Kenneth Perez has a scathing assessment of Steven Bergwijn. The analyst of ESPN believes that the Ajax captain showed nothing against Brighton & Hove Albion (0-2 loss) and has therefore let his team down. “Where the hell has Bergwijn been today? I haven’t seen anything from Bergwijn today!” said Perez.
Although Perez believes that John van ‘t Schip did well tactically at Ajax, the Amsterdam team had virtually no chance against Brighton. That had to do with an early goal conceded, which was unnecessarily given away through a mistake by Silvano Vos in midfield.
According to Perez, the Amsterdam team could not count on the wingers Bergwijn and Steven Berghuis. “If two players do not actually participate, then you cannot play a top match anyway,” said Perez.
Perez pays a nice compliment to Van ‘t Schip for a unique find at Ajax
At halftime of the match, Perez praised a discovery by Ajax’s coach.
Marciano Vink also shares this opinion. “It is fragile at Ajax,” says Vink. “They are dependent on the supporting players, whether or not they play a good match. We once again did not see Bergwijn and Berghuis in this match. I find that very fragile, you cannot rely on it.”
Vink sees a big difference between Ajax and top teams. “At other clubs you have players of whom you know: this is a big match, they will now be one hundred percent. At Ajax that is not the case…”
During half-time, Perez praised the tactical discovery of Van ‘t Schip, who allowed Devyne Rensch to move the ball into midfield as a center defender. During the break, Van ‘t Schip made quite an offensive change: Chuba Akpom came into the team for Kenneth Taylor.
Perez is a lot more critical of that last intervention by the Ajax coach. “If it’s close, a 0-1 halftime score, then you don’t have to start playing so offensively right away, do you?” Karim El Ahmadi also thinks so: “That’s right, you’re still in the game.”
Ajax was defeated almost immediately, as Simon Adingra put Brighton at 0-2 shortly after half-time. “It may have been correct with the magnets on the board, but in practice you saw that so much space was created for Brighton in midfield,” said Perez. “You saw it immediately at the 0-2.”