Tag: Peter Bosz

Ajax back at European Top

While the party in Rotterdam is slowly coming to and end, the rivals from Amsterdam are slowly preparing for their party. Tonight, Ajax is back at the European top in their finals against Manchester United. I’m sure you were aware…

People ask me, what would be most epic: Feyenoord’s title after 18 years or Ajax’ first finals since 1996… The answer is simple, also for Feyenoord fans: Ajax’ achievement is more epic! Every season, one Dutch club will win the domestic title. Feyenoord can win it every season (and should!). For a Dutch club post-Bosman arrest, it’s just incredible….

And one has to be in awe of the way they did it. With one of the youngest teams ever, playing highly energetic free-flowing football, scoring goals and simply being electrifying.

ajax scoort

If football wins tonight, it means Ajax wins it. Man United, in particular, can not be blamed of being too entertaining these last couple of years. Sir Alex’ last season wasn’t great, Moyes and Van Gaal couldn’t get the team to dazzle and anti-football egomaniac Mourinho has put the Mancunians even further down the line of what used to be a dominating football club.

I won’t go into too many details about Mourinho’s pathetic statements about Ajax (“they are the favorites”), about his terrible trials and tribulations (“we have so many games to play”) and silly press conferences (“I don’t want to talk. I am in the finals”).

As I’m traveling at the moment, I will post more on this after the game.

But it seems Peter Bosz will use the same line-up as per usual. Only with Viergever suspended, Riedewald will play. Lasse Schone will start, most likely, despite lacking form and Justin Kluivert will start on the bench.

Schone

Ajax back in European top!!

Oh my Goodness, where to start!!?!?

Well, with that comment from a blog guest the other day, saying Ajax isn’t getting enough airtime here. If they reach the bloody finals a bit more often, I can write more about them! Just kiddin’ of course ;-).

However, I did check the past posts and I don’t think Ajax fans have anything to complain about. The majority of posts is on Oranje, of course. Other than that: Johan Cruyff got a lot of exposure, as did Piet Keizer, Marco van Basten, Ruud Krol and even a recent Peter Bosz interview… So…. Just sayin’!

But now Ajax deserves all the exposure here, until Feyenoord wins the title coming Sunday. Or next season. Or sometime in 2034…

I have been heavily enjoying Ajax’ development this season. It was like a perfect machine being made by Dr Frankenstein (Peter Bosz). Very clunky and rusty in the start of the season, and amidst the groans and moans from the dissatisfied players (Gudelj, El Ghazi, Bazoer, Tete) slowly the ideal Ajax team emerged. For me, Tete still is much better than Veltman as RB and I do like to see more of Riedenwald too, but boy, Bosz got his boys swinging!

Bosz blij

Ajax has been nothing short of spectacular these past weeks/months. They surely have Feyenoord worried. The football machine from Rotterdam has been winning games based on their power, strength, mentality and will and quality to simply kill games. Ajax has been winning games on class, speed and skill. The youngest team ever to reach the EL finals.

The irony is, that a number of years ago, one Johan Cruyff – you may have heard his name before – went to Amsterdam with velvet gloves on to preach another footbal revolution. His words: “If we want to compete with the best and have more European successes, we need to go back to our football vision of Total Football and develop classy youthful talents and build a team around them!”

He was ridiculed by most. “A Dutch team will never win a big European trophy anymore” everyone said. Cruyff put people like Overmars, Van der Sar, Bergkamp and Jonk into the Ajax management structure and Wim Jonk was charged with developing talent. The revolution didn’t go too well. Frank de Boer appeared to be a pragmatic coach, and despite winning titles, his Ajax was heavily criticized for being dull and boring. In Europe, De Boer never made the grade.

So Cruyff was basically pushed out of Ajax with velvet gloves, and poor Wim Jonk became the sacrificial lamb.

Kort geding Cruijff en jeugdtrainers tegen Ajax

Jonk and Cruyff (Stam and Overmars behind them) taking on the Ajax Revolution…

Now, almost two years later and one year after JC’s passing, Ajax did exactly what Cruyff/Jonk stood for.

