26 JUL 2017 OGC Nice - Ajax CL 3rd Qualifying Round

[Orange14]

Though all of our thoughts are elsewhere during this tragic week, the dates of the Nice-Ajax fixture have been announced. Ajax journey to the south of France for the first match with the return game in the Arena on August 2.

[SPL]

Not sure how the players are going to cope with trying to play this in 11 days time. They are in bits and so are the fans.

The 1st time ever I dont care about an Ajax footy game,yes I feel that bad.

[Orange14]

Not sure how the players are going to cope with trying to play this in 11 days time. They are in bits and so are the fans.

The 1st time ever I dont care about an Ajax footy game,yes I feel that bad.

I think that this is going to be a very difficult season. van de Beek came up through the youth ranks with Appie when they were just kids. I will watch matches but every game will be bittersweet knowing that something special is missing.

[King Litti]

Looked at the possible opponents and thought anyone will do except Nice. Surprise surprise.
This would be a tough enough fixture even without the mental stress that all of ajax has had to endure.

Obviously don't know this for a fact, but knowing how much Appie loved Ajax and football, you might think he would hope that Ajax would carry on playing the beautiful game in the beautiful way that Ajax plays it. Getting back to playing might bring a sense of "life goes on." I'm sure Nouri will be remembered in some way in the first home games. Maybe that can also bring some sort of a closure.

Still of course everyone needs to have that grief period. There's just no way around it. You can't brush off this kind of a tragedy. Difficult to say how long it will take.

I think that this is going to be a very difficult season.

Emotions will be running high in the first games especially. How will that effect the efforts of the team remains to be seen.

Not sure how the players are going to cope with trying to play this in 11 days time. They are in bits and so are the fans.

You just have to wonder what kind of a team will be walking to the field in France? An emotional wreck or a team fired up to play for Appie. A tragedy like this can also bring the team closer together.

[Orange14]

Friendly against PAOK was understandably cancelled. I believe there is only one more friendly scheduled before the CL qualifying match.

EDIT: Actually it did go forward. Ajax won 4-2. Pretty much a second team lineup starting the game. Huntelaar got one of the goals.

[SPL]

They played Genk earlier 3-3 Kluivert Neres and Ziyech the goals.Our strongest team started.Sanchez back . Only 4 not involved today, Onana on holiday ,Younes back but not training, Sinkgraven injured knee. v Leer also injured

[Orange14]

Selection for Wednesday:

Andre Onana
Benjamin van Leer
Stan van Bladeren
Joël Veltman
Matthijs de Ligt
Davinson Sanchez
Nick Viergever
Deyovaisio Zeefuik
Damil Dankerlui
Donny van de Beek
Hakim Ziyech
Carel Eiting
Lasse Schöne
Frenkie de Jong
David Neres
Klaas Jan Huntelaar
Amin Younes
Kasper Dolberg
Justin Kluivert

Dijks is not yet registered with UEFA and Dankerlui will be the spare LB taken along. One of the keepers will be dropped for the game day bench. van Leer has a bit of a knock and if he is not able to fill in, it will be van Bladern.

Our old nemesis, Mario Ballotelli, is eligible for the match. There was some talk that excessive Yellow Cards would carry over from last season but that's not the case.

[Amol]

Lineups - Onana, Veltman, Sanchez, The Ligt, Viergever, Van den Brook, Clean, Ziyech, Kluivert, Dolberg, Younes
Subs - Van Leer, Zeefuik, Dankerlui, Eiting, De Jong, Neres, Huntelaar

[SPL]

Will catch a stream on cricfree. I thought I would be excited at Ajax back but I dont see us getting through v Nice and I realise that although Ajax goes on just like life my enthusiasm is not there at present because of Appie.

We have a strong team out although I am surprised Kluivert in place of Neres. Backup defence and mf is weak. Apart from de Jong dont think Eiting and Zeefuik are ready and Dankerlui is not good enough imo.

[Orange14]

I'm hoping for a 0-0 result and then snatching a goal or two in Amsterdam. Likely to be proven wrong.

[Orange14]

Very nice AceStream link from French TV listed here: http://www.acesoplisting.in/

EDIT: Nice players wearing undershirts "Stay Strong Appie" Great to see!!!!

