Joel Veltman is a creature of habit after 19 years of schooling in the Ajax way of playing football, but Roberto De Zerbi has changed that in a year in charge of Brighton & Hove Albion.
Veltman is learning a new trick under the Italian head coach — how to be a right-back who becomes a midfielder when De Zerbi’s team are on the attack.
It’s an experience alien to the Dutch defender, despite nearly two decades at a club renowned for its mastery in producing stylish players who are comfortable in possession (even if they are currently in crisis, but more on that later).
Veltman, about to face his former employers twice in the group stages of the Europa League, arrived at Ajax at the age of nine as a winger and fan of the club (like his father). He was spotted at a talent day as having enough potential to be offered an academy place.
He became a right-back in the youth system, taught “lots of passing” by Heine Otto, heading by Wim Kwakman, Gery Vink “a guy who could praise like you are the new Messi but also say you’re not good enough for the Dutch third division”, Wim Jonk as well.
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Frank de Boer, “more of a mentor”, was Veltman’s under-19s coach who later, when in charge of the first team, with Veltman now more of a central defender, switched his role to right-back after an injury to Kenny Tete. De Zerbi, though, is different.
“I can’t compare him to any other coach,” Veltman says. “Maybe the mentality of Frank de Boer, always keep focused, doesn’t matter if the ball is there, you need to be focused, switched on every moment of the game, when there is a throw-in. Tactically he (De Zerbi) is one of a kind.
“I was used to different tactics at Ajax, normally it was 4-3-3. In an attacking way, you want to find the spare guy, but sometimes when we (Brighton) go higher up the pitch, you play two plus three. I become a midfielder. I never did that at Ajax. That is a big thing for me to improve on, be aware of the space around you as a midfielder.”
De Zerbi has Veltman playing out of his comfort zone (Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
Veltman, sat in front of The Athletic and two other media representatives at Brighton’s training complex in Lancing, explains later on in the conversation exactly how De Zerbi has improved him as a player.
“Oh yeah, especially that thing of coming into midfield,” he says. “That for me is a big thing.
“It’s how I am. Let’s say I am sitting in a restaurant, it’s also like this (with the three of us in his full vision). It may be strange, but that’s how it is, with everybody in front of me. That’s how I like it, so I’m totally out of my comfort zone. I have to play in midfield sometimes as well.
“That’s a big thing I have improved, to scan before getting the ball. The big players, like Iniesta, Xavi — don’t compare me with them — but they were scanning all the time, even when the ball was on the way to them they were scanning.
“And then when they had the ball, they knew every possible option. That’s a big thing for me to improve, but I’m getting there.”
Although the nature of Veltman’s role has changed, he is well-versed in possession being treasured by De Zerbi in the way that it always has been at Ajax.
How much work with the ball was there, coming through at De Toekomst, their famous academy?
“A lot,” he says. “Everybody knows Ajax’s attacking way is to have the ball. Most of the time we had more possession than the opponents, so the ball was your baby, precious. That’s not a big difference (to Brighton).
“There are similarities, especially with the ball. Even though there is pressure, you need to be calm on the ball and find the spare guy, with pressure or no pressure.”
Playing the De Zerbi way asks big questions of his players, including the defenders marking man-for-man. Veltman replaced James Milner at right-back for the second half of Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Manchester City after the former Liverpool veteran had been tormented on his return from injury by Jeremy Doku.
De Zerbi blamed Milner’s team-mates for giving the City defenders and midfielders too much time to feed Doku. “He’s not afraid,” Veltman says. “In the game against City, we want to play man-to-man. If you do it against City, you want to do it against every opponent. He’s not afraid, he knows our quality.
“In the first half, they were much better. It’s City, you have to have a good day to get a result. You saw in the second half, when we are doing it properly and not afraid to play against City away, we had chances. That’s what he is like. He sets the bar quite high.”
It’s quite a responsibility for Veltman and the other full-backs, to confront high-quality wingers on a regular basis.
The 31-year-old, awarded a new two-year deal in the summer, says: “It is, but if you play quite high you have loads of space at your back (behind you) — again what I was used to in Amsterdam — but when the pressure is good from your attackers or midfielders, you are not worried about the space at your back.
“You have to be careful, you will come into one-v-ones with Doku, (Jack) Grealish… so it’s quite a big step up.”
Competing in Europe was routine for Veltman at Ajax. They were runners-up in the Europa League in 2017, losing 2-0 to Manchester United in the final in Stockholm. Two years later they were beaten on away goals by Tottenham in the semi-finals of the Champions League (the aggregate score was 3-3).
Veltman reacts to Tottenham’s late winner in the 2019 Champions League semi-final (Erwin Spek/Soccrates/Getty Images)
For the vast majority of Veltman’s Brighton team-mates, Europe is a new experience. Ajax’s visit to the Amex Stadium on Thursday evening marks the halfway point of a group campaign in which they have lost 3-2 at home to AEK Athens and drawn 2-2 at Marseille from 2-0 down at the interval.
“Physically, you need to sometimes have a day off, people go with their families, maybe go to Manchester, have a good time there,” Veltman says. “You really need to take care of your body.
“I was quite young (playing both mid-week European as well as weekend domestic fixtures at his previous club), now I really have to look after my body more than I did at Ajax. Thursday-Sunday games, it’s tough, especially travelling. You come back Friday afternoon, Saturday preparing for the game on Sunday, then Sunday you have the game already, so that’s tough.
“I’ve underestimated it a bit this season, the two games we’ve had, but eventually you get used to it. It’s nice because I love to play games instead of training, if I had to choose. Loads of games, I prefer that.”
The extra workload also means coping with De Zerbi’s policy of making wholesale changes (53 across the past eight games).
“You can play well on Thursday, but maybe you will be on the bench on Sunday,” Veltman says. “That’s how it works because the gaffer wants to change, he likes to keep everybody fit, especially at the beginning of the season.
“Maybe later in the season, everybody is a bit more used to it, so you can make a more stable team. I don’t know that but I can imagine (it will be), so later in the season will be easier.”
Injuries have scuppered De Zerbi’s thinking. Solly March, a third option at left-back with Pervis Estupinan and Tariq Lamptey sidelined, was stretchered off at Manchester City with suspected serious knee damage, compounding the loss of Danny Welbeck from the forward line because of a muscle injury also sustained in the defeat at the Etihad Stadium.
Brighton’s injury problems seem trivial compared to the wider crisis engulfing Ajax. Assistant Hedwiges Maduro is in interim charge following the sacking of Maurice Steijn in the wake of Sunday’s 4-3 defeat at Utrecht. Play was suspended twice because of unrest among Ajax fans, infuriated by a result that left the 36-time Eredivisie champions languishing one place off the bottom of the table with one win from seven games.
Veltman is still bonded by longevity to the club hosting Brighton in their second Europa League group meeting at the Johan Cruyff Arena on November 9. He made 246 appearances for Ajax, winning the Eredivisie three times.
“It hurts a bit, to be honest,” Veltman says. “A big club like Lyon (in France) as well. Struggling at the bottom of the league. Sometimes you go through a big, big crisis, but you need to step up, to react.
“This time at Ajax it’s from top to bottom. A bit messy. A bit tough. And problems everywhere. But they won’t be bottom of the league for the rest of the season. I saw the programme (of fixtures) with 12 games in a row, without the Europa League, against the smaller clubs. So they will go up eventually.”
For now, Veltman continues to step up at Brighton – entering midfield territory under De Zerbi – and is becoming a more rounded player in the process.
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