Ajax 19/20 Analysis
Ajax, the most decorated team from the Netherlands were seconds away from reaching the Champions League final last year when Lucas Moura scored in extra-time. Let’s check how one of the most entertaining teams from last year plays after the heartbreak.
They were leading the Eredivisie with the same points as AZ despite already having lost more points this year than in last year’s edition and were already eliminated from the Europa League and the KNVB Bekker Cup.
Ajax lost two of their best players in the summer, De Ligt to Juventus for 85M and Frenkie to Barcelona for 75M. Schöne and Dolberg also left the club but Promes, Marin, Edson Alvárez and Lisandro Martínez were bought to fill the gaps.
Tactical Analysis
The Amsterdam Team usually plays in a 4–2–3–1 and this is their most frequent line-up.
Their build up is usually made with three men, one of them being the defensive midfielder, when he doesn’t join the center-backs he’s always close to them providing a passing option. This is also used as a way to try to prevent quick transitions from the opposition since their team is always very pushed up field.
The left full-back often stays wide forcing the respective winger to come inside while the right full-back normally comes inside because the right winger stays close to the line to receive the ball.
If one of the players closer to the line receive the ball, the defensive midfielder that had drop immediately advances to join a possible attack, he also often leaves the defensive line progressing with the ball to find a player in a better position.
The defensive midfielder that doesn’t drop onto the defense either pushes forward and joins the attackers or stays relatively close to the back line to provide a passing option.
Tadic (when he plays as the center-forward) also plays a key role in this team, he drops many times to receive balls in between lines and find better options to develop the attack or even just by providing front supports to the midfielders or the back line to circulate the ball to the other side of the pitch or to create a scoring chance to the team.
In the final third, Ajax does what they do best, quick combinations to open space for the many players that they always have in scoring positions. Since the full backs play very advanced in the field they benefit massively from this and are almost always involved in the attacks.
Despite not being a team of many transitions, they are still very competent at it using the winger’s pace and front men creativity to define the play in the best way.
One of the risks of playing this kind of offensive football is the counter-attacks, with the full backs so pushed forward in the field if someone loses a ball they may not have enough time to track back possibly leaving the team in numerical inferiority. They try to counter this with the three men back line in build up but sometimes it’s not enough.
Onana plays a important role on stopping some transitions since he plays very advanced and can even help playing from the back because he’s very comfortable with ball on his feet.
Ajax usually defends in a 4–4–1–1 with the wingers closer to the full backs and having the opposition full backs as their defensive reference. Sometimes Ziyech joins the center-forward and the number 10 and they take a 4–3–3 as their approach.
They also like to press high when they have the opportunity in order to force the other team to throw a long ball and even though they rarely are the tallest team they often win second balls. Every player other than one of the defensive midfielders, the two center backs and the full back from the opposite side press the opposition.
