18 Oct 2005: Ajax - FC Thun

[__earth]

yeay! :xyxthumbs:

[Philippe]

Man, I already hear the bullshit comments about how Anastasiou is great, he player that we need, how he could have saved our ass the last two seasons if he had been on the pitch more often and so on.....

:pukey: :pukey: :pukey:

What else do you expect from a striker ?

I am glad that most supporters have more common than you seem to have. You were wrong. Have the decency to face it. Do me a favor : just keep the emoticon you used for others.

And for the guy who saved our ass (in circumstances where some thought a side like Thun would beat us, and who were expecting -or hoping ?- for an immediate crisis) : :xyxthumbs: :ajax: :xyxthumbs:

My only regret is that Anastasiou missed the third goal, a hat trick would have been nice. :worshippy:

[jamcocteau]

Man, I already hear the bullshit comments about how Anastasiou is great, he player that we need, how he could have saved our ass the last two seasons if he had been on the pitch more often and so on.....

:pukey: :pukey: :pukey:

Nice to see somebody being so positive. Have to say very disappointed to hear this. Yannis was given the chance to start the game and scored twice, cant ask for more as far as I am concerned - well the hat trick would have been nice :D

These goals will probably more than justify financially the decision a few months back to extend his contract for a year.

[Frans]

Man, I already hear the bullshit comments about how Anastasiou is great, he player that we need, how he could have saved our ass the last two seasons if he had been on the pitch more often and so on.....

:pukey: :pukey: :pukey:

Nice to see somebody being so positive. Have to say very disappointed to hear this.

I don't think Carcajou is in any way trying to take away from Yannis' performance today. He's merely pointing out that Yannis is not the saviour, not the long term solution to the current striker problem.

[Frans]

... and that Babel is almost useless! Here is the proof!

And for the record, I could basically Guarantee that if we used Babel or Rosenberg up front, we would lose or have a scoreless draw with Thun!

Bullshit. You can't knock Babel's performance at striker because he hasn't fucking played there since Charisteas was signed, before which he had some solid performances and was scoring goals. I agree he's not played well this year, but to call him a useless striker when he hasn't had a chance to prove himself is utter bullshit.

[Over Pasanens Head]

I don't think Carcajou is in any way trying to take away from Yannis' performance today. He's merely pointing out that Yannis is not the saviour, not the long term solution to the current striker problem.

You and Carajou are 100% correct - we played well, created loads of chances and missed loads of them. Thun were utter crap with nothing to offer so lets not get carried away with this result. People were getting really depressed after Saturday's game - and there was no need for that either.
Last night we needed loads of chances to score 2 goals. Against the top teams you get 1 or 2 chances at most and you have to take 100%. Our problem hasn't yet been solved.

BTW thought De Jong had a fantastic game - best I have seen from him. Urby also put in a very good performance.

[carcajou]

I'm just tired about all these irrational comments on each Anastasiou performance. If he's so great why isn't he a starter and scoring loads of goals ? "Yannis the great", "Yannis Fan Club" and so on. What has he done to deserve that ?

Not that he's really bad, but he isn't really good either (slow, not a really good dribbler, not THAT efficient).

So I was afraid that everybody would begin praising him like Buddha (just like some people here do everytime he lifts a finger).

I for one would rather see people rooting for Trabelsi and Emmanuelson.... They deserve it.

[carcajou]

You were wrong. Have the decency to face it.

You betcha I was.....NOT !!! Like you can draw conclusions from two goals against a team that would rank maybe 6 or 7 in Holland after missing a handful of opportunities. Give me a break.

[Thibb]

Yesterday was yet another terrible game. Thun was a disgrace to the Champions League: only scoring twice against this kind of team in front of a home crowd spells BAD news. Especially when it takes a semi-retired striker to do so. I kind of think Blind should have let Rosenberg play because even he would have scored against this Thun. That would have given the young Swede a boost of confidence instead of our Greek band aid. Don't get me wrong, Yannis is a good man, but for him to be our saviour is a walloping condemnation of our team and our management.

