Ajaxtalk

A must game today

A hard fought win today,although we started with a complete change of lineup. Need to improve a lot to get a point at Feyenoord

I was in the arena. I almost fell asleep. I apologized to the Mexican tourists that sat next to me.

I had an early choral concert so I just finished watching the replay. A clean sheet in an otherwise boring game but a win none the less. Farioli continued his heavy rotation scheme to keep players as fresh as possible, given the congested fixture schedule. Not only did he make a bunch of changes but came out with a new 5-3-2 formation. Brobbey drew an early penalty and Klaasen did not miss from the spot. Wijndal had a good effort with his off foot but all of the other Ajax shots were very tame. Defensively, Ajax were sound and there was only one tough shot on goal that Ramaj parried over the bar. Unfortunately, with three mediocre MFs, Ajax had a lot of trouble moving the ball around in the offensive half.Ajax stay in 3rd but are only three back of Utrecht who lost to Feynoord.

Player Ratings:

Ramaj (5.5) - started as part of the rotation plan; was decent in the first half and dreadful in the second
Gaaei (7) - had only one tough defensive play to make and did so with a sound tackle; he had some very nice crosses going forward and was generally good with the ball
Rugani (6.5) - mistake free on defense, coming off after 60 minutes
Baas (6.5) - played in the center of the 3 man back line and did the job
Kaplan (6.5) - decent enough going the full 90
Wijndal (6.5) - had a very nice game going down the left side and had the best shot of the game for Ajax that ended up being saved
Tahirovic (6) - didn't make any mistakes which is always worth a point in my opinion
van den Boomen (6) - really not much of an impact on the match
Davy One Goal (6) - had the match winner from the spot
Traore (4.5) - worst player on the pitch for me with some poor touches and soft turnovers
Brobbey (6) - worked incredibly hard the whole 90 minutes, maybe he should have scored off the Gaaei cross but it looked like the ball bounced up too high for him
Sutalo (6) - decent coming in for Rugani
Taylor (6) - had a couple of half chances as a sub
Henderson (NR) - on late for Tahirovic and was OK
Godts (NR) - on for Traore and had some ball possession in the final ten mutes
Hato (NR) - on late

Feyenoord coming up on Wednesday and then PSV next Sunday. We will see if Ajax are a serious challenger.

Ajax used a 3-5-2 with direct balls to the wing backs to escape the press. This actually worked, but it’s only necessary because the midfielders are *so* poor on the ball. For the same reason, they didn’t really do anything with the ball once they escaped the press.

More boring football from a bad team but every point is precious.