The Champions League is rarely a competition of sustained surprises. While teams may occasionally
pull off shock results, of late the tournament has been dominated by a number of predictable
faces. But this season, Ajax, guided by manager Erik ten Hag, have not just surpassed expectations,
they’ve done it by seeing off exactly the sort of sides one would expect to be dominant
in the final rounds: Bayern in the group stages, Real Madrid in the Round of 16, and Juventus
in the Quarter Finals.
As these stats from OneFootball show, Ajax have produced in the Champions League, led
by Dusan Tadic, whose influence has been enormous. But how else have Ajax, in recent history
at least a team more famed for producing players who go to do well elsewhere, found themselves
so close to the summit of European football?
Ajax is a club that has had its fair share of behind-the-scenes upheaval. For a clear
with such a clear identity – a certain style of football, the cultivation of young talent,
protecting the legacy of Cruyff – Ajax can seem oddly factional. The appointment of Erik
ten Hag followed the sacking of Marcel Keijzer and, crucially, Dennis Bergkamp, in what was
seen a coup by Director of Football Marc Overmars. In came ten Hag, Overmars’ man, in spite
of the former Utrecht boss having no connection to Ajax, something for which he even now is
criticised.
Overmars set about overhauling some key elements of the club. As Dutch football journalist
Elko Born explains, “Overmars did away with the salary cap, allowing the club to sign
Blind and Tadic. This also goes against Cruijff's and Bergkamp's plan to focus on youth exclusively.”
In Blind and Tadic, there are now experienced heads on the pitch who understand the club
and can help shape the younger players positively.
Overmars also brought in a technically excellent coach, ignoring the potential pitfalls, and
settled the internal bickering that hampered progress since the days of Peter Bosz. Overmars
has retained much of the Ajax way, of course, but he’s tempered it with pragmatism.
As Born puts it: “Overmars grabbed power about 1.5 years ago and has done just about
everything right ever since…it really is quite remarkable.”
And this includes the appointment of ten Hag. Although he is not an Ajax man in the way
many previous coaches have been, ten Hag has taken a Cruyffian style and tempered it with
some aspects of German-influenced gegen-pressing, learned during his time with Bayern Munich
as their second team coach under Guardiola.
In the Champions League, Ajax tend to line up as a 4-2-3-1, but this shifts towards a
3-3-3-1 in possession, with one midfielder dropping back to assist in the build-up from
deep. The centre backs and goalkeeper are all comfortable in possession, and in Frenkie
de Jong, Ajax have a superb press-breaking midfielder who can carry from deep and launch
attacks.
In the Champions League, Dusan Tadic has been employed as a false nine, though it’s worth
noting that in the Eredivisie, ten Hag often uses Kasper Dolberg or Klaus-Jan Huntelaar
as a genuine striker. Tadic’s position means that ten Hag’s Ajax can effect an extra
man in midfield throughout their build-up, which allows them to build quickly and vertically
through the opposition lines, with Ziyech, Neres, and van de Beek’s movement also key.
Ajax marry this with an expert occupation of space. The full backs and wide players
shift to ensure that one holds width and the other covers inside the half space channel.
This allows Ajax to create pass and move situations out wide, while also keeping a good shape
if the play breaks down.
Defensively, Ajax will press aggressively around the ball, especially seeking to effect
a counter-press; if that fails, they fall quickly back into a 4-2-3-1 and stifle the
middle of the pitch, before situationally pressing in wide spaces, again to effect turnovers.
They retain defensive solidity if they don’t win back the ball, but their excellence in
the press often allows opportunities to win it back and attack.
Ajax play attractive, attacking football, but defend intelligently, often keeping four
players behind the ball in case the attack falters. Ten Hag is a thoughtful coach who
has married Ajax’s traditional approach with a few intelligent extras.
But without the players, these tactics would not work. And Ajax are blessed with some serious
young talent, which, helped by the astute signings of Tadic and Blind, and the sometimes
underrated leadership and bite of left back Nicolas Tagliafico, has performed with a confidence
that belies age. Matthijs de Ligt and Frenkie de Jong are perhaps the two key examples,
but Donny van de Beek, David Neres, and Andre Onana are all potentially world class footballers.
Crucially, Ajax also held on to Hakim Ziyech in the summer. Ziyech, whose creativity in
a withdrawn winger role has been hugely important this season, was tipped to move but persuaded
to stay, in part because Overmars’ salary tinkering meant he received a better contract.
But the club have also appealed intelligently to the players, at times via social media.
Ajax create emotive, engaging videos that Edwin van der Sar has credited with fostering
real team spirit. Last summer, such a video was released which ended with the tagline:
“Because it’s never just one player that brings home glory – it’s a team of legends,
it’s all of you.”
While this could have been seen as an appeal to fans to get behind the team, there’s
a very real sense that it was a message to the various players tipped to move on in the
summer of 2018: Onana, de Ligt, de Jong, van de Beek, Neres, Ziyech, Kasper Dolberg, and
Justin Kluivert. Only Kluivert ended up leaving.
By holding on to this core of exciting, talented young players, steeped in the Ajax way and
prepared to commit to at least one more season of success, Ajax have been able to play their
way to a Champions League semi-final.