19 Feb 2012: Ajax - NEC

[Kowalczyk]

This is pretty bizarre, but pretty great.

All we need now is Twente to lose at Vitesse.

K.

[Orange14]

The team lost concentration in the last 25 minutes conceding a goal and missing a couple of golden opportunities to score. Overall a much better performance today and FdB can find a lot of positives out of the match today. Team still lacks the killer instinct to really punish opponents for mistakes and the midfield while better today still is a work in progress.

player ratings:

Vermeer (7) - solid game today making some good saves and was really not forced into making stupid errors
Koppers (7) - good at the left back and was moving into the offensive area trying to create some overlaps
Vertonghen (8) - absolute rock on defense never caught out of position and got a well deserved goal off a corner kick
Alderweireld (7) - one poor play being caught out that forced van Rhijn to take a yellow card just outside the box
van Rhijn (6) - would have been one point higher except for some poor positioning on defense; good movement up the right side on offense
Anita (7) - excellent play both defensively and offensively had some key passes to the central midfielders
Eriksen (7) - good play on offense and well taken free kicks today (FdB you really don't need Janssen on the pitch)
de Jong (7) - one of his better games of the season; great assist on the first Ajax goal
Ozbiliz (6) - decent enough game but some wild shots when he was open
Bulykin (6) - did exactly what he needed to do and nothing more
Sulejmani (6) - still doesn't know where his options are on the field and should have never slowed the play down on the breakaway as his pass left Aissati with out an open shot on goal
Lodeiro (5) - surprisingly average game when he came on for Bulykin
Serrero (5) - average and nothing more; have to wonder if he physically can play a full 90 minutes
Aissati (5) - left hanging by Sulejmani on the breakaway

On to Old Trafford for a real experience on Thursday. Fortunately, what should be an easy match next Sunday (if there is such a thing) against Excelsior next week end. The league is now tightening up at the top and there are some interesting fixtures next week where some of the top teams will drop points one way or another.

[aveslacker]

This is pretty bizarre, but pretty great.

All we need now is Twente to lose at Vitesse.

K.

Sure, why not?

[SPL]

No me too(Sulejmani) plays like a guy who should have cost 1.6m. We were poor after the 4th goal and how Aissati missed that one near the end . Mind why on earth was Ozbiliz replaced by a moderate midfielder ,who has nil future here, when we could have played either of 2 moderate wingers Ebecilio and Lukoki. Ozbiliz played well imo which was good to see .He needs to play a few more games like that . Both full backs were good today ,they are inexperienced so we cannot expect miracles . V Rhijn cocked up with giving the corner ,which lead to their goal and got away with a hand ball but from what I saw today he is not much worse than V d Wiel .

3 good points today,4 poor teams on paper coming up in the league ie Excelsior Roda , RKC and ADO . If we can win all 4 we would be very near the top ,after all we are now 5 points off the lead.

de Jong set up 2 and scored another so would be my MOM . Just to think if Janssen was fit de Jong would have been the lone striker and we would have struggled. I do not want to see that slow carthorse Janssen play another game .

[Amol]

FDB needs to finally see that Janssen doesn't fit into this team.

[aveslacker]

FDB needs to finally see that Janssen doesn't fit into this team.

That right there.

[Tom_]

To this day I still can't believe we paid 16 million for Mickey.

Hey, that's our top scorer you're talking about!

[Amol]

Damn - just saw that too. This makes it suck even worse. Ajax's top scorer is tied for 8th in the league.

[Philippe]

Philips, Twente, and AZ will waste energy in further Europa games. We won't