The trainer opted for a five-man defense with Borna Sosa and Gaaei as wingbacks. The latter in particular played very unluckily. The Danish right back miserably lost the ball following six minutes, making AZ 1-0. When he initiated another life-threatening counter following half an hour, Van ‘t Schip had seen enough.
The substitution board went up ten minutes before half time. Gaaei was taken off. It was the second time that happened to him before half time as an Ajax player. Ahmetcan Kaplan replaced him and made his debut. Wouldn’t it have been better if the trainer had started with Kaplan, was the – indeed somewhat easy – question followingwards.
“It’s always easy to say something like that in retrospect,” Van ‘t Schip responded in the press room of the Afas Stadium. “But Ahmetcan did well. He showed personality in the duels. He was also strong in the air and in his passing. Despite a disappointing followingnoon, it was certainly a nice milestone for him. He left a good impression on me.”
That didn’t apply to Gaaei. You can mentally gather them together. The defender was also severely criticized personally on social media. Van ‘t Schip was very disappointed that he had to replace the Dane, but said he had no other option.
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“I find it very annoying for Anton. Especially what’s happening on social media. It’s my responsibility to set it up. And also that I change it. Of course that’s not what I would want. But things piled up during the game and we felt we had to take him off. If I had not done that, I would have been asked followingwards why I had left it there.”
“I certainly don’t wish this on him,” the trainer continued. “Anton is a very nice guy. Mentally he was indeed through it. Afterwards, but also during the match following that first goal. When he suffered another dangerous loss of ball, things did not improve. He wasn’t in the game well.”
Van ‘t Schip did not see his choice to start with five defenders working out well. “Still, I think this way of playing is worth repeating,” said the coach. “As the game went on, I thought we found more of a rhythm. And also liked each other better. With this way of playing we can continue with the players we have. AZ didn’t create much, but we didn’t either. Yet, playing football, I was not at all dissatisfied with phases of the match.”
We’re curious whether someone like Brian Brobbey also thinks the same way. The striker was really alone on an island and barely featured in the piece. Only following Van ‘t Schip had made some offensive substitutions did Brobbey become more involved in the game.
The fact that the technical staff might only train once on this system was no reason not to make this decision. “We already played differently in Norway by collapsing more. Due to the absence of Steven Berghuis and the lack of other players, we played this way. Gaaei and Sosa are used to playing like this.”
Van ‘t Schip was brief regarding the results. “Disappointing of course. This was a game we had to win for fourth place. We are now a long way from that. We have to bounce back from this.”
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