23 Sep 2012: ADO Den Haag - Ajax

[Tom_]

Great play by Babel to get the ball to van Rhijn. Now let's put a few more past them

[Amol]

Boerrigter + FDB's halftime speech has at least increased our tempo in general.

[souras84]

but first we must be sure we make no mistakes again in the back

[souras84]

OMG OMG, I want to get in the computer and beat the shit out of Eriksen and maybe De Jong

[Tom_]

Two massive chances to win it for Boerrigter then Eriksen does his best to hand it to ADO. What's with his passing, it's pathetic!

[Orange14]

It's only faint praise to say that at least the team came away with a point. We have had trouble with Den Haag in the past but this was more of the club's own making rather than any quality by Den Haag. A decent final 15 minutes gave hope that a win was in the cards but some decent goal keeping and an inability to make the final pass did Ajax in today. Not many players other than Babel can be singled out for praise and I still think that this team is just not mentally tough enough to play all the fixtures that they have coming up. It really is a mixed blessing to win the league and then have to deal with Champions League football. Utrecht cup match will be interesting given that we dropped both matches to them last season then comes Twente which now looks like a must win match followed by Madrid in CL.

Player Ratings:

Vermeer (7) - one tough save got made but his kicking was erratic as usual.
Blind (6.5) - another pretty decent game and was good at getting the ball distributed
Moisander (5.5) - three really horrific plays, one which led to a goal and two others that gave away dangerous free kicks but otherwise was good
Alderweireld (6.5) - decent enough today keeping things clear in the back
van Rhijn (7) - it was a weak cross but it somehow got there for Babel to put it away, a couple of other good crosses late in the match
Sererro (NR) - came off with a thigh injury early on
Schöne (5.5) - no better than average and subbed off at half time
Eriksen (5.5) - absolutely shockingly poor match today, limp passes which led to lost possession, can he get out of this funk he is in or is he really over-hyped? I really don't now at this stage
Lukoki (6.5) - improving as he doesn't get caught dribbling into trouble but he really needs to deliver a better cross
de Jong (6) - moving between striker and midfield today and this cannot be settling for him
Babel (7.5) - best player on the pitch today and the only one who seemed to understand what needed to be done
Poulsen (6) - decent enough game but he slows the offense down as he too often tries the over the top pass which just doesn't work
Boerrigter (6.5) - had some signs of returning to the type of player he was in the first part of last season, some good crosses and a couple of chances on goal
Sulejmani (NR) - looked like he's returning to shape but not on long enough to have an impact

Don't know what FdB can do about the mental aspects of the game but he's now got three tough fixtures in a row!

[SPL]

well we woke up in the second and Babel should be a central striker ,lets face it he played left wing in his early days for us because the striker at the time was the goal machine KJH .de Jong and Eriksen were both poor imo. Still unconvinced about Erisken being a world class talent .

[Kowalczyk]

Same old story. Always the same. Den Haag away and Utrecht away. Drives me nuts.

K.

[Orange14]

Still unconvinced about Erisken being a world class talent .

I think a lot of this is because he had a good first season for Ajax and then made the Danish WC team. I think he's a decent player but at this point in time, I don't think he starts for anyone of the top ten teams in Europe. I suspect he realizes this as well which is why he hasn't forced a move away from Ajax. He really does need to keep his head in the game and focus on the basics rather than cute plays. When he does the former you can see the promise in his play. Right now my nickname for him is 'The Enigma'

[Kowalczyk]

Eriksen annoyed the crap out of me today.

K.

[Philippe]

Schöne does not seem to be Ajax material. Eriksen had a off day. De Jong was invisible. Boerrigter missed clear chances.
The team started playing well 30 mn before the end. Too late. What a waste !

[Ayman]

Frank de Boer needs to play some kids in there. Eriksen clearly needs a break, replace him with Klassen!

[Orange14]

Frank de Boer needs to play some kids in there. Eriksen clearly needs a break, replace him with Klassen!

I think Klaasen is more of a Siem de Jong type of midfielder and not a playmaker as Eriksen is.

[Philippe]

Too much spaghetti for breakfast ?

[orange goblin]

I think Klaassen is more of a Siem de Jong type of midfielder and not a playmaker as Eriksen is.

totally agree

[souras84]

I think Klaassen is more of a Siem de Jong type of midfielder and not a playmaker as Eriksen is.

totally agree

which means? super sub? cause you ain't gonna make a career in Ajax with these attributes