26 JAN 2016 Ajax - Heracles Match Day 20

[Orange14]

If you are going to play catenaccio your team better damn well score a goal. This Ajax team displayed tactically ineptness which has to come down from the top and ended up in a soulless 0-0 draw. Quite frankly this team does not deserve to win the championship. The midfield again was totally useless during build up and only Sinkgraven seemed to know what to do on the pitch. Gudelj did a lot of standing around and was a great spectator on a day when he needed to be a participant. Word fail me with respect to Bazoer. Fischer had a couple of attempts on goal coming on for Younes but maybe should have passed to Milik in the 91st minute when he got in.

Player Ratings:

FdB (0) - had no clue about how to prepare his team yet again; a repeat of this and his ratings go into the negative number category

Cillessen (5.5) - didn't have a single save to make as the two Heracles shots when wide of the net
Dijks (5.5) - a couple of good crosses but some poor long passes that were easily dealt with
Riedewald (6) - brought the ball forward a couple of times with some good intent
van der Hoorn (6) - composed and had little to do on defense
Veltman (5.5) - nothing special about his play since he had no defending to do and didn't give anyone the thought that he's a dangerous right back going forward
Gudelj (3) - poor free kicks, lots of standing around, why was he on the pitch?
Sinkgraven (6.5) - at least he moved into the open spaces and tried to create something
Bazoer (4) - aside from two runs with the ball was absolutely awful
Younes (4) - couldn't beat anyone this evening and when that happens he is not worth playing
Milik (4.5) - better than in the last couple of games
el Ghazi (5) - average play from one who needs to be much above average
Fischer (5.5) - better than Younes but is that saying a lot?
Schöne (5) - got his head on a ball near the end but sent it over the bar

Hey, are the Ajax groundskeepers putting oil on the field? I know that this pitch runs a bit slick but this was ridiculous, players slipping all over the field.

My biggest worry now is that FdB leads this team to a second place finish again and decides to come back for his final year to show he can win a title. Of course this means turning Nouri into a defensive midfielder and Cerny into a right back. I don't put it past him.

THIS WAS DISGUSTING FOOTBALL AND WE DESERVE BETTER.

[Manneken Pis]

Player Ratings:

FdB (0) - had no clue about how to prepare his team yet again; a repeat of this and his ratings go into the negative number category

Zero is way to high a rating because he's served up this dross all season.
FdB is damaging the club's heritage, culture and philosophy.
Five years in charge and this is what he's turned Ajax into.

Words fail me .....

[zeux]

Five years in charge and this is what he's turned Ajax into.

Words fail me .....

'He'?
Is this his sole doing or the net effect of five years of 'revolution'?

[SPL]

The revolution has bought through plenty of talent but the big problem is we have not bought the right players. Looking last night I wondered if Gudelj is any better than Serero and Sinkgraven although creative is still a lightweight and not ready and no better than Andersen.Given the talent in midfield from our own youth these 2 signings are a complete waste of money.

If we were to buy a creative midfielder we should have got Ziyech,who has either set up or scored just about every goal for Twente this season and is almost single handedly keeping them in the league. Obviously with such a young defence in Europe we needed a stronger older experienced CD and a proper striker.We got Heits and Sanogo!!

Our squad is not good enough to compete in Europe and is not good enough to stop PSV winning the title.

As for the way we are playing ,I am sad to say the football, especially in these last 5 games ie Utrecht de Graafschap and these last 3 , is boring dreadful and they are not fit to be called Ajax.

Last night with no threat from Heracles Riedewald and Veltman never came across the halfway line.At least when v Rhijn came on he got forward. With a striker who really does nothing and is so completely invisible we have in effect 10 men and no back up we should play El Ghazi in the middle with Younes and Fischer wide and Cerny must be sub every game.

FDB will now limp through the season into 2nd place and must then go and take Overmars with him. We have a lot of young talent and they should have a coach who gets them playing real Ajax football,like our youth teams and Jong on Monday and not the boring defensive Italian style dross thats being served up.

[Manneken Pis]

Five years in charge and this is what he's turned Ajax into.

Words fail me .....

'He'?
Is this his sole doing or the net effect of five years of 'revolution'?

Fair point, the technical report from Tschen La Ling that leaked out last year showed that the technical team implementing the "revolution" was dysfunctional and incompetent. I still think FdB is the one most responsible for the performance on the pitch, and specifically the "intent" on the pitch.

[Orange14]

Other than losing 5-6 U-16 players to England the youth development part of the "revolution" has been doing just what it is supposed to do, training good young players that can progress to first team football. The loss of Wim Jonk is troubling but it's notable that FdB has mentioned him specifically as a potential successor as first team manager when he leaves. I find this a very curious statement.

There are two big problems that need to be addressed: Overmars is incompetent as a technical director (or whatever his exact title is) and FdB is just an incompetent manager. The first couple of titles were accomplished with really good players such as Eriksen, Vertonghen, Anita, and Aldewiereld who are no longer with the club. the Anita case is really bad since I suspect had the club shown him any respect he would have stayed a while longer.
Once those players left, FdB was revealed as a fraud who tactically cannot get a team adequately prepared to play. All he offers are excuses.

The transfer policy can be written about at some length and we all know the issues. The replacements that were brought in are all substandard (other than Poulsen who was quite serviceable as a DM. I think Milik will be a good player but maybe not for Ajax. Look at how he does with the Polish NT, maybe he has to play in a two striker offense. I think Sinkgraven was a panic buy. Who knows whether Zivkovic ever plays first team football anywhere; his confidence is shattered. Duarte got hurt early on and he never amounted to much. van der Hoorn was purchased right after Alderwiereld left when it was not clear whether Veltman was good enough to be a first team central defender (he was and van der Hoorn was relegated to the bench). I still think van der Hoorn has the ability to be a good player.

Enough already. My roots with Ajax go back to the 1970s and I will continue to support the club but reserve the right to be as critical as I can!!!

[SPL]

Good points Orange . If and when Familia Castillo goes to Chelski we will have lost 4 to EPl and 1 to Spain but we have recruited players from abroad in the last 2 years Cerny Dolberg Antonucci who are all as talented. And of course Bazoer was signed aged 16 so the youth side is doing well. I too wonder why Jonk is sacked but is mentioned as Head Coach by FDB when he leaves.

Your comments on the signings are spot on ,I too think Milik needs a club who play 2 strikers and v dHoorn has shown in the last 2 games that he is not too bad. Apart from Poulsen a good signing I would add Schone ,another Dane who cost us nothing.The rest have not worked out ,some indeed bad and one just a joke.

Finally nothing to add on the two big problems.Overmars and FDB need to leave asap