08 NOV 2020; Utrecht- Ajax; Match Day 8

[Orange14]

Ajax have the early game on Sunday away to Utrecht which can be a tricky fixture. At least there should not be any late travel arrivals! There will be some well deserved time off as an international break is scheduled for the next weekend. Let's hope the goal scoring shoes mysteriously reappear.

[souras84]

Perhaps it's time Alvarez returned to his natural position. Right Center Back

[Ayman]

Would prefer to see Jurrien Timber to start at RCB. He is fast and compliments Daley Blind

[SPL]

Blind back at Cd ,Martinez sub. Tadic no 10 with Antony,Traore and Labyad .Will be tough as usual as we always drop points.

[SPL]

very uninspiring so far. lots of possession but only real chance Tadic hit the bar.

[Amol]

Still don’t know how we don’t have a couple goals already

[rjf1]

Not one of Traore's better games. Our boys had some good chances, but all in all our close in control isn't good enough for the kind of game we are trying to play. Couple of good saves by Onana kept us from disaster.

[rjf1]

Klaassen picking up the kind of 'Paul Scholes' type goal scoring he was so good at before he left.

[SPL]

Not a great game but once Davy scored we never looked in danger and Tadic pen basically made it more relaxed.Good that Promes got a goal as it can only do good for his confidence.

Antony had a poorish 45 mins thus Neres came on but I still want to know what Labyad is doing starting !!

Will await Orange's ratings but maybe this was too early for our American friend.

[Orange14]

This was a good win over a team that always causes Ajax trouble in Utrecht. The defense recovered well when they were exposed and it took a while to break the Utrecht defense down. Great splitting run by Neres to open the field up and Klaassen drilled home the match winner in the early part of the second half. Have to give him my MOTM award. I'm glad that EtH is rotating players in and out of the lineup as the fixtures are getting congested with the compressed CL schedule. International break coming up next weekend which will give some of the players some rest.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - Maybe he had a save to make but I can't remember
Tagliafico (7) - had to do more defending today and was up to the job
Blind (7) - good passing game again
Schuurs (7) - lost position one time when he was beaten to the goal line but Utrecht couldn't make anything of it
Mazraoui (7)- good game and was more involved going forward
Klaassen (7.5) - had only one poor pass at the beginning and then was a stalwart in the MF
Gravenberch (7) - put in a solid shift
Labyad (6.5) - had a wicked shot in the first half that was well saved by the keeper
Tadic (7) - solid game again from the skipper
Traore (6.5) - drew a penalty but otherwise didn't have a major impact
Antony (6) - had a lot of the ball but didn't do much with it
Neres (7) - on for a solid 2nd half and his run set up the first goal; was solid with the ball the whole half
Alvarez (6.5) - had a very nice shift coming in for the final 20 minutes
Promes (6.5) - still can't figure out how he slid the third goal home but it was good to see him have a solid 20 minutes of play
Klaiber (NR) - on late for a stint against his former club

Home to Heracles in two weeks time before the return CL game against Midjtland in Amsterdam.

[Orange14]

Will await Orange's ratings but maybe this was too early for our American friend.

Not all that early. 6:10 start time on the East coast.

[SPL]

I did work out the ko in Maryland was about 5 or 6 oclock,thats very very early for me !! Good ratings as ever.

Antony had a problem with hamstring hence he was replaced ,hope its not too bad.

On paper the 6 remaining league games before Christmas look fairly easy but we then play PSV and Feyenoord after the break.

Still think that subs bench is not that strong .Neres ,Martinez,Promes all ok ,KJH only good as a sub but the others are only good enough to come on in games like this .