They are in the EL finals with a young team brimming with Academy prospects (Tete, Riedewald, De Ligt, Van de Beek, Kluivert, Dolberg, Nouri) and some older players developed at and by Ajax (Klaassen, Veltman) and some stray cats (Traore, Neres, Viergever). Cruyff will potentially turn in his grave or smile in his grave… I am sure Wim Jonk will look at this success with a smirk. He had to go, while doing El Salvador’s work at the Future (“De Toekomst”, the name of Ajax’ youth grounds).

But even though Cruyff, Van Gaal, De Boer, Bergkamp, Overmars and Jonk all had a big hand in this success, it took an Ajax outsider to actually make it all work. The ingredients were there, the chef had yet to find the best combination for the tastiest dish.

Peter Bosz, ex-Vitesse and ex-Feyenoord. The man with the armband, when Feyenoord won the title under Van Hanegem in 1993. De Kromme got frequently annoyed with Professor Bosz who already demonstrated traits of a coach when playing as a defensive mid in the Feyenoord team. He had his time in France, Japan and in the Bundesliga before returning to Holland, where he coached Heracles, was Technical Director at Feyenoord (not too successful I might add) and took the coaching reigns again at Heracles, Vitesse before leaving to work in Israel with Jordi Cruyff. Bosz was always a Cruyff adept and had a lot of time with both Jordi and Johan when working with the “son of”… His teams, whether Heracles or Vitesse, always played attractive and at time suicidal offensive football. The match Bosz – Ajax was an obvious one.

bosz mourinho dick

Peter: “You have as much chance to beat us as the length of your willy!”

In typical Cruyff style, Bosz forced his vision onto the team, with the risk of getting it wrong. When Ajax played in the CL qualifications, it simply had to beat Rostov to progress in the CL but Bosz refused to be pragmatic, as a result, Rostov tore Ajax apart.

He took it on the chin. Copped the criticism and the fact that his tactics cost Ajax millions of CL prize money. He seemed unphased. He even said he didn’t need to get Hakim Ziyech, but succumbing under the immense pressure of the fans, the Ajax management decided to sign the wizard of Twente. Bosz made a statement by declaring “Ziyech wasn’t ready for Ajax yet”. He took the fight to the strongwilled Moroccan playmaker and benched him a number of times and criticized him in public.

Bosz won the battle. Ziyech had to be taken off his high horse and with Gudelj and Bazoer going through the exit, Ziyech would grasp the spot in midfield, alongside Lasse Schone, the man who can do it all (but play 90 minutes on full speed) and Klaassen. The Ajax Duracell man. Bosz struggled to get his team going on a consistent basis but in the Europa League games, Ajax impressed.

bosz ghazi

Peter Bosz butted heads with some players

Celta de Vigo was brushed aside, and a B-team took care of Standard Liege. Celta, not a bad team. They ended up playing the other semi finals and ex-Feyenoord striker (and ongoing legend) John Guidetti almost exited Man U from that finals in the last second of their match. That would have been something!

The secret to this Ajax? 1) Great youth development and therefore amazing skills. 2) No fear, the Amsterdam arrogance, if you will. 3) No pressure, being the underdog suits Ajax. 4) tactics. Bosz has it spot on. From the choice of Stanley Menzo-ish goalkeeper Onana to the mercurial and ice-cold Dane Dolberg. And then there is the 5 seconds rule. Like JC, like Pep, like Simeone, Bosz expects his team to hunt like wolves when the ball is lost. Schalke couldn’t deal with it, Lyon couldn’t deal with it.

It was clear that whenever Ajax dropped the intensity (whether due to fatigue or simply not executing the tactics), it would get in trouble. Domestically and internationally. Schalke got 3 goals against Ajax. And so did Lyon. That is a risk. But Bosz is from the school of “whatever happens at the back, as long as we simply score one more”.

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De Ligt with a teenager mistake

With Ajax playing Man United in a 1 leg tie for the title, I feel they have a massive chance to get it right.

Yes, Man United has more money. Yes, Man United has the big name players and the big ego coach. But Ajax might well have the best team. A team with nothing to lose!

