’t panic. We shouldn’t take this too seriously. ”