October 1991
Ajax... Fifteen Years Ago
Louis van Gaal has been in charge at De Meer for only three
days and his first official match is a European away fixture.
It's not too much of a tricky one to start with, though:
Örebro away, in the first round of the UEFA Cup. Ajax won
the home leg with ease (3-0) and you'd say that
nothing can go wrong anymore over here, at Eyravallen Stadium
in Örebro, Sweden, on 01 October 1991.
New head-coach, new team picture:
Ajax-1 with Louis van Gaal in early October
1991.
The new boss has different ideas about the ideal starting
formation than his predecessor. In Van Gaal's eyes Wim Jonk is
not a midfielder, but a 'number 4', playing just in front of
the defense. Beenhakker's 'number 4', Jan Wouters, moves to
midfield. Young Edgar Davids makes his European début.
Ajax seem to play in a sort of 4-4-2 formation, with Bergkamp
and Van 't Schip as the two forwards and Stefan Pettersson just
behind them.
These are remarkable changes and... they don't work. It is
easily Ajax's weakest game of football in months. The team is
unable to string more than three proper passes together,
Örebro get several chances and Ajax look... defensive. The
only highlight of the game is Aron Winter's goal in the 63rd
minute. The Amsterdammers advance to the second round, in which
- so determines the draw - Rot-Weiss Erfurt will be the
opponent. Should be a piece of cake. They qualified for the
UEFA Cup in the very last season of the old East-German (DDR)
league. This season they play in the second Bundesliga of the
new, united Germany.
On 06 October PSV win their road game at FC Den Haag by the
score of 0-2. Ajax see no action that weekend, which only adds
to the total chaos of the Dutch Eredivisie. On Wednesday 09
October Ajax play Sparta at De Meer and it is typical for the
current situation that the visitors from Rotterdam have played
eleven games already, whereas Ajax only played six. The table
is hardly a table. Will Ajax play in a 4-4-2 again? The answer
is no, but the new boss' decisions are remarkable nonetheless:
Davids once again gets the nod instead of Bryan Roy, while Jan
Wouters plays as a left midfielder.
Ajax are poor in the first half. Jonk as a defender? Wouters
on the left? Roy on the bench? What's this Van Gaal guy
thinking? The supporters grumble, until Ajax break the deadlock
around the hour mark and eventually book an easy 4-0 win,
courtesy of Pettersson, Winter, substitute Bryan Roy and once
again Pettersson. Meanwhile, PSV settle for a 1-1 draw against
Feyenoord at De Kuip. In eleven days' time, on the 20th, Ajax
will travel to Eindhoven's Philips Stadium for a thrilling
clash between two unbeaten sides. PSV have 15 points out of 8
games, Ajax have 13 out of 7.
But first, another crucial game is on the agenda: Holland vs
Portugal in Rotterdam (16 October). Six Ajacieden are called
up: Winter, Van 't Schip, Blind, Wouters, Witschge and
Bergkamp. A triumph over the strongest opponent in the group
would be a major step towards Euro 1992. And Holland do
it, thanks to an absolutely stunning long range volley from
Richard Witschge in the 22nd minute: 1-0, a tremendously
important win for the Dutch. Two days to prepare for PSV vs
Ajax...
In Eindhoven Bryan Roy returns to the starting eleven. Menzo
in goal. Blind, Vink, Jonk and De Boer in defense. Winter,
Bergkamp and Wouters in midfield and Van 't Schip, Pettersson
and Roy upfront. That's the team to take on the reigning Dutch
champions, an on-form and (it must be said) very offensive
side, with Romario and Wim Kieft as the strikers, Juul Ellerman
and Kalusha on the wings - and Ronald Koeman directly behind
them, in central midfield.
The start is terrible for Ajax. Erratic defending allows
Kalusha to make it 1-0 in the 18th minute and before Ajax have
recovered from the blow Romario has doubled the score: 2-0
(21'). Fortunately, Dennis Bergkamp converts his very first
chance (28'), bringing Ajax back into the game. Ajax improve
and increase the pressure. What a spectacular game of
football!
Only seven minutes into the second half Wim Jonk rushes
forward and levels the score: 2-2. Ajax are now the better
side. They smell blood. Van Gaal replaces Van 't Schip with
striker John van Loen, but a win is one bridge too far, so it
turns out. Eight minutes after Jonk's equalizer, Kalusha scores
his second goal of the day (60'). It is the knock-out blow for
Ajax. It was fantastic game of football, but Ajax drive back
back to Amsterdam with zero points, knowing that they are now
four points behind PSV, albeit with one game in hand.
