Dominant Ajax score five again and comfortably see off Willem II
Ajax cruised through the rearranged fixture with Willem II on Tuesday. The Amsterdam crowd at the Johan Cruyff ArenA were treated to dominant football as the score climbed to 5-1. The gap to leaders PSV is now 3 points.
Coach Míchel Sánchez made six changes to Ajax's starting line-up in a slightly surprising call. Maarten Paes came in for Marc ter Stegen in goal, while Owen Wijndal, Thilo Kehrer, Lucas Rosa, Jorthy Mokio and Kasper Dolberg also started. Willem II were unchanged from the previous match against AZ.
Right from the start, the pattern was obvious: Ajax attacked and Willem II dropped deep into their own half. The home side created chance after chance. Dolberg shot wide after Brandt pulled the ball back well, then Steven Berghuis just failed to connect with a cross from Gloukh. Gloukh, lively on the left wing, then spurned a big chance himself after a sharp run forward.
On the counter, Willem II tried to pose a threat and even went close through Tonny Vilhena, but Ajax kept the pressure on. Klaassen drew a save from Maxime Delanghe, while Berghuis wasted a promising break. Five minutes before half-time, Ajax finally found the breakthrough: Dolberg picked out a perfect cut-back and Klaassen swept in for 1-0.
That left Willem II reeling and the second goal followed almost immediately. Brandt showed his quality again, cutting inside past Per van Loon before drilling home. Ajax had everything under control by then and went in at the break in complete comfort.
After the restart, Ajax eased off slightly but still added to the scoreline. Tsygankov, on as a substitute, converted a Gloukh assist for Amsterdam's third. The Israeli then capped his own performance with a goal for 4-0.
Still, Willem II did manage a consolation. Chido Obi and Uriël van Aalst combined well before Alessandro Ciranni tapped into an empty net for 4-1. Dolberg had the last word, reacting quickest to a rebound to make it 5-1.
