17 JAN 2026; Ajax - Go Ahead Eagles; Match Day 19

[Orange14]

First home match of the new year!

[SPL]

Only good news Wijndal suspended for the next 2 games .

[SPL]

I am going to watch my local team Worthing this afternoon and then come home and watch our game in full and treat it as live.Think we will struggle against GAE

[SPL]

Ended up not going to my local game but watched this live .Plenty of chances to have won Godts 2, Steur and Dolberg all had clear chances . A decent 1st half but a poor 2nd half and then Grim stuck on Sutalo and put 5 at the back ,6 with Reeger !! Grim has lost it and this is going to be another 2023/24 when van t'Schip was in charge.

[SPL]

Bounida and Bouwman should start ahead of Gloukh and either Itakura or Sutalo. Bouwman and Baas should be our Cd .Itakura very moderate again today and no idea why he was bought. We so badly need a quality no 6 ,Reeger is a nothing player.

Giving away 2 points today is very depressing especially as we had a few clear chances to win .Feyenoord are poor but sadly we are even worse and at this rate even 3rd place and CL qualifying round will not be achieved.

[Orange14]

Totally unnecessary dropped points. Grim is turning out to be not much better than Heitinga. Two major errors by out two 18 year olds, Steur and Bouwman gave up the goals. Neither one picked up the player who was in their zone, though the second shot off the Bouwman mistake was a fine strike. Grim's fascination with Klaassen is mystifying and then he subs on two defensive players late in the game. I'm running out of things to say and am really wondering if it's worth watching this team any more this season. Ajax did have about 15 minutes of good football where the ball was quickly moved and shots were created. If we could go by expected goals, Ajax would have had 4-5 rather than the two they scored. Maybe Youri Baas is the key to this team. They faltered last year down the stretch when he was out injured and the last two games that he has been out this season are indicative of his value. There were also an abysmal number of give aways in the Ajax half in the 2nd period

Player Ratings:

Jaros (6) - a shade above average but is forced to kick long way too much but he had a great throw out leading to an attack
Gaaei (6) - went forward with purpose and fortunately did not have to defend
Bouwman (5.5) - had one good run with the ball into the offensive half but was at fault for the second goal
Itakura (6) - decent and no more
Rosa (6) - worked hard all game
Regeer (6) - still don't know if he is a solution to any problem this team has
Steur (5.5) - good field vision and made some good passes and runs, but he let the runner go right past him on the first goal
Klaassen (6) - solid shot on the first goal but that was it, I still don't know why he starts
Bounida (6.5) - one of the better players for Ajax, notice that he doesn't get dispossessed the same way that Oscar does
Dolberg (6.5) - had a solid match and even controlled the long kicks in his direction, too bad he did not finish the 2nd half chance better
Godts (6.5) - most creative player out there and like Dolberg, he should have finished the shot that caromed of the cross bar
Sutalo (5.5) - on in bizarre double substitution
Mokio (5.5) - same as Sutalo
Edvardssen (NR) - part of the Smurf Patrol
Moro (NR) - part of the Smurf Patrol
Oscar (NR) - yet another Smurf and he is quickly proving to be a very mediocre player

Villareal coming up in the CL and they lost today. Ironically AZ also got handled by PEC Zwolle 3-1. Go figure!!! Maybe Feyenoord will drop points tomorrow.

[Tom_]

Really really don’t like the way Godts plays. Instead of giving his teammate a tap in he chooses to fart around with the ball until the defenders take it off him, or he mishits a weak shot. A real drag on the team IMO.

[Amol]

It should've been 4-0 at HT and that would've been game over. Godts trying to be Messi again and then Dolberg missing a couple chances.

This is depressing.

[SPL]

Bouwman got a lesser marking than Itakura but I thought he was the better defender and comfortable on the ball. Itakura is just an average defender like Sutalo. Next season Bouwman and Janse will be our Cd as I think Baas, who is by far our best CD,will get sold.

Didn't think the full backs were that bad and in the end only our poor finishing meant we dropped points . I do hope Bounida keeps his place over Gloukh who is moderate ,loses the ball easily.

Grim's subs were so bad he ought to be sacked. 6 defenders on at 2-2 holding on for a draw against a moderate side was not worthy of Ajax .As for bringing on the 3 attackers they were all weak .

[Orange14]

So we end up picking up a point on both AZ and Feyenoord who both lost this weekend. This league is so wacky. It just might be that NEC take second place this season.

[SPL]

Feyenoord lost it in the last minute so not so bad for us although still angry we dropped 2 points.