27 SEP 2025; Ajax - NAC; Match Day Seven

[Orange14]

Home to NAC

[Tom_]

This is not good! Can’t even get the ball to the halfway line so they’re just playing pointless balls over the top. I’m giving up, may watch the rest later.

[SPL]

After the early goal we were dreadful. Wijndal is hopeless and Itakura is having a poor game.MF overrun.Not sure anyone on the bench could be better.Looks like Mokio is coming on, he can play LB but then again nobody could be worse than Wijndal.

[Amol]

Wijndal and Klassen need to come off. Neither can make a simple 10 yard pass. Taylor and Godts are not passing well either.

I can't see Heitinga surviving past today regardless of what the final result is. This is quite embarrassing.

[Amol]

Johnny for feck's sake, TAKE KLAASSEN OUT!!!!

[SPL]

Wijndal and Klaassen should not be starting both poor and what did Berghuis do? We were very lucky to get any points today let alone 3. Still think a good coach would get much more out of these players

[Orange14]

I'm not sure how much more I can watch this team play. Even when they went up a man, they were never convincing. NAC had so much possession in the attacking third and were disappointed at have two goals called back because of offsides. It can certainly be argued that they deserved at least a point. Ajax played maybe 10-15 minutes of decent football before descending into chaos for the remainder of the game. Jaros was unconvincing at several point in the game and his defense was not much better. If you put out a Smurf team, you better darn well hope they keep possession of the ball. Again, Heitinga starts Klaassen who is pretty much useless these days other than poaching a goal. The passing in the first half was awful with soft passes easily intercepted. Why did Ajax take McConnell on loan if he doesn't play?

Player Ratings:

Jarros (6) - had a couple of good saves but looked uncertain on at least three attempts, at least he goes back to Liverpool after the season
Gaaei (5) - average and nothing more
Sutalo (6.5) -best among the back line players
Itakura (6) - had some pretty poor passes that were easily intercepted
Wijndal (4.5) shirt grab and a hand ball conceding a penally
Klaassen (5) - he still tries to play hard but maybe does not realize he has diminished skills
Taylor (6.5) - better from him today and he got the match winner
Oscar (6.5) - decent enough but he needs to pass before he gets double teamed as he cannot dance out of those situations
Edvardssen (5.5) - not a major impact player today
Konadu (5) - played the first half and had a couple of touches, he is not a hold up striker
Godts (6.5) - looked to pass rather than shoot every time and was rewarded with a nice assist on Oscar's goal
Moro (6.5) - one of the few players to sparkle as he came in for the 2nd half
Mokio (6) - decent enough and I don't think he turned the ball over
Berghuis (5) - on for Godts and did nothing to stand out
Fitz-Jim (NR) - on late to help with ball possession but wasn't able to accomplish that task
Weghorst (NR) - on late

Marseilles up on Tuesday in the Champions League and mercifully I will miss this one because of a couple of commitments. I don't think I will miss much!

[Tom_]

I’m pretty sure we would’ve dropped points if the NAC player hadn’t got the silly second yellow. It definitely felt like that’s where it was heading to me.

This could be the worst Ajax I’ve ever seen. I think even Frank de Boer’s team would’ve put away a couple of those counter chances in the last 20 minutes. They had two or three 3-on-1 situations and couldn’t even get a shot on goal.

Spose we should be thankful for the points but it’s not nice to watch.

[SPL]

Thankful for VAR both offside goals were very marginal. The football we are playing is poor and we were lucky Telstar, Volendam and NAC did not beat us. Ironically I did not think much of PSV last week

Until Heitinga is sacked we will continue to play poorly .Farioli would have got a lot more out this squad and a better coach is needed. Kroes needs to go we lost Hato and Henderson and have not replaced them.Wijndal is no better than Jong Ajax standard and we need an experience no 6 .Klaassen and Berghuis add nothing and giving them 2 year contracts is as good a reason as any to sack Kroes.

I actual thought Bounida would have done better than Berghuis , he is really for 15 min sub like yesterday

[Tom_]

I can’t believe Wijndal is our first choice left back, he’s obviously not good enough.

So many problems with this squad though. Taylor is probably the best midfielder we’ve got, and he can’t pass or shoot. Strikers don’t score. Wingers don’t pass. Etc etc.

Wondering if they’ll wait until winter to ditch Heitinga? There’s that classic thing where if they fire him too soon after they appoint him, everyone can see that they stuffed up.

[SPL]

Baas may play LB but at Jong Ajax we only have Jetten who is small but whether he is good enough we dont know.His contract runs to next June and he is not signing another until he knows whether he has a future in our 1st .

[Orange14]

I watched the second halves of both the NEC - AZ (2-1) and the Groningen - Feyenoord (0-1) matches. all four of these teams are much better organized than Ajax are. Janse was not alert enough on the Feyenoord goal that came just after half time as he let Uyeda have too much space and a good cross was headed in. Groningen kept pressing the remainder of the game and were pretty dangerous in creating opportunities. I don't think any of these clubs are that much better than Ajax in terms of player talent but the managers all seem to know how to get the best out of them. Blokzilj and Janse may be the best defensive back combination in the league and are both under 21 years of age!!

I know some of you are critical of Kroes but honestly, I don't know what else he could have done during the summer. He brought in a good DB but maybe that was a waste of money given he needed a LB and #6. Maybe he should have kept both Kaplan and Janse in the squad and spent money elsewhere. The purchase of Oscar was good but as long as Klaassen starts a match, it is wasted money.

Maybe Farioli only planned to stay at Ajax a single season. He never moved his family (don't know if they have moved to Porto where his team is unbeaten). It's a shame as the team would certainly be more cohesive. Last season we seemed to have a healthy team most of the season with Baas the only one out for a long period. Now we have lots of players getting hurt.

[SPL]

Itakuru is a good Cd but with Sutalo and Baas we did not need to buy him just get a good back up RCD cheaper.Moro and Gloukh look potentially good signings but we have no no 6 or LB. Kroes should have bought replacements for Hato and Henderson.

My big worry we give game time to Mc Connell who will just go back to Liverpool and we wont give that time to Mokio who is going to be a top class player. If he and fellow Belgium Bounida do not get playing time this season both will go and they are our best 2 teenagers at present.

[Amol]

I watched the second halves of both the NEC - AZ (2-1) and the Groningen - Feyenoord (0-1) matches. all four of these teams are much better organized than Ajax are. Janse was not alert enough on the Feyenoord goal that came just after half time as he let Uyeda have too much space and a good cross was headed in. Groningen kept pressing the remainder of the game and were pretty dangerous in creating opportunities. I don't think any of these clubs are that much better than Ajax in terms of player talent but the managers all seem to know how to get the best out of them. Blokzilj and Janse may be the best defensive back combination in the league and are both under 21 years of age!!

I know some of you are critical of Kroes but honestly, I don't know what else he could have done during the summer. He brought in a good DB but maybe that was a waste of money given he needed a LB and #6. Maybe he should have kept both Kaplan and Janse in the squad and spent money elsewhere. The purchase of Oscar was good but as long as Klaassen starts a match, it is wasted money.

Maybe Farioli only planned to stay at Ajax a single season. He never moved his family (don't know if they have moved to Porto where his team is unbeaten). It's a shame as the team would certainly be more cohesive. Last season we seemed to have a healthy team most of the season with Baas the only one out for a long period. Now we have lots of players getting hurt.

My main criticism of Kroes and the board is about the hiring of Heitinga and Keizer. I think they've done well with the purchases and what we've sold considering circumstances.