24/25 JUL 2018; Ajax - Sturm Graz; CL Qualifying

[Orange14]

The draw for the 2nd round of the Champions League qualifying took place today and Ajax drew Sturm Graz of Austria. Home match is in late July with the return away game a week later. Except for those on WC teams or on holiday, players reported for physical evaluation yesterday.

[SPL]

Not sure what sort of starting 11 we will put out .We must win this tie.At the very least we need to be playing Europa League this season.

[Orange14]

Date is confirmed for July 25. ten Hag stated that all those on WC duty will report back and play as needed in this match.

[Ayman]

Although Ajax have a bad record against Austrian teams in recent times, Red Bull Salzburg and Rapid Vienna, didn't Ajax beat Sturm Graz in a CL qualifying round in the early 2000s?

[Orange14]

Although Ajax have a bad record against Austrian teams in recent times, Red Bull Salzburg and Rapid Vienna, didn't Ajax beat Sturm Graz in a CL qualifying round in the early 2000s?

Almost!! I looked up some of those qualifications and in 2003-04 Ajax qualified against Grazer AK; it's in the same city but a different club.

[Ayman]

Although Ajax have a bad record against Austrian teams in recent times, Red Bull Salzburg and Rapid Vienna, didn't Ajax beat Sturm Graz in a CL qualifying round in the early 2000s?

Almost!! I looked up some of those qualifications and in 2003-04 Ajax qualified against Grazer AK; it's in the same city but a different club.

Thanks for the correction.

[Orange14]

@Ayman - This is a great website: http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/afc-ajax/ You can get historical results and team rosters

[Ayman]

@Ayman - This is a great website: http://www.worldfootball.net/teams/afc-ajax/ You can get historical results and team rosters

Thanks Orange14... Check this out.

Now managed by former Bayern Munich youth manager, Heiko Vogel, Sturm Graz will line up with Austrian Footballer of the Year, Peter Zulj.

Zulj scored 10 goals in the Austrian Bundesliga last season as well as getting 17 assists, catching the interests of English sides Fulham and Queens Park Rangers.

The Blackies also have former Germany international Christian Schulz in their ranks, with the 35-year-old offering experience to the Austrian sides defence.

Ajax will certainly go into tie as massive favourites but will need to be careful if they want to play in the biggest club competition in the world.

https://oranjedivisie.wordpress.com/201 ... turm-graz/

[Orange14]

https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleagu ... 143/squad/

Ajax have posted their list of players for the CL. It's interesting that de Ligt, van de Beek and Mazraoui are not on this 'A' List. Clubs can have an unlimited number on the 'B' List and need only be registered the day prior to the match. According to UEFA "...A player may be registered on List B if he is born on, or after, 1 January 1997 and has been eligible to play for the club concerned for any uninterrupted period of two years since his 15th birthday (players aged 16 may be registered if they have been registered with the club for the previous two years). Clubs are entitled to register an unlimited number of players on List B during the season, but the list must be submitted by no later than 24:00CET the day before a match."

It's not a big deal that the three players mentioned are not on the list. Similarly, Serhuis or some other Jong Ajax players can be added as long as they meed the criteria.

[SPL]

A bit odd ,have to say saw the list on Ajaxshowtime and noted no Mazraoui ,but overlooked no Donny or Matthijs

[Orange14]

Ajax got lucking in the draw for the third qualifying round for the CL. The winner of this tie plays Standard Liege of Belgium and avoids Fenerbace, Spartak Moscow or Slavia Prague. Now the only question is whether they can take advantage of this.

[Cruijff]

Not a bad draw indeed Standard Liege, but in European campaigns Ajax has struggled with even smaller teams in the past.

First things first Ajax will have to eliminate Sturm Graz.

[Orange14]

Not a bad draw indeed Standard Liege, but in European campaigns Ajax has struggled with even smaller teams in the past.

First things first Ajax will have to eliminate Sturm Graz.

I'm not putting the cart before the horse! You are right about the club struggling. I would like to see a good run in Euro competition this season.

