Last season marked the fourth consecutive season that Ajax would finish second in the Eredivisie. After four straight league winning campaigns, it's been a bitter stretch for perhaps the most famous team from Holland. From narrow margins (one point behind Feyenoord in 2016-17) to some more sizable point gaps (2014-15, finishing 17 points behind PSV) and even a vital collapse (drawing with second from bottom to finish two points behind PSV where a win would have won them the title in 2015-16) the suffering has come in various forms. PSV has started out 5-0-0 this season, but Ajax is 4-1-0 with 14 goals, just one conceded, and a dominating 3-0 victory in the Champions League against AEK Athens.
The last title-winning side for Ajax was led by Frank de Boer and featured plenty of world-known players that moved on from the Dutch club. Daley Blind was purchased by Manchester United that very summer (though he's back now). Jasper Cillessen is now at Barcelona as their back-up keeper. Davy Klaassen had a (failed) move to Everton and now plays with Werder Bremen. Bojan featured as a loanee from Barcelona the season before his move to Stoke City. Siem de Jong would follow the Blind model of moving to England that summer (to Newcastle) but is returned. This list does not even include to massive stars who left before the 2013 summer window ended: Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld, along with youngsters like Kenny Tete and Jairo Riedewald who did not heavily feature, but have also moved.
One of the incredible things about Ajax, though, is their ability to consistently have top-tier talent. They need to, after all, to continue to contend at a very high level and put themselves into good position in both league and continental play. How do they do it? I'm going to deep dive into the personnel of this current year's Ajax team, how they play, and what to expect from them. Let's get started.
The Personnel:
One of the things about Ajax is that they are so strong in all aspects of the field, but also have stellar depth, especially for the Dutch league. Some look down on the Dutch Eredivisie as lacking in quality, and while yes it is not a top five or six league, there is still plenty of quality throughout the league, and Ajax, I would argue, have the most talented side, only rivaled by PSV.
The attack is what most would look towards when looking at Ajax. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is the elder statesman of the front line. At 35-years-old and having just logged his 250th league goal in his career, he remains as effective as ever with six goals in just five league games. His nice form this season is certainly welcome, as he has been around the world and can provide guidance to the younger players. A legendary finisher, he is 'the hunter' for a reason with devastating finishing ability. Even getting up there in age and having fallen off a bit, he remains a force and his current form proves that.
The other three players who have started generally this season in attack on the wing I will list here, but all three are vastly different. David Neres is just 21 and an injury slowed his season up a touch, but the Brazilian is back match fit and ready to get right back in pre-injury form. Hakim Ziyech is right in the prime of his professional career at 25 and has certainly been playing like it. Finally, you have a new signing in Dusan Tadic, signed off of Southampton for about ten million pounds at the age of 29.
Let's actually start with Tadic, because he may be more familiar with readers. Tadic has spent the past four years with Southampton to a sizable level of success with the English club, even to the point of perhaps the highest honor a Southampton player could receive: a link to Liverpool in 2017. Jokes aside, Tadic's career at Southampton was quite nice and he saw a good amount of success, so he decided to move back to the Netherlands and his "dream club" of Ajax. The season has started off well for the Serbian national as he's scored four times in the league already, showing that Ajax is not just that club that seem to pump out talented young Dutch players.
On the other wing, generally, is Ziyech, who is quickly becoming a more household name. The Moroccan can play in the central midfield, and did in fact do so against Athens, but he is more than able to play on the right wing as a more inverted winger. Linked with Liverpool this past summer as a possible Nabil Fekir replacement, he plays a similar position but is entirely different. Ziyech's delivery with crosses and set pieces is a key part of his play, as shown by 15 assists last season, and makes him dangerous wherever he is on the pitch, which can also sometimes be "everywhere." His 4.2 key passes and 3.4 dribbles per game last year also highlight just how dangerous he is.
