Ajaxtalk

Let's hope Ajax can finally win a match against AZ!!! Both teams have Thursday night football this week. AZ travel to England to take on Tottenham while Ajax are in Frankfurt. A win would be delightful.

This is just fuc*ing ridiculous. Why do they let supporters into the arena with fireworks!!! Eject them and ban them from future matches.

Agree about supporters with flares should never be allowed. Hard fought tough game Ajax defending on the goals very poor but in the end a draw probably fair. No problem with lineup or subs but dont think Berghuis and Konadu needed to come on.Taylor and Brobbey should have played those last 5 mins.

So 6 clear and we need to avoid a defeat at PSV but still a long way to go. Utrecht and Groningen away will not be easy.

First of all, the supporters who set off fireworks should be banned. I have no idea why they cannot control this as they pass through the entry gates. Maybe they don't care? So the match ends up in a hard fought draw with both sides making mistakes on the conceded goals. Ajax had the better of the game with more shots on goal and for the most part played good defense preventing AZ from doing much of anything in open play. Henderson, despite getting a call up to the England NT, did not have a good match. His passing was poor and he was outjumped on the second AZ goal. Other than his play everyone else was more than decent. Higler made a big error when he did not let play continue after the foul on Brobbey. Fitz-Jim was away with Traore and they were in on the keeper with only one defender back. The Gaaei RC is always given in the Eredivisie even though it was not a malicious dive at the player's shin. The second YC that led to Penetra's sending off was a marginal call. At the end of the day, Ajax are now six points ahead of PSV with next Sunday off and in two weeks a trip to Eindhoven. I would be satisfied with a draw though always want a win.

Player Ratings:

Mattheus (6.5) - did not have any tough plays to make and was good on the ball, maybe he should have been stronger on the corner kick and fought through the pick
Gaaei (6)- great goal and defended well but loses a point for the RC
Sutalo (7.5) - rock solid again and defense and passing
Baas (6.5)- I think he should have done better at clearing the ball prior to the first AZ goal but otherwise good
Hato (7.5) - defended well and created passing opportunities up field
Henderson (5.5) - marginally above average with some pretty poor passing
Taylor (7.5)- good match with some strong runs, had a nice shot on goal that ended up hitting the outside of the upright
Fitz-Jim (6) - unfortunately, his slight frame will hold him back in tough matches, passed well but he needs open space to play well and that space was not there
Traore (6.5)- worked hard all game and made better decisions with the ball
Brobbey (7) - played really tough holding up the ball and battled Goes all match getting the better of the AZ defender
Godts (6.5) - wisely controlled the ball well but there were no open spots to run into as AZ were well organized
Klaassen (6) - on for Fitz-Jim and almost put his keeper in danger with a really slow backpass
Rosa (6)- had a couple of good interventions filling in after Gaaei was sent off
Edvardsen (6.5) - in the right place to put the ball in after a really bad GK error
Berghuis (NR) - on late
Konadu (NR) - on late

In sum, Ajax stood strong and Farioli's rotation on Thursday helped out big time.

AZ played Spurs last Thursday.. full throttle. Today they were as good as Ajax. AZ has a really good team.

Having said that. For me, FJ, Hendo and Godts were not good today.

The second yellow for the AZ player was a gift….

At the end, this draw was the best we could get. But disappointing after Ajax supposedly rested the “A team” last Thursday.

Not ideal but it was probably a fair result. I thought without Mijnans we might do a bit better but in the end Bélic and Clasie pretty much dominated the midfield. Fitz-Jim had another one of his sleepwalking matches.

I think we have to get a draw against PSV otherwise we will finish second.

GangstaRiB schreef: ↑

zo mar 16, 2025 8:18 pm

AZ played Spurs last Thursday.. full throttle. Today they were as good as Ajax. AZ has a really good team.

Having said that. For me, FJ, Hendo and Godts were not good today.

The second yellow for the AZ player was a gift….

At the end, this draw was the best we could get. But disappointing after Ajax supposedly rested the “A team” last Thursday.

100% agree with all of this.

At the end, the score seemed to be fair representation of the game. Clasie had a big game for them (amongst others) and we weren't able to neutralize him.

Also the flares are great and all, but they need to figure out how to do those and not disrupt games. Kinda ridiculous.

Amol schreef: ↑

ma mar 17, 2025 2:16 pm

GangstaRiB schreef: ↑

zo mar 16, 2025 8:18 pm

AZ played Spurs last Thursday.. full throttle. Today they were as good as Ajax. AZ has a really good team.

Having said that. For me, FJ, Hendo and Godts were not good today.

