12 FEB 2023; Ajax - RKC; Match Day 21

[Orange14]

Fresh off a Beker win, Ajax host RKC before the first leg of the Europa League qualifier against Union Berlin. Feyenoord who went in overtime to win by penalties yesterday travel to Heerenveen on Sunday and PSV are home to Groningen on Saturday.

[SPL]

Don't see any changes to the starting line up unless he plays Bassey and puts Alvarez at DM . Brobbey and Conceicao will stay as subs as neither can last 90 mins.They could rest Kudus and give Brobbey an hour but unlikely as Kudus is on fire.We really have no one else to bring in as a starter.

[GangstaRiB]

CCC on the left for Bergwijn. Official story is that Bergwijn is not 100% fit, but rumors are starting that he doesn’t act as a pro.

RKC scores while I’m typing this… 0-1.

[kezme44]

very poor half of football. conceicao keeps running into defenders or tricking himself out. wijndal making a mistake leading to the rkc goal.

[SPL]

Poor performance so far. Post above sums up Conceicao and Wijndal and the other summer signings are not good enough to start.Brobbey must come on for Conceicao ,Tadic back to left wing , what other subs can we make although Fitz-Jim cannot be worse than Taylor.

[SPL]

The goal has got us going

[kezme44]

berghuis having a very good game especially when he stays on the right

[Orange14]

Other than poor coverage on the RKC goal, Ajax were pretty much in control of the game. They were rotating the ball quickly trying to find gaps in the packed in RKC defense. Eventually the goals came for a 3-1 win. Rulli had one tough save to make but he was way to lackadaisical on the offsides call that negated a RKC goal. The back line was good in stepping up, forcing attackers into an offside position. The pressing was very effective with Ajax regaining possession more often than not. the top five teams in the table all won their matches so there is no change in the order with Feyenoord sill maintaining first place.

Player Ratings:

Rulli (6) - made one good save but had a couple of not so good plays
Rensch (7) - much better play from him before going off, he defended and pressed well and worked hard on offense with some good overlaps and passing
Timber (7.5) - had a couple of nice runs into the offensive half and was calm defending; got his first goal in a year which turned out to be the match winner
Alvarez (7.5) - strong on defense both on the back line and in the MF when Bassey came on
Wijndal (6.5) - really sloppy pass that started RKC on to the attack for their only goal of the game but otherwise was decent
Taylor (6.5) - don't know if he was directly at fault on the goal, but overall he was above average
Klaassen (5.5) - had a couple of runs into the box, but the team is much better with Kudus in the attacking MF position
Berghuis (6.5) - had some good moments with the ball and his looping kicks into the box always were dangerous
Kudus (8) - just a rock solid match but he is better in the MF than on the wing
Tadic (7.5) - some very good ball control in the box
Conceicao (6) - started on the left as Bergwijn was not fit
Bassey (6.5) - defended well which is all he was asked to do
Brobbey (6) - got a nice goal and made some good runs to get free
Hato (NR) - on late
Sanchez (NR) - on late
Rassmussen (NR) - on late

Ajax are home to Union Berlin in the Europa League qualifying match next Thursday. Union are surprisingly in 2nd place in the Bundesliga and have two former Ajax youth players: Sheraldo Becker and Danilho Doekhli who are starters. Of the leaders, only PSV also play on Thursday with a trip to Seville. Feyenoord and AZ are already qualified for the knock out round.

[SPL]

A hard fought win and only when Kudus got the 3rd could we breath easy.Lucky they were offside when Rulli made a shambles and put the ball in the net.

So next week ,if we beat Sparta and Feyenoord v AZ was a draw we would end up a point off top and we are still playing poorly.Doesn't say much for the other teams.(My son read the BBC article this week, Ajax crisis, and then laughed when he saw we were only 3 points off top.)

Kudus,Tadic Berghuis all good games and Brobbey I thought worked hard ,he does have the knack of scoring. In the 2nd half Bassey at CD and Alvarez at DM did improve play as Alvarez is still better at MF.

[souras84]

I don't see Conceicao as a starter. He just isn't ready for it. Maybe his a good sub, but that's it. Sure he's fast, with quick feet to cause troubles, but he seems incapable of making a good pass when the time is right. He is always slow when it comes to passing and he loses the ball very easily sometimes. The potential is there, but not yet

[Orange14]

I don't see Conceicao as a starter. He just isn't ready for it. Maybe his a good sub, but that's it. Sure he's fast, with quick feet to cause troubles, but he seems incapable of making a good pass when the time is right. He is always slow when it comes to passing and he loses the ball very easily sometimes. The potential is there, but not yet

I agree. this is why David Neres was so good before he had the knee injury. He always knew where the outlet was and did not get double teamed. He knew when to try to beat the man and when to lay it off. Concecao has to learn this.

[Amol]

The Chico experiment on the LW didn't work at all. The first half was just not very good and we got punished for Wijndal's misplaced pass.

Bassey did well when he came on and Brobbey finally added some teeth to our attack.

I could be wrong, but it seemed like we were playing 4-4-2 for parts of the 2nd half with both Brobbey and Tadic as the front two.

All in all a hard fought victory.

[SPL]

Agree above comments on Conceicao, at present he is not the finished article and probably should still be learning in Young Ajax with just late subs appearances in 1st.

[Orange14]

Ajax are pretty exposed right now with the thin roster. The real problem is with the wingers. Tadic can't play 90 minutes on the LW and even when he is playing he's a shadow of his former self. Who can play RW? Kudus is really best at #10 which means Klaassen has to sit (my preferred option). Maybe Berguis moves back to RW.

[SPL]

Bergwijn has to start on LW with Kudus and Berghuis alternating RW and no 10.Brobbey cannot really last 90 mins so I expect Tadic to stay at strike role for now.

On the playing front Ajax keeping Schrueder beyond the Emmen shambles,when he should have gone, we lost Blind. He was getting slow but no way is Wijndal anywhere near as good .

[Amol]

We kept Schreuder about 4 months too long. I thought the loss against Napoli would do it. When they didn't fire him after that, then I thought they'd fire him after the CL group stage. We could've kept Blind and probably given Heitinga (or someone else) additional time to prep the team for the 2nd half of the season.