Rounding out the three is Neres. I would argue that Neres in the best right wing in the Eredivisie, and while Brandley Kumas makes it close, Neres is definitely that player. 14 goals and 11 assists last season, 3.6 dribbles a match, and over two key passes a match in 2017-18 tell you about all you need to know of the Brazilian. Not as eye-popping as Ziyech's numbers, but also considering age makes the 21-year-old look even better compared to the rest of the league. There are very few players I would consider to have similar potential as Neres.
Now we enter the midfield, which is where we will eventually discuss some interesting tactics. But what you need to know right away is that Frenkie de Jong has made himself a staple in the line-up and is another Ajax player drawing links to clubs like Barcelona and Tottenham. De Jong is a 21-year-old defensive midfielder that has just about everything you could possibly hope for in a holding mid: speed, power, and an eye for the right pass. He has become the sort of player that's received the sort of hype that you need to see him to believe him. Having seen him, I was thoroughly impressed. His work between the defense and midfield stood out consistently to me as something to always have your eye on, frequently he was positioned almost as a center back while building up or in possession. It seems more and more likely that a move to Barcelona is in his very near future, and he would very likely end up Sergio Busquets' heir apparent. We'll talk plenty more about him here.
Ajax's midfield will generally feature one of the three attackers I referred to when all three are healthy, but that also leaves one other spot. That spot (or both when just three are fit) is occupied by either veteran Lasse Schone or fellow young lad Donny van de Beek. Schone is 32 and one of few Ajax players who were with the team for their last title win and remained with the club the entire duration. He was a beacon of consistency last season with ten goals in 24 league appearances and remains valuable in the starting eleven. Van de Beek, meanwhile is another 21-year-old midfielder that is coming off an eleven goal league season with six assists to go with it. Like de Jong, van de Beek is strong and smart in terms of passing, but van de Beek has plenty more goals in him and will make runs forward far more frequently than his country mate, as shown by his smart finish against Athens for the second goal. Donny would appear to be the heir apparent for Schone in the line-up in the near future, but the question for him looms of how long he will be in the side.
The defense is also crucial in making this Ajax side tick, not to mention the goalie behind the squad as a whole. In net is Andre Onana, a 22-year-old Cameroonian is quick and reflexive in net and able to read the game as well. He's a fantastic shot-stopper and while he may not be of the breed of keeper that is absolutely comfortable distributing the ball everywhere around the pitch, he is not fully lacking in that skill set. He is helped greatly with a solid back four in front of him, and he helps install them with confidence with the knowledge that there is a rock-solid goalie in the net if a defensive error happens.
The center back pairing is incredibly intriguing as it consists of experience, Daley Blind, and youth, Matthijs De Ligt. Blind has been around the game for as long as he's been alive, but at 28, his relative youth may surprise some who have seen and heard of him on the world stage for at least six years or so. De Ligt, on the other hand, is yet another Ajax youth prospect. At just 19, which he turned only a month ago, he is the youngest player in the starting eleven, and perhaps the one with the most potential. Already a regular starter for Ajax and a Dutch international, his future is incredibly bright. A strong tackler and good passer, he and Blind compliment each other very well and the experience alongside a defender like Blind who has been at the highest stage of the game is going to be vital in the younger man's development.
Finally, you have your full backs. On the right is Noussair Mazraoui, a 20-year-old and the second Moroccan in the starting line-up. On the left side, Ajax has 26-year-old Argentine captain Nico Tagliafico controlling the flank. Both players like to get forward and attack with the front three, and as a result of their stamina, they can handle it for just about the entire match. Tagliafico's two goals against Athens were the highlights of the match, and he'll be the talk of the town for that, but what many may not have realized is that he has been that consistent for the better part of the season. Mazraoui, on the other hand, is building towards his full potential, but even now is already an integral part to the side.
