15 AUG 2024; Ajax - Panathinaikos; Europa League Qualifier

[Orange14]

Return match in the Arena.

[SPL]

A must win game as we then only play a moderate Polish side.Lose and its Lens to qualify for Conference and we may struggle to beat them.

[Tom_]

Thought they were going to throw it away in the first 20 minutes so I will take 0-0 at half time. I find it hard to see where an Ajax goal would come from with the players who are on the pitch. I’m expecting subs.

[SPL]

Bergwijn Brobbey and Godts need to come on.

[Tom_]

Well they played 90 minutes without a goal scorer and didn’t score any goals. Not looking forward to another 30 minutes of this.

Not sure why that wasn’t handball against Vilhena on the goal but it wasn’t even checked.

[Orange14]

Damn, extra time now. Henderson really should have cleared the ball. Defense was good and Ajax really unfortunate not to have scored. GK from Pathinaikos had some very good saves.

[saddlerian]

Can we have our 5 "reserves" back from Old Trafford? Watching this is just pure torture!
No cohesion!
No passion!
17 strangers!!
What the hell do they do on non-match days??

Not impressed with the way this management team have started!!

Pick your best team..and stick with them..cos the players don't know where they are at the moment!!

[Orange14]

and on to penalties we go. Disappointing that we did not score during regular time.

[Tom_]

Pasveer deserves a statue outside the ArenA for that.

[Tom_]

If I got the count right he saved 5 penalties, better than 1 in 4 which is good going.

[SPL]

That was the most dramatic penalty shootout ever,just waited for us to lose and Brobbey you are hopeless.
Kept thinking we are losing this and Lens will ko in the Conference so no Europe.

A rubbish performance but we survive

[SPL]

Pasveer superb and even scored a penalty himself.

[Orange14]

Full credit to Pasveer for the saves during the shootout. No credit to Brobbey and Traore for not even putting the ball on frame and forcing a save. If you have four chances to win the match on penalties, YOU SHOULD NOT MISS. Ajax were the better team during regulation but some good saves from the Pathinaikos keeper kept Ajax off the board. I don't know if there was a hand ball by Villhena on their goal, but the CR thought not and that was that. Henderson should have done better on the play and cleared the ball but it was one of those scramble situations. Other than that the defense is pretty solid. The team is well positioned and even when it looked like Pathinaikos was going to have a break away after a turnover, there was someone covering and the CBs stayed in position. Big props to Farioli for getting this team positionally aware. Lots of tired players from tonight and there will likely be squad rotation in Breda on Sunday.

On to the final qualifier for the Europa League. Ajax like to take that hard road!!!

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (9) - made some good saves in regulation and stopped five penalties in the shootout and took his kick like a striker;; cannot ask for anything more
Rensch (5.5) - had a really dumb turnover with a weak pass to Henderson but was above average otherwise; had to come off with a muscle injury late
Sutalo (7.5) - difference is night and day over last season, he's showing real promise as a solid backline player; I hope he does not leave
Baas (5) - three really bad plays early on and showed his nerves on the PK, but was otherwise decent
Hato (6.5) - though he had a decent game but came off for Brobbey late
Henderson (6.5) - other than the scramble on the goal, he had a good game; maybe I'm being harsh on that play but in the last minute of a match an experience player needs to step up
Taylor (7.5) - next to Pasveer he was the best player on the pitch for me, rock solid defensively had some good attacks on goal and took two nice penalties
Fitz-Jim (6.5) - had an early shot on goal that was saved and played well in the MF, I cannot remember a single bad pass
Berghuis (7) - solid game before coming off in the 2nd half, it may be that he is no longer a 90 minute player
Akpom (6.5) - much better a target man tonight with some good headers and was decent with the ball
Forbs (6) - a baffling player with great speed but it's sometimes to much for him to handle
Godts (7) - solid coming on for Forbs with some blazing speed; took his penalties well
Traore (4.5) - if you cannot put the penalty kick on frame, you have no right to be taking them
van den Boomen (7) - limited player but his freekicks and penalties are great
Gaaei (7) - on for Berghuis at wing and then moved to RB when Hato was subbed off; had a great match with no errors and got the MATCH WINNER
Brobbey (3) - on for the final 30 minutes and had a chance to win the game TWICE and FAILED each time; not good
Bergwijn (7) - on very late but gets a plus point for each made PK

Back to the league on Sunday and Ajax play some team I've never heard of and can't remember the name in the final qualifier.

[Orange14]

We play Polish team Jagiellonia Bialystok who lost to Bodo/Glimt in a Champions League playoff match.

[SPL]

What an exhausting night with those penalties.Pasveer the hero. This shootout was one of the longest ever with 34 penalties and has hit the headlines abroad.Thank goodness we won as we can now play European football this season.Surely we can beat the Polish team and be in the Europa League!

[saddlerian]

Good report in BBC site!!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/cn0lxd923ggt

By the way..maybe, to steady the ship for a year..Man U could "donate"..an "old" player? CE...just saying!!

[Amol]

The game wasn't shown on any of my gazillion streaming platforms. In hindsight, that might have extended my lifespan by a few hours. 34 penalties in a shootout is astounding. Once it had gone to PKs, I kinda gave up on the game based on our history with shootouts.

I'm all for growing a group of 17/18 players. It's a long season and we can't fix the garbage of 2 full seasons in 2 months with the same players. This ship has started turning, but it's going to take time and patience from all of us.

[SPL]

Realised we won on penalty no 34 , clearly Appie 's influence.