19 MAR 2015 Ajax-Dnipro Europa League

[SPL]

That goal was too late but we at least will win the match. Agree Serero and Siggy have done nothing.as good as playing with 9 men with these.

[Orange14]

Off to cook dinner Player ratings tomorrow.

[Amol]

I'm confused. I thought away goals rule washed out in extra time.

[Tom_]

Nope, we lose by 1/2 a goal. Not scoring in the away leg is really a disaster in these ties. Disappointed, but it was a nice effort from a young and tired-looking team.

Edit: I meant to say, at least we weren't boring tonight—we tried to move the ball forwards and there were some nice, fast combinations especially in the first half. Just came up against a pretty solid defense and couldn't get through

[SPL]

Very sad to be Ko'd by a moderate team .We did not turn up in Kiev last week and not scoring that 2nd goal in normal time meant ET.We looked very tired at the end but again what is Siggy doing on the pitch , did nothing just like Serero.Think V d Hoorn was red carded after the whistle.

A win on Sunday and Fword losing to PSV should make 2 nd place just about certain. We need to look at next season and give one or 2 kids like Tete and Zivkovic a go. Siggy should not play again and even Serero does not look good enough. Bazoer was very tired but what a beast of a player. Oh yes Ajax sort Kishna out ,if he wants to leave just leave him out .

[Tom_]

A win on Sunday and Fword losing to PSV should make 2 nd place just about certain. We need to look at next season and give one or 2 kids like Tete and Zivkovic a go. Siggy should not play again and even Serero does not look good enough. Bazoer was very tired but what a beast of a player. Oh yes Ajax sort Kishna out ,if he wants to leave just leave him out .

One thing that's worth remembering, I know I haven't spent a lot of time singing his praises, but since de Boer took over this is going to be the first off-season where we don't come back with a weaker squad after the summer. Every other season we have lost important players and been unable to replace them. Next August we should have the same kids but they will all be a little older, stronger and hopefully better!

[Van basten]

Missed the first half, so i can't say anything good about our play. We deserved nothing, and we got gothing. Have never seen so many technical errors made by this team. Some our players looked like amateuers. It's good that we accidentally didn't go through next round, coz it could be embarrassing facing decent team.

[Dave the mac]

That result was really too bad, but I think the better team won. I like their #10 and he scored a great goal. Cillessen was his usual outstanding self, but could do nothing with that shot.

Do have to wonder why Siggy is even on the bench. That spot should be Zivkovic's. It would probably do well for his confidence. Same can be said for vd Hoorn, he needs to play more - really he got a red card after the final whistle? wtf? He does bring a physicality to the team that's often lacking, get's his head to a lot of balls and scores now and again. Can play in either penalty area :)

Well Ajax can now concentrate on being runners up in the league, and use this to build on for next season.

Off to the pub to watch college basketball, it's tournament time over here!

[Orange14]

Ajax's European adventure ended with a thud. A Bazoer goal that was 2/3 luck and 1/3 skill put the match in extra time but our goal scorer didn't defend the Dnipro player cutting across the middle who sloted a nice open shot in the corner of Cillessen's goal. FdB sent out a very young team, all the midfielders were 20 years old or younger. The front line was almost as young and Viergever was the oldest field player. Dnipro had to defend a one goal lead and they played a well designed pressing game with a 4-2-4 formation. It took Ajax the better part of the first half to figure out how to reliably get the ball into the attacking portion of the field to avoid the constant traps that were set up. What the match needed was two adventurous fullbacks that could open up space behind the front four pressing Dnipro players. Neither Boilesen or van Rhijn were up to the task and were in fact the two poorest players on the pitch. Youthful inexperience or poor tactical preparation? Hard to tell as Ajax have had difficulties against these kinds of defenses all season long.

