11 Aug 2013: AZ - Ajax

[souras84]

No penalty whatsoever! And a red on top of that!!! Verbeek constantly complaining about the refs and again gets what he wants...

[rjf1]

If the same play would have happened at the other end, with the Ajax player going down, i guarantee you that that referee would have waved play on. The minute I saw him from the opening kickoff I knew he would find a way to shaft us -- this is not the first time by a long shot with him. It's like he feels that he has to 'even things up' for the underdog team.

[SPL]

Have to say it did not look a penalty .If he did clip the legs then it would be ared and penalty . It completly changed the game and in the end we could have lost 4or 5-2.

[saddlerian]

Sat in internet cafe and watched the game on Eredivisie live here in Crete....totally depressed!! rather lackluster performance! No, probably wasn't a penalty , but that's no excuse for the way Ajax played!
I think it showed that do Boer means business when he takes the GK off at HT as he showed no confidence in his own ability.
Hope it gets better for next week! I can't be there, but I've "negotiated" the game to be shown live off my laptop....

Come on Ajax....you're better than this!!!!

[Orange14]

The penalty call by Bas Nijhuis determined the outcome of the match. He saw contact and by the rules of the game, a Red card was warranted and van Rhijn was sent off. It was a weak call and we probably have all seen these not called but this is football. For the most part the team played pretty decent defense, defusing a lot of pressure and clearing dangerous balls. Once down to 10 men it was difficult to do much more than try to salvage the point following the penalty kick. I continue to worry about de Jong in mid-field as it leaves virtually no option to attack down the right wing. Bojan was pretty much left on his own and van Rhijn hardly ever overlaps in contrast to Blind on the other side. This leaves the team pretty much unidimensional with Blind, Eriksen, and Fischer trying to keep things moving into the attacking third. I don't think this aspect of the game is going to change much since we saw the same thing last season.

Player Ratings:

Vermeer (4) - just a poor match. Flapped at the cross that led to the goal and misjudged an earlier one and just barely got a hand on it
Blind (7) - really good match; neutralized Beerens and moved up the flank well on offense
Moisander (6.5) - could he have done better on Elm's volley, maybe not but a decent game
Alderwiereld (7) - good game and shows no fear in moving up to the attack
van Rhijn (5) - tangle of feet was unfortunate but it was a Red card and PK
Schöne (5.5) - in for Poulsen at the start but wasn't much of a factor at all
Eriksen (7.5) - great free kick and really tried to drive the offense for the full 90 minutes; not sure we can afford to lose him this transfer window
de Jong (5.5) - scored a goal but otherwise was not good; gave the ball away rather cheaply a couple of times
Fischer (6) - lively but didn't threaten much
Sigthorsson (6.5) - held the ball up quite well but never got the ball in position to score
Bojan (7) - better today and had some wicked crosses
Cillessen (6.5) - decent enough coming in for Vermeer; will he start next week against Feyenoord?
Ligeon (6) - did a good job coming in following van Rhijn's Red, seems to want to press forward more
Poulsen (6) - questionable substitution but I guess FdB wanted to play for the draw on the road

First slip up of the season and it happens to every team. Feyenoord come into town next week having been embarrassed twice now and we all know that the Klassiker never is easy.

[Ayman]

Vermeer's substitution, and perhaps being dropped for next weekend should be a wake up call to other players not performing. Especially Siem de Jong, if he thinks being captain means he is immuned from the drop, he is in for a shock, same goes with the likes of Van Rhijn, Siggy and Moisander. I think its good, to get the best line up early, rathe than the form crisis by November or December (Remember that happened to Steklenberg, Heitinga, Pienaar in 2004 against Maccabi Tel Aviv). It is good to bench players who are first choice and arnt performing well, maybe they wil work harder in training.

[ajaxusa]

I haven't seen the play. But to answer your question: "It has to be a deliberate foul to get a red, doesn't it?"

