03 SEP 2023; Fortuna Sittard - Ajax; Match Day 3

[Orange14]

After a dispiriting loss to Ludogorets that elicited a lot of whistles from the home supporters, Ajax hit the road on Sunday to play Fortuna Sittard. I'm sure we will see some of the new players in this one.

[SPL]

Gorter,Rensch,Sutalo,Hato,Avila,v d Boomen, Tahirovic,Hlynsson,Mikauladze,Brobbey,Forbs. Bergwijn injured,Berghuis suspended and Wijndal not on the bench .Belgium and Turkish transfer periods have not ended so maybe Wijndal is off to Antwerp

[Tom_]

Omg, what are we watching here?

Dunno if it’s intentional but the tactic seems to be for van den Boomen and Tahirovic to stand in the middle of the pitch with the ball while everyone else gets as far away as possible. Obviously it’s not working… they can’t get the ball forward.

Oranje’s 1-0 prediction is looking good although Fortuna are more likely to get the 1!

[Orange14]

When Hlynsson is one of the better players for Ajax you know something is wrong. It looks like Mikautadze is playing #10 but has only had two touches if that. CR made two bad calls: Avila should not have gotten a YC as the Fortuna player created the foul and near the end of the half Brobbey was clearly fouled; he was right to protest but CR's will always card for dissent. Sutalo looks assured. Avila had a couple of good challenges. van den Boomen is too lmited. Forbs looks light weight and maybe is not as good as Godts. I thought Brobbe did pretty well.

One goal will win this game but as Tom said, that could come from either side.

[Tom_]

I feel like Mikautadze is playing too far up the pitch and Hlynnson and Forbs haven’t been open to receive passes. Need someone between the lines or to move the ball wide.

[Tom_]

Garbage football and not remotely enjoyable to watch. Where are the goals going to come from?

Have to play Twente, olympique Marseille and Feyenoord next so we could easily end up with a run of five games with no wins.

[Orange14]

Another dispiriting performance. It shows that this team will go only as far as Bergwign and Berghuis can carry them. Of all the new purchases, only Sutalo seems to be a real football player. Maybe Gaaei turns out to be a good RB, he surely is as good as Rensch at this point. Mikautadze had the best chance of the day but was wandering around not having any idea of what to do for the rest of the match. Ajax are off next week because of the international break so maybe Steijn can get things sorted out though he will be missing players who are called up. Twente in two weeks followed by Marseille at home in the Europa League.

Player Ratings:

Gorter (6) - had one moment when he was caught in no man's land but was saved by a foul by a Sittard player
Rensch (3.5) - stupid penalty to concede and pretty bad, he's not going to start much longer
Sutalo (6.5) - poised and best player on the pitch today
Hato (5.5) - had a couple of bad turnovers
Avila (4.5) - not clear that he is the solution at this position
Tahirovic (4.5) - had one good shot on goal but was less than ordinary the rest of the way; he looks to be no better than Vos
van den Boomen (4.5) - slow and if he can't deliver balls via good passing he should not play; today he should not have been out there
Mikautadze (4) - only gets a 4 because of the good snap shot, otherwise he was just standing around watching things unfold
Hlynsson (6) - put in a decent shift today on his debut and seemed to have a good idea of what needed to be done
Brobbey (6) - held the ball up well and left a touch too soon on his goal that was called back
Forbs (5.5) - I really doubt that ManCity will come calling for him if this is the quality of his play
Akbom (5) - looks too slow
Gaaei (5.5) - faster than Rensch and may take over at RB
Godts (5) - just ordinary
Taylor (5) - at least he was moving around which is what MFs get paid to do but never had very good outlets

I think we need be honest and this is not going to be a fun season to watch Ajax. As I said, lots of 1-0 games but unfortunately, this was not one of them. Again, if these players don't work out I can see both Mislantat and Steijn getting sacked.

[SPL]

A poor performance overall although new defenders look ok. Nil creativity, Misehouy is better than Hlynsson.Forbs does not Impress and not sure what Mikauladze position is .

