NH Sportforum: “Jan Smit has to make the cut and keep FC Volendam in the premier league”

Crisis at Ajax

In Amsterdam it has been a crisis with a capital C in recent weeks. After the defeat against PSV (1-2) and the draw against Vitesse (2-2) and FC Emmen (3-3), reporter Thomas Brood is hard as nails. “In Emmen it was a total collapse. It was as if I was standing along the line with a fifth grader.”

“There was no team at all. Only players with their own agenda. Daley Blind with a straight face, Dusan Tadic was furious and Calvin Bassey was hopping around again. It was unworthy of Ajax,” says reporter Stephan Brandhorst. “In recent weeks, things have only gotten worse under Schreuder,” says editor Milton Pus.

Text continues below the photo.

“I maintain that the Ajax selection is hopelessly composed,” says Brood. According to him, Florian Grillitsch is the epitome of this. “Why was it possible at the beginning of the season?”, says Brandhorst, who sees that there are many problems in the dressing room that are now coming out.

Mirror

Brood knows a good Christmas present for the players of Ajax. “A mirror! Then the players can look in the mirror and see if they did their best.”

“It’s a mental issue,” Brandhorst thinks. “They are not in the flow and the question is whether they will get it back if it continues like this. It goes from bad to worse and they should perhaps be happy that they get European football,” says Brandhorst, who has two options on table throws. “Either you throw Schreuder out or you knock the rotten apples out of the dressing room.”

Text continues below the photo.

The call among the supporters has become increasingly loud in recent weeks to put Schreuder on the street. The reporters agree that’s not the best option. “I don’t know who to put in front of the group,” says Pus, who only dares to suggest the name of Peter Bosz. “Schreuder must not leave,” says Brood.

“I think it is better to sell Daley Blind than to throw Alfred Schreuder out”, says Brandhorst, who hopes that the defender has played his last match for Ajax. Brood: “Blind and Schreuder will never be okay again. There was a train accident between the two. After the World Cup, one of the two is gone.”

Text continues below the photo.

Presenter Edward Dekker wonders whether people should not have more respect for someone with almost a hundred international matches and who has meant a lot to Ajax. “He is the reserve captain of Ajax, but he doesn’t have the right attitude,” says Pus.

AZ hooks up

The men of NH Sport view the development of AZ considerably more positively. The Alkmaarders joined the traditional top clubs at the right time. “It was do-or-die against PSV,” said Brandhorst. In Eindhoven, AZ won 1-0 thanks to a goal from Vangelis Pavlidis. As a result, the team of trainer Pascal Jansen is only one point behind PSV and Ajax and four points away from winter champion Feyenoord.

Pus: “AZ played for the first time again with Jens Odgaard, Vangelis Pavlidis and Jesper Karlsson in the vanguard. They finally played with the solid core, so that is positive.” Against Excelsior (2-1) and RKC Waalwijk (3-1), AZ had a ‘small dip’, according to Brood, who thinks it is still early to say that AZ will participate in the championship until the end.

Text continues below the photo.

Partly due to the many matches in the Conference League, AZ has already played 26 official matches. “They started the season early and that allowed them to peak early,” says Brandhorst. “But a number of players also have some pains. Maxim Dekker is on his last legs and Jordy Clasie is not quite fit either. The winter break will come at the right time for AZ.”

According to reporters, the selection of AZ is well put together. Riechedly Bazoer is even a bench seat and Djordje Mihailovic will strengthen the selection during the winter break. “They don’t actually need them,” says Brandhorst about the American, who comes over from CF Montréal.

According to Dekker, Pascal Jansen may be saddled with an unexpected problem. Because where should Mihailovic play? “Perhaps you are obliged to let him play,” says Brandhorst. “Or they want to pre-sort at AZ for a departure from Tijjani Reijnders or Dani de Wit. De Wit is a footballer who could use Ajax.”

Text continues below the photo.

“In the case of interim reinforcements, you may disrupt the group process,” notes Dekker. “They would have preferred to get him at the beginning of the season,” says Brood. The American himself preferred that, but he wanted to finish the season in the MLS.

Brandhorst: “I would leave it that way. The midfield is the strength of this AZ. Dani de Wit is top and runs the most kilometers of the entire Eredivisie, Tijjani Reijnders is just as important on the ball as Jordy Clasie. And then we have they still Bazoer on the couch.”

‘Ugly duckling’

The third North Holland team in the premier league, FC Volendam, has entered the winter break as a last resort. Brood sees few leads in the Palingdorp. “It’s very bad”.

With six points, Volendam is becoming the ‘ugly duckling’ according to Brandhorst. Pus finds it too easy to say that Volendam is relegated. “Premature, because the gap is not very big.”

Text continues below the photo.

Where according to the sports editors Ajax has a number of ‘bad apples’ walking around, Volendam also has a few in house. Brood: “If you bring Henk Veerman into the house and put him on the couch, it will also cause a disturbance.”

In a remarkable interview with NH Sport, the tall striker denied that he, together with Daryl van Mieghem and Robert Mühren, had taken a story from trainer Wim Jonk. “You don’t have to beat around the bush, do you?” Brood wonders. “But not with the consequence if a divisive mushroom arises,” Dekker adds.

Text continues below the video.

In recent weeks, it has been increasingly suggested to collect points in a different way. Pus thinks that Jonk has held his ground for too long. “I think you should play relegation football. And then close things up.”

Brood: “How are you going to do that with such a defense? They are not good enough to throw up a handball defense.” Then Volendam will really bring on the problems, Brandhorst thinks. “It is already significant that keeper Filip Stankovic is the Man of the Match every week. If you start defending a lot, you fall into a trap. Put high pressure and play football with Henk Veerman as a point of contact.”

Brood has a clear-cut solution for Volendam. “Jan Smit has a thick bill. He has to withdraw something from it and deposit it in FC Volendam. In terms of players, you are short of the Eredivisie. You can accept that and continue, but if you have big plans like Jan Smit, then you have to you pull the cut.”

Text continues below the photo.

‘King of the draws’

At Telstar the flag is a lot better than during the previous season. Presenter Dekker states that the team from Velsen ‘surprise in a positive sense’ with a fourteenth place in the first division and had a series of eight unbeaten games in a row until last Friday. However, Brood is more critical of coach Mike Snoei’s team. “King of the draws. It was really bad against FC Eindhoven. If you don’t score, you can’t win. That’s the problem. They are one of the least scoring teams in the first division.”

Text continues below the photo.

Brandhorst looks precisely at the small number of goals against. “They all lost the matches they now draw last season. Defensively, a lot of gains have been made. It is like a house with experience.”

“It’s like a house that doesn’t have a couch yet, no lamps and no curtains on the windows. The door can be locked and that’s it,” says Dekker with a wink.

“I think Telstar is lacking offensively or a creative midfielder”, Brood tries to point out the problem. However, Koen Blommestijn is on his way back. “But at the end of the ride they are sixteenth.”

Pus is more positive about De Witte Leeuwen. “I was a bit too negative in the previous Sportforum. They have a more mature team than last year, so I think they will be thirteenth.” Brandhorst is the most optimistic and thinks that Snoei’s team will finish at the top of the right row.

Text continues below the photo.

The NH Sportforum was broadcasted on Sunday 20 November from 6:00 pm to 7:00 pm and can be listened back via nhradio.nl The next episode is Sunday 19 December. Do you have any questions or comments? Then email to [email protected]