22 Feb 2006: Ajax - FC Internazionale

[saddlerian]

:headbang: :headbang:
Come on everyone, let's be positive!
Last night was a brilliant performance. If we can play like that with so many players out, WE WILL WIN IN MILAN.
Their defence is just as shaky as we thought it was, but with Grygera back in defence; Sneijder and Galesek in midfield, WE CAN DO IT.
:xyxthumbs: :xyxthumbs:

[Philippe]

Some feared we would get a roasting…

It was an outstanding first half, and overall a very good game for Ajax.
Blind tactics worked, we could have won this one.
Every player was really good, "even" Boukhari.
Ajax played the Ajax way, and we can be proud of it. :xyxthumbs: :ajax:

And inter has not changed, and still play the inter way.

[The Purple Cow]

I thought Boukhari gave a brilliant individual performance in the first half, he was the difference between the two sides. I was just dissapointed that those racist ***** who normally give him so much abuse weren't there to see it.

He made one mistake early in the second half, and the crowd started getting on his back, whereupon his performance dropped off badly.

Still, if I was an EPL coach I would crawl over hot coals to sign him for a left side midfield or number 10 position.

***

Good first half, but even at half time we all agreed that Ajax were not going to win the game. Our Keystone cops defence was never going to be able to stand up to Obefemi Martins or Julio Cruz.

[Philippe]

He made one mistake early in the second half, and the crowd started getting on his back, whereupon his performance dropped off badly.

This could be heard on TV and noticed by anyone aware of the context. A shame.

I thought our defense was much better than usual. And I liked Vermaelen and Heitinga. Inter strikers are dangerous, especially Martins, that's all.

For me, it's the best game Ajax played in European competitions for a long long time.

[bluedaddy19]

Didn't see the match, but if you don't mind, gents, can you list the best Ajax players 3-2-1? Three being the best Ajax player (in your opinion), one being the third-best...

3-huntelaar, 2-trabelsi, 1-heitinga


i hate to belabor the officiating we ALWAYS get, but can anyone tell me how the funk cruz was not tossed out on his ear for that hatchet job on trabelsi?


and for the people praising boukhari so highly, get a grip - he was defintiely good in the first half and did great work defensively all night, but holy crap the guy gets the ball and just freezes every time

lindenbergh, on the other hand, was absolute shit... when did his passing get sooooooo bad??

blind also needs a good slap for changing the game plan at halftime when we had dominated them and for waiting forever to bring fresh legs, HE HAS TO GO

[jamcocteau]

I thought Boukhari gave a brilliant individual performance in the first half, he was the difference between the two sides.

He made one mistake early in the second half, and the crowd started getting on his back, whereupon his performance dropped off badly.

Still, if I was an EPL coach I would crawl over hot coals to sign him for a left side midfield or number 10 position.

***

Agree that he was good in the first half - wouldn't say he was the difference between the 2 sides then. Think that Inter in the first half gave Ajax more space and time on the ball than I ever expected and Rosales, Boukhari, Trabelsi amongst others utilised that space. With Inter bringing on Pizarro immediately after the break this seemed to tighten the whole Inter team - the same space etc that was there in the first place was no longer evident.

Was disappointed to hear the booing but to say that was his first mistake all evening is incorrect. From the outset of the second half Boukhari was nowhere near as effective as he loked in the first. He had made several mispasses or being caught trying to beat players before the uneeded booing incident. At that stage in the game Boukhari was ineffective and personally I thought Blind should have brought on Juanfran for him, putting Juanfran into the left back slot and moving Emmanuelson into the midfield to give Ajax a little more bite.

Overall, a great first half display by Ajax but Inter definitely on top on the second. Not over yet but in a better position than I had expected prior to the match.

[Philippe]

blind also needs a good slap for changing the game plan at halftime when we had dominated them and for waiting forever to bring fresh legs, HE HAS TO GO

Blind should get applause for the brilliant first half tactics, in spite of so many basis players missing. :xyxthumbs:

He should stay.

