According to some, the club may be on fire, Ajax general director Edwin van der Sar himself is relaxed drinking a cup of coffee in the cramped boardroom of Excelsior. He watches FC Twente-Feyenoord on a large TV screen, the competitors in the title fight that play earlier in the afternoon. He shakes hands with journalists and catches up with technical manager Gerry Hamstra and technical advisor Adrie Koster.
In Kralingen, Rotterdam, it is hardly noticeable that the pressure is on at Ajax. Nevertheless, the turnaround will have to take shape on the stiff artificial grass in the Van Donge & De Roo stadium after seven league matches without a win. Led by John Heitinga, the coach who moved on from Jong Ajax as a temporary successor to Alfred Schreuder who was fired last Thursday.
In a long, dark coat, Heitinga (39) stands almost non-stop in front of his dugout, arms folded, observing and giving directions – so much so that his voice sounds hoarse by the end of the afternoon. He walks on black and white Adidas sneakers, as if he could kick a ball himself at any moment.
Also read this analysis: Alfred Schreuder never seemed to have full control over the situation at Ajax
He is an emergency solution in times of crisis. Heitinga himself would have preferred to join at a better time. Until last week, in his coaching career, he consciously opted for the “path of gradualness”, as he calls it: before becoming coach of Jong Ajax in 2021, he was a trainer of various youth teams.
More experience
Nevertheless, he is now taking the plunge under pressure. A few weeks ago he was asked to become Schreuder’s assistant, which he did not do at first. The idea was that, in addition to his tactical input, he should provide more experience in the somewhat tame staff. An advantage is that he knows many players from the training.
On Thursday afternoon, he made a verbal agreement, after the club recently asked him again. From Saturday he would become Schreuder’s assistant. But after his resignation, Heitinga was asked on Friday whether he can take over as head coach.
“I am an Ajax player, the club comes, asks if you want to help,” says Heitinga on Sunday. “Then I’ll be there.” He was still a ball boy, went through youth academy, was captain of the first team.
In this way, the management places the fate of an administratively and sportively erring club in the hands of a novice trainer – at least for the short term. Whether Heitinga will finish the season on an interim basis is still unknown. However, the convincing way in which Heitinga presents himself is the best thing that has happened to Ajax in weeks from a communicative point of view.
„What you see is what you get”, says Heitinga, when asked about how he works with players. “Good is good, bad is bad. Then I don’t care who’s in front of me.”
With an inexperienced trainer, the eyes are more emphatically on the leading players. The players’ council – including captain Dusan Tadic, Steven Berghuis and Davy Klaassen – took the initiative a week and a half ago for a group discussion led by the external mental coach, which revealed that the selection was dissatisfied with the staff.
“We talk too much, we talk about everything. I don’t know what to say anymore,” Tadic told the club channel on Friday. “We always talk about a fresh start, but we just have to win. Winning is the best medicine.”
It is attack leader Tadic who points and coaches a lot towards teammates. And he opened the scoring with a penalty kick, resulting in a 4-1 win. Although Excelsior can just score three times in the first half, Ajax’s defensive vulnerabilities are so deep.
Central defender Edson Alvarez is illustrative, who is easily cut out by the fast Couhaib Driouech. Heitinga was “extremely irritated” by the sloppy game after the quick lead.
Calvin Bassey on the couch
Although possibly only briefly in control, he immediately hits his stakes. Defender Calvin Bassey, the purchase of 23 million euros that had a basic place under Schreuder, starts on the bench. As well as defender Jorge Sánchez and striker Brian Brobbey – formerly base forces.
In the vanguard he starts with Tadic in the striker, flanked by Steven Bergwijn (left) and Mohammed Kudus (right) – where Schreuder then put Tadic and then Bergwijn on the left again.
His match review had been brief, Heitinga said. He showed a picture of the ranking, on which Ajax was fifth. “The players in particular must realize that something has to change if we want to play in the Champions League next season.” Due to the victory and the loss of points of the competition, Ajax is now fourth, five points behind leader Feyenoord.
Heitinga does not know whether he will be on the bench against SC Cambuur next Sunday as head coach or as an assistant. Whether he now considers himself capable of structurally becoming the new Ajax coach? “What you don’t know, you don’t know,” he says. “I can’t see beyond today.”
He spoke to former Ajax trainer Henk ten Cate for some advice and wants to speak to “a number of others” – Mark van Bommel and Frank Rijkaard are people he regularly talks to, he said earlier.
Many names circulated this weekend as a new trainer, from Peter Bosz to Louis van Gaal. The man who probably knows, Edwin van der Sar, gets into his electric Mercedes EQS 450+ just after five o’clock. A victory in the pocket, but still surrounded by many questions.