Sustain the Excellence: Ajax, 2019-20

Not official yet and I really don't understand it. I cannot see him playing in the MF as there are too many players there right now. Is this going to be a LB experiment like with Sinkgraven?

 

That is what I've been reading.

 

Ajax have Salah-Eddine in the youth ranks who is looking like a promising LB. I wonder what the impact of bringing in all these new players will have on those in the system. Will they decide to leave Ajax at an earlier age?

 

Slow out of the blocks in the first twenty minutes and too sloppy in the final twenty didn't hamper Ajax as they scored four times for an easy 1-4 win over Sparta. A nice pass over the top by Martinez led to the first one and then Tadic with a great move and through pass to set up the second were the major highlights. Ajax again dominated possession 65-35 and had more shots than Sparta.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - really hardly anything to do
Tagliafico (6.5) - OK match from the LB
Blind (7) - strong defending inside the penalty area
Veltman (7) - also strong inside defending poking the ball away on several occasions
Dest (6.5) - one great play to disrupt a Sparta break away but just above average the rest of the time
Martnez (7) - outstanding pass to pick out Promes for the first goal and maybe he stays in MF now
Alvarez (6) - good for 70 minutes and then too sloppy with his passing
Ziyech (7.5) - very nice game with two balls in the net
Promes (7) - made some good runs going the full 90
Tadic (7.5) - nice ball control in tight spaces again and on target from the spot
Neres (5.5) - disappointing match, posing some danger on only a couple of occasions
Mazraoui (6) - on for a half hour and decent at LB
Huntelaar (5.5) - little impact on the match
Lang (5.5) - lots of speed but he has to harness it

No match next weekend because of the international break

 

Seldom used CD Lisandro Magallan moves to Alaves on a one year loan. He was always a step too slow to play for Ajax.

 

^^ Ajax are in ESPN commentator Shaka Hislop's top ten for the third week in a row (either 9 or 10, I cannot remember). Ajax just have to play their brand of football and they will do alright.

 

I think the MF is still a work in progress and other than van de Beek, it is still unclear which players will be consistent starters. The transfer of Schöne was a good thing for Ajax as he no longer could play 90 minutes and always was a defensive liability. His ball handling was often too slow.

 

Serginho Dest extends his contract to 2022. van de Beek and Mazraoui are injured and out of tomorrow's match against Heerenveen

 

He suffered an injury in the Morocco U-23 match last week. It's not supposed to be severe but we'll see. Don't know where he will play against Lille. Dest looks like first choice RB and Alvarez and Martinez are the DMs.

 

After a troublesome first half, Ajax played some of the finest tight space passing football to easily pull away to win 4-1. ETH gave some rest to Neres who only came on in the 2nd half, Tadic and Promes who each subbed off in the 2nd half. Onana missed his clean sheet because of a Blind error and had to be lively in the first half but had little to do after the intermission.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - alert saves in the first half and then almost nothing in the 2nd
Tagliafico (7.5) - two wonderful goals and his game was marred only by a reckless block that drew Yellow
Blind (6.5) - big blunder on the Heerenveen goal and then settled down as Ajax possession football left little defending to do
Schuurs (6) - nicely take goal and two very good cross field passes didn't do enough to cover up some defensive lapses
Veltman (7) - more involved up field than I can ever remember and solid enough passing the ball
Martinez (6.5) - good enough
Alvarez (7) - very solid on the night and I cannot think of one bad pass
Promes (7) - super active on offense
Tadic (7) - some great passing in tight spaces
Huntelaar (6) - other than the ricochet free kick pretty quiet
Ziyech (8) - MOTM for me as he popped up all over the field and his passing was exceptional
Neres (6) - good with the ball in the 20 minutes he had on the field
Marin (NR) - on late for Alvarez
Siem de Jong (NR) - on very late for the first time in an Ajax kit since leaving the club four years ago

Home to Lille in the first CL group match on Tuesday!!!!