09 MAR 2017 FC Copenhagen - Ajax Europa League

[King Litti]

Can someone please tell me why Dolberg's goal was disallowed?

Good question. Got the game without sound. Klaassen offside? Thought dolberg won that Ball fair and square

[Orange14]

All of Ajax's flaws were on display this evening. The inability to get the ball across the halfway line against six pressing Copenhagen players was just a joke. Onana had to try to kick the ball upfield and those results were not very pretty. When the did have the ball in the attacking half there was some passing but nothing that really created much other than the two passes that led to the goal. Defensively Ajax were all over the place. van de Beek totally missing his marker who skated in on Onana in the first minute of play. de Ligt was simply not strong enough to challenge the Copenhagen striker who looked more like a lumberjack than a footballer. Klaassen had a chance to come up big in the late stage but had to take the shot with is weaker foot and then gets carded for dissent and will miss the return match.

Player Ratings:

Onana (6) - had to be alert as his defense was all over the place and spent a lot of the game kicking the ball up field
Sinkgraven (5.5) - maybe he should have gotten in a challenge on the winger who crossed the ball for the match winner
Viergever (4.5) - some very poor ball handling
de Ligt (5) - not strong enough on the match winning goal and had one other bad give away but otherwise didn't play like a 17 year old
Tete (5.5) - thought he did well given how little he has played this year, did an awful lot pretty well in the offensive end
Schöne (6) - when he did get the ball in the offensive half he did a decent job distributing it
van de Beek (4.5) - not much better than average after missing his man on the goal
Klaassen (5.5) - good pass to Dolberg on the goal and worked hard to play above his limitations
Younes (3) - all of his tricks were well known to the Copenhagen defenders
Dolberg (6) - good on the ball and his goal was quite nice though he was probably off side
Traore (6) - was pretty decent and picked out the open players quite well
Ziyech (5) - on late for van de Beek and had no impact on the match
Nere (5) - on late for Traore when he should have come on earlier for Younes

The club did get a nice away goal and perhaps can take advantage of this in next week's return match. They will have to figure out a way to bring the ball up against pressure which they haven't done all season.

[Orange14]

Can someone please tell me why Dolberg's goal was disallowed?

Good question. Got the game without sound. Klaassen offside? Thought dolberg won that Ball fair and square

I think they called Dolberg for jumping in. Klaassen was on side. It was one of those calls that is 50-50 and Ajax were on the short side of it.

[Orange14]

Klaassen very clever gets booked for arguing and misses the next game. No idea why Viergever got booked he barely touched the big Hulk who went down play acting.

I also thought the card on Tete was unjust. The match officials were from Portugal and we know all about the rivalry between the two countries!

[King Litti]

Ziech hasn't been on fire lately, but still it was odd that this was the match to give suddenly time to the youngster van de beek. an away game against a serious opposition.

Copenhagen had hustle like a team playing at home should, but i thought they didn't outplay us. The beginning of the seconde was completely in our controll. Then they scored from their first chance.

We gifted too many chanches but Copenhagen didn't show anything that would make me think that We couldn't turn this around.

[King Litti]

Can someone please tell me why Dolberg's goal was disallowed?

Good question. Got the game without sound. Klaassen offside? Thought dolberg won that Ball fair and square

I think they called Dolberg for jumping in. Klaassen was on side. It was one of those calls that is 50-50 and Ajax were on the short side of it.

Obviously i'm looking trough red and white glasses, but i thought that dolberg was just bigger, stronger and faster The other guy got run over but that isn't a foul.

[SPL]

Commentators on BT here said clear foul Dolberg jumping in. Only Klaassen argued the point and got booked.

Agree a very odd time to put Ziyech on the bench and play Donny,who has had little first team playing time recently and not so many games for Jong.

If Donny is to replace Davy next week he should get 90 mins on Sunday.

[SPL]

Have to say didn't think Dolberg did much wrong .

[Tom_]

If Donny is to replace Davy next week he should get 90 mins on Sunday.

Agreed, I'd also like to see Neres start so we can get a look at him. Not like our current wingers are anything special.

