Ajax started the Champions League campaign last Wednesday with a 0-1 defeat against Liverpool. Bee Veronica Inside As a result of the lost game in the Johan Cruijff ArenA, coach Erik ten Hag has been criticized. For example, Johan Derksen does not understand that the coach let the cameras know afterwards that he was satisfied with the game of his team despite the defeat.

“What I don’t understand… Ajax played very well and they missed a lot of opportunities. But that the Ajax trainer comes on television afterwards and tells that he is so satisfied, because those guys played football so well. A compliment to the team. Then I think: if I had a trainer who was very satisfied while they lost, I would kick him out, ”Derksen said. Ten Hag said, among other things, that his team had played an ‘excellent game’ and complimented his players. “Isn’t that the fashion nowadays? Praise it ”, says Valentijn Driessen.

René van der Gijp is also critical of Ten Hag as a result of the match between Ajax and Liverpool, because he took Davy Klaassen and David Neres to the side for Jurgen Ekkelenkamp and Zakaria Labyad fifteen minutes before the end. “I have never in my life seen someone take out their best second player and then their third. Blind (who was later replaced by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, ed.), Klaassen and Neres were the best players. How can you think that you take those three out that you will improve in football? How does such a person come up with that? You bring in Labyad and Ekkelenkamp without any depth, two completely different players. So stupid!”

Van der Gijp calls the explanation of Ten Hag, who stated that the players can be compared with each other and that nothing changed in the game, ‘insane’. “Comparing Labyad and Neres … I’ve never seen Labyad play right winger. And then he will compare Ekkelenkamp with Klaassen. They cannot be compared at all. Then he says that nothing changes about the game, but of course something changes about your game. Especially if you remove Blind in the back, that’s your best body builder. Isn’t that nonsense to say that it is not so? ”

There is also criticism of Ten Hag’s tactical plan against Liverpool. Ajax started with a kind of 4-4-2 formation, in which Mohammed Kudus was the striker on paper and Daley Blind played in midfield. “I find it unusual when you have a new player who plays very well in his own position, that you put him in the lead against Liverpool. I don’t think that’s a vision ”, Derksen refers to Kudus. Driessen does not understand that Perr Schuurs and Lisandro Martínez formed the central duo. “They cannot build up at all. Then you remove the entire structure from your team. ”

Presenter Wilfred Genee argues that Schuurs is not the ‘new Matthijs de Ligt’ for the time being. “That’s right, but he is in a phase where he can make mistakes. This is common with such players who have no experience. But I think Botman (who was sold by Ajax to Lille OSC, ed.) Is a better center-back than Schuurs ”, Derksen responds. He notes that Promes has also ‘lost his confidence’. “He did it very well from the left, especially with Ziyech’s crosses he knew what to do. He started playing badly when he had to go up to ten, because Ten Hag had thought he was ideal for that. He is of no use to you out of ten and the only thing that Ten Hag has achieved is that the boy has lost his form and no longer has self-confidence. ”