14 DEC 2014 Ajax-Utrecht Match Day 16

[SPL]

Well we held on for a win ,not a great performance,flat and sleepy according to the commentators and I agree.

Serero and Klaassen were my top men both worked hard and ran and ran. Serero has improved since being DM but very pleased to see him score.

[Orange14]

Perhaps a bit of a hangover from the midweek match but a nice 3-1 win in the end. Decent enough on offense and some good passes. Unfortunately, too many conceded free headers and sloppy defending at time but Utrecht were not able to capitalize.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (6) - one very nice save and one sleepy look at a ball that hit the post coupled with some dicey kicking, not one of his better performances
Viergever (6.5) - workmanlike performance and did well when in possession
Moisander (6.5) - should have done better on the Utrecht goal but otherwise positionally good
Veltman (7.5) - I think he won every intervention today and prevented some dangerous attacks
van Rhijn (7) - dealt with the young Swedish winger well and his wicked dead ball kick almost went in
Serero (7.5) - very fine match, crisp passes and wicked volley on the first goal
Klaassen (7.5) - all over the field on both sides of the ball, some good passing and good touch on the 2nd goal
Andersen (6) - good pass to Milik who set up Klaassen but otherwise passing was too soft
Kishna (6) - not much of a factor
Milik (6) - controlled the ball decently but had no scoring opportunities
Schöne (6.5) - looked like he was tired in the last 20 minutes but decent enough
el Ghazi (6) - excellent goal and almost had a second but was too indifferent tracking back and gave the ball away too cheaply but saved by Veltman's defense
Riedewald (6.5) - couldn't see any fault with his game today, good position and had some interventions
Zivkovic (NR) - only for the last several minutes but didn't factor in the play

Cup match against Vitesse midweek followed by Excelsior to close out the first half of the campaign. Need some good luck from Twente today to stay atop the table.

[aveslacker]

Got to watch the second half. At times it seemed like one of the games in my geezer league with the end-to-end action. Serero is a frustrating player who often does a bunch of things right and yet falls short in the end. We seemed to be a bit too tense with the ball and rushed the passes from time to time.

Still, a comfortable win, so no major complaints.

[Amol]

Woke up too late for this one - was only able to watch the last 15 minutes or so.

[Tom_]

Yeah it was a plodding game but three points against Utrecht is fine with me anytime. Maybe the condition of the pitch also contributed, looked to me like the ArenA could use a break too.

[SPL]

At least next Sunday is 2 hours later so you American guys can get a bit more sleep.