Chagrin increases in Amsterdam: Ajax gets stuck against Vitesse on a draw and misses the lead | Dutch football

Just like in the lost top match against PSV, Alfred Schreuder put veteran Daley Blind on the bench. Owen Wijndal was allowed to show it as a left back, back from injury. Kenneth Taylor replaced the suspended Edson Álvarez in midfield and Mohammed Kudus was again preferred in the striker to Brian Brobbey, with whom he started together in the base against PSV.

Ajax started well: Dusan Tadic pressed his big toe against the ball just a little earlier than goalkeeper Daan Reiziger and gave the team from Amsterdam the lead after only a handful of minutes. Ajax had many opportunities to increase the lead, but from a lightning-fast switch it was Million Manhoef who steamed up from the left and left Remko Pasveer no chance with an extreme effort.

The whistling and grumbling in the Johan Cruijff Arena increased again, white handkerchiefs even appeared, but Schreuder did not think it necessary to intervene in the break. Brobbey, Blind and Francisco Conceição were brought in only in the sixtieth minute. At that moment Ajax already had the upper hand and grabbed Vitesse by the throat, but that a cat in a corner can make strange jumps was also apparent tonight: again it was Manhoef who scored from the counter and left Pasveer without a chance, 1-2.

As the ‘Schreuder fuck off’ got louder and louder, Lorenzo Lucca had to save the furniture for Schreuder. The tall Italian did that in part: just like against PSV, he hit the mark, a cross from Blind, and brought Ajax back to the same level. But there was no more than a draw for Ajax. The team from Amsterdam even got away well when Mohammed Sankoh seemed to charge for the 2-3 after an error by Bassey, but now Pasveer was in the right place. No more goals were scored in the eight minutes of extra time, although Brobbey was still very close with a shot on the post.

Ajax is now one point behind leader PSV in the Eredivisie. Feyenoord can equalize with PSV on Thursday evening if they manage to beat Cambuur. Ajax will close the year 2022 on Saturday with an away match against Emmen.