Liverpool final confronted Ajax in two Champions League group ties in 2020, with quite a lot of modifications for the Amsterdam membership since then. So what’s totally different?
When the balls had been drawn for Group A on this season’s Champions League, there was a well-recognized feeling for Liverpool followers.
Ajax had been drawn from Pot 1, Napoli from Pot 3 and Rangers from Pot 4. It meant two reunions with sides Jurgen Klopp has confronted earlier than in his tenure and one conflict with a membership from north of the border.
In Ajax’s case, it brings the third and fourth conferences between the golf equipment from Liverpool and Amsterdam in simply three years.
However issues are a lot totally different for Ajax since their back-to-back 1-0 defeats to the Reds within the group stage of the identical competitors again in 2020.
So what has modified for the Eredivisie outfit between then and now?
Who has stayed, left and joined?
It’s a scenario these inside Ajax are lengthy accustomed to as, regardless of their prowess within the Netherlands and Europe, they continue to be exterior of the continent’s high 5 leagues.
The standout skills in Amsterdam will most of the time be headhunted by golf equipment in England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, which has actually been the case over the previous two years.
Of the 18 gamers to characteristic over the 2 clashes between Ajax and Liverpool in 2020, solely six stay with the membership.
They’re Dusan Tadic, Daley Blind, Davy Klaassen, Edson Alvarez, Mohammed Kudus and Perr Schuurs.
Six extra to have began in both tie have moved on, with Andre Onana (Inter Milan), Noussair Mazraoui (Bayern Munich), Nicolas Tagliafico (Lyon), Ryan Gravenberch (Bayern), Antony (Man United) and David Neres (Benfica) all leaving the Netherlands.
Lisandro Martinez (Man United), Quincy Promes (Spartak Moscow), Lassina Traore (Shakhtar Donetsk), Jurgen Ekkelenkamp (Royal Antwerp), Zakaria Labyad (free agent) and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (retired) all got here off the bench however have since departed.
Ajax have recruited excellently as ever to interchange them, with goalkeeper Remko Pasveer, centre-back Calvin Bassey, midfielder Steven Berghuis and winger Steven Bergwijn amongst these prone to take up key roles within the two Group A ties.
Brian Brobbey, Jay Gorter, Jorge Sanchez, Florian Grillitsch and loanee Lucas Ocampos might additionally characteristic, whereas new arrivals Francisco Conceicao, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Owen Wijndal fill backup roles.
Academy graduates Devyne Rensch, Jurrien Timber and Kenneth Taylor have all stepped up as first-choice starters since 2020.
Probably Ajax XI vs. Liverpool (4-3-3): Pasveer; Rensch, Timber, Bassey, Blind; Alvarez, Berghuis, Taylor; Tadic, Bergwijn, Kudus
Who’s in cost now Erik ten Hag is gone?
When Liverpool took on Ajax two years in the past, within the dugout was a longtime supervisor with a burgeoning popularity in Ten Hag.
The Dutchman had already been in Amsterdam for 3 years, having joined in 2017 after spells with Go Forward Eagles, Bayern Munich II and FC Utrecht, and led them to the Eredivisie title in 2018/19.
“I need to see a courageous Ajax in opposition to Liverpool,” Ten Hag mentioned earlier than the primary leg at house.
“A group that performs with self-confidence and might implement the rules that now we have agreed upon within the area, that’s why I believe Liverpool are one of the best group on this planet.”
However after two extra years in cost at Ajax, Ten Hag made the choice to depart this summer time to take over at Man United, ultimately bringing each Martinez and Antony with him.
Assistant supervisor Mitchell van der Gaag and analyst Kevin Keij additionally swapped Ajax for United over the summer time.
— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) September 10, 2022
Taking on from Ten Hag, then, is Alfred Schreuder, a 49-year-old Dutchman who is essentially untested as a supervisor, together with his solely different spells in cost being temporary ones at FC Twente, Hoffenheim and Membership Brugge.
Triumph with Membership Brugge within the Belgian high flight noticed him earmarked as successor, although, returning to the membership he beforehand labored at as assistant supervisor to Ten Hag from early 2018 to mid-2019.
Schreuder largely employs a 4-3-3 system at Ajax, with the primary tactical tweaks coming in midfield, the place both two defensive midfielders or a single No. 6 are deployed relying on the opposition.
His taking part in profession took in spells with RKC Waalwijk, NAC Breda, Feyenoord, Twente and Vitesse.
Has all this alteration impacted Ajax’s kind?
In no way.
Ajax clinched the Eredivisie title with a two-point lead over PSV Eindhoven in Ten Hag’s remaining season in cost, scoring 98 objectives and conceding solely 19 for a purpose distinction of +79.
Thus far this season, Schreuder has overseen an unbeaten begin, with six wins from six within the Eredivisie and a 4-0 victory over Rangers of their opening sport of the Champions League.
Bergwijn, who returned to his boyhood membership from Tottenham in a £26.4 million deal in July, is their high scorer with eight objectives in eight video games, whereas Kudus has netted 5.
Questions could also be requested over their capability to interchange 34-goal striker Sebastien Haller, however their different main supply of objectives stays in Tadic, who already has 5 assists this marketing campaign.
Heading into Tuesday’s journey to Anfield, Ajax have received all seven video games, conserving 5 consecutive clear sheets, with 25 objectives scored and three conceded.
