Tag: Bassey

On the road to Qatar: Daley “Dilemma” Blind

Here we go guys. Rip into it.

This time, not so much a profile but an analysis. Daley has been covered a lot on this blog. Yes, your friendly blogger is a fan of the left footer (he was a left footed slow player himself) and Blind is a veteran by now and much talked about, so logically he featured here a lot.

Schreuder benched Blind for the first time in a long while versus Rangers FC. Is this the moment the 32 year old will have to face the fact he is not good enough anymore? Who listens to Schreuder will hear that Blind still has a lot of credit with the coach. Whenever the results are bad, Blind is the first to cop criticism, but Schreuder simply points to the number of games Blind played and the fact that Wijndal needs minutes, as explanation for the benching of the left back.

Rafael van der Vaart – himself a left footer with limited speed – was vocal with his criticism: “The problem with Blind is, he can play on many positions on the pitch, but he is not the best option on any of those spots. Malacia the better left back, Ake the better left central defender and Frenkie the better holding mid. It feels like coaching always want to create a spot for him in the team. He seems beyond criticism.”

The problem for Blind is, his flaws are easier to spot than his strengths. His biggest problem is his lack of agility. He is dependent on a good organisation around him. This was the problem recently versus RKC Waalwijk.

Not quick and agile enough to put pressure on

Here in the pic above, Blind’s direct opponent Bel Hassani lures Blind into midfield. He needs to press high, but he is too slow and lacking agility to really follow Bel Hassani, and the result in this particular move is two chances for RKC as a result of Blind’s lack of explosivity.  As a result, Blind is swimming (drowning) in areas where his flaws are very visible and most direct opponents will beat him at these aspects of the game.

The second issue is his lack of speed. Ajax always plays with lots of space behind the last line and he lacks the speed to compensate this. He usually compensates this well with his intelligence and his reading of the game. He is able to steup up at the right time or to close the space by dropping back. When he fails to do so successfully, it really looks clumsy.

This below is from the Volendam game, in which the attacker would score from this move. Pasveer makes a big error and cops the criticism, although Ajax would win this with ease.

Not quick enough to close down

A third problem with Daley is his lack of heading power. Put next to Timber, who is also not the tallest, this is a problem. Blind is pretty good with long balls, as he judges the flight of the ball well and has time to position himself. But when he can’t use his smarts, he lacks the jumping power to really compete. In Oranje, he has the likes of Ake and Van Dijk to assist him with this.

This is another example from the Volendam game.

Not strong enough aerially

This doesn’t mean Blind is a terrible defender. Jose Mourinho wouldn’t play him as a defender in a European finals if he was. In terms of minutes in the Eredivisie, Blind has the most interceptions and in terms of successful tackles and repossessions, he scores higher than Owen Wijndal. There are also not many successful dribbles against him. It’s not easy to beat him in a one v one. Only Jurrien Timber has better stats than Blind.

In the Dutch league, his intelligence and positioning help him to remain one of the best defenders, but at a higher level – Champions League – his stats become really weak.

This is the dilemma for Alfred Schreuder at Ajax and Van Gaal at Oranje. Is it not time now to pick and choose the games where you can use Blind and his strengths versus games where he will be a liability.

Both coaches need to make the decision to see if the risk of playing Blind weighs up to the added value of the defender in possession.

This stat is key for most coached: Blind reaches the forwards almost twice as easy and often as his competition in an Ajax jersey.

# of successful passes into the final third

Daley Blind is the only defender n this list of players and their total passes to the final third. And as a defender, he is even the #1. A strong stat. In Europe, only Alexander-Arnold, Kimmich and Cancelo shine with this statistic. This is usually the domain of the playmaker, such as Kroos, Modric, Verrati or Pedri. The fact that defender Blind is amongst those players tells you something about his crucial role in the Ajax build up.

Only defender amongst attacking mids and forwards

The specialty of the house for Blind is his passing and in particular the fast low pass, which he plays fairly late so he draws in an opponent and plays the free man in.

This again v Volendam. He holds the pass until 5 (!) players of the opponent can be shoved aside with one deep pass. And Blind’s passes usually find a team mate.

Pulling people in to open up the space

How do you like them apples? See below, with Blind – top left – passing into Bergwijn and took 4 players out with the one pass, hard and low and with precision.

Crisp passing to take players out

Another problem the coach will have at Ajax, is that with Blind you can play Alvarez and Klaassen in midfield, who usually don’t really contribute to the build up. Once you lose Blind, you’ll need to bring in a playmaker type player next to Alvarez (Taylor?) to assist with the build up, which will have an impact on the balance of the team.

This is less of a problem in Oranje, where Ake and Van Dijk also have a strong forward build up pass.

So, it seems simple as a football supporter to yell “Blind needs to be benched” but as he is the key man in the build up for Ajax, any coach will want to think twice before they shove that type of quality into the bin.

A little hint from me on my fave starting eleven: I would always take Blind to Qatar as he will be the ideal player to allow Malacia or Ake some rest when they need it.