The key for Ajax in the coming years is to try and keep the top players in Amsterdam for a while. Should Ajax win the EL, they’ll qualify for the CL immediately. What an income stream. This might definitely help Overmars and co. to keep the likes of Dolberg, Sanchez and Klaassen one more year. Klaassen was said to be on his way out, but with this European title and another run in the CL, he might well be convinced to add one more season. Ziyech might also stay on. He’s not too keen on an overseas adventure. He picks his career path well. From Heerenveen, he could have gone to Feyenoord, but the Rotterdam club didn’t guarantee him a starting spot. So he went to Twente first. I can see him add one more season to Ajax at least.

Dolberg would do well to stay a bit longer too. He’s only 18 years old. Other players flirting with a move: Kenny Tete. For me, another outstanding performance vs Lyon when he came on for Veltman. I hope he’ll stay, I can’t imagine Veltman keeping Tete out much longer. Sanchez might be a problem though, the phenomenal Columbian – another MOTM performance by him – is on the short list of the PSG’s, Barcelonas and Man Uniteds of this world…

dolberg scoort

Dolberg scores

The games vs Schalke and Lyon will have warmed a lot of hearts internationally and nationally for Ajax. In particular, the home games. Away, they were a tad vulnerable. Overwhelmed maybe. Out-challenged at times physically and some players do still make silly decisions under pressure. Yes, De Ligt is in his right to make a couple of mistakes. He’s 17 years old. You take the bad with the good. Same for Dolberg and Kluivert. But Nick Viergever, the hero of Gelsenkirchen, is no spring chicken anymore and he was the zero this time. The second goal was the result of a weak clearance from him. The third goal went via his knee but can’t blame him for that, but the two yellow cards were downright stupid. Ridiculous. No need for him to do what he did.

Bernard Traore moving back to London is not a bad thing either. Yes, he works hard for the team in that right wing back role and impresses at times, but he’s also quite blind once he’s on a roll and he lacks the real goalscoring desire. There were two or three situations where he should have gambled and make a run into the goal area, when a cross came in meant for Dolberg. He could have had two tap ins. Time for an Ajax lad to take his role. Why leave Kluivert or Neres on the bench and prefer a loan player?

klaassen nouri

Davey Klaassen and Appie Nouri: “We gaan naar Zweden toe!” (JR: “We’re off to Sweden!”)

Anyway, Dutch football is suddenly giving us some excitement! Last season, PSV got the shivers into Atleti, this season Feyenoord returned to the fore again as domestic challenger (fingers crossed for Sunday!!) while Man United’s scalp was seized in a European campaign cut short by a ridiculous decision in an away game (unfair penalty and sending off of Boteghin).

With players like Karsdorp, Vilhena, Berghuis, Elia, Toornstra, Kongolo and the likes of Lammers, Hendrix, Willems, Propper and talents like Tete, Van de Beek, Kluivert, Riedewald, De Ligt and others (Ayoub, Ake, Hoedt, De Roon, Memphis) the future isn’t that bad…

Ajax made it to the finals of the Europa Cup in 1969 for the first time and lost that match. A year later Feyenoord won it and Ajax followed suit three times in a row. With Oranje lagging behind in 1974 with a memorable turn at the World Cup.

Good times ahead!! Big congrats to Ajax for their totally unexpected campaign. JC is dead, love live JC!

Peter Bosz: Let me entertain you!

Ok, that was Robbie Williams, not Peter Bosz. But the Ajax coach does have this as leading mantra in his football philosophy: “I want to entertain the fans. I want to hear the oohs and aaahs rolling from the Arena stands.”

Bosz made a name for himself as a defensive midfielder and captain in the title winning Feyenoord team of 1993 under Willem van Hanegem. He started his career at Vitesse but was loaned to AGOVV amateur club before moving to play for Toulon in France. The Rotterdam stadium club signed him and Bosz was a tough as nails but also tactically astute midfielder, with 8 caps for Oranje. He’d move to Japan after his Feyenoord days and played for Rostock in the Bundesliga. Bosz was part of the Oranje squad for the Euros1992.

10.Bosz-Feyenoord-1992

The 1992-1993 Feyenoord champs, with – standing from left to right: Gaston Taument, Arnold Scholten, Josef Kiprich, John Metgod, Ed de Goey, – sitting, Peter Bosz, John de Wolf, Ruud Heus, Rob Witschge, Regi Blinker and Henk Fraser

Bosz started his coaching career with AGOVV – the team of his home town – and coached De Graafschap and Heracles Almelo, with whom he won the title (and promotion) in the Jupiler league. He got the technical director job at Feyenoord and was responsible for the signing of a couple of senior players like Roy Makaay, Denny Landzaat and Gio van Bronckhorst. He left the club in protest of the sacking of coach Gert-Jan Verbeek who clashed with the older players.

