15 APR 2018; PSV - Ajax; Match Day 31

[SPL]

Siem a red and Onana nearly going.Disgrace

[Amol]

How in the world was that a straight red for Siem? Was not even a yellow

Arias (the RB) was on the side by the halfline running back towards his goal and was tripped. That is not a red card. This is bizarre.

[rjf1]

2nd yellow for Tagliaffico -- seems like a perfect example of what this game has been. And now a red for Siem -- even more perfect. Just blow the final whistle and end the misery.

[rjf1]

How in the world was that a straight red for Siem? Was not even a yellow

He stepped down with his cleats on the guy's ankle. could have easily broken the ankle.

[Amol]

How in the world was that a straight red for Siem? Was not even a yellow

He stepped down with his cleats on the guy's ankle. could have easily broken the ankle.

Really? I have a terrible stream - didn't see that at all.

[rjf1]

Referee was thankfully merciful -- blew the end exactly on 90 -- no added time.

[saddlerian]

Absolute disgrace!!! It's about time they got rid of the "Coach" role and had a playing leader on the field!!!

[SPL]

Bizarre no injury time ,must have been 6 or 7 mins just spared us.

A shambolic performance by Ajax and discipline went ,not from the kids but the oldens.

Seriously I want v d Sar ,Overmars to resign tonight .They got Bosz out ,appointed Keizer sacked him and did not sign the players needed in the summer ie an experienced CD and 2 decent full backs.

Ten Hag out of his depth has to go

[rjf1]

How in the world was that a straight red for Siem? Was not even a yellow

He stepped down with his cleats on the guy's ankle. could have easily broken the ankle.

Really? I have a terrible stream - didn't see that at all.

They showed it on the replay -- it was pretty obvious seeing it on the replay.

[Amol]

Ten Hag out of his depth has to go

100% agree. With Keizer at least - you could see him trying out a few things and succeeding and failing. With this guy, it has just been terrible.

[rjf1]

Nothing is going to change for this team until the Board starts caring more for fielding a championship team than they do for making money for the shareholders.

[Orange14]

On a day when players needed to step up and show what Ajax football is like, most of them decided to play their poorest match of the year. Ajax were no match for PSV losing almost every contested ball, playing very poor positional defense, and only creating one real opportunity on goal. The midfield was totally over run and aside from a couple of searching passes the trio of Ziyech, van de Beek and Schöne were exceptionally poor. Of course this has been a problem for Ajax ever since the tragedy in the Austrian alps and no real good solution is in sight.

Questions remain about ten Hag. What's up with the corners? Why were both Schöne and Ziyech at the corner flag and everything was to the short man rather than whipping a ball into the box when we have some good headers of the ball?

No silverware of any kind since the 2013-14 season. This is unacceptable. I could go on but will leave it at that!

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - can't be faulted on any of the goals and made some nice saves to prevent even a worse rout
Tagliafico (3.5) - sent off after a second yellow and generally poor
Wöber (4) - beaten in the air by L de Jong for the second goal
de Ligt (5.5) - tried to keep things together on the back line but that was an impossible task
Veltman (3.5) - beaten badly on several occasions
Schöne (3) - too slow even for the Eredivisie
van de Beek (3) - a true horror story of a game after a very good inaugural season as a starter
Ziyech (5) - a couple of pretty passes but too many others were off the mark and it's time to say good bye
Kluivert (4.5) - not much of a contribution at all
Huntelaar (5.5) - had the one chance on goal but it was too close to the keeper and I'm surprised he stayed in the game for as long as he did with all the persistent fouling
Neres (5) - a couple of good moves in the box but never a chance to get a shot off
S de Jong (4) - saw Red when he lunged out and caught the PSV player's Achilles
Dolberg (5) - I guess he gets a '5' for being on the pitch but did he ever see the ball?

Ajax are still in danger of dropping down to third place as they are only five points ahead of AZ. Ajax are home to VVV on Thursday while AZ take on Vitesse.

[Orange14]

Nothing is going to change for this team until the Board starts caring more for fielding a championship team than they do for making money for the shareholders.

Shareholders don't get any money. I believe that only 30% of the stock is publicly traded and no dividends are paid. the only thing that management needs to do is maintain a stable financial situation which they have done for the past 10 years.

[Orange14]

We were not the only team to stink up the pitch today. ManU lost 0-1 to relegated West Bromich Albion to give ManCity the title (ManCity would have won it eventually).

[GangstaRiB]

The mentality that PSV showed today was supposed to be shown by Ajax. Nuff said. Ajax was a spectator today.

