Ajaxtalk

A must win tie given our draws today.Lose to the Greeks and we end up having to beat Lens to get through to Conference Group stages. Beat the Greeks and we are likely to face the Polish side as its the losers of them and Bodo/Glimt

Thanks for posting. I'll be home tomorrow

Panathinaikos are a tricky club to face. New coach, from Uruguay. So they have some intensity in their game. I'd be curious to see if we take advantage of the chances we create. We'll have to be critical in front of the goal

Great passing and clinical from Berghuis

1-0 at Ht so far so good. Expect Brobbey for Akpom and Traore to come on and Berghuis back to Mf take Taylor and or F-Jim off.

I think we have to keep in mind that any result away from home is great with this team. It’s not nice to watch though.

Relief we held on for a 1-0 and should win next week. Poorish game .

A nice first half was followed by a rather ugly second half but Ajax made the one goal stand up. The defense looks better this season but still has issues. It looked to be quite warm on the field and perhaps that was one main reason for the failures in the 2nd half. Still, a one goal win on the road is worth celebrating as we likely would have screwed this one up last season. Farioli has a system in place and it's up to the players to execute it.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (6) - did not have any really tough shots to face but he is unconvincing
Rensch (6) - decent enough game but he should decide pretty quickly whether he sees a future at Ajax and extends his contract
Sutalo (6.5) - thought he played well, calm on the ball and did not make any mistakes
Baas (5.5) - got pushed off the ball a couple of times and I don't know whether he or Kaplan will be first choice
Hato (6) - had some bad plays on the ball but he says he is now comfortable at LB
Henderson (7) - kept the defense well organized
Taylor (6.5) - ran his rear end off and had a couple of decent runs into the box
Fitz-Jim (6.5) - perfect lay off to Berghuis for the match winner
Berghuis (7) - great shot for the goal and had an earlier snap shot that kept the GK alert
Akpom (5) - everyone gets a 5 for putting the shorts and shirt on correctly and that was the extent of his game; he needs to leave ASAP
Forbs (5.5) - anyone else notice how bad his first touch is? I wonder if that is what held him back at ManCity
Gaaei (5.5) - curiously on for Berghuis and was OK at RW and then moved back into the MF
Godts (5.5) -on for Forbs and was decent
Traore (5.5) - on for Akpom and then moved out to the wing
Brobbey (NR) - on late
van den Boomen (NR) - on late

Leage starts up this weekend and then the return EL qualifier on Thursday