Ajaxtalk

Mr_Holte schreef:I managed to get a ticket for this in the away end via an Ajax mate in Holland. Looking forward to it. Anyone off here going?

Kowalczyk schreef:At Ashton Gate!

Monkey Tonk schreef:Very good to hear!

Wow. Almost a believer again...

Ajax hand Bristol City a football lesson
Thursday, July 16, 2009, 07:00

Bristol City 0 Ajax 4: Bristol may be ready to embrace football's biggest show on earth but, on the evidence of this one-sided dress rehearsal, it could take considerably longer for City's players to become versed in continental ways.

On the night Bristol's bid for World Cup host status received official lift-off, Ajax issued a reminder to all present inside Ashton Gate of the technical gulf which persists between Europe's elite and English football's second tier.

Far from being a celebratory occasion, this was an exercise in pain for Championship players who were clearly second best.

Sunk by two goals in six first-half minutes from the outstanding Luis Suarez and Urby Emanuelson, Bristol City were more comprehensively beaten than the scoreline suggests.

Substitutes Albert Luque and Dennis Rommedahl doubled the tally during the closing stages, but the damage could have been far greater.

So one-sided did the game become, it was difficult to see how it could benefit City manager Gary Johnson, who cut a frustrated figure on the sidelines.

If City fans turned out in their thousands wanting to assess a clutter of new signings, they were pretty much none the wiser come the final whistle.

A more realistic evaluation may be possible when the Robins visit League Two Cheltenham on Saturday.

Although results in pre-season generally have little bearing on events when the campaign begins in earnest, City's latest warm-up outing suggests there is still much work to be done on the training ground.

There was a surprise addition to City's squad in the form of Peter Brezovan, the 29-year-old Slovakian goalkeeper released by Swindon Town at the end of last season.

Given the calf strain which forced first-choice Adriano Basso to adopt a watching brief, and the injury-enforced absence of reserve stopper Stephen Henderson, City boss Johnson opted to invite the former Bratislava goalkeeper for an impromptu trial.

His intention was to start with recent accquisiton Dean Gerken and introduce Brezovan at half time.

Managed by former Tottenham boss Martin Jol, Ajax's class of 2009 may lack the total football tag accorded the Johan Cruyff-inspired European Cup-winning side of the early 1970s, but they still possessed sufficient wherewithal to make their Championship opponents labour in the evening sunshine.

Johnson challenged his players not to concede possession cheaply against the Dutch pass masters, yet the home side still spent much of the game chasing shadows as Ajax moved the ball with precison and pace.

City's defence was prised open during the opening exchanges, Uruguayan striker Suarez sliding his first-time shot narrowly beyond the far post after being set up by a superb pass from Dutch international Emanuelson.

That effort served merely as a range-finder and when Emanuelson again picked out the Latin forward in the 24th minute, Suarez found the back of the net from 15 yards with a nonchalance which stunned the Ashton Gate crowd into silence.

There was plenty to admire about the second Dutch goal, which arrived six minutes later.

On this occasion, Emanuelson benefited from a defence-splitting pass from Miralem Sulejmani which rendered his angled finish straightforward.

So superior were the visitors, this contest resembled a training ground exercise in which Bristol City's players were permitted to play no more than a peripheral role.

Constantly dragged out of position by opponents who remained one step ahead throughout, the Robins surrendered their shape, purpose and spirit in the face of overwhelming odds.

Azax keeper Marrtin Stekelenburg was a virtual spectator until Bradley Orr momentarily inconvenienced him with an audacious lob from 40 yards which dropped just over the bar. That was as near as City came to a shot on goal.

Johnson made four substitutions after the interval and Cole Skuse gave home fans a glimmer of hope when letting fly from 25 yards with a shot which skidded inches wide of the target.

But Ajax continued to dictate terms and the ubiquitous Emanuelson was denied a second goal only be Orr's last-ditch goalline clearance.

City's overworked defence was exposed time and again, most notably when Gregory van der Wiel strole in on the overlap and drove wide and Ishmail Aissati miscued with the goal at his mercy.

Eager to impress, Brezovan made smart saves from Suarez and Emanuelson only to blot his copybook when advancing off his line and inviting former Newcastle winger Luque to sweep the ball past him from fully 30 yards.

And there was still time for Danish international forward Rommedahl to rub salt in open wounds, applying a clinical finish to another expansive build-up to confirm the Dutch side's supremacy.

gordonvandekamp schreef: Nice to see some still regard Ajax as "Europe's Elite"

DanK schreef:

gordonvandekamp schreef: Nice to see some still regard Ajax as "Europe's Elite"

When was this written 1995? Europes Elite. That's a good one.

Kowalczyk schreef:

DanK schreef:

gordonvandekamp schreef: Nice to see some still regard Ajax as "Europe's Elite"

When was this written 1995? Europes Elite. That's a good one.

That's one of the great side-effects of the fact that the English don't follow anything that happens outside of the U.K. They still think that Ajax play great football and win the Dutch league every year.

Let's just keep it like that, shall we. They don't need to be enlightened.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:

gordonvandekamp schreef: Nice to see some still regard Ajax as "Europe's Elite"

Let's just keep it like that, shall we. They don't need to be enlightened.

K.

SE6Ajacied schreef:
http://www.thenorthernecho.co.uk/sport/ ... e_of_Ajax/

jamcocteau schreef:Excuse my maths but he states that Ajax charge 8 pound for a beer and burger is incorrect, 8 euros maybe but not 8 pound. Maybe the fact that he never got change from his 10 Euro card has pissed him off. And not forgetting that with Sterling being so weak a currency then of course things will cost more for him. But hey Johnny Foreigner should reduce their prices to compensate for Britain being up shit creek.

But once van Gaal departed, so did Edgar Davids, Michael Reiziger, Finidi George, Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars and Winston Bogarde over a two-year period, which was capped in 1999 by the departures of the Ajax twins Ronald and Frank De Boer.