Ajax vs Volendam

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On Thursday night, Ajax and FC Volendam will play in the Eredivisie at the Johan Cruijff Arena, marking the start of John van t Schip's interim tenure as head coach.

After experiencing their worst-ever start to a top-flight season, the hosts are astonishingly at the bottom of the table, while the visitors are only two points and two places above them in 16th place.

Ajax stated on Monday, one week after firing Maurice Steijn, that John van't Schip will lead the senior squad in an interim capacity through the end of the current campaign before "stepping into a function in technical management from July 1, 2024."

The 59-year-old, who played for Ajax for over 300 appearances between 1981 and 1992, is back in management nearly two years after resigning from his position as Greece's national team manager. His wife, who tragically passed away earlier this month from cancer, encouraged him to return to coaching.

For the first time since leading just one game as an interim coach in 2009 (a 1-0 victory against FC Twente), Van't Schip is back at "his club," Ajax. The Dutch-Canadian will have to right the ship after a catastrophic start to 2023–24.

Ajax's assistant coach Hedwiges Maduro oversaw the team's last two games across all competitions, including the humiliating 5-2 loss at PSV Eindhoven last weekend. The result sent the 36-time Dutch champions reeling for the first time in their 123-year history, as well as prolonging their winless streak across all competitions to ten games.

At the half, Ajax led 2-1 thanks to goals from Brian Brobbey and Branco van den Boomen, giving them hope for a much-needed win. However, PSV turned the game completely around in the second half, scoring four goals in just 23 minutes to keep up their unbeaten start to the season.

Ajax is only focused on getting out of the relegation zone, despite having played two fewer league games than PSV. The Amsterdam giants are remarkably 25 points behind their rivals from Eindhoven at the top of the table. While winning against Volendam on Thursday will undoubtedly be cheered on by Ajax fans, getting the maximum number of points may not be enough to lift them out of the bottom three just yet.

Although Volendam has only performed marginally better than Ajax in the Eredivisie thus far this season, they come into Thursday's game having won two of their previous three games.

After suffering a 2-1 setback at RKC Waalwijk, Volendam's first three points of the season came from a 1-0 home victory against Utrecht at the start of October. Last weekend, they defeated Excelsior 3-1 at home to take the bottom spot in the table.

Though down at the break, goals from Benaissa Benamar and Robert Muhren in the second half altered the tide of the match, and Milan de Haan, a teenager, added a third with his maiden senior goal to seal the victory for Matthias Kohler's team.

Volendam is looking to escape the dreaded second-season syndrome this season after just missing out on relegation in their first season back in the top flight in 2022–2023; nevertheless, they will need to improve their away from home performance if they hope to avoid another struggle at the bottom.

Het Andere Oranje has lost all four of its away games this season, making them the only Eredivisie team without a point. its winless record on the road in the league now stands at 13 games, dating back to January.

Nevertheless, Volendam brilliantly salvaged a point in a 1-1 draw during their previous visit to Ajax ten months ago, and they have scored in each of their previous six encounters with the Amsterdam powerhouse, giving Kohler's team hope ahead of Thursday's match.