17 SEP 2014 Ajax-PSG CL Group F Match #1

[SPL]

Great finish by us after Schone's goal. Our defence struggled in the early part of the 2nd half and Boilesen cannot defend ,thought he was aweful. PSG didn't impress me for all their millions.A draw is a decent result though.

[Orange14]

Well it was a fine effort down the stretch and it looked like PSG were really on the ropes in the last three minutes but we couldn't put the ball on frame. There are still a bunch of naive players on the Ajax squad who need to realize that tricks don't work at this level. Got to love them all the same. PSG were surprisingly lackadaisical and thought that the game was going to fall to them easily. Woeful finishing cost them a chance to win this match outright. Ajax defense other then some really bad blunders (one punished and three not) was stout.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (7.5) - stopped everything he could and positionally was superb
Boilesen (4.5) - other than two really really bad blunders was quite decent; unfortunately his first mistake conceded the goal
Mosander (5) - lucky not to have conceded a goal on a give away
Veltman (6) - badly turned by Zlatan but took a Yellow for the team
van Rhijn (6.5) - OK game
Viergever (5.5) - decent enough but nothing more
Serero (6) - I know it's too high as he sucked the life out of the game for 70 minutes but then he came alive and was quite good; since he goes down with the wisp of the wind we get free kicks in good positions
Klaassen (6.5) - worked hard on both sides of the field but should have made better passes
Andersen (5.5) - still not convinced and he again was bad in the first half but came alive at the end with some nice ball moves
Sigthorrsson (4) - plodding play, no ball control but didn't get any thing to work with either
Schöne (7) - two wonderful free kicks but rather pedestrian play otherwise; surprisingly got himself into some double teams
Zimling (6) - showed some enterprise coming in and it won't be a surprise if he starts in place of Viergever
Milik (5) - can't remember him having a touch but maybe I missed it since if he did it wasn't a good one
el Ghazi (5) - needs to get his head screwed on right; silly Yellow card and no way was he going to beat Maxwell to get a cross in

Off to Rotterdam on Sunday for Feyenoord who have a tough match tomorrow night in Seville

[Orange14]

Edit: don't want to influence the esteemed judges too much but could Boilesen get the first ever zero? Or maybe even a minus??? ;)

LOL - yes his two blunders were foolish and naive but the rest of the match was quite decent. He had a couple of good passes into the box and put one of the few shots we did have close to the frame when he was coming across from the right side. Can't rightly give him a zero.

[Tom_]

Haha, it's always amusing how we all get different impressions from the matches. I noticed Boilesen giving the ball away time and time again, but will happily admit the possibility that I imagined it!

Serero was good though. Not the most creative midfielder we've ever had but did some important work:

[Orange14]

With Serero you need to subtract the safe back passes which contributes mightily to his statistics. I didn't see one dangerous forward pass the who first half. But as I say the last 20 minutes he came alive. I would love to see him do this for a full 90 minutes. I also think he presses opponents very well.

[Cruijff]

There was a guy who added quite some forward passes to our game! Niki Zimling!

So FdB takes off the only player who has a chance to score?????

Im not into conspiracy theories. But is Frank de Boer paid to make sure Ajax doesnt win? And by who?

That was indeed a strange one. I guess the Schöne for Milik switch was planned as part of the el Ghazi/Kolbeinn one, but still...

Schöne (7) - two wonderful free kicks but rather pedestrian play otherwise;

You guys know how to complain. You could all be real Amsterdammers.


But noooo... the reason for the sub was clear. Lasse Schöne couldn't continue because of an injury. He had that one already during the Ajax-Heracles Almelo game so probably played with a syringe.

Is likely to miss the away game against Feyenoord...

[Manneken Pis]

By the way, on Dutch tv afterwards they had a pitch side interview with van der Wiel.
He said that P$G hadn't prepared properly and didn't get briefed properly on Ajax's tactics............
I'm assuming with 3.ex-Ajax players in the team and no change in our (fundamental) tactics for 40 odd years he was basically saying that the manager was shi#e.