Ajax friendlies

[SPL]

Agree with you MP about Qatar but we are being paid 1m euros for going ,so money talks!

[Orange14]

Too bad they didn't come to Florida like this past January. Would love to see them play over here.

[Ayman]

I would have preferred the far east e.g. South Korea and Japan, big market over there.

[rjf1]

I would have preferred the far east e.g. South Korea and Japan, big market over there.

Hong Kong would be even better - 11/2 hr flight from Taiwan. Back in the mid to late 90s they were booked to play in HK as part of a weekend tournament that also included PSV. Naturally I flew over. Ajax were scheduled for Saturday, but there was such torrential rain that day that the match was cancelled. Big disappointment - so I'm still waiting for them to come back. Saw PSV on Sunday, but that wasn't what I really wanted.

[Orange14]

It will take a bit of time to adjust to the new format scheme! Ajax will play to friendlies in the winter training period. On Jan 9 they play Galatasary and on Jan 11 Club Brugge. Next league game is January 19 with Sparta at the Arena.

EDIT: Just saw that the Galatasary match has been canceled as the Turkish team will not be training in Qatar.

[SPL]

Off to Qatar with 31 players of whom 15 are homegrown ie in our youth aged 15 or earlier and Blind and Ekkelenkamp 2 more are injured.

Taylor Traore,Castillo,Pereira,Unuvar,Hansen and both Timbers are going.No Brobbey but he has had a bit of injury recently.

[SPL]

As well as Club Brugge we now play Eupen from Belgium.

[Manneken Pis]

Eupen is a club owned by the Qataris (through their Aspire Academy), as is PSG. It is seen as a launch pad for their Aspire graduates into European football. It also finds itself in the German speaking corner of Belgium (yes there are THREE official languages in Belgium!).

[SPL]

Serginio Dest has left Qatar as he feels unsafe being an American.He is of course really Dutch but having chosen to play for USA could be a target .

[SPL]

Beat Eupen 2-0 Siem de Jong and Traore the goals.This was a 2nd team as such with Castillo,J.Timber Unuvar all starting and Taylor and Pereira as subs.

[Amol]

Ajax - Brugge is being shown live on youtube - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vbwqp3IoALg

We're currently up 2-0 in the 29th minute

[SPL]

Finished 3-1 Ziyech ,Promes and an OG . Came home from a local game at the Ht mark in this game but couldn't find any streams. Given it was 3-0 at Ht and we used 10 subs in the 2nd half I did not miss much. Nice to see a few of the teenage talents getting playing time.

[rjf1]

Saw the highlights - Traore as the target man made a number of really nice layoffs - especially the one that led to the Ziyech goal. Would be nice to see what he can do for the big team in the second half of the season.

[SPL]

1st game for 5 months 6-1 vRKC. Watched from 60 mins onwards Antony with 2 beautifully taken goals and KJH got his 2nd (Traore, KJH Ekkelenkamp the 1st x 3) .

Nice to see Rensch play the 2nd half ,normally Cd but looked good at RB

[Ayman]

Nice play by Ajax, Antony, Blind, Martinez, Rensch, Noa Lang, Tadic and Promes played really well, even Marin didn't have a bad game. Big concerns for Alvarez and Schuurs. Later this month, Ajax will play FC Utrecht, Red Bull Salzburg and Hertha BSC. Should be good practice for Ajax, since they usually get off to a sluggish start, hopefully ten Hag will have a fair idea of who should play and who shouldn't.

[Amol]

I actually thought Schuurs played decent. It's his spot to lose. Alvarez and Labyad were really poor. Surprisingly, Marin actually played decent.

Good to see Steks back, but he wasn't really tested.

We played much better in the 2nd half compared to the 1st.

[Orange14]

It looks like today's friendly against Utrecht will be on ESPN+ !!!!

[Orange14]

Good to see the club back in action. First time for me this preseason. Quite an easy walk over Utrecht 5-1 with a hat trick from Labyad. He had two great free kicks for scores. I think he is much better than Ziyech in this category and the only player in Europe who is better is Messi. Schuurs had a fine match on defense with some key interventions. Mazraoui conceded a penalty kick that was missed with one of the weakest attempts I've ever seen. No goals in the 2nd half. I would also point to a fine match from Noa Lang who played under control and set thing up great from the left wing as Anthony did from the right side in the first half.

I'm liking this team to do well and hope everyone stays!!

[kezme44]

happy to see labyad score. he had a tough time lately, hopefully this is a good sign for the upcoming season

[SPL]

Watched the 1st half and some good goals.Labyad ,Lang and Schuurs all played well. Alvarez is just poor ,no way is he good enough as a defender or midfielder.

[Orange14]

Alvarez is just poor ,no way is he good enough as a defender or midfielder.

It was hard for me to tell as he had hardly anything to do in the first half. He had few touches. What was interesting is he dropped back several times to the middle of a back three as the two FBs pushed up the field. I wonder if this will be a new approach from ten Hag regardless of who is at DM.

[souras84]

Playing a 3-5-2 type of system, as an approach during a game, is very interesting and could work with the type of players we have. Maybe help us against counters

[Ayman]

Out of all the positions at Ajax, the midfield is the most overcrowded. Alvarez, Q. Timber, Eiting, Martinez, Gravenberch, Marin, van de Beek, Ekklenkamp, Kudus. I know Ajax have a congested season ahead, but it's going to be difficult to keep all the players happy, considering the fact that van de Beek will likely be a fixture, if he stays, along with perhaps Martinez. Alvarez needs to go on loan, he doesn't fit at Ajax, Eiting is often injured, so no luck there, Ekkelnkamp is likely to have a chance, as I see Kudus having time to adjust. Taking all that into consideration, Marin and Q.Timber will still struggle to get minutes on the pitch.
In attack it's similar to a lesser degree though, on the right it's Neres (if he stays fit) and Antony (who still needs to adjust), on the left it's Promes and Noa Lang. But up front, Tadic (captain), behind him are Traore, Brobbey and Labyad. I can see one or two of them going on loan, or maybe sold, in Brobbey's case.
In defense, Ajax still need a (back up) left back (Cufre?), Magallan is dead wood, and there is a concern at right back, Dest actually believes he is entitled to a move abroad? Mazraoui isn't looking sharp, Rensch is promising but isn't ready. Just hope J. TImber is versatile enough to cover that area, as Schuurs is likely to be first choice to partner Blind at center back.

[SPL]

Ayman ,just to say a good post but remember back up striker KJH.Add Taylor to the MF.he will debut this season.Rensch has this week appeared at RB and LB but is a central defender .

Training camp to Austria and 32 have gone. Q Timber and more surprisingly Hansen are missing but are in the squad to play CL U19 next week.

Brobbey to Austria and this week he said he was delighted Huntelaar is staying as he can learn so much from him. Suggests he will extend his contract.Expect the Timbers and Taylor to extend but not sure about Hansen as he is not in Austria.All very quiet on this.

[Amol]

Game against Wolfsberger ended with a 2-0 win.

1st half had a midfield which included Marin and Alvarez and that was extremely slow and static. Kudus came on in the 2nd half and totally impressed me.