07 Oct 2012: Ajax - FC Utrecht

[paladinby]

If I remember correctly our record against utrecht in the last five league games is 4 losses and this tie. It's uncanny. Why we have some much difficulty to adapt to their rugby style of football?

I don't think it's Utrecht style of football or something. There were several occasions today when we moved the ball from enemy's box to Vermeer in 4-5 passes including one from corner (LOL really why don't just cross). It's just our bad play today including several players having day off while being technically on the pitch.

[Orange14]

This was just a terrible, horrible, disgusting match and the blame starts with FdB and goes down to every single player who stepped on the pitch today. This is simply a team that has no sense of field position and is so predictable in build up that a thug team such as Utrecht who have little football skills can come away with a draw and very nearly snatch a win. There needs to be some major rethinking within the coaching staff about how to build up the attack and instill some positive approach to playing the ball forwards rather than always going backwards. Certainly with one or two minutes left in the match you don't play the ball all the way back to your keeper (wake up Sporkslede, the match is on the line and your team needs a goal). The team has to adjust to the opponent and the match official. If you are not going to get any calls on pushes and shoves, don't invite them, get rid of the ball to a teammate. Don't get caught in 1-2 or 1-3 situations, there has to be a player open for a pass (or at least there should be if they are moving into space), this is Ajax remember.

The team really needs to step back and figure some things out. If you cannot win a ball in the air, don't play for it. Keep the ball on the ground with short quick passes and beat the opposition to the open space.

Player ratings:

Vermeer (6) - made some saves and kicked poorly, played some very bad angles but got lucky because only Sporkslede could shoot on target for Utrecht
Blind (6) - better on the offensive end than defense as he lost his positioning a couple of times
Moisander (6) - OK and didn't make any major mistakes
Alderwiereld (7) - probably the best Ajax player on the field
van Rhijn (6) - average game but should be more of a force going forward in a match such as this one
Poulsen (6.5) - OK and nice pass to Eriksen to get the goal set up; don't know why he was subbed out
Eriksen (5) - forgive me, but you really, really, need to FINISH CHANCES IN A GAME LIKE THIS ONE
de Jong (6) - moved into space a lot better today and seemed to have an idea of what needed to be done
Sana (6.0) - very active but again tries to do too much when he has the ball, sometimes a simple pass is better than a lot of dribbling
Babel (7) - second best player on the pitch and the only one who was strong on the ball
Lukoki (6) - good pass setting up the goal but needs to realize when a thug team is on the field and PASS earlier, you are not stronger than your opponent
Sporkslede (5.5) - unfortunate with the own goal and his back pass with the game winding down was inexcusable
Boerrigter (6) - OK coming on for Lukoki, at least he has the physical ability to battle in a game like this one
Schöne (NR) - not sure if he even made a contribution coming on for Blind

Week off for the WC qualifiers and a chance to do some regrouping for the players who do not have any NT duty. FdB needs to start seriously thinking about offensive build up. This slow level of play is just not going to win matches.

EDIT -changed Sana to a '6' after some thinking. Agree with SPL, he was probably the best of the wingers today

[SPL]

didn't think Sana was too bad but he clearly ran out of steam.I thought Hoesen should have come on for him in the last 10 mins.Why Schone for Blind I have no idea. Sporkslede is not ready for this level yet and that is not because of his OG.

[SPL]

Poulsen went off with an ankle injury but its not too bad. This Tuesday Enoh makes his comeback when a Jong Ajax team play Trencin of Slovakia in a friendly. I expect Enoh will play some of the game v Heracles ie the next game but apart from that cannot see too many changes to the current starting lineup.

As we approach the seasons quarter way mark a few observations from me that I am sure may be shot down by some of you.

Boerrigter does not look 100% fit to me and the fact he has a bad back is really bad news as you can mend busted knees and achilles but bad backs are never likely to be cured. Overall we are struggling a bit this season but losing Vertoghen and Anita was always going to be a big problem and waiting until the season to start before finally buying Moisander did not help. He is Ok but certainly not a Vertonghen or a Vermaelen .I always thought we should have kept Anita another season but he never felt really wanted imo. Enoh and Poulsen are not in the same class as him .

Eriksen does not look like a 20m euros player on this seasons form and maybe he cannot learn anymore in this team or this league. Would agree with a comment earlier that he looks an Arsenal type of player .

With Boerrigter clearly not the same as before his back injury and Sulejmani hopefully leaving in January if he can get fit, our 2 wingers Sana and Lukoki look like works in progress to me. I am not sure what Fischer's best position is as he has been playing left midfield for the A1 youths but he might get some games as a winger after the winter break.

