Bram van Polen and Kenneth Perez are far from impressed with Josip Sutalo, as they revealed on ESPN’s *Dit Was Het Weekend*. The former PEC Zwolle defender went on to compare the Croatian with Ajax loanee Nick Verschuren, who does, however, win him over.
“He’s received compliments on several occasions,” the former PEC captain begins, speaking of the Ajax loanee. “He throws himself at the ball like a man possessed from time to time. A lot of defenders in the Eredivisie could learn a thing or two from that.”
"He doesn’t shy away from a single challenge, even if it’s sometimes a bit reckless and he goes down quite easily. But he really throws himself into everything and he also reads the game very well when a shot is about to be taken. He doesn’t go down just for the sake of it," he continues.
Nevertheless, Van Polen also sees room for improvement in possession for the young FC Volendam defender, who played a good game against Feyenoord (0-0) on Sunday. But defensively, he considers him rock-solid and even rates him higher in that respect than his Ajax counterpart, Sutalo.
“Defensively, I think he’s better, yes. Purely in terms of defending,” concludes Van Polen, after which Perez attempts to add some nuance by pointing out that Sutalo has had to defend in very large spaces this year, something that was less often the case under Farioli.
“You say that because you now see Sutalo playing in large spaces. But Sutalo under Farioli was a very, very good defender,” the Dane interjects, after which Van Polen points out that Volendam also sometimes defends in large spaces and that Verschuren is perfectly capable of doing so.
"But the way Sutalo turns for Van Rooij’s goal – you hardly ever see that from Verschuren," Van Polen continues, before Perez interrupts him. "Yes, but Sutalo is brilliant in this style of play. Sutalo isn’t suited to playing for Ajax with this style of play. But under Farioli, he was a very good defender. It makes things easier for everyone when you defend in tight spaces. Makes sense,” concludes the former Ajax player.