Confidence oozing from Van't Schip as Ajax aim for first European win | OneFootball

New Ajax manager John Van’t Schip has issued a confident statement ahead of the club’s Europa League clash.

The Dutch giants are coming off back-to-back wins and finally moved out of the Eredivisie relegation zone. Next up is earning their first European win of the season.

As the club welcomes Brighton to Johan Cruijff ArenA, the 59-year-old insisted his Ajax side can continue their upward trajectory and put their poor performances behind them. This includes their loss to the Seagulls last time out.

“As an Ajax player, you should certainly play forward at home, or at least have the intention to do so. That’s what we want to do tomorrow,” said Van’t Schip.

“I can understand the defensive attitude back then because you are looking for something to hold on to. It also looked good organizationally, it was compact, but Ajax did not get far forward. That is necessary if you want to have a chance of winning the match: you have to play football forward. We certainly want to do that.

“We have to play football ourselves if we have the ball, they are less dangerous. Brighton is a team that plays good positional play and is very steady on the ball, but if we can play our game, they are also vulnerable. That becomes a bit of a battle: ensuring that they cannot get around to playing football and also playing brutally themselves.

“I am curious to what extent we can make progress against a good team, because Brighton is a really good team. But we are good too.”

Only three points separate the four clubs in Group B meaning a potential at win at home could propel Ajax to the top of the table.