23 JAN 2022; PSV - Ajax; Match Day 20

[Orange14]

All to play for Sunday and Ajax can take over first place with a win in Eindhoven. No injuries to report on right now among the first team players. Haller is still absent with the Africa Cup of nations so Brobbey will likely get the striker start.

[SPL]

Same line up as Utrecht ,badly need to win but a draw would be ok just cannot afford to lose.

[Orange14]

Sangare is missing for PSV because of the African Cup of Nations. He is a more critical player than Haller and will affect PSV tactics.

[Tom_]

My feeling is 2–0 PSV. We haven’t won in Eindhoven for ages. I still think Ajax will win the title though.

[kezme44]

we’ll put at least 3 past them. their best defender is out for a few months and their shaky defense is even worse

[kezme44]

1-0 hope brobbey is ok. just looked like a knock on the shin but danilo on now who scored 4 during the week

[Tom_]

Let’s hope Danilo is as good an injured Brobbey. You were right, PSV’s defense couldn’t handle him.

I worry about all the handling errors with Ajax’s high line. I still think we can easily give up a goal or two.

[SPL]

i too can still see PSV scoring but so far so good but shame Brobbey went off

[kezme44]

what a gift to give

[rjf1]

was just saying to myself "there they go again - futzing with the ball instead of just getting it up field quickly - keep it up and they will get burned" - sure enough.

[Tom_]

Haha, I feel a bit bad for PSV because that was clearly out. I think if VAR can’t reach a decision in 30 sec or so they should just stick with the on field call.

[rjf1]

Not being on the sideline I can't say definitively, but from the replays it didn't look too me as if the entire ball was over the line - I thought the call was correct.

[Tom_]

Impressive performance and a deserved win IMHO. Even if the winner was a bit dodgy Ajax had the better of the chances.

Have to give Ajax credit for sticking to their game, which is like playing on “hard mode” against PSV, even when they were 2–1 up and could’ve sat back.

[kezme44]

same here, I thought the edge of the ball was still in. whatever, we win. not a great game by us, but we move up on top

[SPL]

Stressful last 10 mins knowing PSV gets loads of points with ET goals.We were lucky because from the picture I could see the ball was out .
Timber a bad mistake but then our defence was just standing around giving the PSV a goal. 2 points ahead now with AZ away and I guess Feyenoord home our only 2 really tough games although Vitesse also.We cannot afford to drop points against rubbish teams like Go Ahead and Heracles.

[Orange14]

Solid win over a clueless PSV. I don't know why they keep Schmidt on as manager, he is tactically worse than either Cocu or van Bommell. I'll take the win. It should not have been close except for Timber's give away that gave up the goal that tied the match. Mazraoui had a thunderous left footed strike for the match winner that required four minutes of time to decide whether Blind had let the ball get past the sideline. Thankfully VAR upheld the goal. Defensively, Ajax were solid and PSV really didn't have a good shot on target all match long. It was curious that Ajax did not exploit the huge spaces on either side of the field as the three forward PSV players were giving up passes to the FBs. I think Martinez and Timber must have had the most completed passes. None of the MFs figured much though Gravenberch had a couple of good moments deep inside PSV territory.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (7) - solid game, made the routine saves and his kicking was good
Blind (6) - woefully slow on defense which is an increasing problem, did well to keep the ball in play on the lead up to the match winner
Martinez (7) - solid game defending
Timber (6.5) - had a really good game except for the lost ball that led to the goal
Mazraoui (7.5) - what a rocket of a shot for the match winner
Alvarez (7.5) - other the the YC, he was rock solid disrupting play in the MF
Gravenberch (6) - ho hum match
Berghuis (6) - had a good free kick early on but figured little in the game
Tadic (7) - kept good control of the ball and created some good options offensively
Brobbey (6.5) - had a good match until the injury and though he could only jump off one foot got the first goal
Antony (7) - really did a nice job of controlling the ball and tracked back all game to help out on defense
Danilo (6) - OK as a substitute and was decent with the ball
Klaassen (6) - added some good defense coming in for Gravenberch
Rensch (NR) - on late

Ajax move to the top of the table now and are off next weekend. Heracles are up next with a cup match against Vitesse quickly thereafter.

[SPL]

Would just add it was deserved win ,we created more chances and PSV not impresisve at all.

[Ayman]

The gap between Ajax and PSV Eindhoven hasn't been this big since the mid 90s! They need to sign someone like Wim Jonk and have an overhaul of their squad to build a team around Veerman. Anyway, I will take the win, the ball wasn't completely out of play, and Schmidt's reaction gave me a good laugh!

[Orange14]

Brobbey is out for six weeks with a knee injury.

[souras84]

Could've been worse for him or for us, MUCH WORSE. Now we're first, we haven't got a game next week. Why is that? Haller is returning in time for the rest of the games until Brobbey is fit. I'm happy

[Orange14]

Now we're first, we haven't got a game next week. Why is that?

African Cup of Nations and I think South America may have some WC qualifiers scheduled.