I got to watch most of the match... Kinda vintage Ajax European performance. The better team for most of the match but nothing to show for it in the 1st half then the other team jumps on two mistakes. Davy/Oscar whiffing on giant chances killed us. I'm also just totally over Godts. The guy wastes so many promising attacks it's maddening. On positive side, Stuer/Baas were outstanding and they provide some hope for the future. I'm kinda shocked Baas has been this good.
He was great too! Seems like Zinchenko is official. Contract through the end of the year. It sounds like they want another vet midfielder. Hopefully to stabilize things like Henderson did + get rid of Davy. Only 2 points from 2nd and guaranteed CL. That would be massive. Despite awful results, Ajax still earned about 45 million Euros from being CL this year (before gates). Massive difference between that and EL.
Transfer News: Pasveer to Heracles to see if he can help the avoid relegation Zinchenko from Arsenal confirmed Paes (GK) from FC Dallas confirmed
Slept in this morning so I just finished watching. Another epic 2nd half disaster in a match that should have been clinched in the first half. Ajax were wasteful on two opportunities where they had over matched Excelsior on breakaways but bungled both chances. In the 2nd half they let Excelsior back in the match through mental mistakes that never happened under Farioli. I just don't understand how really simple checking of runners gets missed so much by this Ajax team. Mokio was asleep on the first goal but Steur should have done better to prevent the cross from happening. On the second goal every single player on the right side of the Ajax defense was at fault. Not sure Jaros could have done any better and the shot by the Excelsior player was quite nice. Tomiyasu and Johnson get their debuts as 2nd half subs. Rosa dropped out after warm ups and Oscar and Wijndal were out sick. NEC moves ahead of Ajax now and Feyenoord look like they will drop all the points against PSV. Not a fun match for our new TD Jordi Cruyff to watch. I am still absolutely CONFUSED as to why Klassen plays these days. He adds zero to the team other than putting the Captain's armband on correctly. Player Ratings: Jaros (6) - had a nice save to prevent a loss but has to kick way too much and is too slow on ball distribution; I think Liverpool puts him on the transfer list next summer Gaaei (4) - average game and one of those at fault on the 2nd goal Sutalo (5.5) - didn't have much defending to do and like Gaaei at fault on the 2nd goal Baas (6.5) - no complaints about his game, he is one of the few Ajax players who rarely makes mistakes Mokio (5.5) - gets a slight above average mark for some great wins in duels and helping set Ajax on some break aways but his error on the first goal was inexcusable Regeer (6) - decent enough game and looks to be settling in but still not clear whether he is a long term solution at #6 Steur (5) - had some good moments on the ball in the first half with great field awareness but should have done better on both Excelsior goals Klaassen (5) - again WHY play him for 90 minutes when he runs out of steam after a half of football, surely Fitz-Jim would not be as bad Bounida (6) - solid performance on the wing Dolberg (6) - good enough but I guess he still can't go 90 minutes Godts (7) - best player for Ajax with two nice goals and hardly any turnovers Weghorst (NR) - on for Dolberg and had little impact Edvardssen (NR) - worked hard to little avail Tomiyasu (NR) - if he can stay fit he might be of use down the stretch, decent enough with the ball Johnson (NR) - big and strong but questionable skills with the ball, was outstanding on the U-16 team with Steur that won the Future's Cup a couple of years ago A 2nd visit to Alkmaar looming for next weekend. Can Ajax finally end this jinx???
Now that we have a natural RW, Grim (hopefully) will start using Bounida and Oscar in MF, where they belong. As for Carrizo, his record at Velez is not very impressive but the kid is only 19 so there is time enough for him to develop his potential.
Ajax down 1-0 at the half. Two great chances by Nash and Roemers missed and then poor defending, letting the right side winger cut in and get an open shot for the goal. Too many players from Ajax trying to be heroes rather than setting things up. As with the senior team, very poor defending on free kicks. Should have been 2-0 as Kasanwirjo almost had an OG that rebounded off the upright. Emre Unuvar is out injured and several other eligible players are with the senior team right now.
It ends 2-1 for Legia. More poor defending on the second goal and then Ajax peg one back. Unfortunately Muzungu gets a RC and is sent off with 15 minutes to play. Match was played in the main stadium with temperature at -5C. Even so the pitch was in pretty good shape. The Legia team had not had a competitive match since December while the Ajax players have been in action. Ajax were creative but too many players going 1 v 1 rather than looking for other opportunities. After the first goal Legia packed everyone in making it hard for Ajax to do much. I would point out that Ajax have conceded an average of two goals a game during this competion so they were right on target for that stat. Unuvar was missed and as we know there were a number of other players who are in this age group that did not play (Steur, Bouwman, Mokio, etc.). Maybe they would have made a difference.
No idea why Ajax continues to buy these players? Hope for the best as always, but the recent track record has been pretty poor.
