10 Feb 2013: Ajax - Roda JC

[Orange14]

This is classic 21st-century Ajax. We must've had close to thirty shots and they've had ... less than 5?

Just like against Sparta several years ago!

[SPL]

Not really sure why you need both Poulsen and Schone in the team against Roda . Agree Siggy is the only threat down the middle and needs to start .If he is not yet fit to play 90 mins why was Hoesen not on the bench .He is our other proper striker

[Orange14]

@SPL - problem is that FdB has a blind spot when it comes to players. For the same reason that Sulejmani never gets a match, de Jong is never left out of the lineup and never subbed off even when he is having no impact on the match. Our commentaters on the ESPN US feed realized very early in the first half that Poulsen was the wrong choice and that Sigthorsson needed to come on for him dropping de Jong off into the midfield. I really wish that we had a player like Feyenoord's Clasie who has very high handling speed. Watching our passing game is sometimes like watching ice melt in the winter, everything is too slow.

EDIT: I really hope de Jong transfers this summer, he is holding this team back.

[ajaxcolombia]

Transfer policy is also a place where we have it wrong. Why bringing such a one-dimsensional player like Christian Pulsen to replace a dynamo like Anita? We needed somebody with versatility and not a player whi is incredibly slow in making decisions with the ball on his feet and very rarely plays a pass forward. Christian Pulsen was a horrible decision for this team.

[Van basten]

Transfer policy is also a place where we have it wrong. Why bringing such a one-dimsensional player like Christian Pulsen to replace a dynamo like Anita? We needed somebody with versatility and not a player whi is incredibly slow in making decisions with the ball on his feet and very rarely plays a pass forward. Christian Pulsen was a horrible decision for this team.

I actually hope we change our whole midfield this summer. (Poulsen, Schone, Eriksen, De Jong..)

[Orange14]

@van Basten - I feel that Schöne is a valuable player and really does try to move the team forward. I just saw over on the Eriksen page that he is not going to extend his contract. I think he's in for a rude awakening if he doesn't make the right choice about teams to move to. I've been disappointed in his play for many league matches this season. It seems like he only came to play our CL matches. I'm not sure that his handling speed is up with the elite midfielders at bigger Euro clubs.

[Tom_]

Orange, agree with your comment on Schöne—IMO he's been one of our consistently better performers this season.

Also agree with comments about Kolbeinn. You can see when he's on there he's just a cut above the rest of our team in terms of power and strength, which is something we miss at number 9. If he's fit enough I expect him to start in the coming weeks.

Not sure what to make of Eriksen. As I've said before I think he's massively overrated. Sometimes he comes up with a fantastic pass etc. but for the most part he seems to play far too slowly and give the ball away far too easily.

Also wasn't blown away by Cuenca, but it's only his first game. Looks like he has good skills etc. but doesn't like to pass the ball. Hmm.

[SPL]

I have been happy with Schone but I am not a fan of Poulsen or Siem as a striker. I made comments yesterday about Christian and no way will he get a really big team Spurs or Liverpool will be his limit.Spurs don't even play Vertonghen every game so he could end up sitting on the bench alot if he comes to England! I read alot that Maher is far better than him but no way will Ajax fork out 8 to10m for Maher if Christian leaves.

FDB's problems have been with Siggy and even Babel injured his main striking role is either Hoesen,not yet the finished article or Siem. Hope Siggy starts from now on he did add alot when he came on .

I agree with Tom's words about Cuenca but he did well to keep the ball and set up the goal.He did indeed not look to pass the ball which was rather odd for someone from Barca.

Yesterday was one of those games where you dominate for 90 mins ,loads of shots and the opposition makes one shot and score.

[Orange14]

I have been happy with Schone but I am not a fan of Poulsen or Siem as a striker. I made comments yesterday about Christian and no way will he get a really big team Spurs or Liverpool will be his limit.Spurs don't even play Vertonghen every game so he could end up sitting on the bench alot if he comes to England! I read alot that Maher is far better than him but no way will Ajax fork out 8 to10m for Maher if Christian leaves.

Poulsen was a stop gap player who was brought in for a short period fill in since none of the youth players were ready to step in and some of the others such as Bonivacia were not good enough. I'm not a Maher fan because I doubt his quickness is sufficient. The one player who would really be great for the team is Clasie from Feynoord who has great handling speed with the ball but of course is off limits to us!