19 Oct 2013: Ajax - RKC Waalwijk

[Tom_]

Sigthorrson (3.5) - maybe he does well for Iceland, at Ajax he's a bust

Yeah. But he's a "stick them in the net" type of striker. At the moment, he's getting absolutely nothing in terms of supply. As usual, our midfield is the real problem, if you ask me.

[Kowalczyk]

THIS WAS A SHOWER OF SHIT!!!

K.

[saddlerian]

It really comes to something when you have 75% of the play, 80% of that in your opponents half of the pitch, and YOUR central defenders being voted as the best two players!!!

Why did the other nine turn up........or did they??????

[SPL]

Veltman and Denswil had little to do but agree the other 8 outfielders did not turn up. Ironically when Moisander is fit he will replace Veltman although in the last week Denswil cost us all 3 goals ie did not mark Castaignos last week, weak penalty v Celtic and then just sticking his leg out for basically an OG. Given all that he is still our best defender at present!

V Rhijn ,de Jong and Fischer are all terribly out of form and should not be playing and Duarte and Bojan being injured weakens the squad which is playing 2 games a week.Ligeon has been injured so we ended up with Schone at RB yesteday.

FDB says there is no need to buy in the winter and I accept you are not going to get a replacement for Eriksen unless you start paying 10m plus but we have no wingers. Bojan Fischer are not wingers and Andersen is a midfielder.Sana is now no better than Jupiler league standard and de Sa looks only slighty better than Lukoki,who was poor.

I am all for youth and Jong Ajax has 18 year olds Tete Lobotka,17 year olds Riedewald and Bazoer all looking good for the future but there are no attackers of any note at Jong level. Surely the club has to try and spend some real money on a winger come January.

[Orange14]

We could have Alexis Sanchez and Neymar on the wings and the club would still be struggling. The midfield is just a disaster. I was watching it a lot yesterday since there was not much action going on and Serero and de Jong just stand around most of the time and when they do move they don't create any passing lanes or open spaces at all. Blind, Denswil, and Veltman had almost zero passing options. Sure Waalwijk was packing 10 behind the ball but good teams figure this out and get the first goal which then defeats a defense first game plan. I continue to wonder what Bergkamp's role is on the coaching staff. Here is someone who ought to know how offensive football should be played but I see no sign at all that he has much input.

Personally I think European football is more a curse than a blessing. This team doesn't have enough depth or physical ability to play two matches a week. The expend so much trying to win CL matches that come the following weekend the team comes out very flat.

I have not seen any of the Jong Ajax matches so don't know who is ready to step up and play first team football either this season or next. Regarding transfers it's uncertain who we can purchase and at what price. I think Ola John must be injured again as he's not playing at all for Benfica. Elia is starting for Bremen and I'm sure would cost a lot of €s to pry him loose. If anyone has any ideas about who to bring in I would be most interested to hear them. Maybe Cuenca on loan agains but he must still be out injured as the last match he is listed as playing was for us against NAC last spring.

[SPL]

I would like to see Neymar and Sanchez on our wings and even though our midfield is rubbish they would have broken down RKC last night .

Serero and de Jong add zero to our team in MF.Both need to go imo,although Siem could do a job as a striker as he has done in the past.

I agree your point that Europe is doing us no favours and we don't have the depth or physical ability to play 2 a week. Andersen played a whole game last Tuesday and then another last night ,he is not up to such a schedule and even Denswil has never played 2 games a week until this season .

The critics in Holland seem to suggest we should now spend loads of money on certain areas of the team but we would not afford the top players. We bought 2nd raters for big money in the last decade and won nothing .Who in Holland could we have signed who was better? V Ginkel was our choice for MF but he was only promising. In defence we have got V d Hoorn who seems a waste of money as Veltman and Denswil are both better and our youth is full of promising defenders ie Bazoer and Riedewald were the Jong Ajax Central Defenders last week , both barely 17 (Bazoer was indeed 17 a couple of weeks ago).

On the wing Orange quotes we could have got John or Eliah but that would have been on loan and they will both be earning a lot more than our 1m euro max wage!

The hugh attacking talent in our youth are all 16 year olds, Walian ,who has already broken into our A1 team, Cerny the Czech winger who arrives in January and little midfelder Nouri who is not ready for the A1's yet.

May I suggest our scouts look south to Belgium as they are producing loads of young talent at the moment.

[Orange14]

Despite all this gloom and doom we may only be one point off of first place 'if' there is a winner in the Vitesse/Groningen match later today. Pretty amazing how no team in the league is convincing. FdB may very well repeat what he's done over the past three years by getting this team ready to play serious football during the second half of the season; we'll have to wait and see on that. I haven't seen much of Jong Ajax matches. How have El Hasnaoui, Lobotka and Meleg looked? I think they are all midfielders but maybe are still a little too young. I see that de Bondt who looked good for the U-17 team two years ago is in the final year of his contract and may not be extended (I think he's a left winger).

[SPL]

Meleg has played on the wing mainly but needs to play MF more which seems to be his main position . Lobotka looks decent but not yet ready and El Hasnaoui has not had that much playing time .de Bondt has been injured since last season and has only just started playing for the team.