[jamcocteau]

Blind should get applause for the brilliant first half tactics, in spite of so many basis players missing. :xyxthumbs:

He should stay.

Phillipe, as far as I am concerned a match is played over 90 minutes. I will praise Blind for his tactics in the first half which were superb but second half unfortunately he did not counteract the threat of Inter at all when it was obvious a fresh pair of legs were required to bolster the midfield area. Looking at the subs bench I admit there was little choice but something should have been done. To bring on Babel in the 88th minute after they had equalised in my opinion was not correct. We needed a substitute far earlier.

For Blind an A+++ for 1st half, second half was C.

[Philippe]

I am afraid Mancini had more valid options for substitutions than Blind yesterday.

BTW bear in mind that 10 days ago we could hardly beat Willem 2 and ADO Den Haag.

[ZoefdeHaas]

Dont get over-confident guys, we still aint at best.

But I think we should focus our hopes on CL and Dutch CUp, considering we're doing more well in those competitions

[aveslacker]

I am afraid Mancini had more valid options for substitutions than Blind yesterday.

BTW bear in mind that 10 days ago we could hardly beat Willem 2 and ADO Den Haag.

Good point Phillipe. I hope that, now that they've found their scoring touch, they can get their defense together.

We're not out of the woods yet, but maybe, just maybe, they're developing momentum.

It is one thing to say that their results aren't great because they beat up on RBC and eked by ADO, but to play a club like Inter to a draw is another thing altogether. Inter, even though they weren't at full strength, still has more quality than virtually any team in the Eredivisie. I'll take the way Ajax played yesterday over the chickenshit way PSV played against Lyon any day.

[aveslacker]

I thought Boukhari gave a brilliant individual performance in the first half, he was the difference between the two sides. I was just dissapointed that those racist ***** who normally give him so much abuse weren't there to see it.

Sadly, I don't think it would make a difference for those neanderthals. If they're racist, then they're not going to change their minds, even if Boukhari scores a hat trick of Bergkamp-esque goals.

[jamcocteau]

Yes, Mancini had options, that is not the point in question. The point is that Blind even with his limited options did not put on fresh legs into a tiring team to counteract the threat of Milan. His first substitution was in 88 minutes when it was obvious that substitutions were required earlier.

I for one am very happy with the result and the performance of the players in general, more than I expected before the game , but that does not mean that constructive criticism cannot be given.

[bluedaddy19]

Still, if I was an EPL coach I would crawl over hot coals to sign (boukhari) for a left side midfield or number 10 position.

thanks man, i needed a good chuckle

boukhari is FAR too slow of football thought to make it with an english team

[Kowalczyk]

Match report is up on Ajax USA!

http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m05-06/ ... r-2-2.html

K.

[Kowalczyk]

My two cents in the Boukhari discussion...

There are many things you can say about Boukhari, but he is one of those players that will keep running and works his balls off. Which is exactly what he did in the first half, in which he also played quite well. A pleasant surprise. I wouldn't want say that he was the Great Leader & Architect in midfield, but he definitely played well.

In the second half, however, you could see that he was getting tired and started to make mistakes. I agree with The Purple Cow that he doesn't have much credit: the crowd started whistling at him after only a few bad passes. That's a shame and it was not the approach the team needed in a game like this (I must say the atmosphere was great over-all, though).

However, it goes way too far to suggest that Boukhari was absolutely brilliant, made one mistake, was immediately jeered at by the crowd and then started to suck because of that. Come on. In the second half you could see that his batteries were empty, and he started to play poorly. The only man who didn't see that happen was Danny Blind, who should have taken Boukhari off on the hour, and brought on Juanfran instead. Ajax's left flank needed reinforcement. Boukhari should have been protected by the coach when he started to lose it.

One final thing: shall we please ignore the "racist c***s" who are sitting behind Purple Cow from now on? Let's just rest it.

