Rafael van der Vaart finds it surprising that Dusan Tadic was not substituted during Ajax’s visit to AZ (2-1 loss). The former midfielder found the team from Amsterdam as a whole team very weak and the captain played an important role in that, according to him. “If you saw Tadic play… A horror!”, says Van der Vaart in Studio Football.
“And it just plays for ninety minutes!”, the 109-time the Dutch international sounds surprised. “If we used to play like this, you wouldn’t have made it to the break. You have to deliver. That’s what it’s about. I’m a huge fan of his, but you notice that it’s gone a bit.” Tadic lost the ball 21 times in Alkmaar, more than any other Ajax player on the field.
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Van der Vaart believes that it was not only Tadic’s fault with Alfred Schreuder’s team. “AZ was highly motivated, while at Ajax everyone was out of shape. Ajax played at a pace at which I now play. It was all the time: go back to Remko Pasveer, and there they went again. He has had the most balls! I don’t know what Ajax had, dad in the legs or something.” Ibrahim Afellay turns the situation around: “The fact that Pasveer had the ball most of the time means that AZ has constantly put Ajax under pressure.”
“Yes, but there were so many moments that Ajax could open up and continue playing, but then they played him back”, Van der Vaart responds. “They had porridge in their legs. I know that Ajax played on Tuesday and AZ on Thursday, but that was my observation: they play slowly.” Pierre van Hooijdonk saw similar things. “Ajax was constantly pinned, so a long ball had to come. Sam Beukema and Bruno Martins Indi won everything in the air at AZ. Then that ball falls somewhere and there was Jordy Clasie or Dani de Wit every time.”
Afellay thinks that AZ deserves a big compliment. “I think it’s really great what Pascal Jansen is doing there again this season,” said the former PSV player. “If you look at that team, there aren’t exactly superstars in it, but they really have a clear plan: push full throttle, combine where possible. It is a feast for the eyes. And to think that they still have two are missing key players, with Jesper Karlsson and Vangelis Pavlidis. AZ will certainly not get any worse if they are added.”