[Manneken Pis]

1-0 to Nice (Balotelli)

[souras84]

Sanchez made the final error by staying behind Balotelli. But didn't catch the first mistake when the counter started

[Orange14]

Just an OK first half. Viergever is too slow for the Nice winger who beat him badly and then delivered a very strong cross to Balotelli for the goal. I think the Nice keeper can be beaten but Ajax are getting no hard shots on goal. Liked the pressing but both of our fullbacks are really central defenders.

[King Litti]

Sanchez made the final error by staying behind Balotelli. But didn't catch the first mistake when the counter started

Not sure either. Might have been Schöne who gave the ball away. Yes, Viergever really looked slow on that play. I mean there was no feint or whatever, he just ran past him. Nice didn't look so dangerous before the goal, but after the goal they were hungry for more. Hope we could somehow pull an away goal out of our hat tonight.

[King Litti]

Donnyyy! Their keeper didn't look very good on that one (kind of Vermeerish). Don't think that he was fouled there.

[Amol]

Sanchez hits the bar with a header. Ugh that would've sealed this for us.

[Amol]

Huntelaar warming up.

Guys - Lets wins this for Appie!

[zeux]

Sorry, wrong topic. Was commenting on the fact that it is certainly profitable for a crazy supporter to break up a dangerous attack.

[King Litti]

So, any win will do next thursday and they will have to score against us in the Arena. Decent result and overall I'd say a positive performance considering the circumstances in our pre season.

[Amol]

Completely happy with this result.

[SPL]

Watched from about 25 min .Schone made the initial mistake for their goal with Viergever too slow.Great goal by Donny who did well and we did not miss Klaassen. Wont be too long before Frenkie starts in place of Schone.

Neres has to start in place of Kluivert but we still need a decent left back.

A very good result and we did get better as the game went on although they came back in it in injury time.

Hopefully we will win next week as everyone will be wanting the win for Appie.

PS. Watching Donny and Frenkie at the end I just kept thinking the other one is missing.

[SPL]

Watched from about 25 min .Schone made the initial mistake for their goal with Viergever too slow.Great goal by Donny who did well and we did not miss Klaassen. Wont be too long before Frenkie starts in place of Schone.

Neres has to start in place of Kluivert but we still need a decent left back.

A very good result and we did get better as the game went on although they came back in it in injury time.

Hopefully we will win next week as everyone will be wanting the win for Appie.

PS. Watching Donny and Frenkie at the end I just kept thinking the other one is missing.

[Orange14]

1-1 draw is a fair result. Both teams squandered chances in the final 10 minutes. We will quickly find out about the depth of this Ajax team as Veltman, Sanchez, de Ligt, Schöne and van de Beek all saw well deserved Yellow Cards. I'm liking how Kiezer has the team play up tempo pressing football; it's just what he did with Jong Ajax last season. The players have bought into this and there were numerous turnovers created. Some shoddy defending along the way and Onana had to be on his toes.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - no chance on the goal but made some good saves; fortunate that an intercepted pass wasn't turned into a goal
Viergever (6) - other than being way too slow to catch up to the Nice winger on the goal he had a decent enough match
de Ligt (6.5) - one poor entry pass early on that was turned into a quick counter but after that pretty solid
Sanchez (6.5) - some pretty decent defending but a couple of poor plays; Ajax is just the right spot for him
Veltman (6) - OK but as with all the RBs before him seldom ventured forward
Schöne (6.5) - controlled the ball pretty well before coming off
van de Beek (6.5) - great goal but a reckless challenge late that would have drawn Red in the Eredivisie
Ziyech (7.0) - best player on the pitch for me, solid on the ball good passing
Younes (4.5) - German International??? Not today
Dolberg (5) - Dante had him under control though he was active on the ball in the late stages of the game
Kluivert (5.5) - very good pressing and very average in everything else
Neres (6) - I suspect he will be starting over Kluivert very soon, good on the ball and great field sense
de Jong (6) - very hard shot on goal and his passing was outstanding

Next week in Amsterdam and Ajax just need to keep up the hard pressure and they will do alright.

[ajaxusa]

it is certainly profitable for a crazy supporter to break up a dangerous attack.

Not exactly the club's fault, but they are responsible for maintaining security, and ought to face *some* kind of sanction. That supporter clearly had the far post covered.