PRE-SEASON AJAX: HAYEN POST-MATCH POINTS

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Nicky Hayen taking positives from Amsterdam test

2026-07-26T15:50+01:00

PRE-SEASON AJAX: HAYEN POST-MATCH POINTS

Nicky Hayen taking positives from Amsterdam test

2026-07-26T15:50+01:00

Nicky Hayen said he learnt a lot from what he saw in Burnley's pre-season friendly with Ajax at the Johan Cruijff ArenA.

The Clarets' Head Coach has had this past week to work with his players and despite reflecting on how much he hates losing, he said that he was proud to see his team play with courage against strong opposition.

A SATISFIED FEELING

“We can be quite satisfied with the game. We played against a real, strong opponent today. We have to be honest Champions League level, even if they played with players who don’t play all the time.

“We saw a lot of good things this pre-season campaign. We try to find as many answers as possible.

“There were some good moments in terms of pressing, recongising who was stepping out, who doesn’t have to cover up etc. We started quite well today so that’s why it gives us a satisfied feeling.”

PLAYING WITH COURAGE

“What we are pleased with is they played with courage and that’s really important for me. They didn’t play with fear. This is what we want to do every time, play with courage, play offensive football but of course you have to think faster than the opponent. That worked quite well today.

“The only thing we missed was more depth in the back of the defence. But also, we want the desire to be in the box, to have more bodies in the box. We didn’t like the second goal we conceded. If we don’t communicate with each other and then suddenly someone is free, they play forward and we concede a goal that was actually not necessary. Because before that we created an opportunity.

“We hate losing, no one likes it but if you put it into perspective, it was quite a good game for us. We learnt a lot about us, we played with courage and this is something that we have to show in the upcoming weeks.

“However, in general I thought it was a nice game for the fans and it’s something we want to build on.”

THE FANS

“I was really pleased that there were a lot of fans over here. I’ll always show my respect to them whether there are 5 or 1,000, I don’t care. It’s always something we will do at home and away games. We want to thank the fans for joining us. It’s something that we did today and it’s something that we’ll do in the future.”

FINAL TWO HOME FRIENDLIES

“We want to build on this game, we saw a lot of positive things, and we want to go to the next step as quickly as possible. Of course, we need time to implement things, but we know in football you don’t have time. So, we’ll try to do it as fast as possible.

“I’m really pleased to have two games now in our own stadium with our fans. I’m really looking forward to that.

“We didn’t choose the easiest opponents, but it helps us also because we know we have to be at our best to beat them. This helps us in finding the answers against strong opposition.”