John Heitinga has spoken nice words about Calvin Bassey. The defender lost his basic place under the new Ajax coach, but can still count on the confidence. According to Heitinga, Bassey is ‘perhaps the best defender’ within the selection of the team from Amsterdam. On Thursday evening in the cup match with FC Twente (0-1 win), the Nigerian got fifteen minutes of playing time.
Heitinga came up against Twente for the third game in a row with the same starting eleven. That meant Bassey started on the bench just like Brian Brobbey. “You will have to look every time who you play against, how they play, how high or low they are, what do they have in the front? You have to make that decision every time,” said the Ajax coach. “Seven matches in a month is a lot. There will certainly be fatigue in the legs, we have to monitor that carefully. You want good competition within your group.”
Immediately after his appointment, Heitinga already indicated that he attached great importance to certainties within the team. In his first three matches as coach of Ajax, he keeps his word. “Fixations are very important. But it does not mean that we will continue to play in this composition all season,” he continued during the press moment. “We will also play European soon. Calvin comes in and is perhaps our best defender. Especially with Jurriën in the back. He can play very well there. And you also know that Edson is a very good defensive midfielder.”
Bassey came in for Kenneth Taylor fifteen minutes before the end. The sagged Edson Álvarez therefore moved another line to midfield. “At that moment you are forced to the back and you have to defend a lot of balls from the flank and a lot of standard situations,” Heitinga explained that substitution. “I noticed that we needed more body in the center back triangle. We had that with Edson, Jurriën and Calvin.” Ajax will be preparing for the quarterfinals on Saturday evening. PSV, Feyenoord, FC Utrecht, sc Heerenveen, Spakenburg, ADO Den Haag and De Graafschap are the other quarter-finalists.