Racism is a very bad thing and when you say there are people sitting behind you who are constantly all over Boukhari only because he's a Moroccan, I will take your word for it. I have absolutely no reason to think that you're lying or even exaggerating.

However, you have brought your point across, there is nothing we can do about it and it's starting to become a bit of a useless riddle now, that is sometimes getting in the way of a reasonable discussion about Boukhari's play. No offense, but we've got the picture now.

K.

[Over Pasanens Head]

A large part of the blame for the second goal can be laid at old rubber legs - he started to track back with Cambiasso, then stopped, restarted and then stopped again and put his hand up appealing for offside. Why stop tracking back for f**ks sake.
Also it would be very interesting to see some statistics on Boukhari's success rate with keeping possession as to me sitting at home in my armchair it appeared that he lost the ball, or passes went astray more often then he was successful.

Agree with the comment that last night Inter had more options on being able to change the course of the game than Ajax.
However, in the second half Ajax did not perform as unit - the gaps between the defence, midfield and attack were invariably too large and this allowed Inter to make full use of these empty spaces.

[dws]

Blind's outfield substitute options were two forwards, a bunch of inexperienced kids and a hopelessly out of form defender/midfielder. I suppose he could have replaced two forwards with Charisteas and Babel. However, doing so would have had little or no impact in stemming Inter's midfield dominance.

I doubt if Blind could/would have risked switching to a three man defence.
Hence, moving Urby into midfield would have neccessitated positional changes. Vermaelen or Heitinga would have had to play leftback Maduro/Lindenbergh would have been required to cover the central defensive position vacated by Vermaelen/Heitinga. Supposing that Urby had been placed in left midfield; who would have taken over from Maduro/Lindenbergh at right/central midfield ?

If Blind had switched to 4-4-2, I suspect Inter would have dispensed with a defender in favour of an extra midfielder or attacker. Mancini had a various options to influence the game. Blind had very few.

[jamcocteau]

DWS,

think the easy option was to bring Juanfran on as left back and then move Emanuellson into the left midfield role. Thus not really a great movement in the defence.

[dws]

DWS,

think the easy option was to bring Juanfran on as left back and then move Emanuellson into the left midfield role. Thus not really a great movement in the defence.

Juanfran :nooo: :scared: was not a real option for Blind. Juanfran has been playing like shit. Blind won't play him 'til he shows some decent form. :xyxthumbs:

[Cedric]

I agree with DWS :xyxthumbs:
Moreover this choice to not bring Juanfran is confirmed by Ajax.nl :

"the absence of form or fitness of the experienced Juanfrán, made that Blind had no possibilities to change the tide in the second half"

I would have done the same, but of course, when we know the final result, it's easier to say he should have done something. "If only...." ;)

[SE6Ajacied]

Well I have to say that I've rarely enjoyed a game as much as last night. It probably helped being in the F-side but Ko is right, the atmosphere was superb.

My two-penneth for the Boukhari debate, I have to say where I was sitting I certainly didn't notice anyone getting on his back until well in the second half when he was visibly tired and playing badly. It's true, Blind should have taken him off well before then though,,,,I realy can't understand what goes on in Blind's head sometimes :nooo:

[Philippe]

Let me put it this way : Blind did a wonderful job with the available players, and every one of them had a very good game.

It is a f**g disgrace to hear "supporters" whistling at a player under such circumstances.

[Feest]

Match report is up on Ajax USA!

http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m05-06/ ... r-2-2.html

K.

Wasn't Samuel who deflected Rosales' tap-in, but Burdisso, Ko.

[dws]

Ajax V Inter full match torrent at http://tracker.denness.net

Commentary is in Spanish : ESPN Deportes. Require xvid codec to play the file.watched a little of this one. Spanish commentary has way more life about it compared to the Chinese commentary of the Sopcast stream from last night. GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL Huuuuuunttteeeeelllllaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrr :D

There are also 2 English commentary versions. One version requires xvid codec the other Realplayer.