The Tactics:
Now we're familiar with the Ajax squad, what can they do? Well, let's start with the system. Ajax's line-up is almost always listed as a 4-3-3, but in practice, while it varies, it is almost always a 4-2-3-1 in shape with an attacking midfielder of the three listed, and the other two midfielders dropping a bit deeper. This is, as I've mentioned, generally Ziyech, Tadic, or Neres, but also has been van de Beek as well.
The beauty of the diverse personnel that Ajax has is that they can throw multiple different looks at an opponent just through changing the line-ups, but still keep the same tactical approach. Let's look at the differences in line-up between the Champions League match with Athens, their league match four days before against Groningen, and their two qualifying matches against Dynamo Kyiv. All three matches they were listed as a 4-3-3, but with Neres unavailable in the Kyiv matches, the midfield three was Schone, de Jong, and van de Beek. In the 3-1 victory, it was van de Beek getting forward from midfield, but in the 0-0 away from home to clinch qualification, it was de Jong whose average position was far higher. Against Groningen, Neres returned to the midfield and here we saw much more of the 4-2-3-1 with Schone and de Jong in the midfield as a deeper two and Neres getting forward as another attacker. Finally, against Athens, it was de Jong in defense in place of De Ligt and 20-year-old youth prospect Carel Eiting managing the left side of a defensive two-man midfield alongside Schone.
As you can see, the tactics remains pretty much the same: a base 4-3-3 changing shape in practice to a 4-2-3-1 with two deeper midfielders. How about the wing play though? As mentioned, both full backs like to get forward, and the two wingers generally like to cut inside. Neres plays almost behind Tadic on the left when he's in the midfield, while Ziyech cuts inside quite frequently, especially when delivering crosses into the box. As a result, you have a left and right back who serve as the main commanders of either flank. In attack, Ajax love to build via the wing and work forward from there. Both defenders, Blind and De Ligt, have good eyes for passing and generally find the wing backs and wingers with relative ease. If facing an opponent that gives them space, they will easily take advantage given how they already do so with opponents that do not. Especially watching the 3-1 over Kyiv, I was taken at how often a short pass to either Tagliafico or Mazraoui would start an attack from the back. Ziyech can also drop deeper into a more midfield wing position to receive the ball and aid in the build up. Both wingers, especially in the attacking third, do very well to make themselves open on the wing and available to assist in the build up, whether that's through cross delivery or just general build.
Another staple of the Ajax tactical approach is the press. A key part of their history, Ajax does not press to the level of a Liverpool, but their pressure on the opponent in the back does not allow opposing sides to build from the back the way Ajax would like their own side to. Huntelaar leads the line and his high work rate makes things difficult for the opposing sides. Any of the three midfielders can push forward and assist in the press, but generally the two more defensive minded men in the midfield will hold back and provide support in front of the two center backs. In attack, this can even look like a wide 3-3-3-1 with a defensive mid dropping back and two wingers and two wing backs making themselves open on the wings. Ajax do well to constantly win possession battles because they rarely give their opponent the time on the ball to hold it. Athens, several times, had to resort to long balls up to a double-covered striker to try and get something going. The closing down is vital for Ajax's attack, and in this case the best attack very well could be considered a good defense.
Future Thoughts:
Ajax, as a club, have a storied history and it looks to be a bright future. While I wanted to talk exclusively about the club and their tactical approach to this year, it is impossible to not look forward with Ajax. The time to break the four-year drought would appear to be now, even with PSV's considerable strengths, especially in their own attackers. The question looms, though, of just how long this young core will stay together.
