After taking an advance on the Eredivisie title on Sunday afternoon by taking advantage of PSV’s loss of points the day before with a 3-0 win over Heracles, unprecedented chaos broke out on the offices of the Johan Cruijff Arena.
Erik ten Hag keeps a cool head after another crisis at Ajax and instructs his players during the quarterfinals of the KNVB Cup.
Ⓒ HH/ANP
The news about technical director Marc Overmars dominated the news media, so that in the run-up to Wednesday evening’s cup match there was hardly a reporter to be found who was concerned with the quarterfinals.
crisis manager
However, Ten Hag had already proven that he was able to keep his team out of the wind during administrative crises within his club, and when the ball rolled once on Wednesday evening, it quickly became apparent that he had succeeded again this time. Apart from the absent Noussair Mazraoui, Ajax eagerly started the match in its strongest starting line-up. The football was fresh and Vitesse never got into its game. Within ten minutes it was also hit. The visitors helped a lot with that goal, because Tomás Hajek led a deadly counterattack with stupid loss of the ball. Antony took the ball to the enemy’s goal and remained icy calm with Jeroen Houwen: 1-0.
Haller manages to score the 2-0.
Ⓒ HH/ANP
Because of that early lead, the team from Amsterdam started to play even more frivolous. That led to a second goal within half an hour, when Sébastien Haller hit the short corner after a wonderful pass from base customer Davy Klaassen. Again Vitesse had to scratch his head there, because this time goalkeeper Jeroen Houwen did not look fresh. Despite the dubious performance of the Vitesse goalie, Ten Hag was satisfied that his team had managed to convert the negativity of the past few days into a strong first half.
Gallery play
At the start of the second half, Vitesse, already scoring few goals this season, was faced with the almost impossible task of turning the game around 2-0 behind. If trainer Thomas Letsch still put forward tactical plans for this in the dressing room, then the German could have gone back to his dugout and put it in the trash. Cold back on the field, Steven Berghuis delivered a perfectly measured cross from the left, and because Haller was in the right place, the last bit of yellow-black hope was definitely crushed.
Steven Berghuis was also important for his team, including an assist on Haller.
Ⓒ HH/ANP
It had become clear by now that Ajax seized the opportunity to get rid of all administrative frustration. Because although there was hardly anything to criticize about the record champion on the field, the situation around Overmars continued to hang over the Arena like a damp blanket. The public was also not sure what to do with the situation, because between the cheers for all the hits, part of the supporters found time to TD to put a heart under the belt.
For the Ajax players on the field, however, college football was an asset. The home team maintained a very high tempo and did not give its opponent an inch of space. That led to the next goal not long after Haller’s 3-0, when captain Dusan Tadic drove a free kick into the intersection. A monster score thus became a realistic scenario, especially when Antony made it 5-0 before a good hour had been played.
Agony
After having made a substitution in three places – Nicolas Tagliafico, Perr Schuurs and Kenneth Taylor were now within the lines – Ten Hag had to conclude that his team was slowing down somewhat. Opportunities still arose, for example through Antony who could have completed his hat-trick. It didn’t get any worse than that for the mad Vitesse, because the score dried up at the generous score of 5-0 and referee Bas Nijhuis put an end to the agony of the Arnhem team after exactly ninety minutes.
With the form on the field, it turned out to be more than good in Amsterdam, but Ten Hag walked off the field like a farmer with a toothache. The wound that the ‘Overmars affair’ inflicted on the trainer will linger on for a long time to come with De Tukker.
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