Dusan Tadic feels responsible for the dismissal of trainer Alfred Schreuder at Ajax. “We let him down by not winning,” said the captain after a draw against FC Volendam (1-1). “With all due respect, we should have won this game even without a coach.”
A few hours after the match, Tadic looked shaken on the parking deck of the Johan Cruijff ArenA. Shortly after the seventh league game in a row without a win, general manager Edwin van der Sar had reported in the dressing room. “He told us the news about the trainer,” said the Serb.
A little later, Schreuder himself came to say goodbye to his players. “He wished us luck,” Tadic said. “We had to stay close together and become champions. I think he is a good trainer. He was already at FC Twente. But there are also reasons why we perform less.”
For example, Ajax said goodbye to Sébastien Haller, Antony, Lisandro Martínez, Ryan Gravenberch, Noussair Mazraoui, André Onana, Perr Schuurs and Nicolás Tagliafico last summer. “Those were a lot of good players,” said Tadic. “And how many times have we lost points when we should have been leading 5-0? We should have won this game too. But we won’t.”
In retrospect, Ajax should have said goodbye to Schreuder after the last match before the winter break against FC Emmen (3-3). Then his successor would have had plenty of time to prepare his selection for the second half of the season. “But we really had the feeling that it was going to work,” said Tadic. “In the first game after the winter break against NEC we played a very good first half. We should have been well ahead. But in the end we drew again. That has happened to us too often.”
Tadic did not say that he thinks Schreuder’s dismissal is justified. “But that’s how it goes in football,” he said. “If you don’t perform for too long, they often end up with the trainer first. That’s not always fair. But that’s how it often worked. Then it doesn’t matter whether it’s right or wrong.”
Source: ANP
