14 SEP 2019; Ajax - Heerenveen; Match Day 5

[Orange14]

Ajax spring back into action this Saturday hosting Heerenveen. The fixture schedule tightens up with a CL group stage match coming up on Tuesday with Lille visiting the Arena and then an away game at PSV. Mazraoui suffered an injury on international duty for Morocco but I haven't seen any other reports of players getting hurt.

[Orange14]

ETH said the van de Beek and Mazraoui will not be in the team sheet tomorrow. Both are also questionable for the CL match on Tuesday

[SPL]

Hope for a good win tonight. Veltman Schuurs and KJH with Neres sub.

[SPL]

KJH's shot in off Tadic's back. Defending for their goal was schoolboy class

[rjf1]

After squandering chance after chance, you just knew that they were going to get snake bit. They're playing nice attacking football, but it all counts for naught if you don't end up putting the ball in the net.

[Jinne]

Feels like last season's game. We need a lot goals to win.

[Ayman]

WTf, saw the score 1-0, then no more than 5 minutes later, 1-2? Who was at fault? Schuurs?

[SPL]

Veltman fouled ,no goal.

[SPL]

Schuurs was too slow on what would have been their 2nd and his marking on the 1st schoolboy standard

[Ayman]

If that is the case, going forward, it would be Blind - Alvarez at the back

[Orange14]

Two nice goals off of free kicks accompanied by some very sloppy defending give Ajax a 2-1 lead at the half. VAR decision was correct but of course this is Dutch football. In the English league the goal would have stood as VAR never overturns anything there.

[SPL]

great header by Tagliafico.Sorry I dont rate Schuurs,our defence looks very weak with him in the centre.Maybe Dest at RB and Veltman at Cd

[rjf1]

Finally got one to go in. Their forwards are too fast for Schuurs and Veltman. Wouldn't mind seeing Dest come in - his speed is what's needed to negate their forwards.

[Ayman]

lol Perr Schuurs scores! Or Perr Scores?!

[SPL]

Schuurs a nice header but a beauty by Tagliafico

[SPL]

Very comfortable once we went 4-1 up and the last half hour was almost a training game for us. CL is going to be mighty tougher as our defence in the 1st half looked weak.

[Orange14]

After a troublesome first half, Ajax played some of the finest tight space passing football to easily pull away to win 4-1. ETH gave some rest to Neres who only came on in the 2nd half, Tadic and Promes who each subbed off in the 2nd half. Onana missed his clean sheet because of a Blind error and had to be lively in the first half but had little to do after the intermission.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - alert saves in the first half and then almost nothing in the 2nd
Tagliafico (7.5) - two wonderful goals and his game was marred only by a reckless block that drew Yellow
Blind (6.5) - big blunder on the Heerenveen goal and then settled down as Ajax possession football left little defending to do
Schuurs (6) - nicely take goal and two very good cross field passes didn't do enough to cover up some defensive lapses
Veltman (7) - more involved up field than I can ever remember and solid enough passing the ball
Martinez (6.5) - good enough
Alvarez (7) - very solid on the night and I cannot think of one bad pass
Promes (7) - super active on offense
Tadic (7) - some great passing in tight spaces
Huntelaar (6) - other than the ricochet free kick pretty quiet
Ziyech (8) - MOTM for me as he popped up all over the field and his passing was exceptional
Neres (6) - good with the ball in the 20 minutes he had on the field
Marin (NR) - on late for Alvarez
Siem de Jong (NR) - on very late for the first time in an Ajax kit since leaving the club four years ago

Home to Lille in the first CL group match on Tuesday!!!!

[Tom_]

Comfortable in the end, but the first half was anything but.

IMO Martínez is a more than adequate replacement for Frenkie de Jong at #6. The real problem is defense (de Ligt obviously irreplaceable) with Schuurs, Veltman and Blind all struggling for pace and making mistakes.

Any one of those 4 or 5 mistakes we saw today could be lethal in a CL tie!

[souras84]

As much as I don't want Veltman partnering Blind in Defense, Schuurs doesn't seem able to cope with the task. He is still slow in changing direction when an attacker dribbles. I wouldn't like to see him tested against Lille, Chelsea or Valencia. On the other hand, Veltman? I'm still not sure... Maybe Alvarez should be Blind's partner. Martinez as the #6 next to Donny or maybe somebody else. What do you guys think?

[Ayman]

As much as I don't want Veltman partnering Blind in Defense, Schuurs doesn't seem able to cope with the task. He is still slow in changing direction when an attacker dribbles. I wouldn't like to see him tested against Lille, Chelsea or Valencia. On the other hand, Veltman? I'm still not sure... Maybe Alvarez should be Blind's partner. Martinez as the #6 next to Donny or maybe somebody else. What do you guys think?

Agreed, Alvarez and Blind would be ideal, Schuurs can be a sub. Martinez in midfield partnering van de Beek.

[Orange14]

As much as I don't want Veltman partnering Blind in Defense, Schuurs doesn't seem able to cope with the task. He is still slow in changing direction when an attacker dribbles. I wouldn't like to see him tested against Lille, Chelsea or Valencia. On the other hand, Veltman? I'm still not sure... Maybe Alvarez should be Blind's partner. Martinez as the #6 next to Donny or maybe somebody else. What do you guys think?

Agreed, Alvarez and Blind would be ideal, Schuurs can be a sub. Martinez in midfield partnering van de Beek.

So you two would like ETH to run a big experiment in the first CL group stage game??? Now we don't know what has gone on in practice but I would really be surprised if Alvarez has seen any time at CB.

[Tom_]

Bit puzzling how we bought two defenders who turned out to be midfielders.

Surely on Tuesday it's going to be Blind with one of Schuurs or Veltman!? Schuurs wasn't great on Saturday so my guess is Veltman. Who else could it be - Is Pierie a central defender? Debut in the CL...?

[Orange14]

Bit puzzling how we bought two defenders who turned out to be midfielders.

Surely on Tuesday it's going to be Blind with one of Schuurs or Veltman!? Schuurs wasn't great on Saturday so my guess is Veltman. Who else could it be - Is Pierie a central defender? Debut in the CL...?

Alvarez played MF for his team Club America and most of those who follow the Mexican NT believe that is his best position. I saw him play a little at RB over the summer during the regional nation's cup competition in North America. He is certainly tall enough to play CB but I don't know if that is in the plan. I don't know what Martinez played in Argentina and I thought he was purchased as a replacement for Tagliafico when he leaves at the end of this season. I do think he can play CB but Blind really is a step too slow for the MF which is why they flipped positions.

I think the problem with Schuurs is his footwork. He has really improved a lot since coming to AJax but still has to work on positioning.

ETH discussed the problems in the first half of yesterday's match: https://www.ajaxshowtime.com/article/ho ... snel-halen

[WP_Legend]

For Club América he was used mostly as a centre back, 53 of his career appearances came there with 23 more in midfield and eight more at right-back.

[Orange14]

For Club América he was used mostly as a centre back, 53 of his career appearances came there with 23 more in midfield and eight more at right-back.

I stand corrected; thanks!!!!

I think Alvarez said that he prefers MF. Anyway, we will see what ETH does.