10 MAR 2024; Ajax - Fortuna Sittard; Match Day 25

[Orange14]

Just win baby!!! (Famous American football quote from then Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis; equally applicable here). Unfortunately, the two teams right above Ajax have very winnable matches this weekend.

[Orange14]

Sutalo is healthy and needed because Rensch is suspended. Berghuis is still doubtful and I have not seen an update on Bergwijn.

[Amol]

I assume the same formation as against Villa with Sutalo potentially replacing Rensch.

Hoping that Berghuis gets a few minutes in the 2nd half.

[SPL]

Playing 5-4 -1 ,Sutalo for Rensch but Akpom starts and Brobbey sub .Brobbey has had to work extra hard on his own up front for these last 3 games and maybe needs a rest ,expect he will come for the 2nd half.

[Tom_]

Already 1-0. Hoping for at least 3-0 by half time. A big win with no pressure in the last half hour would really do this team some good.

[Orange14]

Good first 15 minutes and then Ajax stopped pressing. I have a choral performance this afternoon and we went on daylight savings time today so i'm going to miss the 2nd half in real time. Ratings won't come out until much later today. Hope for some goals and a clean sheet in the 2nd half.

[SPL]

Got a stream for about 20 mins up to Ht but have been getting ready for granddaughter, aged 6 months .See we are now losing think I wont bother to watch the stream for the rest of the game.

[Tom_]

I don’t know why but whenever Sutalo plays, Ajax leaks goals. Not that I’m blaming him for the goals today

[saddlerian]

Very poor display..message on leaving the dressing room should have been, "win today or else you ain't going to Villa Park"...

Easy start, good Taylor goal...then they fell apart!

All Henderson did was complain to referee and pull a "bloody useless" face when FS took the lead!!

Now we see that it was the good Liverpool players around him that made him look good...another waste of money!!

[SPL]

Did watch the last 15 mins Brobbey's goal too late but at least we got a point. 5th and 6 points behind 4th place so we now have to try and finish ahead of Go Ahead and NEC to finish 5th and hope Feyenoord win the cup.We then play Europa qualifiers but given most of last summer's signings will be sold the club is going to be in shambles this summer and next season.

As for not beating Sittard at home ,pathetic.

[SPL]

As we are now heading for Conference play offs , and I have zero faith in us winning them, we are faced with no Europe next season.
I think we can assume Henderson will go back to EPL. Brobbey will go ,along with most of last summer dross . The wheels have now completely fallen off Ajax and after the Int break we start April H to GAE ,Away to Feyenoord ,in the space of 4 days.

I dont think van t'Schip knows what he is doing anymore.

Everyone running this club should resign and that includes V Gaal and Blind. The fans should start protesting and force the whole Board out ,they have reduced our club to a shambolic mess.

[Orange14]

I had a great afternoon of choral singing as we had a world premiere of a very nice piece by the British composer Judith Silver. Watching the replay of the match after dinner was not a pleasant experience at all as Ajax again drop points despite outplaying the opposition. It seems that this season, the difference in centimeters is always in favor of the opponent but that's football for you. Taylor was unfortunate not to have at least one more goal. Ajax were wildly out of position on the first goal but take nothing away from Duarte who had a great finish. The second goal was another comedy of errors, par for the course for this club. All that is left to play for now is a miracle of finishing first in the Conference League which means automatic berth in the Europa group stage next season. Just as the Dutch League is about to take advantage of all the coefficient points Ajax have generated, the club may very well be out of European football next season.

It's becoming more of a chore to do player ratings but here they are:

Ramaj (6.5) - some good saves to prevent a loss but sub-par kicking
Goojier (4) - just awful and was really lucky Ramaj made a good save on a break away
Sutalo (6.5) - decent enough and not at fault on either goal
Kaplan (6) - misplayed the ball on the second goal but stuff happens, otherwise pretty decent
Hato (6) - Cal Ripken streak continues but one of those out of position on the first goal
Sosa (4.5) - way too far upfield on the first goal; what was he thinking? did have a couple of good crosses
Henderson (6) - just above average and given what has gone on since he came into the team, one wonders if the expense is worth it
Mannswerk (5.5) - just OK for me
Hylnsson (5) - did nothing good and nothing bad
Akpom (5.5) - he needs to be sold for whatever the club can get
Taylor (7) - some good shots on goal and put in a decent shift
van den Boomen (5) - made a poor decision on a pass to a congested area on the second goal but did have some good free kicks
Brobbey (6.5) - only dangerous player other than Taylor
Forbs (5) - has speed and little else, Conceicao was a better wing option
Gaaei (NR) - a relief from a poor Goojier

Aston Villa away on Thursday and we'll see if the home match was just an aberration.

[Tom_]

Thanks for the ratings, I always read them.

For Ajax fans it’s a time to be enjoying things other than football.

[Orange14]

Everyone running this club should resign and that includes V Gaal and Blind. The fans should start protesting and force the whole Board out, they have reduced our club to a shambolic mess.

Most of them have already resigned. I'm puzzled by your statement about van Gaal (only an advisor) and Blind (who just joined the Board) Neither of them were associated with the club in any major way during the past three years. Ajax are a selling club and lost what amounted to an entire starting 11 over this period of time. Players put in transfer requests which were all honored; they want a big pay day that Ajax cannot offer (and in truth few other teams outside of England can either). The big mistake was not promptly replacing Overmars when he was sacked for very good reasons. Hamstra and Huntelaar were lightweights and it's very telling that Huntelaar has not returned to the club since he took leave. Kroes officially starts this week I believe and that should add stability.

I don't especially blame van't Schip or even Steijn for that matter. Steijn was dealt a horrible hand with lots of new players coming into the team, some that he didn't want. We also ended up with some players who did not turn out to be very good despite "scouting reports" to the contrary. Of course Ajax will bounce back from this. There are still good players in the youth system but remember that only 2-3 will progress to the first team in a good year. The U-14 team just won the Algrave Cup this past weekend beating Benfica in the final.

It's going to be interesting to see what happens to both PSV and Feyenoord this coming summer. Both could suffer the loss of a number of first team players and will have to confront what happened with Ajax. Whether they do any better at finding replacements is uncertain. Neither have particularly good youth players (Babadi of PSV may be the exception) and they will have to be very judicious in the transfer market which is getting increasingly more difficult with lots of competion.

[SPL]

I was going a bit overboard as V Gaal is only advisor and as you say Blind has only just joined the Board. I think there are 3 Board Members remaining who should resign .V Halst is leaving when Kroes takes over.

Big problem is appointing the wrong coach 2 seasons in a row. However not getting a replacement for Overmars is the biggest mistake. We should have appointed an experienced Dutch TD who knows the needs of Ajax. In 2022 Schreuder got who he wanted but as bad as it was last season we finished 3rd.Some of his players who have now left were as good if not better than the utter rubbish signed last summer.

[Orange14]

Big problem is appointing the wrong coach 2 seasons in a row. However not getting a replacement for Overmars is the biggest mistake. We should have appointed an experienced Dutch TD who knows the needs of Ajax.

I think that can directly be attributed to van der Sar!!!!