Ajax booked a fairly minimal victory on Saturday evening on a visit to sc Heerenveen. The team from Amsterdam had a hard time with Sébastien Haller’s opening goal and got away well with a header from Sven van Beek’s post. In the end, substitute David Neres headed Ajax in safe harbor: 0-2. Both assists came in the name of Dusan Tadic. Erik ten Hag’s team remains at the top, while Heerenveen is eighth.
At Ajax, the South and Central American internationals were absent from the basic line-up, so that Ten Hag allowed Perr Schuurs and Mohammed Kudus to start, among others. Davy Klaassen also returned to the team at ten, because Steven Berghuis was used as a right winger. The latter got the first shot early in the game after a short corner kick and aimed over.
When Ajax lost the ball, Heerenveen became threatening in the counter in the opening phase, which was not played well by the Frisians several times. The visitors took the lead after 24 minutes, when Tadic was reached behind the defense by Daley Blind. The left attacker put a wide shot on Sébastien Haller, who calmly tapped in: 0-1. In the final phase of the first half, Heerenveen became threatening via Anthony Musaba, who shot at Remko Pasveer after a passed long ball. On the other side, Tadic broke through after a long pass, but Xavier Mous was able to head the ball far in front of his goal.
After the break, Heerenveen came out of the starting blocks a lot stronger and the Frisians also got several great opportunities. Musaba dribbled in from the left flank and shot straight at Pasveer. Then Van Beek got two even better opportunities. After a cross, the defender suddenly completed the ball in the middle of Pasveer and moments later headed from a corner that hit the post. That’s how Ajax, which hardly created anything in the second half, got away well. Ten Hag brought in Neres and Lisandro Martínez after more than an hour of play. That turned out to be a good move, because Neres headed in a cross from Tadic’s left fifteen minutes before the end: 0-2.