Ajax beat NAC 2-1 as Oscar Gloukh opened the scoring in the fourth minute, Sydney van Hooijdonk converted a penalty to level, and Kenneth Talyor struck just after the break.
Ajax coach John Heitinga called the display “certainly the worst game under my leadership” after the match. “We had a good start and were comfortable. Then we made an unfortunate handball. After that it was really bad,” Heitinga told ESPN.
“We changed at halftime to wash away that bad taste,” Heitinga said, bringing Jorthy Mokio and Raul Moro on for Oliver Edvardsen and Don-Angelo Konadu. “We started the second half well, but after that it only got worse. I also rubbed my eyes. It was a bad day on our part. We can talk about that for a long time, but it has to be better. It looked very gnarly at times. This was certainly the worst game under my leadership,” said Heitinga, who is in his first season as head coach of Ajax.
Captain Davy Klaassen described the match as “very mediocre.” “I think especially in the first half the structure was missing. Then you don’t play from your steadiness. There were far too many misunderstandings. That looked very nasty I think,” he said. Klaassen rejected lack of discipline as the cause: “Discipline from players is not the problem. Everyone works hard. We shouldn’t look for it in that. Teams like NAC, with all due respect, you want to control them more.”
Ajax turn quickly to Champions League business, facing Olympique Marseille on Tuesday. The Amsterdammers lost their first Champions League match 0-2 to Internazionale.
