Another effy moment when Ajax defense inpossession in their own box surrender the ball to Excelsior. Man, this is major embarrassing.
89' 2-2 GOAL by Chuba Akpom! An individual action by Rensch gives Ajax a goal. The right-back initially stumbles on Van Gassel, but Akpom gets the ball bouncing against him and sees the leather disappear into the goal via his leg.
This Ajax team continues to surprise in a not so good way. Bergwijn was rightly sent off in the 38th minute for a DOGSO RC (too bad it's only a one game suspension, I wish it were three!). 10 man Ajax were resolute in defending and never gave up attacking; in fact, some of their pressing was as good as we've seen this season. Excelsior went up 2-1 on one of the prettiest crosses that Resnsch was really oblivious to, and the Excelsior attacker had free header into Rulli's net. Rensch redeemed himself late in the match with a driving run and cross that Akpom bundled in so Ajax record of never having lost to Excelsior stays intact. The four easy matches to end the season are not proving to be so easy after all and it is still no guarantee that Ajax can finish in fifth place. Player Ratings: Rulli (5.5) - went the wrong way on the PK and had no chance on the second goal but really had no difficult saves to make Rensch (6.5) - key to both Ajax goals but gets taken down a bit for poor defending on the 2nd Excelsior goal Sutalo (7) - strong all match, mistake free for a change Kaplan (6) - decent enough Hato (6) - he is really not a RB as he was beaten several times by the winger on his side, but he is so calm on the ball Mannswerk (6) - worked hard defensively when Ajax went down a man but still unconvinced that he is a long term solution in the MR Tahirovic (6) - worked hard but with his limited ability should be moving on this summer Taylor (5.5) - worked hard as usual but the horribly weak back pass to Rulli was almost disastrous Godts (5) - dribbled into double teams all match long and needs to watch some David Neres film to see how to really play on the wing Brobbey (5) - don't know what the ailment was tonight but he came off in the first half Bergwijn (2) - points for putting on the shorts and shirt properly and it's time to move on for one of the worst transfers in Ajax history Akpom (6) - increddly hard worker coming in for Brobbey, never gives up and got the goal that tied the match Gaaei (5.5) - came on in the 2nd half and added some speed down the right side, he remains an interesting player to me but needs to improve his reading of the game van den Boomen (NR) - on late but other than some cross field passes did not impact the game Rijkoff (NR) - no impact Sosa (NR) - on late and had a couple of crosses Ajax are two points afhead of NEC who are home to AZ this weekend. A win by AZ pretty much locks up fourth place but they have been really up and down this second half of the season.
I said it some time back akpom is more clinical than brobbey. Some 9 goals altogether and given the limited minutes he has clocked, it shows what calibre of striker he is. Perhaps more better players around him can bring huntelaar esque out of him.
Watched the game late today and I wish I didn’t. We are a mess. There was some good pressing as Orange14 stated, but that would be about the only good thing we saw today as some of the mistakes, horrible decisions, and overall bad play is so hard to watch, and believe. I watch a ton of football and have done so for many years, and I believe that VAR is really hurting the sport. It simply takes way too long to make a decision, and there needs to be a time limit to keep these matches going. There is so much inconsistency with Referee decisions and it’s gotten to the point that the rules are completely not applied or enforced properly. Hand balls, and most challenges, are so very subjective. Any word on the problem with Brobbey? We really need to gut most of this team. We are a mess! Oops I said that already.
What a joke. also - all those changes late (the triple change) needed to happen at least ten minutes earlier. They could have stolen that late.
Well, this is a surprising turn of events. van Praag caved in and Alex Kroes returns to the club immediately! Apparently, Graham Potter formerly of Brighton and Chelsea will be the manager with only the salary to be negotiated. Ajax have had a history with English managers, most notably Jack Reynolds who had the longest tenure of any Ajax manager.
