Mohammed Kudus made his first minutes of play in the main squad of the team from Amsterdam in this season in Ajax’s away match against Fortuna Sittard (0-5 win) on Tuesday evening and graced his comeback with a goal. The 21-year-old Ghanaian midfielder sustained an ankle injury in preparation and was out of circulation for months. Erik ten Hag is happy for Kudus, because according to his trainer he has had an ‘extremely annoying process’.
“It’s a nightmare for that boy, I can’t describe it any other way,” Ten Hag begins at the press conference. Kudus had to miss a large part of last season due to a knee injury. “When you come to a new club and you get injured in the first minutes in the Champions League… That actually lasts the whole season, you are behind the times. He started very well in preparation for the new season, but then another nasty injury happened to him. Then you run behind the facts again.”
“Definitely a boy like him. He is an introverted boy and he quickly becomes isolated”, the Ajax coach continues. Kudus already made playing minutes at Jong Ajax last week in the match against Almere City (2-4 win) and also scored a goal. “We are doing everything we can to keep him up to date and we have succeeded to some extent. He has also done a lot for that himself and I am very happy that it was successful, that he was able to make minutes again. You can see his incredible potential, despite not being match fit yet. Those goals will give him confidence.”
Ten Hag wanted to be in front of the camera of ESPN after the 0-5 victory over Fortuna cannot speak of an easy evening. “You could put it that way, but of course that’s not the case. We invested from the start, showed a fast pace, made it difficult for the opponent and forced the goals. The attitude was good and so was the cooperation. I am satisfied with that.”
“What I am less satisfied with is taking advantage of the opportunities”, Ten Hag immediately places a critical note. “It takes too long before the 0-1 falls. We have to set ourselves higher standards. It’s up to us. The opponent does everything within their power. We impose a high pace on them and then they will make mistakes. We must keep hunting. I want to see a hungry team, we have to keep raising the bar.”