12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

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Orange14
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12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » do dec 09, 2021 1:58 pm

Ajax host AZ on Sunday. AZ stumbled early in the league season but are rounding into form having lost three key starters via transfers out. They do have a match in the Europa Conference League tonight but having clinched first place in their group, they may rest players ahead of Sunday's game. As a reminder, the Champions League draw for the knockout phase is on Monday. Yesterday's Atalanta-Villareal game was postponed to tonight because of snow in Bergamo. It will decide the final second place team for the draw.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Orange14
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » do dec 09, 2021 9:35 pm

AZ won their match in the Europa Conference League and put out their standard group of starters. Props to them for not holding back!!! I still anticipate a competitive match Sunday. PSV laid another egg and was thumped by Real Sociedad in an Europa League match that they only needed a draw to advance.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

kezme44
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door kezme44 » zo dec 12, 2021 5:24 pm

lacking creativity so far and we slow it down when we need to go quick

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Orange14
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » zo dec 12, 2021 5:47 pm

kezme44 schreef:
zo dec 12, 2021 5:24 pm
lacking creativity so far and we slow it down when we need to go quick
Yes, there were a couple of chance they had but those evaporated pretty quickly. They need to do better!!
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

rjf1
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door rjf1 » zo dec 12, 2021 6:19 pm

They're killing their own attacks with all the stopping and turning back. All the teams seem to have figured out how to stymie us and EtH has to come up with a change of plan.

kezme44
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door kezme44 » zo dec 12, 2021 6:30 pm

pathetic

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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » zo dec 12, 2021 6:59 pm

Another mediocre match and when you may only score a goal or two, the defense better be solid. On this day, the defense gave up two very cheap goals and almost a third which was ruled out by off sides. I'll need to take another look at the replays to figure out who was at fault. Ajax had 2/3 the possession and enough shots on goal to have done better but some good goal keeping and clearances kept victory at bay. AZ did the same thing other teams have done against Ajax dropping five to the back and staying compact. They did try to press early but once the ball crossed the midway line, did a good job of choking off the middle. Too many average performances by a team that cannot rest on it's run in the Champions League if they hope to win the league. PSV can still move to the top of the table with a win later today.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (5.5) - had nothing to do in terms of making any kind of save and was undone by poor defending
Blind (5) - just ordinary with some poor passing, Tagliafico should have come on at the half and I think warrants a start against Feyenoord
Martinez (6) - decent
Timber (6) - decent and had to move to the RB as Rensch was quite poor
Rensch (4) - had one nice intervention and then seemed clueless about what to do; Mazraoui was missed
Alvarez (6) - had some good interventions but this was not the kind of game for him to shine
Gravenberch (6) - had some good movement on the ball but really needs to put his stamp on the game
Berghuis (6) - had a couple of chances that were saved in the end
Tadic (6) - had the nice assist with the pass to Haller but then lost an easy ball when he beat his man
Haller (6.5) - had the chances to score which is what you ask of a striker
Antony (6.5) - again a nice match with some very good defending as well
Klaassen (5.5) - had a couple of deep runs into the box but not a good shot on goal
Schuurs (5.5) - OK coming on for Rensch
Danilo (NR) - did have a weak shot on goal off a deflection

Cup match in mid week and then Feynoord next Sunday. Ajax need to figure out how to solve these defend at any cost teams.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

SPL
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door SPL » zo dec 12, 2021 7:06 pm

Watched about 30 mins of each half due to poor streams. Ajax football in that time,apart from the goal, was very poor. Defending on their 1st was non existent. Stream died at 93 mins and I saw text we scored but now find it was offside.

The title will go down to the wire as Ajax ,PSV and Feyenoord are all inconsistent and dropping points regularly. PSV will win and be top tonight!

AZ only played Thursday which makes todays defeat even worse.

PS To make the day even worse my daughter in law has covid and my son has not yet caught it from her.Both teach at the same Junior school and the virus is now rife in the school.!

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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » zo dec 12, 2021 8:02 pm

SPL schreef:
zo dec 12, 2021 7:06 pm
PS To make the day even worse my daughter in law has covid and my son has not yet caught it from her.Both teach at the same Junior school and the virus is now rife in the school.!
Sorry to hear about the Covid outbreak. Our daughter is also a teacher and her school is experiencing an outbreak as well. It appears that the currently circulating virus is not as bad as what was going around last winter. Hope the recovery time is short and your son doesn't catch it.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

SPL
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door SPL » zo dec 12, 2021 8:28 pm

Thanks Orange,I hope your family stays clear. We may not be able to see them at Christmas but at least they are only 2 miles away.My oldest son and partner live 250 miles away in Cornwall and are due to come over Christmas but who knows what will hapen.i have not seen him for 2 years so hoping he can still come.

SPL
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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door SPL » zo dec 12, 2021 9:59 pm

PSV with a 90th minute winner now top.Would say they then had 10 mins of extra time.

The end of a crap day.

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Re: 12 DEC 2021; Ajax - AZ; Match Day 16

Bericht door Orange14 » ma dec 13, 2021 3:02 pm

I have watched the replays a couple of times. On the first goal, the press upfield failed. Timber tripped over an AZ player and was out of the play so Martinez has to come all the way over to defend on the right side picking up DeWit but nobody helps out on the over lapping runner and De Wit finds him with a nice pass. The deflection off Midtjsoe finds the open striker who was not marked at all and Pasveer has no chance. It was more than a fluke goal as Ajax were poorly organized and missed players to mark.

On the second goal, Timber is not far enough outside to take away all the space on that side. From the video he looks even with Schuurs when he should be several meters outside of the CD. Karlsson is calling for the ball and gets it with Timber not able to make up the space to challenge him. Wijndal makes a smart inside run and is not picked up by Antony (first; Antony actually does have him covered but then stops assuming someone else will pick him up) and Berghuis (second); he cuts to the end line getting a nice pass from Karlsson and puts the ball right at the striker's foot (Schuurs did make a stretch to try and deflect the ball but it was too perfect of a pass).

Multiple point of failure on each goal.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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