RYAN GRAVENBERCH – A SMALL THREAD

In the second half of the season, Ryan Gravenberch got his first proper chance in the first team of Ajax as he started in the matches against ADO (December), Sparta, FC Groningen and PSV Eindhoven. Ajax took 9 points in these matches.

Ryan Gravenberch received a lot of criticism by Ajax fans because of his attitude, his lack of defensive contribution and his (so-called) sloppy passing. In this thread, we will give two reasons to why it’s not fully his fault and why you need to look at other aspects as well.

1. ROLE

First of all, Ryan Gravenberch often needed to play as the deepest midfielder in a midfield trio. This is not his preferred role, as he’s much better playing in a more advanced role higher up the pitch. In this position, he needs to do a lot of defensive work.

Everyone who has been watching Ryan Gravenberch coming up through the youth ranks of Ajax has seen that his qualities don’t lay in the defensive area. In our opinion, it’s not ideal that he needed to play in this role for Ajax.

2 MIDFIELD TRIO

Just taking a look at the line-up in these four matches, he has played in the following combinations:

Here you can see that he played in the double pivot with Van de Beek three times. Vd Beek does not contribute that much to defence as well and is known for not tracking back when he gets passed. This leaves gaps that even the best defensive midfielder in the world can’t correct.

In other words, there was no balance in midfield and Ryan Gravenberch was often isolated in midfield, as Van de Beek/Ekkelenkamp/Siem de Jong tend to stay forward. Against PSV, Gravenberch’s contribution in defence was already better.

When you’re criticizing a player, don’t only look at what player X has done himself, but please consider what his main qualities are and if he’s being played in this role. In our opinion, Ryan Gravenberch has been wrongly used in these matches.