After that, he returned to coach, first at Heracles again, then Vitesse and a short stint at Maccabi Tel Aviv (managed by Jordi Cruyff). The latter raved about Bosz’ coaching capabilities and the similarities in vision with icons like (dad) Johan Cruyff and Willem van Hanegem.

jor joh peter

Jordi Cruyff, Johan and Peter Bosz in Tel Aviv

When Frank de Boer left Ajax, Bosz was the ideal and logical candidate to replace him.

When visiting Bosz in his sanctuary, the walls are “paved” with flip over slides and big diagrams. “This is where I watch the games back and make notes,” he says. “I make notes every minute, everything that happens. Good situations, mistakes, decisions taken. And in the bus home, after away games, I write it out. It’s the best way for me to work with the players. Taking situations they were in and using it as fast as possible to get them to process changes.”

So when did the tone in the notes start to change?

PB: “I remember that moment vividly. Mid September, the National Cup match vs Willem II. I used some players who needed a chance, players who hadn’t played a lot. I gave them a chance and I was enjoying myself on the bench. This was when I read back my analysis and was surprised to see many things just clicked.”

By coincidence?

“It was quite a journey for us, a quest. We had our vision alright, we want to play attacking, dominant and attractive. But over a long series of games, we weren’t getting to the right level. Every day we were talking about, I was scratching my head. We were trying to get the right players on the right position and in that cup tie, it was there!”

Did you ever have doubts that you’d make it work?

“Oh there were times when I thought: can I do it? And it took some time. To form the midfield, which is key to how we want to play. Would we use two holding mids, or just one? Or one deep lying controlling mid? And we had some more positions where it didn’t flow. I missed something and we were continuously trying things out, combining different types of players, looking for the ideal team.”

Schone

And Lasse Schone became the missing link in the team?

“I saw him play that match and thought: that is it! See, he started this season as attacking midfielder and in the past he’d played shadow striker, winger too. I didn’t know he had a controlling mid in him. But he actually told me at some stage: “Coach, I can play there!”. So we tried it at training and it worked. So I used him vs Willem II. It worked and now he is the key player. This is the #6 role and I have very specific wishes for that player. I don’t call it the defensive midfielder but controlling midfielder. I want a player with vision, quick feet and who can pass the ball in an offensive way, forward. And he needs to be available to get the ball always. That is tough. Someone like Guardiola, or Fabregas. I wasn’t that player, I was the defensive midfielder. If they’d pass me the ball with a man behind me, I didn’t know what to do so I’d played the ball straight back. But Lasse gets the ball and turns around and moves forward. Those qualities are essential to our game.”

As a result, first Bazoer and then Gudelj were the victims.

“Those are always hard choices to make. And some players don’t deal with it well. Take El Ghazi and Gudelj. That cannot be accepted. Although they were too different cases. I can understand players who don’t play are disappointed. Sure. But it matters that the players do understand that they hold the key themselves. I have discussed their failings many times, with them. And they weren’t satisfied with their own performances. And yes, when I try others and suddenly it clicks, it is hard for them. And I did not have a reason to suddenly change the team again.”

And then they get motivational issues…

“I was surprised. A player who says “I can’t motivate myself to sit on the bench!” No one I know in coaching land, including Hennie Spijkerman who’s been doing this for 35 years, has ever heard this from any player ever. My first response was: unacceptable! What could I do? What kind of signal would I give the others? I can’t have players saying “call me when I play, otherwise I’m not interested”.

bosz bench players

Unhappy bench warmers: Bazoer, Tete and Riedewald at the back. Nouri can still smile…

What was driving Gudelj?

“Listen, he’s a good kid and a fine player and I worked well with him. If he was a irritating SOB it would have made sense. We actually gave him a chance to revisit his stance. When he came back from international duties with Serbia, but in that meeting he was adamant. And I told him: think about the media, think about how the outside world will view you… But this was it. He would not budge.”

