Wielaert: "Not everyone at Ajax does his job"

Friday 01 May 2009

Robbie Wielaert made the move from FC Twente to Ajax during the winter break with the purpose of winning prizes in Amsterdam.

But it hasn't happened yet.

On the last day of the season the defender will have to try qualify for the Champions League in a direct encounter with competitors FC Twente.

In an interview with Dutch magazine Voetbal International Wielaert identifies some of the reasons why Ajax did not finish first this season.

- Are you the same Robbie Wielaert at Ajax as you were at FC Twente?
Robbie Wielaert: "I don't think so, no. And I have noticed all players at Ajax show ups and downs in their form. That goes for me as well. But I believe as an individual you can only get better when everyone does his job and is prepared to help each other. As long as that is not the case few players will have a constant season."

- How is it possible that players don't do their job all the time at Ajax?
"It's hard to explain. You are vulnerable when it doesn't happen, we found out on many occasions. Offensive players tend to forget how important it is defend collectively. At Ajax they have a lot of freedom and because of that it's often not clear who does what when we lose the ball. Such matters can be decisive."

- Shouldn't that be clear by now?
"It should, yes. I see that the coach (Marco van Basten) is becoming ever more concise about which tasks belong to a certain position. And he is becoming increasingly resolute with players who don't perform these tasks. That's the way we should do things. Just look at FC Twente to see how far you can get when things are clear and players are disciplined. In modern football you have to attack with the whole team and defend with the whole team. AZ and Twente have been more consistent on that aspect than Ajax. And you see they play the same players most of the time. At Ajax due to the many injuries that has been difficult. And then it's hard to create things you can lean on."

- Ajax has signed you partly because of your leadership skills. After the defeat at PSV Luis Suarez said that Ajax lack a leader. How painful was that?
"The 6-2 defeat, that was painful. And when Luis says something like that, well, I think it's easily said. Things went wrong during that game for other reasons. To many things weren't done the way we agreed to do them and to that came a number of personal mistakes. But still, during the first 15 minutes we played the best football we have since the winter break. We should lose that inconsistency if we want to win it next season."

- What do AZ have that Ajax don't?
"They were more consistent than we were, playing a system that wouldn't suit Ajax. They play far more defensive, use the counter attack. They pulled it through all season long and because of it they conceded far less goals. And their midfield players score at least 1 goal each game. They have learned their lesson last season. Then they tried to play more offensively and it wasn't a great success. This season AZ were a lot less vulnerable."