NOS Football•
Ajax coach Fred Grim had to guess how things could have gone so wrong in the cup match with AZ in the eighth finals, which resulted in a shocking 6-0 defeat. But he did know one thing: “We are ashamed of this result.”
Grim promised every reason to reimburse the tickets of the Ajax fans who traveled to Alkmaar after equaling the biggest defeat for Ajax in professional football. “The players, technical staff and club must arrange that.”
Grim after Ajax disgrace: ‘To be ashamed, tickets must compensate fans’
“We started the match very poorly,” said the interim coach, who was told on Monday that he can finish the season with the team. “We lost the matches in all areas. AZ was fiercer, played more directly and took advantage of the opportunities they got. That is to AZ’s credit, but we just performed very poorly.”
Islands
“I think it was already in the basket after two minutes,” Youri Regeer recalled the miserable start to ESPN. “The way we started the match… That simply can’t happen. What we have done so well in recent weeks – staying together as a team – completely disappeared. I have now seen far too many islands on the field.”
Grim was critical of his men. “We did not have any players in the selection today who have reached their level. We will discuss this tomorrow and then there will be harsh words.”
“Of course this is a concern, because if you look at our last matches you see that we are well organized and know what we have to do. We stay close to each other as a group, even when we are behind. I did not see that at all today.”
