Ajax lost 2-0 to Blackburn Rovers in a friendly game on Saturday. A lot of Ajax players were absent due to participation in the World Cup. With a considerably changed team, the team of trainer Alfred Schreuder went down in Marbella. Nevertheless, Schreuder also saw a number of bright spots.
“Well, apart from the result, it was good that a few guys made minutes again,” Schreuder opens in conversation with AjaxTV. ‘Firstly, it was good to see that Maarten (Stekelenburg, ed.) played again. I think Maarten makes a very stable impression, that was good to see.’
Restore Kaplan
Kaplan was the bright spot of the game for me. He has been out for a while and radiates what we want to see, strong in the duels, good on the ball. He is still in the beginning of his rhythm. We start with 45 minutes, we play another match on Wednesday and then he has to go back to 45 minutes. We’re going to build it up slowly. ‘
The trainer of the team from Amsterdam expects Kaplan to be fit for the second half of the season. “Of course he is a physically strong boy, but he has had an injury that we have to be careful with. Today he was able to process it well.’
Physical deficiency
“If you look at the opponent, this is just an excellent team. You just saw that we weren’t physically strong enough at the moment against this kind of opponents’, said Schreuder about the loss of his team. “In the first half we had enough opportunities to do something, but it was not good enough to win. If you look at the preparation, the result is in principle less important. You look at certain things and I am satisfied with some things, but I am not satisfied with some things. I think we should switch much faster after losing the ball as a team.’
Schreuder also saw positive points. ‘Of course you also look at what we have now, which guys can go towards a basic place. Then of course you see a few guys, like Kaplan, I think that’s a very interesting one, to see how he develops.’
‘The Young Boys’
Finally, Schreuder talks about the young boys who attended the training camp. “The young lads had a great week, I think. I expect a bit more from some players, because I see that there is a lot of potential. I also indicated at half-time today that some guys are still lacking efficiency. That is of course the difference between the youth and the first.’
“It’s been a good week for us. We have been able to do good work. Continue to build next week to become stronger again’, concludes Schreuder.