As it stands, Ajax have perhaps the two most touted young defenders in de Jong and De Ligt in their set-up. De Ligt may be the frequent captain of the side, and club's vice-captain, but if a bigger club comes calling, it seems like it would be just a matter of time before a bid would be accepted. Ajax also have Neres, Ziyech, Onana, and of course, Kasper Dolberg, a starlet who has not heavily featured this season, to worry about retaining. But the beauty about the Dutch club is that their youth club set-up is so strong that once their youth players do leave, it will be on to the future, no need to dwell in the past. For now, thinking about players leaving is not at all in the minds of any Ajax supporters. What's important is for Ajax to make the 2018-19 season one to remember, both domestically and in the Champions League.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty of Liverpool FC and other related football coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
The last title-winning side for Ajax was led by Frank de Boer and featured plenty of world-known players that moved on from the Dutch club. Daley Blind was purchased by Manchester United that very summer (though he's back now). Jasper Cillessen is now at Barcelona as their back-up keeper. Davy Klaassen had a (failed) move to Everton and now plays with Werder Bremen. Bojan featured as a loanee from Barcelona the season before his move to Stoke City. Siem de Jong would follow the Blind model of moving to England that summer (to Newcastle) but is returned. This list does not even include to massive stars who left before the 2013 summer window ended: Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld, along with youngsters like Kenny Tete and Jairo Riedewald who did not heavily feature, but have also moved.
One of the incredible things about Ajax, though, is their ability to consistently have top-tier talent. They need to, after all, to continue to contend at a very high level and put themselves into good position in both league and continental play. How do they do it? I'm going to deep dive into the personnel of this current year's Ajax team, how they play, and what to expect from them. Let's get started.
The Personnel:
One of the things about Ajax is that they are so strong in all aspects of the field, but also have stellar depth, especially for the Dutch league. Some look down on the Dutch Eredivisie as lacking in quality, and while yes it is not a top five or six league, there is still plenty of quality throughout the league, and Ajax, I would argue, have the most talented side, only rivaled by PSV.
The attack is what most would look towards when looking at Ajax. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar is the elder statesman of the front line. At 35-years-old and having just logged his 250th league goal in his career, he remains as effective as ever with six goals in just five league games. His nice form this season is certainly welcome, as he has been around the world and can provide guidance to the younger players. A legendary finisher, he is 'the hunter' for a reason with devastating finishing ability. Even getting up there in age and having fallen off a bit, he remains a force and his current form proves that.
The other three players who have started generally this season in attack on the wing I will list here, but all three are vastly different. David Neres is just 21 and an injury slowed his season up a touch, but the Brazilian is back match fit and ready to get right back in pre-injury form. Hakim Ziyech is right in the prime of his professional career at 25 and has certainly been playing like it. Finally, you have a new signing in Dusan Tadic, signed off of Southampton for about ten million pounds at the age of 29.
Let's actually start with Tadic, because he may be more familiar with readers. Tadic has spent the past four years with Southampton to a sizable level of success with the English club, even to the point of perhaps the highest honor a Southampton player could receive: a link to Liverpool in 2017. Jokes aside, Tadic's career at Southampton was quite nice and he saw a good amount of success, so he decided to move back to the Netherlands and his "dream club" of Ajax. The season has started off well for the Serbian national as he's scored four times in the league already, showing that Ajax is not just that club that seem to pump out talented young Dutch players.
On the other wing, generally, is Ziyech, who is quickly becoming a more household name. The Moroccan can play in the central midfield, and did in fact do so against Athens, but he is more than able to play on the right wing as a more inverted winger. Linked with Liverpool this past summer as a possible Nabil Fekir replacement, he plays a similar position but is entirely different. Ziyech's delivery with crosses and set pieces is a key part of his play, as shown by 15 assists last season, and makes him dangerous wherever he is on the pitch, which can also sometimes be "everywhere." His 4.2 key passes and 3.4 dribbles per game last year also highlight just how dangerous he is.
Rounding out the three is Neres. I would argue that Neres in the best right wing in the Eredivisie, and while Brandley Kumas makes it close, Neres is definitely that player. 14 goals and 11 assists last season, 3.6 dribbles a match, and over two key passes a match in 2017-18 tell you about all you need to know of the Brazilian. Not as eye-popping as Ziyech's numbers, but also considering age makes the 21-year-old look even better compared to the rest of the league. There are very few players I would consider to have similar potential as Neres.
