08 Dec 2010: AC Milan - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

Champions League group stage, matchday 6.

Our last Champions League fixture of the season. Will it also be our last European fixture...?

K.

[Philippe]

AC Milan will have nothing to win, and will probably play in an empty San Siro. I assume Suarez will by then be in shape again.

[Kowalczyk]

Right then! Ajax Talk is back up. Too bad the site was down during, and a few days after AC Milan vs Ajax, 'cos it was a damn good game.

I'm so glad Ajax played proper Ajax football again... Very well done. Of course it wasn't that important to AC Milan, but hey: winning at the San Siro is a great achievement.

K.

[gordonvandekamp]

Agree, best performance in awhile team-wise. Glad it came with de Boer's first game and hopefully it's a sign of better things to come.

Glad Erikson get the start and I think (well hope) he makes that center midfield position his. Sulejmani's been playing very good lately and switching sides up front with Suarez also seemed to pay off. Also haven't seen van der Wiel push forward with that much determination in awhile.

[Kowalczyk]

Frank de Boer deliberately changed quite a few things: he instructed Suárez and Sulejmani to really play on the wings (and 'keep it wide'). He also figured that Ajax, right now, need a strong, relatively static centre forward who can hold up the ball. Hence, El Hamdaoui on the bench, Siem de Jong (rather surprisingly) as the 'number 9'. Midfield: a defensive guy out, Eriksen in - as a proper 'number 10' behind the static 'number 9'. That's old skool Ajax, e.g. Pettersson-Bergkamp (1992) or Ronald de Boer-Litmanen (1995). He told Van der Wiel to push forward, Trabelsi-style. And Jan Vertonghen was also told to have courage and push forward, just like Blind/Rijkaard in 1995.

This really was an old skool Ajax line-up, De Boer told them not to be afraid, but to be brave and have fun.

And it worked.

I'm not saying it will work every week from now on, but I sure as hell like De Boer's philosophy and his intentions.

K.

[aveslacker]

Frank de Boer deliberately changed quite a few things: he instructed Suárez and Sulejmani to really play on the wings (and 'keep it wide'). He also figured that Ajax, right now, need a strong, relatively static centre forward who can hold up the ball. Hence, El Hamdaoui on the bench, Siem de Jong (rather surprisingly) as the 'number 9'. Midfield: a defensive guy out, Eriksen in - as a proper 'number 10' behind the static 'number 9'. That's old skool Ajax, e.g. Pettersson-Bergkamp (1992) or Ronald de Boer-Litmanen (1995). He told Van der Wiel to push forward, Trabelsi-style. And Jan Vertonghen was also told to have courage and push forward, just like Blind/Rijkaard in 1995.

This really was an old skool Ajax line-up, De Boer told them not to be afraid, but to be brave and have fun.

And it worked.

I'm not saying it will work every week from now on, but I sure as hell like De Boer's philosophy and his intentions.

K.

Long may we play like this!

[SPL]

Nothing to add just how lovely it was to watch Ajax play real football again and Eriksen play in his proper no 10 position and not stuck out on the left wing .

[ajaxusa]

Does anybody have a link to video highlights of this game? I didn't get to see any of it...

[GangstaRiB]

Does anybody have a link to video highlights of this game? I didn't get to see any of it...

Original Dutch commentary..

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHJRqiIXIJA

[Orange14]

I agree with what Ko wrote above regarding the formation and tactics. There is also a great summary here at URL 11 tegen 11 I also read where de Boer is now 4-0 vs Milan with three victories as a player in the 1990s and now one as a manager. From my perspective, I hope that van den Boog and Coronel don't rush to hire a new manager at the winter break. I don't think that there are any real candidates around right now (though I've seen mention of Morten Olsen) and de Boer deserves a run out through the end of the season to see what qualities he can bring to the side.

[gordonvandekamp]

Long may we play like this!

That's what I like.

I just watched an interview with de Boer (http://ajax.netwerk.to/nieuws/artikel/2 ... liteit.php)

What I liked were the shots in practice of him and Blind talking with Oleguer. Blind and de Boer were decent enough defenders when they played, I'm hoping with them in charge, they'll at least fix the problems in the back, which were a big problem in recent years. Especially as Vertonghen and Alderwiereld have developed over the last year.

Hopefully it's at least fun to play football again for the players. that seems to have been lacking the last few years as well minus a few standouts. No team has played the Ajax way for years. I don't really care what way the team plays as long as there are results, and that hasn't happened in the league either lately.

There was ambition in this game too, from the players as a team and I hope that continues, will be fun to watch if it does.

[Flipster81]

Ko is right, it was a classic system from de Boer and I was impressed with de Jong at #9 and Eriksen at #10 our whole team played pretty well and dominated Milan in their back yard. If we can keep it up untill after the winter break, hopefully de Boer gets the chance permanently.

[Philippe]

It's quite obvious that the Ajax tactical system is back. 4-3-3 at last ! Jol claimed he did not have the right players for it. And many said 4-3-3 can not beat strong defensive teams. De Boer proved them wrong.

It feels like life again.

[Tom_]

Bummer, I missed this game, but I'd be really interested to see us in action in this formation. Anyone come across the game posted anywhere for download? I can't find it on torrent or usenet...

[aveslacker]

It's quite obvious that the Ajax tactical system is back. 4-3-3 at last ! Jol claimed he did not have the right players for it. And many said 4-3-3 can not beat strong defensive teams. De Boer proved them wrong.

It feels like life again.

Turns out Eriksen was the right guy for the system, huh? It's early days still, but if Eriksen can keep this up, we will finally have our replacement for Sneijder.