Go Ahead Eagles won a sensational victory against Ajax (2-1) in their own Adelaarshorst on Sunday. Kees van Wonderen’s team was already leading 2-0 at half-time and received a clear message from its trainer at half-time, captain Luuk Brouwers said afterwards. “Their right side was not going very well, we saw,” said the captain of Go Ahead opposite ESPN†
Brouwers is referring to the right side of Ajax’s build-up game. The team from Amsterdam had to do without right center defender Jurriën Timber and right back Noussair Mazraoui. Their direct replacements, Perr Schuurs and Devyne Rensch, were weak links at Ajax in the eyes of Go Ahead. “We said at halftime that we wanted Schuurs to have the ball and that we wanted to secure Edson Álvarez – and then his replacement Ryan Gravenberch – and Lisandro Martínez.”
“Because we saw that things did not go very well at Ajax on the right side in the first half,” explains Brouwers. “That was what we got. But through a few substitutions, including the introduction of Mazraoui, you saw that they have such a lot of quality that they can also get away with it.” Mazraoui had minor complaints and was inserted at rest. Ajax came back in a fairly strong second half thanks to a good header from Steven Berghuis, but lost anyway.
Brouwers is of course overjoyed with the hard-fought victory. “We are having a very difficult week with Ajax, PSV (midweeks in the cup, ed.) and FC Utrecht. It is fantastic that you start him like this. It will be a small party in the dressing room, but not too long, because Wednesday the next game is already on the program. A short party, but certainly a well-deserved party.”