Erik Ten Hag: Experience as vital as youth to Ajax's Champions League run

Manager extols importance of recruiting likes of Daley Blind and Dusan Tadic for their unexpected charge to the semi-finals

 Ajax's Daley Blind, left, and Dusan Tadic, right, have been a key part of Ajax's success this season. Reuters

Ajax’s unexpected march to the Uefa Champions League semi-finals has done much to highlight the dynamic young talent at the club, but it was their decision to add more experience to the team that has proven key to their success.

Ajax, who visit Tottenham Hotspur in Tuesday’s semi-final first leg and are chasing a domestic league and cup double, have always been a club prepared to field young players, but they made a conscious decision last year to inject more experience into the team.

Successfully fusing the two is what has proven the catalyst for a sensational season for the Dutch club, according to coach Erik ten Hag, who has been a quiet force driving the team to victories over Juventus and Real Madrid this season.

"Marc Overmars and I made an analysis towards the end of last season. Our conclusion was that we lacked players in their mid-20s. We lacked experience,” he said.

Ajax brought back Daley Blind, 29, from Manchester United and signed Dusan Tadic, 30, from Southampton.

“We were also glad that Hakim Ziyech stayed on.”

The 26-year-old Morocco international had been set to leave at the end of the last campaign but did not find a new club.

Ten Hag initially feared the gelling process might take longer than hoped.

“Because of the players coming back late after the World Cup we didn’t really get the hours on the training ground we wanted and we had to try and figure things out as we went along,” he said.

That included three Champions League preliminary round ties before the group phase, including trips to Austria, Belgium and Ukraine.

"It worked to our benefit," added Ten Hag. "The team grew quickly, having to play so many important and decisive games. We had a lot of so-called ‘cup finals’ early on in the season."

The playing system was also adjusted to suit the individual qualities of the players, the coach explained.

"We saw Frenkie de Jong as the key midfielder and moved him to the middle. The way he has developed has been crazy," said Ten Hag.

Ajax have already agreed to sell the 21-year-old to Barcelona. Ten Hag said he had hoped it would not happen, but he understands the decision.

"Ajax want to be a top European team but because the financial muscle of clubs in the smaller leagues is a growing weaker each year in comparison to the big countries, we have had to do things differently, abandoning some principles in order to be competitive.

"Key players will leave. These days it is impossible to keep together a team like ours for very long."

Ajax have had the weekend off action after the Dutch Federation, the KNVB, agreed to postpone the Eredivisie fixtures to help them prepare for the trip to London.

They had been due to go up against De Graafschap on Sunday, but rather then messing around with fixture dates and timings to move the game back to Saturday the decision was made to put the entire round of games back until the middle of May.

Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham managaer, had said of the situation on Friday: "It's true that the Premier League is very different to the Dutch league, the fact or the reality is they are not going to play. I think it's not fair."