28 AUG 2016 Go Ahead Eagles - Ajax; Match Day 4

[Orange14]

OK everyone, time for some yoga breathing exercises. Sit down in a comfortable position, take a smooth deep breath, upon exhaling say "we are Ajax, we cannot be defeated." Repeat this nine more times. There, don't you feel better and with a positive mind?

Sunday before the international break, Ajax travel to Go Ahead Eagles. What team will show up? What will Bosz do to get this team playing positive football? Is Ajax no better than a mid-table club? Lots of questions that I hope will be answered. Remember it's always darkest before the dawn!

Here is the seeding for the Europa League Group Play: Seeded Pot 1: Schalke, Zenit St. Petersburg, Manchester United, Athletic Bilbao, Villarreal, Ajax, Inter Milan, Fiorentina, Viktoria Plzen

How funny is this that Ajax are a number one seed?

[SPL]

Well apart from Cerny ,only playing 45 mins tonight for Jong, so could be in the squad but its the same old crap in midfield.We will struggle to win this game .

[Orange14]

It amazes me that Blind has both Bazoer and Klaassen in the NT for the friendly against Greece and the qualifier in Sweden. Tete and Veltman are also call ups. Riedewald, Sinkgraven, and el Ghazi are all with the U-21 team.

[Tom_]

Armchair management time!

Two problems we have at the moment:

* midfield not involved in buildup
* right winger hates passing, right-footed left winger who can't shoot. This is two wasted players.

How about:

* play with an extra midfielder to create a numerical advantage in MF
* play without wingers. I know a 4-3-3 is mandatory in the eredivisie so I half expect to be banned from the forum for this suggestion. But our wingers suck.

----Onana----
Tete-Veltman-Sánchez-Viergever
----Riedewald----
--Bazoer-Sinkgraven--
----Klaassen----
--Dolberg-Traoré--

Of course it will not happen, but it's just an idea.

Greetings from my armchair!

[Ayman]

I will go for a 3-2 victory for Go Ahead Eagles. Wait! 3-2? Ajax creating two goals? hmmmmmm

[SPL]

Sky not showing the game again but they are showing it in full 2 hours after it finishes.I may well just wait until then watch it without knowing the score. So if no comments live from me you will know why.

If we fail to win tomorrow Bosz will be under pressure ,next home game he will get white hankies.

[SPL]

I am not watching the game later,as above ,but will join you live with a stream

line up is

Onana

Veltman,Sanchez,Viergever,Dijks

Riedewald,Gudelj,Klaassen

Younes,Dolberg,Traore

Riedewald is going to be a 6 but leaves us with only 2 defenders who are left footed. Midfield zero inspiration.Traore to play out left will be interesting.

With that team I hope for a draw.

[SPL]

Ziyech almost tied up ,at least next game we will have 1 decent creative player.

I wonder how many of todays subs may leave this week

Boer,Tete,Bazoer,ElGhazi,Sinkgraven,Westermann,Schone Cassierra. as many as 3 could leave!!

[Tom_]

Meanwhile Groningen down to 10 men but hanging on to 0–0 in the 88th minute in Eindhoven. Looks like psv will score though.

[rjf1]

We better win today. If we can't beat a team like Go Ahead Eagles, I can't see us winding up the season any higher than mid table.

[Tom_]

Referee added 7 minutes to the psv game for no clear reason (overruled the 4th official who said 5 minutes). Groningen held on 0–0 so we can gain some points back.

[SPL]

Soft penaly given but great save by Onana

[Tom_]

Ridiculous penalty call... I assumed he'd given a yellow for diving. But now we're 1–0 up against the run of play, so I guess it evened out.

[rjf1]

After Dohlberg goes close but the keeper saves, Klaasen hits a sweet one -- 0-1 for the good guys.

[SPL]

Klaassen strikes again.Most want rid of him but he is scoring goals

[Tom_]

GAE players diving all over the place. Does Sánchez have a history of red cards? It seems like they're trying to get him sent off.

[rjf1]

Klaassen strikes again.Most want rid of him but he is scoring goals

Exactly what I was thinking. Plus, he is the only one on the team that plays tough.

[SPL]

Traore bought down Klaassen for his 2nd from the spot

[Tom_]

Onana is my new favourite player. Krul can sit on the bench :)

[Orange14]

Ajax are certainly not very convincing against a team of weight lifters who only want to play thug football. Nice to have a keeper save a PK. The Veltman RB experiment needs to end right now. He left Sanchez vulnerable several times with a resulting Yellow card when the center back had to cover. Sanchez is lucky to still be in the game as he could have easily been carded for a high kick. Don't know why the GAE keeper was frozen on the Klaassen goal, it looked like he had a clear look but did nothing. Everyone stands around when Younes has the ball. Perhaps they know he won't pass but it doesn't help when the winger has no outlet.

PSV dropped points to Groningen at home so there is a chance to move up.

[saddlerian]

Going quite well at the moment...but there is a "but"....something has to be done about the attitude of some of the players...notably Sanchez, Onana and Traore....(what they have in common, judge for yourselves!!!). The first two seem to WANT to argue with the officials and opponents....GET RID OF THAT ATTITUDE...NOW!!!! Traore, yes, he got the penalty, but he's tried to leave his trailing leg once to often, the official even "having words" with him about it...

Overall, a satisfying half...just wish that they'd shown this much effort in the CL matches!!!!

[Tom_]

Also, the ref is having a nightmare, he seems to be getting every call wrong. It's one of those games where anything could happen.

[SPL]

Better 45 mins and we are almost comfortable at 2-0 but this is Ajax. Tete should now play , Traore is doing a hell of alot more on the right than El Ghazi . Onana a great save .

[rjf1]

The entire right side has been substandard and needs some serious reworking. Veltman is clearly not suited as as RB; Traore may be a good footballer, but you would never know it from his playing RW; as for Gudelj, his performance defies words.

[Orange14]

Also, the ref is having a nightmare, he seems to be getting every call wrong. It's one of those games where anything could happen.

I thought both penalties were correct. I was watching a match yesterday (can't remember which EPL game) where there was an identical penalty call as the one the GAE won, a simple clip from behind that was inadvertent but inside the box. It's always going to be given.