The video below will explain why Blind was not a failure at Man United :-).

Analysis Ajax – Napoli

Napoli gave Liverpool football lessons earlier in the CL group and Klopp said: “We’ll have to go back to basics, to re-invent ourselves!” The Napoli traveling circus also visited Amsterdam and it seems Ajax too will need to re-invent themselves.

An analysis.

The Expectations

For starters, we need to be honest about where we believe this Ajax is, in their development. They impressed a couple of seasons ago, versus Real Madrid and Juventus and more, with the likes of Ziyech, Schone, De Ligt and Frenkie de Jong. Even more recent, they also got the people excited when Ten Hag was able to “re-invent” the team, adding Lisandro Martinez, Seb Haller and Antony.

Today’s Ajax is not the same. They let Martinez go, and got Bassey back. They let Antony go and use Tadic as his replacement. They had to let Mazraoui go, and are using Rensch in his place. And 38 year old new fave goalie of the month Remko Pasveer is the current goalie. But… is this Ajax capable of beating the best in Europe? With this team? Tadic is lacking form for months now. Berghuis is hot and cold. Blind is clearly getting older. It all starts by realising that the Europa League might be Ajax’s league at this point in time.

Tactics

Ajax can only play one type of game. They do have a tall Italian Plan B striker on the bench, but they basically play the Ajax game, full stop. Which is: build up from the back, pass and move, lost of nifty little passes to get to the opponent’s box and then find the free man. Well, spoiler alert. Liverpool, AZ and now Napoli have shown the world that you can only play like this if you’re good enough. Meaning, if the players at the back (including the goalie) can play the forward pass inch-perfect under pressure. Blind and Timber can do this. Apparently, Bassey and Pasveer not so much. Furthermore, you need players from midfield who can drop deep and pick up the ball for a dribble, a passing move and win a physical battle. Like Frenkie, Gravenberch or Lasse Schone. Taylor and Berghuis are less capable to do this. Taylor is more of an 8, while Berghuis lacks the physical strength. Bassey is poor in the build up and although Timber is a superior talent, he would still need a Van Dijk or Martinez next to him to organise the backline.

When Napoli (or AZ or Liverpool) press ferociously and with more intensity than Ajax can use to play under out of it, the Sons of Gods resort to long balls (Pasveer and Bassey). But these long balls lack precision while Ajax doesn’t use the players up top to do something with these long balls. Which comes down to player selection. Bergwijn, Kudus and Tadic are exactly NOT the players to use in this way. Better to use Brobbey and Luca and even Ocampos for that type of game.

Typical for Ajax, they do what they always do even if it doesn’t work. Schreuder refused to sub his preferred players and has paid the price. When the stadium speaker announced at the start of the second half, that Ajax had not made any changes, the 10,000s in the JC Arena responded with a fierce whistle and booing concert. Schreuder was deaf to it. When Tadic got his first yellow, he should have been subbed. But no, he was allowed to stay and collect his second yellow.

The Quality

As indicated above, Ajax has lost too much quality. Antony left, Ocampos came (a totally different type of player). Bergwijn came, which is good, but he played his best games with Wijndal making his overlaps, so Bergwijn can cut inside and become half a striker in the half spaces. Blind has less of the overlaps and Bergwijn played too much with his back to goal. Tadic is struggling and should have been subbed after his first yellow. Taylor is an exciting midfielder, but he lacks the quality on the ball of Gravenberch and Frenkie de Jong. They could drop down next to the central defenders and play themselves out of trouble. Taylor is less equipped for this (for now at least).

For me, the indication that Ajax was not looking forward to this match and were a bit nervous, was clear in the first 15 minutes. Some unnecessary fouls from Alvarez, Blind and Taylor could have resulted in early yellows. In the first minute, the defenders allowed a ball to bounce in the box and there was some confusion (Bassey rammed the ball forward, to no one) and Timber and Pasveer got themselves into trouble. Ajax rattled.

Football principles

Ajax stuck to its principles and truth be told, when Ajax did play from under the press, they played ok. They found space and seemed to be in the match. But the % of personal duels won was quite low, which shows another problem. The Napoli defenders had a field day and the Ajax midfield struggled to control the game or even win second balls. The right flank of Ajax was a complete embarrassment. Non existent. With Rensch clearly lacking the confidence to support the attack and Tadic playing his worst game yet.

Remko Pasveer has demonstrated something that Van Gaal will have taken notes for: he panics when he is confronted with pressure while having the ball to his feet. He showed this versus AZ and now again. Although he is decent with both feet, he just hammers the ball forward when attacked and that resulted in constant loss of possession. In the first 15 mins, Pasveer and Timber had a miscommunication moment which almost resulted in the first Napoli goal.

Schreuder is not doing himself a lot of favors. Sometimes, it’s important to show the fans you realised you made a mistake and you do what you can to correct it. If there ever was a game to play Ocampos, it was now.