Now we enter the midfield, which is where we will eventually discuss some interesting tactics. But what you need to know right away is that Frenkie de Jong has made himself a staple in the line-up and is another Ajax player drawing links to clubs like Barcelona and Tottenham. De Jong is a 21-year-old defensive midfielder that has just about everything you could possibly hope for in a holding mid: speed, power, and an eye for the right pass. He has become the sort of player that's received the sort of hype that you need to see him to believe him. Having seen him, I was thoroughly impressed. His work between the defense and midfield stood out consistently to me as something to always have your eye on, frequently he was positioned almost as a center back while building up or in possession. It seems more and more likely that a move to Barcelona is in his very near future, and he would very likely end up Sergio Busquets' heir apparent. We'll talk plenty more about him here.
Ajax's midfield will generally feature one of the three attackers I referred to when all three are healthy, but that also leaves one other spot. That spot (or both when just three are fit) is occupied by either veteran Lasse Schone or fellow young lad Donny van de Beek. Schone is 32 and one of few Ajax players who were with the team for their last title win and remained with the club the entire duration. He was a beacon of consistency last season with ten goals in 24 league appearances and remains valuable in the starting eleven. Van de Beek, meanwhile is another 21-year-old midfielder that is coming off an eleven goal league season with six assists to go with it. Like de Jong, van de Beek is strong and smart in terms of passing, but van de Beek has plenty more goals in him and will make runs forward far more frequently than his country mate, as shown by his smart finish against Athens for the second goal. Donny would appear to be the heir apparent for Schone in the line-up in the near future, but the question for him looms of how long he will be in the side.
The defense is also crucial in making this Ajax side tick, not to mention the goalie behind the squad as a whole. In net is Andre Onana, a 22-year-old Cameroonian is quick and reflexive in net and able to read the game as well. He's a fantastic shot-stopper and while he may not be of the breed of keeper that is absolutely comfortable distributing the ball everywhere around the pitch, he is not fully lacking in that skill set. He is helped greatly with a solid back four in front of him, and he helps install them with confidence with the knowledge that there is a rock-solid goalie in the net if a defensive error happens.
The center back pairing is incredibly intriguing as it consists of experience, Daley Blind, and youth, Matthijs De Ligt. Blind has been around the game for as long as he's been alive, but at 28, his relative youth may surprise some who have seen and heard of him on the world stage for at least six years or so. De Ligt, on the other hand, is yet another Ajax youth prospect. At just 19, which he turned only a month ago, he is the youngest player in the starting eleven, and perhaps the one with the most potential. Already a regular starter for Ajax and a Dutch international, his future is incredibly bright. A strong tackler and good passer, he and Blind compliment each other very well and the experience alongside a defender like Blind who has been at the highest stage of the game is going to be vital in the younger man's development.
Finally, you have your full backs. On the right is Noussair Mazraoui, a 20-year-old and the second Moroccan in the starting line-up. On the left side, Ajax has 26-year-old Argentine captain Nico Tagliafico controlling the flank. Both players like to get forward and attack with the front three, and as a result of their stamina, they can handle it for just about the entire match. Tagliafico's two goals against Athens were the highlights of the match, and he'll be the talk of the town for that, but what many may not have realized is that he has been that consistent for the better part of the season. Mazraoui, on the other hand, is building towards his full potential, but even now is already an integral part to the side.
The Tactics:
Now we're familiar with the Ajax squad, what can they do? Well, let's start with the system. Ajax's line-up is almost always listed as a 4-3-3, but in practice, while it varies, it is almost always a 4-2-3-1 in shape with an attacking midfielder of the three listed, and the other two midfielders dropping a bit deeper. This is, as I've mentioned, generally Ziyech, Tadic, or Neres, but also has been van de Beek as well.
