Dolberg, Leonardo and the Silence at Sittard: A Five-Goal Win That Still Needed Explaining

The press room in Sittard was small enough that you could hear the recorders. After the 1-5 win at Fortuna Sittard, Michel sat in front of the microphone, and the first question was not about the five goals. It was about Marcos Leonardo, who did not start. On a night when Ajax scored five, the talking point was a player on the bench.

I have sat through hundreds of press conferences like that. They never make the broadcast. Yellow light, cold coffee, tired people trying to say something both true and safe. That is where football tells its real story: the story of who is allowed to believe they matter.

Before reading the scoreline

Ajax arrived in Sittard after a defeat to PSV. That is the first fact to hold on to, because every post-match remark was built on that psychological ground. Fortuna Sittard, according to the source, had not lost a league game until that night. The 1-5 win therefore rises above an ordinary result: beating an unbeaten side, away, by five goals, is a clear signal of fitness and mentality.

Kasper Dolberg came on for Tolu Arokodare and scored on 79 minutes. Sofyan Amrabat played the full 90, after only appearing from the bench against PSV. Marcos Leonardo, described in the source as a summer signing, began the match on the bench. Michel said the match was "better suited to Dolberg's qualities." He added: "It has absolutely nothing to do with the hierarchy."

Three sentences, three layers. And one item that needs verification: in standard reference data, Michel does not manage Ajax, and the trio of Dolberg, Leonardo and Amrabat do not belong to the same club. I keep these details within the internal logic of the source and flag them as data to be verified. It is a rule I learned in documentary work: when you cannot cross-check, say clearly that you cannot cross-check.

Two mechanisms running in parallel

Based on my experience following matches and press conferences, two mechanisms run in parallel in remarks like these, and neither relates to the scoreline.

The first is load management. Amrabat played the full 90 after a substitute appearance. Michel admitted that in the final fifteen minutes Amrabat was "clearly more tired." For a recently signed midfielder without pre-season rhythm, this is the classic load-building ramp: a short first outing, a full second outing, and a body paying the price late. The problem is that those fifteen minutes fall immediately before two home fixtures against Willem II and Excelsior. An exhausted central midfielder is a squad problem, not a medical one.

I once filmed a nineteen-year-old striker in Incheon during a season of empty stadiums. He kicked a ball into an empty net with only the wind for company, then dropped to his knees and covered his face. Nobody celebrated with him. An empty stadium, but crowded memory. I tell that story to make this point: what happens in the last fifteen minutes of a match often matters more than the opening goal, because it decides who can still stand in the next one.

The second mechanism is expectation management. When a coach actively denies the existence of a hierarchy, it is usually because that hierarchy exists in an awkward way. Michel protected Leonardo with a public vote of confidence: "I also have a lot of confidence in Leo." He explained the Dolberg selection through matchup qualities, not form. He stressed: "We are one team, and everyone is important."

It sounds like encouragement. Inside a dressing room, it is a governance document. It tells the substitute he is not being devalued. It tells the agent the asset is not losing value. It tells the board the summer signing remains in the plan. One sentence, three listeners.

Three strikers, one position

The story is told as proof of squad depth: Ajax have three strikers — Arokodare, Dolberg, Leonardo — and the coach picks by opponent. I read it differently.

Three strikers for one position creates unresolved competition. Elite football tolerates rotation when one man is clearly first choice and the rest accept their roles. When all three have reason to believe they deserve to start, every selection produces one happy man and two who must be soothed. Michel is soothing with words. Words last a few weeks.

His use of matchup language for Dolberg sounds technically sound. But if a matchup model truly existed, it would repeat across matches. After one match, it is a decision. And any decision can be justified by a sensible sentence.

There is another suspicious detail. The source quotes him: "We created many chances against a team with a good mentality." Five goals are a strong signal, but no chance-quality metric accompanies them — no xG, no shot count, no possession share. Five goals are a result; they are not yet a process. In my trade, a beautiful shot does not prove a good film. To know whether Ajax truly turned a corner after the PSV defeat, or simply met a side that collapsed, one needs data the source does not provide. I note it: data to be verified.

Amrabat is described as a midfielder with a "tremendous mentality" and "a great deal of experience." That is the language of a coach who needs a senior, character-level anchor in a rebuilding group. When you lean on a player's character to hold a structure together, you are leaning on his most fragile asset: his fitness.

In 2026 in Paris, I followed a twenty-one-year-old Korean player about to sign with a lower-division French club. I wrote the script like a stoppage-time free kick. The deal collapsed over a clause involving his agent. He went back to Seoul in silence, and I stayed three days, walking along the Seine. Since then I ask who gains and who loses rather than praising the glory. With Leonardo, the same question applies: if a summer signing sits on the bench, who gains, and who loses what?

Substitute goalkeepers: unpublished poets

In 2026, in Kazan, I filmed a reserve goalkeeper singing the anthem for 90 minutes without playing. The statistics then showed 96 substitute goalkeepers across 32 squads who played not a single minute, yet they still wept when their team went out. Substitute goalkeepers: unpublished poets. Leonardo sits in the same memory box tonight, except he has not wept, and he still has a chance.

My point is not that Ajax are in crisis. They won 5-1 away. My point is that a big win often hides small questions, and those small questions decide seasons. The pressure here does not come from the table. It comes from a summer signing watching someone else score, and a key midfielder running to empty before two home games the staff treat as must-wins.

What will answer it

The two home fixtures against Willem II and Excelsior will answer what the Sittard press room could not. If Leonardo keeps sitting out, the hierarchy story returns, and this time the reassurance loses value. If Amrabat is rested or replaced early, people will understand that the last fifteen minutes at Sittard were not a small matter.

I will follow those two matches the way I follow everything: through the people not shown in the main camera. Applause nobody hears is still applause. A substitute who scores does not create a controversy — he simply makes people see the controversy that was already there.