6 NOV 2016 AZ - Ajax Match Day 12

[rjf1]

Yeah - let's get rid of Klaassen -- what's he good for anyway

[Orange14]

Why do we watch Ajax matches? I think it's because we take perverse pleasure in seeing how many poor plays that result in conceded goals. Yet again, defensive miscues and an offense that had huge amounts of possession in the 2nd half with lots of players in the box but end up splitting points with a mediocre AZ. Only Viergever can be singled out by understanding how to play defense. A mediocre first half yet again and the team digs itself into a hole. Puzzling substitution by Bosz in taking Ziyech off for van de Beek. Hey Bosz, did you realize your team needed a goal to take all the points?

Player Ratings:

Bosz (3) - continues to stick with Klaassen and Veltman when both are excruciatingly poor players; subs off his best midfielder late in the game (but maybe there was an injury we didn't know about)

Onana (5.5) - poor ball handling in the first half that cannot be tolerated given the defense in front of him
Sinkgraven (4) - I was thinking what a nice 2nd half he was having and that he would get a nice rating and then....he falls asleep and bingo the game is tied up 2-2
Viergever (7) - very nice match and had some nice chances in the offensive half when he made things happen
Sanchez (5) - warning, you cannot rely on physical skills alone; get your head in the match
Veltman (3) - summed up for me late in the match when he was lackadaisically bringing the ball up field and the AZ winger comes from behind and strips him of the ball; just an awful game
Schöne (5) - time for plan B here; he cannot play 90 minutes and really wasn't creative enough
el Capitan Bad Touch (4) - his teammates won't pass to him because he cannot handle the ball well and his only redeeming feature these days is getting the occasional stray ball in the box and slotting it home; Bosz - wake up playing Klaassen is like conceding a half a player to your opponent
Ziyech (6) - decent enough overall
Younes (5.5) - good interception and pass on the goal but otherwise ordinary
Dolberg (5.5) - didn't do much but it wasn't his fault
Traore (6.5) - some very nice play coupled with some really poor play
van de Beek (5.5) - had some decent touches but came in for the wrong player

Guess what? We don't have to endure any pain next weekend as there is NO game!!

[SPL]

After taking the lead with 2 good goals we dominated and looked like getting that 3rd but then poor defending again gave away a goal.Sinkgraven let his man go and a weak effort from Sanchez.He has played all through the summer and looked knackered to me.

10 mins to go Donny comes on and we have zero creativity in midfield what about sticking on Nouri!

We did not deserve a win and the draw was the right result on the play

[SPL]

Your ratings sum it up .I was going to say both full backs were poor ,Sanchez struggled and Viergever well he was ok and the best defender.Until we have 2 proper full backs we will struggle defensively and today Onana looked like Vermeer with his poor kicking and clearances,

[ajaxcolombia]

What A disappointing result, Klaassen getting those occasional puts him in that weird Siem de Jong spot of a apparently being untouchable despite not contributing anything to regular midfield play. I'm just not a fan of Klaassen no matter how many goals he scores. We need a real number 8 to play alongside Ziyech.

[ajaxcolombia]

Now here's the thing, to me it all boils down to a midfield problem. What do we need? We need a midfield capable of getting the ball back, distribute it correctly, and create more volume in the final third of the pitch. What do statistics say?

The defensive midfielder with the best rate of successful tackles (getting the ball back) in the Eredivise is polish midfielder Klisch from Twente with 3.9. Schöne comes in at 37th with 2.3. The other important statistic to look at is interceptions. Klisch is also the best amongst midfielders in this category with 3.8, and Schöne actually does pretty well here with 3.6 the third best player in the Eredivise intercepting passes. It has to be noted that Joel Veltman is the best player in the Eredivise in both these categories so maybe we can cut him some slack.

Now, we need to distribute well. Surprise, surprise, In 6 games plus two sub appearances this year Jairo Riedewald has the absolute best passing success in the Eredivise. He did play as a centre-back in which it's easier to have a high passing success. The best midfielder in the Eredivise in this category is Pelupessy who plays for Heracles, Our centre-backs do very well but here's the telling thing, Schöne is our best passing midfielder 85.3 PS% ranking 33rd in the league!!! Yes most players that have better passing success than him are central defenders. But then you see Ramselaar, Guardado and Pröpper, the light bulbs midfield three all do way better than both Klaassen and Ziyech. Klaassen comes in at 117th in the league 78.8. But how many passes do they attempt per game? This is telling of how much influence they really do have in a match. Schaars is the best midfielder as he averages 76.3 passes in a game. Schöne is the best Ajax midfielder (of course our defenders are also way up in this category) 56.4 passes per game. Klaassen comes in at 71st in the league with 39 passes. But Ziyech tops the league with 3.5 key passes per game which translates in 5 assists, also topping the league (alongside Jens Toornstra). What these statistics show me is that in the passing game, Ziyech of course does well in creating that offensive pass, but he doesn't have much of partner who can feed him that pass before the key pass.

