Willem van Hanegem has had his say on Ajax after Saturday's 2-2 home draw with Excelsior. In his column in Algemeen Dagblad he also discussed the penalty not given after the alleged foul by Youri Baas on Irakli Yegoian.
Van Hanegem praised goalkeeper Stijn van Gassel. "He played very well against Ajax. Ajax had enough chances to win, but let’s not exaggerate the football there either."
Writing in De Kromme, he noted that the Kralingers went ahead in the second half through Aymen Sliti. "After an hour they were simply behind at home against Excelsior and in the end they dropped two costly points. Undeserved? Ajax were better, but afterwards they could still be satisfied with it."
The 82-year-old former footballer also took aim at the decision not to award Excelsior a penalty. "Baas, who I find a bit worked up this season, kicks Yegoian in the face and it is a mystery to me that they did not see a penalty for that in Zeist. That would have made it 2-3," he said.
Van Hanegem also appears unimpressed by the refereeing. "I hear that that referees’ boss (Raymond van Meenen, ed.) loses half his morning every Monday telling clubs that they have been wronged."
He then returned to the Baas incident. "Well, then Excelsior will probably get a phone call as well. Earlier, such a foul cost Joey Veerman a red card against AZ, now at Ajax it was nothing," said Van Hanegem about Baas’s high boot into the face of the Excelsior player.
He also questioned Ajax's selection. "I think Ajax could have made quick work of Excelsior with Tolu Arokodare in the starting XI. There are now three weeks without league matches, so why not start with the best striker? If he was not completely fresh, they could still have tried it from the start, couldn’t they? Now he also plays quite a long time as a substitute," concluded the Feyenoord legend.