[rjf1]

Nothing is going to change for this team until the Board starts caring more for fielding a championship team than they do for making money for the shareholders.

Shareholders don't get any money. I believe that only 30% of the stock is publicly traded and no dividends are paid. the only thing that management needs to do is maintain a stable financial situation which they have done for the past 10 years.

Whether dividends get paid or not, the share price rises - which makes money for the shareholders. As for stable financial situation, IMO, that has become an excuse for not spending enough money on the team. Every other team in football seems, somehow, to manage without a Coronel Report. Imagine that!

[ferry]

Ten Hag out of his depth has to go

100% agree. With Keizer at least - you could see him trying out a few things and succeeding and failing. With this guy, it has just been terrible.

Yep. At first I was intrigued by the backstory of Ten Hag and Schreuder; Ten Hag as the guy who lives an breathes football and Schreuder with his experience from Hoffenheim where they have interesting and unusual training methods, and wanted to see what (if anything) they could add to Ajax. I totally understand that it's not easy to step in mid-season, but things really haven't progressed one bit, quite the opposite really. Football hasn't improved, and it seems that players are less motivated, and seem to be unclear on how to play as a team. On top of that I don't appreciate the guy's presentation in the press. I don't care about his accent, it really has to do with the things he says. After yesterday's game he blamed the young guys, while the "experienced" ones really were just as crap, if not worse. Also his comment in the run up to the game that PSV would be scared of Ajax was nothing more than hollow rhetoric that backfired immediately after the game yesterday. (Cocu saying "of course we were shaking in our boots..")

I don't see Ten Hag turn the tide, but also don't expect van der Sar and Overmars to do anything about it. I wouldn't be surprised if they come up with some half-arsed solution, like adding a more experience assistent coach or something.

Peter Bosz did a great job last year covering up the mess that's Ajax at the moment, didn't he. At the same time it shows what a capable manager can do.

[SPL]

From what I read this morning if Ten Hag stays I think more players will leave.He had them play a full 11 aside game last weds and the players were unhappy.

Some fans met the team bus last night and pushed Ziyech.He is certain to leave and others I see going.Some players are advising de Ligt to leave .

v d Sar and Overmars should be sacked today and take Ten Hag with them.A year ago everything was rosy for our future but it is now a shambles.

[Orange14]

After yesterday's game he blamed the young guys, while the "experienced" ones really were just as crap, if not worse. Also his comment in the run up to the game that PSV would be scared of Ajax was nothing more than hollow rhetoric that backfired immediately after the game yesterday. (Cocu saying "of course we were shaking in our boots..")

ten Hag seems not to have any clue about what a manager's role is. Perhaps he wants to take the Mourinho role and call out players with sarcasm but Mourinho for all his faults wins championships. Two of the best players on the pitch yesterday were de Ligt and Neres and one can hardly call them experienced!!

From what I read this morning if Ten Hag stays I think more players will leave.He had them play a full 11 aside game last weds and the players were unhappy.

Some fans met the team bus last night and pushed Ziyech.He is certain to leave and others I see going.Some players are advising de Ligt to leave .

v d Sar and Overmars should be sacked today and take Ten Hag with them.A year ago everything was rosy for our future but it is now a shambles.

It was interesting to see all the supporters comments over on Ajax Showtime yesterday. Just as we the 'foreign' contingent, they are outraged at what is going on. The optimism of last Spring spurred on by making it to a European cup final is now in tatters. We'll probably see a clean out of players this summer and the spiral towards just being a feeder club for young talent will be closer to realization. It's all too sad.

[Orange14]

Pass maps and the statistical analysis of yesterday's disaster: https://www.ajaxlife.nl/updates/passmap ... svaja-1718

[Ayman]

If you think about it, finishing second will be a struggle, I can see Ajax scraping a win against VVV who have had a long losing streak, then lose at home to AZ Alkmaar, then draw away to Excelsior. Despite a superior goal difference against AZ (of 19+), they play at home to Zwolle in their last game, who, by then won't be able to enter the play offs, and thus nothing to play for, and go into the game with their legs open and maybe even lose by double digits.
Will that be enough to get ten Hag the sack? Unlikely, only if Ajax finish third, but none of us want that!

[SPL]

If he has lost the players and there are hints he has then he will go.

Only good bit of news Siem is banned for 2 games so hopefully he wont appear v Excelsior and then push off in the summer. I really dont see anything positive in him being here.

[Orange14]

Tagliafico only misses one match, correct?

[Ayman]

Tagliafico only misses one match, correct?

Yep