At no point was Ajax coach John Heitinga freed from the spirit of his predecessor Farioli

John Heitinga, the Ajax coach who was fired on Thursday, hates looking back. He considers dwelling on past events a "waste of energy," he said shortly after returning to the club. After all, he can't change anything. Of course, he would also face "obstacles" in his new role, but he wanted to put those behind him as quickly as possible. "I mainly want to move forward."

Heitinga (41) brought it up because he wanted to "tackle something" right away. During his first public appearance after his appointment, at an Ajax training camp in Zeist in early July, he didn't want to talk about his last time coaching the club, in the spring of 2023, replacing the sacked Alfred Schreuder. He wasn't talking about his sporting achievements back then, nor about what he'd learned back then, nor about his forced departure after just five months.

Just as that afternoon shouldn't have been about his predecessor, the Italian Francesco Farioli, who had brought Ajax back from a deep sporting crisis to the brink of the national championship in a single season. That was worth a "huge compliment," Heitinga thought. "Only: I want to move forward, also in this." So he didn't sit down with Farioli to grill him about players, his approach, or his findings. When asked a follow-up question: "I hear Farioli's name a lot here, but he's no longer around."

Heitinga had been brought in precisely to outshine Farioli, explained Marijn Beuker, the director of football, on the club's channels during that same training camp. The Italian had restored the "organization" at Ajax, but was also frequently criticized for his playing style being too defensive, not "like Ajax." His successor's task was to play beautiful football as well as stable. It needed to be "more sparkling," according to technical director Alex Kroes in the same video.

Instead of moving forward, Ajax has taken a big step back under Heitinga

But instead of progressing, Ajax has taken a significant step backward under Heitinga. Defensively, the team is extremely vulnerable, and offensively, it often looks powerless. In the Champions League, the team is stuck at the bottom of its group after four matches without a point, and in the Eredivisie, they have already lost thirteen points.

Confidence that Heitinga would find a solution has now evaporated. On Thursday afternoon, the day after the 3-0 home defeat to Galatasaray, the inevitable news arrived: Ajax was suspending Heitinga effective immediately. His contract, which had run until mid-2027, was terminated. Assistant coach Marcel Keizer was also being let go. Fred Grim, recently appointed as assistant to assist Heitinga, will temporarily step in. In the meantime, Ajax is searching for a new head coach.

"We're not seeing enough development and we've unnecessarily lost points," said technical director Alex Kroes in a press release. Heitinga's departure also means Kroes's own departure. He is making his position available immediately, but the other board members and the supervisory board have "strongly" requested him to stay on "for the sake of continuity in the coming period," according to the statement. Kroes' contract expires at the end of this season.

Attacking football

From his very first days, it was clear how much Heitinga wanted to do things differently from his predecessor. The new coach wanted to be "intense," he said in his first public appearance. By that, he meant: unlike Farioli, pressing high in defense, winning the ball close to the opponent's goal. And, when in possession, immediately attacking, with courage, quick combinations, and feats of strength.

Yet Ajax rarely succeeded. The pressing football Heitinga wanted to play requires timing, insight into the game, and stamina. When an attacker presses, the rest of the team must also follow through. But at Ajax, this often faltered, allowing opponents to easily break away from the pressure, leaving the defense wide open. It was a matter of "patterns" that take time to develop, according to the manager.

Even in possession, Heitinga was still struggling after four months to find a way to control the midfield. The deployment of the "six," the controlling midfielder who initiates the build-up, remained a particular problem. Heitinga tried with players like Davy Klaassen, Jorthy Mokio, Youri Regeer, James McConnell, and Kian Fitz-Jim. None of them succeeded as convincingly as Jordan Henderson, who left this summer.

In the first few matches, the former footballer was given the benefit of the doubt, but opinion quickly turned against him. This was because he struggled to express himself in press conferences and rarely managed to explain his ideas. His occasional, downright clumsy slip-ups didn't exactly inspire confidence. For example, when he sent winger Raúl Moro on in the European match against Inter, but didn't tell the Spaniard which wing to play on.

But Heitinga's most vulnerable moments were perhaps when he had to make adjustments during matches. His predecessor, Farioli, seemed to approach this almost like an exact science: in addition to a battle plan, he considered every possible adjustment his opponent might make during matches. He always had an answer ready. Heitinga's approach was often limited to substituting one player for another.

The ambition to play Ajax-style football was also abandoned. Against Galatasaray at home, Ajax wanted to do everything they could to finally shake off their "awful clean sheet" in Europe, Heitinga had said beforehand. But once on the pitch, little remained of the promise of beautiful, attacking football. Just as Ajax had dropped deep into their own half a few days earlier against SC Heerenveen.

Captain Davy Klaassen's reaction, shortly after the 3-0 defeat, in front of the Ziggo Sport cameras, was telling. The patterns and consistency the coach and his team were looking for were still "insufficient" after all these months, he felt. "We can't seem to improve our game. You sometimes see us play well for fifteen or thirty minutes, but that's not good enough."