26 APR 2015 PEC Zwolle - Ajax Match Day 32

[Orange14]

Consigned to second place by a stalwart PSV team, Ajax travel to take on PEC a club that they have had trouble beating. Given the lackluster performance of last Sunday, a defeat here would not be surprising. Will FdB bring in some of the young players who deserve a start? Will any of us watch the match given the depressing anti-football that has been on display?

[SPL]

I will watch it as its on sky live. Milik may well be fit but Zivkovic should still be used as a sub and given v Rhijn's poor form Tete should start.

[Orange14]

I wonder if Zivkovic is on FdB's bad side because of his attitude issues. We will know for certain if he fails to make the match day squad in the remaining games. I suspect that he thought he would see more first team action this season having been brought in as a "high profile" transfer. Of course Milik surprised us all and I believe his loan was after Zivkovic.

[SPL]

Milik is training with the full group today so hopefully will be involved,Fischer may start as striker.(Hopefully no Siggy!! ) Boilesen still not fit and Tete is evidently going to start,v Rhijn needs dropping as he has been rubbish recently.

Sunday is due to rain here,game on sky live and yes of course I will still watch it.

[Orange14]

Interesting about Fischer in the middle. Maybe FdB doesn't want him on the wing where he would need to do more explosive running. Increasingly Sigthorrsson looks irrelevant to the team's plans since Milik, Zivkovic, el Ghazi, and now Fischer are all possible #9s and in each case far superior to the Icelander.

[SPL]

FDB's press conference just finished.He said Milik Boilesen and Sinkgraven are probably not ready for the game.

He probably does not want to risk them if they are not 100% fit and as our next game is not for 2 weeks they should all be fit and ready by then.

[Dave the mac]

I'm out of town this weekend but will watch the match Sunday evening when I get back on NGSN.com - love this site.

Great to hear that Tete signed up for a couple more seasons. Hope he is rewarded with some minutes against PEC. Will be interesting to see what the line-up is, some changes should be made!

[Ayman]

Did Tete really sign for two more years? Does that mean maybe perhaps Kishna may follow suit? Since his contract ends in 2016, although Ajax have an option to extend this. Nobody really wants him. At least not the clubs that he is hoping for e.g. Juventus

[Tom_]

It's going to be raining here so I'll probably watch too. Hard to find the motivation though... in case anyone was wondering here is some more 'proof' that we are currently one of the most boring teams in NL:

[SPL]

Just to add Tete's contract ceased this June and he signed for 3 years. No idea what will happen with Kishna,if he wants to stay I would imagine he too will sign to 2018.On his overall form he still has to prove himself at eredivise level and I can see him staying.

My hope for tomorrow is for Fischer to start as striker with Zivkovic coming on for 20 mins. Siggy should not be on the bench.

PS Just seen tomorrow's team ,Siggy included but no Zivkovic. He did not play last night for Jong Ajax so he has been dropped altogether,mind he could actually play for our A1 youth this afternoon.Have to say in recent Jong games he appears to have played poorly and been unmotivated .

Boilesen,Sinkgraven and Milik all excluded due to injuries.

[Orange14]

PS Just seen tomorrow's team ,Siggy included but no Zivkovic. He did not play last night for Jong Ajax so he has been dropped altogether,mind he could actually play for our A1 youth this afternoon.Have to say in recent Jong games he appears to have played poorly and been unmotivated .

Maybe one of the Dutch members can provide some more information on this. I worry that this turns into another feud such as the one between el Hamdaoui and FdB. Zivkovic is too young and talented for this to happen but maybe the fault lies more on his side.

EDIT: Just saw over on Ajax Showtime that this is yet another disciplinary action against Zivkovic.

[Orange14]

I meant to post this yesterday. Dnipro who knocked Ajax out of the Europa League competition made it to the semifinals where they will play Napoli. Given what I've seen with their very tight defensive organization and ability to snatch a counter goal it would not surprise me if they get through to the finals.

[SPL]

The team announced a shortwhile ago

Cillessen

Tete,Veltman,Riedewald,Viergever

Klaassen,Serero,Bazoer

El Ghazi,Fischer,Andersen

Good that Tete gets a chance and will be interesting to see Fischer at striker.Without Sinkgraven there is not enough creativity in MF,I would play Andersen at MF and give Kishna another chance at wing.

Main thing Siggy is not starting so with Milik likely to be fit for the last 2 games I can but hope this is the last time we see this big useless slow carthorse of a player.

[King Litti]

It's going to be raining here so I'll probably watch too. Hard to find the motivation though... in case anyone was wondering here is some more 'proof' that we are currently one of the most boring teams in NL:

I wonder what scores this team should get in our own tips model? Technique, insight, personality and speed my ass. Not words that I would use to describe our current team.

