02 AUG 2017 Ajax - OCG Nice CL 3rd Qualifying Round

[Orange14]

I guess we now have to play in the next qualifying round for the Europa League.

[Tomy14]

Very disappointed...!! All i have to say is that if Bosz was still our manager Ajax would have been through! Thank god Mr Bergkamp is happy.

[saddlerian]

Player Ratings:

Onana (7) - made a very nice save on the first goal but there was nobody covering the left side
Viergever (6.5) - had a couple of rough patches on defense but the header to Sanchez for the go ahead goal was beautiful
de Ligt (7) - didn't see anything wrong with his game
Sanchez (7) - rocky first five minutes and then wonderful the rest of the way
Veltman (6.5) - it would be nice if we had a fullback on the right who is offensively inclined
Schöne (6) - just a margin above OK
van de Beek (7) - it's easy to forget about Klaassen with a player such as van de Beek
Ziyech (7) - another fine game
Younes (4.5) - weakest player on the pitch
Dolberg (6) - some good play on the ball and I liked how he took Dante to the cleaners
Kluivert (7) - nobody could contain him
de Jong (4) - stayed on the ball too long and was dispossessed
Huntelaar (NR) - didn't see the end of the match
Neres (NR) - didn't see the end of the match

Ajax are away to Heracles a week from Saturday to open the Eredivisie campaign

Were you watching the same game??? Nothing wrong with the defence...except, no cohesion.
Midfield...weak, tried to be too "pretty" and not really attacking.
Attack.....???????

You say Youness was the weakest player on the pitch....among others...Kluivert did one or two things...dolberg, not much...Ziyech looked as though he wants away....after last week's excellent display in Nice, this was an utter disaster.....how the hell can a team change from confident attackers to scared defenders???

Upset...yes....Angry....yes.....what happened??????

[Orange14]

Were you watching the same game??? Nothing wrong with the defence...except, no cohesion.
Midfield...weak, tried to be too "pretty" and not really attacking.
Attack.....???????

You say Youness was the weakest player on the pitch....among others...Kluivert did one or two things...dolberg, not much...Ziyech looked as though he wants away....after last week's excellent display in Nice, this was an utter disaster.....how the hell can a team change from confident attackers to scared defenders???

Other than the last six minutes when the feed dropped off I believe I was watching the Ajax/Nice match. Feel free to post your own ratings if you don't like mine. Maybe it's time for me to stop.

[Ayman]

Were you watching the same game??? Nothing wrong with the defence...except, no cohesion.
Midfield...weak, tried to be too "pretty" and not really attacking.
Attack.....???????

You say Youness was the weakest player on the pitch....among others...Kluivert did one or two things...dolberg, not much...Ziyech looked as though he wants away....after last week's excellent display in Nice, this was an utter disaster.....how the hell can a team change from confident attackers to scared defenders???

Other than the last six minutes when the feed dropped off I believe I was watching the Ajax/Nice match. Feel free to post your own ratings if you don't like mine. Maybe it's time for me to stop.

There is no need to stop Oranje14, I like your ratings/analysis. There's always going to be a difference of an opinion now and again.

[Orange14]

Were you watching the same game??? Nothing wrong with the defence...except, no cohesion.
Midfield...weak, tried to be too "pretty" and not really attacking.
Attack.....???????

You say Youness was the weakest player on the pitch....among others...Kluivert did one or two things...dolberg, not much...Ziyech looked as though he wants away....after last week's excellent display in Nice, this was an utter disaster.....how the hell can a team change from confident attackers to scared defenders???

Other than the last six minutes when the feed dropped off I believe I was watching the Ajax/Nice match. Feel free to post your own ratings if you don't like mine. Maybe it's time for me to stop.

There is no need to stop Oranje14, I like your ratings/analysis. There's always going to be a difference of an opinion now and again.

Of course there will be and I was just a little angry at the draw last night. I think the team is still suffering from the blow of losing Nouri. That will take a long time to heal. It affected their preparation during the preseason and it's difficult to come out strong in early knock out competitions such as this. The club is still adapting to Keizer's style of play which is clearly different from how both de Boer and Bosz had them playing. Keizer wants more forceful pressure on the ball which places a premium on everyone knowing how to cover in the case the pressure is broken (we saw that with the first Nice goal where there was little organization).

Other than Younes, everyone else had some decent moments during the match. There was criticism of Dolberg, but look how he badly beat Dante and got in on goal forcing a tough save from the Nice keeper. His hold up play was a lot better as well. We constantly have to remember how young this team is as well. If only they had two proper fullbacks!!

[SPL]

Keep the ratings Orange.

Last night was a great tribute to Appie .Donny admitted it was very hard for him as he is so close to Appie.When coming out you could see he was again near to tears.He is the closest to Appie and they have been close friends plus their families are close so the fact that he lifted himself ,played well and scored shows he is someone special.

I was fed up with being ko'd but I still find football is not so important at this time. I just keep thinking of poor Appie.

[Philippe]

Schöne, Veltman, and Younes were just terrible.

[Ayman]

Schöne, Veltman, and Younes were just terrible.

I say we give Cerny and Dekker (when fit) a chance to replace Younes. Schone can be back up midfielder, we can let Frenkie de Jong playing in midfield instead. As for Veltman, we are stuck with him. Unless either de Ligt or Sanchez get injured and Zeefuik is given chances.

[SPL]

I know you will laugh but Queensy Menig is still with us and cannot be worse than Younes. The guy just cuts inside into defenders every time and loses the ball.. How on earth did he play for Germany?

[Orange14]

Ajax have drawn Rosenborg of Norway in the EL playoff round. First of the two leg tie is on August 16.

[SPL]

We should get through ,they are a lot less than Nice .

[souras84]

Once more, we got the toughest opponent available.

[King Litti]

There are no completely rubbish teams left at the last round of E.L qualifiers, but with all due respect the league in Norway isn't that good. Agree with SPL. We should go through without bigger problems. I suppose anything can happen specially in a single match, but we have so much more quality that at the end of a two legged tie the difference in quality should be seen on the scoreboard.

[Ayman]

There are no completely rubbish teams left at the last round of E.L qualifiers, but with all due respect the league in Norway isn't that good. Agree with SPL. We should go through without bigger problems. I suppose anything can happen specially in a single match, but we have so much more quality that at the end of a two legged tie the difference in quality should be seen on the scoreboard.

I know it's a totally different era, but in 2002-03 Ajax played Rosenborg in the group stages, the result was 1-1 in Amsterdam and 0-0 in the away leg, if that were to happen now, Ajax would crash out!

[Ayman]

I was scrolling down to see all the fixtures for the Europa league qualifiers, Galatasaray losing 2-0 to Ostersund, then drawing 1-1 at home, they scored first, but then Ostersund equalised with a penalty kick. His name? Nouri