25 FEB 2018; Ajax - ADO; Match Day 25

[SPL]

Loads of chances but season will be over if PSV win today.

All the crap about our young talents but Neres and Kluivert clearly not ready for the big time.Ziyech I think poor and we just drop him and get Frenkie as a midfielder.He was outstanding today and should have scored near the end.

I may be a stuck record but KJH sorely missed he would have buried one of those chances .

We have not dominated games since Ten Hag took over and I too wonder why we bothered to sack Keizer .

[Amol]

I think Keizer's sacking was more political than result oriented.

[Ayman]

I agree, drop Ziyech, play Frenkie in midfield and Wober at the back with de Ligt

[saddlerian]

Might seem a VERY silly comment...but for the ball to go in, a shot has to be on target!!!

[saddlerian]

Still not over, PSV got some tough fixtures, if they lose 2 games in the remainder of the season, and Ajax win theirs, but draw PSV. Then Ajax can still win the Eredivisie

IF I select the correct 6 numbers, I'll win the lottery!!! Wonder which win is more likely???

[SPL]

PSV will drop points but so will we.Agree too many shots not on target,especially Ziyech.

Our season never really started due to the dreadful events in the Austrian Tyrol but we only have ourselves to blame for letting Twente get that late goal in the 3-3 and not winning this game with all those chances.

I will now hope Feyenoord do us a favour but tomorrow,snow permitting,I am off to Rome until Friday celebrating my wife's 60th.

[saddlerian]

Enjoy Rome....great place...relax, and forget Ajax...for a while!!!

[Orange14]

Erik ten Hag, this one is on you. How could you not imagine that ADO would play everyone behind the ball and go for the 0-0 draw? The first half Ajax were totally unprepared for what ADO set out to do. Things got better in the second half when Ajax started to figure things out. Still the 29 shots with 11 on frame was quite flattering. The ADO keeper got lucky on the S de Jong header that glanced off the post and then off of him for an easy clearance by a defender. The only difficult save of the day was the F de Jong shot from distance that was swerving away. Everything else was pretty much routine for any keeper who got good position. Let's again single out Ziyech for an absolutely awful performance. I counted ONE decent over the top pass, lots of very poor free kicks and one nice shot on goal that just didn't want to curl into the upper corner of the goal. Was I missing anything? Why did Ajax pay all this money? He is no better than our big buy of 10 years ago Suleijmani. Let's hope he has a good WC for Morocco and someone offers to take him away next summer.

What troubles me even more is that the club just paniced at the end of the match lofting lots of high balls that were easily defended when some patience might have led to an actual shot on goal. Maybe Feyenoord do us a favor and beat PSV today but all indications are that van Bronckhorst is focusing on the mid-week cup tie against Willem II. I expect a PSV win that moves the margin up to an impossible 9 points.

Player Ratings:

ten Hag (2) - I give him some credit for substituting in some players but it should have been done earlier

Onana (5) - had a really bad throw out that was intercepted and created immediate danger; didn't have any difficult saves to make
Tagliafico (5.5) - decent enough match and defended well; got called for two phantom fouls in the 1st half
F de Jong (5.5) - had the best shot on goal and was a net plus on the day
de Ligt (6) - defensively a giant and I can't see him staying with this Ajax club past June
Veltman (5) - what can one say about a player who is too slow to play the position and can't deliver a cross?
Eiting (5) - average on the day
van de Beek (4.5) - could he have been more of an impact
Ziyech (3) - he is really bad and F de Jong should be moved into the MF for the rest of the season
Kluivert (4) - is he tired or just regressing? nothing positive to say about his performance that was marked by too many turnovers
S de Jong (5.5) - no complaints as I always thought he was a better striker than MF; had some decent passes and was unlucky on the header
Neres (5) - had trouble with ball control in the box and by the time he got his shot off the keeper had it well blocked
Cassiera (5) - everyone starts with a '5' and he did little to move the dial in either direction
Younes (5) - a couple of touches coming on late and perhaps he should have been in the match for the whole 2nd half
de Wit (NR) - on at the same time as Younes but I didn't see a single touch

I can't say much more than this really SUCKS!!!

[rjf1]

PSV got the opening goal in their game at the 23 minute mark -- we can forget about a first place finish -- really didn't deserve it this season, anyway. Who knows how the rest of the way will go -- we may not even hang on to second.

[SPL]

Cheers Ian , snow forecast from tomorrow in England but I fly at 2.30 pm from Gatwick and the snow should not arrive until the evening. Once in Rome I will indeed forget Ajax , until I am back late Friday.

[SPL]

Orange ,PSV win and they are 7 points clear but if they win today season is over.

My question to those running this club ,what purpose has been served sacking Keizer and replacing him with someone who is no better. Tactics v Utrecht and the first 60 mins today are not that of a coach worthy of Ajax. Unimpressed by this man .

When the big clubs come looking at our young talent ,only one is ready for a move ,de Ligt. I do think he will stay one more season as he still lives at home with Mum and Dad and says he wants to try living on his own.Think by this he means a year in his own place in Amsterdam .Dont see him exchanging rural Abcoude for the bright lights of London Barcelona this summer.

PS .PSV 2-0 up at HT season over for Ajax we can just play for 2nd place.

[Orange14]

Orange ,PSV win and they are 7 points clear but if they win today season is over.

My question to those running this club ,what purpose has been served sacking Keizer and replacing him with someone who is no better. Tactics v Utrecht and the first 60 mins today are not that of a coach worthy of Ajax. Unimpressed by this man .

Right you are, for some reason my brain blanked and I thought we were seven points adrift at the start of the day.

Have a good time in Rome. Our favorite restaurant is La Cabana which is right downtown. Here is the Trip Advisor link: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_ ... Lazio.html

[SPL]

Thanks for the info.Couldn't look up their website ,my computer says its got malware!

[Orange14]

Thanks for the info.Couldn't look up their website ,my computer says its got malware!

Yes, I get the same message. It's a very good place; my wife's cousin who lives in Rome right near the restaurant introduced it to us when we were in Rome several years ago. Food is very good across the board. I think you can make reservations pretty easily once you are in Italy.

EDIT: I now get malware notices when I try to find streams on Cricfree. I think the browsers are now set up to trigger these warnings all the time now.

[SPL]

I tend to look up the so called dodgy sites on my chromebook,built in virus protection. Just got a red warning on the restaurant. cricfree does appear to have dodgy things going on ,even with adblocks I get dodgy adverts.

I have made a note of the restaurant and will let you know if I try it.We are staying very near the Spannish steps,first time in Rome.

Back to footy PSV won and are 7 points clear,cannot see us making this up in 9 games.

[Orange14]

Am I watching the same Ajax matches as sportswriters in Holland? I ask this because de Telegraaf gave Ziyech a rating of 6.5 yesterday. IMO he was one of the poorest players on the pitch. furthermore, he is in the running for player of the year based on their rating system. I find this very strange. Yesterday, I saw two very nice plays from Ziyech with a lot of very poor free kicks (look how many corner kicks didn't even clear the first defender. Ajax paid a lot of money for this player and how many matches has he really made an impact?

both de Ligt and Tagliafico made the Telegraaf team of the week and I have no problems with that.