17 AUG 2025; Go Ahead Eagles - Ajax; Match Day 2

[Orange14]

Ajax on the road against one of the surprise teams from last season.

[Orange14]

I think this will be a very tricky fixture. Ajax had trouble with this team last season and I expect the same this year. It will be a real test of Heitinga's ability. I'm worried that he his left all the good points of Farioli's approach in the dust and Ajax are looking much less organized.

[SPL]

Agree with your points on Heitinga, I have no real faith in him as a coach .

[GangstaRiB]

Go Ahead is still in pretty good shape despite they've lost their coach.

I agree that this will be a test for the Ajax team and Heitinga. First game against Telstar.. season opener.. lot of pressure.. the result acceptable, but the style of play was not.

Go Ahead will be a top 5-8 team this year, so a proper test.

On the one hand I hope that Ajax will get it done. On the other hand.. a loss will (hopefully) wake some people up and might result in some improvements (new signings) for the squad. Like what happened when we bought Zyiech years ago when the season opening became a disaster.

[SPL]

Itakara starts and Gaaei is Rb ,thankfully no Reeger. Godts Traore Bouwman all minor injuries

[Tom_]

Horrible. Nothing good to say about this.

Basically every outfield player is mid-table eredivisie standard except maybe the CDs. And they’re playing like they’ve never met each other, forget anything resembling a game plan.

It’s giving me real August 2023 terrors.

[Tom_]

Crap game all up but a slightly better second half. Fitz-Jim was the only bright spot for me. Edvardsen has also been consistently better than any of our other 4 players who play on the wing - no idea why he’s bottom of the list.

[SPL]

Agree Tom , Fitz-Jim our best MF and Edvardsen the best of the wingers.Itakara looks a good defender. We need a no 6 and no 3 as Henderson and Hato have gone and Wijndal is pure rubbish at defending . We buy Moro but he played at left wing and is no better than Godts or Edvardsen and Gloukh a no 10 gets put on left wing where he does nothing .

And we badly need a quality striker , Weghort is a good sub . Klaassen can be a sub but no way should he start.

Quality of our squad is not good enough.

[Orange14]

What an odd game. Ajax had 23 shots with 11 on target but a couple of good saves kept their output to only two goals. For me, Ajax looked so much better in the final 20 minutes playing with a patchwork lineup when Itakura had to come off. Having a good passing MF in Fitz-Jim made all the differenced as his handling speed is the best on the team. I only wish he was a little taller and stronger. Klaassen other than the goal was abysmal, realizing he failed to cover the attacking MF who scored the 2nd goal for Go Ahead Eagles. Heitinga is proving to be a baffling manager and I hope he gets things sorted out soon. I am getting tired at the rotating manager carousel. Edvardsen proved again that he should be a regular, he always puts in a great shift and presses well. Honestly don't know why Oscar was subbed in at left wing. Godts, Traore, Brobbey and Sutalo all not fit and really other than possibly Sutalo, none of them were missed.

Player Ratings:

Jaros (6) - did not have any difficult saves to make and was undone by some poor ball handling
Gaaei (5.5) - nothing to write home about
Itakura (7) - had a couple of very good plays on defense before coming off, hope there is not a serious injury
Baas (7.5) - best player for Ajax, cool defending and ball handling
Wijndal (6) - had a couple of poor defensive plays but overall was a net positive on the game with some good moves up the field
Mokio (4.5) - had a poor give away and looked lost at times, came off after the half
Davy One Goal (4.5) - I don't care if he scores, he is such a huge liability on the field
Taylor (5.5) - virtually silent all game long with only a couple of shooting opportunities
Berghuis (7) - over all a strong game as he moved from wing to MF after the half
Weghorst (6) - had some shots but none of them were troubling
Moro (5) - he is good with the ball at his feet but he made a bad pass that led to one of the goals
Edvardsen (7) - ran and ran and then ran some more always with a purpose
Oscar (5.5) - hard to tell how good he is when he is played out of position
Fitz-Jim (6.5) - saw the field well with quick pinpoint passing
Rosa (6) - played a mistake free game in the final portion
Reeger (NR) - on for the final 12 minutes and was decent

Home to Heracles next weekend.

[Tom_]

Fitz-Jim looks like he might have bulked up a little to me. Maybe this will be his season.

You mentioned managers Orange… it’s not impossible that we’re outside the top 3 after 10 games or so and if that’s the case I think Heitinga will be toast. Not saying I want that but it’s how the club does things.

[SPL]

Agree Tom's comment at Ht ie apart from the 2xCd's the rest are midtable erdivisie standard. Early days but Moro and Gloukh dont look any better than we already have.

[SPL]

I think this going to be a difficult season as I am not the only fan who does not have much faith in Heitinga . I would be happy if he can get us 3rd place .

Henderson and Hato are the only 2 regulars gone and we have not replaced them.Meanwhile we have 4 left wingers and no right winger,just Berghuis who is too slow and Traore who runs around like a headless chicken.

And no striker ,Weghorst is ok as a sub Brobbey is shambolic .

[Tom_]

Yes, me too. I find it hard to watch, our attackers are so uninspiring. It will probably be a slog!

[Amol]

Biggest liability currently is the coaching staff.

Mokio looked like a superstar in the making last year and now goes missing in games. Moro is playing LW, when we could've started him at RW and Edvardsen at LW. Klaassen scored a goal but then was terrible as a DM and was the one who forgot to mark the run of the GAE midfielder on their goal.

2nd half improved a lot and ball movement improved tons with Fitz-Jim at DM.

We ended with Regeer at RB and Rosa at RCB. I was sure that we'd let in a goal, but somehow managed to keep ours heads together.

[Orange14]

Watch Jong Ajax matches when they are on. Very enjoyable Ajax football!!!!

[SPL]

Cannot get Jong game here in Uk.

[Orange14]

Cannot get Jong game here in Uk.

The only way you can do it is with an IPTV subscription. You can watch Dutch ESPN and other sports channels this way. It is a bit of a gray area and there is no guarantee that the service won't be shut down at any point in time. I've had one for five years now as the US does not carry any of the Cup matches. Probably about 1/2 of the Jong Ajax matches are televised during the season.