14 FEB 2016 Groningen - Ajax Match Day 23

[Orange14]

Arsenal - Leicester match was compelling. Too bad a couple of silly fouls cost Leicester the points but that's football for you.

[SPL]

Reading Dutch lads comments and some comments on Ajax showtime ,no supporters of V Rhijn. I would not pick him next week ,he cannot defend and his form has completely gone. Owusu or Sanniez should play next week,put Veltman back in CD and try the kids.

[Orange14]

The fact that van Rhijn made such a fundamental error at the end of the game settles it for me, he should not play. However, I think FdB goes with him.

[Philippe]

Very strange individual ratings IMO.
Klaassen had a decent game and was named in the Eredivisie team of the week.
Van der Hoorn was very good, commited only two fouls, but each of them resulted in a yellow card, very unlucky.

[Orange14]

Very strange individual ratings IMO.
Klaassen had a decent game and was named in the Eredivisie team of the week.
Van der Hoorn was very good, commited only two fouls, but each of them resulted in a yellow card, very unlucky.

Bazoer was named to the TOW last week for a single play during a game when he was rubbish otherwise. Can you point to a single thing Klassen did other than the pass to Gudelj that set up the first goal? I could not. Both of van der Hoorn's Yellow Cards were careless and not unlucky. His second challenge was particularly reckless given he was already carrying a card. Can you say that this warrants an above average rating?

[Philippe]

Bazoer was named to the TOW last week for a single play during a game when he was rubbish otherwise. Can you point to a single thing Klassen did other than the pass to Gudelj that set up the first goal?

Regarding Van der Hoorn, may I suggest that you'd watch the building of our first goal again ?

[SPL]

I 'm with you Orange Klaassen did break through in the first half but crossed in the area ,cannot think of much else.

Agree with v d Hoorn his 2nd yellow was for a very reckless tackle.

The best player was Cillessen ,he did not have to do much but never made a mistake so cannot fault him..

[Dave the mac]

Watched the game today on NGSN.com
Well a win is a win and Groningen away was always going to be tough, so a 1-2 win was okay. Not great, but okay.
Ajax kept up on the heals of PSV and that's the main thing. Like a horse race, Ajax is stalking them.
Yeah, too bad vd Hoorn picked up that 2nd yellow and is out for the next match, but he played okay...better than a 3.5 rating, me thinks. The makeshift defense is good, good enough to get Ajax past PSV and another tittle. But v Rhijn must not be able to play again...after he lost that one ball he just stood and watched like a deer in the headlights, instead of sprinting back to recover. Horrible defender. Horrible, always has been.
The mid-field again was...average. Klaassen runs around with no purpose and poor passes.
Important thing is that Ajax is in striking distance of PSV.

[SPL]

v d Hoorn was having a reasonable game but the 2nd yellow offence was reckless and I would imagine the reason our mate reduced his rating. I would knock a couple of points off for getting sent off 20 mins from time.

Dont let this put you off with your ratings Orange. The odd time someone does not agree at least we are all pals and it causes debate.We all see things different.

What it does mean is that we play Veltman as CD next game but who will be RB! I think Owusu should get a game as we cannot risk v Rhijn.

[Orange14]

v d Hoorn was having a reasonable game but the 2nd yellow offence was reckless and I would imagine the reason our mate reduced his rating. I would knock a couple of points off for getting sent off 20 mins from time.

Dont let this put you off with your ratings Orange. The odd time someone does not agree at least we are all pals and it causes debate.We all see things different.

Yes, SPL has it right. IMO van der Hoorn is a more than serviceable and strong central defender who has 'brain farts' at the most inopportune times. He has had this problem his whole career. Unlike any other field player, a defender has to remain mentally alert the entire game and cannot afford to make a mistake as the end result is usually a goal (own goal vs Ajax while at Utrecht, turnover that ended up knocking the Dutch U-21s out of the Euros, and of course we all remember the CL match against Milan several years ago when he fouled Balotelli in the box).

Not to worry about my 'ego' regarding my ratings. I call them as I see them and others of course will have different feelings. Sometimes I'm far more critical about a player when I know he can be playing at a much higher level (Bazoer are you listening?).

Anyway, lets win out the rest of the season and put PSV into second place. Now wouldn't that be a great present for FdB to give to all of us?

[Tom_]

The vd Hoorn thing is quite strange. He seems to be a pretty good defender, and I can't decide if he really has some problem with his mentality or he has just been extremely unlucky. The first time I heard of him was that own goal he scored for Utrecht, then when he came to Ajax he was involved in a couple of bad cock-ups (penalty giveaway in the CL and something else I can't quite recall...?). Afterwards, he got demoted to Jong Ajax and the same thing happened once or twice more. And there was the U21s thing. Bizarre.

In my opinion the first yellow was maybe on the harsh side but understandable, and the tackle he made for the second was not a great idea for someone who has already been booked. But these things can go either way: maybe 3–5 times out of 10 he gets away with it.... if Blom had been giving out yellows for these tackles Ajax–Feyenoord would have ended with quite a few less players on the pitch.

I always enjoy reading the ratings, please keep it up! Sometimes I don't quite agree, but that's part of the fun (just had a chuckle remembering the Orange14–Theo Janssen vendetta from our second season with FdB).

[Orange14]

I always enjoy reading the ratings, please keep it up! Sometimes I don't quite agree, but that's part of the fun (just had a chuckle remembering the Orange14–Theo Janssen vendetta from our second season with FdB).

A bad dream that haunts me to this very day!!!

[SPL]

Oh dear better not get into Theo Janssen.