Rained out

Injuries, injuries, injuries...I can't remember a time when Ajax was hit so hard by injuries as they are right now. As much as it feels like a crutch (no pun intended), you really can blame yesterday's KNVB Beker loss in Volendam to the fact that van Basten just can't field a good team right now. The list of players is not only long but significant as well: Steks, Mitchell Donald, Ismail Aissati, Dennis Gentenaar, van der Heijden, Dario Cvitanich, Jeffery Sarpong, Miralem Sulejmani and now KJH are all sidelined. Throw in an groin injury for Urby and it spelled out a tough job for van Basten's team against the Eredivise cellar dwellers. 18 year old Marvin Zeegelaar made his Ajax-1 debut up front and had a respectable game, Evander Sno played well and Suarez was his usual self, but you could tell things were just not going to work out well with this rag tag group up front. A Leonardo for Sno substitution in the second half looked promising but failed to produce any goals.
While it definitely sucks to bow out of a competition like this so early and to a lowly team like Volendam, I'm sure deep down van Basten isn't too worried about it. The Beker was probably 3rd on the list of Ajax priorities at this point, behind an Eredivise title and a good UEFA Cup showing. The time and energy that this will free up may help the recovery of some the injured players, and will allow the team to focus on their more loftier goals for the year. Next up, a crucial Eredivise home match vs PSV this Sunday and a week from then another tough game in Alkmaar. The subs need to step it up!