All this to say is we need that player in that sort of Luka Modric mold, who can get the ball moving, in way Schöne statistic shows he can do that, his interception numbers as well as his passing numbers, but Klaassen is a weak link as he is not as creative as Ziyech and not as influential in the midfield as Schöne. If there was a player who could complement the defensive aspect of the midfield but also pass the ball well, we would do much better with Schöne playing more of a Xavi role to Ziyech's Iniesta like play. Mateusz Klisch would be an interesting option but I doubt Twente would sell again to Ajax after giving up Ziyech. Hope I didn't bore you.

[Orange14]

@ajaxcolumbia - you are right on target with your analysis and it's far from boring. Schöne is only a stopgap performer at the controlling MF position. Riedewald in my opinion is a much better player for the long term and should be given playing time there. that's was he was playing at the beginning of the season. We do have the player who can distribute the ball and make things happen and that's Nouri. Why he didn't come on in the 2nd half today is just to strange. I blame Bosz for the clear lack of tactics here.

[SPL]

Agree ,as usual ,with Orange. Nouri is that player and Bosz must be questioned why the kid did not come on today.

Going off subject I was looking at who could have improved our starting line up today . Up front no one .Cassierra hasn't set us a light yet and Cerny probably is not ready for 90 mins .

Midfield Nouri can only be an improvement on Klaassen but like Cerny not sure he is yet ready for 90 mins regularly.Gudelj Bazoer would not improve and even Riedewald for Schone would not make much difference.

Only 2 changes that could improve would be Riedewald temporary at LB.Dijks cannot defend and Sinkgraven is a MF not a full back. At RB Tete for Veltman. He is a proper full back can defend and is quick .Veltman is aCd and never looks to have the speed needed for full back.

So 2 fullbacks could be improved from the subs but no one else.Nouri and Cerny are good enough to play but they are not ready to be playing 90 mins x 2 times a week just yet.I find this worrying.

[ajaxcolombia]

How much of an improvement would Tete actually be over Veltman? Veltman statistics are actually pretty good defensively, and neither of them are good offensive right backs. Now Concerning our midfield, I have to admit I haven't seen Nouri play all that much aside from a bunch of highlight videos on Youtube, his passing is ridiculously superb, no question at all, I haven't seen sublime passing like that ever. But we have Hakim Ziyech who is a creative midfielder like no other in the Eredivise right now, and what I gather from Schöne's statistics is that he shouldn't be playing defensive midfielder as he doesn't have the engine to do so, with good interception numbers but lacking the energy which translates in only average tackling numbers, but passes the ball around relatively well. So his passing is good enough to play as no. 8, which is what I could see Nouri doing, again comparing to a player like Luka Modric who maybe doesn't have big assist numbers (that's what Ziyech is for) but playing the pass before the assist (something Klaassen is not good enough to do). So you could move Schöne up a little, but we still have a hole, and I think only Anita has played this role well for Ajax in the 2010's, and that is the DM. Again Schöne is not terrible, but we need an engine capable of racking up the tackles, covering the defense in this DM role, Nouri won't do that as that would be a waste of his talent.

[SPL]

You are right about Tete and Veltman but I did say the only 2 players who could improve the side. There is doubt in my mind.

Back to midfield which is the hugh problem. Ziyech and Schone as the attacking MF with Nouri as cover as he makes more minutes in the first team.Trouble is Siem de Jong mark 2 ie Klaassen wont leave before the summer.

The DM is as you say the problem . Riedewald is fancied by Orange and I would still have liked to see Bazoer there but he looks like leaving and hopefully Gudelj wont play again.

Dont see us buying anyone for DM this winter and Schone and Riedewald look like they will have to continue for the 2nd half of the season.

[Orange14]

I am more positive towards Sinkgraven as a LB. Remember that van Bronckhorst started off as a MF and moved to LB and played on the Oranje side that reached a WC final. Sinkgraven is just making the kind of mistakes that anyone pushed into a new position might make. I've also seen him make some very good interventions and he is much better in the offensive half than Dijks is. Is he the optimal LB, of course not. I don't know much about the LBs in the youth squad to make any informed decision.

Schöne cannot play a full 90 minutes any more and he is clearly not as quick as he was two seasons ago. A couople of weeks ago Bosz said Reidewald is either going to play in the MF or as a central defender. I think we can forget about him playing LB. I would like to see him get some starts as a MF in place of Schöne so he gets experience and we can see whether he is going to make the grade or not. As long as Klaassen is in the starting lineup it's like giving the other team an extra half a player. they don't have to defend him as he never gets the ball other than the occasional goal he scores. He has 7 goals so far this year but I believe two were PKs.

What is weird is Bosz watches the Jong Ajax matches. Can he not see the enormous difference in how the two midfields are set up and play? The contrast is stark.

[ajaxcolombia]

I just can't understand why Riedewald can't get some LB playing time. Sinkgraven is not a bad player and if he had more help from his left winger, which Younes offers none of he wouldn't be as exposed.

[souras84]

I always get a vision of Maxwell in the LB position, when I see Sinkgraven. Not even trying to compare them, but maybe Daley should watch the Brazilian's play and adapt

[Ayman]

Sinkgraven and Dijks have failed at left back, Ajax just have to monitor the progress of their youth, i.e. Savastano, Italian descent, so that is encouraging, he is back after a lengthy lay off. I hope he breaks through.