That was another bonehead Ajax tactical display if you ask me. What is the point of having two wingers and a CF (30% of our outfield) sitting on their hands when the MF is outnumbered and can't get it past the 4-man block set by Kobenhavn? Just need to drop one/both of the wingers back to MF to help... but Ajax HAS to play 4-3-3.

[King Litti]

Defenders and

Can someone please tell me why Dolberg's goal was disallowed?

Good question. Got the game without sound. Klaassen offside? Thought dolberg won that Ball fair and square

I think they called Dolberg for jumping in. Klaassen was on side. It was one of those calls that is 50-50 and Ajax were on the short side of it.

These are situations where referees usually favour defenders and goalies. It was like that again tonight, but Last week it wasn't, when onana got pushed from behind

[SPL]

Stick Neres on for Traore and play Nouri on the left for Younes also de Jong has played a lot better than v d Beek for Jong since the winter break.

[Orange14]

That was another bonehead Ajax tactical display if you ask me. What is the point of having two wingers and a CF (30% of our outfield) sitting on their hands when the MF is outnumbered and can't get it past the 4-man block set by Kobenhavn? Just need to drop one/both of the wingers back to MF to help... but Ajax HAS to play 4-3-3.

Ajax always has difficulties when teams press up field. Copenhagen were playing 4-4-2 and the six forward players were almost always to the halfway line and Ajax just plays U-Turn football with the ball going back to Onana. Also, players take way too much time before they pass. I thought Tete and Traore did a decent job but on the other side, Younes was just a sinkhole; ball goes in and never comes out.

[SPL]

Younes is a bigger waste of time than Traore. Great speed to get into the box but nothing ever happens.

We need to buy a left winger this summer

[Ayman]

Viergever should play at left back instead of Sinkgraven. In the center of defense either partner Reidewald with Sanchez or put Veltman and allow Tete at right back. I agree, Younes needs to be dropped and replaced by Nouri. Neres will take time to settle in.

[SPL]

Defence wise we have a hugh problem awaiting our summer.Veltman looks like moving on but worse Tete will go as he is fed up as a sub and Riedewald will likely go for the same reason. I would prefer Viergever to Sinkgraven at LB .Sinkgraven is an attacking midfielder and is no defender.Maybe let him play on that left wing position instead of Younes.

Last night again Bosz leaves Younes on even though he was hopeless. Why not put Nouri on for 10 mins,he could only have been better.

Is it time to dump Younes ?

[Ayman]

Defence wise we have a hugh problem awaiting our summer.Veltman looks like moving on but worse Tete will go as he is fed up as a sub and Riedewald will likely go for the same reason. I would prefer Viergever to Sinkgraven at LB .Sinkgraven is an attacking midfielder and is no defender.Maybe let him play on that left wing position instead of Younes.

Last night again Bosz leaves Younes on even though he was hopeless. Why not put Nouri on for 10 mins,he could only have been better.

Is it time to dump Younes ?

Ajax should have signed Larsson from Heerenveen in January, there were rumour circulating that they would sign a left winger, then again Neres is left footed, but then, who would play on the right wing?
As for the defence, not really a huge problem. At right back, since there are rumours of Vurnon Anita returning to Holland, that would make sense for him to go to Ajax. As for Veltman, its tricky, although a move for him away from the club isn't as imminent as Klaassen, despite Veltman being 25. I think Riedewald will stay at Ajax, he is likely to return as a centre back, It's obvious Viergever is more suited at left back.

[Orange14]

It's unclear whether any of the Jong Ajax defenders are good enough. I have not been impressed with Zeefuik in the matches I seen this year. Lartey Sanniez was supposed to be a huge talent but he looks only very ordinary. I can't remember the name of the LB but I believe he is right footed. The central defenders are just average and of course de Ligt is already on the first team. I was impressed with Tete last evening once he settled into the game. he really tried playing off Traore and did a good job. Of course Traore passed to him which our other winger seldom does. It's probably too late but if I were Overmars, I would make one last ditch effort to sign Tete and would tell him that he has the RB position next year. I just looked up and Vurnon Anita is only 27 years old!! I don't know if he wants to return as a RB. One of the reasons he left was he bounced around from position to position.

