Champions League
Ajax are in incredible form and have a great team! Will they replicate the cup run of the 2018/19 season?
Ajax have full points after two Champions League games. Given the playable group, they should make it through to the spring group stage. In addition, they are doing extremely well in the league. Does he have the prerequisites to emulate the spectacular ride of the 2018/19 season?
Ajax have full points after two Champions League games. Given the playable group, they should make it through to the spring group stage. In addition, they are doing extremely well in the league. Does he have the prerequisites to emulate the spectacular ride of the 2018/19 season?
The biggest club in the Netherlands didn’t exactly have a positive start to the new season, having to swallow a 0:4 debacle with PSV Eindhoven in the Dutch Super Cup, but since then Ajax has been running like a well-oiled machine.
Currently, the team from Amsterdam is on a nine-game unbeaten streak, winning 8 of them. Only Twente in the second round of the Dutch Eredivisie took the points.
But if there’s anything more fascinating than a streak without a loss, it’s an incredible scoreline. To have a 37:2 record after nine games? That speaks of great quality. It means an average of more than 4 goals scored per game.
In the Eredivisie alone, Ajax have a great score of 30: 1 after seven rounds. If it keeps up a similar pace until the end, it could score almost 150 goals. This would surpass his record from the 1966/67 season, when he scored 122 goals.
However, it will be his performance in Europe that will be the most telling sign of a successful season. Amsterdam have a relatively playable group, which includes Borussia Dortmund, Sporting Lisbon and Besiktas Istanbul.
After an away game in Lisbon and a home game against a Turkish side, Ajax have six points and a 7:0 record in the Champions League. Five goals were scored by Sebastien Haller, who is the top scorer in the competition so far.
But Ajax have a good team overall. It will definitely want to emulate the 2018/19 season, when it won a domestic double for the first time since the 2001/02 season, and in addition to that, it showed an awesome ride through the European Cup, when it reached the semi-finals in the Champions League, where it was happily eliminated by Tottenham, who then failed in the final anyway.
A balanced mix of youth, talent and also experience makes for an interesting line-up. The main stars will no doubt include Daley Blind, Nicolas Tagliafico, Davy Klaassen, Dusan Tadic, David Neres, Sebastien Haller and Steven Berghuis.
But who can fly out? For example, winger Mohamed Daramy (19 years old), who has been compared to Liverpool star Sadio Mané, is brimming with talent. Defensive talent Jurrien Timber (20 years old) is also getting plenty of space.
What Ajax certainly can’t complain about, then, is the width of the squad. Experienced coach Erik ten Hag has plenty of quality players at his disposal, many of them are versatile enough, so he can rotate his charges and has a lot of variability in his lineup selection.
The team from Amsterdam may not make it to the semi-finals, but advancing to the spring Champions League is a must. Anything extra will certainly be a welcome addition. A lot will depend on the draw, however, which will influence the final placings in the preliminary groups.
Sources: Transfermarkt, Ajax Amsterdam