Suzanne Bakker’s Ajax Vrouwen were successful in securing their qualification ticket to the knockout phase of the UEFA Women’s Champions League very recently after beating Roma Women at Johan Cruijff Arena to qualify at the second spot while sharing the same number of points as PSG with 10 points each.
This was one of the most complicated groups in this season’s UWCL group stage, if not the most complicated since it witnessed some rollercoaster fixtures and results, with PSG, Roma, Bayern Munich and Ajax all creating surprises against each other throughout the group stage. But in the end, only Ajax and PSG qualified for the knockout phase, as Bayern Munich and Roma got behind in terms of points.
At the same time, Bakker’s Ajax are actually doing well in the Eredivisie even though they are second in the standings behind Twente with 12 points of difference, which can be considered a lot given the potential of Ajax and their ability to battle in a more determined way for the title.
This being said, the league is still long, and Ajax are still capable of turning the table on Twente in the end if they keep on believing in their abilities to win the league title, knowing that Ajax have lost only once, drew three times and won eight games so far. Being able to make minimal losses in the remaining games would surely help Ajax battle more seriously for the title, especially if they succeed in winning their direct encounter against Twente.
However, Suzanne Bakker is getting closer to the end of her contract with Ajax, and the club has decided not to extend her contract, which means that Bakker will leave Ajax at the end of this season and will be open to new offers.
Bakker was a football player who started her career at FC Utrecht and then moved to ASV Wartburgia from 2008 to 2014. She then put an end to her career as a football player and started her coaching journey at ASV Wartburgia from 2014 to 2017 and having an experience as an assistant at Excelsior/Barendrecht for one season before getting the opportunity to move to Ajax and coach the Talent women team and then the senior team starting from 2022.
Bakker expressed her surprise at Ajax’s decision to not extend her contract as the team’s performances were not bad at all under her “command”, knowing that Ajax won the 2022/23 Eredivisie title and were able to consolidate this title and confirm their performances in the UWCL where they succeeded to qualify at the top of a group having PSG, Bayern Munich and Roma. Moreover, it should be said that Bakker led Ajax to qualify for the quarter-finals for the first time ever in the club’s history.
In this tactical analysis article, we will be focusing on Bakker’s ideas and tactics at Ajax and discover her used footballing plans and formations and how she achieved excellent results with the team especially in the UWCL this season. At the same time, the analysis will shed some light on the teams that might suit or/and need a head coach like Bakker starting from next season, given that she will be free after June.
Preferred formations and tactical preferences and key players
Bakker is characterised by her tactical fluidity and diversity since she does not rely on one or two formations only throughout the season but rather on numerous formations that change based on her match plans and on the type of the opponent, their strengths and weaknesses.
This makes Bakker different and sometimes more powerful than other head coaches who prefer stability and consistency in terms of formations. This season’s UWCL journey so far highlights the impact of Bakker’s impactful change of formations according to games, knowing that she used the 4-2-3-1 against Roma, the 3-5-2 against PSG, the 4–1-4-1 and the 4-3-3 against Bayern Munich. And despite playing against more formidable teams than Ajax, they still managed to win three games, make one draw and lose twice.
Bakker’s playing style focuses mainly on having more possession than the opponent and trying to exploit spaces at the back of defences, thanks to pacy wingers like Tiny Hoekstra and Chasity Grant. The fact that Bakker have been relying on relatively young players formed at Ajax helped attain a high level of chemistry between the players and an awareness of what should be done and when exactly.
Moreover, exploiting counter-attacks in the best possible way represents one of Bakker’s constant objectives during games as this allows Ajax to launch quick attacks and exploit the lack of organisation of opposing defences thanks to Hoekstra, Romée Leuchter and Grant’s ability to be clinical whether in final passes or in terms of finishing.
Grant, Hoekstra and Lily Yohannes are often instructed to rely on penetrations from the wings and the middle before serving Leuchter inside the box or aiming for the shot. These penetrations are often executed successfully as Ajax’s players are strong physically and in terms of dribbling and offensive duels.
The following picture highlights this heavy reliance on penetrations to reach the final third in a more frequent and impactful way before serving Leuchter, whether with short passes or crosses from the wings.
