17 Feb 2013: RKC Waalwijk - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

Eredivisie 2012-2013. Matchday 23.

Right, so, let's forget last week - and win this f**ker.

Kick-off time at Mandemakers Stadium in Waalwijk is 16:30 CET.

K.

[Blind3]

From AN :

De Boer: Cuenca, Sigthorsson and Fischer will certainly not entire game play Sunday

February 15, 2013

According to Frank de Boer will continue to do Ajax gently with Cuenca, Sigthorsson and Fischer. All three, in the eyes of the Ajax coach just three matches in a week to play. De Boer said in the middle of it with a whole new attack will start against RKC Waalwijk. "They will all certainly not all match play Sunday," said De Boer on the three attackers.

[Blind3]

From AN via translator :

Player news for RKC . May these play to Ajax advantage .

Guy Ramos misses by suspension. Erwin Koeman will have to do without Guy Ramos. The defender was in his turn raid last weekend after a few seconds against a red card. The coach of the Waalwijkers can not continue due to injuries rely on midfielder and striker Peter Jungschläger and Mark Janssen. Striker Denzel Butcher due to international duty with Curacao Under-20 not of the party.

[Cruijff]

That's not an advantage for Ajax. Guy Ramos decided the game with an own goal during our 0-1 victory in Waalwijk last season!

[SPL]

Unchanged squad. Apart from Hoesen and Sana there is no one else left to bring in apart from 18 and 19 year olds. Repeating myself but our squad is very light and if we suddenly got a couple of long injuries to defenders we would struggle.

Serero's agent says he is getting frustrated at lack of playing time but since early season he had a lengthy injury and then Africans Cup so this seems a stupid comment.

[King Litti]

PSV won their game so we can not spill any points today. Hope our guys are not too tired after the mid week game.

Glad to hear that FdB is thinking of rotating players as we have a hell of a lot of games in the coming weeks. I really hope the guys that haven't played that much can step up now and show their quality. At least Denswil seems to be more than qualified to play at this level and Serero has shown that he does have some skill. Siggys return from injury and the last moment signing of Cuenca can prove absolutelely vital for us this season.

C'mon Ajax!

[rjf1]

My personal preference is for us to concentrate on winning the eredivisie first and foremost; the Europa League should be "let's play to see what we can get," but should not take precedence -- if we go out early, that's just more we can concentrate on the Dutch league.

[SPL]

Fword just lost which is good news. We have Lukoki de Jong and Boerrigter as attack with both Poulsen and Schone playing . Think Hoesen should have got a a game as striker with Siggy being rested but he seems to be out of favour

[rjf1]

Zwolle beat fnoord 3-2 -- they led 2-0 after 6 mins thanks in part to an own goal by Pelle -- but he got two goals in the space of a minute or so (one a carbon copy of the bicycle kick he did to tie us at the last minute in the 2-2 game we played with them) to tie the game before the half was over. Zwolle looked the better team and got a deserved 3rd goal at roughly the 75 minute mark. From that point on fnoord used the Sam Allardyce school of football to try to get back into the game -- they came close once, but Zwolle held on. So, at least we can get some distance on them with a win tonight.

[rjf1]

Moisander scores after a corner scramble -- 0 -1 Corner resulted from an excellent run and shot by Boeriggter that was barely turned away by the goalie. Good things happen when go at the opponent instead of complacently circulating the ball with no attacking intent.

[Tom_]

We're absolutely all over them. If this continues we can expect either a nice boost to the goal difference, or another 1–1 draw.

[Cedric]

Where are you watching this guys?

Edit: Ah, Sopcast is finally working now...

[Orange14]

Well we did get two goals to make things comfortable going into the half. Still the team needs to do much better when playing against defensive minded clubs. The passing is still too slow and the player movement much too static. Lukoki other than one good run at the fullback has been poor. Boerrigter is getting beaten up and there should have been a Yellow card when he got kneed in the back early in the half. de Jong is standing around. Eriksen has done well and the defense seems to be up to the task against an opponent that is only playing one man up front. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sigthorsson start the second half in the middle.