The next day almost every Dutch newspaper publishes a
remarkable statement from John van 't Schip: "I never want to
play as a right winger again. I am unhappy at that position and
I think I can be of more value to the team as a right
midfielder." For the first time Louis van Gaal demonstrates
that his 'honesty and straight-forwardness'can - indeed -
'sometimes come across as harsh'. The message to Van 't Schip
is simple: I will not play you as a midfielder and,
since you apparently don't feel like it anymore, I will not
play you as a winger either. In fact: you are hereby added to
the transfer list and you can look out for a new club.
In spite of all the fuss, Van 't Schip is one of the 18
players to make the trip to Erfurt, a gray, depressing town in
former East-Germany. It is a frightening experience.
Unemployment is skyhigh in the former 'DDR', where many people
live in poverty. Neo-Nazism, xenophobia and hatred rear their
ugly heads. And there's Ajax, a 'club of Jews' with several
players of Surinamese origin. Erfurt hooligans fire rockets and
throw bricks at the Ajax bus and try to attack the team during
the short walk from the bus to the players' entrance of
Thüringer Wald Stadium. The Ajax fans who made the trip
are shocked when the teams come out and hundreds of Rot-Weiss
Erfurt supporters stand up as one man and give the Hitler
salute... even on the VIP terraces. Each time goalkeeper Menzo,
Vink, Winter or Roy touches the ball the crowd produce 'monkey
noises'... Disgusting. What a horrible place to be.
A large win would be an appropriate statement, but
unfortunately Ajax continue to struggle. They even concede a
goal, just before half-time. Thomas Schulz is the scorer. How
embarrassing... Ajax set things right after the break. Straight
from kick-off, after a fast attack through the middle, Wim Jonk
comes face-to-face with the goalkeeper and levels the score. In
the 72nd minute, Dennis Bergkamp slips past goalkeeper Disztl
and gives Ajax the win: 1-2. That was that. Now, let's get out
of here. Away from this place, as soon as possible.
Next up: Utrecht away. Always a difficult one. Ajax's last
win at Galgenwaard Stadium (April 1985!) was followed by three
defeats and three draws. Ajax are without Wim Jonk, who picked
up an injury and will be out for a number of weeks. Sonny
Silooy, who didn't see much action so far, returns to the team.
John van 't Schip is out of favour, which forces Van Gaal to
shift his players around: Bergkamp moves to the right wing and
Wouters moves to central midfield as left midfielder Alfons
Groenendijk seems to have won his starting slot back.
The start is good (Bergkamp gives Ajax the lead after 11
minutes), but after Robert Roest's equalizer (33') history
repeats itself once again: Utrecht fight (sometimes
literally) and disrupt Ajax's play. Marcel Lindenaar's winning
goal (72') is more or less inevitable - and so are the chants
from the section of travelling Ajax fans: "Johan Cruyff! Johan
Cruyff!" Louis van Gaal has only been at the helm for a few
weeks, but the fans seem to hate him already. Straight-forward
and honest? Yeah right, but where are the points? PSV beat
Willem II in Tilburg and are now six points clear.
On Wednesday 30 October the Tilburg side visit De Meer and
it says a lot that the crowd is the smallest so far this
season: 13,481 people. A couple of anti-Van Gaal banners are on
display. The head-coach appears to have undone almost all of
his previous changes: Wouters returns to 'number 4', Bergkamp
returns to 'number 10' and Dan Petersen plays from the start,
instead of 'Schip'.
John van 't Schip is not the only Ajax winger Van Gaal seems
to have a personal problem with: the Ajax boss heavily
criticized Bryan Roy in a few TV interviews and, against Willem
II, humiliates the left winger by taking him off after only 22
minutes. The fans turn against Van Gaal and support Roy by
chanting his name, but on this particular evening they don't
have much of a point. Dan Petersen (Van 't Schip's replacement)
scores Ajax's opening goal (6') and Edgar Davids (Roy's
replacement) makes it 2-0 in the 25th, less than three minutes
after he was brought on. Dennis Bergkamp makes it 3-0 from the
penalty spot, deep into the second half, but it wasn't great -
and that's an understatement.
Another understatement: Louis van Gaal's first month in
charge of Ajax was not very succesful. The football is poor,
two away games were lost to Eredivisie rivals and the man
dropped two well respected wingers, both born Amsterdammers
with a true Ajax heart, in a rather humiliating way. One final
understatement? The supporters are not on his side...
(MP)
Previous:
Next month:
- The 'Classic': Feyenoord away!
- To the third round of the UEFA Cup...?
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