11 Dec 2011: RKC Waalwijk - Ajax

[Tom_]

On another topic -- it's nice to see Sno playing -- he's even having a decent game.

Agreed, I'm quite amazed someone can recover from that to continue as a professional athlete. Good luck to him.

[kezme44]

vermeer is a fucking liability and needs to go

[Tom_]

Well, I can't say I enjoyed that, but three points "be" three points.

[rjf1]

After Vermeer did so well when he stepped in last year, I really thought he should get his chance and I thought he would do well -- but these last few months have made me change my mind. He makes some brilliant saves, but overall he's a liability and we really should be looking for a replacement.

[paladinby]

Well, 3 points with shit play is better than 1 or 0 points with shit play.

[Amol]

Vermeer's kicking are a joke. It's a disgrace. His refusal to sign a new deal is even funnier. Does he actually think that he's ready to move to a bigger place? I don't get it.

[rjf1]

True -- but it still stinks.

[Orange14]

Extremely lucky to get all three points today given Vermeer's terrible kick in the last two minutes. A man up for most of the second half and yet the team barely threatened to score a second goal after Sulejmani's weak penalty kick. Allowances can be made for the mid-week disappointment but that only lasts so long before a club has to focus on the match at hand. In this case Ajax were ill-focused and it is difficult to point to anyone who is deserving of recognition. It appears that FdB had the club playing a 3-4-3 for long stretches of the match even before the sending off as Anita moved up to the midfield and Enoh dropped back deep to help out Vertonghen in the center of the defense. Despite having an additional midfielder, the play was generally too slow and passes sloppy.

Player ratings:
Vermeer (5.8) - was rated higher until the last moments of the match when he lost all focus. Extremely fortunate on the mis-kick as he didn't seem to want get back into position as if there was no danger. Did make one outstanding save which is why he is rated as high.
van der Wiel (6.6) - good going forward and his defending was nothing to complain about
Vertonghen (7.2) - solid on defense and had the only Ajax shot that test the Waalwijk keeper
Blind (6.8) - terrible back pass at the start of the match but otherwise a solid game on defense and he did a nice job moving forward
Anita (6.7) - nothing distinguishing about his play either good or bad; played a lot in the middle of the pitch when the team switched to a 3-4-3
Enoh (6.6) - decent match but plagued again by some poor ball handling
Eriksen (6.9) - good assist on the goal but otherwise did not play up to his high standards
Klaasen (6.8) - nice volley but a little too weak to score; otherwise a decent match
Sulejmani (5.3) - poor penalty and otherwise he did not distinguish himself on offense at all
Aissati (6.4) - very active and kept good width but was pushed off the ball on occasion and did not deliver any cross worth discussing despite having some good opportunities.
Lodeiro (6.5) - decent match for playing out of position yet again
Ebecilio (5.0) - very average coming off the bench
Bulykin (NR) - not on the pitch long enough

One more league match and a cup match with AZ before the break. The team really needs the break to get everyone back in good health. The lack of a proper striker was again very telling. Castillion looks only average based on this match and I suspect he is not the answer to our problems.

[SPL]

Very uninspiring game and no one looked good for us . Not sure why we had yet another goal disallowed. Vermeer tried his best ,yet again to give the points away. sorry but over the last 2 months this guy has shown with his woeful kicking that he is a liability.Their goalie Zoet looks good ,but he is on loan from PSV!

At least thats 3 points today . If we can just beat ADO next week and hope one or 2 of those above drop points we may still be in sight of AZ but our squad needs some fit players back .

PS glad 13th stream behaved as MM4 was off line and no other known stream was available.Mind the game was poor to watch !!

[SPL]

Looking at next week the other 3 are all away

Az at NAC

PSV at Heerenveen
Twente at Fword.

Thus todays 3 points keeps us in touch . Would be great to see all 3 drop points next week and us win. Our first game in new year at AZ .

I hope Lodeiro keeps his place once we have a striker back. Would rather see him than Janssen play at left side of midfield.

[Van basten]

Couldn't expect anything else after Lyon game. The team was demoralized and i'm just glad that we took 3 points. We'll look better next week. A victory against those cunts ado will make me a little bit more happy before winter break.

[Philippe]

We're still in the race for the only competition that matters.

[Orange14]

Just saw the replay highlights and the Lodeiro goal was clearly onside. We're having pretty bad luck with linesmen!