Sustain the Excellence: Ajax, 2019-20

im starting to think what will happen to Ryan Gravenberch come next season. he is clearly a player who is in form at the moment at Jong ajax. 4 goals in his last five games and is starting to look a cut above the rest. even though Ten Hag is giving minutes to the youngsters, can he break into the Ajax starting 11 next season.

 

I think you should subtract the matches against the other Young teams. The only real measures are those against regular clubs.

 

Yeah -- I am nervous about it. Although Mino smart: he knows the best way to get money for him will be for him to start for Ajax for 1-2 years. The track records of youth guys leaving Ajax and trying to make it elsewhere is not good.

XI at Valencia: Onana; Dest, Veltman, Blind, Tagliafico; Martinez, Alvarez; Promes, van de Beek, Ziyech; Tadic

Bench: Varela, Schuurs, Kik, Neres, Hunter, Siem, Marin

No Maz on the bench. I actually believe Neres is best as a super-sub. No interesting youth players there (I'd like Lang!)...

 

Bakker.

 

By xG and really watching that first half, Ajax were on the ropes. That horrific PK and some heroics by Onana were both huge. As was the brilliance of Ziyech. Second half was much better.

I'm still not sold on Martinez-Alvarez as the DM pairing. Both seem to have trouble with quick passing. Martinez got caught in possession or with poor touches in the first half almost leading to goals. Alvarez tackle on the PK was just mindless.

I still think Donny adds most stability and technical ability in that deeper role although tonight he was brilliant in his normal position. But you just can't have it all.

 

I'm a bit surprised you gave him more than a 5. He was responsible for letting his player get into the box easily that forced the ?? player to foul him and he was lucky the Valencia man did a "Jaap Stam" and a couple of minutes later he did the same thing, and that guy could get a shot but thankfully Onana saved the day for him.
That Valencia coach let most of the attack go towards Tagliafico, which was lucky for Ajax.
I have serious doubts about the defensive capabilities of Dest against quality opponents.

 

Was only able to watch the extended highlight. Van de Beek looked really solid... he's screaming for a start for the next Oranje qualifier matches. OTOH, I can't believe Cillessen is Koeman's no. 1 goalie. Could have done much, much better on first and third goals. He is a mediocre GK at best, certainly not made for big game. Can we trade him with Cameroon for Onana? Is it allowed? We'll throw in Strootman, Van Aanholt and Babel for good measure.

 

Yeah it definitely wasn't as dominant as 3-0 suggests. That being said Ajax created an insane amount of high quality chances. In comparison most of Valencia's major chances were lucky; an incredibly unnecessary PK gifted by Alvarez and two deflected shots which forces Onana heroics. Ajax played a dominant game but really needs to stop gifting those kind of unnecessary moments to opponents. If not that's definitely gonna come back to bite them later in the knockout fase.

 

Yup. That was in the Lille match the same. Give those chances to Messi/Ronaldo/Mertens and you would see 3 goals or more against on the score board. If both Lille and Valencia had converted a portion of those chances the mood versus Dest would be quite different, I'm sure.

 

I'm already seeing waaaaayyyyyyyy too much arrogance in Dutch media

https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1227929423/rapport-ajax-favoriet-voor-winst-champions-league

https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/428395822/analyse-ziyech-kan-uitgroeien-tot-de-messi-van-ajax

https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1607122953/uefa-heeft-ziyech-in-vizier

https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1522213862/van-de-beek-100-miljoen-waard-ziyech-barbaars

https://www.telegraaf.nl/sport/1938030875/tadic-meest-gevaarlijke-man-in-de-champions-league

 

Well, the hyping going on while the real reason why defenders areon the pitch is his weak point, but dismissing players that have proven themselves in that area is just foolish. If you confuse putting the finger on the obvious weaknesses with hate, bigging him up for nothing...how would we call that then?
Do you really think much love would be in the Arena if Lille scored 3 or more times out of the missed chances resulting from Dest's errors?

The discussion isnot about him thinking about where to take his chances. That's his problem. What is heatly debated is the stupid assertion by alot of YA followers the Orange team staff offered a 2020 EC spot or he immediately walks into the Orange team now.
A team where Koeman said if de Ligt would be too long on the Juventus bench, he would have a problem.
Some posters put on the table that the current right back selection isnot good at defending. First of all Dumfries, Hatenboer, Janmaat are defensively superior to him, both in actual defending and in top opponents experience. So to hype someone who in two CL matches showed vulnerable defensively (we have Cillesen, not Onana to bail us out) against attacks we as the Orange team will encounter or most likely better ones is being ignorant.

So no, it's not hatred, it's bursting a bubble with true observations.

 

Saw the match highlights and Cillessen looked poor to me.
What is with the hype surrounding Dest?
Very small and weak looking to me.
With Alvarez and Martinez in defensive midfield roles I’m a little shocked that Veltman getting a run at Centerback why not Schurrs?

 

Run and duck .....incoming ....

 

You would be a welcoming addition to the Dest thread in the US Men forum.

 

I've been saying this since the Dest hype started. He has some talent but is nothing special; certainly not worth fighting over for the NT. Both Karsdorp and Dumfries are better.

 

Totally agree -- Cillessen was meh. I've never thought he's a great shot stopper. I feel like he doesn't read shots great. Great at passing/starting an attack though.

I (again) agree on Dest. It's US media created. He's a good player but not a special, changing federation guy. In 4 years, I wouldn't be shocked if he was playing for a huge club or if he was playing at Vitesse like Baozer.

Shurrs has been very good going forward, passing but his defensive positioning has been poor. He looks weak sometimes too. I think Veltman's been really good -- except for stupid, unnecessary yellow cards like the one yesterday. Seems like people just hate Veltman no matter what. I think he's been outstanding this season.

 

The USA fans think Dest played a great game and now for sure is bound to go Orange. If this is symptomatic of how Americans evaluate play and players, no wonder you get beaten up by Canada.