Ajax coach John van ‘t Schip will return to a system with four defenders in the home match against Excelsior on Wednesday evening. It expects that Algemeen Dagblad at least. The Amsterdam team played in a formation with five defenders in the home game against FC Twente a week and a half ago, but Van ‘t Schip took a different tack in the second half and what he saw next left him wanting more.
Ajax was committed to recovering from the historic defeat in De Klassieker against Feyenoord against FC Twente, but after a bad first half a new disappointment was lurking. The team from Amsterdam went to rest with a 0-1 deficit and threatened to suffer damage again in the battle for fifth place, but after a tactical conversion they still managed to turn the deficit into a victory (2-1) . Ajax adopted the ‘familiar’ 4-3-3 system in the second half and promptly started playing a lot better football.
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Van ‘t Schip said in conversation with the club channel on Tuesday that he may have his team play against Excelsior from the start in a system with four defenders. “After the conversion of the formation to 4-3-3 you saw that there was a big difference with the first half. We managed to turn the 0-1 deficit into a 2-1 victory. That also gives the boys the feeling that we can continue in this way”, that’s what it sounds like on behalf of the trainer. It Algemeen Dagblad therefore expect Ajax to start on Wednesday evening with four men behind. Geronimo Rulli defends the goal, the defense in front of him will consist of Devyne Rensch, Josip Sutalo, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Jorrel Hato.
Jordan Henderson returned to the training field on Tuesday and may be back against Excelsior, but the newspaper does not expect the Englishman to kick off immediately. Compared to the home match against FC Twente, Branco van den Boomen loses his starting place. The summer signing was replaced at half-time against the Tukkers by Benjamin Tahirovic and the AD expects the latter to kick off on Wednesday. He is joined in midfield by Sivert Mannsverk and Kenneth Taylor. Steven Berghuis trained for a small part on Tuesday, but is not yet available against Excelsior. Mika Godts reportedly has a starting place again. He will have to score the goals together with Brian Brobbey and Steven Bergwijn.
The meeting between Ajax and Excelsior starts at 9 p.m. With a win, the Amsterdam team will do good business. The deficit to number four AZ and the lead over NEC will then at least temporarily become four points. NEC and AZ will face each other in Nijmegen next Sunday.
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