02 Oct 2011: FC Groningen - Ajax

[Orange14]

And there you have it, game, set and match. Bad defending good play by Vermeer and hand ball by Van der Wiel. Down to 10 men now.

[souras84]

Should give handball to Groningen at first

[Amol]

That's just awesome

[rjf1]

Vermeer comes up with a miracle save -- VdW turns it all to crap with that stupid slide when all he had to do was stand there.

[souras84]

WHAT THE FUCK IS HAPPENING AND WE CAN'T TAKE A SET PIECE DIRECTLY????

[souras84]

Another shitty situation is that we DONT have a RB for the AZ game next week. Andthat means Anita in RB and guess who in LB?!?!!??!!?

[rjf1]

With the total lack of coordination we are showing does it matter who plays where? Playing the way we are, do you realistically think we have a chance?

[souras84]

There's always hope of FdB making a change in his bloody mind

[ajaxusa]

Is it game over? What's the score? SOPcast URL? (I just woke up.)

[Ayman]

Twente are 1-2 down to excelsior rotterdam at home :o

[Amol]

Twente are 1-2 down to excelsior rotterdam at home :o

Just read that too.....at least something positive this weekend.


EDIT: .....and it's 2-2 now.

[souras84]

and we are losing to THIS groningen!! We are lucky sometimes. But we should be able to take advantage of these situations

[Orange14]

The only positive from this match is that we finally played well in the midfield after being down to 10 men. Terribly frustrating to see that it takes a sending off to finally open things up in the midfield. I hate to be a broken record but until the midfield problem is solved this team will continue to struggle. Groningen were extremely fortunate not to have a player sent off. I counted three tackles from behind that according to FIFA rules are dangerous and warrant a Red card. None was given. Nor do I like the constant hacking at players' ankles as was seen countless times during the match. Of course they got the lucky break following the hand ball and it was difficult to tell on the Internet stream whether Van der Wiel was just unlucky.

Vermeer had a great game making every save except for the penalty when he went the wrong way. Alderweireld and Vertonghen were solid today and Vertonghen had added duty after the sending off of moving up on offense (and he looked a lot better than any of our other midfielders in the process). Anita was solid all game having multiple duties as well when we were down to 10. Van der Wiel was OK and as noted maybe a bit unlucky to be sent off. Janssen was better than in past games but still too static out on the field; same can be said about de Jong who moved up forward. Eriksen tried to take control at a couple of points but it was always going to be difficult. Sulejmani is still not a 100% and was not bursting past defenders as he did before the hamstring injury. Boerrigter really never got the ball where he could go down the flank. Sigthorsson was on the field for too short a time to say anything good or bad. Bulykin was active and controlled the ball well but came off for Oojier. Ebecilio did little the short time he was on the field.

Ajax almost snatched a goal back and it was clear that Groningen were hanging on at the end. This was always going to be a tough fixture particularly after a mid-week CL match. The fundamental problems still have not been corrected and I see no signs that FdB and the rest of the brain trust are addressing them. Van der Wiel is now out of the next match and it will be interesting to see how FdB responds. Maybe Oojier in with Anita over at right back and Vertonghen slotting out at left full back.

[SPL]

Well the only bright note is that Greg wont give any points away next game .Thats penalties v PSV and today and his lack of marking de Jong last week ,ok a bit harsh but our experienced right back is making vital mistakes every week and thats 5 points he has cost us in 3 games and had he stayed on today we could well have won thats 7 points lost in 3 games . As for our midfield ,do we have one!! Even when we are down to 10 men de Jong and Janssen stay on . Do not like saying it be we were woeful today

[Ayman]

Clearly Theo Janssen is not a defensive midfielder, He is a Playmaker and needs to the number 10 position. As for Eriksen, he is versatile, why not play him on the right flank, he can be very effective, by cutting inside of the field, let suleimani be a sub either for the right wing or centre forward position. Ajax must play with a defensive midfielder either Enoh or Anita, if they dont address this situation, say goodbye to the CL qualifying round.

[souras84]

Well said Orange! When we have both backs. It seems as if The midfield is on the pitch just to provide cover to their forward runs. It is too late now that probably it is Vertonghens last year, BUT he should be our new Rijkaard. You know what I mean... His potential is limited as a CB

[SPL]

I do accept our midfield was alot better when down to 10 men but still largely invisible before that and they should have had at least 1 red. Some of their tackling was dreadful.

[Orange14]

As for our midfield ,do we have one!! Even when we are down to 10 men de Jong and Janssen stay on .

I kept my eyes off the ball and watched a lot of the midfield play during the match and you see almost no movement by Janssen and de Jong. They just stand around waiting for something to happen rather than creating space. I assume that Ajax must film the matches and watch them to correct errors (but this may be too much of an assumption) but I see little to inform us that this is being corrected. I know that Aissati is persona non grata to FdB but quite frankly he offers us something that we currently do not have, a midfielder who moves and goes for the ball. The only other solution I see is to bring either Klassen or Bouy into the first team and see if they can play. Sererro again injured and maybe he is just to fragile for this level of play. All of the other options are not options at all. I guess I'm just frustrated at the level of play. I could care less about CL football, I just want to see this team play to its potential in the league rather than struggle every darn match.

[SPL]

Just to point out all 4 fullbacks were from the Ajax Academy and although I did not think much of Kappelhof I thought young Burnet looked good for an inexperinced kid.

[Flipster81]

I couldn't get to see the second half as i'm moving house, but it sounds like more of the same. Like Orange says, we are starting to sound like broken records but our midfield is... well, broken. Janssen was a bad buy imo, not energetic enough, not Ajax enough and de Jong should be our back-up striker.

If we played with Eriksen, Anita & Enoh in midfield we would see a marked improvement in movement, energy and pressing. Also Eriksen won't be so burned out from running for 3 he could make something happen. I also second the Aissati point, he is a runner and a decent player, he looked it under MvB (I made this point in the El Ham thread).

With Greg suspended i'd like to see van Rhijn given a shot at right back.

[Philippe]

I don't think Van der Wiel deserved a red card (second yellow). Whereas half of the Groningen 6 yellow cards could have turned red. The whole thing looked like butchers vs artists.

http://www.parool.nl/parool/nl/4164/ERE ... Wiel.dhtml

[Orange14]

I don't think Van der Wiel deserved a red card (second yellow). Whereas half of the Groningen 6 yellow cards could have turned red. The whole thing looked like butchers vs artists.

I watched the Everton/Liverpool match on Saturday where Rodwell was given a straight Red card for a tackle on Suarez (we all know how well Luis exaggerates things) that was not nearly as bad as the three from behind tackles on our players yesterday. We are darn lucky that no one was seriously injured. I hope the FA takes a good look at those calls!