06 Nov 2011: FC Utrecht - Ajax

[SPL]

De Boer's only fault in my eyes is to play Siem

We are in the shit because of loads of really woeful defending and one particular officials mistake

1.PSV Greg's soft penalty cost us 2 points

2, Groningen Greg again cost us 1 point

3.Twente linesman disallowing vertonghen's goal 2 points

4. Utrecht Vermeer giving away 3 goals and 3 points (Never mind the rest of the defence and the pen .)

I hope the fans do not turn on de Boer beacuse the above points were not down to him or the team he picked.

[Orange14]

I hope the fans do not turn on de Boer beacuse the above points were not down to him or the team he picked.

Quite right; all FdB can do is pick the selection. It's up to the players to perform and by and large none of them have been consistent this season (though Boerrigter comes pretty close). I think they have been reading too many newspaper clippings saying how good they are and that big clubs all over Europe want them. Even St. Eriksen is not immune to this as he has not played as well as he did last season.

It's time for this team to suck it up and take on every opponent as if their life (and career) depend on it. They should not simply say, "well, look how well we are doing in the Champions League." Some years ago Liverpool won the whole shooting match and finished as a mid-table team in England and didn't even qualify for the CL (though I think they ended up getting some special dispensation). It's time to throw away all the newspapers, stop the Twittering and get down to the only business of the day, playing football the Ajax way. FdB needs to put the players who will do this out on the pitch.

[kezme44]

wtf happened this morning? i wake up to see a 6-4 loss. we conceded 6??!!

[souras84]

OK guys, we are all saying the same thing. De Boer's job as a manager is to MANAGE the team right now. And it seems that the road is a dead end for some people.... they had their chances and now...

[SPL]

I am not having a go at our attack today ,although they were not great, they scored 4 goals and had the game been in the Arena that would have been given as a penalty .
Last time anybody scored 4 and did not get a point was 1964(for anyone who did not watch that came up on the screen).

Midfield was not great but there are experienced alternatives in reserve as Aissati and Lodeiro are both in the wilderness,and Anita should be used as defensive midfielder . I have not been that impressed with Janssen ,although he has had his good moments. Eriksen is going to be a very good player but at present is the most overhyped player in Europe. Talk of Man City offering 25m euros is mad when you consider thats all we got for Suarez and not much more for my favourite ex Ajax player KJH or indeed Sneijder who is world class. Eriksen is still learning and there are times he should not be playing twice a week.Playing all summer maybe has caught up with him.

To state the obvious the defence is the real problem as we have no cover at all. Ooijer imo is over the hill and along with Blind are not good enough. Anita is not a full back and certainly not a left back.
Given Boilsen has been injured and Greg ,who again imo,cannot defend ,has struggled we have problems.The 2 Flemish lads play well together and it was a shame today that Toby had to go off.

Finally what can one say about a goalie who all season has shown he cannot kick a ball to save his life and sadly today he proved it .

Frank has alot to work on . Only 2 complaints about him is keep playing Siem , and certainly not as a striker , and not buying a central defensive cover back in the summer

[bluedaddy19]

you are all going way too easy on de boer, who can seemingly only pick one lineup, when several of them badly need to feel threatened to lose their places... im looking at you, eriksen, anita, enoh, de jong

[Orange14]

We created four pretty nice goals from our offense today. This should be enough to win every single match in the league (and Euro competition as well). How many goals did Utrecht create from their offense; I think ZERO. It's the same old story give aways in midfield and in our own end as well as poor marking on set pieces. Something has to be wrong when AZ, PSV, and Twente don't do this. I think the coaching staff and the management have to take a deep look at why this is happening. Poor set piece play is clearly 90% mental. Putting a keeper on the field that comes from the Oliver Kahn (remember him at Bayern and the German NT?) school of kicking and then letting him try to kick the ball upfield is a recipe for disaster.

As to the comments just above about Eriksen; I can't argue with them as I've said the same thing myself. I agree about Aissati; he's out there scoring goals for Jong Ajax and apparently working hard. What does Janssen bring to this team? Can anyone point to a point in today's match where he figured in something important. Enoh has never progressed from his first season at Ajax. Things might be different if Boilesen had not been injured and Anita could play defensive mid. I cannot argue about the need for a defender but would point out that when the club bought Wielaert and Oleguer everyone was cheering. It's not easy to find capable defenders.

[Rubin Stark]

What a weird game. Vermeer had a bad day at the office as we all do from time to time.

Seven points from seven games just won't cut it. These lads have a lot of football coming up, too. I wonder how tiredness is going to affect them given how thin the squad is.

The title is still up for grabs. I think 15 points from 5 games before the winter break is possible (NAC, NEC, Excelsior, RKC, ADO). AZ can't maintain their current form forever.

[Philippe]

I think Vermeer is responsible for 4 goals. Terrible. Nice for good old Ian Wouters though.

[Monkey Tonk]

Ajax pays steep price for playing in Europe. We knew the risk before the season. These players aren't that sharp mentally; wet matches instead of dry matches ready to light up. Ajax conceding six is Feyenoord-ish. Then again, we have become them so why be surprised. When is the last time you saw Ajax players correct mistakes on the pitch? Same mistakes over and over again. Like lambs to the slaughter house.

[Cedric]

And is there a good video of this slaughter?