IMO, the only position for Sinkgraven is at LB. He is not fast enough to play on the wing and we already have too many midfielders who are better. this has turned out to be a very poor purchase (as are most of the recent buys by Ajax other than Sanchez). In response to SPL, I don't know what to do about Younes. Some games he really looks good and others he is horrible. I think the games he looks good in he is just much quicker than the defenders. When he comes up against a well organized team such as Copenhagen he lays an egg since he only has a couple of tricks. I really thought the club would sign Larsson but maybe Neres is a real talent. He is fast but hasn't had enough minutes to tell whether that is all he is. I would certainly like to see him get some minutes in before the Feyenoord match.

Viergever is a decent player but nothing more. He has been pretty consistent this season whether in the middle or at LB. He's not going to be much better than he is. The question as noted is whether he is holding Riedewald back.

This club isn't going anywhere until the MF is changed by adding players who can actually pass the ball. Schöne was decent last night but he's not a long term cure for what ails the team.

[SPL]

Good points from Orange. Only defender from Jong to impress me is de Ligt. Zeefuik ok attacking but defending wise is nowhere near 1st team level yet. Dankerlui is the LB you cannot remember. He and Sanniez are now 2nd years in that squad and likely to be let go this summer.

Tete had a good game last night and I will be sorry if he goes. Veltman may indeed stay but Tete is a better full back imo.Riedewald seems to have gone backwards this season as he gets little playing time.

Sinkgraven is indeed no winger I just suggested we could give him a game there instead of Younes. Nouri should
be slotted into Younes place by right.Younes is not a real winger so what problem is there playing a superbly creative lad like Nouri. He was outstanding the other night for Jong and has outgrown that league.He actually looks to pass a ball and not run into the box like a headless chicken aka Younes. Last week v Oss he scored a lovely goal and then put a sublime pass into the area at the feet of unmarked Dankerlui ,who scored.

Bosz will ignore this pick the same underperforming 11 , get Ko'd next Thursday by Copenhagen and finish 2nd in the league

[SPL]

Some comments today by football pundits that we need experience players who can guide the youth. Schone and Viergever accused of looking after their own game when de Ligt and v d Beek needed guidance.

Donny did struggle but he should be playing in the Klaassen role and not Ziyech,will be interesting to see what he does next week. de Ligt was ok other than with the 2nd goal.Not sure de Ligt needs guidance just he is inexperienced at this top level. Copenhagen are a lot better and higher standard than Heracles and Groningen. In this game he was still waving his hands at others as to who they should pick up and mark. The kid is mature beyond his years.If Sanchez had been his partner in this game I think his performance would have improved.

My only comment is that we probably have too many teenagers in our 1st team squad. Our attack is struggling but the backup of Neres,Cassierra,Cerny didn't look dominating or very special last night against a lowly Jupiler side.

Defence back up ok but as we have said many times with our midfield trio also struggling the back up is 3 x 19 year olds.These 3 have completely outgrown the Jong but are getting next to no first team time. If Klaassen and Ziyech leave this summer I am not sure the 3 kids are ready to be our starting trio in midfield.They should be but need experience at Eredivise now.

[Orange14]

SPL has a very good post about experience. It's very difficult for young players to step right in and play as if they are veterans. The only Ajax player that comes immediately to mind is van der Vaart who was so incredibly skilled at a young age. I always have to remember that de Ligt is not even 18 years old!!! There are tricks that defenders use when they face a bigger and stronger striker but that comes with time. de Ligt was maybe a half step too far away to put Cornelius off. This was one time when Sanchez with more body strength would have done better.

We don't know how the four young MFs will do in the first team; I include Eiting in the mix. When you watch the Jong matches they look imposing with quick ball movement even against the better Jupiter league teams. Sending them out on loan is dicey as they likely would be playing with less able MFs in the Eredivisie which could even set their development back. At the beginning of this season the thinking of club management was that PSV would be the major opponent and bringing in Ziyech was an attempt to solidify the MF so they could contend for the title. I don't think any of us would have predicted the good run of form for Feyenoord. Management has to make a decision this spring about the future of the youth. A third place finish (not out of the question) eliminates Ajax from CL football for next season. If that happens, they should elevate the young MFs into the starting lineup as this will give them time to play together without the pressure of worrying about qualifying for CL group play (which Ajax has not been successful anyway).

Just some musings on a terribly cold March day (-5C).