Erik ten Hag gave the Ajax players an important assignment in the run-up to the home game with SC Cambuur. “I wanted them to take the intensity of the Champions League into the Eredivisie. They did a nice job,” said the trainer with a sense of understatement after the 9-0 win, three days after the 1-5 victory over Sporting Portugal. Ajax equaled the biggest competition win ever in the Johan Cruijff ArenA.
Only once before did Ajax win a league match with eight different goalscorers. “Apparently we attacked in a variety of ways,” concluded Ten Hag, who is not concerned about the apparent lack of resistance in the first three home games in the Eredivisie: nine points and a goal difference of 19-0. “I actually think it’s fine that way. It may look easy. But if we don’t manage to do this, we’ll just have a really hard time.”
The mood is good at Ajax after the monster score on Cambuur!
Still, Jurriën Timber had hoped for the tenth goal. pic.twitter.com/HjvSemS0cZ
— NOS Football (@NOS Football) September 18, 2021
Ten Hag is very pleased with Mohamed Daramy, who made his debut in the duel with PEC Zwolle and made his first goal against Cambuur on Saturday. “’He shifts twice, you have to be able to do that. A great quality that he shows there.” Ajax hopes to have a lot of fun with the only nineteen-year-old Daramy. “It is true that from the first training he already shows qualities that suit our game and the qualities we were looking for,” said Ten Hag.
“Speed, a right-footed attacker on the left who can create a surplus, who apparently walks very easily, but who above all knows how to make the right choices,” emphasizes Ten Hag. “What I thought was so clever in Zwolle last week: then you are new, then you want to show yourself, but he saw that it was not possible to make dribbles and so he went to pass. As a result, we were able to create an excess situation elsewhere and at least kept possession of the ball. I think that is very clever, if you already have that insight as a young adult.”
Ten Hag is also very satisfied with Jurriën Timber, who has displaced Perr Schuurs from the basic formation for the time being. “But he can do even better,” he said. “Jurriën is sometimes a bit easy-going. He sees the game well but now also needs to develop the personality to lead the defense. He already has a very bright future. But if he develops in that, things can go even faster for him.”