When the half-time whistle blew at the Philips Stadion, the suffering Ajax supporters must have been in a positive mood. The worst start in their history saw them in the relegation zone, violence had seen the postponement of the De Klassieker against Feyenoord with the Amsterdam side 3-0 down, and €150m in player sales seemed not to have been reinvested particularly vigorously. But PSV – sporting a 100% record in the Eredivisie – looked vulnerable, and goals from Branco van den Boomen and Brian Brobbey either side of a Hirving Lozano leveller saw them lead. There was finally light at the end of the tunnel, or so they thought. As it happened, that light was just another oncoming train.
The result, given Ajax’s performances this season, was not surprising, and the manner of the collapse has become all too familiar to fans. Hirving Lozano put the seal on a 5-2 victory by completing his hat trick, but in reality the game was over ten minutes into the second half. PSV, buoyed by the words of Peter Bosz, ran riot over an Ajax side under the interim leadership of Hedwiges Maduro following the midweek sacking of Maurice Steijn. Steijn’s appointment, if perhaps not his ability, became emblematic of the problems at the Johan Cruyff Arena. For a club famed for its long term planning, there has simply been no strategy.
When Eric ten Hag left for Manchester United, it was hard. Add to that the dismissal of Director of Football Marc Overmars for inappropriate behaviour, and a soaring wage bill, and it became difficult to compete with PSV and Feyenoord at the summit. The summer of 2022 saw the departures of Noussair Mazraoui, Nicolas Tagliafico, Perr Schuurs, Ryan Gravenberch, Sebastien Haller, Lisandro Martinez, Antony and others for more than €200m. Their replacements – with a €100m profit – have been underwhelming. Alfred Schreuder started last season with 9 wins in his opening 11 games, but with form falling off and a disappointing Champions League run, he was dismissed before the end of the January transfer window. John Heitinga was given the reins temporarily but could only steer the side to a disappointing third placed finish before he left to join David Moyes coaching staff at West Ham.
With the loss of Champions League income, and continuing disarray at the top of the club, this summer has seen more high profile departures. Added to the problems this time was the resignation of Chief Executive Edwin van der Sar for health reasons. New Director of Football Sven Mislintat had, to all intents and purposes, a free hand to play in preparation for the new season. It’s fair to say that he has totally bungled it.
The appointment of Steijn was a bold one. Steijn led Sparta Rotterdam to a surprise sixth-placed finish last season, having started his managerial career at ADO Den Haag and then spending five years at VVV-Venlo. Brief spells in the United Arab Emirates and then at NAC Breda followed, before he overachieved at Rotterdam’s second club. But he didn’t have the profile usually expected of an outsider at Ajax, and didn’t have a previous connection with the club.
The manager was given a new squad, but didn’t help himself. Mohammed Kudus, Jurrien Timber, Edson Alvarez, and Mohamed Daramy and Calvin Bassey made up the bulk of €150m of players sales. Their replacements have once again been underwhelming. Borna Sosa hasn’t performed, and Sivert Mannsverk looks promising, but has only played one game. Steijn has admitted that the only player he was happy to sign was Josip Sutalo. Things came to a head when Dusan Tadic, on whose shoulders so many hopes were piled, cancelled his contract. He had fallen out with his coach, he was skipping training, and he was annoyed at the lowered quality of his teammates. He had been expected to take a coaching role at the end of his playing career, and his departure upset the other experienced players in the team.
Steijn didn’t help himself either. Expressing confidence in only one new signing isn’t the best start. Taking a cosmopolitan squad and forcing them to speak Dutch around the training ground might appease some nationalistic elements of the fanbase, but did nothing the help team cohesion; under ten Hag, English had been the main language at De Toekomst. Unsurprisingly, the team has struggled to come together.
With neither centre back especially comfortable on the ball, the defence has fallen apart. The full backs are forced to create from the back, but being at Ajax they are almost always forced into a difficult move into midfield – passing down the line is a particularly grievous sin at the Johan Cruyff Arena – meaning that other teams have found it too easy to press the Ajax defence. When the ball has made its way forward, the offensive players have found themselves isolated and ineffective. Steven Bergwijn has scored just one goal since the opening weekend, and Brian Brobbey has struggled. Chuba Akpom joined in the summer from Middlesbrough, where he scored 29 league goals last season, but rather than play him through the middle as Michael Carrick had, Steijn forced him out wide, where he hasn’t been involved in a single goal.
Defensively, the lack of cohesion has been extremely costly. Ajax’s own press has simply not really materialised, and teams have been able to play through them far too easily. Similarly, crosses have just not been dealt with. They have conceded more than two goals per game so far, the second most in the division, they are the worst in the league at winning possession, and cannot intercept the ball. Individual quality has seen them score some goals, but at the back, they have been woeful.
Steijn was finally dismissed following a 4-3 defeat to Utrecht, a game in which Ajax had fallen two goals behind before fighting back to lead, only to throw it away again. The game was marred by fan disorder, a term which doesn’t come close to describing the riots that caused De Klassieker to be abandoned earlier in the season. It would be an understatement to say that everyone is unhappy.
Marco van Basten has claimed his former side is unrecognisable, and should now be called FC Amsterdam, while Rafael van der Vaart agreed that they were ‘no longer Ajax’. Wesley Sneijder has argued that it didn’t matter which manager took over from Steijn, as the ‘players just aren’t good enough.’
The latest managerial appointment was not without its own drama; quite literally. John van’t Schip was given the role after the capitulation against PSV at the weekend, but having only lost his wife to cancer last month, the club first approached former Chelsea assistant Henk ten Cate. Ten Cate reportedly turned them down to appear in Dutch detective series Sleepers. Fortunately for everyone in Amsterdam, van’t Schip decided to take the job after all.
Ajax have the youngest side in the Eredivisie and have endured the toughest start in their history. But they will hope to turn things around in the coming weeks. It’s not much of an excuse, but their opening ten games have been tough, with two easier fixtures coming up to put some points and, more importantly, some confidence on the board. They have games in hand on those around them, the first of them a home game against Volendam, who sit two places ahead of them in the table. Win that, and they can maybe start to move on from this crisis. Lose it, and the crisis will turn into a panic.