This time, journalists gathered in the press room at sports complex De Toekomst on Friday morning. The first questions concerned Fred Grim, who has joined Heitinga’s coaching staff. "He's an asset. Experienced, and it's great to have an extra coach on the training pitch," Heitinga began. "During matches, Fred will be on the bench, which means Frank Peereboom will move upstairs to handle live analysis. Fred will also focus on analysing opponents, something he did before under Erik ten Hag. Set pieces remain with Harmen Kuperus and Erik Heijblok."
"With Fred joining, I can focus more on other aspects," Heitinga continued. "Things like team processes, one-on-one conversations, and refining our style of play. The most important thing is to create stability and clear structures for the group."
Building consistency
During the international break, everyone took time to evaluate, Heitinga explained. "You want stability and continuity in the team. We've had good and less good moments in recent matches. We need to finish games off earlier, but we’ve also shown resilience. I see a fighting Ajax, and that has to be our foundation. Now, we’re looking to build consistency, because challenging weeks are coming."
The Eredivisie campaign resumes on Saturday at 21:00 against AZ. "We've worked well with the players who were here during the break, and those with minor injuries got some rest. We’ll be without Owen Wijndal and Kasper Dolberg for sure. Mika Godts is back, and a few others still need to get through today’s session." One of those players is Ko Itakura. "We'll have to wait and see, but I hope he'll be available."
AZ
Facing AZ means taking on a technically strong side, the coach said. "They're an interesting team with a very solid midfield and plenty of pace up front. I read that Ajax haven't beaten AZ in the last eight meetings. But this is a new stretch of the season, and our full focus is on AZ. I've got full confidence in the boys; they’ve worked very well this week."
One player who will be available on Saturday is Jorthy Mokio. "Jorthy is a boy with a lot of potential. He would normally have played in midfield against Sparta, but we had to make other decisions at that moment. He’ll definitely get his minutes. He’s powerful, energetic, and yes, he still makes mistakes sometimes, but players like him make us very happy."
Process
Finally, journalists asked about Heitinga's relationship with Alex Kroes. "I feel the trust and support from the club — I speak with the management daily. I understand you have questions, but my focus is only on what happens within our training complex. I feel the same support from the squad. I do have conversations with players to speed up the process. We all want to move forward, but it's up to us to build stability and automatisms."
"We'd have liked to be further along by now, but it's up to me and my staff to make sure everyone can be proud of our club again," Heitinga said. "We're in a process, as a whole club. That comes with ups and downs, and you see that reflected in the matches. We want what’s best for Ajax. That's the only thing Alex and I focus on every single day."