Seeing as that the rest of the guys looked pretty clueless when it came to initiating any kind of structured attack, I don't see how anyone can be happy about yesterday. Sure, we won. Who wouldn't have. And Blind seems to have gone fully Koeman-minded: he is playing a different team every game. Even when a player gets to play two games in a row, he'll probably be playing different positions. I'm not even asking for succes, but it'd be kind of refreshing if -at least- we were up a different sh*t creek than two years ago.

[carcajou]

2) Thun will not get 6 points from their last two games. Why ?
Because they receive Arsenal on matchday 5. Arsenal will probably have 9 pts then and they'll want to secure the #1 spot before receiving Ajax.
They then go to Praha for the last game. Tough fixture for such a little club :)

Arsenal already have 9 points. They'll probably have 12 by then.

Of course. Bad computation from me, thanks man.

[Philippe]

You were wrong. Have the decency to face it.

You betcha I was.....NOT !!!

I'm just tired about all these irrational comments on each Anastasiou performance.

You said it. Now you get your own :blah

What are we talking about ? Anastasiou as a world class striker who will lead us the the CL final, a long term solution for Ajax ? No. But we need him in difficult situations where he has proved to be decisive several times like yesterday.

Who could seriously claim that Blind had another option yesterday ? And who could honestly say that Anastasiou did not do the job ? :X

And for those who now say that Thun is crap, that it was an easy prey, I will remind them the pessimistic mood that was spreading like a disease among "fans" before the game we could not afford not to win.

My worry is about the defense and the middle-field, because Thun had far too many goal chances.

[jamcocteau]

OPH, have to agree that no one should get carried away with the result. To be honest I was disappointed with Thun last night, I was expecting more from them after previous results but glad to get the 3 points. Think it will be a different game in 2 weeks time in Berne. Cannot see them being so bad at home. The disappointing thing from an Ajax point of view last night was that after going 2 goals up they seemed to really take their foot of the pedal. In fact seemed to lose their way a little bit. For the life of me I cant understand why they did not go hell for leather and try to destroy Thun. Not only would it better the goal difference but psychologically would have left Thun mentally down for the next game. But this is only my humble opinion.

Re the Yannis debate, what annoyed me was the fact that after coming in from the game last night just after 11pm this was the first comment I read. As I said in my previous post, he was given the chance to start last night and took it by scoring twice, could you ask for more. Nothing was mentioned in my post or any body elses post about him being a saviour etc just didnt understand the need for the post in the first place or the stupid pukey emoticons. Just think it was a little ill timed myself.

[Philippe]

Well, our striker scored, our goal keeper kept a clean sheet, we have good chances to qualify for the next CL round. So enjoy it. We are still alive after all. :party:

[ZoefdeHaas]

Yes well now we will have to see about the Eredivisie

[Over Pasanens Head]

And for those who now say that Thun is crap, that it was an easy prey, I will remind them the pessimistic mood that was spreading like a disease among "fans" before the game we could not afford not to win.

I said they were crap, because that is what they were last night.

Please also note that you will not find a pessimistic post from me before the match.

I think that the truth is somewhere between the two extreme opinions being touted by our Froggie Cloggies in that Yannis is past the stage in his life where he be able to play at the very top level but that he can be a very good support player in most games in the Eredivisie and games against the likes of FC Thun.

Why don't you meet up with us all in Berne Philippe so we can discuss over a beer or two or three.

[Philippe]

Thun are crap, I agree, but crap often turn out to be difficult to beat. :D
Thanks for the offer, but I can not make it because :
1-Berne is too far away, and I'd rather save my money for Ajax home league games :headbang:
2-I have already drank enough beer for a full life time, and I am through with it ;)

[Over Pasanens Head]

Thun are crap, I agree, but crap often turn out to be difficult to beat. :D
Thanks for the offer, but I can not make it because :
1-Berne is too far, and I'd rather save my money for Ajax home league games :headbang:
2-I have already drank enough beer for a full life time, and I am through with it ;)

Then we must meet up when you are next in Amsterdam for a bite to eat - 1st Klass at Central Station for a breakfast or after match meal is a great place.

