24 Jul 2011: Ajax - Club Atlético Independiente

[Kowalczyk]

Time for the last proper friendly fixture of the pre-season campaign (there will be one more, on 03 August against the 'Van der Sar Dream Team', but I think that will be a bit of a party rather than a serious football game).

You may regard this friendly against Argentina's Independiente as a replay of the bill for the 1972 World Cup (which Ajax won).

Kick-off at the Amsterdam ArenA is 14:30 CET (it's a shame that this one will be played at the ArenA after all; there was talk of the Olympic Stadium, just like in 1972, which would have been great - now it's a very 'ordinary' friendly, with 11,000 tickets sold thusfar).

K.

[Orange14]

I don't know if the visitors are jet lagged, but Ajax are looking good. 4-0 early in the 2nd half with Ozbiliz on a hat trick right now. Tremendous 1-2 passing creating lots of scoring chances!

[Amol]

Anyone else watching this game right now? I really like the look of Serrero. He came on in the 2nd half and made 3 really great passes for Ozbiliz in the first 10 minutes and Ozbiliz converted all 3.

[GangstaRiB]

Anyone else watching this game right now? I really like the look of Serrero. He came on in the 2nd half and made 3 really great passes for Ozbiliz in the first 10 minutes and Ozbiliz converted all 3.

Yup, Serero is very good indeed. Very quick to turn.

The 'subs' are better than the first picks.

[Amol]

Yeah that's what I thought. Janssen just took a really bad penalty.....

[Amol]

Jannsen has been distributing the ball really well from his deep role.

[GangstaRiB]

Jannsen has been distributing the ball really well from his deep role.

That is his main quality, together with set pieces such as corners and free-kicks.

What disturbs me is that he looks a bit lost when he has to do other things. At Twente he was given a free role, De Boer doesn't do that.

[Amol]

What disturbs me is that he looks a bit lost when he has to do other things. At Twente he was given a free role, De Boer doesn't do that.

Like what? For me, he doesn't seem very convincing while tracking back.

[Orange14]

Well played offensively, a couple of defensive lapses one saved by Vermeer the other a goal. It looks like the team is coming together. I still don't know what FdB's plans are for the midfield. I still think we need a defensive mid out there since Janssen won't do this part of the job.

[rjf1]

I only saw the second half -- really good ball movement. Ozbiliz impressed me -- same as he did at the end of last season. Ebecilio failed to impress me -- same as he did at the end of last season. Suleijmani still doesn't seem to be firing on all cylinders. Nice to see Vermeer between the posts -- I hope he gets his chance this year. All in all, if the team can play at this level for the coming season, the rest of the Eredivisie is going to have a hard time keeping up with us.

[Amol]

Serrero named MOTM and quite deservedly so. I think de Boer is trying to come up with different midfield solutions to play against different teams.

[Kowalczyk]

Serero looked the bollocks!

K.

[ajaxcolombia]

Jannsen has been distributing the ball really well from his deep role.

That is his main quality, together with set pieces such as corners and free-kicks.

What disturbs me is that he looks a bit lost when he has to do other things. At Twente he was given a free role, De Boer doesn't do that.

No that depends. He played different roles last season. He was given a free role when the played, 4-3-3 with Landzaat and Brama, which is the way he ended playing the season. However he did play a more conservative fixed role as a deep lying playmaker in a 4-2-3-1 formation, when they used De jong as an attacking midfielder behind Janko. And against Philips, in their first game of the season not the one in which he scored that amazing goal, they played a 4-1-4-1 formation with Janssen as the single holding midfielder.

[SPL]

Missed this game but I note that it was an Independiente B team . Watched the goals Ozbiliz took his well.

[ajaxcolombia]

Yes independiente played with a reserve team, since the official layers are in the US. The only player formt he first team was the colombian forward Marco Perez, because he had problems with his american Visa so he made this trip with the reserves instead.