30 NOV 2014 ADO Den Haag-Ajax Match Day 14

[Tom_]

Mistake from Veltman (?) giving the ball away on the edge of the 18-yd box. Right after FdB used up the subs making defensive changes, too. Nice.

[Rooie]

Poor subs, De Boer behaving like a coward. Own fault.

[King Litti]

Dreadfull. To see us park a bus in the second and just drop back and defend. Even if it had worked I would have been a little disappointed, but it was never going to work was it.

[Tom_]

Correction, it was Viergever giving the ball away. He's had a really good game otherwise. I much prefer him to Boilesen.

[rjf1]

Knew it -- as soon as they started the second half with that pitty pat crap and the defend the 1 goal lead philosophy it was a case of waiting for the axe to fall.

[Orange14]

Disgusting result. I'm going to have breakfast now. Maybe will rate the players later once I get over the nausea induced from this result and FdB's idiotic substitutions.

[saddlerian]

I know that my opinion isn't worth much, but the substitutions in the last 2 games have been crap!!! Why, when Moisander followed Kramer around all afternoon was HE taken off and replaced with Van der Hoorn? WHO was TOTALLY out of place, leaving Kramer free? I leave you lot to answer that!!!

Look at your tactics again FdB!!!!

[Dave the mac]

How very disappointing. Ugh.

[King Litti]

Should have done better with counter attacking game as ado pressed for the equalizer. Well, we had a couple of chances to bury the game, bit van Rhijn, Schöne and kishna couldn't put their chances away.

[SPL]

We were poor in the second half and sadly it was wait for their goal. No complaints we did not deserve to win.

Once they finally scored we were left with a front 3 of 2 strikers and a midfielder,no wingers no hope. This was the sort of game we should have won having scored early but very disappointing by us.

[SPL]

Meant to add our best chance of scoring went when Kishna was taken off.Agree FDB's made bad mistakes with subs .

[King Litti]

I know that my opinion isn't worth much, but the substitutions in the last 2 games have been crap!!! Why, when Moisander followed Kramer around all afternoon was HE taken off and replaced with Van der Hoorn? WHO was TOTALLY out of place, leaving Kramer free? I leave you lot to answer that!!!

Look at your tactics again FdB!!!!

Moisander played a decent game. One big mistake as he lost possession just out side our box. Van der Hoorn has a lot more inches compared to Moisander. FdB knew ado was going to throw balls to Kramer. I guess he thought Van der Hoorn could win those arial duels, but it was a difficult time to jump in the game especially for van der Hoorn as he has a history of fumbling over pressure. A gamble by FdB and this time it did cost us.

[Van basten]

Was there ever a game when van der horn entered the game from the bench and we didn't concede a goal after 2 minutes?

[rjf1]

Another disturbing factor was our first time clearances -- whether by head or by foot -- rarely found a teammate. I suppose it was inevitable once you packed just about everyone deep so there is no one out there to pass to, but you aren't going to win crap like that -- as fast as you clear it, that's how fast it comes back at you.

[Orange14]

If it's not apparent by now, it is abundantly clear that this team will never win a 1-0 match. Some very questionable substitutions and a ball that could not be cleared conceded the goal that evened up the match. I haven't seen the final statistics but with 10 or so minutes left ADO had more possession than Ajax, a real rarity in this season of ball control driven offense. FdB first subs off a fast winger for a plodding striker. Then as the game is winding down he brings on two substitutes to add height to the team which up to that point had done a pretty decent job of keeping Cillessen's penalty area cleared. Serero, who had done a decent job all day long, moves up to the midfield with Riedewald as DM and van der Hoorn comes on for Moisander and slots in at the left center back position when he has played on the right side almost all season long. Viergever fails to clear a ball and then three ping pong passes later, Cillessen is left stranded as Kramer scores. This should absolutely never happen to a top flight team! Of course Ajax are not a top flight team and these types of results are to be expected as much as it pains the supporters. This result is for you Frank de Boer; make the smart substitutions next time!

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (7) - some outstanding saves but also some very poor kicking
Viergever (6.5) - very solid game until he miskicks a ball in the box that leads to a goal
Moisander (6) - had a couple of dicey give aways but otherwise decent
Veltman (7) - strong match all game long
van Rhijn (6.5) - Really needed to convert that chance when he was in on the keeper
Serero (7) - worked hard all game long and had some nice interventions when ADO had the ball
Andersen (6.5) - some very good passes and some very slow passes that were intercepted
Klaassen (7) - nice finish to net the only goal, worked hard pressing and was all over the field
Kishna (6) - great cross to Milik that led to the first goal but strangely silent the rest of the match
Milik (5.5) - got the ball to Klaassen but that was it for rest of the match; had a couple of half chances that he should have done better with
Schöne (6) - looked really tired at the end of the game after having very little influence
Sigthorrsson (5) - plodding performance by a player who should have stayed on the bench
Riedewald (5) - don't think he had a single touch coming on late
van der Hoorn (5) - had a chance to score at the end but it was too soft, not sure if he was to blame at all on the goal

Fixtures coming up fast and furious again. Home to Willem II next weekend, then the critical CL tie against Apoel, the Utrecht, cup match against Vitesse and finally Excelsior to close out the first half of the season. Let's hope for better.

[SPL]

Fair assessments .Frank de Boer would get the lowest rating from me due to his poor subs use.

I still dream of seeing 2 wingers playing .El Ghazi had a groin injury and was not going to be risked so why was he on the bench. It may not have made any difference but why not just have Menig on the bench and put him on for the last 10 mins. The sight of our winger being subbed for the slow ponderous Siggy defies logic.

Andersen has a superb football brain and passing skills but is still too lightweight for me and very easily pushed off the ball.

We have not played that well all season and in couple of games got lucky when the opposition went down to 10 .Today we played crap and got 1 point .Thats all we deserved.

If PSV v Fword is a draw we wont have lost any ground.

NB Twente just lost 2-1 at home to Groningen and are now 6 points behind us so its looking a 3 horse race between the big 3.

[Jinne]

Menig already played with Jong Ajax on Friday so for that reason couldn't be called up.

[rjf1]

Have to disagree with some of the assessments:

Serero drove me crazy all night with his constant backward passing.

Also have to disagree about Sigthorsen -- who I am no admirer of by any means -- but you have to give the devil his due. You have to give him credit for beating his man down the wing and laying on a beautiful cross to an unmarked Schone that should have resulted in the game winning goal. Schone missed the net with his volley (which was perfectly set-up), and that was another chance that went begging. That was the standout play of the 2nd half.

Milik loused up 3 good-to-excellent scoring chances of his own due to his hesitation and indecisiveness, plus a layoff pass that could have resulted in another good scoring chance that he flubbed for the same reason.

Kishna -- how many times did he come down the wing, get to the point where a diagonal cross into the box would do serious damage, but instead continue on the dribble into a double (sometimes triple) team? I don't know -- I lost count.