28 OCT 2017 Willem II - Ajax Match Day 10

[Orange14]

Almost 1/3 the way through the season and fresh off both a win at Feyenoord and a mid-week cup victory. Ajax are on the road against Willem II who are two points above the drop zone. PSV struggled in their cup tie against Vollendam tonight winning 0-2 in added extra time and travel to play Vitesse Sunday. Maybe there will be a chance to close the five point gap.

[Orange14]

Younes is out of tomorrow's match with a sore knee; Dennis Johnsen will be in the team sheet. Cerny is out for the year with ligament damage.

[SPL]

Dolberg for Younes the only change. With 3 good wins on the trot only injury is going to make a change but Frenkie de Jong should be playing. I refuse to believe Schone and v d Beek are better choices although all slightly different players.

[SPL]

Feyenoord just drew in Roda so lets get 3 points and draw well clear of them ,and hope PSV may drop points tomorrow

[Orange14]

Terribly boring half of football. Ajax were so slow at the opening of the match and almost paid the price. Things got a little better as the half progressed. Veltman had more good crosses in this half of football than in the season to date. Hope Keizer can get their heads screwed on right during the halftime talk.

[SPL]

Agree pretty boring few chances just a couple of near headers.

[Orange14]

They didn't show a real good replay but it didn't look like a penalty call on Schöne at all.

[Tom_]

One of the strangest penalty calls I’ve seen. Even the assistant on the near side was surprised.

[Tom_]

Phew. Come on now, let’s get the three points. Beating Feyenoord is great, but you don’t get to be champions if you don’t beat Willem II

[Tom_]

Well that’s s relief. No mistakes now.

[Orange14]

Weird second half of football. I really thought that was a phantom penalty call on Schöne but the reply was only from behind and at some distance. Perhaps some of you saw a better replay than I did. Willem II started to pack things in at the 60th minute but Ajax kept working hard to break things down. Neres showed some very nice ball skills and finally Siem de Jong slotted home the game winner after Huntelaar let the ball run to him. Neres scored the third when the Willem II keeper couldn't parry Huntelaar's shot out of the box. Defense held up OK, not conceding any foolish goals on the night. There are still problems at LB as Viergever just is not the player. I was surprised when Sinkgraven came in Wöber was subbed off. Dolberg cannot play out on the wing and it would have been better to pair Kluivert and Neres.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - had one save when he tipped a ball wide of the goal but most of the Willem II shots were off target
Viergever (6) - OK at center back, not OK at LB
Wöber (6) - thought he played OK and was surprised when he was subbed off
de LIgt (6.5) - other than a rash challenge that was carded played a credible match
Veltman (7) - defended well and actually had some good crosses
Schöne (6) - harshly called for a pull down in the box and played OK until he ran out of gas
Ziyech (6.5) - some very nice passes that were just a half meter off from breaking a player in on goal
van de Beek (5) - just average and no more
Dolberg (5) - not good enough on the ball to play on the wing
Huntelaar (5.5) - had two gift chances on crosses that he couldn't put away
Neres (7) - another good game with some dangerous moves and heads up play
Sinkgraven (5.5) - slightly above average coming on
Siem de Jong (6) - I think he had only two touches, one of which was the match winner
Frenkie de Jong (5.5) - on late for a laboring Schöne when he should have come on 10 minutes earlier

Sometimes teams have to win ugly and Ajax did that tonight. Let's hope PSV drop some points tomorrow; it's probably the only tough fixture on their schedule until the Ajax match. Next week home to Utrecht who have been struggling.

[SPL]

Like last week my wife nicked my chromebook just as a penalty taken soI no comments from me. A very poor and weak performance which deserved nothing.Schone aweak penalty and then a shot which took a deflection.

No idea why Sinkgraven came on and thankfully Siem scored the winner as I am not sure he touched the ball again. Huntelaar had some chances but 5 mins from the end had an open goal and missed.

[SPL]

Agree Veltman the best defender Ziyech the best of a poor midfield and Neres our only sole decent attacker.

Dolberg out left doesn't work and Huntelaar is getting slower with age and is missing chances he would have buried a year or 2 ago. I would play Dolberg up front and Huntelaar as sub.

Frenkie ,did little today but should still be starting.

Lets hope Vitesse take points v PSV

[Tom_]

Awful game, but three points in the bag so we can forget it and move on.

Maybe the ref invented a penalty to liven things up, which worked to some extent (but it didn’t improve the football).