17 JAN 2021; Ajax-Feyenoord; Match Day 17

[Orange14]

We hit the halfway point of the Eredivisie schedule with the first Klassiker at home. Ajax still have control of first place though things are getting tight at the top right now. The club has one day less rest than their Rotterdam rivals who eased pass PEC Zwolle 1-0 in unconvincing fashion on Wednesday.

[Ayman]

It's worth noting that this is the 196th meeting between Ajax and Feyenoord, they first played each other in 1921! I can't seem to find any pictures of that game.

[SPL]

KJH is saying goodbye to Ajax after this game.Seems like he wants to finish in the industrial wastes of Gelsenkirchen .Sad that he could not say goodbye in front of 56,000

[Orange14]

KJH is saying goodbye to Ajax after this game.Seems like he wants to finish in the industrial wastes of Gelsenkirchen .Sad that he could not say goodbye in front of 56,000

Credit to him if he saves the team from relegation.

[kezme44]

timber starting again and promes playing in midfield again. spartak moscow reporting they have approached ajax for promes to come back

[SPL]

A must win game ,no KJH,says he has a slight calf injury.

Neres and Brobbey on the bench but Kudus not 100% so they are taking no chances

[kezme44]

yes 1-0! let’s score a few more

[SPL]

We look comfortable and the better side but I do fear a silly mistake will bring it back to 1-1 and we have no super sub like Thursday.

[Orange14]

Totally dominant for about 35 minutes before some screw ups almost let Feyenoord back in the match.

[kezme44]

promes is so fucking useless. way this is going we are going to concede

[GangstaRiB]

Wow... Ajax is playing pretty bad right now....

[kezme44]

lucky to come away with a win. we only had two shots on target. fword had the better chances but onana saves us again

[SPL]

I would say we got lucky today . They had a couple of shots that just went wide and I had a feeling they were going to sneak an injury time goal

I thought Timber had a good game but it was when we put our subs on I worried. Ekkelenkamp,Alvarez ,Labyad did little although Alvarez made one or 2 clearances and defended pretty well.Brobbey has not played for a month and very rusty.I would be a lot happier if for the rest of the season KJH was coming on late.

[Orange14]

How only one goal was scored in this Klassiker will forever be a mystery. Ajax had so many opportunities to create something but could not. After a lackluster first 35 minutes, Feyenoord finally decided to play some football. Berghuis had two decent chances but shot wide and in the seventh minute of extra time Sinestera's header clanged off the cross bar as Onana was hoping it would. So many poor passes by both teams made this match quite forgettable for those who wanted to see some free flowing football. Onana is the MOTM for keeping clean sheet.

Player Ratings:

Onana (7.5) - despite some poor kicking, he made all the saves that needed to be made
Tagliafico (7) - had a fine match at both ends
Blind (7) - some poor passes but defended well
Timber (7) - solid in the middle and at FB when Mazraoui went off
Mazraoui (7) - good match from the FB before coming off
Klaassen (7) - solid game putting pressure on and his ball handling was decent
Gravenberch (6.5) - gets top marks for the game winner but really was not much of a factor otherwise in only one half
Promes (6) - not terribly involved in the match
Tadic (7) - solid game from the winger and strong on the ball
Haller (5.5) - not much of a factor though he was inches away from scoring off a Tadic cross
Antony (6) - pressed hard all game by Malacia and couldn't do much
Ekkelenkamp (6.5) - decent enough coming on for Gravenberch
Labyad (6) - on for Promes and put in a good 25 minutes
Schuurs (6) - on for Mazraoui and did enough on defense
Alvarez (6.5) - really strong defending in his first match in maybe a month
Brobbey (5.5) - on late for Haller but did hold the ball up on two occasions.

AZ coming up mid-week in the Beker.

[GangstaRiB]

You’re being kind with the ratings, Orange14. The fact that Ajax didn’t manage to score a second goal when in de last 10 minutes Feyenoord only was looking for the equalizer is really disappointing. Feyenoord played some Hail Marys, Ajax should have punished them.

[Amol]

We can never recreate the CL football which we got used to with a mid-field of Klaassen, Gravenberch and Promes. Promes killed so many moves that it became ridiculous after a point.

Antony got no room to maneuver and Promes/Klaassen never provided an outlet by getting in open positions close to him.

ETH then decides to bring on Labyad for Antony and then also Alvarez. I counted twice where Alvarez had the ball looking up the field and instead of looking for a pass, turned around and passes all the way back to Onana.

ETH then also decides to bring on Brobbey!?! If he's not signing an extension, why is he even in the matchday squad? He also didn't seem interested at all in doing anything.

[Amol]

Orange14 - You are being extremely kind with your ratings

[zeux]

Blind (7) - some poor passes but defended well
Promes (6) - not terribly involved in the match
Haller (5.5) - not much of a factor though he was inches away from scoring off a Tadic cross

Promes managed to mess up about 95% of the balls that went in his direction. A 3.5.
Haller was involved in the goal: a 6 at least
'Poor passes' from Blind? One. The only guy who repeatedly managed to create some danger up front with his passes: 7.5 (relative to your scoring sheet)

[Amol]

If these are the players we have, can we at least for 1 game, try Promes at LW and Tadic at AM? Like 1 game at least. Promes IS NOT good at the #10/AM role.

I don't know why ETH isn't curious about this at all. I just don't get it.

We have not been playing anything through the middle because all our creative players are either on the wings or playing defense (Blind) or DM (Gravenberch). This shouldn't really be something which all of us see, but ETH doesn't. I really don't effing get it.

[Orange14]

I'm always glad to create controversy with the ratings!!! Malacia played wonderful defense on Antony, totally neutralizing him but nobody came over to help out. The one think I always liked about Neres on the right wing is he passed the ball to an open man when he faced someone coming on to him. Antony still thinks he can beat defender and today he could not.

[Tom_]

What an *awful* game. Feyenoord were also poor but still managed to create a load of chances and half chances. I think that may be the worst Klassieker I’ve seen.

Orange’s ratings are the official match ratings of record IMHO! I’m less reasonable, I would give them all zero except Onana, Gravenberch for the goal and no rating for Haller since the team could not get him the ball.

[Orange14]

What bothered me most is that Ajax were gifted with 4 or so good chances by sloppy Feyenoord passing deep in the attacking zone and did not capitalize on a single one of them. There was too much fancy passing inside the box which was easily dealt with. Anyway, a sloppy 3 points from a victory is always acceptable. I also agree with Tom that this is one of the worst Klassikers I've watched. I do think the absence of supporters is having an impact on the team's home performance.

[GangstaRiB]

I'm always glad to create controversy with the ratings!!! Malacia played wonderful defense on Antony, totally neutralizing him but nobody came over to help out. The one think I always liked about Neres on the right wing is he passed the ball to an open man when he faced someone coming on to him. Antony still thinks he can beat defender and today he could not.

Yeah Malacia played well against Antony. Next game Malacia will return to his normal level.
That’s Feyenoord for you. Giving 200% against Ajax then fuck it up against RKC or something.