[Ayman]

Bad news.
Mike Verweij
Mike Verweij
@MikeVerweij
Vermoedelijke opstelling #Ajax :
Onana;
Mazraoui, De Ligt, F. de Jong, Tagliafico;
Vd Beek, Schone, Eiting
Neres, Huntelaar, Ziyech

How reliable is Mike Verweij?

[Cruijff]

With Huntelaar as striker he is probably correct, because the local news station says Dolberg got injured on the training.


Onana;
Mazraoui, De Ligt, Blind, Tagliafico;
Vd Beek, Tadic, Ziyech
Neres, Dolberg, Labyad

Would be the strongest line-up in my opinion.

[Cruijff]

The highlights of the game against Sturm Graz on Ajax.nl :

https://www.ajax.nl/streams/wedstrijden ... m-graz.htm

[Tom_]

Great score line. I’m a bit worried about the chances that were given away but I think we’ll get through.

Also, I think Sturm Graz have one of the ugliest kits I’ve ever seen :D

[Tom_]

Great score line. I’m a bit worried about the chances that were given away but I think we’ll get through.

Also, I think Sturm Graz have one of the ugliest kits I’ve ever seen :D

[SPL]

We should have at least 4 but only chance they had was de Ligt should have given away a penalty.We then got a pen and lucky Schone backing up.

Ziyech had a great game so did Neres and I liked Mazraoui.Tadic and Blind are going to add more class .Frenkie is not a defender but looks very comfortable on the ball when breaking forward. Still cannot see why on earth Barca will pay 50 m. Sadly KJH was poor ,his finishing skills are fading with age,35 next month.As for a MF of Eiting,Schone and v d Beek ,not a fan ,no creativity.

We should get through next week and then beat Liege.

On players leaving the Italian and EPL transfer deadlines are 9th August.Get to 10th August with no one leaving will be great

PS cricfree had a nice clear stream, rebooted only once.

[Orange14]

In the end a somewhat easy 2-0 win to open the campaign. It will be interesting to see the 11tegen11 expected goals for Ajax as they clearly had multiple opportunities to add to their total. Both Blind and Tadic saw action as 2nd half substitutes and Tadic whipped in some really good crosses. It remains to be seen whether de Jong stays on the back line or moves up to the MF. Today there was a lot of double pivot with Schöne in the first half and not so much in the second when Sturm had to come out and press more.

Player Ratiings:

Onana(6) - an uncertain punch in the first half but really had little to do and the few chances Sturm had were missed wide of the mark
Tagliafico (7) - quietly good game with two key interventions to stop shots on goal
de Jong (7) - yes, we all know he is wasted at center defense
de Ligt (7) - forced to stay back when de Jong moved up and did well in his job
Mazraoui (6.5) - decent enough on the night
Schöne (6.5) - half point off for the weak PK but alert enough to put it back in, looks like he's going to play deeper and do less roaming around
Eiting (6) - really didn't see much of the ball at all as Schöne and de Jong did most of the passing
van de Beek (5.5) - always a hard worker but tonight was off sides too often and missed a couple of passes he should have dealt with
Neres (7) - good contained game and I was surprised at the complaints on the penalty; you push a man down in the box who has the ball be prepared for the consequences
Huntelaar (5.5) - great hold up play but poor finishing on the chances he had
Ziyech (7.5) - good match and maybe he stays another season with the club which would be good
Tadic (6.5) - solid performance coming on in the second half but looked a little winded in the end
Blind (6) - on late for Eiting and was fine
Serhuis (NR) - on late for Huntelaar

Let's hope the return match is played under more reasonable weather and that Ajax can lock up the tie and move on to the next round.

[Tom_]

Nice analysis here if you’re looking for the xG etc.: https://www.ajaxlife.nl/updates/passmap ... jastu-1819

[Cruijff]

Great score line. I’m a bit worried about the chances that were given away but I think we’ll get through.

Also, I think Sturm Graz have one of the ugliest kits I’ve ever seen :D

Indeed.
Awful black color but also filled with all kind of different sponsornames not matching at all on the t-shirt.

Looked very cheap. Despite all this and their weak performance, the away fans were going for the team 90 minutes long.