The second yellow for the AZ player was a gift….

At the end, this draw was the best we could get. But disappointing after Ajax supposedly rested the “A team” last Thursday.

100% agree with all of this.

At the end, the score seemed to be fair representation of the game. Clasie had a big game for them (amongst others) and we weren't able to neutralize him.

That's factually incorrect. Ajax had more possession, created more changes and had more shots on goal. AZ was allowed time on the ball but hardly created any danger. Clasie played the ball to his left and right, but that's it. He rarely left the mid circle and I thought he had quite a poor game.

If Taylor would have scored the 1-0 (which looked harder to miss than to score), the game would have been totally different. I never thought AZ could do more than they did and Ajax was quite comfortable. Anyway, it is what it is, in the end a draw was a relatively fair result but if one team deserved to win, it would have been Ajax.

And with regards to the game on Thursday, unless you are injured, playing 90 minutes is much better than being rested. Resting players is not so they won't be tired, it's to avoid them picking up an injury.

Our Mf is our weakness . Taylor is having a good season , Klaassen did ok as a 6 recently but is not really good enough.F-Jim too lightweight, Mokio ok but not ready to be a starter. Henderson has done reasonably well but recent injuries and yesterday against a good side was the worst player. He needs to go,Berghuis is simply not good enough any more.v d Boomen, no idea why he is here!

Bounida,Steur Mokio have good futures and can be used next season as backups but we may need to buy 2 or 3 MF. These 3 are not yet at the level Appie,Donny and Frenkie were back in 2017 when they were ready for the 1st.Steur and Mokio of course are just 17 .

raymon schreef: ↑

ma mar 17, 2025 2:41 pm

If Taylor would have scored the 1-0 (which looked harder to miss than to score), the game would have been totally different. I never thought AZ could do more than they did and Ajax was quite comfortable. Anyway, it is what it is, in the end a draw was a relatively fair result but if one team deserved to win, it would have been Ajax.

The Taylor shot was solid but also with his off foot. He is the first two footed MF we have had since Sneijder. As I noted in my match notes, the really bad call that for me turned the game around is when Higler did not allow Ajax to play on after Brobbey was fouled close to midfield and Fitz-Jim and Traorue were away on a break and possibly could have scored. AZ had only two chances on goal and unfortunately hit on both of them. They were not even good goals as there were defensive mistakes in each case.

Our match announcer here in the US noted that new "enemy" Wouter Goes was in the Ajax academy and left at age 12 for AZ. Weird. I wonder if this was by choice or Ajax did not think him good enough. Anyway, Ajax did play a solid game and while we all would like to see free flowing football, that is not the team we have. I think if Farioli does stay, he can make this team better. However, I'm betting he heads back to Italy for a top job this summer. If that happens, Ajax may bring ten Hag back. Reizeger would be another possiblity.

raymon schreef: ↑

ma mar 17, 2025 2:41 pm

Amol schreef: ↑

ma mar 17, 2025 2:16 pm

GangstaRiB schreef: ↑

zo mar 16, 2025 8:18 pm

AZ played Spurs last Thursday.. full throttle. Today they were as good as Ajax. AZ has a really good team.

Having said that. For me, FJ, Hendo and Godts were not good today.

The second yellow for the AZ player was a gift….

At the end, this draw was the best we could get. But disappointing after Ajax supposedly rested the “A team” last Thursday.

100% agree with all of this.

At the end, the score seemed to be fair representation of the game. Clasie had a big game for them (amongst others) and we weren't able to neutralize him.

That's factually incorrect. Ajax had more possession, created more changes and had more shots on goal. AZ was allowed time on the ball but hardly created any danger. Clasie played the ball to his left and right, but that's it. He rarely left the mid circle and I thought he had quite a poor game.

If Taylor would have scored the 1-0 (which looked harder to miss than to score), the game would have been totally different. I never thought AZ could do more than they did and Ajax was quite comfortable. Anyway, it is what it is, in the end a draw was a relatively fair result but if one team deserved to win, it would have been Ajax.

And with regards to the game on Thursday, unless you are injured, playing 90 minutes is much better than being rested. Resting players is not so they won't be tired, it's to avoid them picking up an injury.

Clasie and the other DM were breaking up our mid field play. Of course Nijhius was allowing that, which didn't help. Clasie wasn't doing anything spectacular for them offensively, but helped keep our MF quiet.

But Taylor didn't score. We had rested our entire team on Thursday and should've been a bit fresher. AZ hadn't and in theory should've been more tired. We needed to show more if we wanted the title.