The Ajax team is in a total mess right now.
Before Christmas, hopes of a domestic double came to an end, and it was decided that finishing second in the Dutch championship—five points behind PSV Eindhoven—was a reason to fire the team.
Ten Hag would win back Ajax’s place in the affections and thoughts of true football fans. His Ajax team was infused with the club’s DNA, which propelled them to unprecedented heights in 2019—a Champions League semifinal. He arrived to Manchester United.
The 36-time Dutch champs require a complete makeover right now. Sven Mislintat, the football director, was fired, but calls for the board to resign have gone unanswered.
With just one victory from their opening seven games, the Dutch behemoths are just one point off the bottom of the league following their 4-3 loss to Utrecht on Sunday.
Full-time fan problems are addressed by Captain Bergwijn
Picture: At full time, Captain Steven Bergwijn addresses the crowd.
Given that it was against one of the few teams behind them in the standings, it was particularly devastating. To make matters worse, they gave up on a second-half comeback that saw them go from two goals behind to lead 3-2, only to lose in stoppage time.
Although they still have two games remaining, this is the team’s worst-ever season opener. The current run of four straight league losses is the first since April 1999, when Jan Wouters was in charge.
In their last eight games across all competitions, Ajax have lost five and failed to win any. From the beginning of professional football in the Netherlands in 1954, this has been the club’s longest losing streak.
Ajax figures
Not surprisingly, after just 11 games in charge, manager Maurice Steijn has departed with immediate effect. Steijn moved from Sparta Rotterdam, whom he led to an unexpected sixth-place finish last season, and inked a three-year contract with the team this summer.
“We have worked intensely and professionally together over the last few months,” Ajax CEO Jan van Halst stated.
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