PAOK Saloniki - Ajax CL Qualifier

[Tom_]

Well well well.

[Amol]

They need 2 goals now. Lets score one more on the counter.

[Ayman]

5 minutes of stoppage time

[Tom_]

Bizarre. I almost feel sorry for PAOK. Maybe we deserved to win the home leg, though...

[Amol]

.......and that's that.

Well last week we played really well and drew 1-1. Today we played terrible and won 2-1.

[Ayman]

I wonder what's going through IanSaddler's mind tonight. I am not trying to start something, but last week he made it sound like it was the same old same old for Ajax. Although I have to admit Ajax must improve if they are to qualify for the CL group stages.

[Ayman]

In the other game Young boys vs Shaktar Donetsk its 2-0 to Young boys, at extra time now, Hope they knock Shaktar out!

[King Litti]

Not sure I liked what I saw exactly, but we got the job done! These games are so tactical with the two legs and away goals that you can't really approach them like a league game. So I don't think we still really know what Bosz has in mind with our team. I think the first 2-3 league games will show that. And we still have a striker and maybe a winger to shop for. So, have to wait and see. Can't remember the last time we went through to the CL via qualification. One more!

[SPL]

I too looked away just as our 2nd was scored. Apart from that and the penalty we never looked like scoring and they had chances and should have won but this is football.

Somehow we won playing crap. Entertainment value 0 but we get through and thats all that matters.

[Cruijff]

Ajax showed PAOK the hard way how European football works. If you don't score the goal at our side, then......

[Orange14]

Ajax are through because of the goal that came from nowhere. Dijks who had an absolutely awful game delivered the cross when it was needed and el Ghazi got a head on it setting it up for El Capitan to finish PAOK off. PAOK couldn't generate any offense at all and it was only because of Westermann's mistake that they got on the board. Ajax were little better in that regard. The second half was much better defensively but the midfield is still worrisome as there is no movement at all. It's almost as though the ghost of FdB was still managing this team.

Player Ratings:

Bosz (6) - gutsy to go with the 3-5-2. Good formation if you are managing Juventus. Bad formation if you are managing Ajax. Still the team got two goals to win the tie.

Cillessen (7.5) - two great saves in the first half to keep the team in the game. Really should have been 3-0 for PAOK. MOTM for me
Viegever (6) - decent enough as the left back but won't make anyone forget about Chiellini
Westermann (3) - woeful in the first half but did play much better in the second, still no excuse for the goal and getting caught upfield on the break away
Veltman (7) - very good game on the right side, kept his cool all match long and was well postitioned
Dijks (4) - other than the cross for the goal, a very poor performance; forget about these two matches and refocus
Klaassen (6) - cool on the PK, great strike for the winner but did he do anything else?
Riedewald (4.5) - looked like he didn't know what to do during the match; didn't move to create an opening for passing and when he had the ball he suffered from Bazoer disease
Gudelj (3.5) - you can count the number of touches he had on one hand
Tete (4) - certainly doesn't remind me of Stephan Lichtsteiner of Juve; no way he can play a wing back in this formation as he just isn't offensive minded enough; had a couple of very poor defensive plays
Dolberg (4) - not his fault that he didn't do anything. If your midfield cannot get you the ball you are not going to present any danger
Casseria (4) - no better or worse than Dolberg
el Ghazi (5) - played the withdrawn striker of the front two and did head the ball to Klaassen, at least he worked hard to get some touches but the end result was wanting.

On to the final round for CL and the club will get a favorable seed. I believe they now have automatically qualified for the group stage of the EL if the CL bid fails but of course we WANT CHAMPIONS LEAGUE FOOTBALL

Off to Rotterdam on Sunday for the Dutch league opener against Sparta.

[Cruijff]

Ajax are through because of the goal that came from nowhere. Dijks who had an absolutely awful game delivered the cross

Yes but that was not because Dijks managed to directly reach a player from the same team with that cross.

[Tom_]

Maybe it was deliberate, what was el Ghazi going to do with the cross anyway? ;)

[Ayman]

In the next round, Ajax will play either Monaco, A.S Roma, Rostov, Steaua Bucharest or Young boys (The Swiss giant killers). I would prefer if Ajax play Young Boys, they seem to have been worn out in their last game that went to penalties.

P.S I can't believe nobody is giving credit to Davy Klaassen, not only does he work his socks off, he is super loyal to Ajax, despite the dark days in Europe last season and no domestic silverware, he stayed at Ajax and contributes when it matters.

