Saturday, February 26, 2022 at 07:11• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk

Wim Kieft does not expect Remko Pasveer to lose his base place at Ajax. The experienced goalkeeper was praised for his good performance for a long time, but he was criticized last week for his role in the two goals against in the Champions League match against Benfica (2-2). “Yet since his blunder in the first group match between Sporting Portugal and Ajax, he has done well and has always left a reliable impression,” emphasizes the former attacker.

Pasveer was able to make a good save on a touched effort by Rafa Silva, but moments later a hard cross from Jan Vertonghen slid under him and through Sébastian Haller’s foot into the goal. That was Benfica’s 1-1, which also managed to undo a deficit twenty minutes before the end. Pasveer failed to use a hard shot by Gonçalo Ramos, after which Roman Yaremchuk headed in. “It is not surprising that after such mistakes against Benfica you immediately get discussions about whether trainer Erik ten Hag should not choose André Onana. Something like that has everything to do with Onana’s qualities,” Kieft says in his column on Saturday The Telegraph†

“Still, I do not believe that Ten Hag will doubt Pasveer”, the former player of, among others, PSV and Ajax. “He is not like Roger Schmidt at PSV, who counts his keeper – Yvon Mvogo – on one duel and then falls back on his previous keeper – Joël Drommel – whom he dropped hard a week before. Or Pasveer will have to make such a mistake in Ajax’s upcoming matches against Go Ahead Eagles, AZ and RKC Waalwijk that Ten Hag can no longer ignore Onana for the return against Benfica.”

Drommel lost his base place in the run-up to the top match against AZ (1-2). In that clash, however, replacement Mvogo did not make a good impression and then the German chose Drommel again. “Schmidt is inimitable in any case these weeks at PSV. Also in Israel, where he had his team operate with two strikers: Eran Zahavi and Noni Madueke,” Kieft refers to the Conference League game against Maccabi Tel Avic (1-1). “While Ritsu Doan played from the right, the position where Madueke has impressed so much since his return.”