Why the lightning rod Van de Beek was very important in Athens



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Ajax managed to reach the next round of the Champions League in Athens on Tuesday night. The Amsterdams missed the presence of Hakim Ziyech on the right, but were able to create enough chances by "manipulating" the Greeks. Donny van de Beek has characterized the game of Ajax by making the right choices, especially without a ball.

By Koen Bloks

Ajax quickly took control of the game. This was not totally surprising: AEK was mainly trying to stop via training in 532. When the local team was able to conquer the ball, she tried to thread it quickly and high into the depths, winning the top duel of Lasse Schöne or Frenkie de Jong, and thus face to face with Matthijs de Ligt and Maximilian Wöber. come A lot of pain has not made the Ajax defense heart. At a bad time of Wöber evaluation just before and after the rest, the central duo held up.



AEK Athene's intention to stop Ajax in the photo (top). Offensively, he tries to surprise the Ajax defense by performing deep actions after the midfield headers (bottom).

The question asked was: What can Ajax do to open defense spaces? ? Ajax attempted to achieve this through play, position changes and short passes on the flanks. The Greeks defended as a team, but were easily lured out of position. Indeed, the orientation of the Greek defenders was too focused on the direct opponent in their own area. By simply applying many positional changes and moving away from their own area, Ajax has created his own spaces.

Especially the left side of Ajax has always succeeded thanks to Daley Blind, Dusan Tadic, Frenkie de Jong and Van de Beek. Ajax did so by playing in the left direction and holding the ball so Blind and Tadic could draw the direct opponent to the touch. Van de Beek then walked deeply to the left forehead and spaces were cleared for new actions in the course of execution. in the design of the attack and still succeeds in opening spaces to play through. It offers (big) potential opportunities. On the top photo, Tadic crawls behind his right back after landing at De Jong. On the middle photo, all the square is on the right to create a space for the walking action of De Jong.

Van de Beek became the great lightning rod of Ajax. From an offensive point of view, he was not very decisive in the ball attack, but without a ball. The Ajax player was not directly involved in a goal via an action being executed. He went after the ball a ball on the post. The attacking midfielder also played an important role in AEK defense openings and parades. His direct opponent was one of the few to apply zone coverage. In an ongoing action of Van de Beek, he is supported by one of the outside central defenders. Number 10 then created new spaces for other Ajax players by drawing the defender.




The ongoing actions of Van de Beek in the picture: the midfielder scrutinizes the spaces that present themselves for can walk in the direction of the goal (pictured above). If there is no potential chance to find out, Van de Beek is trying to attract opponents from areas where other Ajax players can dive (photo center, by train). to attract the outside defender). The Greeks always fall into the same trap.

The game of Ajax in the balloon was not always catchy. But without a ball, Ajax players have mainly made the right choice to hurt the Greeks. The Ten Hag team exploited the strengths of the team (due to the absence of Ziyech on the right) and managed to turn the AEK Athene's compact defense into an organization. too wide for Ajax. harmless. Although Ajax needed standard situations to take the lead, it simply won a 2-0 victory.

The @LaptoptrainerNL VoetbalPrimeur search at matches the more important at home and abroad. and tries to explain comprehensibly the theoretical side of football.

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