30 SEP 2014 Apoel Nicosia - Ajax CL Group F Match #2

[Tom_]

PSG are up 3–1 in the other game

[Amol]

Finally Kishna and El Ghazi. Great cross by Kishna already.

[Tom_]

Damn. We just don't have the quality up front to break these defensive teams down. Well I doubt it would've mattered with PSG beating Barça—looks like we're battling Apoel for the UEFA Cup slot.

[Ayman]

Biggest disappointment is Serero. Andersen is more of an attacking midfield and should start in his position. Best player on the pitch Davy Klaassen. Siggy isnt good enough and should not start. Viergever did well in midfield. For the first time at this stage in the champions league Ajax have more than just a point, well only just

[paladinby]

Some players on our team can't even apply a simple finish. Siggy is a waste of space as well as Serero. Why not use a 3rd sub? That was so bad. The ref made some stupid calls but our play was just as bad.

[Amol]

Sigthorson's misses cost us games. There certainly is a dollar amount assigned to that.

We started without Kishna and/or El Ghazi - which to me is showing a weak mindset.

If you start without the will to win and with a shitty striker - you don't end up winning.

[paladinby]

We should also start with more speed on the wings. Andersen and Schone are not adding any speed to the team.

[SPL]

What actually is the point of Serero playing ,the guy is crap losing the ball falling over and never scores.Stick Andersen more into the centre and play Kishna.He should have come on earlier .Siggy back to normal ,rubbish.Agreed Klaassen was our best player.

[Amol]

The team laid out like this would've been so much more effective

Kishna - Milik - Schone
Andersen - Viergiever - Klassen
Boilesen - Moisander - Veltman - Van Rhijn
Cillesen

Change out Schone/Kishna for El Ghazi

[Orange14]

Points are shared but it's questionable whether it's a fair result given the poor penalty. Apoel did have some clear chances but couldn't convert. Klaassen played very well and Andersen showed good promise while he was on the pitch. Bringing on Kishna and el Ghazi couldn't unlock things so we head back to Amsterdam in third place within the group as PSG heads top now with their 3-2 win over Barcelona. We've got a lot of players on Yellow cards now.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (6) - has yet to save a penalty for club or country and his give away in the last 10 minutes almost cost the team
Boilesen (4.5) - some good moments going forward but again too many turnovers
Moisander (6.5) - decent enough but could have been better positioned on the Yellow card
Veltman (7) - strong all game against some pretty big opponents
van Rhijn (7) - good match and his free kick tested the Apoel keeper
Viergever (6.5) - a couple of bad turnovers but otherwise strong
Serero (4) - drew fouls but his passing and ball control were poor
Klaassen (7.5) - best offensive player on the pitch and did his usual good job on defense
Andersen (7) - nicely slotted home goal and cut down on his turnovers while still trying to create something
Sigthorrsson (2) - put his shirt and shorts on correctly
Schöne (5.5) - looked a little slow because of the injury layoff
el Ghazi (5.5) - did OK but nothing more
Kishna (6.5) - cause trouble on the left and got the crosses in

Back to league play now even on points at the top of the table.

[SPL]

Agree starting with midfielders on the wing and a crap striker we are going to struggle to win games.ElGhazi Kishna and Milik to start vZwolle and get Zivkovic on the bench,the kid scored goals for Groningen last year and he was only 17.

[SPL]

Nice rating and comment for Siggy by Orange. Yes he had a decent game last Saturday .probably his first one for a very long time but today he was slow and useless as ever.He and Serero are not good enough to play for Ajax.

[Tom_]

The offensive situation is a real puzzle. It seems none of our 6 attackers (strikers + wingers) are true first choices, but we knew that at the end of last season. I haven't seen much to get excited about in Kishna or el Ghazi. Same goes for Andersen although he was a bit better tonight. Milik pushed around the amateurs but then couldn't hold onto the ball against NAC. Less said about Siggy tonight the better.

