03 MAR 2022; AZ - Ajax; Beker Semifinal

[Orange14]

Ajax travel to Alkmaar for the Thursday semifinal of the Beker competition. Ajax have to be considered underdogs given performances in the past three matches. Pasveer has a broken finger and will be out for several weeks.

[SPL]

Gravenberch for Klaassen,Timber RB Schuurs Cd. Cannot get much excitement for the cup ,maybe its that dreadful performance v GAE,maybe my mind is very much on Ukraine which seems more important than football.

Anyway come on Ajax lets hope for a win to cheer the fans up.

[Orange14]

Nice goal from Ajax but they should have had another. Game is very chippy and there was either a lot of simulation or some elbows were finding their mark. Onana's kicking is quite poor.

[SPL]

Agree plenty of simulation but our performance, although not great, is still miles better than last Sunday

[Tom_]

I think that was quite well done. It wasn’t pretty but they only gave one half chance away.

[Orange14]

Ajax win ugly in a very chippy match. Lots of elbows flying from both teams. Surprised that there were so few YCs, though Blind's was totally undeserved as he went in and hit only the ball that wasn't even in the AZ player's possession. There was too much U-Turn football a la Frank de Boer but maybe EtH wanted to make sure to come away with a win. Ajax defense was very good and Onana only had to make some routine saves. Martinez and Schuurs were both outstanding on the night. On to the Beker final and a match with PSV. The only other time I can remember Ajax playing an opponent four times in one season was Feyenoord some years back.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - only routine saves but his kicking was nothing to write home about
Blind (6.5) -managed to keep good position and did not get over run
Martinez (7.5) - MOTM for me
Schuurs (7.5) - rock solid
Timber (7) - solid at RB in place of Mazaoui
Alvarez (6.5) - solid game wining lots of interventions but saw little of the ball on offense
Gravenberch (6) - had a couple of good runs with the ball but the end product needed to be better
Berghuis (6.5) - got the match winner but otherwise had little impact
Tadic (6.5) - was having a very ordinary match until he connected with a streaking Tagiliafico on the 2nd goal
Haller (5.5) - a shade above ordinary
Antony (6) - offensively not much to comment on but his pressing and tracking back on defense was outstanding
Klaassen (6) - worked very hard as usual, defending well and made a great run for the tap in to seal the deal
Rensch (5.5) - got lost one time leaving his flank wide open
Tagliafico (NR) - yes, he gets an NR for being on so briefly but his run down the flank late was beautiful!!!! The cross was even more so.

[SPL]

Over 90 mins AZ never really threatened and the longer the 2nd half went on, although we wanted the 2nd goal, I thought even the 1-0 was going to be enough . With Timber, a quality defender, at RB Schuurs played well with Martinez one side and Timber the other. Tagliafico with a lovely pass for the 2nd and most fans wondered why he did not come last Sunday.I thought Gravenberch played decently ,faded a bit at the end ,but no way is he ready to move to a big league yet.

I enjoyed the game and although posting cup means nothing ,I fool myself ,when Ajax play I want to see them and see them win.

Happy now .

[Tom_]

It was a tactical change - the backs and midfielders were often staying behind the ball instead of pushing forward. Meant the ball had to go backwards but AZ couldn’t counter.

Not as much fun as seeing Mazraoui playing as an extra striker, but it’s good to know they can play that way when they need to.