18 Oct 2011: GNK Dinamo Zagreb - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

I am a very critical Ajax supporter, but today I'm a very happy man. I don't care what anyone else has got to say: this was a decent, pretty damn good European road win. Very good second half. There was passion.

Jan and Toby: rock solid tonight.

Enoh next to Theo: loved it.

Boerrigter: well done, kid.

Anita: great performance tonight.

Keep it up, Ajax. Destroy Feyenoord.

K.

[Orange14]

After Boerrigter's clinical finish off of Sulejmani's pass through, the match seemed to be in our control. The second goal was really a long time coming and thanks to a great pass from Bulykin, Eriksen kept his wits and finished cooly to cement the win. Again, too many squandered opportunities as Ajax were in control the whole half and should have had 1-2 more goals as Dinamo were not particularly good and really looked winded in the last 15 minutes. Strange substitution from FdB bringing in Bulykin for Boerrigter and moving Sulemajni to the left wing. de Jong really doesn't like playing wide and we had nobody out there to threaten. Three well earned points.

Vermeer had a massive game, saving everything thrown at him and keeping the clean sheet. Both of his central defenders did well not letting anyone get inside of them for a clear shot. Van der Wiel had a better second half and got in a decent cross going forward. Anita did not get beat on the left side as far as I can recall during the match. Enoh played well, minimizing dumb plays and passing the ball much quicker than he did in the AZ match. Janssen had some good through balls and his free kicks were on target tonight; he has to play this position and nowhere else. Eriksen was outstanding creating dangerous plays and a bit unlucky not to have had a second goal. Boerrigter was solid delivering some good crosses and netting the first goal. Sulejmani was much better in the second half, not playing as selfishly and looking for the open man. de Jong should have done better as a striker. Bulykin played well coming on as a sub.

Hard to draw any conclusions from this match as the opposition was quite poor though a win on the road is great. Madrid thrashed Lyon 4-0 so we go second on goal difference.

[Van basten]

Very good second half. I loved the way we played after scoring first goal.
Let's win at home, get draw at Lyon and go through!

[SPL]

a much more enjoyable 2nd half and a great win with 2 well taken goals. Watched the game on sky with dreadful commentators . They started off by saying this is not what we expert of Ajax the team of Cruyff and I am sitting there thinking what century are you in that was nearly 40 years a go !!!! Anyone would think he was still on the pitch listening to these 2 clowns .

Cannot really fault anyone although we still need a striker to be playing for 90 mins. This win will give us great confidence going in to Sunday and the F Word

[orange goblin]

this was a decent, pretty damn good European road win. Very good second half. There was passion.

Jan and Toby: rock solid tonight.

Enoh next to Theo: loved it.

Boerrigter: well done, kid.

Anita: great performance tonight

nothing to add. so relaxed now.

[Blind3]

THANK YOU AJAX !!!

[Kowalczyk]

We're second in the group on goal-differential. That's not bad, halfway.

We can hold on to second place. If we beat Dinamo again at the ArenA, we will probably be three points clear of the number three (Lyon), who will probably lose to Real Madrid again.

Lyon away will then be the key: a win would see us through, a draw would be great also.

And then who knows, in the last game, at home against 'Real Madrid B', who will already be qualified and probably not interested in the game...

We can do this. That's what I expected beforehand, too: at least 15 points for Real Madrid, but behind them anyone can finish second. There is no seriously good 'pot 2' team in this group; behind Real Madrid it's all open -and so far we're doing reasonably well.

K.

[Manneken Pis]

I understand the the euphoria surrounding the fact that we finally scored some goals and won a game, but this was a very poor performance against a very very very poor team.

- The defence and midfield lost possession countless times in very dangerous positions.
- Passes were consitently played behind recipients rather than in front, bringing down the tempo and eliminating the initiative that the team in with the ball is supposed to have.
- Our team went in for virtually no 50/50 headers thereby conceeding possession all over the field.
- Siem de Jong is not an effective striker, nor a creative midfielder.
- In attack there were virtually no incisive through balls ("steek pasjes") just endless slow circulation of the ball until someone tried to out dribble three opponents.

Bulykin may not be very mobile, but at least he won a few headers, and knew where the goal is.
Luckily Vemeer had a good game (and their attackers a very poor one).

Against a half decent team we wouldn't have had the opportunity to get back into the game after that first half performance.

Yes you can only beat what is put in front of you, but as we've seen in the last 6 weeks, when any half decent team in front of us we can't beat them.

Don't get me wrong, I am delighted we won, but there is MUCH work to be done by de Boer and the team, if they want to have a credible team....

[Philippe]

We fought like lions. It’s true that we lost possession too often, but that’s the way crucial games go, back and forth. It’s only due to very poor refereeing that Zagreb did not get two or three red cards. The incredible assault by their goalie on poor Siem was outrageous.
Since we are much better than Dinamo Zagreb, it seems that we now have good chances to make it to the 1/8 finals.

[Manneken Pis]

We fought like lions. It’s true that we lost possession too often, but that’s the way crucial games go, back and forth. It’s only due to very poor refereeing that Zagreb did not get two or three red cards. The incredible assault by their goalie on poor Siem was outrageous.
Since we are much better than Dinamo Zagreb, it seems that we now have good chances to make it to the 1/8 finals.

I guess we'll have to agree to differ (often the case .... ;o) ).
I do agree on the refereeing though, and what's really frustrating is that if some of them get second yellows against us in the second game the fact that they will miss future games will only benefit the other teams in the the group.

[aveslacker]

I just have to wonder what needs to happen for Frank to not play Siem De Jong. It seems like only injury will keep him off the pitch.

[Philippe]

That was a good laugh ! (from UEFA.com)

Miralem Sulejmani, Ajax forward
First of all I'd like to thank the Dinamo Zagreb players for their fair play tonight ...

Ivan Kelava, Dinamo goalkeeper
I hope there will come a day when our strikers will start to score some goals.

[Blind3]

Agree with Ko. In addition , IIRC , Real play Barcelona in Madrid on 10 December.

[Orange14]

In addition , IIRC , Real play Barcelona in Madrid on 10 December.

I think that may have to be rescheduled because of the World Club Championship since Barcelona will be representing UEFA and the tournament is scheduled during the time of the Madrid match: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_FIFA_Club_World_Cup

[#14]

I believe round one of the Spanish Derby is actually on Dec. 11:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast/_ ... 87?cc=5901

Also, since Barca doesn't play in the Club World Cup until the semis on Dec. 15, the Spanish Derby will likely go on as scheduled, and it will be the match the following weekend (Rayo Vallecano) which will get moved.

[Orange14]

I believe round one of the Spanish Derby is actually on Dec. 11:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/gamecast/_ ... 87?cc=5901

Also, since Barca doesn't play in the Club World Cup until the semis on Dec. 15, the Spanish Derby will likely go on as scheduled, and it will be the match the following weekend (Rayo Vallecano) which will get moved.

Perhaps, but there was some mention right after the schedule draw that it would be moved. I guess we will have to wait and see.