Another Grim display of football from Ajax today. Too much mediocrity and the tie is rescued with a header from the least likely player on the pitch, Fitz-Jim. Zinchenko got some minutes and showed that unlike all other players on this team he can deliver some nice crosses. I assume he will slot into the starting lineup next week. With Klaassen in the game the team is just too slow in ball rotation and players are easily double teamed. Farioli had faith in Fitz-Jim but Grim doesn't fancy him. We'll have to see if NEC can sustain their pace and leave Ajax in fourth place on the season. Player Ratings: Jaros (5.5) - unconvincing and forced into much aimless kicking Gaaei (5.5) - above average Sutalo (5.5) - had a disastrous slip in the first half but otherwise OK Baas (6.5) - on of the better players Wijndal (6) - tried to force the play down the left side and was decent Regeer (6) - decent but will always be criticized as not the solution Steur (6) - had a rocket shot that was saved in the first half but looked like it was a bit too high Klaassen (4.5) - WHY? Because he is Grim's favorite player Bounida (4.5) - mediocre Dolberg (5) - zero help from his teammates and saw lots of kicks from Jaros over and under hit Godts (6) - tried to force things but did get one chance on goal that was a bit wide Fitz-Jim (6) - on for Klaassen and got the goal that gave Ajax a point Zinchenko (NR) - showed he can play for this team Edvardssen (NR) - always works hard even when he is mediocre Oscar (NR) - showing more and more that he is a waste of €s Wegorst (NR) - kept the ball alive With all the waste of money over the past three seasons, Ajax need to institute a new rule to not pay over €5M for any transfer. They may have to do that anyway because of financial problems with no CL money in the foreseeable future.
Jordi Cruyff is wasting no time. He sacked Jong Ajax manager Willem Weijs and replaced him with Spaniard Oscar Garcia. Garcia is bringing in his own set of assistants.
Smells like Spanish orientated nepotism to me. WW has only been in charge since this summer. Don't tell me Spanish youth team coaches are better than Dutch ones.
I think it’s very fair to say that Jordi’s going to attempt to fix the youth system and get back to better football which has been a struggle for a number of years in my opinion.
I kinda like what Jordi is doing signing guys to short deals and bringing in some real professionals. The goal is 2nd, and the massive guaranteed CL money. No long term awful contracts is key. I want more time for youth. But there are some I've seen enough of to know they aren't anything special. Sadly - The crux of all problems right now is the youth academy is not producing enough talent.
Not so sure about this. If you can move in three youth players a year into the first team, that is doing quite well. Ajax have some talents who are out on loan and several are starting for other Eredivisie teams. Steur is a first team player along with Bouwman. Ouzane is going to move up as well. It's too bad that Unuvar has been out injured as he is a promising #9.
'Nobody' in the Netherlands, superstar in Indonesia: new Ajax goalkeeper Maarten Paes is a star on social media. Maarten Paes is very popular on social media. For example, Ajax's welcome message was liked no less than 710,000 times.
Finally a match where I didn't have to sit on the edge of my seat in the second half waiting for something bad to happen. Very solid game at both ends, marred only by the Sutalo own goal at the end of the first half. Some very nice goals and Ajax attacked well getting the ball into shooting positions. A couple of centimeters here or there and Ajax might have had a couple of more. I finally get to say that Mokio was outstanding and he needs to get this kind of consistency into his game for every match. Othe than the pedestrian efforts of Klaassen every other field player was quite good on the evening. Ajax draw even with Feyenoord on points and also picked up three on PSV who lost to Volendam yesterday (I don't think PSV will suffer the same kind of collapse Ajax did last season as the points difference is too high). Player Ratings: Jaros (6) - OK, but never really challenged to make a tough save Rosa (6) - held his ground on the right and did not let anyone dribble past him Sutalo (6.5) - quite good other than the own goal Baas (7) - solid performance Zinchenko (NR) - took a blow to the leg at the third minute and had to come off, hope this was not a serious injury Mokio (7) - great opening goal, yes he did make a good saving play on Serhuis but should not have let the striker get ahead of him, also had some really fine passes Steur (6.5) - another solid match Klaassen (5) - Fred Grim's favorite player was simply ordinary, we all can see it, why can't the manager? Bounida (7) - really nice on the ball and creative with his passing Dolberg (6.5) - great assist on the first goal, hade a header go off the upright and called for a push when he finally put one in the net Godts (7) - have to say that he was looking up more today and saw players who were in a more dangerous position than he was and he got them the ball Wijndal (6.5) - came on to do quite well when Zinchenko came off Fitz-Jim (6) - played the final half hour and was decent Glouch (6) - came on and was OK but he needs to understand that he can't do much in tight spaces Weghorst (NR) - nice assist of the final goal of the evening and had a good hard chance as well Bouwman (NR) - on late Big game next weekend as NEC visit the Arena (who knew that Ajax - NEC would be a big game???)