01 NOV 2022; Rangers - Ajax; CL Group 6

[Orange14]

Big match coming up tomorrow. Ajax need to avoid a blow out loss tomorrow in order to make it to the Europa League play in round. Should they advance they will meet one of the 2nd place Europa League Group teams to see which one will advance. There is a possibility that the opponent could be ManU if all the 'bad' stars are aligned. PSV come up at the weekend in a home match that could also prove key to Ajax's Eredivisie hopes. Next week concludes the first part of the season with the rescheduled match against Vitesse in mid-week and a trip to play FC Emmen. The club is off for the corrupt World Cup break until January 8. I hope others will join me in boycotting all the matches as a protest against FIFA and the accumulated human rights violations by the government of Qatar. I have watched every WC final since 1966 but don't regret missing this upcoming tournament.

EDIT: Our Turkish CB, Amectan Kaplan has made the traveling squad and is healthy for the first time since suffering a knee injury. Reeger and Baas did not make the trip.

[Orange14]

according to reports the FBs today will be Wijndal and Rensch. Unfortuneately Klaassen stays in the MF. Kudus can't get any love from Schreuder.

[SPL]

Wijndal starts but Sanchez RB ,Taylor for Klaassen but as Brobbey is not 100 % fit we have Kudus thus no striker.

Need to lose 5-0 to not qualify for Europa. I actually think Rangers will sneak a win .

PS Orange, I too will boycott the WC for the same reasons.Hope Oranje do well but dont care about England ,their overhyped stars with egos playing Southgate's dreary non football. Not saying I am enjoying Schreuder's Ajax this season.

[Orange14]

Rangers are really quite a poor team and apparently are suffering from a number of injuries also. I don't know why they design the pitch so there is such a steep drop off at the end lines. I hope Wijndal is OK but it looks serious as he can't put any weight on his right leg.

[SPL]

Shame for Wijndal, having got in ahead of Blind looks like he wont get much more playing time before the break in 2 weeks.
2 well taken goals but Rangers are a woefully poor side and have key players injured.Taylor does not impress tonight and I dont rate Sanchez ,he looks poor at defending.

[Tom_]

Looks like we’ll be fine as long as we stop giving the ball away in MF.

Taylor can’t pass or dribble and has to have one of the weakest shots I’ve ever seen. He runs a lot but that’s about it. No idea why Schreuder rates him so highly.

[Tom_]

What a dumb penalty to give away. Seriously!

I don’t think I even like this Ajax. They play boring football and act like they’re scared of meeting the slightest resistance. Through to the EL but any decent side will knock them out.

[SPL]

What a dreadful 45 mins from Ajax ,apart from Conceicao's goal . Rensch is decent on his left foot hope he stays there for PSV game. If I were coach I would have dragged Alvarez off after that dreadful penalty. EPL clubs want to pay 50m for him , I am not a fan and we should sell him.

Ajax had a MF of Klaassen ,Taylor and Alvarez and played boring woeful football that is not worthy of our great club. No reason why Fitz-Jim could not have been on the bench and played 20 mins in a game like this,he is Young Ajax's best player.

Sorry for moaning but if we are as bad as this on Sunday PSV will stuff us. My lad, an Arsenal fan said PSV were very good last week and he was impressed.

We did win but Rangers are dreadful and had about 10 players missing.

[Orange14]

Ajax played a very poor final 10 minutes conceding a goal off a penalty (silly push by Alvarez that is always called) and a nicely taken goal by Conceicao made it 1-3. Ajax now wait to see who their opponent will be in the Europa League play in round. They will play one of the 2nd place group teams. Wijndal suffered a bad tumble into the ditch (can't think of a better word) just past the end line and had to be helped off the pitch. It's a shame as he was having a very nice match up to that point. I would not draw many other conclusions given the poor state of Rangers with lots of injuries. Credit to Schreuder for finally sitting Blind and Klaassen.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (5) - his two step tango resulted in a horrible turnover which was followed by a horrible finish from the Rangers player on an open goal
Sanchez (5.5) - had some good moments but was beaten badly at least three times by the winger on his side
Timber (6.5) - decent enough
Bassey (7) - had a great clearance off the line and was generally good with some nice passing
Wijndal (6) - played well with some good runs but subbed off just before the half with a bad injury
Alavarez (5.5) - was having a very good game until he conceded a dumb penalty with a shove
Berghuis (6.5) - had a good match with a nicely taken goal
Taylor (5.5) - marginally above average
Bergwijn (6) - had a couple good moves but he is lost when he plays on the right side
Kudus (7) - was quite good on the ball tonight and ended up with the game winner
Tadic (6.5) - better game from him
Rensch (6) - very solid half of football and had a great pass that led to a goal that was called back because off sides.
Klaassen (5.5) - put in a decent shift
Grillitch (NR) - on late
Concecao (NR) - on late but had a beauty of a goal

PSV coming up on Sunday followed by two more matches before the WC break

[Tom_]

Conceição’s goal and the offside goal from Kudus were the only moments I actually enjoyed in this match.

I agree with SPL, I think this team will struggle against PSV.

[Orange14]

Sorry for moaning but if we are as bad as this on Sunday PSV will stuff us. My lad, an Arsenal fan said PSV were very good last week and he was impressed.

We did win but Rangers are dreadful and had about 10 players missing.

I have the feeling the players don't like playing for Schreuder.

[SPL]

Sanchez is a limited RB and Gakpo will have fun on Sunday. Kudus has to play out of position and Bergwijn has to play on the right when he has shown he should play on the left which I put down to a poor coach.

We have lost many regulars from last season but many fans and indeed ex players are saying we have not bought enough quality or indeed players who really improve the team.

Sanchez,Grillitsch,Ocampos,Lucca have not added anything . Conceicao looks a great prospect ,has had injury but gets almost no playing time.

NB Kaplan is a talent and evidently a LCD but we needed a RCD as Timber is likely to go next summer. We have 2 talented LCD coming through. Milovanovic ,although Pierie is being played there ,at Young .U18 LCD Hato is 16 but predicted to be in Young squad soon.