[Philippe]

We will. Although I have been many many times in Amsterdam, I do not know this 1rts Klass place. We have our lunch habits on Haarlem straat, but it could be a nice change.

[Over Pasanens Head]

We will. Although I have been many many times in Amsterdam, I do not know this 1rts Klass place. We have our lunch habits on Haarlem straat, but it could be a nice change.

That will be great.

You will find 1st Klass on spor 2b (I do believe) just past Burger King - it really is a great place - the decor etc is really fantastic plus the food is fit for a king. Its the best restuarant / cafe i have ever come across at a Station. It must be good because Pizza 5 actually walks past Burger King to get there, when normally you cannot get him past a Mac or Burger King without him going in for a burger etc.

[ZoefdeHaas]

Not to disrupt the convo, but how exactly well did Sneijder play on the wing?

[aveslacker]

Tough crowd in here.

Maybe Thun were crap, but I doubt that they were more crap than Heracles, the team we couldn't score against in the ArenA. There's nothing wrong with critiquing our play, but let us remember - we won. Three points in the bag. The world is not ending, the sky is not falling.

While I don't expect Yannis to set the world on fire with his Zlatan-esque play, it does appear that he is the only one who is able to put away a decent chance at least some of the time. That is more than you can say for our other strikers at this point (although i do believe both Charisteas and Rosenberg will find their form).

The problem isn't that Ajax can't create chances. It is that they can't finish them. At least Yannis can do that.

[Ayman]

SE6Ajacied said:

The American guy who arrived beside me at half time was asking who the guy was who was moaning the whole time

This guy actually praised me for my passion for Ajax. I dont hate Yannis Anastasiou and I am pleased for him for those two goals...but he is not a world class striker, and he missed the last chance which any striker even Rosenberg would have scored. But as a provision and only a provision, we keep Yannis upfront.

P.S. Im still not going to join the Yann-ass fan club :eusa_dance:

[Kowalczyk]

The problem isn't that Ajax can't create chances. It is that they can't finish them.

That's right and in my opinion this is a major step forward compared to last season. Last season there were so many games (even against Den Bosch, Den Haag and De Graafschap) that we just couldn't create a proper scoring chance. The question on the minds of the fans was: how in the world are we going to find a gap in this defence and create a scoring opportunity...? I often had the feeling that we could have played for two weeks without ever creating a chance.

This season is very different: against Den Haag and Heracles, but also at Sparta Prague and against Thun, we created four, five, sometimes seven or eight chances. And I mean BIG ones. Which means, quite simply, that we actually play a lot better (which I really think we do).

But someone will have to put the biscuit in the basket. That is a major problem at the moment, but Yannis did that yesterday night - which is great. Hurrah. I'm a happy man. For now.

I am the first to admit that this was 'must win' against a shit team in the weakest group of the Champions League. FC Thun were probably the only Champions League side we would have beaten yesterday evening. We just had to win this one, but then again: we did, so why not feel good about it for 24 hours or so...?

Match report is now up on Ajax USA, by the way:
http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m05-06/ ... n-2-0.html

K.

[Philippe]

I dont hate Yannis Anastasiou and I am pleased for him for those two goals...but he is not a world class striker, and he missed the last chance which any striker even Rosenberg would have scored.

I wish it were true but you know it ain't so.

What worries me about this game is not the way chances were wasted, in particular by De Jong, Pienaar, Boukhari, (and even by providential Anastasiou ;) ), but the number of chances Thun had.

Where was our defense ? Where was our defensive middle field ? Each time a cross came to the penalty box, the Thunesque player was on his own. Lucky they were crap indeed.

[Over Pasanens Head]

Maybe they missed Galasek playing his normal commanding role - its the poorest game I have seen from him in a long, long time.