The beauty of the diverse personnel that Ajax has is that they can throw multiple different looks at an opponent just through changing the line-ups, but still keep the same tactical approach. Let's look at the differences in line-up between the Champions League match with Athens, their league match four days before against Groningen, and their two qualifying matches against Dynamo Kyiv. All three matches they were listed as a 4-3-3, but with Neres unavailable in the Kyiv matches, the midfield three was Schone, de Jong, and van de Beek. In the 3-1 victory, it was van de Beek getting forward from midfield, but in the 0-0 away from home to clinch qualification, it was de Jong whose average position was far higher. Against Groningen, Neres returned to the midfield and here we saw much more of the 4-2-3-1 with Schone and de Jong in the midfield as a deeper two and Neres getting forward as another attacker. Finally, against Athens, it was de Jong in defense in place of De Ligt and 20-year-old youth prospect Carel Eiting managing the left side of a defensive two-man midfield alongside Schone.
As you can see, the tactics remains pretty much the same: a base 4-3-3 changing shape in practice to a 4-2-3-1 with two deeper midfielders. How about the wing play though? As mentioned, both full backs like to get forward, and the two wingers generally like to cut inside. Neres plays almost behind Tadic on the left when he's in the midfield, while Ziyech cuts inside quite frequently, especially when delivering crosses into the box. As a result, you have a left and right back who serve as the main commanders of either flank. In attack, Ajax love to build via the wing and work forward from there. Both defenders, Blind and De Ligt, have good eyes for passing and generally find the wing backs and wingers with relative ease. If facing an opponent that gives them space, they will easily take advantage given how they already do so with opponents that do not. Especially watching the 3-1 over Kyiv, I was taken at how often a short pass to either Tagliafico or Mazraoui would start an attack from the back. Ziyech can also drop deeper into a more midfield wing position to receive the ball and aid in the build up. Both wingers, especially in the attacking third, do very well to make themselves open on the wing and available to assist in the build up, whether that's through cross delivery or just general build.
Another staple of the Ajax tactical approach is the press. A key part of their history, Ajax does not press to the level of a Liverpool, but their pressure on the opponent in the back does not allow opposing sides to build from the back the way Ajax would like their own side to. Huntelaar leads the line and his high work rate makes things difficult for the opposing sides. Any of the three midfielders can push forward and assist in the press, but generally the two more defensive minded men in the midfield will hold back and provide support in front of the two center backs. In attack, this can even look like a wide 3-3-3-1 with a defensive mid dropping back and two wingers and two wing backs making themselves open on the wings. Ajax do well to constantly win possession battles because they rarely give their opponent the time on the ball to hold it. Athens, several times, had to resort to long balls up to a double-covered striker to try and get something going. The closing down is vital for Ajax's attack, and in this case the best attack very well could be considered a good defense.
Future Thoughts:
Ajax, as a club, have a storied history and it looks to be a bright future. While I wanted to talk exclusively about the club and their tactical approach to this year, it is impossible to not look forward with Ajax. The time to break the four-year drought would appear to be now, even with PSV's considerable strengths, especially in their own attackers. The question looms, though, of just how long this young core will stay together.
As it stands, Ajax have perhaps the two most touted young defenders in de Jong and De Ligt in their set-up. De Ligt may be the frequent captain of the side, and club's vice-captain, but if a bigger club comes calling, it seems like it would be just a matter of time before a bid would be accepted. Ajax also have Neres, Ziyech, Onana, and of course, Kasper Dolberg, a starlet who has not heavily featured this season, to worry about retaining. But the beauty about the Dutch club is that their youth club set-up is so strong that once their youth players do leave, it will be on to the future, no need to dwell in the past. For now, thinking about players leaving is not at all in the minds of any Ajax supporters. What's important is for Ajax to make the 2018-19 season one to remember, both domestically and in the Champions League.
Follow me on Twitter @RMAB_Ryan for plenty of Liverpool FC and other related football coverage, including live Tweets during the matches, as well as AFC Ann Arbor and Michigan basketball coverage!
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