Ajaxtalk

Two games this week to close out the Eredivisie season. First up come VVV who Ajax routed 0-13 away in the goal festival followed by an away match against Vitesse. Alvarez is suspended for Thursday's game and Tagliafico has been given the remainder of the season off. VVV are in a relegation battle with the four other bottom of the table clubs and will want to get something out of this game. Will EtH rotate out some of the more heavily used squad players?

EDIT ADDED: Edson Alvarez has also been allowed to leave on holiday so he will miss the Vitesse match. He will be joining up with the Mexico NT for matches later this month.

Very strange having a round of games being played on a Thursday afternoon ,so Dutch fans will be at work . We go food shopping today so will miss my first game of the season.Had it been for the title I would have stayed in but this will be a meaningless game with a few fringe players picked.

Ho-hum first half marked by a wonderful team goal from Ajax so it is 1-0. Line up: Steks; Rensch, Martinez, Schuurs, Timber; Ekkelenkamp, Kudus, Klaassen; Idrissi, Haller, Neres. Klassen got a had knee to his thigh from Zwinkels and had to be subbed off at 42nd minute with Taylor coming in. Ekkelenkamp has looked good as the holding MF.

Ajax went down to 10 men early in the second half when VAR requested a review of Taylor's nasty studs up challenge on a Venlo player. CR Dennis Higler came back from viewing the replay and give Taylor RC. Haller scored shortly thereafter to put Ajax up 2-0. Even though Eredivisie scoring leader Giakoumakis pegged one back for the visitors, Kudus scored on a wicked left foot drive to seal the win and send Venlo down. The scoreline could have been worse as the Venlo keeper made some very nice saves.

Player Ratings:

Stekelenburg (6.5) - had more to do in the 2nd half when Ajax were a man short
Rensch (7) - delightful goal to open the scoring and defended well
Martinez (7) - usual solid match
Schuurs (7) - good match in a rare late season start
Timber (7) - carried the ball forward well and moved to LB when Rensch was subbed off in the 2nd half
Ekkelenkamp (7) - very nice match with good ball control and field awareness
Kudus (7.5) - his goal before coming off was excellent as he warded off two challenges before getting the shot off
Klaassen (5.5) - took a nasty knee into his thigh and had to come off right before halftime
Idrissi (5) - no more than average and it looks like he will get a plane ticket back to Seville
Haller (7) - good ball control and passing and scored the game winner with a toe poke
Neres (7) - great passing on the day and denied a goal on a good save from the keeper
Taylor (3.5) - quite poor and the studs up tackle ended his day after 12 minutes of playing time
Klaiber (6) - decent coming in to replace Rensch
Gravenberch (5.5) - honestly didn't see much of the ball at all
Tadic (NR) - on late
Antony (NR) - on late

Away to Vitesse on Sunday to wrap up the season

Couldn't focus on watching the game - since it's early morning on a work day. It was a pretty meaningless game but became very interesting after Taylor was sent off for a studs up challenge. Taylor was looking good before that.

Loved Kudus's goal by the way. Hopefully he gets some rest this summer and then a full pre-season with the team.

I did follow to HT ,before I went out,but no real streams working.A game with nothing to play for and was never going to be 13-0 again.Pity Taylor got a red card as it would have done him good to get a 45 min half behind him.

Just finish with a win on Sunday to finish 14 clear.