[rjf1]

Half time. Beautiful run and finish by Eriksen for the 0 - 2. Boerrigter could have had a hat trick with all of his close chances. I don't know about Lukoki -- his speed drives the defenders crazy, but he loses the plot after he beats them. Doesn't Vermeer look sporty in that snow white cap? Am I mistaken, or does he look positively svelte compared to his silhouette of last year?

[Orange14]

I don't think I've ever seen such a weak penalty!

[SPL]

I have been watching all the time but no chance to comment on 1st half. should now be an easy win with that Penalty miss.

[Tom_]

RKC have been spectacularly poor (except for Zoet). I think the penalty was their first shot.

[rjf1]

After the first 10 minutes. Ajax haven't been all that scintillating in the second half either -- the game has really deteriorated.

[King Litti]

Hardly impressive but we did enough. We looked comfortable just hanging on to the two goal lead and saving strength for the trip to Bucharest.

[rjf1]

I'm really impressed with the improvement in Vermeer this season. He's always been an excellent shot stopper, but his kicking and ball distribution have improved remarkably, and he's stopped making those stupid decisions to wander all over the place that used to cost us so many goals. The fans voted him Man of the Match -- a good choice IMO.

[SPL]

did enough at 2-0 to just go through the motions in the 2nd half. Apart from the penalty and one other time when they shot at Vermeer that was it from RKC ( last week Roda had only 1 shot and it went in!!! )

Boerrigter had a good first half and should have had a couple of goals. Lukoki I thought was poor and certainly Jozefzoon ,his opposite number and let go by us last summer looks the better of the 2 ,that does not mean either are Ajax standard .

At least there is day light between us and 3rd place and although winning the title is the aim finishing in the top 2 and getting through to CL is the first aim.

[Orange14]

Much less fluid on offense when Eriksen came off but the defense stood strong throughout the match to keep the clean sheet. Lukoki did not distinguish himself much at all over the full 90 minutes.

Player Ratings:

Vermeer (7) - after having nothing to do in the first half, he had a busy 2nd half saving his third penalty of the season
Blind (6.5) - not as good in previous matches, beaten badly one time by Jozefzoon
Moisander (7) - one bad pass was the only poor play of the match
Alderwiereld (7) - very strong and a bit unfortunate to have his had out conceding a penalty
van Rhijn (6.5) - quiet but solid match
Poulsen (6.5) - some poor passes in the first half followed by a solid second half
Schöne (6.5) - decent enough for this opposition
Eriksen (7.5) - ran the offense well and took his goal with aplomb
Boerrigter (6.5) - should have scored at least one time and took a lot of physical punishment
de Jong (6) - pretty silent throughout, should have dropped back to take the ball which would have created a little more opportunity in the 1st half
Lukoki (5) - average at best and perhaps disappointing is a better descriptive
Dijks (6) - strong coming in for Blind but why isn't he considered for central defense given his size?
Serrero (5) - maybe got one touch only
Sigthorsson (5) - hardly involved until a nice touch near the end of the match

A lot of fixtures coming up fast and furious if we get past Steau in the EL. I hope this doesn't prove a distraction to our title quest.

[zeux]

Lukoki (5) - average at best and perhaps disappointing is a better descriptive
Serrero (5) - maybe got one touch only

I sometimes wonder about your marks.
Why not a 3, if the quy was really poorly?

[Blind3]

Glad for the clean sheet , Moisander looking decent, Eriksen's seventh goal and a nice nutmeg in his set-up run , and Vermeer's penalty stop. Nothing remarkable in this one. Next up Steaua .

[Orange14]

Lukoki (5) - average at best and perhaps disappointing is a better descriptive
Serrero (5) - maybe got one touch only

I sometimes wonder about your marks.
Why not a 3, if the quy was really poorly?

Hard to give Serrero a lower mark given he came on as a sub and didn't screw anything up. I don't think it was his fault that he didn't get any touches as the team was playing mostly defense after he came on. He's just not capable of creating anything at this level. Similarly, Lukoki didn't commit any major errors and had a couple of decent plays to balance things off.