22 OCT 2023; Utrecht - Ajax; Match Day 7

[Orange14]

Back to action this Sunday against, believe it or not, bottom of the table Utrecht who seem to have fallen mightily. Even so, they always play Ajax tough at home and given the fragile state of out team, nothing is guaranteed these days. Ajax have two games in hand right now but obviously need a sustained winning streak to turn things around. Vos is suspended for this game because of accumulated YCs. Have not seen that anyone got injured on international duty. Brobbey was brought on late in the Dutch - Greece game yesterday for an underwhelming Weghorst.

Ajax travel to Brighton next week and are away to PSV on the weekend. We'll see what this team is really made of.

[SPL]

Only positive the top 4 have not played each other so will start to drop points. We play PSV still but apart from them we do have an easier run on paper. On the field it wont be easy and sadly Steijn has not been sacked ,but who would take over ?

I dont bother watching Internationals and only game I watched this last weekend was our U17 v AZ on Saturday 4-4 draw and entertaining. Was on youtube. Choice was do I watch our U17 or local Worthing team live. Ajax even at U 17 level always come first .

[Tom_]

This is a must win! I’m assuming they will lose to PSV, so if they don’t beat Utrecht they could actually hit bottom of the table.

[SPL]

My son came round this afternoon and asked will I still be able to watch Ajax on TV next season in 2nd league. I said it wont happen and we will finish in top 5. I mentioned big problem with relegation is that Jong Ajax are not going to be relegated.The 2 Jong sides in Div 2 need to finish in top 2 and they are miles behind.

Pundits are saying this game wont finish as Utrecht fans will start singing pro Hamas anti Jewish chants. Hope this does not happen.We cannot have a 3rd game abandoned

[SPL]

A must win and Rensch and Avila replaced by Gaaei and Sosa,Hato back at CD .Tahirovic for suspended Vos and Berghuis not 100 % so Hlynsson starts. Misehouy got an injury before Ints and not fit.

[Tom_]

This is hopeless. Utrecht’s goal was a fluke but they have only been pressing with 2 or 3 players, and that has been enough to stop Ajax even getting the ball to the half way line.

I honestly think this Ajax team should be playing with at least one more defensive player and looking to counter attack. They are not good enough to play possession football.

[Van basten]

So apparently we didn't hit bottom yet. It's really embarrassing.

[SPL]

Not much to add to Tom's post . Very poor so far from Ajax ,although a fluke goal.Attack is non existant,just Hlynsson with a close chance

[SPL]

2-0 down ,utter disaster

[SPL]

Hlynsson 2 goals in 2 minutes, unbelievable

[GangstaRiB]

3-3 as of now.

Ajax has zero grip. Coming from 2 goals behind to get 3-2 in front, couple of minutes later they forget to defend and it’s 3-3.

Steijn needs to go. This is a squad without any confidence.

[SPL]

Time that drinking beer in the stadiums is banned.Hope this game is finished today.i would take a draw though. Defence is weak and midfield non existant

[Tom_]

Steijn is gone, but it won’t make any difference. Utrecht had only scored 4 goals before today.

[Arthur]

At this point I doubt if they’re ever going to sack him. It should’ve happened months ago.

[Tom_]

Jans made a really good move when he switched the entire attack on about the 65th minute so they could keep pressing. Utrecht got a bunch of chances and you can’t say they didn’t deserve to score.

[SPL]

We did not deserve anything .Hlynsson with 2 good goals and Brobbey got us a penalty and that was it .

Defence is simply poor ,apart from Hato.MF creates nil and thus forwards are non existant.

Apart from Hato and Hlynsson the rest of them should not take their wages this week.

Steijn has no clue but in his defence he has been given probably the worst bunch of defenders of any coach. Why do you keep Brobbey on the field ,he would get a 2 from me for the penalty but not sure he barely touched the ball all game .

Mislintat has bought in a load of utter crap but losing to Utrecht today was the low point . Nov 2 home to Volendam could be worse.

Who takes over as coach as Steijn is out of his depth .

PS At least I enjoyed our U18 yesterday playing good attacking football.When fit Misehouy to replace Taylor.

[Orange14]

Had to take my wife to the airport this morning so I just finished watching the replay.

Winless in eight matches now for the worst start in Ajax history. Steijn put his "best" 11 out on the pitch but they continue to make critical errors that lead to opponents goals. Three of the four Utrecht goals today were preventable and a very average team such as Ajax cannot afford to concede such goals if they ever hope to win a game. One has to feel bad for Brobbey who maybe had one touch all match long. Taylor and Tahirovic are just a dreadful pair of MFs; nobody has any confidence to pass to either of them. It's also clear that the dross brought in by Mislintat will plague this team all season long regardless of who ends up managing the club. There is just so little quality which is astounding. One has to have a strong heart to continue watching Ajax right now particularly when the Women's team is so much better and plays a more attractive brand of football. Ajax will have a bunch of matches coming up against opponents they should beat but I'm not sure the players have any confidence right now.

