Ajaxtalk

Tom_ schreef:AEK barely saw the ball in the second half. Great start to the CL season. Now I guess we hope for Bayern to thump Benfica?

Better for it to be a stalemate!

Job done.

Tough first half because of their tactics, but the early 2nd half goal changed everything.
It's great that this young team got to start with a home game (and a win) to build a little confidence, now on to the lion's den....

I really get the feeling that there's something special about this year's vintage... a few older heads, some unpredictable creativity, some huge potential youngsters. Who knows how far they can go?

What a wonderful present on arriving home from a day in the synagogue!!! I was worried when I heard that de Ligt suffered an injury in training yesterday and what this would do to the defense. No worries, we have the Amsterdam version of Javier Mascherano aka Frenkie de Jong; just drop him into a role on the pitch and he performs. Next stop #9. AEK really were quite limited because of three starters being suspended for this match so it is difficult to judge their true quality but on this night it was quite poor. No real clue on offense and Ajax ramped up the pressure in the 2nd half and were able to create some nice scoring opportunities. ten Hag is molding this team into a very flexible squad. Tonight he played a double pivot 4-2-3-1 with three advance MFs moving all over the pitch.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - you have to rate everyone above a five but it's a stretch for Onana who did not have to make a single save and maybe only had a couple of goal kicks when the ball went past the end line
Tagliafico (9) - were it not for a great save by the AEK keeper it would have been a hat trick
Blind (7.5) - defended well when he had to
de Jong (8) - made a real good block on the AEK striker who seemed to be clear in on goal
Mazraoui (7.5) - some very good interventions where he stripped the ball from the AEK attacker
Schöne (7) - solid as one of the double pivot MFs
Eiting (7.5) - some really incisive passing in the 2nd half
Ziyech (7) - major quibble about his shot selection but otherwise a good match
Tadic (7.5) - his enthusiasm on the pitch is something we have not seen a long time
Neres (6.5) - maybe deserved a penalty when he was bundled over in the box
Huntelaar (6) - couldn't get much started and then came off with a leg complaint; maybe all the minutes he is logging are catching up
van de Beek (7) - instant energy and only an off side prevented him from notching a brace
Dolberg (5.5) - surprising substitute and his first match since way back last season

PSV in Eindhoven on Sunday with a chance to move into first place!!!



BTW - Naci Unuvar became the youngest player in UEFA history to score in the youth CL competition, slotting home a penalty as the Ajax U19s run over AEK, 6-0.

An overview of some international newspapers about our game on Ajax Showtime:
https://www.ajaxshowtime.com/article/bi ... rieur-ajax


The Greek Reporter:
https://greece.greekreporter.com/2018/0 ... ner-video/

The Daily Mail:
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footb ... -side.html