The only new signing that I am pleased with is Babel and finally he is being played as a central striker .

On our defence with Moisander finally bedding down and V Rhijn and Blind both looking better with more games under their belts the 4 of them are doing ok considering Vermeer cannot kick to save his life. A good shot stopper but his inclusion as Dutch No 3 this week suggests he is the best Dutch goalie in the Eredivisie!!! I still do not have confidence in him .

The only real possible problem with our defence is the back up are all kids with nil experience and certainly not getting it playing at Jong Ajax level.Ligeon Denswil and Dijks are all just out of the youths and Veltman and Koppers only a year out the youth. If say Toby and V Rhijn were injured how would we cope with Ligeon and Veltman playing(ok would imagine Poulsen would play CD) We should have signed another short term experienced right footed defender in the summer thus Veltman especially could have gone out on loan and got playing time at someone like RKC or Willem 11. I expect to see Toby move on next summer and Veltman is not going to show he can step up as a replacement stuck in Jong Ajax and unused first team sub (he was not even that today)

Ok feel free to say my thoughts are crap.

[Orange14]

@SPL - pretty much spot on with where I see things going. Biggest disappointment for me is Eriksen and I'm thinking now that maybe he is just not all that good. He doesn't have great speed to get away from defensive midfielders and I don't like how lazy his passes have been. There was simply no excuse for missing the shot in the final minutes of the match today. The defense is what it is and has generally been quite good. Blind is much better this season and he's surprised me on the offensive side. van Rhijn is still young but at this stage just as good as van der Wiel. Anita was on the bench at Newcastle today and I wonder if he now has some regrets; he is the biggest loss for the team.

EDIT ADDED: Had to run off to a party with my wife :-) so I'll try to finish up my thoughts. The biggest problem with this team over the last several years has been the midfield. There is just too little quickness in terms of movement and passing. Some of this is because of the players (Poulsen and de Jong this year, Enoh and Janssen from last year) and some of it is because of coaching tactics. I think because of this we see so many back passes; I've never seen a team that plays it back to the keeper as much as Ajax have over the last two seasons. Now this has to be ascribed to de Boer's thinking on build up and maybe he recognizes the limitations. That being said, there has to be a way to bring the front three back a little more to try to help out. Too often cross field passes and long balls over the top are tried but with little success. I was watching the Liverpool/Udinese Europa League tie the other day and you see what Liverpool are trying to do which is emulate a Dutch 4-3-3 style. Now they have their own problems with personnel but they manage to get the ball into the attacking area with consistency and seldom play the ball back to Reina. I think this is where Anita is really missing. I don't see things improving much until they are able to speed things up. As long as we don't drop too many more points I'm confident that things will work out, the club always does much better in the second half of the season.

[Kowalczyk]

Bah. [2]

K.

[Philippe]

We need more movement and speed in our midfield.
We miss Enoh.

[Philippe]

our 2 wingers Sana and Lukoki look like works in progress

He needs to wok harder.
http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetb ... ana__.html

[Orange14]

Lukoki suffered a torn meniscus cartilage in his knee yesterday and is out for several weeks. Not known whether he will require surgery or not.

[Amol]

I hate saying this but, here we go again.

[Orange14]

I hate saying this but, here we go again.

Cheer up. When the daffodils begin to bloom Ajax will be off and running and when the tulips hit their peak we will be in first place!!! I go into every match expecting a victory.

[paladinby]

Lukoki suffered a torn meniscus cartilage in his knee yesterday and is out for several weeks. Not known whether he will require surgery or not.

That's bad given the fact that Sulejmani is also injured. We have only Boerrigter and Sana available as wingers and possibly Babel can move to that position. Is there anyone capable at the reserves (no Ebecillio, plz)?

[souras84]

maybe it's Fisher's or even Andersen's (!!!) big chance

[SPL]

Ebecilio and de Sa are the Jong Ajax wingers although Fischer plays on the wing I am not sure his best position. Hoesen will now make the bench and will get playing time with Babel
being used wide.

Heracles next then its Man City and F word. As Oranje so poetically puts it when the tulips hit their peak we will be in first place. We haven't got a strong enough squad to cope with injuries and playing CL every other week especially when our group sticks us with 3 top teams.

We are a team that starts winning in January and even in 09/10 under Jol we had a great run after the winter break and ended up 1 point off the title.

[Kowalczyk]

I hate saying this but, here we go again.

I hate saying this, but you're very right.

K.