Ajax has their revenge for the painful defeat in the Johan Cruijff Schaal against PSV. In Amsterdam, Ajax hammered PSV Eindhoven 5-0 to extend their lead at the top of the table.
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Erik ten Hag stated at his pre-game press conference that Ajax was determined to take revenge on PSV after they defeated his side 4-0 in the Johan Cruijff Schaal earlier in the season. PSV turned up in Amsterdam without Noni Madueke and Cody Gakpo meaning Bruma and Carlos Vinicius started in the attack.
Ajax were full of confidence after the hammering of Borussia Dortmund in midweek and they had the lead after 19 minutes. A cross from Dusan Tadic was blasted into the net through Andre Ramalho by Steven Berghuis.
PSV failed to threaten apart from an Olivier Boscagli free-kick, while at the other end, Antony put a shot wide and Berghuis put a header against Sebastien Haller. Ajax went into the break with a slender lead but they raced to victory in the second half.
Ten minutes after the break, Haller made it 2-0 with a header from a corner before he set up Antony to add a third shortly afterward. Davy Klaassen came off the bench to add a fourth before Tadic completed the rout late on. It was Tadic’s 100th league goal for Ajax.
Ajax equals their largest-ever victory in the league against PSV Eindhoven and they now go four points clear at the top of the league.
Ajax is looking several classes higher than the rest of the Eredivisie so far this year. Long way to go but this performance was yet another demonstration as to where things stand, just sheer domination. Must be a great time to be an Ajax fan!
That was an embarrassing display from PSV, especially in the 2nd half. It is time for Roger Schmidt to go. I am sick and tired of a coach who does not believe in his team and the players are looking like Schmidt’s lack of belief that they can be better than Ajax has taken hold with them. Even after today, PSV is 4 points back of Ajax and Schmidt said after the match that Ajax has 80-20 odds on winning the title. As a PSV fan, that is insulting.
Rather than conceding the title to Ajax after the match, he should have said that he had no Gapko or Madueke and with 24 matches left, being 4 points ahead doesn’t win s*** for Ajax”. Losing happens, both individual matches and title races, but a lack of belief like Schmidt continues to display is unbecoming of a PSV coach.
I would take Philip Cocu back in a second over Schmidt. We all remember 2016 when everyone handed Ajax the title, he never stopped believing and would never have dreamed of letting his players stop believing.
LVH, with all due respect, there is a massive difference between the Ajax of 2016 and the one from this year. This Ajax team is loaded with internationals at every position including those on the bench and is so deep that nobody in the eredivisie can come close to challenging them. Yes there was the loss against Utrecht but these types of matches can happen especially when the team does not score as was the case against Utrecht. Schmitt is correct to say the odds are at best 80-20. This is also probably a way to motivate his players but bottom line is my advice to you is for you to get used to it. Cocu is not the guy who will bring PSV its past glory and Ajax are miles ahead. This gap is going to exponentially grow given the 50M Euros already collected for this year’s CL. If somehow the team reaches the QF or more, there will be an additional 20-30M. The money from the CL alone is equivalent to the entire budget of this year’s PSV….enough said. The best hope for PSV is to finish 3rd in the EL and then make a run to try to win the Conference League. Good luck!
With all due respect… My frustration has nothing to do with who Ajax was in 2016 and who they are now, it is with who PSV was before Roger Schmidt took over and who they are now. We have a coach who does not believe in his team and that, to me, is unacceptable.
PSV is 4 points back of Ajax and I’m sorry, but the title race is not over. Like you say, matches like Ajax’s loss to Utrecht can happen (so yes, teams can challenge Ajax). It happened to PSV in Tilburg as well. Had we won that match as we should have, PSV would have been in first place until Sunday’s embarrassment at the ArenA.
And no, I will not get used to a coach saying we only have a small chance to win when there is only a 4-point gap with 24 matches to play.
LVH, it is not he 4-point gap but the manner in which both teams win their games. Can you please remind me the goal difference which really adds another point to the tally? 37 goals for, 2 against for Ajax vs. 22 goals for, 17 against for PSV!! Quite a staggering difference. So I repeat, get used to it because it will not get better for PSV until the Netherlands gets the 6th position in the UEFA rankings and PSV can reach the CL. Only then, will PSV be able to compete.