18 SEP 2022; AZ - Ajax; Match Day 7

[Orange14]

Time to regroup after the loss to Liverpool last night. Ajax travel to Aalkmaar to take on AZ. AZ have a Thursday night Europa Conference Game against FC Vaduz and will have two fewer rest days than Ajax. These fixtures are always tricky for Ajax.

[Orange14]

I really dislike Nijhuis as a referee. Should have been 2 YCs on AZ

[SPL]

A poor performance so far.1 chance which was a good goal but Rensch never looked like taking control of the ball and ex Ajax youth Mees de Wit took his goal well. The 2nd Bassey kept the AZ player on side.

If we lucky we may get a draw from this game.

[SPL]

Overall rubbish performance apart from Pasveer. Frustrating my stream froze dead on 90 mins so missed most of ET.

[Orange14]

An absolutely dreadful first 60 minutes of football with two cheap goals conceded. Rensch was again poor at RB and there is no solution until Sanchez comes back from his injury. 2nd goal was deep into first half stoppage time with Ajax playing Odgaard on sides. Pasveer again kept things from getting out of hand with some nice saves and Ajax had three decent shots saved off the line. What was most troubling is Ajax could not figure out how to get the ball up out of their half in the first half. It wasn't as though AZ had the type of press that Liverpool showed earlier in the week. AZ had two fewer days of rest though you would not have known it.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (7.5) - kicking was not the best but then he had no outlets to pass to but made several key saves
Rensch (3.6) - did very little positive at all
Timber (7) - kept a cool head and was good on the ball
Bassey (5.5) - seemed to be all over the place and out of position at times
Blind (7) - rather good game from him as he defended well and had some nice passes
Alavarez (6.5) - decent enough but saw little help from his fellow MFs
Taylor (5) - had the one good run to help create the goal but was MIA and came off early
Berghuis (6) - had some good movement off the ball but maybe could have come back further to help break the press
Tadic (6) - he's really uncomfortable on the right side and his lack of quickness is to apparent these days
Kudus (5.5) - mishandled the ball on his goal and he really is not good with his back to the goal as he has trouble controlling the ball; IMO the #9 experiment should end
Bergwign (5) - hardly saw the ball in the first half and was double teamed every time in the 2nd
Klaassen (5) - he is another player who is now a step too slow and poor on the ball
Brobbey (5.5) - played really hard and did control the ball when it came to him
Lucca (5.5) - two headers on goal which was good to see and had a close penalty shout out near the end of the game
Ocampos (NR) - came in late and had a couple of crosses that did not do much

Off next weekend for the international break and now are 2nd on goal difference to PSV.

[Orange14]

Overall rubbish performance apart from Pasveer. Frustrating my stream froze dead on 90 mins so missed most of ET.

Too bad as they almost scored twice!!!

[SPL]

Was frustrating having seen all 90 mins and there being over 9 mins of ET.Tadic and Klaassen are struggling,both should be in their last season.Klaassen is too slow and I would have prefered to see Fitz-Jim get 10 mins.Tadic is no longer effective enough to get 90 mins.Big problem with Antony going at the last minute we have Ocampos but he does not look up to much.

How does Rensch get into the Oranje squad and also Taylor ,neither are good enough for Internationals.

[Tom_]

Ajax is really missing a quality midfielder.