21 JAN 2018; Ajax - Feyenoord; Match Day 19

[SPL]

KJH 2-0 we are on fire

[Orange14]

....and a nice second goal

[Tom_]

And Huntelaar does a Huntelaar!!!

[Ayman]

2-0 Huntelaar!

[Dave the mac]

Yes!! 2-0

[SPL]

Red card for the biggest of their thugs.Wont be the first of their thugs who will get a red today.

[Ayman]

Jorgensen is sent off for a foul on Veltman, second yellow card.

[Ayman]

On the bright side, at least he subbed with only 5 minutes left, although 5 minutes plus stoppage time with Siem de Jong feel a lot longer...

[SPL]

agree with sub, Siem does not impress me.

Very comfortable win once we got 2 good goals inside 2mins and then their red. After that it was training exercise by us and the last 30 mins we played in 1st gear.

[Dave the mac]

Wow, great game.

[SPL]

Dave I bet you are glad you got up at 5.30. enjoy your breakfast

[Ayman]

Apparently, Erik ten Hag doesn't usually sub players until after 80 minutes, that could be a good thing in this case, but if some players are clearly tired, then the drawback will be exposed

[Orange14]

Two goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half and then playing against a 10 man Feyenoord for thirty minutes and it ended up 2-0. Ajax were quite sloppy playing against 10 and should have really taken the dagger out. They didn't seem to be able to solve the clogged up midfield but we shouldn't be too picky since it was a pretty dominant match. Too my eyes, I didn't see much difference in the tactics today compared to what Keizer was implementing and ten Hag stuck with the starting 11 until the 80th minute which was a bit of a surprise.

Player Ratings:

Onana (7) - tremendous save near the end of the first half but had little to do for the most part
Taliafico (7) - good game save the poor defense on Berghuis who got past him for a diving header that was well saved
de Ligt (8) - solid all match with nice clearance off the line in the second half
Veltman (7.5) - nicely done going forward with the cross to KJH for the 2nd goal
F de Jong (6.5) - two poor moves where he stayed on the ball too long in the defensive end but otherwise good; really want to see him in the MF full time
Schöne (7) - steady all match long
van de Beek (7) - really nice goal for the match winner but silent for too much of the match
Ziyech (7) - decent enough today
Kluivert (6.5) - held the ball too long allowing for a double team; needs to study how Neres deals with these situations but some nice interplay otherwise
Huntelaar (7) - put away the pass from Veltman for the second goal
Neres (7) - solid game as usual
S de Jong (5.5) - on for van de Beek and only had a couple of chances
Wöber (NR) - on very late

PSV in the late match today at Heracles. Ajax are really in need of help if they hope to overtake the leaders.

[Ayman]

Agree with your post match ratings @Orange14 I hope van de Beek and Kluivert improve, and it was a surprise how well Veltman was doing at right back, usually he lacks quality crosses in the final third. Hope he keeps it up

[SPL]

Agree ratings .Donny did not have a good game ,apart from the goal.Justin is still learning the game and will have quiet games. Talk that Man u and Spurs want him is crazy , no way is he ready for that level.

We really should have been more ruthless in that last 30 mins and won 5-0.

[Ayman]

Van Bronckhorst: ”The red card changed the game”

Errr.. No Gio! The two goals scored against Feyenoord happened before the sending off, not after!

http://www.football-oranje.com/van-bron ... nged-game/


ten Hag: ”Football is all about results and we know that we must improve in future.

”Even in the fine details, it’s about fine-tuning. What we do off the ball and becoming even more dangerous when attacking.

”We want to improve and get even better and we must keep working hard.”

Good sign! http://www.football-oranje.com/ten-hag- ... y-control/

[Cruijff]

What is the story with the warm up shirts Ajax players are wearing? It looks like an image of van Hannegan

Van Hanegem has to face an operation because of prostate cancer.

[Tom_]

Van Bronckhorst: ”The red card changed the game”

Maybe he's right... IIRC Feyenoord had one shot before the red card, and two afterwards. Was Kuipers trying to help them out by getting their crappy striker off the pitch?

[Philippe]

Great atmosphere. Lousy opponent.

[SPL]

I thought they were pretty aweful .Midfield had nil creativity and until he went off Boetius's name was never mentioned. They defended well until we sliced through them for Donny to score.
How on earth did that shower win the title?

[Dave the mac]

Hey SPL, looks like next weekend the match is even earlier! Ugh

[Orange14]

Hey SPL, looks like next weekend the match is even earlier! Ugh

This is the one thing that prevents me from moving back to California; Ajax matches would be on in the middle of the night!!!

[Tom_]

It could be worse! This was on at 2:30 a.m. down here at the end of the world...

I get up for the big games, the rest I watch on delay :)

[Dave the mac]

Where do you broadcast from Tom? Watching delayed is not an option for me.... Damn.
Could be worse of course.

[Tom_]

I use foxsports.nl with a VPN. They have the week’s matches on demand, so if you can avoid finding out the result it’s fine.