19 FEB 2017 Vitesse - Ajax Match Day 22

[Orange14]

Meant to add the worst peformance today by the ref.Both sides had penalties not given ,why on earth did Viergever and Kluivert get yellows when Vitesse made far worse tackles.

As I posted just at the half, Blom was screened on the Viergever challenge and it should not have been a card but it did 'look' like a reckless challenge for the first view. Kluivert's call was a 50-50 and he was late coming in. I don't have any problems with those calls. Dolberg got a call just before he came off when it should have been a no call. van Wolfswinkel was pulled back by Sanchez in the box but again I think Blom was obstructed. All that being said, Blom is one of the most inconsistent match officials in the league even though he now does Euro League matches and has the FIFA patch. I remember about five years ago, his performance was so bad that he got sent down to the Jupiter league for some games.

[rjf1]

... Klaassen my MOM scored the goal ,headed off his line ran everywhere...

And made another 2 critical (as in stopping clear goal threats) defensive plays and a good 3 or 4 other ones. You guys all hate him, but I'd take him over Ziyech any day.

[zeux]

That was absolutely the ugliest 0-1 victory that I've seen in all my years watching Ajax. ?

How many times I have seen that written in the past years (not especially by you, but generally on AT) I can't remember. Must be dozens of times...

[Orange14]

... Klaassen my MOM scored the goal ,headed off his line ran everywhere...

And made another 2 critical (as in stopping clear goal threats) defensive plays and a good 3 or 4 other ones. You guys all hate him, but I'd take him over Ziyech any day.

I don't hate him, I just think that outside of his ability to score goals he has major limitations. His passing and ball control are just not good enough for me.

[Orange14]

That was absolutely the ugliest 0-1 victory that I've seen in all my years watching Ajax. ?

How many times I have seen that written in the past years (not especially by you, but generally on AT) I can't remember. Must be dozens of times...

Maybe it is just that the game keep getting uglier and uglier!!! I might have gotten carried away but there is no doubt that this one was pretty bad.

[SPL]

Since our 5-0 win v NEC we have played 10 league games and stats look impressive 8 wins ,1 draw v PSV and a defeat vTwente due to the injury time penalty.We have let in only 3 goals which is very good but only 16 goals in 10 games shows where we struggle. Apart from the 3-0 win v ADO I would say we have struggled to win those other 7 games .

Next week Feyenoord vPSV so points will be dropped.A draw would be the best result as F word's lead hopefully will be 3 points ,as long as we beat Heracles.As important PSV would be 5 points behind us and although you cannot write them off I would not see them catching us let alone F word.

We just have to keep this winning run up however ugly the wins or however narrow the margin.

[Cruijff]

All that being said, Blom is one of the most inconsistent match officials in the league even though he now does Euro League matches and has the FIFA patch. I remember about five years ago, his performance was so bad that he got sent down to the Jupiter league for some games.

Quite an interesting promotion if they send him out to football games at the other end of the Galaxy.

[ajaxcolombia]

It's been a long while since Ajax was outshot in a game. 12-11 today in favor of Vitesse, although they weren't good at getting them on target.

Another statistical oddity, Klaassen saw more of the ball today than Hakim Ziyech. He had 74 touches, most out any of the midfield three. I hope it sparks a trend in his game, being much more involved. Today he played a bit more wide on the right side than usual, according to heatmaps. Eriksen used to do this on left side, acting as what sometimes is called the false winger.

Very low passing accuracy today. Riedewald being the most precise with 88% passing success, not counting D vBeek with 100% success. Ziyech lost possession the most, a total of 6 times.

Lots of dribble attempts from Younes. 8 complete out of 12 attempts.

Lots of tackles by Veltman with 9. Sanchez was dribbled past 3 times which is a recipe for disaster considering he is supposed to be the last man. Davinson's tackle success was bad at 25%.

Lasse Schöne intercepted the ball 5 times, which shows Vitesse wasn't any better passing the ball than Ajax.

SO basically, a difficult victory, with Ajax getting around half of the shots on goal they usually produce in a game, very low passing accuracy, and probably Klaassen's best performance since the Heerenveen match.

[Orange14]

We just have to keep this winning run up however ugly the wins or however narrow the margin.

Our defense does seem better than in past years and we don't seem to be giving up cheap goals. Still we should be scoring more than a goal a game.

[Tom_]

Feyenoord's GD is 14 goals better than Ajax's so they are effectively 5.5 points ahead. I think I prefer PSV to beat them next week and hope we can be top after Feyenoord comes to the ArenA.

Could be another nail-biting eredivisie finish since we play away to PSV in the third last fixture.

