Ajaxtalk

Threw away the game but it shows we badly missed the experience of Steks and Blind. Tadic penalty was dreadful. Scherpen will get the blame for the goal but Alvarez with a woefully weak action gave away the freekick.

All is not lost we can win next week but think we will cock up.

With 5 or 6 injuries our squad is not strong enough . Klaiber is not Ajax material, Idrissi has done nothing and the rest of the bench apart from Kudus are still Young Ajax standard.

Rensch's yellow for shirt tugging was schoolboy error.He misses next week so if Schuurs is still injured Klaiber has to play!!

Why was Kudus left on the bench and we leave Alvarez on ,who is not good enough at this level.He will look ok on Sunday v RKC

I guess I could say we have them just where we want them and will pull a Bernabau miracle next week putting four quick goals in the back of the net. This was indeed a disappointing result as Ajax had the better of the play with enough chances to finish the tie off tonight. Two big fluffs, one from our Captain and one from the rookie keeper prevented it from being a 2-0 result which is what I figured it would be. Why Tadic all of the sudden decided to offer up a soft PK down the middle is baffling. Scherpen clearly mishandled the ball on the free kick but Martinez was also at fault for the soft pass to Alavarez when he was closely marked. Not much cheer from me at this result.

Player Ratings:

Scherpen (4.5) - other than the fluff on the free kick he had a decent game and of course better goalies the he have also let in week goals
Tagliafico (5) - not much to praise on the night
Martinez (6.5) - other than the week pass to Alavarez he had a decent game
Timber (6.5) - also decent on the night
Rensch (5.5) - marginally above average
Alvarez (5.5) - gave away a contested ball that led to the first goal and despite some good play, his faults were well exposed
Gravenberch (5) - several cheap give aways and not much else
Klaassen (6.5) - got the goal and was unfortunate to clear the ball on the free kick for what ended up being the game winner for Roma (and it was really a pretty goal)
Neres (4) - poor match from the get go and wisely subbed off
Tadic (5.5) - some nice interplay but he no longer can beat defenders 1 on 1 on the wing, inexcusably poor PK
Antony (6.5) - had some good moments and always was working to get open
Klaiber (5) - didn't make any defensive mistakes and didn't contribute much to the offense
Brobbey (5) - got off one shot and it may be that he has to start next week
Idrisi (NR)

A chance for redemption next week against a very mediocre opponent who cannot play under pressure.

Expected goals result: Ajax (3.24) - Roma (0.71)

I’m annoyed. The only positive I can think of is that this was quite uncharacteristic of Ajax in Europe in the last few seasons. In general we have used our chances when we’ve been able to create them.

Certainly not impossible to score 2 against the Roma we saw today.

Totally undeserved loss based on the chances we created. But you don't get extra points for chance creation if you don't put those away.

I still feel we can get a result in Rome. Need to find some form against RKC this weekend.

"Italians can not beat us, but we can certainly lose against them."

Johan Cruyff



I believe it's now 11 times Ajax haven't won at home against an Italian side.

Very much a case of we lost the game rather than they beat us.Bottom line if you miss a penalty you cannot moan.Probably the worst penalty Tadic has ever taken.

I would start next week with Brobbey. Neres was very poor last night.

Next week we just have to go for goals and I would play Kudus in MF and not Alvarez.If Schuurs is not fit then I would play Alvarez CD and TImber RB. I dont rate Alvarez very much but Klaiber is not good enough to play the likes of Roma but RKC is his level.