Footballia

Ça s'adresse aux fans de foot qui auraient décidé de boycotter cette coupe du monde : l'idée est de remplacer tous les matchs de cette CdM par les meilleurs matchs des éditions précédentes, tous visibles gratuitement et légalement sur Fifa+ (certains aussi sur YouTube)
J'en avais déjà parlé ici, et donc voilà le calendrier mis à jour !
Je posterai également sur twitter (si ça existe toujours) les liens pour chaque match, et la suite du calendrier après les poules.
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https://preview.redd.it/u9afe8em3x0a1.png?width=1920&format=png&auto=webp&s=7ec64e9e0c5b61cbdcfdc86eb4776edfdcf6c25b

Watching Ajax games has been a guilty pleasure of mine for a while now and yesterday I got to rewatching the UCL Group E game between Ajax and Bayern Munich in the 18/19 season that ended in a 3-3 draw. Moreover, in light of the recent VDB sentiment on the sub, I tried and analysed his performance on that night. I'm not a in-depth analyst but I tried to summarise how he performed and how Ajax played.
Ajax set-up in a 4-3-3 on paper which is the most common Dutch formation, but EtH had them play differently than it would seem. As you can see below, Ajax set-up a four man defence and midfield three.
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Ajax Line-up
To begin with, the fullbacks were given free-license by EtH to overlap and get involved high up the pitch. This meant that Daley Blind had to stay slightly deep in the area that Tagliafico was supposed to be in during goalkicks and when building-up from the back thus leaving De Jong as a deep progressor and passing option in front-of a back 3 of De Ligt, Wober and Blind. Next, Ziyech played on the right but operated more coming inside than playing wide. Him and Mazraoui linked up well, with the fullback often overlapping and underlapping Ziyech. Tadic operated as a more as a False 9 than a striker, often dropping to link-up play or drifting wide left to create chances from crosses. David Neres played like a regular winger would, trying to beat opponents in 1v1s using his dribbling, driving with the ball and making runs in-behind. Although playing under a tactically-tweaked EtH team meant that he was required to join the opposite wing to overload the flank. When he did this, Ziyech switched play with accurate long-balls to Tagliafico or Blind, who were freed/unmarked on the wing Neres had vacated.
This leaves Van de Beek. Where did he operate from? What role did he play? What areas did he cover? The answer was not quite obvious to me at first, but as the game progressed, it began showing. In my view, EtH instructed VDB to operate freely, especially in the final third. He was to offer passing options to midfield players, play one-twos to open up space and constantly give movement so that Ajax's progression from back to fron through midfield did not die out when they reached the final 3rd. Remember, Bayern had set-up in a 4-4-2 and were very dangerous going forward when they got the ball in transition. VDB was also part of a 4-man press that applied pressure on Bayern when they had the ball.
Ajax often dominated the ball and built-up their play nicely since their players were very comfortable when in possession. However, they were punished when they left space open and opponents unmarked in the box, such as when Lewandowski was free to blast past Onana for Bayern's first goal. But that was to be expected, even when facing a Bayern team that had been recently unconvincing.
OK, Back to VDB. We now know what he was doing, and where he was told to do it. But how well did he do it? My answer is kinda good, but mostly OK. In the 1st half, he recieved a pass from Tagliafico into the box, layed it up for Neres with one-touch, got a return pass from Neres then dragged a shot towards Neuer. It was a good chance but the shot was underwhelming, nevertheless, VDB had not done too badly. He had not expected the return pass, but Neres had quickly realised the angle was too tight to generate a decent shot with his weaker foot, so he squared it back to VDB. In the 61st minute, Ajax got a goal back through Tadic , and the assist came from VDB. Ajax had been probing Bayern's half for the better part of 3-4 minutes, patiently possessing the ball, moving it around and trying to stretch the German low-block. FDJ plays a pass to Ziyech, triggering VDB to move into an empty space near the byline, Ziyech immediately loops a ball into his path. Tadic makes a run and VDB squares him the ball to tap into an empty net. Ajax have a goal back through a beautiful move, of the calibre that EtH had looked to achieve when he set-up his team. The game would change in the next 6 minutes as Wober received a red card for a dangerous tackle on Goretzka, and eight minutes after that when Muller also saw red for a flying kick on Tagliafico's head that perfectly recreated the Bundesliga logo.