Dead Ball Situations

Most of you will have noticed that Ajax concedes goals (and chances) from set pieces and corners. It happened against Benfica, it happened against Liverpool (last minute of the game) and it happened versus Napoli, several times. There are ways to deal with this, as it is all a matter of focus and organisation. But, either Ajax is too arrogant to work on this (and hire a specialist dead ball coach for instance) or they are too amateur to realise this. I believe it’s the first.

the biggest problem: build up (avoiding the pressure). Ajax did this well at times and created space.

Van Gaal was purring

It seems Van Gaal is getting some great feedback from games like this. I would not be surprised if Pasveer just dropped a couple of spots on the goal keeper list. I don’t see much of Flekken but Cillesen is more impressive I think. It would make sense for Ajax to go to a 3-4-3, like Van Gaal did. Use Blind – who is still excellent on the ball (he actually was pretty good in the first half, apart from the Napoli equaliser) – Bassey and Timber and use Wijndal as wide left full back. This will go at the expense of Tadic, of course.

The Goals

It’s easy to try and blame one player for a goal conceded. For the layman, it’s usually the last defender or goalie who gets it. \

The 1-1 equaliser of Napoli starts with a senseless long ball, easily won by a Napoli defender (duel #1). Then Napoli combines past Alvarez, Tadic and Rensch as if they don’t exist. They are constantly a second or two too late. When the left winger runs deep, Bassey and Blind are covering their opponents on the proper side. But Bassey completely leaves his man behind. Blind goes with his man, but when he crosses over to the left of the box, Bassey forces Blind away by taking over the #11 while Blind now has to cover the penetrating run of goal scorer #81 Raspadori who was on his bike, while Blind stood on his heels. 1-1, not much for Pasveer to do here.

The 1-2 was embarrassing. A short corner with two Napoli players (obviously) only marked by one Ajax player (Berghuis) who is wildly gesticulating to his team mates for support. Timber is ball watching and the Napoli skipper has an easy header. Again, Pasveer couldn’t do much.

By then, Ajax is still  in the game but in the 39th minute another huge chance , for Zielinsky this time. Pasveer stops the ball which was shot right to him. In the 44th minute, Ajax is pushing up to score the equaliser and have 5 players in front of the ball (Blind, Berghuis, Tadic, Kudus, Bergwijn). Alvarez loses the second ball duel, Timber decides to press forward on the striker but doesn’t get the ball. The bounce is played behind Timber, where there is a huge gap as Bassey and Rensch are also too high. One fast runner and a weak attempt from Pasveer and it’s 1-3, when Ajax was hoping for the 2-2.

Alvarez taking a huge gamble

Not a lot of trouble you’d say. Ajax can score two goals in 45 minutes and get back to 3-3, right?

But then in the first minutes of the first half, while the audience whistles due to no subs and the Bob Marley song “3 little birds” blasts from the speakers in the Arena, something terrible happens. Bergwijn is squeezed off the ball by two Napolitans (?). A long spell of Napoli possession ensues. Alvarez wins the ball in his own box and wants to play out with some nonchalance, engaging Pasveer in the short passing, who plays the ball to Bassey, but the pass doesn’t get there, It’s an 8 yard pass and it goes awfully wrong. The ball ends at the feet of Raspadori who gets his second. Pasveer bows his head.

Pressure on Pasveer

Now we’re 60 minutes into the game. Ndombele powers forward, 4 Italians vs 5 Ajax defenders. A little one – two combination (not unlike the Taylor – Bergwijn one for the 1-0) and Karanskhelia just passes the ball passed Pasveer 1-5. Simeone comes in as a sub and around the 80st minute, the situation becomes even worse . Ajax wants to build up from the back. It’s a sluggish so Pasveer hooves the ball forward. The aerial duel is won by Napoli (of course). Napoli finds space in between the lines, and a simple little flick plays the ball behind Bassey who doesn’t see the runner behind him 1-6.

In summary:

Pasveer simply gives possession away all the time. This was the case versus Liverpool and it is happening again versus Napoli. Playing high long balls to Tadic and Kudus really doesn’t work against Rrahmani and Min-Jae. Raspadori was clearly instructed to constantly put pressure on the 38 year old. In the past, Ajax had players like Martinez, Mazraoui and Gravenberch to avoid the press. Today, only Blind and Timber can do this. It is not enough.

Again, pressure on Pasveer

Ajax doesn’t take dead ball moments seriously. The second goal comes from a corner, where Berghuis has to wake up Tadic to come and put pressure on the ball. Pasveer is still organising when the corner is taken. Bassey and Alvarez are also not paying attention while Berghuis waits for Tadic to put pressure, instead of doing it himself as he is closest.

Too many Ajax players are betting on their mates winning the ball and moving forward when it’s actually not possible yet. Too many players think too offensive. Take this situation, as described earlier. Too many player in front of the ball and Alvarez taking a big risk going for a loose ball, exposing his defence.

Focus is also a problem. Here you can see Taylor mourning a missed pass, while the opponent is heading towards the Ajax goal.

In a match that isn’t going your way, you need to keep the focus, stick to your tasks and stick to your position.

A bad Ajax playing a top Napoli will therefore result in a massive hammering. Work to be done!