17 SEP 2023; FC Twente - Ajax; Match Day 4

[Orange14]

Three tough matches ahead including the first EL Group match against Marseille and a Klassiker in Amsterdam. Steijn won't have a full team to practice with until Thursday when the last of the players on NT duty return.

[SPL]

Gorter,Rensch,Sutalo Hato Sosa,Tahirovic,Mannsverk,Akpom, Berghuis, Brobbey , Bergwijn

Defence ok , Mf we have 2 x DMF and a moderate striker. Berghuis is too slow as a winger . Zero creativity . On the bench no Vos or Godts but just Hlynsson and Misehouy from Jong.

Would take a draw as Twente have started the season unbeaten.

[SPL]

Dont think we will play 4-3-3, on the Dutch site the guys say Berghuis will be at 10 and Akpom at RW . We should have signed a good RW.We sign Forbs who looks no better than Godts and with V A Dongen making a comeback.

[Tom_]

I think we’re overdue some good football from this team. If they don’t win today the rumblings will start.

[Tom_]

Could easily have conceded 3 or 4 there. Is it even worth watching the second half???

The MF is hopeless. You’d think professional footballers playing in those positions would either be good at winning the ball or passing the ball but ours don’t seem to be able to do either.

I reckon Mannsverk will come off at HT and maybe Akpom too.

[Orange14]

I think we’re overdue some good football from this team. If they don’t win today the rumblings will start.

Not today!!! Both Mannswerk and Tahiroic have been awful. It shows how much Alvarez meant to this team over the past several seasons. Obviously, it could be that the lack of training time because of the international break has been the problem. Maybe Gorter might have done a little better but he's facing point blank shots and was decent enough to make the initial save each time and also saved the first open shot as well. Brobbey did a good job of finishing and Sosa did well to get a dangerous ball in. Akbom had maybe 2 touches.

right now this is just a team that will finish outside of the top four if that.

[Orange14]

The MF is hopeless. You’d think professional footballers playing in those positions would either be good at winning the ball or passing the ball but ours don’t seem to be able to do either.

I would rather see academy players in the lineup than these two.

[Tom_]

Definitely. At least that would give us a reason to watch. I can’t really see what makes this random assembly of rejects Ajax.

[Tom_]

That was unpleasant to watch. I think Steijn is toast unless they beat Marseille and Feyenoord, and what are the chances of this team pulling that off?

[SPL]

That was a dreadful performance and the only 2 players who would actually get wages this week are Brobbey ,who scored and tried to put himself around and Sosa a decent debut as an overlapping LB . The others are not fit to wear our shirt . Akpom is just a back up striker barely touched the ball at 10 and Mikautadze did not touch the ball. Unuvar comes on scores a goal.

Defence weak, MF non existant , no wingers and just Brobbey battling away up front. Hope in January the Saudis take Bergwijn from us , 31m for a load of crap.

Fors is no better than Godts and the new DM are no better than Vos and Misehouy would have still played better than the rubbish in our MF.

Signings last summer poor and this summer look just as bad .

[Orange14]

Another awful display from Ajax. Twente would always be difficult at home, but Ajax were so badly outplayed that it was not funny. Two defensive MFs in the starting lineup and they both could not defend, pointing out the value of Alvarez over the last three seasons. Ajax are too slow to press with the current players and were constantly exposed on the counter attack. Gorter was OK in goal, though maybe could have done a bit better on either of the goals where the second ball was put in the net. Amazing that we bring in a bunch of players and let Regeer leave who was better than either Mannswerk or Tahirovic and it was damning that Unavar got the goal to seal the win. Lots of money spent for a lot of dross.

I can't even begin to figure out what the best starting 11 is for this current group of players and it is a shame that the academy players were overlooked. Is Vos really not ready for the first team given what we saw today? Is Fitz-Jim worse than any of this current group? It's going to be a long season and right now Ajax will be lucky to finish fourth!

