Ajaxtalk

Ajax are one of five teams on 10 points, behind group leader Lazio. A trip to the Basque country is in store this Thursday. Though Real Sociedad is way down in the standings this will be a stern test. Unfortunately, it is Thanksgiving Day here in the US and it's uncertain if I will be able to watch the match in real time as we are going over to friends for the traditional dinner.

Taylor suspended and Klaassen not registered will be missed. Akpom maybe LW and MF Henderson,F-Jim and Berghuis with V d Boomen and Hlynsson being subs .Will be a tough game

Taylor suspended and Klaassen not registered will be missed. Akpom maybe LW and MF Henderson,F-Jim and Berghuis with V d Boomen and Hlynsson being subs .Will be a tough game.

Good news Godts will be training again tomorrow but not fit for 2 weeks so maybe a sub v AZ and score the winning goal!

Weghorst not going to Spain , seems like he is ill and he could still travel tomorrow.

Weghorst has flu so hope nobody travelling gets it .

Akpom at LW and Fitz-Jim,Berghuis and Henderson Mf which is ok. I would take a draw .

Both teams lose a man from a head injury. Brobbey off at 34 minutes as he was clattered into by the GK.

Both sides with chances although a quality finisher would surely have scored from the Rasmussen chance.Hope Brobbey has only come off as a precaution

A very poor 2nd half and even the defence let us down. 4 of our better players were missing but the subs all weakend the team. Rasmussen and Banel are not even great at Jong level.Akpom and Traore added little so cannot complain about subs.

Need to regroup for the tough week to come.

Had to watch the final 20 minutes on replay as we were over at friends for dinner. My Thanksgiving Day was ruined by a lackluster performance by an Ajax team that made too many defensive mistakes and with a shortage of attacking options could not muster anything more than a couple of shots off the post. It was a winnable game against a struggling Real Sociedad team but when Brobbey went off injured midway in the first half, the team was always going to be shorthanded. Hato made a mistake on the first goal by not getting a tackle in and Fitz-Jim did not get back fast enough and let the second attacker take an easy pass and cut the ball across to two Real players who were in on goal with only Rensch left to defend that side. The second goal was a nice bit of dribbling by Kubo whose shot bounced off Baas and then past Pasveer. Ajax drop down to sixth but there are a lot of teams within striking distance and the match against Lazio in two weeks is looming large. Can't say that any Ajax player was outstanding in this one.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (6) - had no chance on either goal and didn't face any difficult shots otherwise
Rensch (6) - didn't do anything wrong
Sutalo (6.5) - had a good block and was decent defending
Baas (5.5) - had a bad pass and an ill-timed dribble that was easily taken away
Hato (5) - one of the players at fault on the first goal and he knew it
Henderson (5.5) - was really laboring in the 2nd half
Berghuis (5.5) - not much of a factor
Fitz-Jim (6) - mixed bag for him; had a shot that bounced off the post and a second that was easily saved but gave the ball up a couple of times and didn't defend well
Traore (5.5) - nothing to write home about
Brobbey (5.5) - hit the post of a tough angle and had to go off shortly after colliding with the keeper
Akpom (5.5) - lost out on the wing and not much better at striker
Rassmussen (6)- created a chance when he intercepted the ball but could not convert
Banel (5) - really not at this level of competition but was the only option left
van den Boomen (5) - just an average player
Hlynsson (NR) - on late and not game ready
Wijndal (NR) - picked up a YC and mercifully won't be on the bench for the Lazio match

NEC this weekend and then Utrecht in the make up game mid-week

Was fairly certain we’d lose after we missed all those chances in the first half. We’ve seen dozens of games unfold like that in Europe. If you don’t put them away you get punished.

Dismal defending down the left on both goals.

Have to say I dont agree with Rasmussen getting a 6 .Apart from the missed chance he did nothing and is nowhere near the standard for Ajax ,same with Banel .Although just coming back from Injury I would have had Rijkhoff in his place and Faberski is superior to Banel. Problem is Akpom and Traore were poor and Berghuis has no speed to be winger and is too slow in MF .I dont agree with him being offered an extension by Ajax.

Truth is Traore is good for 60 mins and a back right winger is needed and we have no back up for Godts.In addition a quality creative MF is needed. 1-0 down due to woeful defending we then had a weak MF and non existent attack.

This is a game we could have won and had the chances but after 1-0 down and with poor subs it was like a game from last season.

Ironically Sutalo was decent and is the only one of Mislintat's 12 signings who has come through and is good enough.

Taylor Godts and Weghorst all missed but to all the anti Klaassen fans do they really think Hlynsson and V d Boomen are better !! For all his weaknesses I would rather have seen Davy come on last night.