22 Apr 2012: Ajax - FC Groningen

[Orange14]

Poor clinical finishing in a match where there was good passing and possession. Anita is my MOTM regardless of what Sidekick says. Off to Yoga now; player ratings later today.

[Amol]

One of the ugliest wins seen after the winter break. But, as they say: Champions can win even when playing terrible.

[SPL]

great relief once that 2nd went in .Hard working win and they were hard to breakdown . 3 points to win the title ,our goal difference is vastly better than the rest .

AZ and FW ,who play each other next week can get 70 points Az and PSV only get to 69 .

[Flipster81]

Anita was our best player again today. Janssen is still too slow for the football we are trying to play, he made a couple of good passes but did nothing else. Aissati was OK but his passing is poor. All in all a decent win on our way to 31!!

Interesting that Narsingh was in the crowd, here for talks maybe??

[SPL]

Orange 14 we probably all need to do some yoga after that . That was a stressful day !!

[SPL]

Anita was indeed good again . The back 4 did alright but were not really tested today . Even V d Wiel was ok. Boerrigter the pick of the attack .Still not bad 86 goals and we start with 2 midfielders in our front line. Agree about Janssen I too think he is too slow for this team although he had a decent game.

[souras84]

Wow! First we sign Schone before the end of the Championship and now the camera finds Narsigh in the crowd... SPOILER ALERT

[Orange14]

SPL - Yoga was really great today, all of the anxiety about the match is now gone! I thought that it was a decent performance against a team that was playing defensively from the beginning. We were unfortunate not to be able to clinically finish chances (we should have had 2-3 more goals for sure) but then that's been the problem of the team all year long. Defensively there were one or two hiccups but nothing more though it's always better to have a 2 goal lead down the stretch of a match.

Player Ratings:

Vermeer (7) - tested only once and made the save didn't have to do much kicking which is always a plus
Blind (7) - not a bad match today though he's always better going forward than defending; it looks like he's the starter the rest of the season
Vertonghen (8) - best central defender in the league and one of the better ones in all of Europe based on current play
Alderweireld (7) - one really bad lapse which he recovered from
Van der Wiel (7) - he is making progress, playing better this week than last; let's hope we can move him this summer
Eriksen (7) - a player at his level should be able to better on a break away
Anita (9) - yes a nine, I counted only two missed passes and those two passes sending a player in on the keeper were just sublime; his best match of the season
Janssen (6) - so FdB doesn't sub him off; what's going on, poor free kicks, one very good pass and a lot of standing around
Boerrigter (8) - beat his man and caused all kinds of defensive problems for Groningen
de Jong (7) - I guess he gets two assists today but really he should be able to shoot better than he did
Aissati (7) - a couple of good passes, some really poor ones, but in general pretty good play from someone who last September wasn't even in the selection
Sigthorrson (7) - decent enough in the short time he was out there
Enoh (NR) - not on long enough
Ozbiliz (NR) - not on long enough

On to Enschede next week and a win gives us the title irrespective of what anyone else does based on goal differential. It would be nice if the team can win out and bring the streak up to 14.

[bluedaddy19]

we clocked in and did the business, 11 wins straight now

one more win and its 31 championship flavors

[Blind3]

In the words of the late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis , JUST WIN BABY !!! CONGRATULATIONS AJAX for moving ever closer to # 31.

[Blind3]

What a season. After the low lows of winter, never figured we'd be six points to the good , on 86 goals scored, and with eighteen different goal scorers (the number of different scorers in VI.nl listing) as of April 23. Even with the oft times uneven performances, still a balanced high scoring attack .

[acab]

Heerlijk natuurlijk, die afgunst. Toen FC Twente in de 120ste minuut de bekerfinale tegen Ajax besliste, werd er niet massaal een Twente-lied ingezet...Nee, iedereen gilde ‘helemaal niets in Amsterdam!' Massaal werd er in rode t-shirts gelopen met de tekst ‘Ik zie dubbel!', verwijzend naar de beker én de landstitel die men wel even zou gaan pakken. Ze hebben inderdaad dubbel gezien. Een week later zagen ze die schaal. In de handen van Jan Vertonghen en Maarten Stekelenburg welteverstaan. En een jaartje later zagen ze die schaal weer. Oké, die schaal was daar weliswaar voor Ajax, maar toch.

Een jaar lang is er gefeest in Nederland, want er was helemaal niets in Amsterdam. Maar woensdag is het stil in Eindhoven, Alkmaar en Enschede. Doodstil. Want het enige echte feest, het kampioensfeest, én de enige echte kampioenswedstrijd, vinden dan plaats in de stijf uitverkochte Amsterdam Arena. 52.000 Ajacieden juichen hun team toe, helden die zich door niemand gek lieten maken en er altijd in bleven geloven. Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be allright. Ajacieden, gefeliciteerd met onze fantastische club en maak er een schitterend feest van. Wij zien dubbel, wij zijn Ajax en wij zijn de beste!

GREAT!!!