Mixed feelings with Henk Spaan after the European elimination of Ajax in Rome. The columnist of Het Parool praises Erik ten Hag for bringing in Brian Brobbey, the only goalscorer of the visitors in the encounter with AS Roma. Spaan, on the other hand, is particularly critical of the performance of Ryan Gravenberch, who receives a 4 as a score for his poor performance in the Stadio Olimpico.
“The first substitution of Ten Hag was good: Brobbey immediately scored after a long ball by Perr Schuurs. It was a nice goal, controlled with the shin”, Spaan reminds in his column for the newspaper. The second substitution at Ajax, with Mohammed Kudus replacing Edson Álvarez, the journalist describes as ‘extremely unfortunate’. “On the side where Álvarez was gone, Henrikh Mkhitaryan saw space, Jurriën Timber slipped and via Gravenberch, the man who absolutely should have been substituted, the ball reached the life-threatening Edin Dzeko.” The Roma striker could then simply tap in the equalizer.
Two Ajax players are head and shoulders above the rest
The scores of Voetbalzone of the players of Ajax in the duel with AS Roma.
“That man does not miss, although he was too old last week according to RTL”, adds Spaan. What follows is a critical analysis of Gravenberch’s input. “In the first half Gravenberch was invisible, in the second he started more actively, probably after a sermon by Ten Hag. His worst action was one in the 63rd minute, when he just let Lorenzo Pellegrini run into the sixteen by stepping in casually. He is indeed young, a great talent, but just fell short yesterday “, Spaan clearly does not spare the Ajax midfielder.
Ronald de Boer also expressed his disappointment about the disappointing Gravenberch on Thursday evening after the meeting between Roma and Ajax, who, according to the analyst, ‘played very poorly’. “Gravenberch was just not in the game at all, really not at all. Gravenberch from the beginning of the season, which everyone was full of praise for. You had expected that he would take Ajax in tow in a match like this. Whether you can expect that from him? In any case, that he directs the team towards dangerous attacks. That did not happen at all, “said the disappointed De Boer.