Frank de Boer and Toby Alderweireld sharply criticised Ajax coach Míchel Sánchez's poor English on Ziggo Sport on Thursday evening. The Spaniard has now been working in Amsterdam for three and a half months, but struggled badly to make himself understood after the painful 2-1 defeat to Hajduk Split. Both pundits are concerned about how Míchel gets his message across.
After the embarrassing Conference League defeat, Míchel tried to explain to Ziggo Sport what had gone wrong in particularly laboured English. "I think our first half was not good enough. We lost the ball a lot when we had possession and did not have enough energy without the ball to press well," said the coach, who also stressed that Ajax improved after the break. "In the second half, we dominated the match and deserved more, but we conceded two goals because of two mistakes."
Asked about Jofre Torrents's performance after the player had a major part to play in both goals conceded, Míchel replied: "He made a mistake for the second goal, but his performance was not bad." The Spaniard frequently searched for words during the interview and struggled to finish his sentences.
In the Ziggo Sport studio, presenter Sam van Royen picked up on Míchel's English. "I'm looking at this from a television perspective too, and perhaps you wouldn't say this if they had won and everything was fine," the presenter began. "But in terms of his English, his communication, after a defeat... it does come across awkwardly, doesn't it?"
Alderweireld agreed and questioned how Míchel gets his message across to the Ajax squad. "I ask myself: how does he communicate with his team? Is it in English or in Spanish? A lot of people don't understand Spanish; they understand English better, but if you speak like that...," said Alderweireld, making no secret of his concerns.
Backing him up, De Boer gave a damning assessment: "It's excruciating to sit and listen to this." Alderweireld continued: "If you do that in the dressing room, you get exactly the same thing," said the former defender, who also has doubts about working with an interpreter. "Suppose he speaks Spanish and someone else translates it: it often doesn't come across in quite the same way. Perhaps he delivers it slightly differently from the person translating it, so that isn't ideal."
Van Royen suggested that Daley Blind, who according to the presenter was brought in as a sort of extension of Míchel, could perhaps act as a translator. Alderweireld did not see that as an ideal solution either: "As long as there's an intermediary, it doesn't matter whether it's Daley Blind or someone else. At a moment like that, you have to convey your passion and knowledge. A team should almost be hanging on your every word and thinking: OK, yes, that's it."