It could be dangerous if Ajax plays against AZ the way they played FC Twente in the first half. It was just on the account of Twente that the score wasnot 4 or 5 - 0 after 30 minutes. It was ridiculous the way the defense and the midfield underperformed. And it was as ridiculous how the Twente attack managed to not score more goals. Give those chances to the AZ strikers and they might just neednot to show up for the second half. The attack of Ajax is getting trimmed by injuries, which keeps up with the defensive injuries at AZ. It's a shame we willnot see a match between the most scoring attack with the least goals permitting defense.
They've won 1 match in 2 months. The teams with a pulse they've played (Sporting, Utrecht, AZ, LASK) have destroyed them. They couldn't even beat Emmen. The players have clearly stopped playing for him.
With a 6 point lead Ajax has a bit of wiggle room - I only saw bits and pieces but AZ did not look to impressive v. VVV this weekend. And Ajax has been performing while still battling in the CL. It's close enough AZ could still make it race, but PSV just look like crap. As Ajax gets more bodies back to healthy/not on cards, it will give them more legs. But AZ are a lot of fun this year, no doubt.
Well, that's exactly the danger of AZ, they have the capability to change from "if it can't be done pretty, we do it ugly" mode. For some reason they're also capable to shift up some gears when a man down. With a pretty young team that is.
For sure it's not enough to be comfortable, and if AZ's D keeps up it's locked gate they could catch Ajax for sure, I just meant the game in two weeks will likely not change the table in one fell swoop.
Time to pump up the Dest thread. Ajax plays today at home v Willem II (not even Willem I) so this should be a walk in the park, perfect for Dest. With a big CL game looming on Tuesday, v Valencia, ten Hag needs to plan his lineups and subs accordingly. My main concern is that ten Hag may be more team-focused than Dest-focused at this point.
Willem II sit 4th in the table and have played all the big boys well winning against PS and drawing against AZ and Feyenoord. They are no push over. Dest will have his hands full with a young Greek player (who's name is escaping me) that lines up on the left side of a 4-3-3. That should be a good match up. Ajax should and probably will prevail but Willem II will give them a good battle.
Thanks, Vann. I view these games as a developmental exercise, so please tell your anonymous young Greek friend to bring his 'A' game today. Think 'experiential learning.'
Why are people assuming that Dest will be starting? He seems to be mostly on the bench now and coming on in the early 2nd half. Most of the predictions I have seen have Maz starting. Am I missing something?
Yeah.... Unfortunately, I am. Maz returning to health fugged it all up. I can watch every AJAX game on ESPN+ and I miss having Dest penciled in each game.
might be an uhhhh short afternoon for sergino. yellow card for taking guy down in box which var should probably make a red
This is the second time he has been beating in a foot race. Dest is not slow but there are guys faster than him.
Yeah and he did not anticipate the run from Nunnelly at all. It was clear what was about to happen and Dest was slow to recognize. Then had a really, really poor tackle. The ball was shown to him and he could have had a clean tackle.
Ajax has been unlucky too. But Dest is fun to watch, he had a couple of flashy moves that make the name Serginho appropriate. Otherwise, not his best game.