John van ‘t Schip looks back on the Europa League match against Brighton & Hove Albion with a moderate sense of satisfaction. Although Ajax lost 0-2 in the Johan Cruijff ArenA on Thursday evening, the trainer of the Amsterdam team sees starting points for the near future. Van ‘t Schip also explains the tactical adjustment in the 46th minute of play, when Kenneth Taylor was brought into the side.
After the 0-2 defeat, it has become virtually impossible for Ajax to hibernate in the Europa League. Ajax itself gave away the opening goal to Brighton through a blunder by Silvano Vos (finished by Ansu Fati). After the break, Simon Adingra increased the lead.
“Our boys kept fighting until the end and they certainly deserved a goal,” says Van ‘t Schip in front of the camera after the defeat. ESPN. “Even after the goal, we tried to make it a match. There were still a few moments where we could have scored, but unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
“I saw that we made things very difficult for Brighton. With the pressure in the first half you saw that they shot many balls out of the field and forward. That team was not able to build up in the usual way.”
Before the start of the second half, Chuba Akpom came in for Taylor, who could count on a flute concert from the home crowd in the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Van ‘t Schip does not comment on the cheering from the stands towards Taylor and speaks of a tactical conversion with the input of Akpom.
“By replacing Taylor, Hlynsson was able to drop a line. With the introduction of Akpom we were able to play with two real strikers. At the same time, Rensch continued to move to midfield and, together with Silvano Vos, filled the number 6 position.”
“We had to take a bit of a risk because we were behind,” Van ‘t Schip concludes. “We then took a little more risk by bringing in Mikautadze (for Devyne Rensch, ed.). With that adjustment we of course became a little less disciplined and Brighton could still become dangerous.”