11 FEB 2024; Heerenveen - Ajax; Match Day 21

[Orange14]

Ajax stay level on points with AZ who lost at home to Feyenoord 0-1. The job for Ajax right now is to just win matches and keep their destiny close to hand. Heerenveen are in 13th place but clear of the relegation zone.

[SPL]

Steve Bergwijn out for several weeks with a hamstring injury. Not been great but will be missed as Forbs will be his replacement and we have no backups.

One positive thing in our next 8 Eredivisie games we only have AZ away on 25 Feb before April when we play Feyenoord and Twente on successive games.Not saying any other games are easy but these 3 teams still above us are the hardest left.

[Tom_]

Forbs is the obvious player but I wonder if Martha will also get some time on the left wing. I think we could also play without a true LW and with an extra midfielder instead.

[Orange14]

AZ only managed a draw against Almere City so Ajax can move into fourth with a win on Sunday. Twente won their match.

[Orange14]

Two more cheap goals conceded. this team is absolutely incapable of keeping a clean sheet. Ajax have had some chances and been a bit unlucky but unlucky really cannot be counted on.

[saddlerian]

What the hell is going on??? The shirt colour just about matches the mood of the fans!!! Sod the "Adidas" sponsorship, should be in red & white..always did before!!
No leadership on the field...no long balls for Brobbey to hold up...just playing the sideways game!!
Second half had better be a vast improvement...Ajax have the chance of going up a place in the table...bloody wasting it against second rate team...so what does that make today's line up???
BE PROUD......FIGHT!!!

[Tom_]

Ugh, I don’t know about 2-0 but Heerenveen were the better team in the first half. Can’t think of any obvious changes with the players in the squad. This looks like dropped points to me.

[saddlerian]

3-0.....PATHETIC!!

Switching over to Arsenal match!!

[Tom_]

Totally hopeless. Heerenveen did a good job interrupting our build up but I don’t think it should be possible for them to do that with only three or four players pressing.

[saddlerian]

Err.... where's the goal line technology???

Black shirt now cut up in bin!! NEVER wear again!!!

[SPL]

Thought at the end the ball had gone over but we were very poor and did not deserve even a point.Defence is weak, Sosa did not mark the winger who crossed for the 1st . MF poor and even I wonder what Henderson added today . Up front non existant ,Forbs has speed nothing else and we have no wingers.

We can now forget 3rd place and CL and just pip AZ to 4th place and Europa League.

Will wait for Orange's ratings!

[souras84]

Haven't been so angry by a performance in years. Even with Steijn as our manager, we didn't play as badly. Nothing positive today. NOTHING

[souras84]

Haven't been so angry by a performance in years. Even with Steijn as our manager, we didn't play as badly. Nothing positive today. NOTHING

[souras84]

Haven't been so angry by a performance in years. Even with Steijn as our manager, we didn't play as badly. Nothing positive today. NOTHING

[saddlerian]

Henderson added 5 free kicks which didn't even pass the first defender!!
I could do that blindfold for just €9 a week...that'd save Ajax a few quid!!

[Orange14]

Too many average performances and poor first touches and Ajax lose to Heerenveen for the first time since 2009. The club just cannot stop conceding cheap goals. Ajax came within a millimeter of getting the tying goal in the dying minutes of the match when there was a scramble in the goal mouth. A lengthy VAR look could not conclusively demonstrate that the ball was over the line. With the loss, third place will be a difficult reach for Ajax as they are now nine points behind FC Twente. Hard to single out any Ajax player though Brobbey and Sosa were perhaps the only players who were above mediocre. This season of horrors continues.

Player Ratings:

Ramaj (5) - not a very good game as he put his defenders in trouble with short passes out when they were under pressure
Goojier (5) - average
Sutalo (5) - recipient of a poor Rmaj pass and had to get rid of the ball in a hurry but it was to an opponent and then the third goal happens
Hato (5) - Cal Ripken streak continues and that was the highlight of the day for him
Sosa (6.5) - had some really good deliveries into the box and defended above average
Henderson (5) - come down from last wekk's performance
Taylor (5.5) - absorbed to hard challenges and made a couple of good passes but still struggles
Hlynsson (5.5) - let down by a poor first touch twice when there might have been a scoring opportunity
Berghuis (5) - average and nothing more
Brobbey (6.5) - continues to hold the ball well and make things happen, some CRs would have given a Red Card when he was hauled down as it was a possible goal scoring opportunity
Forbs (4) - Bergwuijn was really missed today
Akpom (5.5) - scored and that was it for his highlight as he was mediocre otherwise

Home to Bodo/Glmt on Thursday in the only Euro competition Ajax have never won (of course it has only been around for two years) and then home to NEC next weekend.

[SPL]

Worst performance of the season , apart from the goalie I still dont rate any of the other summer signings.Sutalo is moderate,Sosa rubbish at defending and Forbs a joke. However Berghuis and Taylor were 2 of the worst players on the field.Why is Fitz-Jim not given time instead of Taylor.

[SPL]

Looking at imagines on Dutch sites the ball looked clearly over the line .However we only lost 1 point from this error and would still be 8 behind Twente.They will drop points but so will we and no way will we make up 8 points let alone 9 with our poor defence which leaks like a sieve.

[Tom_]

Exactly! I thought it was over the line, both live and on the replay, but we need to take three points from mid-table teams if we want to overtake AZ and/or Twente.

A draw or a loss against Heerenveen are just as bad IMO.

[SPL]

Agree with Tom a draw would have been just as bad as a defeat.At least it would have extended our unbeaten run but that would paper over the wide cracks.

Reading Showtime today and overall I think the same as Dutch fans. Sosa and Sutalo being slaughtered,Taylor and Forbs too. Hato is struggling a bit because they are so poor.Gooijer and Hato plus Kaplan and Rensch to play back 4 and bank the 2 Croatians. We needed an older experience Cd to replace Timber and guide Hato, and still do.

I do blame the coach for keep playing Taylor.Either give F-J time or stick on Tahirovic. Wing is the other main problem.Berghuis was invisible and Forbs is only Jong Ajax level and not as good as Godts and VA Dongen.Bergwijn is always criticised but was missed yesterday.

Bottom line our signings of last summer are a disaster .Hope we can pip AZ for 4th.If Feyenoord win the cup then 4th place is Europa group stages and 5th play offs. We can do without playoffs as we will be selling another 10 players this summer and bringing more in.

PS It was a grim weekend as I watched our U18 being thrashed 5-1 by AZ. Only regular missing was 16 year old Jetten on U17 int duty.

[Orange14]

They don't have goal line technology in the Eredivisie. I'm not sure how many leagues do other than the Premier League.

[Tom_]

I had the same view… one problem was the four defenders plus Henderson couldn’t get the ball past Heerenveen’s 3 or 4 man press.

It really doesn’t help that Taylor and Hlynsson were both invisible for chunks of the match but the ball was getting stuck much earlier in the build up.

They did play 4-4-2 in the second half, although van t’ Schip might not call it that, that’s what it looked like to me. I think it makes more sense than playing with wingers who don’t contribute.

As for their defending I think the fact that we are desperately waiting for Rensch to return and add some stability pretty much says it all!!!