Young Ajax in the Jupiler League

[Tom_]

Pretty easily overpowered by a physically much stronger VVV (who were fouling quite consistently too). Still there was a spell or two of nice passing, Bazoer looks good on the ball and Enoh does fine at this level. Wasn't impressed by either Meleg or de Bondt but Vermeij looked busy coming on in the 80th minute or so.

[SPL]

VVV finished 5-1 winners and it really was men against boys. Vermeij looked ok up front that was about it attack wise.

The defence were not up to this level. Martina and Kuipers are not good enough at this level and Riedewald has been playing DM for the A1,he is just 18.Dankerlui ,17,came on for Martina and is also a winger being converted to FB .He plays for the A2 youths so this level is too much for him at this stage.

Until they get some injured back and some of the first team spare players they are going to be beaten easily .You cannot stick a bunch of raw teenagers in at this level and expect anything other than defeats.

[SPL]

playing Dordrecht tonight 20.00 CET and its on TV .Livetv.ru/en show they will have a stream. They list tomorrow's cup game as well.

[SPL]

line up

Vermeer,

Martina, V d Hoorn,Riedewald,Kuipers

Enoh, Bazoer, Lobotka

Sana,Castillion,Vermeij

[Tom_]

Your thoughts SPL?

I'm only concentrating on the game about 20 % but I haven't seen any good signs from our young attackers in the first half, although the weather looks awful and it's not really a football match at times. The wingers haven't been in the game much as most of Jong Ajax's trips into the Dordrecht half were direct dribbles down the centre.

Poor old Mike van der Hoorn was at least partly to blame on the Dordrecht goal as he duffed a clearance straight to the other team then fell over near the six yard box, playing two attackers onside! He looks like he's struggling for confidence.

[SPL]

not very impressed Tom .Vermeij nudged the Dordrecht attacker who went down and as there was only the goalie ahead of them poor Vermeij got a red . Castillion missed an easy chance but not alot to say at present.

[Orange14]

I caught the last 10 minutes of the half so didn't see the sending off. I figured something was wrong when I only counted 9 field players.

EDIT: just saw the replay and it was really a weak call by the match official. I'm getting so cynical about football players who collapse when someone breathes on them.

[Tom_]

It's the players who are cynical!

If we had retrospective bookings (based on video evidence) for diving in the top leagues the problem would disappear fairly quickly.

[Orange14]

It's the players who are cynical!

If we had retrospective bookings (based on video evidence) for diving in the top leagues the problem would disappear fairly quickly.

This would do so much to clean up the game! They allow appeals of Red cards based on video replays so why not this?

[Orange14]

How did Vermeer not save that? I didn't see any deflection at all.

[Orange14]

Not much inspiring play from Jong Ajax. Lots of lightweight players who are easily muscled away by stronger Dordrecht players. Being a man down didn't help much at all.

[SPL]

very unimpressed ,4-0 defeat. Will stick some comments later

[SPL]

They play Helmond Sports away tomorrow 20.00 CET and its on live tv so should get a stream. As I will be watching the local fireworks display,great view from my bedroom, I will miss the 1st half but will catch some of the 2nd half .I am expecting another defeat as Jong Ajax have lost 5 in a row and are now 4 points from bottom place Oss.Helmond are in the top 10.

Big problem is that those used as subs for the first cannot play the same weekend for Jong, and even more of a problem when 4 or 5 first team squad are injured ,like at present,the unused subs ie Hoesen V d Hoorn and Sana last night, could play but don't as they are needed for CL games.

There is little experience in the Jong team at present ,only Enoh who cannot be that motivated plus Castillion who frankly is rubbish. Bazoer,Tete, Riedewald and Hendriks are all eligible still for our U19 youth teams and have played some games but even Bazoer is not being played every game or even 90 mins everytime.Lobotka is looking decent but is the same as Bazoer ie not playing every game .

The rest of the Jong squad all seem to be not good enough and just moderate players making up the nos. Meleg comes across as ordinary at present.

Playing in this league is about developing young players for the first but there are some strong teams and tough players out there so time will tell . The vast majority of talent at our club are aged 16 and 17 and are not ready for Jupiler league at present.

