17 MAR 2024; Sparta - Ajax; Match Day 26

[Orange14]

Ajax travel to Sparta for another ho hum league match

[Tom_]

Big question is: who’s fit for this? Not sure I can watch if it’s a back 4 of Gooijer, Hato, Medic and Sosa!

[GangstaRiB]

Thank god that we are safe from relegation. I see us finish somewhere on position 6 -8 at the end of this season.

If Sparta (or any other club) manages to contain Brobbey, then Ajax will not score.. so how will Ajax win?

[Orange14]

If Sparta (or any other club) manages to contain Brobbey, then Ajax will not score.. so how will Ajax win?

Rijkoff gets the start and a hat trick!!!

So far no word on any of the injuries from last night's game.

[SPL]

I think another defeat coming up. Hope Kaplan is fit but if Sutalo is unfit that will be a bonus the guy is dreadful.At 20m he is by far the worst signing from last summer.Possibly the worst signing ever,he is far worse than Bassey.

I fear we will finish 6th or 7th and no Europe next season as we wont win the playoffs. If we do qualify for Europe it will mean 3 rounds of play offs starting in July.Given most of last summers signings will be sold and our front 3 will all go we could still not qualify for groups stages.

The only season we did not qualify for Europe group stages was 2017/18 ko'd in CL and Europa.However those games were played a few weeks after the collapse of Appie and the players mentally could not deal with football.

[Orange14]

Here is one to really ponder!!!! Conceicao has been called up to the Portugal NT and Lucca has been called up for Italy. Both are better than the expensive players that replaced them: Forbs and Akpom. Ajax would have been over €20M wealthier had they not made those purchases.

[SPL]

Conceicao has more ability than Forbs but he did not settle here .Lucca a pinch hitter does shock me as he looked nothing with us.

Godts and Rijkhoff are both better than Akpom and Forbs and they are Jong players.

[SPL]

Marciano Vink , a dutch pundit and old player,also father of U18 Skye, says if Kaplan is out tomorrow he would have picked Dies Janse and not considered Medic. Cannot disagree, as I posted in youth page he should be playing every game now for Jong. Shame he is left footed .

[Tom_]

Just looking at the fixtures. AZ are 6 points ahead and we are running out of chances to catch them. They have to play PSV away and Twente at home, but we still have Feyenoord away and Twente at home. Twente aren’t out of the running for 2nd so they won’t roll over.

Right now AZ are 2-0 up at HT in Volendam… so anything other than a win for Ajax today would be a disaster and could put 4th place out of reach.

[SPL]

Hope Utrecht beat NEC as I dont see us getting more than a draw.I struggled with streams last week so may not bother today.Watching 5-4-1 is painful and not what Ajax stands for. Basically playing with 5 defenders and 2 defensive MF is not my idea of how football should be played.

Watching those 2 Villa games was dreadful on the eye. I still love my club and if I had a decent stream I would watch .Will go for a cycle up to the local village sitting between the beautiful South Down hills .

[saddlerian]

Nice to see Godst actually attacking the full back, twice in first 0 minutes!!

[saddlerian]

Oh dear... Kaplan sold a pup.. Another not even good enough to be called a schoolboy mistake!!
Bloody Awful!!!

[Amol]

Ajax playing away on a rainy day and on a soggy pitch. Particularly this Ajax team.

Down 1-0. Godts looking lively thus far.

I thought Taylor was taken down in the box, but that wasn't even looked at by VAR.

[saddlerian]

Down 2-0 now... 3 Sparta players offside.. but the scorer was onside!!
Again... bloody awful defending!!

That's it.. 51 minutes and the Ajax players are shouting at each other!!

Utilise that anger!!

[saddlerian]

2-1..Agpom...a chance???

Henderson off... straight to dressing room???

[saddlerian]

Strange, but Henderson off.. a few passes being put together now... Just saying!!

[SPL]

Been out for my cycle ride , was feeling good until i came home and Sparta had just made it 2-0 .Taylor at LB defies all logic.

[saddlerian]

78...Brobbey off, Rijkoff on

[saddlerian]

87 2-2 Bergwijn!!

[saddlerian]

94..Kaplan OFF... again!!

One or two good games.. then red cards!! Questions should be asked!!

2-2 FT

[SPL]

Well another late goal gets us a point. All these recent games where we are losing points we should be winning .Twente and Feyenoord after Easter.

Kaplan will now get 2 games out and Hato probably needs some rest . Still hope for 5th but no confidence in this team or coach.

[Orange14]

The standard approach of playing against this year's Ajax club is to keep everyone behind the ball and wait for Ajax to self-destruct. I'll need to look at the replay of both goals to see who was at fault but on the second it looked like the goal scorer was Brobbey's man. Two second half goals spoiled Sparta's dream of a win as Ajax escapes with point but not after some late drama when Kaplan was sent of for a DOGSO (right call all day long and typical of the way the season has gone). When Gaaei is one of the better players for Ajax, you know it is going to be a long day. Good to see Bergwijn back and getting on the scoreboard and Godts who started the match on the left side was quite good as well. Still some games to play this season and I'm certain of one thing, Ajax will continue to surprise in a not so good way.

Fortunately, there will be no match next Sunday and I can smile all day long.

Player Ratings:

Ramaj (6) - made one point blank save and saw his defense fail on two occaisons but that's common these days
Gaaei (6) - had a wicked shot on goal and delivered a bunch of decent crosses
Henderson (5)- only the assist to Akbom is worth of a mention
Kaplan (5) - a bit above average and he had to pull the man back at the end of the match
Hato (6.5) - Cal Ripken streak continues and he was a calm player on the day moving into the offensive end as much as possible
Taylor (5) - average at best
Mannswerk (6) - did a lot of good coverage and moved to the back line when Henderson went off
van den Boomen (6) - some good cross field passing and should be taking every free kick instead of Henderson
Hlynsson (5) - average
Brobbey (5.5) - had a couple of "almost" chances when the ball was just out of reach; hope he isn't injured
Godts (6) - quicker than Bergwijn
Akpom (7) - great goal and great assist
Bergwijn (6) - nice movement to get the tying goal and had good possession of the ball
Tahirovic (5.5) - on for Henderson and didn't screw up which is praise as far as this team is concerned
Rijkoff (NR) - on for an injured Brobbey

[Orange14]

Kaplan will now get 2 games out and Hato probably needs some rest . Still hope for 5th but no confidence in this team or coach.

I'll have to look at the rule book but I think a DOGSO is only a one game penalty. Same as a deliberate hand ball in the box. In the EPL it's a one game ban.

[SPL]

Hope Kaplan only gets 1 game out ,dont want to see Sutalo wear our shirt again . Next game v Zwolle Janse should play ,yes I am serious.

Why was Sosa not playing today ,he and Gooijer were not subs so maybe injured. Could ask why Fitz-Jim never gets any minutes and with zero creativity in MF it is very sad Misehouy is leaving as he is better than Hlynsson.

I still have hope for 5th place but come 21 April NEC will probably win the cup and with playoffs ahead no European football next season.At least Henderson will leave, far too much money and has not done anything.

[Orange14]

Could ask why Fitz-Jim never gets any minutes and with zero creativity in MF it is very sad Misehouy is leaving as he is better than Hlynsson.

Fitz-Jim does not defend at all and is a real liability in that regard. I don't see him staying at Ajax and I think he really is only good for a mid-table Dutch team. The same goes for Mesehouy. At least Hlynsson works real hard to press when he is on the pitch. Whether he is a solution in the long term is still a question but he's a better all around player IMO

EDIT: both Sosa and Goojier were not fit to play according to van't Schip.