11 Apr 2012: SC Heerenveen - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

The weekend of 07/08 April is Cup final weekend, so no Eredivisie football.

Matchday 29 in the 2011-2012 Eredivisie is a matchday of midweek fixtures.

For Ajax a very, very tough test lies ahead: Heerenveen away. We won eight games in a row, but let's face it: it was a mostly string of good results against not-so-great opposition. PSV at home was a real test; this is the next one. It's gonna be a difficult road trip, to say the least. Kick-off at the Abe Lenstra Stadium in Heerenveen is 20:00 CET.

It's gonna be one hell of an interesting round of Eredivisie football. All six title contenders had relatively easy games last weekend; matchday 29 is a potentially crazy one again. Madness.

The situation at the top:

1. Ajax: 28-58 (76-33) --->there we are then... amazing, innit... goal differential starting to look good, too!
2. AZ: 28-57 (56-27)
3. FC Twente: 28-55 (71-32)
4. PSV: 28-54 (70-40)
5. Feyenoord: 28-54 (57-33)
6. Heerenveen: 28-54 (64-43)

Make no mistake: all of these teams are still totally in the race.

Wednesday fixtures:

AZ vs Twente (!!!)
Heerenveen vs Ajax (!!!)
Roda JC vs Feyenoord (!!)
RKC Waalwijk vs PSV (!)

That looks way more promising than last weekend's fixtures. My predictions were pretty good last weekend, so here we go again. I expect PSV to win in Waalwijk (although they play the cup final the Sunday before...), but Feyenoord to drop points at Roda.

Twente vs AZ... Heerenveen vs Ajax... I really don't know. Anything can happen.

If Heerenveen's forwards (Narsingh - Dost - Djurcecic) have a good day, Heerenveen can (and probably will) beat any team in Holland, but they're quite vulnerable defensively: no team in the top half of the table conceded as many goals, 43, that really is bad. If Ajax can put as much pressure on their midfield and defence like they did against PSV and Heracles, we'll win it. 100% focus and work ethic and we'll get the job done; I am pretty optimistic.

As for Twente vs AZ... AZ dropped points in Arnhem, but I have to admit: they didn't look as jaded as I expected. They looked quite fit and were a bit unfortunate with Holman's red card. They'll be very eager, but on the other hand: they've got Valencia away, whereas everybody else has a full week off... Twente have been very poor in recent weeks, they seem to have lost the plot a bit, so normally I'd expect AZ to win. On the other hand: Twente are more or less fighting for their last chance. If they lose, it's starting to look very bad for them. I'm hoping for a draw and it may actually well be a draw.

K.

[Arthur]

They'll be very eager, but on the other hand: they've got Valencia away and the cup final, whereas everybody else has a full week off...

AZ lost the semis to Heracles, so they are not in the cup final

[Kowalczyk]

Awright... Thanks for the wake-up call. I must have been half asleep when I wrote that...

(Corrected now...)

K.

[aveslacker]

I think Twente are going to be a lot tougher to beat now that they have Douglas back.

[Van basten]

Twente vs AZ (!!!)
K.

AZ play at home against Twente.

[kezme44]

this is the way i see it. az are crumbling and will be happy if they finish 4th, they have the toughest schedule of the top 4.

we have quite a tricky schedule as well, with the next match, twente away, groningen and vitesse. the rest should be full points

we need to keep winning. if not, psv might get this, they have by far the easiest schedule, apart from az at home

heerenveen and f-word are out for me. although they can beat any team at any time, so can they lost against a roda or nec. if our midfield is solid, we can put 3 goals into heerenveen's net. the fullbacks for us will be key as well.

the victory against psv was key, gives us some room to fuck up. i don't think we will get the full points out of the remaining games, but we have a minor cushion against psv and twente

[ofey]

What an effort from our boys!

This is a team with no recognisable Number 9 for the best part of the year.

Here are this year's top goal getters:
1 Bas Dost Heerenveen 25
2 Luuk de Jong Twente Enschede 20
3 Sanharib Malki Roda JC Kerkrade 19
4 Dries Mertens PSV Eindhoven 17
John Guidetti Feyenoord Rotterdam 17
6 Ola Toivonen PSV Eindhoven 16
7 Tim Matavz PSV Eindhoven 13
8 Glynor Plet Twente Enschede 12
9 Jozy Altidore AZ Alkmaar 11
Bonno Wilfried Vitesse Arnhem 11
11 Rasmus Elm AZ Alkmaar 10
Miralem Sulejmani Ajax Amsterdam 10

Looking at the top scorers, the closest we have is Micky on 10 goals?
Siggi only came back to service last week against Heracles. Was good to see him get a tap in.
I suspect that will be instrumental in boosting his confidence for the run in.

And we're still in it for the title?

This is as many mentioned a tricky game for us. I just hope we don't lose. A draw here may well be a good result. I actually think we have a better chance of beating Twente away than Heerenven.
They are playing very good football and I don't want us to fall prey to complacency.

Back to the thing about goal scorers, we've distributed the load pretty well in the team but would it hurt if Ajax bought someone next year to address this?

[Orange14]

I remember back in 2008 when St. Marco was the manager and we played on a cold and rainy pitch in Heerenveen. Not a good result 2-5.

[ajaxcolombia]

I don't think we need a number 9 for next year. If bulykin stays one more year, we have three number 9 available. We need and impeccable game from our fullbacks in this match. That will be the key. I hope De boer goes with anita-enoh-eriksen for big games likes this. VVV and DDe Graafschap can be played with Janssen, but for big games it should be the same three that beat PSV.