The media suggested you made hard promises to Gudelj, Tete, Bazoer….

“That is a lie. I can’t. I’m the coach, I can’t promise player A or B something? I heard those rumours too and I asked Gudelj in a conversation, with witnesses, and he was clear: “I worked well with you, it has nothing to do with you. I simply can’t motivate myself for a bench role. I am better than the rest, I think I need to play”. I like his thinking, but he needs to show me on the pitch, not with a stance like this. But every player, Tete, Riedewald, they all have a different story…”

Riedewald played well as central defender and defensive mid, we felt?

“And he did. I agree! It was a tough decision to bench him. I did not have much criticism on him. At home vs PAOK for the Champions League qualification he played ever so well. But his bad luck is that he didn’t play when it clicked.”

bosz ghazi

Bosz and El Ghazi had a falling out. The right winger is now at Lille

But you did say he was the only #6 in your squad in the media. That didn’t help.

“But it was true at the time. Jairo played ever so well. And he’s still young, he will develop and I do recognise his potential. But Lasse is simply a better option today. It was a comment I made about Jairo and it got all the headlines and it was repeated time and time again. And I get that. If I could use him as center back I think it would have had less impact. But Viergever and Sanchez have a solid partnership. Viergever is one of the few players who is vocal on the pitch. He coaches, he directs, he corrects. He is a good organiser. Most people don’t see this. But that is why he is quite unique. Sanchez doesn’t speak our language, so Viergever’s contributions are even more important. I discussed all of this with Jairo and he found it very hard and again, I get that. He’s a tremendous talent, but, you know, once he gets over this, he’ll be an even better player. His time will come.”

Peter_Bosz_(1988)

Peter Bosz, #6 of Oranje in 1992

Riechedly Bazoer was the Oranje #6 and there was talk of a Barcelona bid. Now he’s gone.

“Bazoer is a wonderful player, but not the ideal #6 for me. In our system, you need to be very disciplined tactically. Bazoer had trouble with the balance and I think it was his age. He’s very young and exuberant. Like Feyenoord’s Vilhena, a bit. He has tremendous potential but on his position you need to pass the ball, not bring it like a mailman. He runs too much, he does too much. So you need to compensate his style by putting an extra midfielder in. It didn’t flow. It’s a shame, coz he is has real potential. I think he had a transfer in mind anyway, there was talk that he was keen to go to Barca or any other big team. He reminds me a bit of Seedorf. I call them old souls. Wise before their age. And Wolfsburg gave him a solid perspective. For me, I would have loved to have had him at Ajax longer, but sometimes it’s the player that wants to go.”

And is Tete that much worse than Veltman??

“I don’t want to go into detail. Kenny knows he had a mediocre start this season. They told me when I came: Kenny is a slow starter. That might be the case. I actually gave him quite some opportunities at the start of the season because of that. But we got to the point where we wanted to use alternatives and with Joel and the other changes, it started to flow. So I’m not changing it now. But he’s doing it well. He’s working hard, he’s positive and he takes his chances when he does play. It’s only a matter of time for him.”

The media enjoyed all of this and became very pro-active in discussing the changes. You have only 3 starters of Frank de Boer’s team in your team!

bosz frank db

“We needed change, we wanted to be on the front foot more and we dealt with it. There will be lots of opinions about my choices, I’m sure. Everything you do at a club like Ajax is put under the microscope. I hardly watch those football talk shows and I try not read all these stories. It’s noise for me. The essential bits, people will tell me anyway.”

The criticism on Youness and Traore?

“I see the players daily. I can see what they are able to do and how they work. I call all that media stuff shortsighted. They judge players on 7 minutes highlights. Whether it’s Sinkgraven or Tete or Viergever or Traore. Man, if I would listen to all of that I would go insane.”

What do you think of the criticism that you block the development of the Academy players?

“I am brought in as outsider, with the aim to play attractive football AND get results. I will field the best team to do this. That is my job. I will treat all players equal, whether developed here or not. Whether young or older. On loan or signed for a big fee. I can’t make decisions based on where a player is developed! And some players who are developed here are killing it! Klaassen, Justin Kluivert, Dolberg… When I came here they said about Dolberg: “Here is a youth player. Maybe have a look?” And he’s our starting striker now. Mathijs de Ligt. Only 17 years old. We used him a bit, but expected a bit of a downfall, like many youngsters have, but he doesn’t have it. He’s the perfect example of a player developed here and given a chance.”

bosz mourinho

“And Jose, this is how big your ego is, man!”

