07 MAR 2026; Groningen - Ajax; Match Day 26

[Orange14]

This is another tough one as Groningen have a stalwart defense ably assisted by our loanee, Dies Janse

[SPL]

Itakura only injury but Reeger is suspended.

[Tom_]

I’ll watch it on delay, our play doesn’t justify staying awake for a 2:30 kickoff!

I think we have to win this and the next game if we want to finish third. NEC will drop points too but our schedule gets a lot tougher after Sparta.

Groningen are without Resink so don’t have much in attack. But no doubt we will find a way to make them look good.

[SPL]

Gaaei returns , Mokio and Steur start but Klaassen is still there.Berghuis and Weghorst start utterly dreadful ,I expect a defeat after last weeks non performance but who knows.

[SPL]

utterly rubbish

[GangstaRiB]

Yep. It’s all over. We’ll finish 4th.

[SPL]

I wish I was as positive 4th place wont be reached with Grim . This is as bad even worse as 23/24 when the whole season was bad. 1st half we held our own but the 2nd half was as bad as last week ,only Paes would get a point from me .Mokio and Steur cannot be blamed as senior players were crap. Weghorst did nothing ,Berghuis ,why is he still at Ajax, Sutalo is weak and not good enough but Klaassen did get a goal but was a passenger apart from that .

Grim has no clue and if is not sacked this weekend then Jordi may as well go home to Spain . He acted quickly with Jong but now its too late we wont finish 3rd as we have tough games to come and Conference play offs loom .

I would happily play more youngsters ie Bouwman cannot be worse than Sutalo.

[SPL]

We had 6 subs , why?? No one had a had injury ,Groningen had a 6th sub due to head injury .

[Orange14]

These are the times that try men's souls. Yet another Grim performance by a team that appears to be aimless, cannot properly defend, and seems incapable of scoring more than a goal a game. AZ lose to PSV and probably cannot overtake Ajax. Part of me hopes that Ajax won't play in Europe next season so they can right the ship with youth players. They probably won't have any money at all for transfers which may be a good thing given how poorly they have done in the transfer market. Not much to write home about this one. Maybe Steur was the best player out there with some very nice passes. Maybe this was the last match Grim will be on the touchline. He's not much better than Heitinga and I still want to know who forced Farioli out last year.

Player Rtings:

Paes (5.5) - kicking was exceptionally awful and hard to blame him for any of the three goals
Gaeii (4.5) - needs to leave Ajax as he cannot defend and his crosses were erratic
Sutalo (4.5) - likely will depart for less money than we paid for him
Baas (5.5) - at fault on the first goal and made a couple of good interventions later on but overall worst game of the season
Wijndal (5.5) - whipped in a couple of good crosses but is a below average LB
Mokio (5) - had a couple of very poor defensive plays but otherwise a shade above average
Steur (6) - decent game overall and will be a full time starter next season
Klaassen (5) - Fred Grim's favorite player and Jordi Cruyff's first move this summer will be to pay him off so he never plays for Ajax again
Berghuis (5.5) - first start in forever after being injury hobbled, Cruyff's second move is to pay him off so he never plays for Ajax again
Weghorst (5) - don't need any thugs on the field and I won't miss him when he leaves in June
Godts (5.5) - looked to pass more which was good, couldn't score which was bad
Dolberg (5) - dispossesed easily which led to a goal
Bounida (5) - a creative player who sat on the bench too long
Carrizo (NR) - first view of him but not enough to draw any conclusion
Fitz-Jim (NR) - why even bother putting him in so late
Tomiyasu (NR) - maybe he can get in shape for the Japan WC team
Konadu (NR) - maybe he is Dolberg's back up next season, but that does not inspire confidence

Hey, we end up with six substitutions. I know a team gets a free sub if a player has a concussion during the match. who would that have been?

This season cannot end soon enough. I'll keep watching as I am a supporter, but it will be with a faint heart and I just might burn my Ajax shirt in the end. AWFULL, AWFULL, AND EVEN HORRIBLE IS THIS TEAM.

[Orange14]

Yep. It’s all over. We’ll finish 4th.

You are an optimist.

[Tom_]

I don’t see the point in removing Grim unless there is a long term replacement ready to start.

NEC are at home to Volendam so will probably finish the weekend 2 points ahead of us. 4th place and sinking, where will it end…?

[Tom_]

Part of me hopes that Ajax won't play in Europe next season so they can right the ship with youth players.

If we do finish 5th you will probably have that wish granted. We can pretty much guarantee that this team won’t win playoffs.

[SPL]

On showtime today ,report that we could still finish 2nd! A joke of course as I think we will finish 5th and Utrecht will win the play offs so I dont expect European football next season . Conference is a joke competition and we dont want Thursday night football in far distant places.We wont have money to spend but that will be good as for the last 4 years ,since Overmars went we have bought poor players and most no better than our own.

Also on Showtime it highlights the pundits slagging off Steur for his defensive duties when the veterans were poor and of our 4 defenders only Baas is good enough and he is not as good as Janse. The full backs cannot defend and Sutalo is ok in an Italian style defensive team but frankly is rubbish in our team.

Not sure who can replace Grim but he has to go and maybe Garcia can take over.He is turning around Jong by getting them fitter and able to last 90 mins and improve themselves defensively.

I will continue to watch our remaining games as I love Ajax ,its my team but the majority of this squad are very poor and should not be here.We might beat Heracles or NAC but i dont expect anything with Grim in charge

[Orange14]

Also on Showtime it highlights the pundits slagging off Steur for his defensive duties when the veterans were poor and of our 4 defenders only Baas is good enough and he is not as good as Janse.

Lukkien, the Groningen manager, said that they made a halftime adjustment to take Steur out of the game as he was the one MF on the Ajax team that is capable of making the critical pass. As long as Grim's favorite player is on the pitch (Klaassen), Steur is almost neutralized because Klaassen's ball handling is extremely poor. You saw some really nice passes in the first half from Steur and not so many in the 2nd. He must feel so frustrated. Janse was praised by Lukkien and I agree that he is potentially better than Baas because of his height and strength. Kaplan has also been playing well on loan as has Goojier. I think Ajax will seriously consider selling Baas this summer.

[SPL]

4 changes , Rosa and Tomiyasu fullbacks ,Reeger back for Mokio and Konadu for suspended Weghorst .Dolberg has been injured thus not fit enough for 90 mins.Berghuis and Klaassen still in the side ,which is bad news.At least the 2 best fullbacks are playing.

A win is vital ,NEC currently beating PSV

[SPL]

Posted above in wrong match but cannot delete