It looks like he'll be coming back as technical director and not CEO. I find that really curious. If he's crooked, he shouldn't be near the club at all. But if he is clean, why isn't he coming back as CEO instead a position that apparently doesn't have clear responsibilities (assuming they're not the same as Kelvin de Lang, who is currently listed as technical director)? And who is going to be the CEO? Is this maybe a face-saving way out for those still at the club that wanted him out? I'm guessing this was possible in part because Mosman, Schlick, and Van Oevelen agreed to go. I sure can't imagine Kroes wanting to come back if they were going to stay. But if that's the case, why not bring him back as CEO? In any event, this shows pretty clearly that the whole insider trading thing was a pretext to get rid of him, probably because he wanted to shake things up. Also, Potter had been mentioned in an earlier Athletic article as a possible coach but, according to the article, wasn't interested in signing under the current management structure. I wouldn't at all be surprised if these two events - Kroes's return and Potter's apparent hiring - are related. In any event, it's nice to have some good news for a change.
This article from espn.nl more explicitly ties Kroes's return to Potter's hiring and also makes me think that the decision for Kroes to return as "technical director" was a compromise reached during the hearing with the RvC. I also suspect they may have some sense that the regulator (or perhaps better lawyers) is not impressed with the insider trading allegation. I'm still wondering why Kroes would agree to return in these conditions. Maybe he will wait an appropriate period of time and then be named CEO?
This Potter guy, if hired, should improve a lot if he's going to be successful at Ajax. His EPL record is mediocre - 32% wins in 166 games with Brighton and Chelsea. On the other hand I doubt any manager with better credentials will want to join the current mess the club has become.
Both left under adverse circumstances and I'm not sure that either wants to return. I have no idea what Bergkamp is doing these days. Jonk had been involved with Almere City but I think he left earlier this season.
https://sportnieuws.nl/voetbal/nieu...12353751674/?referrer=https://duckduckgo.com/ FC Volendam and Wim Jonk reach verbal agreement: 'Village soap seems to have come to an end'
Some good news from the youth ranks!!! Ajax U-18 defeated Feynoord 3-1 to almost clinch the spring title. they are up 6 points with one game to play; Feyenoord have two but Ajax have a superior GD. If they win, Ajax play AZ for a spot in next seasons UEFA Youth League!!!
The last few weeks I've been paying attention to the ratings of the young teams in our second tier and was amazed by the sometimes awfull rating dished out. Gaaies for instance for his last Y Ajax match was rated with a 4 Now when you watch this, it makes sense ratings get that bad Charlie Setford gaat pijnlijk in de fout... 😬Roda JC profiteert: 0️⃣-1️⃣#jajrod— ESPN NL (@ESPNnl) April 26, 2024
Perhaps you should pay attention to your own team's youth clubs which are nothing special. Ajax beat your U-18 and will likely play AZ to see which club gets the league birth in the UEFA Youth League.
Why are so touchy, it's not about Young Ajax, but in general I noticed a flurry of bad notes for Young team players, even when the result they got was positive. This was just an example provided by Ajax.
So the score ended up 1-1. Roda are second in the league and fighting for automatic promotion so this was a big loss of points for them. the philosophy of Jong Ajax is to get as many player time on the pitch as possible. For example, they subbed on 16 year old CB Bouwman for the last 20 minutes. He was a stand out on the U-17 team that won the Futures Cup 6 weeks ago in Amsterdam. Jong Ajax has been without both starting CBs, Aertson and Millanovic for most of the season which is why their defense is so porous. Vos had an outstanding game today at DM. Setford had a solid 2nd half in goal.
Anyone else find themselves rooting against Man U to get ten Hag back? Final 3 matches for Ajax: at Volendam (17th) Almere (13th) Vitesse (18th) For NEC (2 pts behind): at Excelsior (15th) Feyenoord (2nd) at Amere (13th) Utrecht is 3 points behind too. But it feels 6 points = 5th which could be direct into EL Group Stage. In terms of budget, getting transfers, experience, etc. being in EL Group Stage would be massive.