Shortly after the break, Ajax striker Kristian Hlynsson starts a sprint. From midfield to the keeper, through to the left back of Fortuna Sittard and back to midfield. A little rest, two breaths, and on again, chasing the ball, another round. Teammates watch his hopeless attempt to chase the opponent from a distance. Nobody supports. Moments later, the same thing happened to substitute and debutant Chuba Akpom. As soon as he sees that, he stops and spreads his arms in surprise.
Sunday afternoon is typical for Ajax’s game, which can be happy with a draw (0-0) in Sittard. There is no lack of energy and individual initiative, but a joint battle plan is difficult to discern, let alone a player who can make it clear what needs to be done. How could it be otherwise, with so many newcomers? Coach Maurice Steijn lets Josip Sutalo, Gastón Avila, Georgos Mikautadze, Anton Gaaei and Akpom make their debuts, while summer purchases Benjamin Tahirovic, Branco van den Boomen and Carlos Forbs also start in the base. A team of which a large part only met each other this week.
The unfamiliarity is visible from the kick-off. When the ball is lost, Fortuna, which combines easily and has a technically refined playmaker in Alen Halilovic, is regularly in a promising position within a few taps. Especially the right flank of Ajax, with Devyne Rensch and the young Hlynsson hardly offers any resistance. In the first ten minutes, Fortuna Sittard has already become dangerous three times, once resulting in a – missed – penalty kick.
On the other hand, Ajax hardly manages to involve the attackers Forbs, Hlynsson and Mikautadze in the game. Simple passes don’t get through because players don’t understand each other or don’t seem to know exactly how fast they are or which way they want to go. Just like on Thursday evening against Ludogorets, Ajax hardly creates any opportunities. When was the last time Ajax put long-term pressure on an opponent? It must have been early last season.
Ajax level
Look at this Ajax of mostly unknown newcomers and it is impossible to say what the team is capable of in the long term. Coach Steijn also hardly seems to have an impression. Of course, he is happy that he has a large number of new forces at his disposal, but whether they also have the Ajax level? Only Sutalo, the defender who came over from Dinamo Zagreb and who was immediately made captain in the absence of Steven Bergwijn, does Steijn already dare to say that. The rest remains to be seen, he says despairingly afterwards.
The only one who dares to be more firm about this is technical director Sven Mislintat. He is the architect of the selection – unlike trainer Alfred Schreuder last year, Steijn is only indirectly involved in the composition of the selection this summer. “As staff, we have also laid down our ideas, but he has made different choices,” says Steijn afterwards in Sittard. In recent months, Mislintat has spent almost 110 million euros on twelve young, mostly unknown foreign players, sometimes even playing at the second level. Basic players Mohammed Kudus, Jurriën Timber, Edson Alvarez and Dusan Tadic left. A true metamorphosis.
Mislintat is “very happy” with it, he says in a conversation with the press prior to the game. “We have lost a few top players. But there is much more balance in the selection.”
His colleague at PSV, Earnest Stewart, said earlier this weekend that he has deliberately put together a “recognizable team” by bringing players such as Jerdy Schouten, Noa Lang and old acquaintance Hirving Lozano to PSV. With success: PSV looks like a close-knit and well-integrated whole. The contrast with Mislintat’s choices is stark. This is partly out of necessity, he says. So much was missing from Ajax’s selection, Mislintat thought, that replacing a few positions with recognizable, arrived and relatively expensive players would have had too little impact.
Beat the market
It’s also strategy – and typically Mislintat. Listen to him and you will hear a stock investor telling convincingly how he will beat the market with contrarian investments and systematic analysis. Without regard to national borders, because top football is simply a ‘multicultural game’. As long as players are “hungry” and have the “right mentality” and are “proud to wear the Ajax shirt”, nationality does not matter to Mislintat. “You can find bargains everywhere,” he says. “Guys like Jadon Sancho, but also Carlos Forbs and Mikautadze, players with special weapons. The talent is there, at every level, but most people aren’t brave enough to go for it.”
On Sunday afternoon against Fortuna you can occasionally see flashes of the qualities that Mislintat attributes to his purchases. Mikautadze, often frivolous and sloppy, who deftly dribbles himself free and shoots hard at goal. Sutalo, who defends calmly, hardly loses a duel and has a smart attitude. Left winger Forbs, who rushes past his opponent with explosive acceleration. But it is too little to embarrass Fortuna Sittard. The best chances are also in the second half for the home team, especially for striker Tijjani Noslin.
Patience, that’s what Mislintat asks for. Feyenoord, which went through a similar metamorphosis last summer, has proven that a collection of young foreigners can grow into a close-knit collective in a short time, especially if almost everyone still has to earn their status and position. Mislintat: “You can’t expect things to go well from day one. You can’t buy leadership either. That must arise. We will only see the best version of this team after three, six or nine weeks, maybe even longer. Give the boys some time. That’s no excuse, we still want to win everything, but last time we didn’t qualify for the Champions League, it took us four years to come back.”
The big question is whether Ajax will get that time. The gap to PSV, with AZ and FC Twente in the lead, is already four points.