“We all saw the match,” Grim began his review of the match with a sigh. “We suffered an unnecessary loss of points. We started the match well and played good football at times. We created a lot, scored two goals, but failed to finish the game. We go to rest with a 2-0 lead, but should have scored more often.”
There was indeed no problem at halftime, but after the start of the second half, we saw Ajax quickly collapse. Go Ahead Eagles made two changes. Grim’s men didn’t seem to know what to do with that. We asked Grim for an explanation after the match.
“Go Ahead Eagles started playing more opportunistically. They passed the ball around well. We then gave away too much space, did not put enough pressure on the ball and walked backwards. In doing so, we brought disaster on ourselves,” the trainer explained.
Grim made two substitutions fifteen minutes before the end. He brought Jorthy Mokio and Josip Sutalo for Sean Steur and Davy Klaassen. It was already 2-2 then. The substitutions were not understood by the audience in the Johan Cruijff Arena. There was even a flute concerto. Reason enough for us to ask Grim about his considerations.
“You saw that spaces were falling. We also did not have the strength to defend ourselves in the air. Josip is strong in that. And if you play centrally with three men, the backs can come up and you play further away from the goal. The intention was to bring Kasper Dolberg into position.”
Ajax was unable to achieve that goal in the remaining time. “We are indeed missing a bit of maturity,” Grim responded to statements by Youri Regeer. The midfielder indicated in the catacombs that Ajax lacks leaders.
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“In terms of coaching, things do indeed need to be improved. When things are going well, there is coaching. But when things are not going so well, many players are often too busy with their own game. Yet at this level you have to work together. Now nervousness has crept in. That is not good.”
Grim does think that a number of boys within the selection have the potential to fulfill a leadership role, but the trainer also says that young players simply need time for that.
Youri Baas is one of the players Grim was referring to. However, the defender watched, because he was not fit. However, it remains to be seen whether Baas can be there against Villarreal CF on Tuesday. Wout Weghorst is certainly not there in Spain. He is not yet training with the group.
When asked, Grim also discussed Oscar Gloukh’s reserve appearance. The Israeli came on against Go Ahead Eagles, but started on the bench. According to his trainer, there were two reasons for this. “We play a lot of matches, so I also have to give players rest. Furthermore, Oscar was unhappy in the last two matches and lost too much ball.”
Grim did not attribute the new loss of points to the midweek hammer blow at AZ (6-0). “No, I don’t believe that. My team played well before halftime and didn’t look tipsy. We were stable. I saw good combinations, a lot of one hits and nice attacks. We just should have scored more often. Then you make it easier for yourself.”
Grim agreed that he has now spoken with Jordi Cruijff, who will start as technical director at Ajax in February. “I hadn’t spoken to him in a long time, so I got reacquainted. That was last week. It was a great telephone conversation.” What the two had talked about remained unspecified.
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