Ajax is clearly in the corner where the blows fall. The team from Amsterdam again suffered an expensive loss of points in the battle for the title against Vitesse (2-2) and only managed to win four of the last twelve games. Remarkably enough, Alfred Schreuder’s team never managed to keep the goal clean in those twelve matches, calculated over all competitions. The judgment of the morning papers is therefore harsh, the day after the new deception.
“Heart worries for Schreuder”, headlines The Telegraph. “Some of the Ajax fans are calling for the coach’s departure after a new downer.” Ajax fans chanted ‘Schreuder, fuck off’ in the final phase of the duel with Vitesse, as also happened last weekend against PSV (1-2). “Ajax stumbles towards the winter break like an excited boxer. Two hammer blows from Million Manhoef, the son of martial artist Melvin Manhoef, were too powerful for Schreuder’s team that played badly, but nevertheless missed many opportunities against Vitesse,” said Mike Verweij.
“Exciting times are ahead for Schreuder. After the departure of Erik ten Hag, the Ajax coach has big shoes to fill, was confronted with an empty selection and seemed to have the time to sculpt a new team”, Verweij continues. . “But he is also the first coach ever to be allowed to invest 105 million. Football is not something to watch, the results are lousy and some fans are already tired of him. The question is how the club management will deal with that. in Emmen his position is further weakened.”
Willem Vissers saw a remarkably tame Ajax against Vitesse. “As if they wanted to release Alfred Schreuder from his task of being Ajax’s trainer, the Ajax players moved across the field against Vitesse,” he writes in de Volkskrant. “The crisis is approaching completeness, now that Ajax is already starting to mess with mediocre teams. Unbelievable, what indecision Ajax displayed in front of the goal, as a result of lack of concentration, of lack of cohesion and decisiveness. Ajax forced bad luck. The latter home game of 2022 was a bizarre display.”
‘Drunk on stocking feet’
Vissers did not want to speak of a refusal to work, but lacked passion and ruthlessness. “This was mainly rushing from men in stocking feet who want to go to the World Cup, who try to avoid injuries, who thought they would win at the age of eleven and thirty and were voluntarily flogged by the whistle of the public. They hardly defended, so that the weak Vitesse was regularly dangerous and even threatened to win. The spectators do not know exactly where to go with their discontent. First they shout for the victimization of Blind, because he is too slow. He sits on the couch, they call for a basic place, because he is indispensable in the build-up.”
It General Newspaper headlines ‘code red’ and speaks of an ‘open house’. “What Schreuder also failed to achieve against the poor Vitesse with numerous mutations, was that a dynamic Ajax also turned out to be stiff. The goals against were not an incident. The much-discussed residual defense is summarized in one statistic: Ajax received the highest score from all Eredivisie clubs this season. most shots from outbreaks. In a straight shooting gallery, the open back door cost the errant champion and the booed Schreuder once again dearly. Schreuder has come under further fire.”