18 AUG 2024; NAC Breda - Ajax; Match Day 2

[Orange14]

Ajax can keep the good times rolling with a win over NAC.

[SPL]

Like last week I am going out but hope to catch the 2nd half.Brobbey and Bergwijn need to get some real minutes

[Orange14]

Lots of changes: Pasveer; Gaaei, Sutalo, Janse, Hato; Mannswerk, van den Boomen, Hlynsson; Traore, Brobbey, Godts

[Orange14]

0-0 at the half. NAC are packing everyone back in and Ajax have not figured out how to unlock it. Traore has been really bad as has Hato. Hato's passes are slow and easily intercepted. Brobbey is getting position but as soon as the ball comes to him close in he is double or triple teamed. NAC have not shown any signs of attacking but you never know. One goal is likely to win this game.

[saddlerian]

Unbelievable!!! 5 central defenders....and no effort!!
Yes, plenty of effort today..but zero quality!!

75% possession...BUT...as usual, no effect!!

Let's play some ATTACKING football...wingers, strikers..another Sneijder must be found!!!!

2 defeats on the trot???

[SPL]

\Went for a relaxing cycle came in and it was 1-1 on 89,dont have a smart phone so did not know anything. Thought thats bad enough so a couple of mins later checked to see it was a draw and its 2-1 down. Utter rubbish team, nothing has changed from last season

[Orange14]

Full credit to NAC who defended magnificently. Every player close in was double teamed and defenders were able block almost every shot coming goalward. It was expected that players would be rotated by Farioli and that he did. He cannot have been pleased with a lot of the performances. Ball rotation was glacial and you cannot break down defenses if you give the opposition a chance to get to the right position. Both NAC goals were cheap and unfortunately our hero of Thursday played a big role in both. Godts was cheaply dispossessed and the ball passed out to the MF with a player breaking in on the left. Sutalo had to go out towards him but so did Gaaei leaving a man free who was in 1 v 1 on Pasveer. It was a rather easy shot for 1 -0. The second came on a free kick in added time and Gaaei let the NAC player get right in and by the time he reacted, the NAC Captain had a very easy header to take all three points. The Ajax MF was poor all game long, even after substitutions. Janse and Sutalo were perhaps the only decent players on the pitch. Traore is looking like a total joke and it's clear why nobody else wanted him when he finished at Villareal. Two matches against the Polish champion coming up for a place in the Europa League. Next Sunday's match is being rescheduled to give Ajax extra rest but the Klassiker is coming up in two weeks and I don't think Ajax will be ready.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (5.5) - really had nothing to do other than one uncertain punch; no chance on either goal
Gaaei (4) - disappointing match all around and both goals were in part his fault
Sutalo (6.5) - did not have much defending to do
Janse (6.5) - did well with some advanced runs to try to open things up but there were no open passing lanes
Hato (4.5) - other than the free header for a goal, very poor with soft passes all match long
Mannswerk (4.5) - looked very slow as if he played 120 minutes on Thursday not adding much at all
Hlynsson (4.5) - could not make anything happen
van den Boomen (4) - three of his corner kicks were just atrocious for a player who is supposed to be a free kick specialist
Traore (4) - absolutely awful
Brobbey (5.5) - he held the ball up well and was really strong but NAC defenders reacted quickly and there was nobody for him to lay the ball off to
Godts (5) - needs to go back and watch some film of David Neres as he too often was caught in double team positions and did not react quickly enough, easily lost the ball that led to the goal
Taylor (5) - Ok coming in during the 2nd half
Fitz-Jim (4.5) - he is only effective when he gets the ball in space, too light weight with someone on him with the result he loses the ball; unfortunately not a long term solution
Berghuis (5.5) - showed how important he is to this team with no other solution on the right wing
Akpom (5) - tried hard but one player alone can't solve this type of defense
Bergwijn (NR) - on for the last 15 or so minutes but faced the same difficulty as everyone else today, a resolute defense

[SPL]

No surprise our MF was poor we need a couple of quality players in MF and it is not great to know Misehouy debuted for Girona and scored. He wanted over a 1m pa but we are happy to pay more for poor imports.

Janse sounds like he had a decent but Rugani is likely going to play LCD with Sutalo. What is going on we need a right back and Hato is not a LB.

[Amol]

We need someone in midfield who can shoot well and someone who Brobbey can lay the ball off to. That was extremely evident yesterday. NAC had totally packed there defense and space was very limited. Maybe Berghuis should've played at AM when he came on instead of at RW.

It was a very annoying loss yesterday. Rugani was spotted in Amsterdam so assuming that this is a done deal.

Godts had double coverage all game and couldn't break through.

Traore is totally useless. Can't even beat Boy Kemper at LB, forget doing that at any higher level.