Will just say that I thought Serero had a good game today. His first touch was often good and he was able to turn his defender on several occasions but there was no one to pass it to.

[Manneken Pis]

Agree on Serero, also thought he did ok overall (funny how perceptions on him vary so much in the forum).
Boilers end made me want to pull my hair out.
I have given up on Siggy and am just pleasantly surprised when he doesn't give the ball away.

[afcajax73]

i really was quite dissapointed last night,

firstly de Boer had already decided to not put out an attacking team as APOEL must have been so poor we didnt really need one.

Serero had an awful game up until about the last 10 mins, and even then he didnt do much.

When El Ghazi came on, he is (IMO) best when hes running at players, but he was just constantly stood on the touch line and throwing in a cross when he could, no ambition what so ever.

Kishna came on about 20 mins too late,

Siggy really isnt good enough at all,

Cillessen was incredibly lucky not to be red carded (although there was a man back)

The referee was throwing yellow cards to us left right and center, but for some reason didnt want to give them any, so they just kept on with little niggling fouls to break the play up.

on the plus sides, Anderson played alright for 40 mins or so, Klaassen did well, as did van Rhijn

[Orange14]

@afcajax - spot on comments!!!

[SPL]

yes sums up my thoughts too.

[Philippe]

After only two games, our chances in the CL are already close to none.
It's about time to draw some simple conclusions : Sigthorsson should be replaced by Milic, Zimling should have his chance too. Schöne was not fit yet.

[Manneken Pis]

After only two games, our chances in the CL are already close to none.
It's about time to draw some simple conclusions : Sigthorsson should be replaced by Milic, Zimling should have his chance too. Schöne was not fit yet.

Yes agree with all those conclusions.

One I'd add is if we'd spent a bit of that +/-€100M we have sitting in the bank over the summer we would be in contention to get out of the group.

[Dave the mac]

All in all it was a good result I thought. For the most part an open game and entertaining. The referee was...curious. Cannot remember when I've seen so many yellow cards and the penalty on van Rhijn was just wrong.

Our defense is still worrisome, the fullbacks are more suited for midfield, or better yet the bench. van Rhijn always looks to pass backwards first and it's rare he puts in a useful tackle. Ajax desperately needs some height in the center of defense: van der Hoorn in Moislander out? Yes!

I've rarely seen the midfield better. Never been a huge fan of Serero but he was a tireless runner in this match. The effort was outstanding, a goalscorer he is not but if he continues with that kind of work rate it would be hard to put him on the bench. Klaassen too had a really good game. I've often thought him to be overrated but here he showed a great effort that has not been seen much before.

Siggy...a real Jekyll and Hyde last two matches he's had. Orange14 rated him at 2.0! He get's his chances and probably should put more of them away. He did against NAC but it goes to show what a tough job it is. Still would like see Milik play more often, and Zivkovic as well. Siggy is just not the full time striker Ajax needs.

[King Litti]

If not our current fullbacks then who? Ligeon/Riedelwald? Boilesen needs to be more careful venturing forward but I think our fullbacks are decent enough (at least they are clearly the best choices). Riedewald maybe a future first team guy, but think he needs to be brought in gradually.

Creativity and thougness is what's lacking in our midfield. Miss guys like Eriksen and even de Zeuw who was a decent box to box guy.

Moisander needs to get his shit together. Is he turning to the new Petri Pasanen? Couple of terrible blunders for club and country. No secret he was eager to make the next step in his career, but nobody came for him. He needs to get over it and start playing. If he plays at his own level he is still the best choice for the left center back. All a round decent defender with more experience than any of our defenders. Van der Hoorn is right footed, so it would be Denwill if any that would replace him. Not saying aerial duels are meaningless, but don't think these missing inches a real the issue in our defense.

Agree about Siggy. He has had a faire amount of chances. He is just no good enough and I really hope we would have been able to get rid of him and bought a decent nro 9. Milik and Zivkovic should get chances to show their worth. There has been a clear need for a striker since Pantelic.