The Liverpool boss Arne Slot and his former assistant Johnny Heitita both suffered this week in the Champions League.
The Dutch duo looks like both months after the joint title of Premier League together with mini crises in various European giants.
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HeiTita, who was the right man of Slot last season, left the club the new Ajax manager at the end of May.
However, the clublegende Heitita has already been exposed to great pressure since 2022 after a miserable return to the Champions League.
Ajax was beaten up 4-0 in Marseille and only had two shots on the goal without scoring for a second European game in a row.
After a 2-0 defeat against Inter Milan, it was the second defeat of the fourfold Champions League in competition.
Read more about the Champions League
Ajax is now second place in the 36-team league phase table, only over the Kaairat Almaty over the goal difference.
HeiTita’s men are unbeaten in the eredivisia, but do not have to win this season and set four points from the leaders Feyenoord in third place.
Ronald de Boer, who played as a player for Ajax in two separate spells, explained the bad situation in the club live at Talksport breakfast.
“Very bad at the moment,” the 55-year-old admitted. “John Heitita, who was an assistant coach of Arne Slot in Liverpool, took over.
“He is of course an Ajax icon, and at the moment he is not well depicted, even though he didn’t lose in the league, but he drew three times. [and] I haven’t won a game yet.
“So it is a crisis in Amsterdam, because above all we want more than just in Amsterdam. People want to be entertained, and that’s something that definitely doesn’t happen.”
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Give Heinga more time
Ajax experienced a dramatic overhaul in summer after several key stars were rejected, including Jordan Henderson.
Brentford’s star was captain and made more than 50 appearances for the Dutch team, but terminated his contract for a year in early July.
The Boyhood Club of England International, Sunderland, signed its former Ajax teammate Brian Brobbey on Deadline Day.
The highly rated defender Jorrel Hato also moved to Chelsea in a deal worth around £ 37 million, although HeiTita could spend little money.
In order to insult the literal injury, Branco van den Boomen, Kasper Dolberg and Wout Weghorst all in the treatment room.
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“It is stressful for Heinga,” de Boer added to Talksport.
“I think you have to give him a little more time in my opinion, because not every player he has can play for 90 minutes due to many injuries.
“If everyone is fit, you can really judge him, but yes, the pressure is incredibly high, especially after yesterday, 4-0, it was terrible as a Jax fan.”
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What did Slot say about Heinga?
Former defender Everton came in Liverpool Coaching employees in 2024 and even aroused the management interest of West Brom.
The 41-year-old had spent the 2023/24 season as an assistant in West Ham, but went alongside the Now-Toffees manager David Moyes.
Slot said about Heinga last season: “One of the reasons why we work together is that we have so much in common when it comes to playing style, game model or the changes we make during the game.
“He is now with me and I could no longer have wished. If I say, talented, I don’t even evaluate him high enough because he is more than that, he was head coach himself, but he is still young.
“He grew into our employees in a very good way from the start. He has the same idea for football, so I chose him to come to us. But the way he is with the boys is very positive.
“We do all the things we do together.”
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Heitita’s replacement in Liverpool
HeiTita started his coaching career in Boyhood Club Ajax in 2017, shortly after he retired as a player.
After his arrival as the new manager at the beginning of this year, Liverpool Giovanni van Bronckhorst used Slot as the new No. 2.
Nevertheless, the couple has already cut out their work to reproduce the success during the season length of Heitita in Angeld.
Liverpool spent £ 446 million this summerPresent But her The 1-0 defeat of the Champions League against Galatasaray was her second defeat in a row.
The 2-1 defeat of the Reds against Crystal Palace last Saturday ended her unbeaten start in her Premier League title defense.