General Football Discussion

[Kowalczyk]

I totally love this: Manchester United's Class of 1982, pictured with the latest, cutting edge, state of the art audio/video equipment from Sharp, their sponsor.

Love the 'cash register'. Stuff looks like hospital equipment...

(By the way: Arnold Mühren - top row, fourth from the left).

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Here's a pretty brilliant free-kick from Rot-Weiss Essen...

http://youtu.be/iak0_tZRcWs

Question is: how much of this did they practice?

Did their original plan go wrong - and was it just the goalscorer's brilliance?

Or was everything prepared, including the f**k-up?

If the latter is the case, this might be the cleverest free-kick ever. Very cheeky.

K.

[rjf1]

Too much!!! Not sure what f**k up you are referring to -- looked like a well-rehearsed play, to me.

[Amol]

Our Micoach performance dome has apparently collapsed in a storm. No one got injured.

[souras84]

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/12224/Vo ... nten.dhtml

Interesting. I could see it coming. It's like Barcelona being unable to win some of their CL games in the final stages, cause of their devotion to the passing game.

[rjf1]

http://www.volkskrant.nl/vk/nl/12224/Vo ... nten.dhtml

Interesting. I could see it coming. It's like Barcelona being unable to win some of their CL games in the final stages, cause of their devotion to the passing game.

This is the point I have been making all season. Mere possession based on pitty pat football (back and sideways passes far from the attacking zone with no attempt at creative penetration) is meaningless. All the teams know how to defend against it by now -- they just pack in, sit back and wait for the chance to counterattack -- we get almost no quality scoring opportunities, while they get plenty of them.

We have got to start playing with a different strategy -- I would say we need to go to plan B, but that would be wrong. We need a different plan A.

[Orange14]

The column missed a major point which is Ajax possession is worthless as it's usually in the defending half of the pitch between the keeper, the central defenders, and the holding midfielder. This stems from the fact that the midfield is worthless at creating space and hence attacking possibilities. I was watching the Barcelona/Espanyol match last evening and you could see the marked difference in how possession affects the match. Espanyol were defending in the same manner that teams who play Ajax do with two lines of four. Barcelona must have had 75% of the possession HOWEVER it was all in the attacking half of the field. They were able to see the pockets of space and keep the ball in dangerous areas. Espanyol did a good job closing down on anyone who had a shot at the goal (which Ajax opponents seldom have to worry about). Even so, Barcelona were constantly threatening and the breakthrough came on a sublime pass by Neymar through two Espanyol players' legs to Alexis who slotted home the sole goal of the match.

Because of the lack of quality of Ajax midfielders and attackers, any chance at a fourth championship will require lots of grind it out 1-0 victories. This is not something that we are accustomed to.

[rjf1]

And even Barcelona have had to change their possession style to now include more long diagonal passes out to the wings. That is the change that Martino has made as they realized they were facing diminishing returns with their previous possession style.

And it's not only a question of the midfield being slow -- the entire style and philosophy behind the game plan is based on being slow -- playing slow-down pitty pat and waiting for that one lightning strike is seen as the way to dominate the game -- which worked once upon a time, but doesn't work anymore.

[Orange14]

And even Barcelona have had to change their possession style to now include more long diagonal passes out to the wings. That is the change that Martino has made as they realized they were facing diminishing returns with their previous possession style.

Exactly! It's interesting that the US match announcers (they broadcast directly from the video feed and are not in the stadium) were ragging on Martino last night because of the changes he has made. They were ignoring the fact that Guardiola would have had to do the same thing!

EDIT ADDED: One more thing to note. Barca are dropping Xavi back into the defending half of the pitch and bringing Messi up much further as well. This offers another two ways of betting the ball up into the attacking zone. Contrast this to Ajax where neither of the attacking midfielders drop back much at all and the striker only rarely.

[Tom_]

The column missed a major point which is Ajax possession is worthless as it's usually in the defending half of the pitch between the keeper, the central defenders, and the holding midfielder. …

Actually, I think that might be the exact point the article was making—too much priority given to worthless possession at the cost of creating chances. But you never know, with google translate and very little Dutch...!

[Orange14]

Interesting story in The New York Times this morning on a young American boy training at La Masia in Barcelona: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/08/sport ... ports&_r=0 He's been in the youth program for two years now and maybe he will make it through to the first team.

[afcajax73]

not sure if this is the right section but,

anyone seen our new (supposed) national team kits?

particularly loving the away shirt..

