Liverpool last met Ajax in two Champions League group ties in 2020, with a number of changes for the Amsterdam club since then. So what is different?
When the balls for this season’s Champions League Group A were drawn, there was a familiar feeling for Liverpool fans.
Ajax emerged from Pot 1, Napoli from Pot 3 and Rangers from Pot 4. It meant two reunions with teams Jurgen Klopp has faced earlier in his tenure and a clash with a club north of the border.
In the case of Ajax, it brings the third and fourth meeting between the Liverpool and Amsterdam clubs in just three years.
But things are very different for Ajax since their back-to-back 1-0 defeats to the Reds in the group stage of the same competition in 2020.
So what has changed for the Eredivisie side between then and now?
Who stayed, left and joined?
It’s a situation Ajax members have long been familiar with as, despite their prowess in the Netherlands and Europe, they remain outside the continent’s top five leagues.
Amsterdam’s top talents will be sought out in most cases by clubs from England, Germany, Italy, France and Spain, which has certainly been the case over the last two years.
Of the 18 players who starred in the two clashes between Ajax and Liverpool in 2020, only six remain at the club.
They are Dusan Tadic, Daley Blind, Davy Klaassen, Edson Alvarez, Mohammed Kudus and Perr Schuurs.
Six more who have started in any of the ties have left, 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 came off the bench but have done ever since. stepped out.
Ajax have recruited excellently as always to replace them, with goalkeeper Remko Pasveer, center back Calvin Bassey, midfielder Steven Berghuis and winger Steven Bergwijn among those likely to take on key roles in the two Group A ties.
Brian Brobbey, Jay Gorter, Jorge Sánchez, Florian Grillitsch and loanee Lucas Ocampos could also feature, while newcomers Francisco Conceicao, Ahmetcan Kaplan and Owen Wijndal fill the backup roles.
Academy graduates Devyne Rensch, Jurrien Timber and Kenneth Taylor have become first-choice starters since 2020.
Likely Ajax XI vs. Liverpool (4-3-3): Featherweight; Rensch, Timber, Bassey, Blind; Alvarez, Berghuis, Taylor; Tadic, Mountain Wine, Kudus
Who is in charge now that Erik ten Hag is gone?
When Liverpool faced Ajax two years ago, on the bench was an established manager with a flourishing reputation in Ten Hag.
The Dutchman had already been in Amsterdam for three years, joining in 2017 after spells with Go Ahead Eagles, Bayern Munich II and FC Utrecht, and led them to the Eredivisie title in 2018/19.
“I want to see a brave Ajax against Liverpool,” Ten Hag said before the first leg at home.
“A team that plays with self-confidence and can implement the principles we have agreed on on the pitch, that’s why I think Liverpool are the best team in the world.”
But after two more years in charge of Ajax, Ten Hag made the decision to leave this summer to take charge of Man United, eventually bringing Martinez and Antony with him.
Assistant manager Mitchell van der Gaag and analyst Kevin Keij also traded Ajax for United during the summer.
? pic.twitter.com/7vX69kzcUB
— AFC Ajax (@AFCAjax) September 10, 2022
Then taking over from Ten Hag is Alfred Schreuder, a 49-year-old Dutchman who is largely untested as a manager, with his only other spells in charge being brief at FC Twente, Hoffenheim and Club Brugge.
However, triumph with Club Brugge in the Belgian top flight saw him appointed as successor, returning to the club where he previously worked as assistant manager of Ten Hag from early 2018 to mid-2019.
Schreuder largely employs a 4-3-3 system at Ajax, with the main tactical adjustments in midfield, where either two defensive midfielders or a single number 6 are deployed depending on the opposition.
His playing career went through spells with RKC Waalwijk, NAC Breda, Feyenoord, Twente and Vitesse.
Has all this change affected Ajax’s form?
No problem.
Ajax secured the Eredivisie title with a two-point lead over PSV Eindhoven in Ten Hag’s last season in charge, scoring 98 goals and conceding just 19 for a +79 goal difference.
So far this season, Schreuder is off to an unbeaten start, with wins six from six in the Eredivisie and a 4-0 win over Rangers in their Champions League opener.
Bergwijn, who returned to his boyhood club from Tottenham in a £26.4m deal in July, is their top scorer with eight goals in eight games, while Kudus has netted five.
Questions may be asked about his ability to replace 34-goal striker Sebastien Haller, but his other main source of goals remains Tadic, who already has five assists this campaign.
Heading into Tuesday’s trip to Anfield, Ajax have won all seven games, keeping five consecutive clean sheets, with 25 goals scored and three conceded.
Share This Event
