22 MAR 2026: Feyenoord - Ajax; Match Day 28

[Orange14]

Klassiker, must win, play Ajax football.

[Ayman]

I saw Feyenoord against Excelsior, they were poor and disorganised, Ajax must step up their game, I am relieved that Mokio is starting instead of Regeer, I just wish Fitz-Jim or Bounida would start instead of Klaassen. I dont care about Davy's experience, he is way too slow in midfield.

[SPL]

Big problem Feyenoord are rubbish and poor but we are worse , simply because we have had 2 coaches who would not be good enough to coach Jong Ajax. We have a few players who are not good enough but Saturday with a coach who knows what he is doing he got them all playing well and performing .

Agree Ayman Mokio for Reeger but Fitz-Jim or Bounida for Klaassen is a given .Even Ouazane would be superior to Klaassen as a10

[Tom_]

I guess this could be an interesting game. Garcia seems to want high intensity, aggressive football. The obvious issue is that the squad doesn’t have the quality to play like that! So we could get a messy contest with loads of chances.

[SPL]

Must win game ,Weghorst starts and not Dolberg rather it was the other way round

[Tom_]

I think we drop to 5th if we lose. NEC drew with Heerenveen but Twente won so they are equal on points and only one behind on GD.

Desperately need at least a point from this.

[Tom_]

Both sides terrible so far. A lot of diving and complaining, not a lot of actual football.

[Tom_]

Nice goal from Steur. Shame we couldn’t hang on but a draw is a pretty good result. As soon as Wijndal came on I thought we were done for so I’m happy we at least get a point.

[Orange14]

There is no question that the VAR PK call for a review was correct. In the end, Ajax could just not create enough chances against a damaged Feyenoord side that was packing everyone back on defense. It came down to one reckless challenge and one has to say a draw was a fair but unfortunate result for Ajax. Steur's strike for goal was magnificent and both Ajax FBs, Rosa and Tomiyasu were superb defenders. Paes had one really good save and Mokio cleared a ball off the line that looked like a sure goal. So the standings stay pretty much the same as NEC also draw on the day. PSV look to be champions and maybe they don't have a lot to play for in the remaining games. The game against Twente now looks big as they are only one point behind Ajax. A fifth place finish is not out of the question if there are further slip ups.

Player Ratings:

Paes (6.5) - great save late but had to still do too much kicking
Rosa (7) - strong defending all game
Sutalo (7) - good performance on the day
Baas (7) - another nice match
Tomiyasu (7.5) - solid game and it was interesting to see him slide into the middle to take passes from Paes, hope his leg complaint is not serious
Mokio (7) - solid game both on and off the ball
Steur (7.5) - would have been great to have been the game winner
Klaassen (6) - still don't understand why he plays 90 minutes
Berghuis (6) - not much of a factor
Weghorst (5.5) - could not get free to do much of anything
Godts (6) - held in check by a deep lying Feyenoord team
Dolberg (5) - can't remember if he had more than a touch or two
Bounida (5.5) - poor defending on occasion
Fitz-Jim (4.5) - caught up in the moment and gave up a PK try that was converted
Wijndal (NR) - decent enough coming in for an injured Tomiyasu

Don't see the team finishing second at this point and a third place will be satisfactory but they could also slide into the Conference League playoffs. All those draws are haunting this team.

[SPL]

Dreadful game of football with 22 players who had no clue. Apart from Steur's goal we created nothing and had no shots on target. Penalty was right as Fitz-Jim kicked the guy and a draw was a fair result . 2nd place no chance and with Twente breathing down our necks we could finish 5th. Berghuis,Klaassen and Weghorst were dreadful sadly Bounida Dolberg were invisible and F-Jim only made 1 contribution and cost us 2 points.

Garcia effect down to earth now we were rubbish

[Orange14]

Ajax could have save a bunch of money and had a better team had they kept Hlynsson and not bought Gloukh! It will be quite embarrassing for management if Twente surpasses Ajax because of Hylnsson's performance.

