Ajaxtalk

First match of the knock out stage is on Wednesday in Lisbon. Ajax take on Benfica for the fourth time in Euro competition. Benfica have not had a good season thus far and stand third in the Portuguese league. Brobbey is out injured and Tagliafico is a question mark as well. Timber is expected to be fit after coming off against Willem II after scoring the match winner.

should be at least a 1-3 or 2-4 win for Ajax, Alvarez and Timber should get themselves booked so they can be clear for the quarter finals.

Ayman schreef: ↑

di feb 22, 2022 2:56 pm

should be at least a 1-3 or 2-4 win for Ajax, Alvarez and Timber should get themselves booked so they can be clear for the quarter finals.

For some reason I also have 1-3 in mind, indeed.
0-2 will have the exact same effect as 1-3 of 2-4 now the away goals rule doesn't exist anymore.

Gravenberch back for Klaassen hope for a win any score will do.

let’s go!!!!

Bit of a shaky start but Tadic scores off a poor clearance from the keeper!

We need to do a bit better with ball retention to control the game.

This is a mess. Haller scores an OG then puts Ajax back in front 2-1 about 180 seconds later.

There seems to be a lot of space in front of Ajax’s back 4 and there’s nothing stopping Benfica bringing the ball into the box. I don’t know if Álvarez and Gravenberch need to sit deeper or something.

It’s a worry for me because we can ship goals when it’s this untidy. I guess we could also score 5…

I’m exhausted from watching this. There’s no play in the middle third at all. Need to close the spaces. Benfica definitely look like they can concede more but also score more

I wonder if Pasveer could have done better on the goal. I suspect that Onana in his prime would have stopped the cross. Ajax do need to tighten up in the MF and stop Benfica before they get into the attacking third. Too bad the Alvarez shot of the post came back to quickly for Haller to react as that would have been an easy score.

Not much to add, good thing in CL the other sides want to attack,no 11 men behind the ball like some Dutch sides play against us.Their goal was a mess by us but we do look like scoring more goals.

that’s what happens when you have blind push up and being too slow to come back. that goal was 15 minutes in the making. playing benfica’s game now

Don’t think we can complain about the score and the tie is definitely at risk.

It reminded me a of the earlier away game against Sporting. Biggest difference in that game was that Ajax scored their chances and Sporting missed theirs.

very annoying 2nd benfica goal. both timber and blind push up, timber goes down in the box trying to get a penalty and can’t get back, blind slow as fuck and they score. need to start nico in the next game, I fault eth as well for not making that change quicker

Agree Blind too slow on the goal but I thought the Mf 3 so poor we did not seem to be playing with any MF!! Gravenberch no way is ready for a big league club, and at this level Berghuis and Alvarez not good enough.

A lot of poor play from Ajax with defenders caught up field and lots of scrambling to prevent counter attacks. Benfica had the better of the play on the day and from my perspective Ajax were fortunate to come away with a draw. Timber had some crucial interventions but what was he thinking about when he lost control of the ball and stumbled in the Benfica box. The ball quickly came back towards Pasveer who made a good save on the shot but awful play by Berghuis left the Befica striker open for an easy put away for the tying goal. Ajax will have to do a lot better in Amsterdam if they hope to move forward.

Player Ratings:

Pasveer (6) - I think he should have done better on the first goal as this was a cross he should have had before it passed him and Haller put it in the wrong goal
Blind (4.5) - horribly exposed all night and his passing was poor
Martinez (6.5) - OK facing some talented attackers
Timber (7) - really good interventions but huge mistake going way too forward giving Benfica an easy counter to tie the game
Mazraoui (7.5) - best player on the pitch for Ajax for me
Alvarez (6) - slightly above average but had a real nice shot on goal that came off the post
Gravenberch (6) - had a couple of good runs with the ball
Berghuis (4.5) - had nothing but a negative impact on the game, he just watched as the Benfica striker ran past him and onto the ball to put it way
Tadic (6) - could not unlock things inside the Benfica box
Haller (6.5) - had a nice goal and his hold up play and headers were good
Antony (6) - double teamed all night long lost his temper deep in the second half and was lucky not to have been booked
Klaassen (5) - just average coming in for Gravenverch
Tagliafico (6) - more than decent coming in for Blind
Rensch (NR) - on late

I agree SPL, the MF wasn’t a factor, but it may also have been partly tactical as our whole MF was in front of the ball the whole game - even in defense!

Orange14 schreef: ↑

wo feb 23, 2022 9:51 pm

I wonder if Pasveer could have done better on the goal. I suspect that Onana in his prime would have stopped the cross.

Onana in his prime, yes.
But reminder: Onana in this exact same stadium in 2018 made an enormous blunder by completely missing a cross.

Also in the match against Liverpool, just before he got suspended he made a huge mistake.

And not to mention the gigantic blunder Onana recently made in the Africa Cup, I did not often see such a weird goal.

ETH still doesn't really have a plan B when things are going wrong. Last night Blind and Gravenberch were the 2 weakest players on the pitch but he waited until 2-2 and 73 mins before taking them off. Do Manu really want him ? Should Kudus or Taylor have come on for Berghuis for the last 15 mins?

I am one those who sees little in Gravenberch ,he would have got a 4 from me last night. With Berghuis lost up front and our defenders surging forward Alvarez was basically a defender but against the quick Benfica attack I thought he was too slow.
Klaassen,although nothing special, still achieved more than Gravenberch.If we can get 25m for him this summer we should say yes please.

Trouble is we have no ready made MF coming through.Taylor has played only a few minutes since Christmas break and clearly should have been loaned out. In Jong Ajax Unuvar,Hlynsson and Fitz-Jim are 18 year olds and not even ready for Eredivisie yet. Labyad is evidently out with a foot injury ,not sure any fans knew this or care.