15 JAN 2017 PEC Zwolle - Ajax Match Day 18

[Orange14]

After a convincing 5-1 thrashing of Bundesliga 2nd place Leipzig, Ajax return to Eredivise action as they open the 2nd half of the season away to PEC. Traore is absent at the African Cup of Nations; Gudelj has moved on to China; but as of now no new players have been brought in from the outside to bolster the squad. We still do not know whether el Ghazi will be with the club, I think he stays through the remainder of the season.

Ajax still stand five points adrift of Feyenoord who are also away this coming week to Roda. There is no margin for error at this point.

[SPL]

Squad of 21 just Traore missing .El Ghazi included also Kluivert. Onana has been ill this week but is now better.Boer is in this squad as backup but not Krul. Hope Krul leaves as he is of zero use to us unless Onana picks up along term injury

[Orange14]

If el Ghazi is in the team sheet it means he definitely isn't leaving on Monday.

[King Litti]

Cool, Eredivisie is back!

El Ghazi in the starting 11, so yes they wouldn't risk injury if he were to be sold to another club right now.

Starting 11:

Onana
Veltman
Sanchez
Viergever
Sinkgraven
Schöne
Klaassen
Ziyech
Younes
El Ghazi
Dolberg

[SPL]

No way can we be about to sell Anwar if he is playing today.A couple of goals today and maybe we will keep him.

Veltman is 25 today and I just read West Ham fancy him for 9m. Sell in the summer but not now.

3 points today 2-1 more likely than 5-0.

Zwolle have V D Hart ex Ajax and Menig and Warmerdam both on loan plus Philip Sandler maybe debuting. He left our youth last summer.They are looking to get Ouasim Bouy back on loan as well.

[King Litti]

damn, Feyenoord won 0-2 at Roda, so the pressure is on.

[Ayman]

damn, Feyenoord won 0-2 at Roda, so the pressure is on.

Nah, it will probably be 0-1 to Ajax first half, then after a couple of substitutions 0-3 to Ajax

[King Litti]

I wonder did Justin have his fathers number in mind when choosing his number. 4+5=9

[Orange14]

Poor first half. A couple of chances but PEC had the upper hand for most of the half. I guess Younes suffered some kind of injury and hope he is not out for a lengthy period as we have no depth at wing.

[SPL]

Assume Younes must be injured ,think he touched the ball once.El Ghazi doing ok and surely we cannot sell him this month .Kluivert did more in 2 mins than Younes did in 39.

Another struggle and at present no way can this team win the title.

[rjf1]

Halftime assessment of Ajax in three words: sluggish; ponderous; predictable. Hard to see how we are going to win this one unless we get lucky -- or if El Ghazi manages to finish his chances.

[Orange14]

What a surprise, two goals within a minute of play!

[SPL]

Inexpereince from Sandler but Schone doesn't miss. And that was some goal by Ziyech.Brilliant.

Kluivert making a difference

[rjf1]

Wonderful pass by Kluivert to put El Ghazi in behind the defense -- El G hauled down in the penalty area -- Schone pputs the PK away. Immediately followed with a second goal -- this time by Ziyech from Veltman.

[SPL]

another mistake by Viergever gave the ball away.

[Ayman]

Time to give Reidewald a chance!

[Orange14]

Horrible giveaway by Viergever and PEC took full advantage. Can't do this!!

[rjf1]

They started playing half speed like the game was over already -- lazy pass and their goal was the result. Now let's see how the rest of the game goes.

[SPL]

another superb goal by Ziyech.Best player in Holland last season and today we are seeing why.

[rjf1]

Solo run by Ziyech starting at the half line and left sideline -- cut into the box and put it past the GK into the lower right corner. That should do it.

[rjf1]

Bringing young Kluivert on really changed the complexion of the game. Not only were his runs and passes top notch, but the whole team seemed to catch on and they started to play faster and with more cohesion. Terrific performance.

[SPL]

Just seeing the goals again. A bit of a soft penalty but 2 outstanding goals by Ziyech showing class matters.

defence still looks dodgy but our attacking play turned on the introduction of Kluivert.In 45 mins showed far more than Younes has all season.El Ghazi worked hard tried to score and no way should we let him go.Problem is for him in 4 games or less Traore the overhyped 1 trick pony will be back. Cannot blame El Ghazi for wanting to go but he is still a better option than Younes and Traore.

And Kluivert already looks a class above all of them.And another 17 year old de Ligt would improve the team in place of Viergever but we should not be relying on 17 year olds

At least we won.

[Orange14]

After a very poor first half, Ajax came alive and put three past former youth keeper van der Hart. The defense was not very well organized and by all rights PEC could have done much better in taking advantage of those lapses. Ziyech was MIA for the first 30 minutes but then came alive to have probably his best match for Ajax with some very incisive passes and two difficult goals. Justin Kluivert came in for an injured Younes in the first half and had a very nice match with some good quickness and field awareness.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - spilled a ball that he should have held and was not helped by a defense that seemed out of sorts
Sinkgraven (6.5) - was having a very nice match until he totally fell asleep and lost his man
Viergever (5.5) - other than the horrible slow pass that was easily intercepted and converted, he had a decent match that included a half chance at goal
Sanchez (6.5) - pretty solid
Veltman (6) - not particularly solid defending but was good on the ball
Schöne (5.5) - nice PK but otherwise his game was just average as he really didn't defend very well at all
Ziyech (7.5) - two good goals and some very nice passes that freed players
el Capitan (6) - decent enough match
Younes (4.5) - not terribly good and came off because of an injury
Dolberg (5.5) - not his fault that he never got the ball in a dangerous situation
AeG7 (7) - really solid match and any thoughts of him leaving the team should be dismissed immediately
Kluivert (6.5) - other than woeful defending of his man late in the 2nd half that led to a good chance on goal he played very well
van der Beek (5.5) - on for Schöne who was running on fumes in the 80th minute

Top three teams all won this weekend so the deficit remains five points. Tough fixture with Utrecht coming up next weekend.

[SPL]

Younes would get a 3 from me,hopeless. Kluivert would get a7 did indeed make a defensive error but this is a 17 year old winger making his debut. He made all the difference as his quickness completely woke up our team.

[Orange14]

Younes would get a 3 from me,hopeless. Kluivert would get a7 did indeed make a defensive error but this is a 17 year old winger making his debut. He made all the difference as his quickness completely woke up our team.

Fair enough evaluation. Surprised that Younes was so bad after he had a very good match against Leipzig last week.