Questionable substitutions and resorting to lobbing the ball into the attacking third was not a recipe for success. A late goal by van der Hoorn (who was more active than our Icelandic striker) gave a false hope that Ajax could snatch a third goal in the waning minutes of extra time.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (7) - made some good saves and could do little on the goal (I was longing for penalties to allow Cillessen to break the jinx of never saving a PK in a competitive match for club or country)
Boilesen (2.5) - really, really, really bad; some credit for carrying the ball across the midline but couldn't complete a pass to an Ajax player once he got into some space
Viergever (6.5) - decent enough job but stayed at home all match when some offensive impetus probably was required
Veltman (6.5) - played well but maybe, maybe could have come out to challenge on the goal when Bazoer watched his man slide right by
van Rhijn (3.5) - had a couple of good defensive intervention but needed to step up on offense
Klaassen (7) - liking him more and more as the deep lying MF, worked hard all match and got a good header on goal that van der Hoorn eventually slotted home
Sinkgraven (7) - very good performance but clearly ran out of steam at the end of the second half
Bazoer (5.5) - got a nice goal with a skilled kick but was rather poor in other aspects of the game, IMO at fault for the goal; even though I'm critical, he is really a player for the future and has some very nice skills
Kishna (5) - out of the doghouse but oh my he really needed to slot el Ghazi's cross into the net
Milik (5) - just average over the 120 minutes, ran out of gas in extra time
el Ghazi (6) - best of the front line players
Sigthorrsson (4) - pinch hitter? more like strike out king, did next to nothing coming on in the 2nd half
Serero (3.5) - unfortunately the bad Serero showed up today, maybe Andersen should have been on the bench as a sub
van der Hoorn (6) - came on in extra time with the team needed a score and was more active than either of our strikers

I really did not like the cynical play from Dnipro and it was good that the match official ignored all the diving and feigned injuries. It was one of the better officiated matches of the year. I think we found that inexperience is a real problem for this team. Home to ADO den Haag on Sunday.

EDIT: BTW, Dnipro were missing four starters because of injury and suspension.

[Cruijff]

Fuck !!!

[Philippe]

We lost because all our players played below par yesterday, except Cillessen, Sinkgraven, and Klaassen. Because we did not play with the right attitude, defenders endlessly passing the ball to defenders in our own half. Because there is no stability in the team, basis changing every now and then. Because our strikers were miserable : Kishna missing the ball on El Ghazi's cross, Milik firing wide from close range ...
There are many to be blamed for this season, not only Boilesen (Overmars, Frank, Schöne, Sigthorsson, Kishna, Zimling, ....).
Keep in mind that we lost all chances in the title race when Boilesen was injuried and did not play (january).

[Orange14]

Looking at the Dnipro goal replay this AM shows that Cillessen was double screened by Bazoer who couldn't close Konoplyanka down and Veltman who was a little deeper and to the left. Our keeper probably got too late a look and couldn't get over quick enough.

[SPL]

Fair assessments Orange although Siggy would have got a 2 from me. Reading reports the full backs were rated the poorest.

Have to say the use of subs was poor. V d Hoorn was a decent pinch hitter ,Siggy was just crap. Serero coming on instead of Schone a joke .Andersen should have been a sub and had he come on for Serero ,who was as poor as Siggy(is that possible), he might have created something for our attack.The tactics at the end were just park football standard .

Our inexperience can be blamed but our tactics are poor we have no plan B when faced with teams who defend.

Plus points Veltman playing better again and our 3 midfielders are good.

[Amol]

Our inexperience can be blamed but our tactics are poor we have no plan B when faced with teams who defend.

Agree with this completely. We have no plan B or C. If plan A isn't working then we keep trying plan A over and over.

[SPL]

Looking at the last 8 I thought,had we got through at best we could face Club Brugge as they were the only weak team left before we get beaten in the semis. So, who would we have been drawn against Club Brugge!!

[Orange14]

@SPL - if you are thinking about Denswil, I believe he is ineligible for EL as he played for Ajax in the Cl earlier in the season.