11 AUG 2024; Ajax - Heerenveen; Match Day 1

[Orange14]

New season; new manager, but unfortunately, many of the same players who did not perform last year. I'm sure this roster will be in a state of flux through the month of August. At least Farioli knows who he wants on the roster and who he expects can step up and perform. Let's start the league season with a win.

[SPL]

Wont be able to watch this as I am baby sitting granddaughter now aged 11 months.Wont have time to follow the game she is very active .

Ajax should be able to win this but just reading we may rest 6 players Rensch ,Hato,Henderson,Taylor,Fitz-Jim Forbs Lineup predicted Pasveer Gaaei Sutalo,Baas,Janse(but he is not a LB),Mannsverk,V D Boomen,Hlynsson,Berghuis,Akpom (oh dear) Godts.

[Tom_]

Home game so we have to win. Feyenoord and PSV both have much better squads than Ajax, and I am expecting a season-long battle for third place at best.

[SPL]

Even with this squad I expect us to finish 3rd.Hopefully we can get 1 or 2 signings to improve the squad.

I will try and keep my eye on the game whilst keeping granddaughter amused.

[Orange14]

this was the type of match that Ajax would have dropped points last season. They are much better focused on defense under Faroli and look to make safe passes. Ajax purists might lament the lack of quick attacks but I don't think the players for that type of offense are there in the MF. The match should have been put away earlier but van den Boome clanged a shot off the upright quickly back to Akpom who probably did about as well as he could given how fast it came to him. Godts named MOTM in the Arena and it's hard to argue against that choice. Hlynsson was clinical in the chance he got and almost had a second. Good to see that Faroli is not afraid to rotate players, something that was never evident last season. Janse is obviously not a left back but he did what needed to be done and was hard to beat. Rematch against Pathinaikos on Thursday night.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (6.5) - had a couple of tricky saves to make and was calm on the ball
Gaaei (7) - solid defensively and broke into the open on offense on several occasions; he may beat out Rensch for the starting position
Sutalo (7) - night and day difference from last season, maybe it's the system but he looks more relaxed and has played largely error free
Baas (6.5) - had one bad play when he went to ground quickly and lost his man but otherwise OK
Janse (6.5) - solid game in his first start and out of position
Mannswerk (6.5) - kept calm with the ball at his feet and I don't think he committed a single turnover
van den Boomen (6) - a liability because of lack of quickness but was OK but should have scored with an open shot
Hlynsson (6.5) - put in a great shift always playing at 100% and his hard shot on the goal was the match winner
Berghuis (6.5) - solid effort from the Captain
Akpom (5.5) - to slow to cause any danger
Godts (7.5) - takes the ball down better than any player since Justin Kluivert and the Heerenveen FB could not contain him
Forbs (6) - played well coming on for Berghuis and was quite decent with the ball at his feet
Traore (5.5) - I think I know why nobody wanted him when his contract ran out, he's lost some of the quickness he had when he was on loan at Ajax and his decisionmaking is poor
Taylor (5.5) - decent enough coming on midway through the 2nd half
Henderson (5.5) - helped cement the win with some good play
Brobbey (NR) - on late and had a sniff of goal but pulled the shot wide

[SPL]

After 4 exhausting hours of looking after a hyperactive toddler I got home and watched the whole of the 2nd half. Last season we would have given away 2 points but defence was sound and I did not see any chances for Heerenveen in the 55 mins .MF was very sound in front of the defence but agree its not a MF for quick attacks.
Main thing we got 3 points and now lets beat Panathinaikos on Thursday which will ensure we will be in Europe this season.

[Tom_]

They seemed to be trying to move the ball a bit more quickly in the first half but as you both said the players don’t really have the skills to pull it off. Maybe they will get punished against a better team but at least it was a bit less boring to watch.

[Amol]

Saw the whole game and we would've lost this game last season with the team which started the game.

Loved that Farioli made 6 changes to rest players. We all have been talking about squad rotation for years!!

Unfortunately his squad was leaked out to ESPN the night before. We need to find the spy and put an end to this nonsense.

For the 1st game of the season and with so many changes I actually loved what I saw. Here's to building a group of 17-18 regulars and not just 12-13.