21 Nov 2012: Ajax - BV Borussia Dortmund

[paladinby]

That ref is a moron. Every 50/50 goes Dortmund way.

Our wingers and strikers are too far away from competing at top level. They hardly produce anything in Eredivisie...

[Van basten]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

[Tom_]

Well, Madrid is 1–0 up in Manchester. We just have to hope that they win there and Dortmund beat City at home, but after last season I'm not too keen on relying on the results of other games.

[Amol]

Vermeer just isn't a good keeper is he? Can't kick, has troubles on crosses, lets balls in through his legs. He's really good at reflex saves when the ball is hit directly at him I guess.

I'm more concerned about the fact that no one bothered to pick Götze up off the free kick than I am about Vermeer's shot stopping ability.

3–0, that's it

That too. Can't tell if its lack of ability or lack of concentration or both.

Either Enoh or Poulsen need to come off. They give a semblance of safety, but the play really has been going around them.

[Frans]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?
You can't blame the keeper if the players in front of him just let the opposition through time after time after time.

[Van basten]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?

really

[acab]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?
You can't blame the keeper if the players in front of him just let the opposition through time after time after time.

Really? Vermeer has fault for all goals, and the second was entirely his.

[King Litti]

god damn, those germans sure are efficient. 4 shots 3 goals.

[Orange14]

Incredibly poor display of football by Ajax tonight. Amazing statistic flashed up on my screen that Ajax had completed almost 80% of over 200 passes in the first half. But to what end? Better than 2/3 were back passes because of the immobile midfield. FdB made a very bad decision to play both Enoh and Poulsen in the midfield. Dortmund are playing this very smart with the two forwards pressing the two center backs with two high lines of four behind them. Poulsen and/or Enoh just cannot receive the ball short in the middle and both fullbacks get immediately pressed by the midfield wing players and there's no option except for a back pass to start things over again.

Three good counter goals by Dortmund, two were clear defensive lapses. Poulsen could not cover Reus on the first one and van Rhijn had no clue where Götze was on the second and could not recover to stop him. The third was problematic as Vermeer had to react back after Alderwiereld deflected the ball (I really don't know why defender stick a foot out like this; give the keeper a clear chance to save it!) and then couldn't fully clear the ball. Don't blame Vermeer at all; Lewandowski pounced on the deflection and buried it.

I have to confess this is the first time I have really been bummed out by this team and am tempted to just turn the match off and watch one of the others. Anyway, Enoh is carrying a Yellow card because of two clumsy plays so I'm not sure that he can stay on and Poulsen comes off. Fischer has to come on in the midfield and de Jong has to move up front. We cannot have three midfielders who cannot play the ball. The Eriksen as false #9 experiment cannot continue in this match.

[paladinby]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?

really

I mean really. Sometimes keeper needs to make saves other than balls that fly directly into him. Cilessen was never given a chance after all. So we've signed a reserve keeper for 3 mln and were too greedy to spent some money on a proper winger. That's a really bad management.

[Orange14]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?
You can't blame the keeper if the players in front of him just let the opposition through time after time after time.

Really? Vermeer has fault for all goals, and the second was entirely his.

Poulsen is at fault on #1; van Rhijn on #2 and if you look at the reply, Vermeer is screened but might have done better; Alderwiereld's foot was at fault on #3. I don't think Vermeer can be faulted much at all and may Casillas makes one or two of those saves but doubt any other keeper would.

EDIT: Don't rag on Vermeer on errors made by others and a massive coaching mistake by FdB of starting midfielders who can't get the job done offensively.

[paladinby]

Incredibly poor display of football by Ajax tonight. Amazing statistic flashed up on my screen that Ajax had completed almost 80% of over 200 passes in the first half. But to what end? Better than 2/3 were back passes because of the immobile midfield. FdB made a very bad decision to play both Enoh and Poulsen in the midfield. Dortmund are playing this very smart with the two forwards pressing the two center backs with two high lines of four behind them. Poulsen and/or Enoh just cannot receive the ball short in the middle and both fullbacks get immediately pressed by the midfield wing players and there's no option except for a back pass to start things over again.

Those are very good and true observations. De Boer is trying to mimic Barcelona's playstyle, that's why we are trying to hold that ball up. But it doesn't make any sense if half of the line-up is changed during each midseason.

[SPL]

very poor display not sure why we need 2 defensive midfielders and having no striker does not work. Stick Fischer Hoesen and Schone on.Lets hope we do not let too many more goals in.

[Frans]

Fuck you Vermer. Just FUCK YOU.

really?

I mean really. Sometimes keeper needs to make saves other than balls that fly directly into him. Cilessen was never given a chance after all. So we've signed a reserve keeper for 3 mln and were too greedy to spent some money on a proper winger. That's a really bad management.

I agree a keeper should make saves, and that maybe he could have saved one out of the first two goals. But the fact is the team is getting blown off the park and are 3 goals down. That's not Vermeer's fault. I think Orange14 has the most balanced view.

[Tom_]

I'm surprised we're even talking about Vermeer. He's meant to keep out a shot from Lewandoski 1v1 on the edge of the 6 yard box? He did well to get a hand on it.

[Amol]

Defenders make mistakes - that's why we have a keeper. The keeper is supposed to save their asses - at least sometimes.

They were not all Vermeer's mistakes, but it would have been great if he managed to save at least 1 or 2.

[souras84]

Enoh = Nothing

We can't score against those defences while playing like that

[Amol]

Finally seeing some flow to the game after Enoh was taken off.

[Amol]

WTF

[Orange14]

Just when I'm thinking Moisander is the 'best' player on the pitch for Ajax, he falls asleep and lets Lewandowski get an easy one.

[acab]

Well, i can't denied BVB has a lot of luck too. This is simply their day. They just converted every chance they had.

[zeux]

@Orange: Do you have a grudge against Blind? I think he is the best on the pitch right now. he plays with heart and really looks before he passes, tries to get the play forward. You also often give him low grades, when I think he does fine.

[Amol]

Alright boys - lets at least get on the scoresheet.

[Tom_]

City have equalised against Madrid. I can't work out if it matters or not—we're two points ahead of them, one if they get a draw. They'd still have to beat Dortmund, right?

[Amol]

City have equalised against Madrid. I can't work out if it matters or not—we're two points ahead of them, one if they get a draw. They'd still have to beat Dortmund, right?

Yeah I think they look at head to head first if there's a tie. If Man City draw today and then against Dortmund, we go through.