Brian Brobbey made his long-anticipated return to Ajax this season. The attacker transferred to RB Leipzig on a free transfer, was brought back on a rental basis after half a season and then permanently attracted. The sixteen million euros that Ajax paid will receive a real return from the second half of the season.
As a striker for RB Leipzig, Brian Brobbey finally got his serious chance in Ajax's first team. The chunky striker was already associated with the first team at the time that Sébastien Haller was brought to Amsterdam. Brobbey scored his goals in the Kitchen Champion Division, but the chance in the first team failed to materialize. The fact that Ajax, partly due to that perspective and a doubling of his salary in Germany, therefore had to say goodbye to Brobbey, not only ensured that Haller was able to rise to unprecedented heights in the first half of last season.
Ajax and the curse of the number nine
The fact that Brobbey cannot make the Ivorian international forget for the time being is not only related to the (youth of the) striker. Nevertheless, the game situations in which Brobbey ended up on loan last season have produced a distorted picture.
That starts with the return from those duels: in eleven games Brobbey scored seven goals and gave one assists. The role that Brobbey played at the time (back-up for Haller or pinch-hitter when a breakthrough had to be forced) is very similar to the way Alfred Schreuder used Brobbey in his first months as Ajax coach.
However, that has not yet resulted in better performances: in fourteen games, Brobbey scored eight goals and gave two assists. The striker therefore has a comparable average with his half season under Ten Hag. The fact that Brobbey in the last half season at Ajax, according to Ten Hag, was also able to deliver his most difficult, more return and better game than he did last season, means that the preconditions have changed rather than that Brobbey has forgotten how to put balls in shoot.
Only the system in which Ajax has played for the past four years is the same as in previous years. There is no other way: with Haller, a large, strong and, above all, static striker left the team from Amsterdam. If there is no comparable player profile instead – Lorenzo Lucca was recruited, but just jumping high and shooting hard will not get you to Ajax.
An analysis of the previous season quickly shows that creative dynamics were often lacking in the vanguard (due to Ten Hag's fixed attack formulas, ed.). The solution that Schreuder continues to implement ensures that Ajax continued to run into the same problems in the first half of the season.
Brian Brobbey vs Mohammed Kudus
You don't even need to look at the stats to see the differences between Brobbey and Kudus. Brobbey is not in the point about as often as Kudus is in the attack. As a result, Kudus is much more involved in the game (28.2 passes per ninety minutes) than Brobbey (16.5 passes per ninety minutes). Brobbey did not score in the Champions League, unlike Kudus. Kudus scored 0.8 goals per ninety minutes in six CL games this season (out of 1, shots per game = 50% conversation), while Brobbey remained dry for five games.
There is a different contrast in the Eredivisie. Kudus shoots an average of 4.5 times per game, resulting in 0.9 goals per ninety minutes (20% of shots are goals, ed.). Brobbey has the same goal score per ninety minutes in the Eredivisie as Kudus (0.9). The Dutch attacker needs fewer shots per ninety minutes (3.5), making Brobbey (26%) much more effective in the Eredivisie than Kudus (20%) based on positioning/finishing.
The only aspect where Brobbey Kudus really has to give priority are the individual actions. That also seems to be the only remaining reason why Kudus would still be preferred over Brobbey - regardless of personal preferences of the trainer. The Ghanaian is good for 6.2 dribbles in the Eredivisie (4.1 passed, 66%). Brobbey comes to 0.8 dribbles per ninety minutes (25% successful).
This indicates that these players can play better with each other than take turns as a striker: if Brobbey gets the ball, he does not have the skills to make an action and if Kudus gets the ball, he can make an action, but has he doesn't have a deep playing point in the center because he is the (collapsed) striker.
It's Alfred Schreuder's turn
This could indicate two things: Schreuder is, despite the fact that Brobbey was recruited under his reign, not a big fan of the player Brobbey. It is quite logical at first that the Ajax coach expected a lot of dynamism and creativity from his attackers in his first season, and that philosophy has no place for Brobbey. The fact that the Kudus variant has not worked much more often in the Eredivisie (and Europe) during rush hour is a signal that seems to have yet to be received by the Ajax coach.
However, the latter may also have to do with the transfer ambitions of the Ghanaian. Last summer there was another line through a transfer to Everton. Now clubs such as Tottenham Hotspur and Borussia Dortmund would be on the doorstep. Larger in stature and therefore all the more difficult for Ajax to keep the attacking midfielder annex attacker in Amsterdam. Kudus said before the World Cup that he wanted to finish the season in Amsterdam. The question is whether this is also the best option for the people of Amsterdam…
If you look purely at the functionalities of the strikers of recent years, it was already clear before the arrival of Haller that Ajax had difficulty winning matches without a physically strong striker. Zakaria Labyad, Quincy Promes and Dusan Tadic were already weighed and found wanting at that position. Due to a lack of better, Ten Hag had to stick to it, also because Brobbey was still working towards his breakthrough at the time. For Schreuder, therefore, this cannot be said. At least: not on the basis of Brobbey's playing style and certainly not on the basis of his return.
Ajax future full of goals or actions?
However, Schreuder's preferences do not have to be the only reason that Kudus is also at the forefront in the second half of the season. That has more to do with the investment made to bring Kudus to Amsterdam than the differences between the Ghanaian international and Brobbey.
The 22-year-old offensive midfielder annex attacker still has a contract until the summer of 2025. Kudus already stated in the summer that he wanted to take the next step and, partly due to his bright spot role in the Ajax shirt and his good turn at the World Cup, has in Qatar, played even more in the spotlight.
Ajax would also make the choice for Schreuder a lot easier. Looking back at the first half of the season, it's hard not to see a repeat of the rush hour drama before Haller's arrival. If the trainer does not make a choice in this, or continues to make the choices that ensure that the positional game deteriorates rather than progress.
That is quite logical if the opponent only has to collapse and all freedom of movement of the Ajax attackers has disappeared. The fact that Kudus was the only attacker who managed to dribble away from his opponent on a regular basis is also the only way to force a breakthrough in such situations. The fact that Schreuder continues to oblige himself to choose Kudus – in the rush hour or in another position – is a situation that the coach continues to create for himself.
The fact that the coach has enough opportunities within his selection to also create opportunities in other ways seems to be something that should fall into place in the second half of the season. Otherwise, Ajax can strengthen itself in several positions. If the tactical basis has already been weighed and found to be (much) too light, as a club you are more likely to take two steps back in the team process than one forward.
Source: Brad Steenbeek