Playing like you want to play, this starts with communication and guidance, I guess?

“Yes, a few things are essential. What players do you have and how can you gel them into a team, the best team? Midfield is key for me. This is the metronome if you want. And then it’s the understanding in the player about the way we want to play and what his tasks are, because the Ajax way and my way of playing demands concentration. And it all starts when we don’t have the ball. High press and forechecking by all players on the pitch. With tactical cameras you can see exactly the movements of players. Which players push up as well and which players drop down or lose concentration i.e. their man? And playing attractive and dominant football is step 2, after you manage to do this right. Most Ajax players can do a lot with the ball, but the thing is….you mostly do not have the ball. What do you do then, as a player, or line or team?”

Recognisable football is also a term you use?

“It is important to develop what we call automatisms… Patterns, if you like. We are dealing with conscious and subconscious developments in players. When I do video analysis with them, it’s concsious. They know what I am talking about, think about it, talk about it. But we also have practices where I don’t want them to think or talk or know about anything, I want them to subconsciously make the right decision, like intuition… And develop patterns. So we train different match formats. 3 v 3 or 4 v 4 or 9 v 9 but always with three free players who can be used for a one touch bounce. This will develop patterns both ways (for the teams and for the bouncing players) that I can see in matches too, and we’re making progress.”

bosz mourinho dick

“But then, this is the seize of your dick!”

And there is the infamous 5 seconds rule, isn’t this a bit of a hype?

“Maybe for outsiders, but what can I do about that. It’s a key foundation for our way of playing. See, when you defend, the pitch needs to be small, when you attack you want the pitch big. It usually takes 5 seconds for the opponent to regain position as a team, when they take the ball. This is why we want it within 5 seconds back. It’s easier. You eliminate their threat. And when we play versus a counter team, the 5 second rule is really important. Recently, we played Standard Luik for the Europa League and the execution was good.”

And in the meantime you are building a bigger squad…

“Well no, I don’t want a bigger squad. We will have players leaving. I want more balance. I have a lot of midfielders but I had only one real left back in Dijks. Now with Daley Sinkgraven I have another option, a different option. I only had one left winger so this winter we had to make some moves and we got Justin Kluivert moving up from the youth team. Mathijs de Ligt is playing his games. I want every player in the squad to have a chance to play, I don’t need 30 players. It won’t work. There will always be disappointed players and they can affect more than you know.”

bosz coaching

Ajax does play more attractive now then under De Boer. And the European adventure is going on as well.

“We have done well so far in Europe. I believe it should be doable, for a Dutch club to reach far, but not every year and maybe not so much in the Champions League. That league is determined by money. I’m sure a Dutch club with the right draw can reach beyond the group stage but at quarter final level, you will compete with clubs who spend 5 times more than Dutch clubs, at least. So yes, one or two surprising wins are possible, but the finals will be very hard. Europa League is different. We won vs Kopenhagen, a very decent club. If we get a lucky draw, semi finals is doable. And then anything can happen. But this doesn’t mean a thing re: the past. I don’t want to say anything negative about Frank de Boer as he doesn’t deserve it. Every season is different and he has achieved the impossible here, almost. I do like results, but I really want to be able to entertain. I want the fans in the stadium to yell ooh and aah a lot of times. Spectacle, speed. And it takes time to gel a team. We sadly lost too many points in the first half of the competition where Gio van Bronckhorst had his season last year in which he had to find the solutions. They’re very solid and hard to beat all season. We took more time. But I’m happy with the development of the squad. Onana, Sanchez, Dolberg, Lasse Schone and also the youngsters, like De Ligt, Kluivert, Van de Beek… We can be very proud of our Academy and good things will come.”

How far are you from your goal?

“I re-watched our home game vs Standard Luik. And I saw a remarkable low number of situations where I frowned, situations we did wrong. We are making good steps. But we need to keep on working and developing, we’re certainly not there yet. We have an urge to be perfect and we’re not there. We’re on course, but not there yet.”

bosz gio

Old friends, gunning for the title