02 FEB 2025; Ajax-Feyenoord; Match Day 20

[Orange14]

Don't know who will be leaving the team before Sunday, or for that matter who will be healthy. Weird that Henderson just bought a big house in Amsterdam and now wants to leave. Maybe that's just a silly rumor but he wasn't the captain for the final Europa League pool game. I would like to see Bounida in the team as a back up at left wing.

[Tom_]

Henderson been solid this season but he’s not irreplaceable. Pundits are going nuts (which is their job I guess), I’m not too fussed and we’ll get the answer soon enough.

[SPL]

Big question who will be LW.Godts injured Edvardsen may not be registered in time and Akpom off on loan to Lille. Kroes is making a shambolic mess.

[Orange14]

Ajax will announce the signing of Neymar as his contract in Saudi Arabia has been cancelled.

[SPL]

Fitz-Jim at LW and Klaassen starting . I would expect some protests by F Side against Kroes.If we lose there will be trouble from our fans.

[SPL]

Bounida is in the squad so he is not likely to be leaving on Monday ,hope his contract can be renewed.Fans would rather have our own youth over moderate signings.

[SPL]

Utrecht only draw at Zwolle so they are 3 points behind us having played 2 games more. 3 points tomorrow and we will be odds on for 2nd place.

[Orange14]

Fitz-Jim at LW and Klaassen starting . I would expect some protests by F Side against Kroes.If we lose there will be trouble from our fans.

Do any of the F-Side think they could do any better job? This isn't like playing FIFA on your computer, it's playing with real money and trying to figure out how to get new players when the club has no money to spend. Farioli has done a more than decent job and the club is not leaking goals as they did last year. Maybe Farioli leaves after this season, I don't know. He might want a job in Italy. Everyone who has posted here knows that this is going to be a multi-year process and the fact that we are in 2nd place is just amazing.

[SPL]

Agree about Farioli doing a great job.If we in today ,and its an IF, we are going to be odds on for 2nd and looking to be champs as PSV now dropping points.

Only issue is who is going to leave the club tomorrow,will Henderson go and will Ramaj both would need replacing. I am anti Kroes and think he is a disaster so far.I have zero faith in him and I know we need to cut wages but he paid Weghorst 2m plus when we had 2 strikers and Rugani 2m plus as aback up.Berghuis is going to get 2m and he is washed up.

So back to today and this is the most important game we will play in 2025.Win and CL next season looks a good bet. Bounida to come on and get the winner!

[Orange14]

Agree about Farioli doing a great job.If we in today ,and its an IF, we are going to be odds on for 2nd and looking to be champs as PSV now dropping points.

I was watching the 2nd half of the PEC Zwolle - PSV game. PSV scored their third goal with only about five minutes left. I'm thinking that this one is over and turned off the stream. Was I ever surprised this morning to see that it ended 3-3. PSV is looking very fragile right now.

[SPL]

I saw the score 3-1 at 90 and thought thats an easy win. Klaassen and Berghuis start ,F-Jim sub

[SPL]

So far so good and VAR correctly gave the goal.A quick 2nd would settle nerves but lets just win this.

[Tom_]

So far so good, the thing that’s making me nervous is that Feyenoord are quick on the counter and Traoré and Taylor keep giving the ball away when their teammates are in front of them. Not smart against a team looking to counter.

If they can get through the next 15 I think Rugani will probably come on to close up shop. I’m all for it as these would be very valuable points.

[Tom_]

Phew. What a cross from Gaaei. He was MOTM for me. Hato also had a great game.

[SPL]

Wow what a game and what finish. A fantastic goal to win the game and now we can challenge PSV but still a long way to go.Need to calm down now.

[Orange14]

WOW!!!!!!!!!!! Could not ask for a more exciting Klassiker than this one. Pretty even by the stats, but a great winning goal by Taylor and an even better pass from Gaaei proved to be the match winner. Ajax had great goalkeeping from Pasveer and stout defending other than the poor clearance that resulted in the equalizing goal from Timber. Henerson is my MOTM. Almost off to Monaco a couple of days ago, he was stalwart on defense and steadied the club during some rocky moments. Hato was strong at LB, neutralizing Moussa and both CBs for Ajax had good games. The big problem were the poor outlet passes that were often intercepted.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (7.5) - made some really tough saves
Gaaei (7.5) - solid game and what a delightful pass to Taylor for the match winner, went forward strongly and defended deccently
Sutalo (7.5) - strong defending
Baas (7) - defended well but was one who had a couple of weak outlet passes
Hato (7.5) - absolutely controlled the left side of the defense
Henderson (8) - rock solid and was all over the field pressing hard
Taylor (7) - very quiet and sloppy at times BUT he got the match winner on a great cutting run
Klaassen (6.5) - played hard but was limited before coming off
Traore (5) - ordinary and very sloppy
Brobbey (6.5) - got the opening goal and was decent, subbed off at the half but was on the bench adding support
berghuis (7) - best match of the season and set the tone with a blistering shot about a minute into the game; did an outstanding job tracking back and defending
Weghorst (6) - did a decent job coming in for Brobbey but unfortunately missed his PK
Fitz-Jim (6.5) - on for Klaassen and was good with the ball at his feet
Rassmussen (6) - had two good runs where he got in on goal and should have scored at least once
Regeer (5) - hard to tell whether he is decent or not other than he received a deserved YC for a high boot
Rugani (NR) - on late for defense

On the road next week to Fortuna Sittard. Two points behind PSV with a game in hand. Who would have thought this!!

[Tom_]

Any thoughts on the crowd booing when Rasmussen came on?

Pasveer was not impressed. I don’t know what Rasmussen would have done to upset the fans so my only thought is that they were hoping to see Bounida and so they were just booing the substitution in general…

[saddlerian]

Orange14.." Weghorst (6) - did a decent job coming in for Brobbey but unfortunately missed his PK"
What match were you looking at??
Unfit, blind, waste of space, donkey...four possible terms for Weghorst!!
I've watched the game again and it clearly shows he doesn't have much vision , always looking at the ball by his feet!!
As for holding the ball up like Brobbey..he held the ball up for 20 seconds the last minute!! Is that good value??

[Amol]

Yeeeehaaaawww!!! What a win!

We sat back and defended in the 2nd half for some reason right before Q Timber came on. I was pretty sure that we were going to give up a goal.

But that one-two between Gaaei and Weghorst on the byline and Gaaei's cross streaking across the field to Taylor who made a very intelligent run between the 2 F-word defenders. So beautiful and poetry in action. I'm liking how much Gaaei has improved this season.