[aveslacker]

I don't think we need a number 9 for next year. If bulykin stays one more year, we have three number 9 available. We need and impeccable game from our fullbacks in this match. That will be the key. I hope De boer goes with anita-enoh-eriksen for big games likes this. VVV and DDe Graafschap can be played with Janssen, but for big games it should be the same three that beat PSV.

It seems like Janssen was getting forward more against Heracles, with Vertonghen pushing up from defense and Anita holding. That seems to work ok against smaller teams, but against Heerenveen it might be risky. Nonetheless it is better than playing Janssen as a deep-lying midfielder.

[Philippe]

Derk Boerrigter, Kolbeinn Sigthórsson and Gregory van der Wiel will be back.

[ajaxcolombia]

Vam Rhijn must keep his spot no matter what!!!

[King Litti]

Glad to hear Boerrigter is on his way back. What a great signing he was. He has probably dobled he's worth this season. If Gregory needs more time to get in shape I'm not too worried. It's convenient that we can produce youngsters that can be called up to the first team if needed. Van Rhijn is a good example. Considering he is filling in for a player that is the starting right back for the oranje, he is doing a great job. Boilesen will be great for us too. I guess it is too much to hope for a replacement for Verthongen from our own ranks. Guess we have to go shopping next summer and even then it will be diffucult to find someone as good as Jan, cause he is the man.

[ajaxcolombia]

Wlcome to Ajaxtalk King Litti

[Orange14]

I guess it is too much to hope for a replacement for Verthongen from our own ranks.

Stefano Denswill will be an able replacement. He's about the same age as Alderweireld when he moved into a starting position.

[Tom_]

This game is tomorrow, right (11th April)?

PS I'm genuinely confused, not being a smartarse. I've just moved to Germany yesterday from Australia and my sense of dates is a little off!

[Thijs]

Yes, 9 pm.

[orange goblin]

Good returns in the squad: Boerrigter and van der Wiel are finally back from injuries and called for the game.
On the other hand, FdB has put off the team Bulykin and Lodeiro to make space. Koppers, Ozbiliz and Boilesen not fit yet, Cillessen, Sulejmani injured.

Kenneth Vermeer
Jeroen Verhoeven
Gregory van der Wiel
Toby Alderweireld
Jan Vertonghen
Vurnon Anita
Eyong Enoh
Christian Eriksen
Kolbeinn Sigthórsson
Lorenzo Ebecilio
Siem de Jong
Andre Ooijer
Theo Janssen
Daley Blind
Derk Boerrigter
Ismail Aissati
Ricardo van Rhijn
Jody Lukoki

[ajaxcolombia]

I still can't see why De Boer doesn't cosinder Lodeiro good enough for more first team action. He plays for his national side which is currently the beast national team in south america, why isn't he good enough to play for Ajax?

[Orange14]

I still can't see why De Boer doesn't cosinder Lodeiro good enough for more first team action. He plays for his national side which is currently the beast national team in south america, why isn't he good enough to play for Ajax?

Ajax have really not given him a run out in his natural position which is central midfield. He plays there for Uruguay but doesn't start for them. With Klassen and some other young players coming up, I'm not sure that there is a spot on the team for Lodeiro.

[King Litti]

There could have been more competition for Janssens spot on the first team. I know Janssen was the best player in the league last season and he cost a pretty penny, but that should not mean anything if he is not performing on the field now. Lodeiro should have had a chance. Bringing in Lodeiro more could have also given Janssen more motivation to prove that he deserves a place in the satrting 11.

Tricky game coming up. It take s more than luck to score 25 goals. Dost is dangerous inside the box. He has strenght, height and he positions himself well. Not much technique though. I mean he's no Ibrahimovic. What I have seen, lot of he's goal have been simple tap in's etc. This time he will face a tougher pare of central defenders too, but are our wing back's up for the challenge? Blind vs.Narsingh! If Narsingh and Assaidi overrun our guys Dost will have the space that he needs.

A win would be sweet, a tie would be ok and a defeat could cause a heart attack. When was the last time there were still six teams in the title race at the end of the season?

[Orange14]

Big match tonight and the key as always will be to control the midfield. If Ajax are able to do that they should be able to win this match. I would go back to the three midfielders that started against PSV: Eriksen, Enoh, and Anita though I am almost certain that FdB selects Janssen over Enoh. We need high pressure to negate Aissadi and Narsingh.

[GangstaRiB]

Big match tonight and the key as always will be to control the midfield. If Ajax are able to do that they should be able to win this match. I would go back to the three midfielders that started against PSV: Eriksen, Enoh, and Anita though I am almost certain that FdB selects Janssen over Enoh. We need high pressure to negate Aissadi and Narsingh.

Really big match and I'm really nervous for this one. Only one month ago, we were dead and burried. Now we are on the no1 spot and have everything in our own hands. I put my faith in Frank de Boer, he has shown that he can manage to win these 'must win'games. Remember Twente last year and PSV a few weeks ago.

[Philippe]

I trust Frank too. We've got to win this one. We will.

[Monkey Tonk]

Really big match and I'm really nervous for this one. Only one month ago, we were dead and burried. Now we are on the no1 spot and have everything in our own hands. I put my faith in Frank de Boer, he has shown that he can manage to win these 'must win'games. Remember Twente last year and PSV a few weeks ago.

Yes. Ajax could play like the team with nothing to lose before. Tonight that team is Heerenveen. Let's hope their f*cking Viking genes don't kick in.