Player Ratings:

Gorter (6) - decent job before getting injured
Gaaei (5.5) - better game with some good defensive interventions
Sutalo (4.5) - was having a good game until the lame back pass that led to the game winner; he may be yet another player Ajax paid too much money for and he makes me pine for Per Schuurs
Hato (6) - other than the dreadful back pass that cause Ramaj difficulty was decent
Sosa (5) - two great crosses, cancelled out by horrible defending; never head the ball back into the middle of the box
Tahirovic (3) - Roma must be laughing all the way to the bank with the money we paid for a mediocre and slow MF
Taylor (4) - just a total non-factor
Hlynsson (6.5) - two well taken goals
Forbs (4.5) - why does he always try to take on 2-3 defenders?
Brobbey (5.5) - drew a penalty that was deserved and was left alone by his team mates the rest of the match
Bergwijn (6) - another player Ajax spent way too much money on though he was calm and collected on the PK
Berghuis (5) - sell him in January for any amount Ajax can get, he has no future with the club
Ramaj (5) - can't tell by this cameo whether he is any good or not
Akbom, van den Boomen, Mikataudze (NR) - all on late and not sure that any of them have a future

Two very loseable away matches on the immediate horizon that might just extend the streak to 10!!! Brighton on Thursday in the EL followed by PSV in the league. Maybe Steijn gets sacked but as I've said, I don't think there is a manager around that can fix this mess of a team. It's just too sad.

[Orange14]

Why do you keep Brobbey on the field ,he would get a 2 from me for the penalty but not sure he barely touched the ball all game .

Not really his fault as nobody can get the ball to him.

[SPL]

Not blaming Brobbey as nobody gave him the ball.MF is dire and a MF of Vos,Misehouy and Hlynsson would only do better.Jong Ajax problem is they too dont have a defence,only Gooijer is good enough.

Watching Forbs today I really dont think Kayden Wolff U18 left winger would do worse.He played for Jong on Friday . Godts of course should get playing time.

Steijn has to go but there is no obvious replacement.Maduro and Dave Vos are not ready to even be temporary coaches.

[Orange14]

Steijn has to go but there is no obvious replacement.Maduro and Dave Vos are not ready to even be temporary coaches.

That's the big problem, who would be willing to come in as a caretaker for the rest of the season?

[Tom_]

Also, what can be done to fix the broken squad? I would be happy to keep Hato, Vos and Brobbey as starters. Bergwijn is the captain so he’ll stay and Gorter is a reasonable goalie. Maybe Hlynssen will be good too.

Otherwise I don’t think any of the players suit a passing game… because they can’t pass. Sutalo is this season’s Bassey in that teams are letting him have the ball, blocking the passing options and waiting for him to give it away.

We know they can’t fix it with transfers so Ajax will have to promote some youth players and/or change the approach. No idea if either of those will improve the results.

Anyway, they are not going take points off PSV next weekend but Volendam lost to RKC so we avoid last place for now.

[Amol]

Have no words left anymore to describe the ineptitude. The most worrying thing which I've seen for weeks, is that when the opposition defense has the ball, we fall back into our half and just let them calmly bring the ball to our half. The first goal which we gave up came up from just such a situation where the Utrecht LW was wide open and all our players clogged up the middle. The Utrecht LB (Ithink) strode up all the way to the half way line and just hit a pass straight to his LW and all hell broke loose.

When we 'attack' , there's just way too much space between our DM (Vos or Tahirovic) and the #8 (Taylor) and our #10 (Bergwijn, Berghuis, Hlynson etc). Our opponents block that space and force us to play U shaped football. Well it's not even U shaped as the ball never reaches our wingers.

As step 1, I would at least have the #8 and #10 play deeper and try and be outlets for passes. As step 2, I would push the entire defensive formation to defend further up the pitch. At least we'll make poorer teams make mistakes. I don't know if I have a Step 3, 4 etc right now lol.

[SPL]

Steijn not yet sacked!!!.Do we wait until Volendam beat us and we are bottom. If Steijn continues I fully expect us to lose to Volendam.

Brighton and PSV will thrash us this week so maybe wait until then .

Many new players have not had a chance but Tahirovic is simply poor and must be sold in January.Gaaei is no better than Sanchez. Sutalo is indeed this years Bassey and the worst signing of all . A quality CD of experience who can play Ajax type of football must be bought in January.

We may be 17th but had we won yesterday and wins v Volendam and RKC that would put us 5th.Under a half decent coach it should be possible to be 5th by Christmas but under Steijn we will be bottom.

Louis van Gaal maybe should retire to Portugal if he cannot sack the worst coach in our history.

The world is laughing at us and it hurts.But not as bad as watching.

[Amol]

Yes I am truly wondering what LVG has been busy with. Marcel Keizer is available and I can't imagine that he'd do worse than this loser.

Always thought Keizer was dealt a very unfortunate hand and might be able to move us into a mid-table team at least.