22 Nov 2014 Heereveen - Ajax Match Day 13

[Orange14]

We've moved the ball pretty well but our front three is really letting us down.

Not so sure about this. Heerenveen are playing a 4-2-4 pressing game when we have the ball and there seems to be no clue at all how to get the ball over the halfway line. This has been a problem all year long and de Boer has not addressed this at all. Boilesen and Serero have made lots of dumb passes.

[Dave the mac]

Absolutely could be down 3-4 goals. Painful to watch, wow. Not unlike some other matches though....

[Tom_]

Not so sure about this. Heerenveen are playing a 4-2-4 pressing game when we have the ball and there seems to be no clue at all how to get the ball over the halfway line. This has been a problem all year long and de Boer has not addressed this at all. Boilesen and Serero have made lots of dumb passes.

Wow, HOW did that not go in?

Anyway, in the first ~20 minutes (after the goal was a different story) the back 4 + Serero were having no problem passing the ball around the "front" of Heerenveen's press. Milik and Andersen were making runs towards the Heerenveen goal rather than to the ball—maybe this is an instruction from de Boer to make a big hole in the middle of the pitch for Klaassen, but they are essentially not contributing anything to the attack, and el Ghazi is *so* toothless against a LB who he doesn't have a pace advantage over. I'm not convinced Schöne is 100% fit (maybe he's just on for FKs).

[Orange14]

Own goal by Sinkgraven and we are even now. Still they are playing things way too slow.

[Dave the mac]

Yes! Just in time 1-1, now get another please.

[Orange14]

Bad match all night and now he gets the goal. Go figure.

[Dave the mac]

Or two! It's a funny game: despair then elation.

[Tom_]

Ha! Kishna making an impact again. Nice finish from el Ghazi on our second!

[Orange14]

Was that really a penalty? Hard to tell from my replay whether the Heerenveen defender go the ball or not.

[Tom_]

Oof, and an extremely soft penalty to round it all off. 4–1 is a bit flattering, and Heerenveen can be rightly pissed off that they didn't get that one in the first half, but

[Dave the mac]

Open the gates! 4-1

[Orange14]

Sigthorrsson really should have been carded on that collision with van Aanholt.

[Tom_]

Well a confusing game if you ask me. Don't know what to say other than I don't think we have a very good team but we got an enjoyable win nonetheless. Looking forward to OrangeXIV's ratings to make some sense of it all.

[SPL]

Well for just over 60 mins we were rubbish but once the OG gave us 1-1 I thought 4-1 on the cards. Kishna came into his own with a lovely taken goal . With Veltman mising on Tuesday why wasn't V d Hoorn given 15 mins as surely he will play v PSG

So yet another win by a clear margin when we have played poorly overall.

[Orange14]

Pretty bad game all things considered and fortunate to play against 10 men. Only when Kishna came on did things really start to pick up.

Player Ratings:

Kevin Blom (7) - really weak Yellow card to send the player off and a dodgy penalty near the end

Cillessen (6.5) - had a couple of good saves but that was about all he had to do once Heerenveen were down to 10
Boilesen (4) - terrible passing throughout the match. I guess there is no other choice right now but he better find a way to improve
Moisander (6.5) - no mistakes unlike his partner
Veltman (4.5) - appalling first half and only picked his game up in the second half. Havent seen this many blunders from him in any match this year
van Rhijn (5.5) - would have been nice to get the 'Bergkamp' goal otherwise above average
Serero (6) - decent enough but still has problems detecting pressure with his back to the defense; nice pass over the top to van Rhijn
Klaassen (5) - did very little other than contributing to the own goal off the corner
Andersen (6.5) - really did a nice job with some good passing and got rid of the ball earlier than previously
Schöne (5.5) - above average and came off early for Kishna maybe the knee still troubles him
Milik (6) - nice move on the shot that hit the post and a well taken penalty
el Ghazi (5.5) - really disappointing for great stretches of the match and then smacks a goal in; crosses for the most part were very poor
Kishna (7) - this is the Kishna we have expected to see; well done
Riedewald (5.5) - didn't do to much either good or bad coming on late
Sigthorrsson (5.5) - drew a questionable penalty and avoided what should have been a certain Yellow card

On to Paris now to meet up with Zlatan and crew. PSG still have a lot to play for in terms of winning the group and I don't think they will relax against us.