[SPL]

Agree although Hlynsson was not thought that highly by fans. Gloukh ,Dolberg and Itakura all signed last summer are nothing special .

[SPL]

Reading Showtime and some papers said the 1st half was of a Sunday morning amateur standard.Cannot disagree ,the quality of football was dreadful and these are 2 of the3 big clubs in Netherlands.

Klaassen went 20 mins without touching the ball and did Weghorst even touch the ball.Only 3 players are quoted as having a good game ,Steur,Mokio and Tomiyasu, cannot disagree.Jordi needs to sign Tomiyasu for next season and give Mokio and Steur big contracts as they will make it and we will get good transfers out of them.

We can still finish 3rd but Twente have to be beaten and then NAC and Heracles. Anything less than 9 points from these next 3 games and 3rd will be out of sight and maybe 4th,We finish with 3 tough games PSV,Utrecht Heerenveen.

Garcia was a hugh disappointment yesterday and I thought Grim was still in charge.

Big article on Showtime about who to sell this summer and upward of 20 players mentioned , including loaned out. Does any Dutch fan posting really believe Klaassen,Berghuis and Wijndal will find a new club as all have a year left and wont give up any money. At least Weghorst's contract is up. Just hope Ipswich get promoted otherwise Akpom will be back and doubt anyone will buy him .V d Boomen also has another year and on a big salary.

[Orange14]

It was striking that Feyenoord did not press much at all yesterday. They played most all the forwards as the halfway line and let Ajax bring the ball from the back with no problems. However, once Ajax got into the Feyenoord half, everyone was packed in to defend. Ajax just does not have enough good ball rotation and penetration to break things down. Godts was always double or triple teamed and could not dribble across to get a free shot or cross. So we have a fundamental problem that Ajax has to address, they cannot do well against good teams that press high nor can they break down teams with a good defensive block. This means they have to defend very well to win 1-0 matches! They almost pulled this off yesterday.

As long as Klaassen starts matches, Ajax will be hobbled. Fitz-Jim is a possible solution but he needs free space to operate well as he can be dispossessed if challenged. For all the cries about the lack of a #6, the basic problem is we don't have three good MFs who can play ball rotation. It is also puzzling that Carizzo has not gotten any playing time at RW. Bounida was first off the bench yesterday when Berghuis came off and was very bad. He's not a natural winger. Gloukh is now invisible and turning out to be another worthless buy by Ajax (Hlynsson has eight goals for Twente this season!). Maybe Ouzane improves and can slot in at #10 next year (amazing to see a team with three U-20s in the MF!!!).

What happens with the players out on loan (Goojier, Janse, Kaplan, Alders, van Axel Dongen, Verschuren, Faberski, and Rijkoff) will be interesting to see. I hope that van den Boomen, Akpom, and Mannsverk get picked up by their clubs). Jordi Cruyff has a lot of work to do.

[SPL]

A good post Orange.Hlynsson is turning out good and better than Gloukh who is lightweight and another poor signing.We do need to loan out players for 1 or 2 seasons and be patient. Janse and Verschuren are doing well on loan.Gooijer also and he and Janse are the only 2 in Dutch u21 .

Like you I cannot understand Carrizo not getting any playing time and he has not even played for Jong. Bouwman is not being used at all. Since his last start v Volendam he has been a late sub v Fortuna and thats it 10 mins in 8 games. Worst of all in that time he has played 2 out of 10 for Jong . He made some mistakes but so does Sutalo.

Since posting earlier I read Mokio wants a big salary increase and he could well go this summer. Steur I think will sign.Abdalla and Ouazane will break through and at present these are the only 2 current Jong who I see breaking through next season.

A lot depends on which Euro comp we are in . Jordi needs to clear out alot of rubbish .

[Tom_]

I honestly think it’s better if we play EL or Conference League, or maybe even neither.

We know what happens when Ajax tries to splash CL cash on transfers - it doesn’t end well.

I would prefer they try to develop the current squad, maybe aim for 2nd next year, and build from there.