Ajax cannot control fears and plays against Sparta

« He touches him, he touches him, » says Ajax coach Francesco Farioli with big eyes against the fourth official. But the referee’s decision is: Ajax keeper Matheus has picked up a play ball that came from its own midfielder Steven Berghuis without a Spartan leg in between, to the dismay of his fellow players.

Indirect free kick in the penalty area. Sparta-invader Mohamed Nassoh comes in after a tap of a fellow player: 0-1, deep in injury time. Silence in the stadium.

It is a goal caused by despair – and therefore symbolic for this afternoon for Ajax. Tactics? It was a side issue. Ajax played a mental match on Sunday, in which it was only possible to suppress its own fears. Substitute Youri Regeer saved another point for the home team with a goal in Extremis, but pursuer PSV crawls with three more games to play. The club from Eindhoven can return the gap with the leader against Fortuna Sittard next week to four points. The rather stable Ajax suddenly looks extremely vulnerable.

FAROLI said immediately after the Painful defeat against FC Utrecht (4-0), the largest loss of this season, that it had to be made of « no drama ». The result was flattering when you looked at the opportunity ratio, he found, something he repeated once again when he was a guest at the Night of Philosophy in Amsterdam on Friday evening. « Inexplicable, » he called the result, « the mystery of the magical ball. »

Humility, focus and fighting spirit

A statistician would formulate it differently: coincidence plays an often underestimated role in football, and that means that matches that are more or less the same sometimes end up in 4-0 or 1-5. Ajax regularly received more this season than it had earned on the basis of the game and the opportunities. The risk is that players will believe that they are superior. Or vice versa, after a zeperd like against FC Utrecht, losing self -confidence and getting nervous.

Farioli sees it as one of the most important tasks of a coach to prevent that exactly. Hence the endless hammer on humility, focus and fighting spirit. Hence the ban for his players to talk about a championship, even though not everyone was more involved. Hence the constant hymn on the collective, never on individuals. The question after Utrecht was: the Faroli succeeded in maintaining peace and determination in the group with the title in sight and a pursuer, PSV, who suddenly seems to be in blood form?

Nervosity was initially not noticeable. From cautiousness all the more. Ajax sought the attack from the kick -off, but dosed and patient. Fararoli’s team frequently changed lace to eventually often find the free man in the emerging right back Anton Gaaei. His passes were occasionally dangerous, but just missed the precision to lead to great opportunities.

Whistle of the stands

Gradually Ajax became more sloppy and sloppy, as if printed nerves and fear still played. Brian Brobbey gave a few misunderstood passes, Gaaei simply handed in the ball and especially Bertrand Traoré seemed to miss concentration. The movement flowed from the team, players offered themselves less by the minute. Did there be a ball between two Ajax players? Neither of them moved there, whistling of the stands.

The first big chance was for Sparta after half an hour, after Traoré had suffered a loss of the ball in the umpteenth of indecision in midfield. After a simple combination, the ball ended up in front of Mitchell van Bergen, who shot on keeper Matheus from about twenty meters. Even before half time, Sparta midfielders Shunsuke Mito (twice) and Gjivai Zechiel also dangered to Matheus, while Ajax looked increasingly auxiliary elongated.

Maurice Steijn must have enjoyed it along the line. He is at Sparta, where he worked successfully before he went to Ajax in the summer of 2023, to take revenge for are dark months in Amsterdam. At the beginning of November last year, the club only had eleven points from ten games and threatened a long fight against relegation. Sparta is now safe in the middle bracket with 35 points. Especially in the last few weeks things are going well, thanks in part to midfielders Kristian Hlynsson and Gjivai Zechiel, rented from Ajax and Feyenoord respectively in the winter. The Steijn team was unbeaten for six games for Sunday’s game.

Three times Lat, once pole

A team with self -confidence, and that grew and grew on Sunday afternoon in the Arena. In the first fifteen minutes after the break, Sparta simply dominated. Steijn saw a Ajax recognizable to him, in the sense that all coherence seemed to disappear from the team. Only with the arrival of Wout Weghorst, who fell for Brobbey with more than half an hour and specializes in matches under high voltage, slowly but surely returned to Ajax that the team played at home, moreover against Sparta, and that winning was possible.

Suddenly Fararoli’s team had the upper hand and played a few whole and half chances together. Weghorst, header on the bar from a corner kick. Klaassen, a fuss that flew a few meters next. Taylor, who shot over the left flank up close to the post after a quick combination. Reign, rebound on the bar. Weghorst again, even on the bar. Bad luck? Certainly, but you can just as well say that Ajax got the nerves under control too late.

It was not entirely possible anyway, as witnessed by keeper Matheus deep in injury time. Faroli, often praised for his tactical insight, will have to appeal to his psychological qualities to prevent Ajax from still wasting the title.

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