After this, EtH went for a more direct approach to try and get something before the game ended. He took off Donny and played Kasper Dolberg on. He also brought in Klaas Jan Huntelaar for Neres. Dolberg earned a penalty after making a run in behind and getting tackled, sth that I don't think VDB would have done. Tadic buried a penalty to make it 2-1. 5 minutes later, Lewandowski did the same to make it 2-2. This triggered EtH to make his final push for a winner. In a move that many Utd fans would recognise from a recent match with Real Sociedad, ten Hag instructed his CB, Mathjiis De Ligt, to play as a striker next to Huntelaar. FDJ and Blind were left as cover for him. Bayern capitalised on an FDJ misspass and got one back to make it 3-2. Still clinging to some hope, Ajax played on with De Ligt still upfront and rained balls and shots into the box, eventually one fell to Huntellar in a position similar to the one VDB had found himself in for Ajax's first goal. Huntellar fired the ball across and a sliding Niklas Sule pushed it into his own net. The match ended 3-3.
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TAKE-AWAYS FROM THE GAME
Aside from that exchange with Neres that resulted in a shot in the first half and the assist for Tadic in the second, VDB was not a very imposing contributor to this match. He pressed and offered movement but aside from that, the play seemed to flow through him the least out of all Ajax midfielders and forwards. This is further corroborated by his touch and heat map.
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Van de Beek pass map
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Van de Beek touch map
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Van de Beek vs Thomas Muller heat map
Van de Beek's involvement is mostly off-the-ball. His touches and passes are sporadic and scattered and moreover, very few. His 31 touches of the ball were the fewest out of all Ajax players that started the match with him. What he did best was make runs, offer passing options and move into space. These are things he does well and maybe that is the reason that EtH told him to do it. Ajax looked to move the ball around and attack by opening up the defense, not through crosses to Tadic into the box. The patient breakdown approach was worked well on that night, though it crumbled in the dying stages of the game. And when EtH decided to go for a rather direct approach, he took Donny van de Beek off and replaced him with a player that was suited for that particular task.
This is of course a very small episode from which to draw concrete conclusions on VDB. Moreover, I may have misinterpreted what his role in Ajax was when he played under EtH (If I have done so, please shed light). But what can we learn about VDB from this? One is that he's a good off-the-ball player. This is why during the match, when the commentators were describing how he was playing, they used phrases such as "drifting into space", "arriving into the box", "making clever runs", "superb movement" I think with the right conditions, VDB can bring what few other players can into a game. There's a genuinely good player in there somewhere.
But there are times when I wish his ability with the ball were on par with players whose ability off it resemble his own, such as Thomas Muller, Reus, Delle Alli. My feeling is that VDB needs a good run of games and familiarity with consistent play time. Not just 2 games in a row every 15 gameweeks to replace injured players and redeem his arc. Bruno and Eriksen need rotation and EtH should find a way to work his third AM into his games. If in the end nothing works out for player and club, parting ways is the only good thing that can happen, both for our sake and the player's career.
Finally, I want to end with EtH. From this game, I suppose we have seen his best and also his less glamourous side. He can set up a team to play very sexy football. The kind that we only see better teams than us display week in-week out, especially when they play against us. But we have also seen that he is not afraid of changing his approach when he realizes that things are not working out and he needs results. His "Play as Striker" instruction for De Ligt in this game and for Maguire vs R. Sociedad recently shows this. The only problem that I think will hinder him this season, is that playing in transition and counter-attacks is engrained so deep in our players that getting them to play the way he wants will take some doing. We have seen shades of "Ten Hag Ball". But the complete picture will take time to achieve. Expecting him to immediately come and overhaul us into a decent side, especially with the Glazer problem looming over his shoulder, is wishful-thinking.
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Edit: For those who wish to know, the data and stats were obtained from whoscored.com
I watched the match on footballia.net , a football archive website where you can re-watch past matches.
The link to the Ajax-Bayern game is given below
https://footballia.net/matches/afc-ajax-bayern-munchen-champions-league-2018-2019
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