Fan spirits were lifted after Ajax handed PEC Zwolle a spanking at home to get rid of the early Champions League exit aftertaste.
It was washed down with the help of an Anthony special, who assisted two goals and his own all before the end of the first half.
The action
Per Schuurs made a silly mistake, trying to dribble past the PEC’s forward press before foolishly giving the ball away to opposition midfielder Huiberts who started a counter-attack, carving Ajax open.
Huiberts drew a number of Ajax players towards him while on a marauding run, squaring the ball to left back Paal at the last moment who was in a dangerous position. Paal dragged it back to the middle of the box. Ajax are now ducks in water. Midfielder, Saymak pops up to have the shot deflected. Phew.
Ajax left back, Klaiber puts in a fantastic tackle deep into the final third to gift Anthony a pass in a dangerous position. Anthony puts in a missile cross that finds the head of striker, Huntelaar. One nil.
Anthony also strikes up a great partnership with Huntelaar. They both produce beautiful link-up play in the 11th minute to allow Anthony to give Promes a fantastic opportunity in the box and make it two nil. It’s all Ajax now.
Quincy produces a powerful clean finish that rockets past Zetterer in goal, to give the team a commanding position in the game.
At this point, it looks like Zwolle probably has realised that it’s going to be a long day. Real long.
In the 19th minute, it was the Ten Hag system in full effect. Ajax displayed close and concise passing around the box and manoeuvred the ball between the lines quickly. This sequence allowed Huntelaar to be a very dangerous position. He point-blank fires at the keeper only for the shot to be saved by Zetterer with very good reflexes.
Another dangerous chance went begging in the 34th minute. Hunterlaar was given a delicious cross on a platter by fellow forward Dusan Tadic, only for the ball to fizz past an open goal and a metre past the post.
In the 35th minute, Huiberts pressed an Ajax midfielder too high which allowed a through pass to Anthony to take an unmarked channel. Anthony makes a darting run into the box and puts it past Zetterer to add to his match contributions. It truly was the Anthony show.
Promes hit the post after being deflected by the keeper in the 41st minute. He met a long ball with a lovely touch to control it on the ground and put himself in a very dangerous position.
Such was the domination, in the 85th minute Tadic was allowed to dance through the opposition box for quite a while and belted the ball over the net from close range.
Gravenberch was merciless with the last goal. A loose ball from PEC saw him gather at the edge of the opposition box and pull of an absolute belter into the top corner.
Next?
That was it. Fans will feel the team has to start over again after the Champions league exit.
The team are in all competitions at this point and there is a lot to look forward to. Especially the champaign football Ten Hag is putting on in an empty Johan Cruyff Arena.