17 DEC 2023; Ajax - PEC Zwolle; Match Day 16

[Orange14]

Last league match of 2023 with a chance to maybe pick up points on AZ who play PSV.

[SPL]

In the 55th minute today the fans are going to give a tribute to John van't Schip ,who is at his son's wedding in Australia.They have chosen this minute as his wife was 55 when she recently died. A beautiful touch from the F Side and others fans groups.

John has taken on this difficult job due to his love of the club and because his wife gave her blessing,on her death bed.I will give a cheer today.

3 points a must today and hope PSV take points off AZ and maybe Sparta do us a favour v Twente

[SPL]

Berghuis for Hlynsson and Martha for Forbs only 2 changes from the starters v AEK.Akpom at 10 again

[SPL]

Sparta v Twente ended 2-2 so they drop 2 points .Naci Unuvar scored an equaliser on 92 but in fact there were 10 mins of ET. Sparta also down to 10 men for the whole of the 2nd half.

Now for the main event, 3 points for Ajax nothing else will do.

[SPL]

A poor game so far for Ajax, where is the midfield? Sosa does not impress me nor does Tahirovic but we got the nod with VAR.My clear picture showed Brobbey on side.

Need to up our game to win this.

[SPL]

Brobbey a 2nd ,just what we needed.Hlynsson for Sosa good move

[SPL]

Their 2nd was coming and Gaaei just let the guy score and Sutalo just doing nothing . We finish 5th but realistically we are going to struggle to get higher, maybe Twente will fade in 4th and we catch them.

Again I look at the new signings and apart from the goalie and Akpom who worked hard with no reward the rest are not good enough.Sosa is poor so is Tahirovic. Sutalo struggles and maybe someone will tell me why Gaaei wears an Ajax shirt.

Our season was destroyed by Mislintat's poor signings and the woeful Steijn. We have picked up since PSV but apart from Vitesse we have struggled to beat all the other teams.

We cannot sell many of the new players so not sure what will happen in January . A quality no 6 , a right winger and 2 fullbacks who can defend are needed.

[Orange14]

Disappointment yet again as Ajax give up a two goal lead in the second half on totally avoidable plays to give up two points and a chance to gain on FC Twente who drew with Sparta. Other than Brobbey, not too much to cheer about from any of the other players on the pitch. Ramaj had no chance on either of the goals and was not bothered otherwise. Chances of getting third place are beginning to look remote unless Ajax can win out the rest of the way which is highly unlikely given the defensive frailties.

Player Ratings:

Ramaj (6) - untroubled during the match and sees the players in front of him fail again to keep the goal mouth clear
Rensch (6.5) - decent enough at RB moving up into the MF late in the match, had some good offensive moves on the day
Sutalo (5.5) - one very dicey moment where he mishandled the ball
Hato (6) - kept the Cal Ripken streak going but was in a poor position several times during the match
Sosa (6) - better than average first half and then subbed off
Tahirovic (5.5) - his passing is worse than his predecessor Alvarez
Taylor (6) - OK, but not special as on Thursday
Akbom (5) - his only utility is as a replacement striker or a pinch hitter with five minutes to go, otherwise he should never set foot on the pitch
Berghuis (5.5) - on hard shot that was saved and very average otherwise
Brobbey (7.5) - best player for Ajax with two nice goals and some tough hold up play
Martha (6.5) - more than decent on the wing in the first half and at LB in the second
Hylnsson (4) - horrible loss of the ball leading to the first goal and did not contribute much at all
Forbs (5) - average
Gaaei (4.5) - decent shift until the second goal where he should have been much better defensively

Cup match coming up on Thursday which will close out a very dismal calendar year for all of us supporters.

[SPL]

Apart from Ramaj,Hato and Brobbey I would sell the rest as I dont have faith in any of them .I should have said Akpom worked hard but he really is just good to come on for 10 mins or so as a sub.

Depressed Ajax fan here.

[SPL]

Oh no AZ already 2 down v PSV.and will drop points as we hoped

[Orange14]

Oh no AZ already 2 down v PSV.and will drop points as we hoped

Don't underestimate the problem that Thursday night football has caused for Ajax this season. They don't have the kind of roster that can play two matches so close together. It is not good enough and way too young. Other than PSV, the other Dutch teams have suffered with European matches. Look at how Juventus are doing this season in the absence of Euro football. They have a horrible manager but are solidly in second place. Facing a Conference League qualifier next year may be a cursing more than a blessing. We will find out tomorrow who Ajax draws (it would be fitting given how poor the season is going that they will draw Frankfurt).

Looking at the schedule for January, Ajax take on Go Ahead Eagles, RKC Waalwijk, and Heracles. First match in February is with PSV!!!

[Tom_]

Another awful match. I don’t think they are playing much better at all since Steijn left. They have just been lucky with who their opponents were and the chances being converted.

(I was also going to say that when it was 2–1 and I think PEC’s second goal shouldn’t have counted)

[SPL]

Agree with a young side Thursday football does not help.However our defence is just poor.They just stood and let the equaliser go in ,talk of a hand ball but overall I dont think we deserved 3 points.

MF was invisible Tahirovic is not remotely good enough ,Taylor struggled and Akpom is not a 10,just a back up striker.Big spaces in the middle yesterday. Clearly with a non functioning MF it puts pressure on our defence.Problem is Sosa and Gaaei cannot defend . Gaaei is no better than Sanchez and Gooijer is a better defender. Blind and Tagliafico left us and we have Sosa who is rubbish.Martha is a moderate winger and Godts and V A Dongen are ,when fit vastly better wingers.Both better than Forbs.

Up front Brobbey works his socks off and he and Hato along with Ramaj are the only 3 I would not sell plus Taylor and Rensch back ups.

Last night I was depressed but now realise we have just spent 2 summers buying dross and 5th place and no European football next season is likely. Hato will sign and stay but I expect Brobbey to get a good offer from a EPL mid table side .

Anyway a break now for 1 month and I have a 15 week old beautiful little grand daughter to cheer me up .

[Orange14]

Just watched the replay of the final goal. The ball clearly did touch the PEC Zwolle player; it looks like he kicked the ball into his hand. The hand ball rules are pretty unclear about this.

[Orange14]

Ajax draw Bodo/Glmt in the play in the qualifying round of the Conference League. Don't fancy a mid-February match in Norway on artificial turf.

[SPL]

Could have got much tougher team depends on what our squad looks like .Squad as it stands will get Ko'd