After just six months in charge, John Heitinga has been sacked as manager of Ajax having won only five of his 11 matches in charge. Consequently, the Amsterdam club finds itself eight points behind leaders Feyenoord in the title race.
In addition to this, the club has lost all four of its Champions League games so far and it seems, following their recent 3-0 home defeat to Galatasaray on Wednesday evening sealed the Dutchman’s fate.
Heitinga arrived at Ajax in the summer with a lot of promise, after being assistant manager to Arne Slot who oversaw Liverpool’s title-winning campaign last season, though, it seems this hasn’t had much of an effect. Assistant coach Fred Grim will take over on an interim basis.
Following the decision, technical director Alex Kroes revealed: “It’s a painful decision. We know it can take time for a new coach to work with a squad that has undergone changes.
“We have given John that time, but we believe it’s best for the club to appoint someone else to lead the team.”
How Much Is Heitinga Really To Blame?
While Heitinga was backed in the summer transfer market, he also had to replace some outgoings, however, being realistic, this Ajax side isn’t what it was.
It is a club that is essentially in transition and over the last few years, other clubs in the league have caught up in terms of their standard, though, at the same time, not by that much.
In hindsight, it was maybe slightly ambitious for this to be Heitinga’s first managerial appointment, though as a former player, it probably in some way made sense. He understood what it means to play and support the club and was aware of the expectations.
However, even this proved beyond his capabilities. It’s also probably understandable. Having been at Liverpool last season (a team considerably better in ability), he was used to coaching attacking football and being around world class players.
It was probably, only natural he would try to implement this style at Ajax, because this is what he has been used to, though, unlike when he was at Liverpool, he didn’t have the likes’ of Virgil Van Dijk at the back to keep things tight or a Mohamed Salah up front to nick you a goal.
Of course, Ajax is a club where attacking football “the beautiful game” was born and this is what is expected, though every successful club that plays this kind of football is able to do one of two things. Score more than their opponents or defend a lead. Ajax under Heitinga it seems to have failed (more or less) to do both.
Back To What They Know?
Of course, Grim is just a temporary solution and the club will, no doubt be on the lookout for a long term candidate.
The obvious one that probably comes to most people’s minds has tasted success with the club before and led them to the Champions League semi-final having built a superb team of talented, young players.
Currently without a post after a disastrous, short spell with Bayer Leverkusen, Erik Ten Hag would probably be the perfect manager to take over. The club is also in somewhat of a rebuilding phase.
Ten Hag has proved that he is great with youth talent and over the next couple of years, there is a lot of talent who could make the step up from the academy. For short-term stability’s sake and mid-long term prosperity, the club could do a lot worse than Ten Hag.