NEC coach reveals his plan against ter Stegen – Ajax held to 1-1
In Ajax's 1-1 draw with NEC Nijmegen, the opponents deliberately left goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen on the ball. NEC coach Dick Schreuder explained why afterwards.
Archive image · Photo: Michael Kranewitter / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0 (cropped and resized)
Ajax Amsterdam were held to a 1-1 draw by NEC Nijmegen in the Eredivisie on Saturday. At the Johan Cruijff ArenA, goalkeeper Marc-André ter Stegen, on loan at Ajax from FC Barcelona, saw a lot of the ball – which, according to the opponents, was by design.
NEC coach Dick Schreuder told ESPN his team deliberately let ter Stegen keep the ball and watched how far he would come out. Midfield and defence closed the passing lanes to make the pass as difficult as possible for him, although at the start his side did not fully stick to the plan, FCUpdate reports.
Ter Stegen was part of head coach Jürgen Klopp's first squad for the Nations League games in Amsterdam and against Greece. Klopp called up several goalkeepers in the autumn, including Finn Dahmen and Noah Atubolu.