[Tom_]

They looked pretty poor last week, but it is a very young team and it has to be good experience—particularly if it helps the kids learn how to play against physically stronger teams. But first-team players 'out to pasture' like Enoh or building up playing time before returning to the the first team, like van der Hoorn, really should be doing better.

[Orange14]

Moisander is scheduled to play 1/2 today.

[SPL]

lineup

V d Hart

Martina, Gravenberch,Moisander,Kuipers

Enoh, Bazoer, Lobotka

Sana, Hoesen, de Bondt

subs Leeuwenburgh V d Hoorn,El Hasnaoui, Hendriks,Wang, Castillion


Good to see Moisander is fit . I posted yesterday that we were unlikely to see any unused first team subs but Hoesen is playing and will probably get 60 mins. V d Hoorn will get 45 mins as replacement for Moisander but wont be in the squad v Celtic if Moisander gets through tonight fit . de Sa is fit for Celtic so Sana returns to the Jong . de Sa took Sana's place in the first team squad a few weeks back and Sana has only briefly been back in the first team due to de Sa's injury.

Got to go and watch the fireworks now but will catch most of the 2nd half.

[Tom_]

So players who get a run tonight are still eligible for the game against Celtic, correct? Unless he's injured, I'd be surprised if Hoesen's not in the squad for that game...!

[Rooie]

Let's hope they'll also give Lobotka a chance, by far the best player on the pitch tonight

[SPL]

Caught Lobotka's goal and then after the excellent fireworks saw the last 15 mins . Anyone playing tonight can play v Celtic.
You cannot play for the first team and the Jong in the same weekend hence Sana Hoesen and V d Hoorn are able to play as they were unused subs on Saturday.

Lobotka took his goal well and for those last 15 mins we did not look too bad but having Moisander in defence and not a 17 year old kid from the youths is going to make a hugh difference .

1-0 to Jong Ajax at HT would be nice to see them hold on for a win.

Whats your thoughts Tom?

[SPL]

V d Hoorn now on for the 2nd half

[SPL]

Beautiful goal by Hoesen now 2-0 and looking good

[Tom_]

Yeah, it's a better game than last week's, not least because of the weather I guess. I thought they passed the ball pretty well at points, but the defending looked panicky after they went 2–0 up. van der Hoorn defended OK coming on for Moisander at HT but he seems really really shaky on the ball, gave it away several times including on the 3–2 for Helmond where he passed it straight to an opposition midfielder who took a couple of steps and knocked it in.

Bazoer looks a good player to me and Lobotka was very active, obviously both too young for the seniors at the moment. Even at this level Sana is only moderate, he's still young enough to turn it around but just now he doesn't look good enough I'm afraid.

[Rooie]

Yeah, it's a better game than last week's, not least because of the weather I guess. I thought they passed the ball pretty well at points, but the defending looked panicky after they went 2–0 up. van der Hoorn defended OK coming on for Moisander at HT but he seems really really shaky on the ball, gave it away several times including on the 3–2 for Helmond where he passed it straight to an opposition midfielder who took a couple of steps and knocked it in.

Bazoer looks a good player to me and Lobotka was very active, obviously both too young for the seniors at the moment. Even at this level Sana is only moderate, he's still young enough to turn it around but just now he doesn't look good enough I'm afraid.

Please explain. Lobotka would fit in straight away, week after week the best player on the pitch.

[Orange14]

Only caught the last 20 minutes when the team was p 2-1 and then collapsed both offensively and defensively to lose 3-2. Lobotka and Sana both had plum chances to make it 3-1 and give the team a cushion but failed. Terrible defending on the last two Helmond goals and don't know why van der Hart did so poorly on a shot where he had a clear view (though the replay angle was difficult to properly judge). Very poor organization on defense in the last 10 minutes of the match and again the team was playing against a more physical opponent.

[SPL]

well Helmond scored 3 in the last half hour to win 3-2 .Ajax fell away in the 2nd half although it did not help Gravenberch the big CD went off injured ,el Hasnaoui his replacement being an attacking MF meant Bazoer dropping back to CD . Hoesen went off and Castillion looked as useless as last week. At this level Sana looks poor and Enoh not much better . Both need to unloaded in January. Bazoer looks good so does Lobotka .Lobotka may well force his way into the first before too long but Bazoer is not yet ready

Thats 6 defeats in a row and 16th out of 20 only 4 points off the bottom.