Not necessarily. Red card comes out when a direct free kick foul also constitutes serious foul play (e.g. really nasty tackle, thrown elbow) or denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity, or on the player's second cautionable offense.

[Orange14]

I haven't seen the play. But to answer your question: "It has to be a deliberate foul to get a red, doesn't it?"

Not necessarily. Red card comes out when a direct free kick foul also constitutes serious foul play (e.g. really nasty tackle, thrown elbow) or denies an obvious goalscoring opportunity, or on the player's second cautionable offense.

Nijhuis is quoted in de Telegraaf that he saw contact and it was the denial of a goal scoring opportunity that brought about the Red card.

[Tom_]

OK. I thought it had to be a "professional" (deliberate) foul that denies a goal scoring opportunity in order to earn a direct red, but I'm often wrong on technical refereeing points. Irrelevant anyway because if the ref thought there was contact it's understandable that he thought it was a professional foul. Actually, I didn't see anything that convinced me there WAS contact, but as you said, that's football.

[Manneken Pis]

OK. I thought it had to be a "professional" (deliberate) foul that denies a goal scoring opportunity in order to earn a direct red, but I'm often wrong on technical refereeing points. Irrelevant anyway because if the ref thought there was contact it's understandable that he thought it was a professional foul. Actually, I didn't see anything that convinced me there WAS contact, but as you said, that's football.

Van Rijn clearly pulled his shirt (they showed a different angle post game pn Dutch tv).
The red was justified, as he denied a scoring opportunity.
Stupid fron Van Rijn.
Not the end of the world though, its only mid August.

Cheers,

MP

[rjf1]

I don't know why players commit a red card/scoring opportunity foul in the first place -- produces a penalty and sending off, so you can forget about winning the rest of the game -- better to let the player go -- anything could happen (stumble, scuffed shot, etc.) -- at worst you give up the goal which you will most likely do from the penalty spot anyway, but at least you won't be down a man. Especially in this case, where I believe Cillesen had a fair chance to smother the shot.

[King Litti]

I don't know why players commit a red card/scoring opportunity foul in the first place -- produces a penalty and sending off, so you can forget about winning the rest of the game -- better to let the player go -- anything could happen (stumble, scuffed shot, etc.) -- at worst you give up the goal which you will most likely do from the penalty spot anyway, but at least you won't be down a man. Especially in this case, where I believe Cillesen had a fair chance to smother the shot.

I agree. Of course it's difficult to control your reactions in the heat of the game when you see a guy (the guy you are supposed to mark) running towards the goal, but this:

Van Rijn clearly pulled his shirt

has got to stop! It's not even effective in slowing down players, but it always gives the opponent a chanse to throw himself to the ground and make a (just) claim for a freekick, penalty or a booking.

This not the first time I've seen van Rhijn doing this. Blind has been guyilty of this as well lots of times. He has some trouble with fast wingers, but I hope he does not continue with this shirt grabbing because that will only lead to trouble. Use your hands a bit, but dont make it so goddamn obvious by grabbing a shirt. A ref can spot that miles a way and has pretty much no choise but the call it a foul.

[Tom_]

Ha, glad I've got you guys to keep me in check: I was about 80 % convinced from the live footage that Viergever had seen that the ball was going to Cillessen so he took a dive. Still haven't seen the shirt pull but in that case you can only blame van Rhijn, and whatever way you look at it the penalty was caused by his defensive mistake (i.e. losing his man).

Blind (or was it someone else?) actually had a go at pulling Viergever's shirt in the exact same position after van Rhijn had already been sent off.

[Cedric]

A bit late but you can see the shirt pull here : http://www.ajaxshowtime.com/hoofdnieuws ... waar-.html

And Van Rhijn still manages to complain about the penalty...

[Tom_]

Thanks Cedric. Well at least he won't be around to give away a penalty and get sent off against Feyenoord this weekend, but I wonder if someone else will step up and make it three conceded in our first three games?