As variable as Ajax’s game was against Olympique Marseille (3-3), the assessment of the Dutch news also varies. The team from Amsterdam scored three times in the opening match in the Europa League and showed joy and aggressiveness at times, but also had to fish three times. The poor organization in the defense leads to concerns in the run-up to Sunday’s De Klassieker.
Mike Verweij writes in The Telegraph that Ajax is balancing on a thin line. “Ajax fans must look forward to Sunday’s match against Feyenoord with fear and trembling. Ajax has been set ablaze by the pyromaniac Sven Mislintat, the director of football affairs who operates solo but is supported by Jan van Halst and Maurits Hendriks. That Ajax is committed to the own Johan Cruijff ArenA turned out to be a sneaky but effective counter team, the Ajax fans, who have been tormented since last season, took it for granted.”
According to Verweij, Steijn made a ‘painful statement’ towards Mislintat after the break. “By bringing in the extremely weak Benjamin Tahirovic and introducing Silvano Vos, he reduced the number of purchases in the team to four. Tahirovic was able to take a seat on the bench alongside Diant Ramaj, Akpom, Mannsverk, Jakov Medic, Georges Mikautadze, Branco van den Boomen and Gaston Avila. With the exception of Van den Boomen, apparently all players paid (too) expensively who have not helped Ajax even an inch further.”
“Dream start, grumpy and ultimately six goals,” the headline reads Algemeen Dagblad. “In a match full of mistakes and chances, Ajax showed signs of recovery, but let Marseille come alongside twice. The high tension and lack of confidence, which was not even visible or audible in the stands, was fully expressed. at 2-1. Steijn is a little closer to his ideal puzzle, but whether that is enough to contain the high-scoring national champion and arch-rival Feyenoord on Sunday and put a stop to the crisis remains to be seen.”
Steven Berghuis made it 2-0 with a nice bang.
Fidelity states that the sporting crisis at Ajax has become a bit bigger again. “Did Ajax overcome the crisis here? Far from it, because appearances were deceiving. Despite a large lead, the Amsterdam defense then collapsed again like a house of cards. For a moment the Amsterdam team seemed to give themselves some breathing space, but it then fell back into old troubles.” Mislintat’s twelve purchases, for which the criticized German spent more than a hundred million euros, have not yet paid off. Ajax also organized an open house in the Johan Cruijff Arena.”
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According to Willem Vissers, Ajax offers hope for better times with the spectacle against Marseille. “It was not very difficult to set a new standard in the season of chaos and stress, but Ajax played by far its best match of the season at the opening of the Europa League,” he says. de Volkskrant. “The Ajax – Marseille spectacle was like a match in the amateur youth division can be. Or at the campsite. Everything was possible. Almost everything was allowed. It was a total football experience. Give meters of space away. Don’t always walk back. Do something you come in.”
Vissers did see perspective and growth potential. “After a number of intensely sad matches, there was finally some coherence to be seen. Ajax played football like the atmosphere in the club: chaotic. Playing with fire, both in terms of effort and in making mistakes. Once again, conceding goals too easily. Football in which “The intentions of the controversial director of football affairs Sven Mislintat were visible. Players from the famous Amsterdam academy, supplemented with talent from abroad. You may like that or not, but it is a line.”