24 NOV 2016 Ajax - Panathinaikos EL Group G Match 5

[SPL]

A very comfortable win once Tete made it 2-0 .We played with 6 teenagers at the end and all look good prospects. de Ligt I thought outstanding .

Will comment later as tea is on the table

[Orange14]

Playing the last 20 minutes with six teens and other than Westermann, everyone was 23 and younger! Turned out to be a rather easy 2-0 win over Panathinaikos who really looked disinterested in playing. Lots of nice pressure on the ball all over the field and Ajax were able to create turnovers and threatening situations. Maybe the club can cash in on Klaassen in January along with the other unneeded players as the midfield today showed what it's like to good ball skills at each of the positions. Celta and Standard end up drawing which was a meaningless result as the win puts Ajax through to the knockout round as the winner. The only downer on the day was the constant back passing to Onana who had to play more balls in this match than all of the previous matches this season.

Player Ratings:

Onana (7) - a little too loosey goosey with some of the back passes but in general kept his cool
Dijks (7.5) - really nice match both defending and rampaging forward
Westermann (7.5) - nice match from him today and demonstrated some very nice ball skills
de Ligt (7.5) - the Ajax Paolo Maldini?? Hope he stays with the club a long time as he has the ability to be one of the finest defenders ever to play at Ajax
Tete (7.5) - good to see him get the goal and the captain's armband in what has been a frustrating season so far
Schöne (8) - bossed the midfield and the free kick for the first goal was really pretty totally fooling the keeper
van de Beek (7) - quite good on the ball and pressuring on defense
Nouri (6.5) - needs to watch some films of Andrea Pirlo to see how to create a little more space between him and the defender but had a decent game nonetheless
Younes (7.5) - really a fine game both attacking and tracking back
Cassiera (6) - worked hard to get into some open positions but didn't quite get the ball to his feet when he was passed to
Cerny (6) - not a bad game but he has done better with the ball
Clement (6) - needed to be more aggressive when he had the ball in space as he had some good opportunities
de Jong (7) - cool, calm and collected coming on for Schöne; good passing and defending

Tough away match at Heerenveen on Sunday. Good that some of the starters got rested.

[Orange14]

Will comment later as tea is on the table

I had my tea watching the 2nd half!!

[SPL]

Agree with your ratings Schone our best player,bossed the midfield ,went back into defence, and scored a superb free kick . He is no super player but he is very creative and works hard .When he got dropped to sub earlier in the season no hissy fits or sulking . A true pro and we need to keep him next season. He, Ziyech and the the kids tonight are good enough to be our midfield next season.

Tete and Westermann had good games and really were trying their hardest to impress. Dijks too, but for me de Ligt is
something else. We will hold him back for next season and even then he will be only 18. Not sure I have seen such a fine defender at his age,tackling, covering , taking the ball forward, passing .

Nouri disappointed a bit tonight ,v d Beek worked hard but de Jong looks as good a prospect as them.

Next game in the Arena Groningen and I will be there live .Thijs has got me a seat on the half way line only 14 rows up in the bottom stand directly opposite the dug out .

Cannot wait to be there and also to see beautiful magically Amsterdam again. 1969 aged 18 was my first time in the city and I fell in love with its magic and also discovered a special football club.

[ajaxcolombia]

Schone is acquiring quite the cult hero status. One of Bosz best decisions.

[Orange14]

Wonder what is the average age right now?

According to AjaxShowtime the average age at the end of the game was 20.8 years. Bosz joked that he should have subbed in Dolberg for Westermann and it would have brought it down even more.