Beautiful goal Taylor helps Ajax to second place, beating Almere City 3-0

After three games without a win, Ajax has once again taken full advantage. In the Johan Cruijff Arena, Almere City was a few sizes too small: 3-0. With the victory, the Amsterdam team rises to second place in the rankings. The distance to leader PSV is six points.

The winter break is not far away for Ajax and that suits coach Francesco Farioli well. The Amsterdammers have been struggling for weeks and fatigue has set in, the Italian said earlier.

That is why Farioli made significant changes to his team on Sunday. There were six different players at kick-off than during the lost home match against Lazio in the Europa League.

One of them was Wout Weghorst. After a smooth attack, he opened the score for Ajax in the 12th minute. Although shortly before, Almere City had thought of scoring the first goal itself.

Devyne Rensch clumsily lost the ball to Junior Kadile and the Frenchman then finished neatly. However, referee Jeroen Manschot blew the whistle due to an alleged violation. That decision was highly questionable.

Despite the lead, Ajax had a difficult time. At times the team seemed to be struggling with the bottom line in the Premier League. There was little spectacle offered to the Ajax fans, including Louis van Gaal and Tijani Babangida.

For the latter, the Amsterdam club started a crowdfunding campaign last week, together with Roda JC and VVV-Venlo. Babangida lost his one-year-old son and brother Ibrahim in a car accident in Nigeria in early May. His wife was seriously injured.

The spectators could enjoy a beautiful 2-0. A long ball from Jordan Henderson was beautifully completed by Kenneth Taylor, who outwitted the emerging Nordin Bakker with a curved ball.

After that second goal, things started to move a bit more on the Amsterdam side. Once again there was a nice goal. Kian Fitz-Jim took a shot at Bakker’s goal. The Almere goalkeeper was initially able to turn his effort around, but a few seconds later the midfielder got another chance and scored: 3-0.

Almere City coach Hedwiges Maduro suddenly had to hope that the punishment would not be too great at the club for which he played football for several seasons. Weghorst spared the away team somewhat. He had the 4-0 on his head, but headed onto the crossbar.

Ajax will play the last match before the winter break in Rotterdam next Sunday, then an away match at Sparta awaits. In between, Telstar will visit the KNVB cup tournament.