15 FEB 2024: Ajax - Bodo/Blimt; Conference League Play In Round

[Orange14]

Another opportunity to exceed mediocrity.

[Orange14]

Hato to extend contract to 2028 which is exceptionally good news.

[SPL]

Rensch is LB and up front Akpom for Forbs. Akpom to play behind Brobbey with Berghuis on the right and Hlysson on the left.It worked a bit on Sunday in the 2nd half as we scored 2 goals and a 3rd which crossed the line clearly on TV .

Will be interesting to see if Kaplan comes on, and up front ,apart from Forbs we have Rijkhoff. Just win and if we finish with a 2 goal advantage that would be brilliant.

[Orange14]

Another dreadful half of football. Back line is Goojier, Rensch, Sutalo and Hato. Ajax look to be keeping a back three with only Goojuer advanced. Totally weird goal by B/G as it was hard to tell whether Ramaj was screened or not. There did not appear to be a deflection. If you look at how well B/G are organized on defense compared to Ajax you see a huge difference. Hardly any space between the lines and Ajax are just not quick enough to break through. Henderson is hardly a factor. Just the one really good shot on goal and a bunch of soft ones. Don't know what kind of changes van't Schip can make.

[Tom_]

Bodo will look to close this out at 1–0 and I don’t know if Ajax can break them down. Berghuis and Akpom haven’t been great but who would come on?

[Tom_]

@oranje Ramaj was heading to the far post and Hato failed to cover the near post. Pretty bad all around on what was a pretty tame shot.

[Tom_]

Totally clueless against a team that does nothing except try to kick the ball away. One or two half chances and a well deserved loss.

I hope no one still thinks this has anything to do with coaching or technical staff. This team sucks.

[Orange14]

Just when all is lost and the team is horrible once more, two late goals get a draw and send Ajax to the frozen wilds of Norway next week with a bit of a chance to advance in the Conference League. Van't Schip made a real bad decision on the starting lineup putting Akpom in at 10 where he was useless (he continued to be useless when he was moved out to the left wing in the 2nd half and Hlynsson slotted in MF). Now that Rijkoff is back in Amsterdam, I won't shed a tear if Akpom moves back to England. Goojier was awful in almost every aspect of the game. I could not figure out who was at fault on the first goal despite seeing the play from a bunch of angles. Ramaj was anchored and Hato and Henderson were converging on the G/G player. Brobbey agains needs to be singled out as one who is always putting top effort into the match.

It is so hard to watch this team play!!!!

Player Ratings:

Ramaj (5) - stats said he made a save but I could not remember it
Goojier (3) - absolute horror show
Rensch (5) - played only the first half at CB
Sutalo (6)- - decent enough for me
Hato (6.5) - Cal Ripken streak continues and he was OK, starting at LB in the first half but staying home as Ajax were playing with 3 in the back to prevent counters (didn't really work all that well)
Henderson (5) - average and no more
Taylor (5) - didn't do anything major one way or the other with two relatively weak shots in the first half
Akpom (4) - gets this 'high' score only because of the hard shot that required a good save in the first half
Berghuis (5.5) - pretty bad game UNTIL the great chip to even the score in added time
Brobbey (7) - had two headers he probably should have put away but his effort was double everyone else
Hlynsson (5) - looked like an orphan boy on the LW in the first half, a little better in the second
Sosa (5.5) - didn't need to do much defending and had some good crosses including the one that ended up at Berghuis for the tying goal
Forbs (4.5) - on for Akpom and ran around a lot
van den Boomen (5.5) - well taken penalty and had some good passes but he is really too slow to play as a starter
Rijkoff (NR) - on late and he would have received a 10 had the overhead kick gone in
Gaaei (NR) - on late

Back to league play and then the rematch in Norway next week.

[Orange14]

@oranje Ramaj was heading to the far post and Hato failed to cover the near post. Pretty bad all around on what was a pretty tame shot.

You are probably correct. The feed I watched showed it three times from different angles but I didn't get clear view of what Ramaj was doing before the shot came in

[SPL]

Well for 90 mins we were rubbish and I have to say at 2-0 I nearly turned off we were so bad. ET we got out of jail with a penalty and a superb Berghuis goal. Akpom should only be a sub but a poor performance by all.

[Tom_]

Ha, if you allow me to replace “deserved loss” with “deserved to lose” I stand by everything else.

Bodo/Glimt are very basic and should be a pushover for any Ajax team with a little footballing ability. Unfortunately we don’t have one of those.

[Tom_]

Berghuis (5.5) - pretty bad game UNTIL the great chip to even the score in added time

This is fair, without the goal he gets a 3 from me. I think that was his only good touch.

[saddlerian]

Just one thought after his first three games..Henderson, ...is he only good, as when playing for Liverpool & England, when he is surrounded by good players? Because he was nothing in Saudi Arabia, and he seems just a vastly overpaid "extra" here!! The only positive thing with a player brought in from EPL has been Tadic... Henderson should be told..lead by example or hire a bike and go!!!

[SPL]

Starting to agree about Henderson is not worth it . 2 poor games in a row from the team and he has added nothing.Mind he has to play with 2 lightweight Mf and a defence with only a 17 year old good enough

[saddlerian]

"nothing.Mind he has to play with 2 lightweight Mf and a 17 year old.."

I think you've answered my question...it's possibly not Henderson who's been good, it's been the people around him!!

[Orange14]

The problem is that too many players left in a short period of time and "adequate" replacements were not found in either the academy or through purchase. Even if you go back to the early stage of ten Hag, there were some really bad purchases and only a few turned out to be outstanding (e.g., Tadic, Antony, Neres, Alvarez, Haller just off the top of my head). There were outstanding prospects from the academy who came up. All these players were quick and enabled Ajax to create a high pressure team. We don't have the kind of players right now that can play the same type of football that ten Hag put in place. Developing youth players is always a hit and miss proposition and the fact that we had so many come through in a short period of time is probably an exception to the rule of getting 1-2 players per year who can play in the first team. Fortunately, it looks like there are some good prospects in the youth ranks right now.

There were not enough good players available for purchase at a reasonable price over the last two years. The huge inequality between the Dutch league and some of the others that have a lot more television money makes it more difficult to do business in the transfer market. Ajax has to uncover hidden jewels or players that are just in the wrong system. this is tough business. I hope something can be salvaged from this season, but it is fair to say it is a very trying time to be an Ajax supporter.

[Tom_]

Thanks for posting that, it’s how I see it too. Whoever came in after ten Hag was always going to be blamed. The frustrating thing for me is the way the club deals with it.

They dumped Schreuder and it didn’t change anything. This season they dumped Steijn and as far as I can see not much has changed in terms of how the team is playing. (Obviously the results have improved a bit but they would have, even with Thomas the Tank Engine in charge). I’m not saying I liked either of those managers but I personally don’t think constantly changing the coaching staff is helpful when the squad is the issue.