According to reports, Ter Stegen, on loan at Ajax from Barcelona, hoped to regain confidence through this opportunity, but his performance against PSV Eindhoven was disappointing.

There is still much work to be done for Michel, and the task is not light. With the full support of technical director Jordi Cruyff, the Ajax manager has an exciting but equally demanding challenge: to restore Ajax to its rightful place in the Netherlands.

To that end, the team underwent significant restructuring, with the successive arrivals of high-level players such as Leonardo, Julian Brandt, Amrabat, Blind, Tsygankov, Caio Henrique, and Barcelona players Joffre Torrents and Marc-André Ter Stegen.

Precisely because of such significant investment, Michel needs time for this new team to settle. The team has already achieved its first seasonal objective, securing qualification for the Europa Conference League, and it is now time to focus on the start of the Eredivisie season. This Amsterdam team has not won the Eredivisie championship since 2022, when Ten Hag was still in charge.

Ajax comfortably beat PEC Zwolle in its opening match, then drew 2-2 with Heerenveen, then won 4-0 against Telstar. However, in a genuine difficult match against defending champions PSV Eindhoven, led by Bosz, Michel's era at Amsterdam suffered its first defeat.

Although Ajax dominated most of the match and created chances at both ends, they ultimately lost 1-3. Ajax equalized at one point to make it 1-1. Michel still needs time for everything to work properly and for his new plan to be implemented as he had envisioned.

One of the most affected is Ter Stegen. The goalkeeper earned a starting place from day one, hoping to regain stability after repeated injuries in recent seasons, including a failed loan at Girona. Now he is back at Amsterdam on loan, and under Michel, it is a place conducive to regaining confidence and playing at his best level.

He did not play at the level he should have.

However, his performance still drew criticism in the Netherlands. Former player and current "Eredivisie Good Morning" commentator for ESPN, Hans Kraay Jr., stated bluntly that his second-half performance was "incredible," especially when Ajax was trailing 1-2: "From the 60th to the 70th minute, Ajax could not even get the ball out of its own half. The team was trailing 1-2, but was playing as if it were leading 3-0."

He attributed Ajax's sluggishness to the German goalkeeper and stated that he "felt that Ter Stegen completely accepted it all. He did not even realize Ajax was trailing 1-2 at that moment. He was walking around the pitch for ten minutes. Really, I found that incredible!" However, Kraay Jr. also admitted that it was "remarkable" for Ajax to have a goalkeeper of such quality in its squad.

The German goalkeeper's performance was indeed not ideal. Within 4 minutes of the start, PSV Eindhoven took the lead, with Pepi scoring a header after a cross—a misjudgment by Ter Stegen. The German failed to claim the ball and could not prevent the goal.

He was equally helpless on the second goal, a curled shot by Geertruida following a corner. In added time, with the team completely disorganized, Ter Stegen conceded a third goal: a diagonal shot by Bajraktarevic that he touched but could not block.

Traduit par IA.

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