For Sven Botman, the reunion with Ajax ended in disappointment. Lille OSC was eliminated by the team from Amsterdam in two games in the sixteenth final of the Europa League: 1-2 in France, 2-1 in Amsterdam. Botman has recently been associated with a step up from Lille, but Theo Janssen doubts whether last summer les Dogues 21-year-old center-back taken over from Ajax is already ready for this.
“I don’t see enough of the competition to be able to judge that, but in these two games he did have a number of moments that made me think: pooh, that could be better. He has trouble with his starting speed, he is not very fast on the first meters. You saw that with the heel ball last week, so he was printed at four meters ”, Janssen points out in the studio of RTL on Ajax’s winning goal in Lille last week. That was recorded by Brian Brobbey, after a heel from Davy Klaassen.
Wonderful start for Ajax! Davy Klaassen heads the team from Amsterdam to a 1-0 lead. ?? # RTL7 #ajalil #UEL pic.twitter.com/iCqark3SsI
– VTBL? (@vtbl) February 25, 2021
Janssen saw that Botman easily dropped in the return in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Thursday after contact with Daley Blind at Klaassen’s opening goal. The midfielder could head in freely, partly because Botman went to the ground. “He goes very easily to the ground, as a defender you have to walk right through it. He is very easy to put away, a little squeaky ”, says the former midfielder of Vitesse, FC Twente and Ajax about that moment. “That was done so well by Blind,” says fellow analyst Jan Boskamp. “He makes himself broad, aware. That was done very well, because of that block Klaassen was able to head in that ball. ”
“He has also done reasonably well. It’s not that he did a very bad job. I think 45 million is a lot of money for him ”, Janssen continues about Botman’s game. Canal + recently reported that Lille would have accepted a € 40-45 million offer from an unknown English club, while his name was previously linked to Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur, Manchester United and AC Milan. “I thought he was better today, because he had to play about 25 meters higher”, says Boskamp. “Also because Ajax did not reach the level you are used to.”
“It is certainly frustrating, because you are entitled to more. If you look at the overall picture, we gave away too much last week and didn’t play our own game. That kills us now ”, Botman responds in front of the camera afterwards ESPN on the defeat in Amsterdam. “We knew that Ajax is very good at playing football and we let them play way too much football last week, so we didn’t get into our own game at all. Normally we can be dominant and we were not at all last week. Those two goals are hurting us now. ”
Botman is especially disappointed that the opening goal of Klaassen did not whistle for a foul by Blind. “I think it is enough for an offense. I mean, when you see the repeat, you can see he’s doing it on purpose. He’s looking at me, so I think it’s just a violation. The referee (William Collum, ed.) Let go a lot. In that respect it was a bit of a chance for Ajax. But in the end it is a shame and the conclusion is that we left it last week. ”