[SPL]

Fair comments Orange.Will be tough in Paris.Before then Jong play NEC on Monday so hope its on TV!

[Orange14]

Fair comments Orange.Will be tough in Paris.Before then Jong play NEC on Monday so hope its on TV!

Our A1s also should be playing the PSG equivalent prior to the CL match. I think they have already qualified for the knockout round.

[Tom_]

What do you guys think about the way we're leaking goals this season with essentially the same back 4 as last season? Is it just because we don't have a quality DMF?

PS Boilesen's passing is unbelievable. Not the level of a professional footballer. Even when he picks the right pass he hits them way too softly.

[Dave the mac]

A Jekyll and Hyde team to be sure. As awful as Ajax was in the 1st half they did really well in the 2nd. Great to see Kishna come in and do so well. Sort of feel for H'veen, they came to play, ran out of steam in the 2nd half after the red card late in the 1st. Lucky Ajax. There should be a lesson to be learned here.

[Orange14]

What do you guys think about the way we're leaking goals this season with essentially the same back 4 as last season? Is it just because we don't have a quality DMF?

I don't think so. A lot of our goals have been the result of poor play by the back line. We've conceded 15 goals in 12 games which is just over 1 per game and that's certainly worse than last season. We have also been let off the hook a number of times because of poor finishing from the opponents. I suspect that there is something mental going on here. Moisander thought he was going to leave for a bigger contract and Veltman had such a good season last year that he is coasting sometimes. van Rhijn was bad in the first few games but is playing well these days. Boilesen is Boilesen; a total enigma to me.

[Amol]

What a bitter-sweet experience. Terrible game by Ajax, extremely weak 2nd yellow which led to a red.

Ajax scored the first couple on lucky plays and then the floodgates opened.

But. Loved the experience!!! Definitely coming back.

[SPL]

Glad you enjoyed yourself Amol. We were poor but at least they won for you.

On our defence Serero is not doing too bad at DM but is not in the class of Blind .With Riedewald,Bazoer and Eiting ,only 16 but in our A1, all coming through we wont spend any money on a new DM.

Moisander is not as good as last season and Ajax have to decide what to do with him.If he wants out then he must be on the bench .I would play him v PSG as we cannot really have V d Hoorn and Denswil together but for the last 6 games up to Christmas I would play Denswil and leave Moisander benched.If he does not leave in January he can stay benched.

Boilesen has been ok going forward but defending poor. Apart from Viegever,and he is just a utility defender,we have no other LB under contract.Owusu and Riedewald have shared Jong games and neither are LB.Not sure what we do with Boilesen a real talent and maybe having been out for nearly 2 years he needs this season to stay fit and settle into the team and get playing time.

One thing last night,we finished with El Ghazi on the right and Kishna on the left ,2 wingers playing and it made the difference,(well the red card made the real difference),but I enjoyed seeing 2 proper wingers.

[Tom_]

One thing last night,we finished with El Ghazi on the right and Kishna on the left ,2 wingers playing and it made the difference,(well the red card made the real difference),but I enjoyed seeing 2 proper wingers.

Me too! It makes a big difference having Kishna on the left looking to hit the byline then pull the ball back. Although he was poor for 70 minutes last night this is basically el Ghazi's game too—beat his man and get the ball into the middle.

I still don't know what our best lineup for attack is but when Fischer is fit I'd like to see how we look with him in Andersen's spot in MF rather than on the LW. He's had one or two good games, but for me Andersen is only average so far. Maybe a front three of Kishna at LW, Zivkovic/Milik/Siggy at CF and Schöne/el Ghazi on the RW?