Ajax lost points in the Eredivisie for the third time this season on Saturday. Erik ten Hag’s team showed little convincing on a visit to Heracles Almelo and can thank his goalkeeper Remko Pasveer that at least a point was taken: 0-0. League-leader Ajax retains a two-point lead over PSV; Feyenoord has only one loss point more than the team from Amsterdam. Heracles is thirteenth.
Ten Hag was forced to make one change compared to last week against PSV (5-0 win): Devyne Rensch replaced the sick Noussair Mazraoui. In the opening phase, Antony appeared dangerously twice in front of Heracles’ goal, but the Brazilian saw his shots end on a block and just wide, respectively. Moments later, Ajax defender Jurriën Timber headed straight into the hands of Janis Blaswich from close range.
The real sharpness seemed to be missing at Ajax, as witnessed by Lisandro Martínez’s clumsy performance after half an hour of play. The defender let Delano Burgzorg get the ball from him, who could have given Rai Vloet a punch but instead shot himself from a difficult corner. Remko Pasveer was able to turn that attempt quite easily and saw the subsequent corner kick just wide by Mats Knoester. Ajax tried two more times in the remainder of the first half via Sébastien Haller, who first headed straight at Blaswich and then shot just wide from about ten metres.
Where Ajax sparingly created opportunities before half-time, that did not work out at all in the second half. Heracles smelled blood and Vloet released Noah Fadiga for Pasveer. Ajax’s goalkeeper came out quickly and saved with his feet. Ajax remained under pressure and Pasveer then also parried a surprising shot from Fadiga from the side and a shot from close range from Luca de la Torre. On the other side, Ajax became dangerous, when substitute Davy Klaassen got the ball out of whack and saw his heel get caught up close by Blaswich. Tadic was close with the head after a good cross from David Neres, but the Heracles keeper again got in the way with a good save. In injury time, Tadic saw a free kick from great behind being tapped out of the intersection by the same Blaswich.
| No. | Team | m | W | G | V | +/- | Pnt |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Ajax | 11 | 8 | 2 | 1 | 35 | 26 |
| 2 | PSV | 11 | 8 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 24 |
| 3 | FC Utrecht | 10 | 6 | 2 | 2 | 10 | 20 |
| 4 | Feyenoord | 9 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 12 | 19 |
| 5 | William II | 10 | 5 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 18 |
| 6 | Vitesse | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | -7 | 16 |
| 7 | FC Twente | 11 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 15 |
| 8 | NEC | 10 | 4 | 2 | 4 | -5 | 14 |
| 9 | sc Heerenveen | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -4 | 13 |
| 10 | Go Ahead Eagles | 10 | 4 | 1 | 5 | -6 | 13 |
| 11 | AZ | 9 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 12 |
| 12 | SC Cambuur | 10 | 4 | 0 | 6 | -7 | 12 |
| 13 | Heracles Almelo | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | -4 | 11 |
| 14 | RKC Waalwijk | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -2 | 10 |
| 15 | Fc Groningen | 10 | 2 | 4 | 4 | -5 | 10 |
| 16 | Fortuna Sittard | 9 | 2 | 3 | 4 | -8 | 9 |
| 17 | Sparta Rotterdam | 10 | 1 | 4 | 5 | -10 | 7 |
| 18 | PEC Zwolle | 10 | 1 | 1 | 8 | -13 | 4 |
Date:Saturday October 30, 2021, 6:45 PM
Stadium:Erve Asito (Almelo)
Related
More sports news