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/14/ ... eaked.html

http://www.footballshirtculture.com/14/ ... eaked.html

[Ayman]

Frank de Boer surely knows now that there is no room for Siem de Jong in midfield, with the perfect tandem of Serero-Blind-Klaassen, Siem de Jong can only play as a centre forward, therefore he is likely to ahead of Sigthursson (who will probably be used as a left wing when fit) and Hoesen, having said that, Bojan Krkic must also accept he wont beable to play either in midfield, Schone is first choice right wing, de Sa just behind him, his only hope is on the left flank with Fischer. Now in defence, since Boilesen is out until the new year, Denswil must be used as a left back at some point very soon, before the game against milan at the san siro. So that leaves Moisander-Veltman in the centre of defence, however when it comes to the game against AC Milan, we know Veltman will be suspended, so that will leave either Poulsen or Van der Hoorn to partner Moisander.

[Van basten]

Frank de Boer surely knows now that there is no room for Siem de Jong in midfield, with the perfect tandem of Serero-Blind-Klaassen, Siem de Jong can only play as a centre forward, therefore he is likely to ahead of Sigthursson (who will probably be used as a left wing when fit) and Hoesen, having said that, Bojan Krkic must also accept he wont beable to play either in midfield, Schone is first choice right wing, de Sa just behind him, his only hope is on the left flank with Fischer. Now in defence, since Boilesen is out until the new year, Denswil must be used as a left back at some point very soon, before the game against milan at the san siro. So that leaves Moisander-Veltman in the centre of defence, however when it comes to the game against AC Milan, we know Veltman will be suspended, so that will leave either Poulsen or Van der Hoorn to partner Moisander.

No way FdB will start game against Milan with Van der Horn or Poulsen as a central defender, unless of course Moisander or Denswil gets injured.

[ajaxusa]

OK this is pretty fun. Try it 10x, you might get one group you can live with…

http://ultra-zone.net/2014-FIFA-World-C ... tage-Draws

[Orange14]

Best WC draw for Oranje is (assuming we are not the unlucky Euro team drawn into Pot 2):

1. Switzerland
2. Ecuador or Algeria
3. Any of the teams EXCEPT: Japan, Korea, or Mexico
4. Netherlands

[aveslacker]

Don't know if this is the right place to post this, but this is wonderful: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/footba ... video.html.

Yet another reason why we support the best club on earth.

[Cruijff]

Absolutely aveslacker! Great!

The German media picked it up as well:
http://www.11freunde.de/artikel/ajax-un ... ke-jay-jay

[Orange14]

Aveslacker, thanks for posting this link! Sometimes we think that football is the most important thing in the world. This is a reminder that there are other things that rise above. Kudos to the club that we support for making the time and effort to celebrate Jay Jay's life. BTW, the way we slotted the goal past Cillessen was just sublime; he may be a better winger than any we currently have on the roster!!!

[Orange14]

The European Commission has opened an inquiry about whether certain Spanish clubs have received special fianacial treatment to help resolve debt issues: http://espnfc.com/news/story/_/id/16556 ... on?cc=5901 Certainly most are aware of the shady dealings in Madrid about transfer of property for inflated prices. I'm pretty cynical about these inquiries as they usually don't progress at all. However, if I were in PSV management I would be pretty worried right now in light of their deal two summers ago.

[souras84]

Nice top-10. Guess who's on top!

http://uk.askmen.com/top_10/celebrity/t ... aches.html

[afcajax73]

not really sure where post this but luuk de jong is currently undergoing a medical at Newcastle United..

apparently he is replacing cabaye!!!

[Kowalczyk]

Right. Scientific evidence has finally arrived: there is only one real game of football.

View evidence HERE.

Americans, please explain this to the rest of your country. Thank you.

K.

[Orange14]

Right. Scientific evidence has finally arrived: there is only one real game of football.

View evidence HERE.

Americans, please explain this to the rest of your country. Thank you.

K.

It's really quite impossible. Americans generally love violence and spectacle of steroid enlarged males battering each other senseless seems quite appealing. I gave up watching football about five years ago (I did play the sport in high school). There's a huge debate right now about concussion injuries and the league has proposed a several 100 million dollar fund for retired players who have suffered brain injuries from playing. I heard an interview with a former player who retired at the age of 29 the other day. He's 34 years old and takes about 6 different types of medication to manage his brain trauma. He has three young daughters and his wife is hoping that it doesn't get any worse. This is not normal!!!!

BTW, is everyone still having login problems???

[saddlerian]

BTW, is everyone still having login problems???

YES!!!!!!