[Cruijff]

Feyenoord's GD is 14 goals better than Ajax's so they are effectively 5.5 points ahead. I think I prefer PSV to beat them next week and hope we can be top after Feyenoord comes to the ArenA.

Could be another nail-biting eredivisie finish since we play away to PSV in the third last fixture.

We have to wait until 2 April to see they come to Amsterdam ArenA.
I hope we 'topped over' them already before that. And then a win in ArenA to crash all their dreams.

[Tom_]

Me too, by "after" I didn't mean "not before" ;)

[SPL]

I was happy with Viergever at LB .Unlike Sinkgraven he can defend and is also ok going forward .Riedewald played well but has lost confidence this season and that looked obvious when playing odd games for Jong Ajax.

The one main moan from me this season is that all the young Dutch talents who broke through last season have been dropped by Bosz and are all going to leave. El Ghazi and Bazoer got fed up and went,Tete has made it clear he wants to leave and if Riedewald goes back to the bench he too will certainly leave in the summer. With Veltman making noises he could move on we will be left with no RB and the only LB an attacking midfielder.

If I see the full back position a problem the major problem this summer is Midfield.We mentioned this last week .If all 3 current midfielders stay next season where does it leave v d Beek Nouri and de Jong. All have outgrown Jupiler league and need to be playing regular games in the Eredivisie. We need good backup but 2 out of the 3 would need to go out on loan if the current 3 stayed but we would then need to bring someone in.

And this season its the goals from this midfield trio keeping us in the race.

[Orange14]

the most troubling to me was the interview that Bosz did with Dutch TV last night after the match where he talked about Klaassen and how important he is. He wants Klaassen to stay around next season! If that happens, there is only one MF spot opening up for Nouri, de Jong, van de Beek, and Eiting which is where Schöne plays. I assume Overmars will extend Schöne's contract and he will likely be the starter so we end up with the same dysfunctional MF that is playing right now. How long are the young guns going to stay around? Personally, I would like to see Bosz leave and either Keizer or Winter move into the top job but that's not going to happen. Bosz frequently is seen at Jong Ajax matches but apparently learns nothing from watching them play.

[SPL]

v d Beek has already indicated he would like to be playing more but like Nouri is Ajax through and through .I dont think they would be sold but a loan to a decent club would be on the cards,de Jong is not a local boy and is more likely to want out.

I cannot say I feel our play under Bosz is much better and I too would like to see Keizer in charge. Of course the biggest problem is we are saddled with 2 inverted wingers who have scored 6 league goals between them and as they cut inside Dolberg is not getting so many scoring chances.Neither really like passing.

Dont think my hero Huntelaar would score many goals with such service.

Hope Neres is a proper winger who can go down the touchline and cross a ball ie like Justin can do although he is still not ready and needs more games at Jong level.

[Tom_]

What about Klaassen as a striker? His finishing is pretty good. Could play in a front 2 with Dolberg and a four man MF... ok I'll shut up

[ajaxcolombia]

Back in the Frank de Boer years, I always thought Ajax played way better with Siem de Jong as a striker who is a very similar player to Davy Klaassen. The 2011-2012 season was Ajax's best during the Frank de Boer years, especially when playing with a midfield three consisting of Vurnon Anita, Theo Janssen and Christian Eriksen (boy do I miss Eriksen, now that was an actual creative midfielder), with De Jong playing as a no. 9. That season we got 76 points scoring 93 goals and allowing 36. I don't think we've ever had that balance again. I know that team wasn't perfect but heck, it was the best we've had in years, that's the team that beat manchester united at old trafford.

Davy Klaassen could maybe play as a no. 9, but I believe there's a mentality at of as selling him as a homegrown no. 10. Anyway there's no way of knowing for sure if he can play as a No. 9 successfully. His goalscoring rate may be a result of him taking advantage of his less advanced position, and then surprisingly running into the box. The player who assists him the most is amin younes, (twice to be honest but no other player has assisted him more), and that's not from a cross but from a backpass.

[Tom_]

Hey, it's good to see you posting regularly again btw.

It is frustrating when 2/10 outfield players are in non-optimal positions but I'm not 100% serious when I complain about 4-3-3. A withdrawn #9 maybe makes even more sense for Klaassen... and at least Kluivert is a real winger.

What's the difference between a cross and a backpass in this context?

[Cruijff]

Hey, it's good to see you posting regularly again btw ajaxcolombia

Yeah it's good that ajaxcolombia has returned as a regular poster. He'd been missing for a while but they found him.

http://www.at5.nl/artikelen/166028/upda ... an-terecht