Hopefully I don’t sound too Biblical when I notice that after his red card against Napoli, some of the Ajax supporters mocked and slandered and almost flogged and crucified Dusan Tadic. The man recently adored as a messiah by the same audience suddenly seemed to have become the devil himself.
I still remember the general endearment when Tadic, as captain, expressed his ambitious plans with Ajax in his inimitable coal Dutch: „We have to pack scale.” It became a sports legend. In the press conference after the colossal humiliation, he humbly looked back on the behavior of the public on Tuesday. „I think is normal… At big loss you know our fans is mad.”
I felt very sorry for him. He has been a great player for Ajax since his arrival in 2018. As a left winger, he split entire rear guards with his dribbling, crosses, passes and shots. A player with great technique and a lot of scoring ability. As a captain, he is also an always combative predecessor. Especially thanks to Tadic, Ajax experienced a new heyday under coach Eric ten Hag.
And then? Then Ajax did something very strange, although the consequences hardly seemed to get through to the press and public. Tadic functioned very well as a winger last season: 13 goals and 19 assists – about the same as in the previous season.
Nevertheless, Ajax decided to buy another left winger for 31 million euros: Steven Bergwijn, a player who remained reserve at Tottenham Hotspur under two different trainers. Bergwijn had attracted attention with some brilliant goals in the Dutch national team. When I showed enthusiasm about it, PSV fans – he had played for PSV – already warned me: “He has a lot of technique, but is very erratic and often invisible.”
This Bergwijn, Ajax decided, had to become the new left winger. And what about Tadic? He could try it as a center striker or on the right wing. However, it had already become apparent that he generally did not come into his own in those places.
For example, at the age of 33 for a footballer, Tadic was forced to move to places where he did not feel comfortable. No wonder he started playing weaker because of this noise. Yes, he’s slowed down, but he’s never been a lightning-fast player. It became clear to me that he was slowing down when he was almost robbed of his expensive watch in Amsterdam South by two crooks who, according to the description in a newspaper, had caught up with him during the chase; she wouldn’t have been able to do that with Ronaldo.
In the meantime Ajax was also unwise to sell his outstanding right winger Antony. This increased the pressure for Tadic to succeed in that spot. In short, Ajax bought a left winger while it still had a good left winger and it sold a right winger even though it had no other right winger. The result is that Ajax now plays with a left winger who has so far been disappointing in top matches and with a right winger who is not a right winger.
Is it strange that one day such a club does not get a beating from a fine opponent but a beating? Maybe it’s weirder that it hasn’t happened before.
A version of this article also appeared in the newspaper of October 7, 2022