The final match of Group E in this season’s Champions League will not affect the standings,
but there will be a lot of interested parties. For one, it matches Ajax with Bayern Munich,
two sides who won consecutive hat-tricks of European Cups between 1971 and 1976. Secondly,
Ajax boast one of the most exciting young teams in Europe and, under coach Erik ten
Hag, who took over just under a year ago, one of the most exciting coaches.
As a coach, ten Hag exceeded expectations at FC Utrecht, but it’s perhaps his time
working with Pep Guardiola as Bayern’s reserves coach that has most shaped him. Ajax play
with an emphasis on possession, pressing, and movement between the lines that certainly
show the Guardiola imprint – ten Hag has also shown imagination in the way he sets
him team up, and lets them play.
As these stats from the OneFootball app show, Ajax have dominated possession in the Eredivisie
– they also have the best passing accuracy and take more shots per game than any other
side in the league.
Ajax have lined up in a sort of 4-2-3-1 this season, but it can also look like a very staggered
4-3-3. The side like to build from the back, taking two different approaches depending
on how much they are pressed by the opposition. In both strategies, though, the midfielder
Frenkie de Jong is crucial.
If Ajax are being pressed high, de Jong tends to drop into the back three but on the left
hand side, with first choice centre backs Daley Blind central and Matthias de Ligt on
the right. A central midfielder, either Lasse Schone [LASS-UH SHER-NER] or Zakaria Labyad
[ZUH-CARE-EE-A LUH-BYUD], will drop back to create a shifting rhombus of passing options.
The full backs push high, while the wide attacking midfielders drop into the half spaces flanking
the more advanced central midfielder, usually Donny van de Beek. Ajax try to keep the ball
and push up from the back unless vertical movement by the midfield allows them to find
space, or de Jong is able to drive forwards from the left cente back position and break
the press with his ball carrying.
If Ajax are not being pressed high, de Jong drops centrally and creates a triangle with
the two centre backs and they progress the ball between them, with excellent goalkeeper
Andre Onana also an option. The movement ahead is similar and, again, de Jong is always an
option to break forwards with his dribbling and ability to carry the ball.
Both Ajax’s centre backs are comfortable on the ball. In the tradition of Total Football’s
use of the spare centre back as an auxiliary midfielder to overwhelm an opposition midfield
two or three, either Blind or de Ligt will often push up, leaving the other spare as
a sweeper. Both are comfortable carrying the ball and this sometimes gives Ajax a kind
of 1-2-3-4 shape, with the full backs tucking in or advanced and the wide attackers either
high and wide or dropping in.
In attack, Ajax push van de Beek high, but how he plays depends on whether Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar or Kasper Dolberg play. Huntelaar is less mobile, more of a focal point to get
on to crosses and chase through balls, while Dolberg drops off more, allowing van de Beek
to run beyond him and offer an additional attacking threat from deep.
The wide players are superb: in David Neres, Dusan Tadic, and Hakim Ziyech, Ajax have three
players for two berths, all of whom are creative playmakers who can also score goals. Tadic
likes to drop in and direct play from slightly deeper, allowing left back Nicolas Tagliafico
to push very high, and playing passes across for Neres or Ziyech to run onto. Neres tends
to stay a bit wider to use his explosive pace and dribbling, while Ziyech poses a huge threat
cutting inside onto his left foot.
Tagliafico and right back Noussair Mazraoui [NOOSE-AIR MAZ-ROW-EE] move high or push up
and in, depending on whether the wide attackers have dropped in or stayed wide. It’s clear
that the concept of creating passing triangles and generating superiority through a spare
man are part of the ten Hag way. This is especially clear on the left, where de Jong tucks in
behind Tadic and Tagliafico, but it happens on the right too. It’s one of the clear
ways that Guardiola has influenced his former colleague.
Defensively, Ajax press where possible, triggered by loose touches or balls played towards the
side lines. The front three try to cover passing lanes as they run back, while the central
midfielders harry and snap in to tackles. Ajax can be vulnerable to counters because
they defend so high and sometimes with the sweeping defender on his own – if the opposition
can bypass the initial press, Ajax can be caught out especially as the full backs push
up to provide width.
Nonetheless, this weakness aside, and it’s only a weakness that stems from their desire
to attack and control possession in the opposition half, Ajax are a great side to watch who play
a tactically interesting style of football. While Guardiola’s influence on ten Hag is
clear – the pressing, the build-up out wide, the tactical fluidity and positional use of
the defensive midfielder – the Dutch coach is making a statement in his own right. The
last time Ajax were in the Champions League Group Stages was 2014/15 – the last the
time they progressed from the Groups was in 2004/05. Ajax are through already – the
question now is how far ten Hag and his vibrant young team can go.