02 Apr 2014: RKC Waalwijk - Ajax

[Dave the mac]

Eredivisie 2014-2014. Matchday 30.

Kick-off time at Waalwijk's Mandemakers Stadium is 18:45 CET.

An unusual mid-week game today, due to the nuclear summit which was at the Hague recently. 5 matches being played. RKC are 16th in the league, which is the relegation zone so they have something at stake.

Will be interesting to see what the Ajax lineup will be. Should be able to watch while at work....

[Dave the mac]

Ajax setup: Cillessen; Van Rhijn, Veltman, Denswil, Blind; Klaassen, Poulsen, Duarte; The Sa Sigthórsson, Schöne.

Substitutes: Vermeer, Van der Hoorn, Bojan, Boilesen, Serero, Riedewald, Kishna.

[SPL]

Interesting changes ,just hope for 3 points and if Heracles can surprise Fword we will be nearly there.

[rjf1]

Game is about to begin -- can't believe how nervous I am about this one -- just hope we don't slip on the proverbial banana peel.

[SPL]

Good header from Veltman lets hope for more goals

[Dave the mac]

So far so good, Veltman with a header 1-0

[rjf1]

Schone corner -- Veltman header -- 1-0! Goes a long way to breaking the tension.

[rjf1]

Denswil made the same mistake that he made in the last game -- got on the wrong side of his man, then his man rolled him and had an excellent shot at goal -- took a really good save from Cillesen to keep it out.

[Dave the mac]

Ugh, nasty clash of heads involving de Sa and a RKC player who had to come off. Hate to see those. And as I speak, Ajax is up 2-0, nice play.

[Orange14]

Decent enough first half though the quality did fall off in the last 15 minutes. Really nice job of pressing today. Veltman was totally unmarked on his goal and Klaassen took a great through pass from Sigthorrsson and slotted the 2nd one home. Cillessen was really not threatened much at all.

[SPL]

After the 2nd goal we could relax a bit but we do need the 3rd to finish them off.

[SPL]

Sorry it showed Heracles 1-0 up and went to an advert ,Now come back and Fword are 2-1 up .

[rjf1]

RKC playing style is unique -- Graeco-Roman, I think they call it.

[saddlerian]

Just playing out time here now....flicked over to Twente match a couple of times...feel sorry for them as 2 of their players sent off...last one for no reason at all..seems that the Assistant Ref and the ref are against them....SHAME!!!

[SPL]

I felt we played the 2nd half in 2nd gear no real threats from RKC and we always looked comfortable but all the time it was 2-0 it only needed one silly mistake.

We are going to win the league but still cannot score many goals. Since the winter break we have only scored more than 2 goals in game 3 times ie Heerenveen Az and Twente.

[Orange14]

a rather boring 2nd half and the score remains at 0-2 for a deserved victory. Decent play from everyone on the field. Cillessen had to make some routine saves but lots of shots were blocked before they even got to him. Duarte went the full 90 minutes and it was good to see him show some skilful play. Moving forward now to the final match day and a victory of Vitesse this weekend will go a long way to solidifying hold on first place.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (7) - nothing more than routine to keep the clean sheet
Blind (7) - whole 90 at fullback and did a good job of things
Denswil (7) - solid all match long, didn't see a single give away
Veltman (7) - nice header for the first goal and solid defense
van Rhijn (7) - good match and had little to do on defense since most of the play was down the other side
Poulsen (7.5) - best field player IMO; not a single bad pass and a rock in the middle of the defense dropping back to let Denswil and Veltman go further upfield
Duarte (7) - very good game, pressing all the time and getting some good turnovers
Klaassen (7) - got a nice goal but was pretty silent otherwise
de Sa (7) - good wing play
Sigthorrsson (7) - good on the ball and great through pass to Klaassen
Schöne (7) - shifted a lot over to the left side tonight which we haven't seen much of before, solid game
Kishna (6.5) - on for de Sa but didn't do much
Serero (6) - on late for Klaassen

[Dave the mac]

Nice win. The early goal gave RKC little hope. Nobody injured. Next up away to Vitesse which will be a bit more difficult. Good job!
Good god Van Rhijn is awful....

[SPL]

4 points needed as we have a far better Gd than Fword ,the only team who in theory could still catch us. A win v Vitesse would be nice but the 13th should settle it if we beat ADO and Fword drop points away to PSV.

I hope no one minds me saying this but I would like to see Fword finish 2nd, after all they play mainly Dutch youth from their own academy.

Would be nice to be champs on the 13th as the next game in the league wont be until the 27th .Nobody wants to wait until then.

[Kilroy]

@ Orange 14: Are you serious with your "7" rating for Duarte? I thought he played like a wet suit in a rain-storm.

[Philippe]

Eventually, there was some real football yesterday, and not only this CL fat cats masquerade.

I hope Philips will catch up with fayenord.

[Orange14]

@ Orange 14: Are you serious with your "7" rating for Duarte? I thought he played like a wet suit in a rain-storm.

I thought everyone on the field was above average; there were no major mistakes. Duarte was quite effective pressing and I counted four steals from opponents. Given he has seen very little action and not played a full 90 minutes in a long time it was a decent performance.