01 OCT 2017 Heerenveen - Ajax Match Day 7

[Orange14]

Seventh place Ajax travel to Heerenveen on Sunday!! When was the last time we said something like that? I don't think the club is in crisis, just unlucky not to have found the net with all the chances they have created. de Ligt reported to practice yesterday but trained alone. IMO he should not be playing on Sunday to insure his concussion properly heals.

[Cruijff]

After 'Sheveningen / Scheveningen' for the second time in a row you write the name of the clubs correct.

Although, officially the club names are SC Heerenveen (= Sport Club Heerenveen) and AFC Ajax (= Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax)

[Orange14]

After 'Sheveningen / Scheveningen' for the second time in a row you write the name of the clubs correct.

Although, officially the club names are SC Heerenveen (= Sport Club Heerenveen) and AFC Ajax (= Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax)

My 70 year old brain isn't as bad off as my wife thinks it is!!!!!!

[Cruijff]

My 70 year old brain isn't as bad off as my wife thinks it is!!!!!!

So you still remember the name of your neighbours daugther, Katy Ledecky?
How many gold medals has she won?

[Orange14]

My 70 year old brain isn't as bad off as my wife thinks it is!!!!!!

So you still remember the name of your neighbours daugther, Katy Ledecky?
How many gold medals has she won?

I cannot count that high!

[SPL]

Still love all the different initials to our clubs, NAC,NEC ADO,AZ RKC,VVV,RJC,PSV,great to look up what they translate as.

No Dijks tomorrow ,he is ill. Orejuela has an injury so Dankerlui and Zeefuik in the squad.Viergever LB and Wober to play Cd ,assume de Ligt will play.

[Cruijff]

No Dijks tomorrow ,he is ill.

That's correct.
His awful play pissed me off, I could not control myself any longer so last Thursday I went to De Toekomst and put something in his tea. Good to see it had result.

Still love all the different initials to our clubs, NAC,NEC ADO,AZ RKC,VVV,RJC,PSV,great to look up what they translate as.

Yeah they have nice names. NEC and RJC have good names... RKC stands for Roman Catholic Combination Ado has a nice name, translated to English the letters in their name mean 'All thanks to practice'... VVV is a bit strange that there full name is VVV Venlo while Venlo is also in one of the V's. So two times Venlo in their official club name.

NAC has the longest name from all football clubs in Holland, Belgium and Luxemburg. My request to you is to please post the full name of NAC here, SPL.

[SPL]

NAC Breda's full name

The N is Nooit opgeven altijd doorgaan ( never give up always persevere)

The A is Aangenaam door vermaak en nuttig door ontspanning (pleasant for its entertainment and useful for its relaxation)

C is Combinatie (Combination)

I cheated and got that from Wikipedia.I would imagine even the most fanatical Breda fan would have to look it up!

[SPL]

Wober Schone and Neres in for Dijks de Jong and Kluivert. Must win game

[SPL]

Lovely goal by Neres ,our defence has looked weak today

[SPL]

And a 2nd beauty by Neres

[rjf1]

Nice give and go between Hunts and Neres for Neres to put it past the keeper. Pretty much against the run of play, and the one bright spot in an otherwise shambolic performance up to now.

[rjf1]

Again, Hunts to Neres for another finish. Heerenveen must be feeling snake bit by now.

[Orange14]

Thanks to Neres and Huntelaar Ajax are up 0-2. Midfield is totally missing in action and it looks more like de Boer football than Keizer football today. Heerenveen were threatening for good stretches during the half and Onana must be thanking his goal post for keeping the ball out.

[SPL]

Schone ,thankfully no mistake with the penalty

[SPL]

Blimey that was scrappy but well done Wober

[SPL]

Well 4 goals flattered us.At 2-0 I expected them to score but we got a bit lucky with the penalty and that finished it. Neres with 2 well taken goals but both set up by KJH . His experience is still needed even though Dolberg does not start.

[Dave the mac]

Ajax really needed this win! Heerenveen played well, a hard fought match. Great to get 3 points.

[Orange14]

An unconvincing 0-4 win (but I will take it any time) and one of the most amazing clean sheets I've ever seen. Great saves from Onana, terrible back passes from several Ajax players, two post hits by Heerenveen shots and an assortment of other shoddy defending but still ZERO goal conceded. First half was terrible despite the two nice Neres goals with an absent midfield and a defense that looked to be just hanging on. Remember that Heerenveen are the only club to have defeated PSV in our wacky Eredivisie.

Player Ratings:

Onana (8) - had some really tough saves to make and made them all, an Ajax keeper can never fall asleep
Viergever (7) - quite a good match and 'if' Wöber can slot in to the back line we may not see Dijks again
Wöber (6.5) - really stuck with it on the goal and almost had two more, HOWEVER, still not convincing on defense and what a poor back pass to Onana
de Ligt (7) - didn't think he would play this weekend after the concussion but had a decent match
Veltman (6.5) - some very silly fouls but otherwise OK
Schöne (6.5) - thought he would come off after 60 minutes as he slowed down in the 2nd half, nice PK to ice the match
van de Beek (6) - almost scored when the crossbar saved his shot but was not very good on the day
Ziyech (6.5) - much better in the 2nd half after being absent for long stretches in the first half
Younes (7) - worked hard all match and beat his man to the goal line creating two very dangerous situations
Huntelaar (8) - didn't score but passed the ball nicely and was taken down in the box for a well deserved penalty
Neres (7.5) - have to take a half point off for the weak back pass early in the 1st half but those two goals were really nice
Kluivert (6) - OK coming in for Neres
Dolberg (5.5) - on for Huntelaar late
Siem de Jong (6) - on for van de Beek and had some nice touches

Off next week as the Oranje have one last faint chance to qualify for the WC during the FIFA international break. Home to Sparta coming up.

[rjf1]

Couldn't stay for the final 10 mins, but it seems that all the scoring was done by then. When we missed out on the third goal when we came so close in the 51st minute, I was worried that it would be a turning point in their favor, but the penalty for the third goal eased things up, and the fourth goal was icing on the cake. We attacked better in the 2nd half -- mainly because they had to open up to chase the game -- but, still in all, they had as many opportunities as we did. For large parts of the half, the game resembled a high school game with both teams seeming to kick wildly in the direction of the opponent's goal and then chase like crazy hoping for something good to come.

As a side note, De Ligt has to learn not to give up so many free kicks in the 20 - 30 meter range (he's done it in other games, too) -- they came close to scoring twice from those set pieces.

[afcajax73]

It's actually quite nice to see Huntelaar playing the role he is. Whilst I would love to see him banging in 30+ goals a season, it's also nice to see him holding the ball up and laying it off for the younger ones to pick off..

I think as others have said; the score line flattered us, but it's nice to get a clean sheet and much needed win.

[Tom_]

According to 11tegen11's stats Ajax are easily the best team so far this season. It's funny if you remember how much the model hated Frank de Boer's Ajax during the four titles in a row.

[Orange14]

Thanks Tom. I can never figure out how to post the 11 tegen 11 pass maps from their twitter site.