12 DEC 2020; Ajax - PEC Zwolle; Match Day 12

[Orange14]

Losers of three straight, Ajax will look to right the ship this Saturday against PEC Zwolle at home followed by a cup match against Utrecht mid-week. The league schedule is so weird as Ajax have yet to play Feyenoord, AZ or PSV and won't see any of them until after the winter break.

[SPL]

Looks like Blind is fit ,Traore,Neres probably not.Reports say Brobbey starts and Promes at 10,Labyad dropped.Timber has a problem with inflamation of his pancreas and could be out for a while.

[SPL]

so all injured Mazraoui,Brobbey,Neres,Traore,Timber, plus Labyad and Ekklenkamp not there.

So Kleiber for Mazraoui,Promes for Labyad,KJH for Brobbey and Blind back for Martinez. Apart from 2 goalies only 5 subs Martinez,Alvarez,Taylor,Rensch and Jensen.

[SPL]

3-0 up and that should be it .KJH making a rare start with a goal and encouraging his team mates

[Orange14]

Good to see some goals scored!!! Promes is finally getting back on track. Two nice assists from Antony.

[SPL]

2nd half more like another training session and we should have got 6 or 7 but no injuries and it gave Taylor and Jensen debuts and Rensch a few minutes. He is 2 footed and a central defender so I would question why not stick him on for 30 mins when Schuurs came off. Not knocking Alvarez who had little to do but Rensch at Cd and Taylor at DM should have played all the 2nd half ,they are the future.

Promes had a better game and lovely to see dear old KJH play 90 mins and score a goal.

Utrecht next and we should rest as many as possible. Scherpen, Kleiber,Alvarez,Martinez,Rensch,Taylor,Jensen,Ekkelenkamp,
Promes, Brobbey , maybe Neres if fit or play Hansen. Dont care about the cup ,we and PSV should have got byes along with AZ and Feyenoord.Our 2 remaining league games are vastly more important as we need 6 points.

[Orange14]

An easy 4-0 win over Zwolle with a very late goal from Gravenberch, the other three all came in the first half. Onana had a couple of routine saves to make to keep a clean sheet. Good to see some balls go into the back of the net. Jensen and Taylor got their first team debuts and Rensch also came on late.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - not much to do but made a couple of decent saves
Tagliafico (7) - not troubled on defense and had a couple of good headers that were slightly off target
Blind (6.5) - had a couple of miscues with the ball but was decent otherwise
Schuurs (6.5) - did not have much defending to do and kept the ball alive deep in the offensive half that Antony did a good job with
Klaiber (7) - good at this level but not any higher
Klaassen (6.5) - had a decent half of football before getting a well deserved rest
Gravenberch (7) - wicked shot at the end of the match for a goal and solid all game
Promes (7) - good to see him get untracked
Tadic (7) - worked really hard both with the ball and witout
Huntelaar (7) - first match playing a full 90 in a while and he got a nice goal and had a couple of other attempts
Antony (7.5) - two great assists and a goal so he is the MOTM
Alvarez (6.5) - good shift coming in for Klaassen and then moving to the back line to give Schuurs a rest
Taylor (6) - decent 25 minute shift
Jensen (5) - on for the final 20 and didn't have more than a couple of touches
Martinez (6) - on for Blind and handled the ball well with some good passing
Rensch (NR) - on late

Cup Match at home against Utrecht on Wednesday and it will be interesting to see what ETH decides in terms of a line up. Away matches to ADO and Willem II will close out the year.

[zeux]

You can't see Dutch television, but Huntelaar just announced he will quit after this season.

[Orange14]

You can't see Dutch television, but Huntelaar just announced he will quit after this season.

Sad moment for all he has done for the team but I figured that this would be the final season for him.

[zeux]

You can't see Dutch television, but Huntelaar just announced he will quit after this season.

Sad moment for all he has done for the team but I figured that this would be the final season for him.

Yes, not unexpected, but somehow you also got the feeling he would go on until he was 45...

Freeing up a striker spot, which will benefit Ajax.

[SPL]

Saw the headline late last night.No surprise as he has just come on as a late sub until yesterday.He has been one of my
favourite players and gives his all and yesterday was encouraging his team mates and scored.Hope he scores a few more this season to help win the title and gets a job with us coaching strikers.

Just looked at Ajaxshowtime headlines and its real gloom.

1.Promes has been arrested for knifing a relative.If its proved he did it he wont play again.

2.No surprise Ajax worrying whether Brobbey will extend. He says he will but Ajax now have to give him a deadline ie 31 December.

My gut feeling he will leave .If he wants to leave for free then he does not get picked for anymore games.I rate him higher than Traore but if Raiola takes him off to Italy we wont hear about him again.

Enjoyed last night ,got a good stream again and KJH got a goal.And we won of course.

Now with above headlines very gloomy.