08 MAR 2015 Ajax-Excelsior Match Day 26

[rjf1]

After 80 minutes of total ineptitude, finally, finally, finally, comes a goal -- Sinkgraven feeds; Ziv crosses; and El Ghazi heads it home!

[Dave the mac]

Yes!! Great ball in and great header. Just in time, wow.

[Amol]

The game changed into a higher gear after Sinkgraven and Zivkovic came on. We escaped a draw here.

But some positives were still there e.g. a lot more passing of the ball in midfield compared to our tiki-taka in defense.

[SPL]

well a very hard fought win but what relief we scored.Good that Zivkovic contributed to it .He is very young but should be on our bench for the remainder of the season.

It really is hard work watching Ajax this season

[Tom_]

I dunno, I'm reasonably happy with that. It was a boring game but our passing was OK. Against teams like that, it's just a question of making enough chances and having the luck to put one in. Could go either way, today it worked out for us.

[SPL]

meant to add things did get positive when Sinkgraven and Zivkovic came on,I did think at that stage we would stand a chance of scoring.

[rjf1]

I must have watched a different game -- for me the key passing was atrocious for the most part -- wrong direction; either too slow so the defense could cover, or too fast for our guy to catch up to or take in stride; or even directly to the opposition. It had to be one of the most inept displays I've seen this season.

[Orange14]

The match was in doubt for 82 minutes until some nice passing resulted in the el Ghazi header. Ajax just cannot play well against defensive minded teams as they play way too slowly. Viergever had a decent shot on goal but right at the keeper. Without a true #9, the attacking options were limited.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (7) - had one really tough save to make and was fortunate that Klaassen helped clear it
Boilesen (8) - exceptional match today, didn't have to worry about defending all that much but it was his header that got the goal started; real threat going forward
Viergever (7) - stupid Yellow card on a reckless tackle and now misses the next match, otherwise good and had a decent shot on goal
Veltman (7.5) - didn't make a single mistake
van Rhijn (6.5) - maybe FdB doesn't trust him to go forward; meters of space open on the right side and he didn't take advantage of it
Klassen (8) - played the holding role and I think his muscle problem is bad enough that he doesn't have the explosiveness needed to attack; did exceptionally well defending and passing had the vital goal line clearance
Bazoer (4.5) - really too slow on the ball and had some bad give aways and aimless passes; poorest match of his young season
Serero (4) - had trouble inside the box when he had a chance to create something; he is just a poor player when he has to attack
Kishna (5.5) - mildly above average
Schöne (6) - decent controlling the ball but didn't create much at all
el Ghazi (7) - poor in the first half seeing the field but had a wonderful goal to seal the win
Sinkgraven (6.5) - excellent weighted pass to Zivkovic to set up the goal and pretty decent otherwise
Zivkovic (6) - great cross to el Ghazi but disappointing with some of his decision making, wonder if he would have done more had he started
Andersen (NR) - on late for Kishna

The run out to the rest of the season continues with another win. Off to Kiev for a Thursday evening EL match against Dinipro.

[Orange14]

I must have watched a different game -- for me the key passing was atrocious for the most part -- wrong direction; either too slow so the defense could cover, or too fast for our guy to catch up to or take in stride; or even directly to the opposition. It had to be one of the most inept displays I've seen this season.

In part you are correct, the final decision was always quite poor. However, the club was able to get the ball into the attacking third quite a bit. Unfortunately, they were then way to slow to capitalize.

[SPL]

Fair assessments Orange. With Klaassen playing the holding role we cannot play Bazoer and Serero ,we need a creative midfielder.

[King Litti]

Really would have been annoying to see Excelsiors bus parking tactic getting the better of us. 1-0 and hope is still alive, though can't see PSV screwing up.

Is there some injury trouble or something with Sinkgraven? First he was in the starting line up and played ok I think and suddenly, his on the bench for no apparent reason that I can think of. Thought he was good again today coming in. Think we could have used his quickness from the start to break down the Excelsior defense.

[Philippe]

We failed to create chances. Things were better when Zivcovic came in.