Maurice Steijn’s return to the Sparta Rotterdam bench was reported a few hours ago. A year ago, the 50-year-old paid for the terrible start to the season at the helm ofAjax with the exemption, but the lancers would not have solved their problems, sinking into a very serious crisis and suffering heavy humiliations. Times that today seem very distant, yet only 5 months have passed.
The Amsterdam club was reborn and much of the credit goes to an Italian, the coach Francesco Farioli. In just three days, Ajax had the satisfaction of beating their two historic rivals: first the success in the Klassieker, at home to Feyenoord, then the victory against the league leaders PSV, who until then had full points and had not lost in the league for 17 games. Two matches that certified the ambitions of Klaassen and his teammates: the team has found enthusiasm again and is now only 5 points behind Bosz’s men, with a game to recover.
This marked the sixth consecutive victory for Ajax in the Eredivisie, the seventh in the last 8 matches. De Zerbi’s former assistant became the second coach in history to win his first matches against PSV and Feyenoord: the only one to do so was Marcel Keizer in 2017 (data Opt). A year ago, at this time, Ajax were last; now he dreams of a title that has been missing for two seasons and which seemed unthinkable until a few weeks ago. Over time, but in the capital there is a new leader who has managed to convey the right stimuli and make great use of the material available. The results are simply the fruit of the great work done.