07 MAR 2020; Heerenveen - Ajax; Match Day 28

[Orange14]

Ajax enter the home stretch even on points with AZ and in need of a pick up after a very poor middle of the season. Can this team score some goals on Saturday against Heerenveen? Will they simply dominate the statistics in yet another match without causing any danger? Can ETH get this club out of the funk they are in? I certainly don't have any answers but am ever optimistic.

[SPL]

You probably gather I am not an optimist. Excuse my strong posts I am angry like all of us.Still want ETH out and if we finish 3rd then Overmars must go.

As for this game I would drop Ziyech he looks completely uninterested, and we may as well play Unuvar he cannot be worse.

Dont think we can play any more Jong . Ekkelenkamp ,Gravenberch,Traore all tried but not yet ready.Its the seniors who are letting us down.

[Orange14]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2019%E2%8 ... jax_season has all the scores from the season and it's worth looking at. Since the beginning of December, the club has had one victory over a quality team, and that was a 1-0 win at home against PSV. The last time they played magical football was the CL travesty at Chelsea where they were in full command of the match until the double sending off. I think that's where Neres got injured.

[Orange14]

Christian Poulsen and two of the Ajax staff members have been quarantined as they were at a party and may have been exposed to COVID-19, the circulating corona virus that originated in China. Italy appears to be the most affected European city. My work background was in the pharmaceutical industry where I did regulatory and drug safety work. I'm not terribly alarmed by this outbreak and knew it was a matter of time when something such as this would happen. I would caution all my fellow Ajax supporters that we really don't have good data on the mortality of the virus. Most people infected have very mild symptoms and many don't report to the health authorities which leads to under reporting. Much more testing of the population is needed to get a good background number on this infection. While there are higher rates of mortality among the older population from Chinese data, it was remarkable to me that rates of infection among those under 20 years of age was extremely low. Here in the US, we are seeing outbreaks now but the numbers are still small.

The best thing to do is avoid touching our face with your hands (very difficult for many of us) and use good hand hygiene. Wash your hands frequently and carry a small bottle of hand sanitizer with you to use when it is impractical to wash hands.

I suspect we will have a vaccine in 12 months and there is at least one antiviral medicine being evaluated right now. Personally, I am still going about my daily chores and not overly alarmed.

[SPL]

So a really must win game and ETH has dropped Schuurs and Alvarez and gives a debut to 18 year old Jurrien Timber.Have to say not surprised as neither have impressed. Tadic is evidently no10 with Ziyech and Promes wide and Traore in the centre.

Win and we are back on track.Draw we are not yet out of it. Lose and thats its title over and ETH will get the sack. Players need to perform tonight.

[kezme44]

blind trips up himself and we are lucky the refs thinks it’s a foul on him

[kezme44]

onana with a great save. 21 minutes and no shots on goal

[Tom_]

Same story as the last few games so far. I don’t see the point of all these balls over the top.

[kezme44]

very lucky heerenveen can’t capitalize on a 4 to 3. ziyech and promes are awful

[kezme44]

tadic not happy with dest now. first time I see that from him. glad someone is upset how things are going

[kezme44]

how does halilovic miss that...

[Tom_]

Team cannot do anything right.

There were probably 20 balls over the top—I guess Hereenveen’s central 2 are both 190+ cm tall so they’re just heading them away. Ziyech and Dest casually passing the ball to the wrong team whenever they get it. Promes miskicking every touch. Martinez constantly in the wrong position. It’s bizarre.

Just lucky Heerenveen haven’t punished us yet.

[Tom_]

You watch it and you think, how did this team *ever* score a goal?

[kezme44]

what a terrible half of football. we are lucky not to be down 2 or 3 goals. ziyech looks like he can’t be bothered, lobbing a few balls here and there. blind looks like he’s going to lose the ball every time he has it. tadic, vdb and traore working hard but not happening. major bust up between tadic and dest, hardly see that kind of stuff. what will eth do in the break??

[Amol]

I'm at least seeing signs of life in the Ajax team today. Some of them are truly alive again at least. Tadic almost punched poor Dest in the argument - glad they were talking again later. I'm seeing Ziyech/Promes and Donny track back to defend.

Lots of mistakes and simple bad passes. Not sure how we're not down by 2-3 goals though. We're getting murdered on counters.

Maybe things will turn around for us today with Heerenveen having forgotten their scoring boots? Just maybe.

We are getting into the box but missing a good final hit. High crosses into the box are pointless as Heerenveen CBs are super tall and are just heading everything away.

[SPL]

Trying to get a stream when the wife put my meal on the table so had to wait until 30mins before I got a working stream but clearly I did not miss much.Thought Tadic would punch Dest. Not sure how they didn't score at the end .

[kezme44]

Trying to get a stream when the wife put my meal on the table so had to wait until 30mins before I got a working stream but clearly I did not miss much.Thought Tadic would punch Dest. Not sure how they didn't score at the end .

I like that arrangement you have spl! wife cooking and you watching football gotta find me a girlfriend like that. usually it’s me cooking...

[kezme44]

eth in the tunnel and looking like he has a plan

[kezme44]

oh shit we score!!

[Amol]

Like I said earlier - I felt Heerenveen not scoring from their chances was going to make this a turning point for us. The boys are at least trying today.

2-0!!!! EFFING HELL!!!

[Amol]

3-0!!! THE BOYS ARE BACK!!!!

[kezme44]

yes!!!!!

[Amol]

I have been really liking Timber as RCB. So comfortable on the ball and not being rushed. Has decent pace as well.

ETH's gambles finally paying off.

[Amol]

And we give one up just like that. Bad Ajax pass outside Heerenveen box leads to a counter and a goal.

[kezme44]

liking van bergen. fast and good on the ball, scored against us last year as well. he’s only 20