How Bakker led Ajax to European evolution
It should be said that Bakker’s work at Ajax should not be underestimated as it was not easy to pass to the knockout phase from a group having Bayern Munich, PSG and Roma while putting on convincing performances using players with very limited European experience.
It is also true that motivation and determination to do well played a factor in making Ajax attain this result. Yet, many other teams did not lack motivation but were not able to reach the knockout phase. This gives Bakker more value as she led her team to win even when they played worse than their opponents, like in the last game against Roma when Ajax exploited counter-attacking opportunities and Roma’s defensive mistakes to snatch the three points.
This picture highlights Ajax’s organised counter-attacking plans as we see the 16-year-old Lily Yohannes launch the counter-attack and advance to the final third where she finds two passing options, Hoekstra and Leuchter. Providing passing options in such situations and always moving without the ball is another aspect that Bakker stresses. This action highlights the fact that Ajax usually exploits such situations in the best possible way by trying to escape from marking and providing passing options.
Also, relying on one of the best actual young strikers in Europe has been fruitful for Ajax, especially this season, since it helped Bakker alternate the attacking ideas and be able to confuse defensive lines with the danger of Leuchter while relying on other players that come from behind at times to create numerical superiority inside the box.
Leutcher represents, in fact, an outstanding value in Ajax’s attack as she sometimes creates goal actions out of nowhere and succeeds in getting her team on the same level with some of the most powerful teams in Europe.
This following goal action took place thanks to Leutcher’s excellent and well-timed pressing efforts that allowed her to intercept the ball, run towards the box, fix her opponents, and score a goal.
On some occasions, Bakker even prefers to play with two strikers, Leuchter and Hoekstra, in order to free one of the two players since she knows that some defensive lines can mark Leuchter very tightly and oblige the team to run out of attacking options if they rely on her only for finishing.
For instance, Bakker opted for the 3-5-2 against PSG since she knew that Leuchter would be heavily marked by three centre-backs: Élisa De Almeida, Thiniba Samoura, and Clare Hunt. Therefore, she used Hoekstra as a striker inside the box alongside Leuchter so that the team can always find one or two players capable of receiving passes or crosses.
This ability to read opponents’ tactics and react tactically adequately served Ajax a lot, even though the team should not lose their footballing identity too. Perhaps the fact that Ajax’s decision-makers decided not to continue with Bakker is partly due to this frequent change of formations and tactics, which goes against the standards/norms of the club in general, knowing that Ajax is known for sticking with standard formations and tactics.
Needed Defensive Improvements
From a defensive point of view, however, the team needs to improve their performances and be more reactive and quicker when marking, especially during set-pieces and counter-attacks. This conceded goal against Bayern Munich was scored due to wrong positioning from Weerden, which created a big problem for Ajax’s defensive line and was therefore exploited by Bayern Munich, who were quick to fill that space and score thanks to Dallmann’s excellent positioning.
In addition, Bakker should work a lot more on defending set-pieces at Ajax and at her next club, too, since these set-pieces are becoming more concrete sources of goals nowadays, and it is compulsory to find ways to defend them with more effective approaches.
Ajax conceded a goal from a set-piece against Roma and were about to concede a second goal from a set-piece used by Bartoli if not for the crossbar that saved Ajax from finishing the match with a draw. Marking on the near and the far post should be intensified and the players need to focus on defending set-pieces in a more organised way in training in order to avoid confusions or bad surprises like the one shown below when Ajax defenders were not quick enough to stop Bartoli’s header.
The reason for this was initially the large distance left between Bartoli and her direct marker prior to executing the free-kick, which gave Bartoli more time and freedom to put the impact she wanted on the ball while giving little time for her marker to catch her.
Conclusion
Bakker is capable of joining any of the European teams and still doing well. However, it is more logical for her to keep on improving step by step and, therefore, search for a bit similar but more valuable experience in Europe. For instance, working with a team that struggles at the moment but has the potential to develop and reach better results, such as Tottenham or Everton, can represent impressive challenges for Bakker if offers come.
Moreover, teams like Levante, Benfica, and Wolfsburg are teams that can suit the mentality of Bakker since these teams often rely on young talents before developing them and working with them to reach advanced stages in the UWCL and achieve big results in their leagues. Bakker has the ability to do exceptionally well in one of these teams since she has what it takes to develop talents in the best possible way and lead them to shine.
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