Míchel strongly disagrees with Kieft over eye-catching Ajax player: ‘It’s unfair’
Míchel Sánchez hailed Ajax's 2-0 Conference League win over Atalanta after his side dominated for long periods at the Johan Cruyff ArenA on Thursday evening. They had to wait until the closing stages for Tolu Arokodare and Abdellah Ouazane to score. The Spanish coach felt their first European win of the season was more than deserved.
"I think we played a great match against a great opponent," Míchel told Ziggo Sport. "We dominated the match and created lots of chances. In the end, we scored, and I'm very happy with the players' performances."
Even so, Míchel felt his side could have made more of their dominance earlier. "Perhaps we could sometimes have found better solutions or made better decisions in the final third, which would have put us ahead earlier," the coach acknowledges. "But the team's mentality was excellent throughout the match, both when pressing and when winning the ball back after losing possession."
Ouazane's superb goal made it 2-0, and Míchel was delighted. "It was a great goal, a truly fantastic goal," the coach enthused. "He's a boy with incredible talent, but we need to keep working with him so that he becomes more consistent in his play. He's a special player, and we need to help him show that talent in an Ajax shirt for a long time to come."
After coming on to score the important opening goal, Tolu also drew praise. "Tolu played a great match too, but not just because of his goal. It's also about the mentality with which he kept pressing when the team started to tire a little," Míchel explained. "The substitutions gave us fresh energy, and that's the most important thing: everyone matters, both the players who start and those who finish the match."
Despite replacing Marcos Leonardo with Tolu in the 66th minute, Míchel had plenty of praise for the Brazilian. Wim Kieft had criticised the striker during the first half, saying on Ziggo Sport that he looked as though he had "a sack of potatoes on his back". Kieft stood by the remark after the match, but Míchel saw a very different performance from his forward.
"I think Marcos played a great match," Míchel emphasises. "He played very well, brought continuity to our play, made excellent runs into space, had a good chance and pressed very well. He gave us the energy we needed to play in the opposition's half."
Míchel believes strikers are judged too much on their goals: "I sometimes think that's unfair. I'm very happy with Marcos, because I think that in the last two matches we've seen the Marcos Leonardo we want to see."