Sorry to hear about Zivkovic. We should have sold Siggy a long time ago to make room for Zivkovic. He might be acting out because of frustration of not getting time on the field, but what do I know.

[SPL]

I would think Zivkovic is frustrated ,having score goals in the Eredivise last season aged 17 ,he is now stuck in Jupiler league ,unmotivated and seeing a crap footballer like Siggy ahead of him.

Game live on sky so I will hope we can actually win a game and score some goals (hope for alot I know)

[SPL]

El Ghazi has had 2 chances now, we need a left winger ,Andersen is dreadful,and of course is no winger.

[Tom_]

Going to have to eat my words on Fischer—we look far better with him in the team.

Andersen for Kishna at HT please... Or Hans Molemann, or someone from the A1, or anyone

[SPL]

back online ,went off for a few minutes during which we let in a goal.Siggy now on for Fischer

[Tom_]

Well, for the first 60 minutes we looked better than we have done in the last weeks. It looked like we were on the verge of scoring when PEC got that really nice goal... after that they closed up and it was back to business as usual for us.

[SPL]

Well dear old Siggy touched the ball once and smashed the ball in the net,the fact it was never a corner we got lucky.

Ajax were dreadful

[rjf1]

Well, for the first 60 minutes we looked better than we have done in the last weeks...

Really? I wonder what game I was watching.

[Tom_]

Really? I wonder what game I was watching.

I said better, not good—at least we tried to move the ball forward a bit

[Orange14]

This was an abomination. No way Ajax even deserves a draw in this match. The corner was gifted as van der Hoorn clearly headed the ball out of play. Credit to Sigthorrsson for winning a header and then slotting home the ball after Hahn couldn't control it. There were five minutes of good football at the beginning of the match followed by 85 minutes of absolutely dreadful football. For all of FdB's huffing and puffing this week, the team clearly is not prepared to play any semblance of football. Jurgen Klopp is leaving Dortmund in another month and the management staff would do well to just buy out FdB, send him on his way, and bring in a manager who has passion and knows how to get the best out of his players.

I was busy getting some bread ready for baking at half time so I missed the PEC goal. Forgive any of the player ratings if someone was at blame on that one.

Player ratings:

Cillessen (7) - another solid match from the one who should be player of the year for the club; nobody else comes close to his consistency
Viergever (5) - more comfortable on the inside but did have some good interventions
Riedewald (4) - did he know he was not playing fullback? Should have been punished for the weak pass to Schöne that was intercepted and led to a 2 on 1 chance as he not only made a bad pass but was caught upfield
Veltman (6.5) - only other player besides Cillessen that seemed to understand what was happening
Tete (5.5) - wasn't threatened defensively and in the last 20 minutes did go forward
Serero (4.5) - mediocre but good at drawing fouls which was the only positive on the day
Klaassen (5) - average when he needed to be above average
Bazoer (5.5) - really works hard but he is way too slow making passing decisions; I hope this doesn't prove to be a long term problem
Andersen (2) - worst game of any Ajax player this season; never play him on the wing again (didn't I already say this last year????)
Fischer (5) - good to see him get 60 minutes but he really was not anything special
el Ghazi (5) - sure he is selfish at times but who else on this team attacks the goal (answer: nobody)
Schöne (5.5) - understood what needed to be done and did shield the ball decently, but his really looking slow these days
Sigthorrsson (6) - yes we have to give our plow horse a point for the goal!
van der Hoorn (5) - desperate times call for desperation football and this means van der Hoorn up front for the final 10 minutes; how utterly exciting

Well second place belongs to Ajax and an opportunity to play CL football next season. I truly hope that we will see a new manager as FdB has taken this team as far as he can and personally I think the players are so afraid of making mistakes that they cannot possibility play to their abilities. Ajax do the right thing and send FdB to the EPL and free our team to play real Ajax football.

That's the rant for this week. I think we are spared watching this team next week as the cup final is scheduled.

[rjf1]

...Well second place belongs to Ajax and an opportunity to play CL football next season. I truly hope that we will see a new manager as FdB has taken this team as far as he can... Ajax do the right thing and send FdB to the EPL and free our team to play real Ajax football.

Amen -- couldn't have said it better, myself.

[SPL]

Would back your comments Orange. Tactics were clueless and we do need a new coach and outlook on the club.

Some of these kids will develop but we need to buy some quality experience. Siggy did indeed get a decent rating as he won us the point. Serero runs around works hard but creates nothing and he along with Schone and Siggy should be sold. Andersen has to go on loan and be played as midfielder ,he was woeful today.

Tete has spent most of the season as a CD for Jong but until the last 20 mins did not overlap.V Rhijn is still a better bet.

We need to buy a fast winger who can cross a ball regularly, El Ghazi will get there but our only other winger Kishna is just a show pony who should be sold.

The last time Ajax played for along time so poorly and hopelessly was when Jol was in charge and we are probably playing worse than that this season.