Downer for fragile Ajax in practice match with Anderlecht | Dutch football

The next morning, it was agreed with Bassey, who was initially scheduled to kick off, not to take any risks. Although his management continued to claim until this morning that he wanted revenge for his first season in which he was unable to ground himself mainly on the ball, the Nigerian defender is now really on his way to London.

If Bassey passes the inspection there next week, Steijn will have even less choice for the heart of his defense. It is not for nothing that technical director Sven Mislintat wanted to strengthen Ajax there first. And that was long before Jurriën Timber left for Arsenal. The German had three candidates for his inheritance. From that list he will try to get not one, but two mandekkers (including the Croat Josip Sutalo) to Ajax.

The couple that formed the center in the Belgian capital (Olivier Aertssen and Jorrel Hato) are younger together (35 years) than the captain of the opponent. Jan Vertonghen (36) led the defense of Anderlecht, which finished in the middle bracket last season.

Leader Vertonghen saw another former Ajax player, Kasper Dolberg, open the score after more than ten minutes. Purple and White found Louis Patris on the left, who put Anderlecht’s new Danish striker alone in front of the keeper. After he had turned away from Aertssen, Dolberg subtly finished with a marker, to which Geronimo Rulli, who had returned under the bar of Ajax, had no answer (1-0, see video below).

Anderlecht’s second big chance before the break also arose on Ajax’s left flank. This time it was Anders Dreyer who got a free job. Rulli eventually made the save, but it soon became clear how Ajax craves defensive security again. In the back left Owen Wijndal turned out to have already been overtaken by Anass Salah-Eddine, although the mercenary who had returned from Twente could not grab his chance with both hands.

After the break, Ajax, which did not get much further in the first half than failed shooting attempts by Devyne Rensch and Davy Klaassen, recovered somewhat. Steijn’s team played a handful of decent chances together, with Kenneth Taylor (post) and Mo Kudus (crossbar) coming closest to the equalizer.

In the last fifteen minutes Ajax, where Branco van den Boomen again manifested himself as a player for the base, still ran into a big practice defeat. First it was Aertssen, who functioned well on the ball, who surprised substitute keeper Jay Gorter, after which Benito Raman set the final score at 3-0 with a diagonal slider.

This is how Steijn suffered his first (unofficial) defeat with Ajax, although his last concern is the ever-decreasing number – and moreover often meager – options in his defense.