"Detzelby s disciple" bid farewell to the Jia family after losing his title. The next Premier League?

Sports Weekly All Media Original

This week's 2024-25 season of the Dutch Eredivisie came to an end, Eindhoven successfully defended his title with 79 points, and veteran Ajax ranked second with a difference of 1 point. It should be noted that the Jia family led by Italian young coach Falia Li actually led the way, and was still 9 points ahead until the league had 5 rounds left, but in the last 5 rounds they drew 2 draws and lost 10 points, and finally missed the trophy. On the second day after the season, Ajax also officially announced the news that the coach had left the team. Fali said goodbye to the Jia family after leading the team for only one year.

Faloli, 36, was once a goalkeeper, but his player career was extremely short. As early as 2009, at the age of 20, he started working as goalkeeper coach in Italy's low-level leagues. The first team coaching began in 2021, with the Turkish team Karagumluk. Fali Li then led the team in Alanya Sports in Turkish Super League for more than a year. In 2023, he was appointed by Nice and performed extremely well in Ligue 1 at one point, making people feel that his team has the opportunity to challenge Paris Saint-Germain's top position. After helping Nice get qualifying for the Europa League, Falioli was poached by Ajax and became the first Italian coach in the Jia family.

Faloli followed Dezelby and met the latter when he was Benevento goalkeeper coach in the 2017-18 season. Later, he followed Dezelby to join Sassuolo. Therefore, his tactical philosophy also has many similarities with the former Brighton coach, emphasizing control and high-level defense. However, in this season's Eredivisie, the most worth mentioning thing about its leadership is defense. Ajax conceded 32 goals in the league, and 67 goals were nearly 40 fewer than champion Eindhoven (103).

After defeating Twente 2-0 at home in the last round, Falloli, who was still half a step away from the championship, burst into tears on the spot. In the official statement of Ajax Club, technical director Alex Cross expressed disappointment at the result of the breakup between the two sides and emphasized that the team has achieved its season goal of "advanced to the Champions League next season". Since achieving the Dutch Eredivisie championship in 2021-22, the Jia family has entered a period of turbulence, and has only won the third place in the league in 2022-23, and has fallen to fifth place in 2023-24. From this perspective, although Falili's team failed in the last moment, its overall progress has been considerable.

According to Falili's statement in his official statement, the decision to leave may not be because of losing the championship. He still has "disagreement of ideas" with the club: "The management and I have a common goal for Ajax's future, but we have different visions and timetables for how to carry out work and operate with alleged goals. Given these differences in project principles and foundations, I deeply feel that now is the best time to part ways."

It is worth mentioning that before Falili's departure was announced, rumors were already circulating in the UK: Tottenham Hotspur is said to be very interested in the Italian young coach and hopes to use him to replace the coach Postkoglu, who has performed poorly in the league this season.