Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip is working towards the away match against PEC Zwolle next Sunday with some worries. The coach said at his press conference in the capital of Overijssel on Thursday afternoon that he did not have access to , , , and . There is a lot of puzzling going on, especially in the back. Will he get his first starting spot since October 8?
Ajax played a nice draw against leader PSV on February 3. Van ‘t Schip hoped to be able to work with a permanent eleven from that moment on, but nothing turned out to be further from the truth. The team from Amsterdam saw Steven Bergwijn drop out a few days later with a hamstring injury. Although the captain has now almost fully recovered, the infirmary has seen a significant increase in capacity in the meantime. Berghuis has been sidelined for a few weeks, Brobbey dropped out against Sparta Rotterdam, Henderson is unavailable for the time being and Sutalo also has aches and pains.
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Van ‘t Schip also had to do a lot of puzzling in the away match against Sparta about two weeks ago. Sutalo was injured a few days earlier in the away match against Aston Villa. Devyne Rensch was missing due to suspension, Borna Sosa was ill and Tristan Gooijer was also not present. Anton Gaaei was again allowed to appear in the right back position, the central duo consisted of Henderson and Kaplan and Hato functioned as left back. Of the four players who formed the backline at Het Kasteel, only Gaaei and Hato are available for Van ‘t Schip against PEC Zwolle. Henderson is out of circulation for the time being and Kaplan is serving a suspension due to his red card in Rotterdam.
The good news for Van ‘t Schip is that both Rensch and Gooijer can be used again and Sosa will normally also be part of the selection. The Croat was missing in Rotterdam due to illness, but did ‘normally’ play for his country last week. Looking at the players present and absent, the following formation of the rearguard seems the most obvious: Gooijer, Rensch, Hato and Sosa. In the run-up to the match against PEC Zwolle, Van ‘t Schip does not want to say anything about the formation in which he will play his team. Will it be ‘old fashioned’ 4-3-3? Or a system with five defenders again? In that case, Van ‘t Schip in the person of Medic still has an option to position next to Rensch and Hato.
However, a starting place for the 25-year-old Croatian is not expected. Last summer, Ajax paid three million euros for Medic, who was phenomenally accurate during his official debut against Heracles Almelo, but has not proven to be a reinforcement since. To date, he has played nine times for Ajax. His last starting position dates back to October 8, in the home match against AZ (1-2). Afterwards, Medic only played as a substitute against Vitesse, Go Ahead Eagles and FC Utrecht.
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