12 AUG 2023; Ajax - Heracles; Match Day 1

[Orange14]

I'm posting a couple of days early as we will be on holiday most of this week. Buckle up and get ready for a weird season with a new coach and technical director. The roster is still incomplete with holes in the back and front lines (I personally think the MF will be OK with the current players). Whether Sven the Magician can fill the gaps before next Saturday is unclear and it looks like all the players we thought would leave are leaving other than Klaassen whose status is still not resolved; I pray he will not be a starter. Heracles are back up from the 2nd division and this "should" be a winnable game though Ajax have stumbled out of the box in previous seasons.

[SPL]

Season starts and our squad does look light Taylor at 10 with Berghuis suspended.Salah-Eddine at LB .

I have Mola tv which will show all our games free in Uk ,fingers crossed. Just hope we can get a win by any means

[Orange14]

What a strange first half. Rulli injures his shoulder and is replaced by Gorter. Salah-Eddine clears the ball but it caroms off of Hato to the Heracles striker for an easy goal. Eleven minutes of stoppage time and then a thunder bolt shot from Medic to tie the game. I haven't see as good a shot from that distance since Thomas Hitzelsperger struck one for Aston Villa from about the same distance over a decade ago. Ajax still look vulnerable from set pieces but offensively they are moving the ball pretty quick.

[GangstaRiB]

Lots of chances, only converted a few.

I really like Medic. He is not the sexy fluid Galactico, but he is determined and not scared.

[Orange14]

The Steijn era gets off to a successful start with a 4-1 home win over Heracles. Bergwijn with a brace and an opening screamer from Medic and a nice cut in goal by Kudus were the goals. Defense still looks fragile and neither FB defended well though Rensch was better than Salah-Eddine who was all over the place. Rulli looks to have badly injured his shoulder and we'll need to wait to see the extent of the injury. Gorter came on and only had one shot to save.

Player Ratings:

Rulli (NR) - off with a shoulder injury in the first half
Rensch (5.5) - OK but needs to work on defending
Medic (7) - wonderful shot from range to open the Ajax scoring and defended well
Hato (6.5) - involved in the Heracles goal but not necessarily his fault, otherwise strong game
Salah-Eddine (4.5) - poor defensively but did have a good match going forward and crossed the ball well; don't know if he is better than Wijndal
Tahirovic (7) - what a great pass to Kudus for the match winner
van den Boomen (7) - some wonderful passing and his free kicks were top notch
Taylor (4) - if you are subbed off for Klaassen that is not a good sign
Kudus (7) - don't know if this was his last game but it was a good one, great on the ball and took good shots
Brobbey (6) - decent enough game with a couple of decent shots on goal
Bergwijn (7) - good game with a nice goal in open play and a well dispatched PK at the end
Gorter (6.5) - other than the one save hardly had anything else to do
Klaassen (5) - did not have many touches which is a good thing
Forbs (NR) - on late

Away to Excelsior and then a couple of Europa League play off games.

[SPL]

Comfortable in the end and some good goals. Only defensive error the mishap for their goal.Hope Rulli is ok ,although before the game I read some rumour Bayern wanted him on loan!!!

V d Boomen and Tahirovic impressed and Medic what a goal. Still need a quality CD and I am not impressed with Salah-Eddine .
Taylor was poor and Klaassen no better. As the season goes on Misehouy and Fitz-Jim must get chances they are no worse .

Kudus may have played his last game for us and a good goal, Forbs looks lively and has talent.

[zeux]

Brobbey (6) - decent enough game with a couple of decent shots on goal

Missed a couple of sitters, waisted chances, clumsy in the 16.

A 4 at best.

[Amol]

Saw the game on a tablet while sitting in the backseat of a car.

But from what I saw -
Tahirovic really impressed me with his defensive abilities and passing.
Van Der Boomen has immediately made us more dangerous on set pieces.
Hato continues to impress.
Medic looked solid, but was left for dead in the 2nd half on one occasion.
Bergwijn looks lighter and fitter and that showed in his game.
Rensch didn't look as bad as I thought he would.
Kudus was on and off through the game. But boy when he's on, he's incredible.
Forbs looked scary for the couple times he got the ball.
Rulli and Gorter both played well

The bad -
Brobbey needs to start scoring. He had 2-3 chances which a good striker should've put away.
Taylor and Klassen

I didn't think Salah Eddine was as bad as everyone thought. Maybe I need to watch the game on a big screen tonight.

[Tom_]

Could have been a much bigger win IMO.

Biggest problems were finishing and the Taylor/Klaassen position.

I also thought Salah-Eddine was OK but he and Rensch didn’t really have any defending to do. Let’s see how they go against better teams.

[Orange14]

Looks like Rulli is out for three months leaving Ajax with just two first team keepers.