[souras84]

Tragic performance. I didn't celebrate our winning goal. Just as our manager, who I don't know WHY THE HELL tries experimental stuff in such games. Laughable defence and non existant midfield. Anyway, we advanced but if we are that bad let's stay the hell away from the Champions League groups. We will be humiliated

[Ayman]

Tragic performance. I didn't celebrate our winning goal. Just as our manager, who I don't know WHY THE HELL tries experimental stuff in such games. Laughable defence and non existant midfield. Anyway, we advanced but if we are that bad let's stay the hell away from the Champions League groups. We will be humiliated

It's early days, Bosz is feeling out the players and formations, he will get it right when it matters most!

[Orange14]

P.S I can't believe nobody is giving credit to Davy Klaassen, not only does he work his socks off, he is super loyal to Ajax, despite the dark days in Europe last season and no domestic silverware, he stayed at Ajax and contributes when it matters.

He scores goals but so did Siem de Jong. He does work hard and can be effective with a high pressure game. Unfortunately, his ball skills are deficient and if he does cause a turnover, he really doesn't know what to do next. I know I'm damning with faint praise and certainly he has won some matches for Ajax. I go back to the last 4 matches of last year when he was really missing in action when he needed to step up.

[Ayman]

P.S I can't believe nobody is giving credit to Davy Klaassen, not only does he work his socks off, he is super loyal to Ajax, despite the dark days in Europe last season and no domestic silverware, he stayed at Ajax and contributes when it matters.

He scores goals but so did Siem de Jong. He does work hard and can be effective with a high pressure game. Unfortunately, his ball skills are deficient and if he does cause a turnover, he really doesn't know what to do next. I know I'm damning with faint praise and certainly he has won some matches for Ajax. I go back to the last 4 matches of last year when he was really missing in action when he needed to step up.

He also creates chances at times, I admit his progress has stagnated, but that's ok, it happens to young players, going through spells like that!

[King Litti]

Westermann (3) - woeful in the first half but did play much better in the second, still no excuse for the goal and getting caught upfield on the break away

Not the easiest place or time to make a debut. I guess he was nervous. Funny thing though that the reason we got him was that we would have one experienced defender among youngster that wouldn't choke under pressure. Now he turned out to be the weakest link. Haven't seen Sanchez play for a minute, but still I'm very glad we have him.

Just watched the highlights of last nights game. Have to say that it seems, that somebody up there likes us. #godenzonen

[Orange14]

Westermann (3) - woeful in the first half but did play much better in the second, still no excuse for the goal and getting caught upfield on the break away

Not the easiest place or time to make a debut. I guess he was nervous. Funny thing though that the reason we got him was that we would have one experienced defender among youngster that wouldn't choke under pressure. Now he turned out to be the weakest link. Haven't seen Sanchez play for a minute, but still I'm very glad we have him.

Sanchez is highly rated and his Colombian team just won the South America CL so I expect he will start over Viergever once he gets acclimated. Westermann's problem is that he is not quick enough to play the middle back of a 3-5-2. The model for this position is Leonardo Bonucci of Juventus and the Italian NT. He has the necessary quickness and reads the game very fast so he is always in the right place. The goal was just a case of poor marking and had nothing to do with a 3 man back as it was a set play. However, the other play where he was a full step off the PAOK striker at the half way line was a clear error. Lucky that Cillessen came up big on that one.

I don't mind a 3-5-2 if you have the right players. However, there is no room for wingers in this formation as you need wing backs who can transition from defense to offense. I see now why Bosz left Cerny and Muric behind; he was going to play the 3-5-2 from the start. Remember that FdB would go to a 3-4-3 last season preserving the wingers.

[Ayman]

So far I like Peter Bosz' flexibility and boldness to play such young players in such a hostile atmosphere. I just hope that within a few weeks players would gel together under his watch and that he can bring the best out of them. Including Klaassen, Bazoer and Dijks

[Tom_]

Yeah, I guess we could play in any formation you like and it's not going to hide the terrible individual errors we saw last night, e.g. Westermann missing the clearance on the corner or the header he missed when PAOK hit the bar in the second half.

As far as 3–5–2 is concerned, I think it can make sense for us in the attacking half to play without wingers, since we haven't had a quality left and right winger in the squad since ... I can't remember when.

[Amol]

Like I said before the game started and irrespective of the result - Bosz has balls of steel. He was not afraid of dropping El Ghazi and he also wasn't afraid of bringing him back in. That's something FDB never did. Once you were in the doghouse, you were done and never came back - Kishna, Boilesen, Lodeiro, Aissati, Boerrigter.........

I don't care which system we play as long as the players understand it and we see better passing and off the ball movements than yesterday. You either stick to a system (FDB) and force your players into it, or you take your players and skills and build a system for that.

Its a different topic that none of those theories worked yesterday.