23 AUG 2015 NEC - Ajax Match Day 3

[Orange14]

Fresh off an EL qualifying victory, Ajax travel to Nijmegen for a Sunday match. Let's hope for a win and another clean sheet.

[SPL]

Planning to go to cricket at Brighton today so may just watch the first half on a stream.Sky not showing it live but in full later tonight.

Schone for Sinkgraven the only change.

[Tom_]

Looks like van Rhijn is playing too, didn't hear why but I assume he's in for Tete.

[Orange14]

....YAWN.....MIND...NUMBING.....FOOTBALL....IS.....MAKING.......ME.........DROWSY........I'M.....FALLING......ASLEEP.........zzzzzzzzzzzzz

[Orange14]

Planning to go to cricket at Brighton today

Excellent choice of how to spend your Sunday afternoon.

[Tom_]

Missed most of that after a heavy storm knocked the internet out for half an hour. Looks like we're up to our usual standard though.

[Orange14]

Now that I'm awake, we had a couple of chances when the team decided to push forward. Milik had a good shot on goal and a chance at the rebound but there was a defensive deflection on that. It's still the same old story, Ajax lifeless in the midfield and endless passing between the defenders. At least they are not passing back to Cillessen. We have 58% of possession but really not much resulting from it. Hope I can stay awake for the second half.

[Tom_]

The thing you really notice with our current play (current for 2.5 years) is that when we do our little rondos in midfield we always take the safe option and the ball moves back towards Cillessen. Most teams who play a short passing style use these situations to eliminate defensive players and move the ball towards the opposition's goal. I don't really know why we do it but my guess is that it's because the players are told to value retaining possession above everything else.

[rjf1]

One of the positives that I've noticed today is that when Bazoer gets the ball with his back to goal, instead of playing that reflex pass back to the direction it came from, for the most part he has been turning, instead, and moving the play forward.

[Tom_]

Really sucks to see Ajax this way: sitting back to protect a 1–0 lead and just playing long balls, against NEC, in the third game of a new season.

I think I would accept a 10th place finish if it meant we got to see some more adventurous football. There is just nothing to enjoy from watching our games at the moment.

[Orange14]

Another flattering scoreline and maybe three minutes of interesting football from Ajax in what was a sonambulistic performance. Top of the table on nine points and yet to concede a goal, as supporters we should be happy but as football lovers it has been three pretty dreadful performances.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (6.5) - hardly had to do anything other than stay awake in case something weird happened
Dijks (6) - OK performance but has made better crosses in the previous matches
Riedewald (6.5) - good match and really not forced to do any serious defending
Veltman (6.5) - really bad decision early in the first half when he pressed to far up field and lost the intervention but otherwise good game
van Rhijn (6.5) - OK match subbing in for Tete who was being rested
Gudelj (6) - still don't understand why Ajax purchased him; he is able to put is shirt and shorts on correctly which is a plus
Bazoer (5.5) - maddening match IMO, he really needs to look up field and not stay on the ball so long
Klaassen (6) - better game but I'm not convinced that this #10 strategy is the best way for this team to play
Schöne (6) - slightly above average and nothing more; he is really too slow to play on the wing these days
Milik (7) - best player for Ajax, held the ball well and made some good passes
el Ghazi (5.5) - other than some good runs behind the defense did not do much of consequence
Sinkgraven (6) - stupid Yellow card to take because of poor positioning but some good play otherwise and good pass to the middle for the second goal
Fischer (5.5) - will he every realize the promise? Some good times on the ball but held on to it too long but maybe there just were not any other options
Tete (5.5) - on late for van Rhijn

Midweek tie with the Czechs to see if we continue to play Thursday night football (book title: "Thursday Night Lights - The Curse of Ajax Football" coming soon to a bookstore near you). Next league match is with ADO who always seem to trouble us.

[Orange14]

One of the positives that I've noticed today is that when Bazoer gets the ball with his back to goal, instead of playing that reflex pass back to the direction it came from, for the most part he has been turning, instead, and moving the play forward.

Were you watching the same match? Maybe he did this twice but he's really too slow on the ball at this point to create any danger. Of course a static midfield really doesn't help matters much at all.

[SPL]

Well with summer fading here and that strange game cricket nearly over for another year I decided to pop over to Brighton and watch my team and it was a great afternoon. Clearly I made the right decision reading above comments. The game was not on live but is being shown later tonight so I will record it and still watch it tomorrow.

[Tom_]

de Boer says he's satisfied with the way Ajax played: we made enough chances and kept a clean sheet. Um...?



De Boer: 'Tevreden met het spel'

Na de wedstrijd van Ajax tegen NEC was er weer de nodige kritiek op het spel van de Amsterdammers. Trainer Frank de Boer is het daar echter niet mee eens. 'Ik ben heel tevreden, we krijgen genoeg kansen en houden voor de vierde keer de nul.'

http://www.ajaxshowtime.com/article/hoo ... t-het-spel

[Orange14]

The more I read FdB's comments to the media the more concerned I am for his sanity. I mean really, is this guy delusional? The Dutch supporters on this web site are even more critical than I am if such a thing is possible. How anyone could be satisfied from a technical perspective with the first three league matches is beyond me. Now maybe they win every match this season by 1 or 2 to nil; while that will be an accomplishment to be sure it would be a major step back for Ajax football. I imagine as long as the league results keep coming in, FdB will continue to manage the club. I think the only thing that changes this is for Cruijff to come back and take over and you know that is not going to happen.

[Tom_]

I guess part of the explanation is simple PR. He can't really think this is good football. Another thing I wonder about is how much he feels like his hands are tied tactically: I mean, maybe he feels like if he came out with a direct-attacking 4-4-2 he would get on the wrong side of Cruijff and co. because it's not 'Ajax football'.

I think the only way he would depart this year is if we don't get past Jablonec. Not making the group stage of the Europa league would be unacceptable by any standards especially considering we drew Wien in the CL qualifiers.

Coming back to results I'm not sure a different manager would get more wins with this squad and I guess you could argue FdB is doing a good job squeezing points out of a so-so lineup. It's certainly no fun to watch though and hasn't been for some time.