Ajaxtalk

Welcome to the first match of 2020!! Ajax, who sit in first place, host Sparta this weekend. Promes seems to be back to health after the training camp but Neres is still recovering from his knee surgery. I've read reports that Huntelaar is suffering from Achilles tendinitis but don't know much more. Beker competition for Ajax begins on Jan 22 when they take on Spakenburg. It will be good to watch some good football after only having a diet of English Premier League matches over the holiday period!

Ajax play Sparta on my birthday. It would be a great b'day gift if we start 2020 with a resounding win. I don't ask for a lot.

Huntelaar may be on the bench Sunday as he will train today and his Achilles problem is improving. Promes is match fit. ETH said that the club wants to keep Marin for the rest of the season to add depth across the three competitions they are still in. Noa Lang may go out on loan with the arrival of Babel and the return of Promes and eventually Neres.

Back to a 6 point gap if we win.

Game is on too early on Monday for me so I’ll watch the replay after work.

Promes and Babel start so does Gravenberch. (6 homegrown players starting ie in our youth aged 15 and earlier)

Some great saves from the Sparta keeper and Ajax very vulnerable on breakouts after turnovers. they always seem to have trouble with 4-4-2 formations. Onana with a couple of dicey plays. Tighten up the defense so this one can be put in the win column.

Comfortable so far just need to stick the ball in the net a few more times.Goalie working overtime

What an annoying half of football. Ajax back to their old tricks of futzing around with the ball making slow, meaningless passes back and forth. The only thing keeping me from going to sleep is that every once in a while - in the earlier stages, at least - they would pull off a play that had the promise of scoring. Toward the end of the half, though, Sparta started counter attacking which may turn into a problem in the second half if the boys don't snap out of it.

I hope that ziyech injury does not mean he’ll miss the next upcoming important weeks.

gravenberch having a very good game.

phewww. that ended up being very close

Every stream went down at HT so fed up but at least we won. Premiersports have Dutch footy now in Uk and although next week is not live I will just have to subscribe and watch the game the next day.

Could see it coming starting with the final 10 mins of the first half. In the end we were hanging on by the skin of our teeth. Veery disappointing display -- both from the tactical and execution standpoints. Was looking forward to seeing the first match after the break, but have to say it was not what I expected.

with help from the crossbar (twice), goal line clearance by the Center Back (twice) and a final solid save by Onana in the 93rd minute, Ajax just do escape. Tons of possession and a solid first half where a hot goalkeeper kept the ball out of the net, but loads of flaws defensively. Historically, Ajax seem to be troubled when facing 4-4-2 formations. They just don't seem to handle a two striker setup very well. Some very cheap give aways with too many players up front led to some solid attacks from Sparta. It all ends up with a 2-1 unconvincing win.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - absolutely mediocre until the great save at the end
Tagliafico (6) - caught up field on occasion when the ball was cheaply given away
Martinez (6.5) - great goal line clearance and very good defending but made a couple of blunders that would be punished by a better team
Veltman (6.5) - also had a good goal line clearance but also didn't know how to deal with the two strikers
Mazraoui (6.5) - good going forward but also out of position on several attacks
Gravenberch (6.5) - ended up with the game winner and showed some good play though was one of the players who gave the ball away to easily
van de Beek (6) - nice goal but that was about it
Ziyech (7) - some incisive play before going off with what looked like a calf injury
Babel (6) - still has a horrible first touch but had a nice header to set up a potential goal
Tadic (6.5) - decent but not outstanding
Promes (7) - good match from him
Ekkelenkamp (5.5) - OK coming on but defensively needed to do better
Traore (5.5) - had one shot on goal that was easily saved
Eiting (NR) - on late

Cup match coming up midweek.

Their goalie was on the top of his game today. We did start playing annoying football with passing back and forth in general but out of the blue show some creativity.

We were lucky to escape today. I genuinely hope that Ziyech's injury isn't terrible.

Lucky not to concede more, but maybe unlucky not to score more?

Anyway I still think we’re down one large central defender even if Blind is fit. It seems like Veltman and Martinez are just too small to play CD together.

De Ligt was world class ,Veltman is just Eredivisie class. Agree our CD is not good enough.

We wasted 9m on Magallan and Alvarez at 15m looks a nothing player so far. That 24m could have got us a quality CD.