Valentijn Driessen advises Erik ten Hag to drop ‘a bomb’ in the selection of Ajax. The reigning national champion has had a mixed start to the new season: the battle for the Johan Cruijff Scale was lost to PSV 0-4, after which NEC was defeated 5-0 and FC Twente took a point against Ajax. According to Driessen, Ten Hag would do well to slightly adjust his basic setup.
“Erik ten Hag really has some work to do to get things back on track,” says the sports director of The Telegraph Sunday evening in a newspaper video item. “Maybe he should drop one or two bombs in the selection. Sébastien Haller is the record purchase, but does not perform. Steven Berghuis is the top purchase of the summer in terms of status, but he also does not deliver. You have Antony on the bench. Maybe Berghuis must be put on the bench.”
Driessen acknowledges that it will not be an easy decision to put Berghuis or Haller on the bench. “Those are difficult decisions for a trainer, especially for Erik ten Hag, who has already achieved a lot of success with these guys. But he will have to stand up for himself, otherwise the next game against Vitesse can turn out to be the same story. PSV and Feyenoord run far early on, because they will continue to win their matches.”
Ten Hag noticed on Sunday afternoon that his team started the game in Enschede without concentration. “From 12.15 pm you have to be on and a number of players were not on. We have no excuses, you just have to be there. You have to deliver and we did not do that. At the ball it was very below par what we let As a team, but also as individuals,” said the Ajax trainer.