‘I didn’t do it wrong, did I?’

Sunday, September 19, 2021 at 06:58• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 07:00

SC Cambuur was Ajax’s cue ball on Saturday evening, except for the first fifteen minutes. The team of trainer Henk de Jong lost 9-0 in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, where the spectators called for a tenth goal. Cambuur was spared that humiliation, partly because Ryan Gravenberch hit the post in injury time. Even during the match, the northerners were accused of being too naive and that the monster defeat was only logical.

“Let’s be honest, we really tried everything. Standing low, standing high, another system. Ajax was simply better in all areas. They walk out and then you know it’s going to be a shitty night. You just get them at the wrong time, after that great match in Portugal,” De Jong said in conversation with ESPN on Ajax’s 1-5 win in the Champions League match against Sporting Portugal.

“I didn’t do it wrong, did I?” replied De Jong when it was suggested that a different approach to the game could have led to a less severe defeat. “We countered, but Ajax was too good. They pushed us back into our own half. (…) You can lose to a very good Ajax. We have a shitty evening, but tomorrow (Sunday, ed.) I’ll be right in front of the group again. They were just too good for us, in all positions.”

Calvin Mac-Intosch heard the fans shout ‘ten-ten’. “That they call ten-ten in the stands is annoying, you really don’t want to hear that,” the defender told the Leeuwarder Courant. Cambuur is a team that always starts from its own strength and that can sometimes be annoying against top clubs. “Maybe that is suicide against Ajax”, acknowledged Mac-Intosch, although De Jong saw it differently. “If we had played here with ten defenders, we would have lost big.”

With five defenders on the field, with a score of 4-0, Cambuur conceded five more goals. Another way of playing does not suit the club. “We can start kicking, but then we get red cards and we will suffer from that again on Thursday”, the trainer referred to the upcoming duel with Heracles Almelo. The word naive was also mentioned in the conversation with the regional newspaper. De Jong wanted nothing to do with that. “They’re just way too good.”

“This is not fun”, acknowledged De Jong. “But they are faster, more convenient and better in every way. This can happen against Ajax in top form. Once it runs, they are unstoppable.” Despite the biggest Eredivisie defeat in history, he does not let his players fall. “I’m going to use this to get them sharp again on Thursday. Then we’ll be there again. Against Ajax you have a 99.9 percent chance that you will lose, against the other teams we have to take the points.”