John Heitinga after ‘terrible’ duel: ‘This is a different Ajax than in recent years’ | Dutch football

“It was just a really bad game on our part. I thought it was a terrible game to watch”, said the interim coach, who will finish the season after the dismissal of Alfred Schreuder. We have to be realistic: this is a different Ajax than in recent years. It was almost energyless how we played”, says Heitinga ESPN.

,,Of course Emmen tried to take the pace out of the match, they have to do that. But we can do much better than we showed today. You have to speed up, handle a much higher ball pace, dribble in at times. But hey, games like that do happen from time to time. We have 3 points again and we are at least one goal ahead of PSV in terms of goal difference.”

Ajax and PSV will compete against each other in Eindhoven next week. At stake in that game is second place in the Eredivisie and with that a ticket for the preliminary rounds of the Champions League. Feyenoord is eight points ahead of Ajax and PSV.

The team from Amsterdam go to Eindhoven without Edson Álvarez, who received his tenth yellow card of the season against FC Emmen and is now suspended. ,,I do like the referee’s decision, but we have to move on”, said Heitinga. “We have to do it next week with the players we have.”

The Ajax coach does not blame the Mexican international for anything. ,,This is in his game, this also makes him a player you would like to have in your team. A player who always pushes the boundaries. This often has positive consequences for us. I can’t blame Edson, he always gives the maximum. If anyone has a winning mentality, it’s Edson Álvarez.”