2 weeks break from football now and by next weekend I will be a Grandad , a little girl, so football will not be on my mind then

[SPL]

Agree ratings , Sutalo impressed but Avila although ok but Sosa has been signed. Would S-Eddine or Wijndal been any worse. As for MF Vos and Misehouy and Fitz-Jim were no less than what we have bought in . Misehouy must look at today and realise he will get playing time. Bergwijn and Berghuis get criticised but will add something to attack.

[Amol]

The only explanation I have after watching today's game is that there's just too many new faces to have a cohesive unit right now. For what it's worth, we did look better defensively than most of last year.

Sutalo looked good and glad we got him.

[Tom_]

Steijn’s post game press conference was reported as though he’d tried to distance himself from the incoming transfers!

It could just be journalists trying to stir some controversy, or we could be about to watch a trainwreck.

[SPL]

3 strange signings last week,why buy the lad from Norway another DM when another creative MF was needed. With Avila,Wijndal and S-Eddine why Sosa,although may be the best choice. Finally as Forbs still looks like he is Jong Ajax level and Godts looks better we have no right winger.Akpom is striker back up so where is Mikualadze best position,he is not quick enough to be a winger but plays as a striker.

Early days but we must hope Bergwijn and Berghuis really perform I really dont know where the goals are going to come from.

[Orange14]

there is absolutely no quickness in both speed and handling in the MF. This is what is going to doom this team unless something can be figured out. I know Taylor blows hot and cold but he is the quickest of the MFs. At Jong Oranje in the recent Euros he played at 10 but maybe that is where Berghuis will be slotted. Two slow players in the deep double pivot is not a recipe for success as the ball doesn't move fast enough. If every opponent is gong to drop deep and defend, I don't think this team is capable of breaking them down.

I also find the late transfers rather strange It's as if this new management is not committing to the youth. At least Vos, Fitz-Jim and Misehouy despite their youth are capable of moving the ball quickly. Maybe Steijn gets all of this sorted out but right now I think we have purchased a number of players with no real good future. Sutalo is a good player but we knew that as he was very good at club and NT level. Gaaei is young and he cannot possibly be worse than Rensch. Don't know yet about Avila as he hasn't trained much and was thrown into the mixer. He looks like he can defend. I don't think Forbs is as good as Daramy. But as long as we have Bergwijn healthy, he is the LW.

The rest of them feel like throwing spaghetti at a wall and seeing what sticks.

[Amol]

I also got this strange sense that Mikautadze had no idea where he was supposed to be and what exactly he was supposed to do. We played a back three for the most part and then Rensch was on overlap, but not doing much at all.

Forbs got a couple balls at the beginning, but he was unable to do much of anything with them. Based on this and the memory of the 1st Ludogerets game, he seems suited for fast counter-attacking football. In short - another Daramy. Hopefully I'm wrong.

Godts somehow still managed to look decent yesterday.

[Orange14]

All we can do right now is wait to see how Steijn integrates all these players. Whether he was consulted or not by Mislitat is irrelevant right now; this is the hand he has been dealt. Both PSV and Feyenoord had pretty much fixed rosters and did not pick up nearly as many newbies as Ajax did. Even so, Fortuna drew with Feyenoord in the first match day despite being a player down, go figure. I think this is the first time we have had a deep double pivot since Alvarez became a starter and was the sole DM. I'm not sure that van den Boomen works well as he is not a very good defender or attacker. I don't know too much about how he was used at Toulouse. Tahirovic has shown some promise and maybe Taylor needs to be paired with him and whoever takes over at #10.

The center of the defense should be fine and Steijn just needs to sort out the FB situation. Still don't know about right wing.

[SPL]

Most of us though MF was not good enough last season ,little creativity but this does not seem to have been addressed.Vos ,Fitz-Jim and Misehouy are certainly not Donny ,Frenkie and Appie but they are all promising and I am really angry we have bought in players who are probably no better.