[Philippe]

Try this one : http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetb ... html?p=3,1

[Orange14]

Here are my questions and comments on the Utrecht goals:

#1 - why was Enoh all the way back inside the keeper's protective area? Anita was probably expecting some cover when the cut across was made so he didn't keep up and try to close the man down. Help was never there and a free shot on goal. Did Enoh screen Vermeer (hard to tell from the angle) as it certainly was not a hard shot at goal.

#2 - If you are going to play a high line and count on the offside trap, you better damn well step up early so the opponent is off side. Didn't happen here and the coverage is non existent. When the striker fumbles with the ball it didn't matter as Utrecht ended up with a 3-2 situation and the ball fell right at the feet of the opponent who has a clear shot on goal. Also, if you freeze frame just when the pass is made there are four Ajax defenders on three Utrecht attackers. Two of the Ajax players think an offside is going to be called and give up on the play, including I think Vertonghen as only Oojier who makes the first mistake and van der Wiel are back behind the attack. I can't tell the numbers but clearly Enoh is way to far up field in this situation and out of position. Multiple players to blame on this one.

#3 - Boerrigter and Oojier have responsibility for the far corner on this and neither is in a particularly good position to defend the long ball. Vermeer can't make up his mind about whether to come out and punch or stay back. He takes a couple of steps up and then back; result he can't do anything. Vermeer has 80% of the blame on this (I think Stekelenberg would have saved this as he is a more decisive keeper and his height advantage would have been critical), Oojier has 20% of the blame since it's his man who gets clear.

#4 - Three culprits here - van der Wiel keeps everyone on side (but I don't think he is the real problem here), Oojier then steps up and frees two Utrecht players and Vertonghen thinks that off sides will be called and doesn't see the play out. This is a tough one to ascribe blame to since both central defenders were at fault. Maybe Alderweireld makes the play in this situation since he is a lot quicker than Oojier. I'll go 50-50 to the central defenders.

#5 - Oojier and Vermeer what were you two thinking? However, look closely and you see van der Wiel get dispossessed with the ball going back to Oojier with no coverage other than the keeper. Vermeer gets most of the blame on this one since he's kicking up field (and there are two Utrecht players ahead of defenders who can win a bad kick - van der Wiel doesn't come back to help anyone out on this leaving Oojier hanging as well) and it's one of the most horrendous kicks I've ever seen from a keeper. If you can't kick upfield, get it out of touch. 95% Vermeer 3% van der Wiel and 2% Oojier on this one (Oojier does make what he thinks is the safe play but look when he turns up field at the beginning, there's no one to pass to!).

#6 - van der Wiel keeps up with his man but makes two critical mistakes; 1) he should have put the ball into touch given there was another Utrecht player running in free (Oojier's man and he doesn't have the pace to keep up with him) and 2) the back pass is too weak and Vermeer gets nervous particularly since he just conceded a goal. Vermeer should have kicked the ball out but instead it's another weak kick up field and he's caught too far out to save the resulting lob kick. Fault: 25% van der Wiel; 75% Vermeer

One can probably say that two of the Utrecht goals were clearly earned because of decent play on their part; one other one was possibly earned and three were conceded because of rubbish defending and mental mistakes. This replay also shows that Sulejamni was clearly taken down in the box for a penalty. I suspect that this one should have ended up 5-5 had the penalty been given.

[Tom_]

You should send that to Frank de Boer...

My only comment is on #3—I would ascribe a bit more blame to the defenders in this situation. Say Vermeer makes the correct decision (he can't reach the ball so he's going to stay on his line), the attacker still has a completely free header on the back post and probably scores anyway. I agree that 2010 Stekelenberg would've caught the ball, but remember 2005 Stekelenberg's issues with high crosses.

Any word on the injuries (de Jong, Alderweireld)?

[Cedric]

2 weeks for Janssen, 4 to 6 weeks for De Jong.

Try this one : http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetb ... html?p=3,1

Thanks.

[Monkey Tonk]

Ajax with ball is ok. Ajax without ball is hilarious.

The entire defense needs to go. Most top amateur defenders are better than that, so they should be easy to replace. No idea if it's legally possible, but would absolutely love a coach who would call these defenders into his office, and fire the whole bunch on the spot.

[Ayman]

Personallly, Im not bothered about the result against utrecht. I am appauled by the comments I have read on Kenneth Vermeer. Lets not forget that back in end of 2004, when Ajax lost 2-1 to Maccabi Tel Aviv, it was official that 3 Ajax players were having a form crisis. Pienaar, Heitinga and Stekelenburg. Look how those players turned out later on. However Frank de Boer must start giving more opportunities to the youngsters. In Defense, Dico Koppers must start at left back until Boilesen returns. The other three Toivamaki, Van Rhijn and Ligeon should be given more minutes whenever possible. In midfield de Kamps and especially Davy Klassen should be given chances. Finally in attack, de Bondt should be chosen ahead of Ebicilio as back up to Boerrigter. While upfront we have Boere who can be called as a sub, since Siem de Jong and Sigthorsson are in the sick bay.

[Orange14]

I am appauled by the comments I have read on Kenneth Vermeer.

Let me clarify. I think Vermeer is one of the best shot blockers around, and maybe only Iker Casillas is better. When he has the opportunity to see the ball, he can make some world class stops. His problem is indecision when the play gets congested and I think always has been. He has never been a great kicker or distributor of the ball but part of the latter problem is that the current Ajax strategy leaves him few options. I'm sure he will stay #1 this season and last weekends match might just have been a one off. You could tell by his expression that he was unhappy with his play. He has not extended his contract and I would not be surprised to see him move on after this season (assuming that there are clubs out there that want him).