Ajaxtalk

Oops, I'd forgotten about this one...

KNVB Cup, third round: Roda JC vs Ajax. Kick-off time is 20:45 CET.

We play Roda away twice in four days' time (league game on Saturday).

K.

The team for tomorrow: De Sa in in place van Sulejmani, Vermeer suspended. That's all.

Jasper Cillessen
Jeroen Verhoeven
Gregory van der Wiel
Toby Alderweireld
Jan Vertonghen
Vurnon Anita
Eyong Enoh
Christian Eriksen
Siem de Jong
André Ooijer
Theo Janssen
Daley Blind
Nicolás Lodeiro
Dmitry Bulykin
Derk Boerrigter
Jody Lukoki
Dico Koppers
Lesley de Sa

Is Sulejmani injured again or is FdB just disappointed in his play? Also does this mean Vermeer is eligible to play in the league match on Saturday since I think his suspension is only for one match since it was not a dangerous foul.

Yes, Sulejmani is slightly injured.
Vermeer available again on saturday!

I can't say I really care about the KNVB Cup as a trophy, but this game is important for other reasons. Shit will hit the fan if we lose. De Boer had individual talks with the players this week and there were group talks as well: why do we always have to go a goal down before we start playing with the heart? Why do we always need that 'shock effect'/wake-up call?

The players must react tonight, they will have to deliver, make clear that the message has sunken in. If they don't, and once again play poorly against an opponent that simply wants it more... that would be a very worrying thing indeed. You can feel that the unrest on a managerial level (people are calling it the 'Ajax civil war' over here) is starting to seep through to the team. They can only stop that by winning matches.

That's what makes this an important game, if you ask me.

K.

Anything on a possible lineup?

souras84 schreef:Anything on a possible lineup?

I don't think you want to know but here it is:

Cillessen
Alderweireld, Oojier, Vertonghen, Anita
de Jong, Enoh, Janssen
Boerrigter, Bulykin, Lukoki

Down 1-0 already on a Mitchell Donald goal.

EDIT - right away a foul, Theo with a free kick, Vertonghen heads it home. We could see an 11-10 game at this rate

this might be a long night again

Forgot about this one so it's a bonus game for me - just turned on at 1-1. Thanks Bet 365.

Ooijer seems a little agitated. That ruck just now was the second in about 5 minutes for him....not sure if there's any history with him and Roda....

Why are we playing so crap at the moment? Roda just hit the bar and now another excellent chance as well......

Lukoki and our captain are the only standouts tonight... so far

Halftime and we've had better midfield play in this match than in the past three or four league matches combined. Go figure. Lukoki is beating his man on the right side consistently but hasn't gotten a good cross in. He was a little selfish on one occasion and might have set up Bulykin for an easy header. We don't seem to be going down the left side much this match. Roda goal was another cheap one and thankfully Vertonhen evened things up. Anita is going forward all the time on the right side in contrast to what van der Wiel normally does. Cillessen is looking for the short pass to a midfielder or fullback in contrast to what Vermeer normally does. Almost got caught by a bad pass directly to a Roda player. We have had the better of the play and should have had another goal. de Jong is sitting in the middle as the #10 and had a couple of good passes from that position. Janssen is not really being challenged that much.

Roda is playing very chippy going after players ankles. Oojier drew a yellow card going after a Roda player who didn't quite pull up when Cillessen dove for a ball.

As usual with Ajax, this game is still up for grabs.

I think Enoh is having a solid game so far also.

And Ooijer played almost 80 games for Roda before joining P**, so he has some history there.

Don´t think it´s that bad at all.. some quick football at times in a 3-4-3 formation..

Flipster81 schreef:Ooijer played almost 80 games for Roda before joining P**, so he has some history there.

Ah - didn't realise that, and was too lazy to check - explains something though....

FearNoArt schreef:Don´t think it´s that bad at all.. some quick football at times in a 3-4-3 formation..

I thought that they were shifting between a 4-3-3 and 3-4-3; it's hard to tell sometimes with where Anita is moving from and to. Worry is with a relatively slow middle back like Oojier.

The ref is an idiot. Not even a yellow for intentional dirty play by Roda player.

Boerrigter from de Jong; 2-1. Let's play some defense and go home!

EDIT - and just like that we concede another cheap goal.

2-1 Ajax, Dirk Boerighter.

It's a bit odd watching on TV with no commentary - like an empty stadium or something.

Edit@ and even as I'm typing there's a big Roda cheer and it's 2-2 WTF

2-3 hahahaha what a goal parade

3-2 that man again (And Dirk, promise I'll learn to spell your name now )

Straight up the other end and oh so nearly 3-3......

It really seems we are playing 3-4-3