19 Oct 2010: Ajax - AJ Auxerre

[SPL]

Well I thought we played well especially until the red card but even after that Auxerre were not really threatening .

Just to explain my quote I hope we finish 3rd, well I do not see Auxerre taking even 1 point from their games v Milan or Real so even if they beat us I think 3rd place is going to be Ok for us .

Unlike all the other groups we have 2 top quality teams but whereas Real will walk away with the group I am still hopeful we can pip Milan . I think it will be very hard though . Looking at Arsenal's games I would have no idea who were the 2, 3,4 seeded teams are as they are look as poor as Auxerre.

Anyway next up lets win in Auxerre and hope Real win in Milan.

[Orange14]

De Zeuw said afterwards in a TV interview that he was frustrated he didn't get more passes as he found himself isolated "between the lines", and could have taken advantage of that.

This was clearly the fault of Enoh and Lindgren who couldn't complete a pass to save their lives last evening. Rather strange since both had good matches against NAC over the weekend and I don't think that Auxerre was any better defensively. (11 tegen 11 has pretty much the same conclusion: Auxerre Match Review) I think de Zeeuw and Urby were the MOTMs, both playing well. The only thing I fault Demy for is not being tall enough to get a head on the ball that came to him in the box early on (de Jong probably would have scored). A good victory and one that will move us forward into this weekend's match against the best team in Rotterdam.

[Philippe]

Interesting comment by Emanuelson who feels partly responsible for Ooijer's red card :

Urby Emanuelson kon zich na afloop van Ajax-Auxerre (2-1) wel voor zijn hoofd slaan. De Ajacied speelde een voortreffelijke wedstrijd, maar wist zijn 'gebruikelijke foutje' niet te voorkomen. "Ik had op dat moment, op die plaats moeten beseffen dat ik linksback was en de bal gewoon naar de buitenkant moeten spelen. Je weet dat Auxerre met die snelle spits op zulk balverlies loert. Ik moet mezelf de rode kaart van André Ooijer aanrekenen. Daardoor speelden we 35 minuten met tien man en kwam de winst in gevaar", was hij kritisch.

"Ik ben na afloop naar hem toegegaan en heb 'Sorry André' gezegd. Daarna hebben we uitgebreid over de situatie gesproken. Gelukkig hebben we de wedstrijd nog gewonnen. Anders had ik echt heel slecht geslapen, ben ik bang."