Ajax has suffered another painful setback with their defeat against FC Twente, a result that is naturally a hot topic in the ESPN studio. On ESPN’s *Dit Was Het Weekend*, Kenneth Perez and Bram van Polen take an in-depth look at Saturday’s match.
Van Polen noted that Ajax tried to apply high pressure at times, but that Twente played their way out of it brilliantly. According to the analyst, the visitors showed more ‘gogme’ in certain situations. He points to the opening goal, in which Twente cleverly exploited Ajax’s positioning.
“You can see that a player like Rots thinks: Gaaei is pushing forward, so I’ll move a bit more centrally. That’s exactly the kind of insight you want to see,” explains Van Polen. As a result, Ajax couldn’t cover properly and space opened up, which Twente exploited to the full. In the aftermath of that attack, he believes even more went wrong for the Amsterdam side.
Van Polen lists the mistakes that preceded the goal. “Mokio could have closed him down, Weghorst perhaps needed to keep running further… so much goes wrong.” He concluded that things just aren’t quite right at Ajax and that small details have major consequences. “It’s far too easy the way that ball eventually flies in.”
Perez picks up on this and focuses primarily on Ajax’s midfield. “Mokio is unreliable. He just reacts to what’s happening, rather than anticipating it,” said Perez. According to him, the young midfielder lacks the ability to recognise danger early on. “A more experienced player would already be in that space, waiting to see what happens.”
The Danish analyst does, however, qualify the harsh criticism of the young midfielder. “Look, there’s a lot of criticism of Sean Steur and Mokio, but they’re eighteen. They shouldn’t be playing every week, but for twenty minutes now and then. Unless you’re at Gravenberch’s level, you need to bring them on gradually.”
At the end of the analysis, the focus shifts to Ajax’s right flank, which visibly surprises Perez. The analyst can barely contain his laughter as he asks Van Polen: “What did you think of Ajax’s right flank? Do you associate that with Ajax?
“When you think of Ajax, do you think of Gaaei and Edvardsen? Hahahaha. What on earth is this?” says the cynical Perez.