Player Ratings:

Gorter (6) - I'll give him the benefit of the doubt as he was facing point blank shots and made some good saves
Rensch (4) - go celebrate fatherhood as you are just not good enough for Ajax
Sutalo (5.5) - I think he was OK but certainly nothing special
Hato (4.5) - looked confused at times but that may be because of the poor MF
Sosa (5) - can attack and cross but can't defend but we knew that when he came into the club
Tahirovic (3.5) - quite poor to be charitable
Mannswerk (3) - send him back home
Berghuis (4) - awful in his first game back from suspension
Akbom (4) - two touches and then subbed off
Brobbey (6) - one of the few bright spots who worked his ass off all game long
Bergwijn (5) - ordinary and nothing more
Gaaei (5) - clearly is above Rensch
Taylor (5) - ordinary
Miataudze (NR) - on but I can't remember a single touch
van den Boomen (NR) - on late and I'll take pity and not rate him at all
Fobs (NR) - on late but I'm really questioning the money spent on him

The next two matches are going to define the season for this club. Marseille will be tough and then Feyenoord at home. The last manager to be sacked mid-season was Keizer who had to deal with the fallout of the Nouri incident but was not all that bad a trainer. If these purchases don't work out Mislintat is gone.

[SPL]

Agree your comments and ratings Orange. Ajax are being run so badly they are in a shambolic mess and so far Mislintat's signings are dreadful and we have overpaid.

Unuvar,Fitz-Jim ,Vos and Misehouy are as good if not better than the MF players bought in.Not saying they are ready for every game but the MF today was the worst i have ever seen since before De Boer's time.

[Tom_]

Schreuder was sacked wasn’t he? It’s a similar situation really with a new manager coming in and being stuck with a poor squad.

I don’t think they’ll sack Steijn straight away, but if they don’t beat Feyenoord they will be on 5 or 6 points from five games. There’s no coming back from there and the manager will get the blame and be gone sooner or later.

[SPL]

Like this time last year we seem to have a load of poor signings and a coach out of his depth . Very early days but I can see us being 4th.My very early thoughts on our 12 new players

Ramaj is a back up and Rulli was going to leave for Bayern .Why buy a back up with zero experience when Gorter has nil experience.

I think Sosa,Sutalo and maybe Gaaei will turn out ok but Avila cost 12m to be a standby LB /LCD.Medic slow poor quality.

In Mf Tahirovic,V D Boomen and Mannsverk I think I want to weep, what on earth are these 3 doing here when we have youths as good.

Upfront ,well Forbs looks no better than Godts and 14m for a Man City youth player is a joke. Akpom no idea what he is doing here,thought he was back up striker .Mikautadz I cannot comment as I dont know his position , again he is a striker but one shot v Sittard and today he did not touch the ball.

[Orange14]

Schreuder was sacked wasn’t he? It’s a similar situation really with a new manager coming in and being stuck with a poor squad.

I don’t think they’ll sack Steijn straight away, but if they don’t beat Feyenoord they will be on 5 or 6 points from five games. There’s no coming back from there and the manager will get the blame and be gone sooner or later.

I think Steijn's comment a couple of weeks ago about not being consulted on the transfers is telling. It looks like he is trying to lay off the blame to Mislintat, and just maybe he is right. I'm pretty much in agreement with SPL's post about the players we brought in. We're stuck with a slow MF that can't do much at all; the one player who can pass is too slow to defend.

[Amol]

My biggest worry from watching the game yesterday (and there were a ton of worries) is how the entire mid-field and defense fell back as soon as we lost possession. We allowed Twente to run through our midfield time and time again. Instead of pressing up and causing mistakes, we allowed them so much time on the ball to do as they pleased.

The way we're playing now, 4th will be quite an achievement. There needs to be major improvement in a bunch of places.

We have signed a bunch of above average players. Not a single one would've been a starter in our 18/19 squad or even 19/20.