European Competition · Ajax
Advancing Cannot Excuse Ajax's Control Problem
Ajax survived Shelbourne and reached the Conference League playoff, but a 2-2 draw exposed how quickly rotation turns possession into disconnected individual decisions.
The aggregate score did the comforting
Ajax advanced to the Conference League playoff with a 5-3 aggregate win over Shelbourne. The second leg still finished 2-2, including an 85th-minute equalizer for the Irish side. Qualification is the job, and Ajax completed it. But the cushion from a 3-1 first-leg victory also allowed a loose performance to pass without the consequence that usually forces honesty.
The draw should be treated as a control problem, not a moral failure. A rotated lineup can lose fluency. A difficult surface can disrupt passing. Neither condition requires players to solve every possession alone. Ajax looked most vulnerable when the first option disappeared and the next receiver had not moved early enough to become visible.
Brandt supplied a solution, not the system
Julian Brandt scored in the 20th minute, a useful early return from a player Ajax signed on a free transfer through June 2029. His experience gives the team somebody who recognizes a pocket before it becomes crowded. That is valuable. It is also dangerous if the rest of the structure begins waiting for him to invent the exit.
Brandt should connect movements rather than replace them. When he drops toward the ball, a winger has to stretch the next line and a midfielder has to occupy the space he leaves. Otherwise Ajax gain one elegant receiver and lose the next pass. A veteran playmaker can make confusion look calm for a few seconds. He cannot make static teammates into a progression plan. The support must arrive before his first touch, not after his head comes up.
Rotation needs fewer choices, not lower standards
The reasonable defense of the performance is obvious: Ajax carried a two-goal lead, changed personnel and did not need to chase the match. That context matters. It should have produced a simpler game, with shorter distances and safer occupation behind the ball. Instead, the reduced urgency sometimes became reduced connection.
Players on the edge of the preferred XI need clarity more than freedom. Give the fullback one reliable inside option. Keep one midfielder behind the attack. Define the first pressing trigger so the forward line moves together. Those instructions do not suppress talent; they stop a player trying to win his place with every touch. An audition in which everybody performs a different scene tells the coach very little.
Two concessions should sharpen the hierarchy
Shelbourne scored in the 24th and 85th minutes. The timing matters because Ajax conceded once immediately after taking the lead and again when the tie should have been drained of uncertainty. Both moments ask the same question: who slows the game after its emotional temperature changes? Control is not merely keeping the ball; it is recognizing when the match needs three unambitious passes more than one ambitious one.
That responsibility cannot belong only to Brandt or the captain. The nearest three players must provide an exit after a goal, a turnover or a substitution. Ajax's development model rightly asks young players to be brave on the ball. The next step is teaching that courage sometimes means refusing the spectacular pass and moving five meters to rescue a teammate.
The playoff must reveal a repeatable floor
Ajax will face another qualifying test before reaching the league phase. The opponent will be stronger evidence than an aggregate cushion against Shelbourne, but the standard should not depend on the name across the halfway line. Míchel Sánchez needs a repeatable floor: compact rest defense, two available outlets and a coordinated response after possession is lost.
Brandt's goal is a welcome glimpse of the quality Ajax added. Advancement is welcome too. Neither should hide the assignment created by Dublin. The best Ajax teams make individual technique easier to express because the next action is already supported. If this team wants Europe to become more than a sequence of escapes, it must make control a shared habit before asking its most gifted players for rescue work.
2026-2027 season
Eredivisie standings
| # | Team | GP | W | D | L | GD | Pts | Form |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  AZ Alkmaar |
3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | +7 | 9 | W W W |
| 2 |  PSV Eindhoven |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +5 | 7 | W W D |
| 3 |  Go Ahead Eagles |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +5 | 7 | W D W |
| 4 |  Feyenoord |
3 | 2 | 1 | 0 | +4 | 7 | W D W |
| 5 |  Groningen |
3 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 6 | L W W |
| 6 |  Ajax |
2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | +2 | 4 | D W |
| 7 |  Sparta Rotterdam |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | +1 | 4 | D W L |
| 8 |  Fortuna Sittard |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 4 | L W D |
| 9 |  Heerenveen |
3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | -1 | 4 | L D W |
| 10 |  Excelsior |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +3 | 3 | L W |
| 11 |  NEC Nijmegen |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +2 | 3 | W L |
| 12 |  Twente |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | 3 | W L |
| 13 |  Telstar |
2 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 3 | L W |
| 14 |  PEC Zwolle |
3 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 3 | W L L |
| 15 |  Utrecht |
3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | -4 | 1 | D L L |
| 16 |  Willem II |
2 | 0 | 0 | 2 | -6 | 0 | L L |
| 17 |  ADO Den Haag |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -7 | 0 | L L L |
| 18 |  Cambuur |
3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | -9 | 0 | L L L |
