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Ajax has maintained its unbeaten status in the Eredivisie once again after defeating Heracles 4-1 at home on Saturday night. So far this season, the Amsterdammers have won all but two league matches, in which they drew, and they never really looked like losing against Heracles either. It was Hakim Ziyech and Quincy Promes who collectively stole the show under the lights of the Johan Cruijff Arena by scoring two seemingly identical goals.
From Heracles’ point of view, this was probably the best possible moment to meet the league leaders away from home. The team from Almelo have been in great shape recently: winning six times in nine matches. They battered VVV Venlo with six goals in their last match, but not much of that attacking prowess was showing against Ajax. Although they initially showed enough resolve and discipline to put up a fight, Heracles ultimately cracked under the pressure.
Like all the other fixtures of the Eredivisie this week, the match started with a full minute of nothing but applause. In response to the incidents of racial abuse at FC Den Bosch last week, the KNVB, as well as the collective of clubs, decided to take a stance for tolerance. “Racism? Then we don’t play,” was the message. Yet even after this first minute passed and the ball started rolling, the pace of the game didn’t even pick up that much, as Ajax was off to a rather slow start. A lack of intensity and focus made it difficult for Ajax to really threaten the opposite goal, while a few sloppy mistakes set Heracles’ up for a handful of shots. Lennart Czyborra curled the ball just past the top corner and Dessers tested Onana, while Tadić, Promes and Ziyech had a crack at the other end.
It was the latter duo which finally opened the scoring for Ajax in the 25th minute. Hakim Ziyech obtained the ball on the right flank and swung in a clever cross with his magic left foot. It curled towards the goal, landed behind enemy lines, and was clinically headed in by Quincy Promes. It was essentially the same goal they scored together against Chelsea. It was the highlight of the first half, as the remaining twenty minutes passed by at snail’s pace without anything noteworthy happening.
Erik ten Hag must have given a decent half-time speech, as Ajax showed a lot of improvement in the second period. Although Heracles’ defence had remained well-organized for most of the first 45 minutes, they were simply not up to the task after the break. It took Ajax 15 minutes to triple the lead. Daley Blind beautifully found Labyad with a long pass into the box, and Labyad did not fail. He rewarded Erik ten Hag for the chance to start once again as David Neres’ replacement. Just four minutes later Ziyech sent in the exact same cross he had produced in the first half, and Promes was there to tap it home again. Heracles was on its knees. Quincy Promes scored his tenth goal of the season, which puts him on top of the Eredivisie top scorers list, tied with PSV’s Donyell Malen.
Heracles kept trying to break through the Ajax lines every now and then, even after conceding three goals. Their efforts grew more convincing as Onana was called upon a few times. At one point the ball even had to be cleared off the line by Perr Schuurs, who replaced the slightly injured Joel Veltman at the centre of defence. He was also able to gather some confidence and experience ahead of the upcoming match against Lille, in which he is expected to play due to the suspensions of Blind and Veltman.
Mazraoui, Labyad and Ziyech were substituted off in the second half. All three Moroccans seemed to be dealing with some form of pain or injury, especially Mazraoui. Whether they picked up anything lasting will be determined in the coming days. Dest, Huntelaar and Marin came onto the pitch, and when a shot by Dest took a deflection off of Huntelaars heel, the fourth goal was scored. While the stadium announcer gave it to Sergiño Dest, the goal would be accredited to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar.
The match was long decided, Hakim Ziyech had already been declared Man Of The Match, and while everybody seemed to be waiting for the final whistle, Heracles managed to score. Dest made a simple but fatal mistake in the build-up when he was robbed off the ball by Cyriel Dessers. Despite having played 90 minutes of football, Dessers still beat Dest in the sprinting match to Onana’s goal, and he dutifully scored.
In the end, it didn’t matter much. The match finished 4-1, Ajax’ eighth consecutive Eredivisie victory. We move on to Wednesday, to the Champions League.