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The new-look Ajax side, who travel to Anfield next week to face
Liverpool, maintained a high tempo, dominated possession and
both outpaced and outmuscled their Scottish opponents.
“I have seen an Ajax that radiated a lot of fun and energy,
those are the basic conditions to play a good match," said
delighted coach Alfred Schreuder after his European debut.
Ten Hag’s replacement was not scared to try something new,
employing Ghanaian midfielder Mohammed Kudus as centre forward
for the first time and getting his players to continually switch
positions, making it tough for their visitors to defend.
Kudus was among the scorers as Ajax claimed a 3-0 half-time lead
before adding one more before the final whistle.
"Tactically we made good choices, but that is often not the
point at all," said Schreuder, who has seen Antony, Ryan
Gravenberch, Sebastien Haller and Lisandro Martinez all sold in
recent weeks.
"A coach can pat himself on the back, but that's total nonsense.
I've seen a team that's done it with unity, that's the most
important thing."
With the arrival of Steven Bergwijn from Tottenham Hotspur,
Schreuder does have options and used them to good effect on
Wednesday.
“I was really happy with how Kudus played but we know from
before that he could play the No. 9 role. I thought Dusan Tadic
went well on the right hand side but he is probably better on
the left, but I’m not taking Steven Bergwijn away from there,”
added Schreuder.
The performance earned high praise from TV analysts.
“We were always complimenting the way Ten Hag’s team played, but
this was next level,” said former Dutch international Theo
Janssen.
“Under Ten Hag there were finite patterns but now the whole team
interchanges. They do it so well.”
(Writing by Mark Gleeson in Cape Town; Editing by Peter
Rutherford)
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