Calvin Bassey's legs went to "mush" in Ajax's derby defeat to Feyenoord according to one pundit in the Netherlands.
The former Rangers defender has struggled since his megabucks move to Amsterdam and he's often been singled out for criticism. He has failed to rediscover the form that saw him star under Steven Gerrard and in particular Gio van Bronckhorst during the run to the Europa League final, but he's been far from the only sub-par Ajax star as they now sit six points behind rivals Feyenoord in the title race.
Erik ten Hag's departure to Manchester United has left them in a state of flux and John Heitinga has struggled to pick them up following the sacking of Alfred Schreuder. Their latest poor result came against bitter rivals Feyenoord in Sunday's derby, and Bassey was singled out for criticism as ESPN analyst Karim El Almadi pointed to the stark difference in performance between him and Feyenoord defender David Hancko.
El Ahmadi said: "It is clear that Feyenoord as a team is much better than Ajax. But also individually: if I compare Hancko on the ball with Bassey, that's a world of difference. That's where it starts. In the first half, I saw Bassey build up, but that was really unworthy of Ajax. I haven't seen Ajax fumble like that for a long time."
But while many pundits in the Netherlands have lost all patience with Bassey, he stopped short of a complete write-off - even if his legs went to "mush."
He added: "It could be that there was too much tension on it. When you get mush legs, a lot goes wrong. At one point he also slipped. It could be that the tension did something to him. Let's not judge him on it. He has to stand there, absolutely. But he also had a good period, this was a bad game."
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