Since the season of 2010-2011, Ajax have been dominating the Eredivisie. Four titles in a row together with producing stars like Luis Suárez, Daley Blind and Christian Eriksen. All eyes were on the team from Amsterdam for the past 4 seasons while they managed to get the title every season. This season, a fifth title in a row and performing in Europe were the aims. Just none of that actually happened.
Ajax are known for their 'Ajax philosophy', focusing on the youth progress and would rather trust their youngsters as opposed to signing new players. After last season, important players like Christian Poulsen, Siem de Jong and Blind all left the club. Late in the transfer period, Ajax signed Niki Zimling (29) from FSV Mainz 05, to replace Blind - not really the replacement Ajax fans were hoping for.
Next to the important players that left Ajax after the 2013-2014 season, the team also lost players like Stefano Denswil (Club Brugge), Kenneth Vermeer (Feyenoord) and Bojan Krkic (Stoke City). To fill up the respective voids they left and to improve the squad, they signed the following players: Daley Sinkgraven (19), Diederik Boer (34), Arkadiusz Milik (21), Nick Viergever (25) and Richairo Živković (18). Next to these new signings, they also promoted youngsters as Anwar El Ghazi (19), Ricardo Kishna (20) and Peter Leeuwenburgh (21). To virtually sum this all up; the experienced players left the side, whilst the club put their trust in the young players to fill their roles. That, unsurprisingly, did not work as planned.
The average age of the current Ajax squad is 22.75 years old, with only a few players in the current crop with any experience in Europe. Two reasons where Ajax went wrong.
Next to the extremely young squad, Ajax also got irritated by injuries. Striker Kolbeinn Sigthórsson suffered a knee injury at the beginning of December, which kept him out for almost three months. Promising winger Viktor Fischer, only 20 years of age, suffered different injuries as a malleolar injury and a knee injury, which has been keeping him out for the whole season. He recentely made his comeback for the Ajax U21 side and might get some minutes for the first-team in the last games of the season. Just scratching the surface for another reason where the side from Amsterdam went wrong.
Other than no experience, a young squad and injuries, there's another reason why Ajax lost the league. The (most of the time) valuable players weren't always at their best. Both Nicklas Moisander and Nicolai Boilesen have made a lot of mistakes and Lasse Schöne has not positively influenced matches to the level he is used to doing in the past. Some players didn't reach their normal level, they've underachieved and couldn't rectify their poor run of form.
These reasons together are why Ajax didn't achieve their goals for the 2014-2015 season. They were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League, got a second opportunity in the UEFA Europa League but were knocked out by Ukrainian side Dnipro. PSV Eindhoven has a very, very strong team this season and they have thus far managed to get the points where Ajax otherwise have dropped them.
Ajax will almost certainly end up finishing in second place this season, with no trophies to add to their prestigious cabinet. Hopefully for the team as well as their supporters, they've learned from this season and will improve ahead of the 2015-16 campaign. They have to improve by paying close attention to the aforesaid points. Of course they can keep their philosophy but the youngsters cannot be expected to be perfect fits from the start, as they will eventually have to grow into the team's style of play and settle into the rigours of first-team football.
They should strengthen their defence, especially because Moisander is set to leave at the end of the current season. A good, experienced centre-back should definitely be something on manager Marc Overmars' wish list. Other than that, Ajax may look for a more experienced midfielder - as the current average age of the Ajax midfield is totalled at 22 years old. Young players with potential, but yet virtually no experience to their name. Another signing that should be made is a striker, with Sigthórsson already stating he could be open to leave the Eredivisie club at the end of the season, meaning the only strikers let would be Milik and Živković (who mostly play for the U21s). With those signings (more depth and experience), Ajax might return to the top of the league next year, depending on also how the PSV side is formed.
One thing for sure though... the Eredivisie will be even more interesting next season!
