14 Apr 2013: PSV - Ajax

[King Litti]

Title number 32 here we come.

[ajaxusa]

I will take a boring 0-0 draw.

You did not get your wish. Deal with it...

[Tom_]

Poulsen defensive midfielder. He'll start and he will be so important... Their main man has been Toivonen in recent weeks. Taking care of him will be Poulsen's job.

Spot on btw. Poulsen had a strong game... even made some good passes.

[SPL]

Well we just played to win highlighted by Boerrigter replacing Poulsen with the score 2-2 . Have to say PSV defence is very
poor and not one of them would get into any of the top teams .

ESPN guys including Steve Mc Laren making the point that Ajax for 4 seasons now just keep on winning after the winter break and finish stronger than any one else. You can see us win our remaining 4 games now. 8 points max for the title which is 2 wins and 2 draws but the others will keep dropping points .

[martinkohout]

surely we can't stuff it up from here?

Don't say that!!!

Seriously, great win today. Well done all around.

[Kowalczyk]

This is so great. We never win in Eindhoven. This is wonderful.

Needless to say we totally deserved this.

I love it.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

I will take a boring 0-0 draw.

You did not get your wish. Deal with it...

*LOL*

K.

[souras84]

I can't stop smiling!!!

[SPL]

glad my boring 0-0 raised laughs .Not for one minute did I expect such a result but a 0-0 draw would still have been better than losing and we would still have been 3 points clear. Winning in style was just great and now I hope the lightbulbers finish 3rd or 4th .They seem to have bought a few players with local council money and no CL means they will sell players and who knows may even play with some local youngsters next season.

[Orange14]

Against the best offense in the Eredivisie the Ajax defense stood tall, not conceding a goal from the direct run of play. PSV scored on a bonehead giveaway by Eriksen that was impossible to defend and on an excellent free kick by Mertens that hit the post and bounced right to Lens. I think Cillesen had the ball saved if it had not his the post. After the first 20 minutes, the Ajax offense was quite dangerous creating several opportunities (and getting a little lucky with van Bommel's assist on the first goal). In the end Ajax were the better of the two teams and the victory was deserved.

Player ratings:

Cillesen (7) - good game overall, managed to clear the ball on the dangerous corners and both goals were not really saveable
Blind (7.5) - another good game and his defending was particularly good
Moisander (7.5) - held his position well and didn't concede anything in the air
Alderwiereld (7.5) - same high quality as Moisander
van Rhijn (7.5) - solid on defense and had some good probing runs down the line as Mertens doesn't track back
Poulsen (7.5) - hard nosed play from the opening whistle and was quite lucky not to get carded
Eriksen (6.5) - his goal was just as much a picture of beauty as his giveaway was one of ugliness
de Jong (6) - weakest player on the pitch today his passing was imprecise and his lack of speed was telling
Fischer (6.5) - solid enough game and did the requisite tracking back
Sigthorsson (7) - got the go ahead goal and was better on the ball today
Schöne (7) - worked hard all day both on the wing and in the midfield
Babel (7) - excellent work as a sub
Boerrigter (7.5) - almost had a second goal but the game winner showed grit and determination
Hoessen (6.5) - has a few good touches coming in late

The team is in the driver's seat for the stretch run as everyone else dropped points this weekend. Nothing can be taken for granted as Heerenveen are playing much better but that's going to be a home match and Groningen away can be tricky. Kudos to FdB for having this team ready to play today!!! Forza Ajax

[Orange14]

glad my boring 0-0 raised laughs .Not for one minute did I expect such a result but a 0-0 draw would still have been better than losing and we would still have been 3 points clear. Winning in style was just great and now I hope the lightbulbers finish 3rd or 4th .They seem to have bought a few players with local council money and no CL means they will sell players and who knows may even play with some local youngsters next season.

If they don't finish 2nd there is likely to be a big exodus of players. They won't have the money to support them and probably Strootman, Toivonen, Lens and Mertens all leave. van Bommel will be forced to retire (don't know if he has a multi-year deal or not) as he's just not a quality player any more.

[souras84]

Daley "Maldini" Blind

[Cedric]

[Tom_]

Haha, Cedric, I haven't seen that smiley in years, and I suspect you were the last person to use it, too...

PSV scored on a bonehead giveaway by Eriksen that was impossible to defend and on an excellent free kick by Mertens that hit the post and bounced right to Lens. I think Cillesen had the ball saved if it had not his the post.

Will just add that I thought Lens was offside when the free kick was taken, but there was no decisive replay, not that it mattered in the end. Cillesen did his job well, he had a couple of nervy moments on the ball but he's got one hell of a long kick on him. All in all, only having seen 1.5 matches' evidence, I would say that I think Vermeer's the better keeper at the moment—he's been good catching crosses this season and his passing has improved too—but we're adequately covered if he leaves.

I think we'll be OK for three wins out of the last four...

[ajaxcolombia]

I will remember this game forever. This was beautiful, had too much fun. Ajax football is never boring

[Amol]

Great game. If there was only 1 thing I could say about us this game - it was our will to win. I never doubted that in the entirety of the game.

[ajaxusa]

I'll tell you a little story. This amuses me, anyway... I watched this morning's game with my two sons, Sean and Ryan. Some of you have met them. They're punks. ;-) Anyway, they're both teenagers now, which means they'd rather stick their noses into an iPhone screen than watch an amazing game of soccer. Well, early in the second half, I MADE them put their phones away for the rest of the game, and just sit there and watch. And of course it was awesome, and they yelled and high-fived and everything. But if I hadn't made them put their phones away, they would've missed it all. Father of the year.

[aveslacker]

Legend!

[Tom_]

I will remember this game forever. This was beautiful, had too much fun. Ajax football is never boring

Were you at the game?

[Kowalczyk]

Daley "Maldini" Blind

That's right.

Amazing, innit? Who would've guessed.

K.

[aveslacker]

Daley "Maldini" Blind

That's right.

Amazing, innit? Who would've guessed.

K.

I think if you go back a year ago, you'd find a lot of people claiming that Daley wasn't good enough, couldn't hack it at Ajax, etc. Typische Ajax-publiek.

[afcajax73]

I'll tell you a little story. This amuses me, anyway... I watched this morning's game with my two sons, Sean and Ryan. Some of you have met them. They're punks. ;-) Anyway, they're both teenagers now, which means they'd rather stick their noses into an iPhone screen than watch an amazing game of soccer. Well, early in the second half, I MADE them put their phones away for the rest of the game, and just sit there and watch. And of course it was awesome, and they yelled and high-fived and everything. But if I hadn't made them put their phones away, they would've missed it all. Father of the year.

Haha, nice one for that...

does mean though that now they have the chance to make you stick your nose in an iPhone for an afternoon?

[ajaxcolombia]

I will remember this game forever. This was beautiful, had too much fun. Ajax football is never boring

Were you at the game?

Oh no, would have loved it. I watched it in a bar in Amsterdam, still fantastic anyway.

[souras84]

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/16/ ... the-wings/

Van Bommel was later seen complaining to Poulsen about his persistent fouling, which may be the most ironic incident in the history of football.

[Kowalczyk]

http://www.zonalmarking.net/2013/04/16/ ... the-wings/

Van Bommel was later seen complaining to Poulsen about his persistent fouling, which may be the most ironic incident in the history of football.

K.