23 Oct 2008: Aston Villa FC - Ajax

[nindamaged]

they cant clear the ball or make tackles. shocking.

[nindamaged]

sarpong off cvitanich on

[Azeri]

Cvitanich for Sarpong

[Orange14]

Cvitanich on for Sarpong. Let's see if he can spark things,

[nindamaged]

silva playing crap.

suarez off and leonardo on

[Azeri]

oh God... Leonardo for Suarez

[The Purple Cow]

The Ajacieden are so weak physically, they are just being muscled off the ball.

[nindamaged]

just a matter of time before villa get a third. ajax would be incredibly lucky to get a draw.

[nindamaged]

silva off van der weil on

[Orange14]

The Ajacieden are so weak physically, they are just being muscled off the ball.

Exactly right. We are too much of a finesse team and cannot compete against this type of play. Aston Villa are in good form this evening.

[Orange14]

2-1, full time and quite predictable from the run of play.

[villain]

Villa fan here.

Been to the match tonight, and it was great to play a historic club - a football institution- like Ajax again.

I thought you passed the ball around nicely in midfield, but your defending was really, really terrible.

Well done to your fans, though, very noisy, the noisiest we've had at Villa Park this season (and that includes clubs who brought 3 times as many as you did)

[gordonvandekamp]

Villa fan here.

Been to the match tonight, and it was great to play a historic club - a football institution- like Ajax again.

I thought you passed the ball around nicely in midfield, but your defending was really, really terrible.

Well done to your fans, though, very noisy, the noisiest we've had at Villa Park this season (and that includes clubs who brought 3 times as many as you did)

Not seen the game or the highlights yet, just read the match reports...
but that sounds quite right about our defenders, haven't fixed that problem in a few years now and it shows in European games against teams like this.

I think the best we would have been happy to draw, and nice to get one goal. There's still the rest of the group to go.

And Feyenoord lost 3-0.

[Kowalczyk]

It's so frustrating...

I thought Ajax looked quite good in the first half. Passing was okay. There was passion. There was more pace than usual and Vermaelen's goal was a really powerful, physical, 'mature' goal. What a fantastic header. Slammed home like a mortar grenade. Ajax were up for it in the first half and really played with confidence, which was good to see.

But what does it all mean when you give 'em away so easily...?

That first goal... Jesus Christ, Vermeer... My f*cking God. What was he thinking? He was walking backwards, went for the ball, but his hands weren't even as high as Laursen's head. He didn't even punch (or try to catch) with stretched arms, but tried to catch it as if it was a balloon and all the Villa players were little children.

And then that second goal. I have to say: the cross took a nasty deflection, so that everybody was out of position, but then still: how could Barry be waiting for the chance, right in front of the goal on the edge of the box, with absolutely no Ajax defender even close to him?? Lindgren in particular looked awful.

There's more things that are not great about this team, but you don't even have to name 'em. With a defense like this anything else is useless and the result can never be anything else than this. Even talking about it is a waste of time. You might as well quit and think of another game to play. Tennis, perhaps. Or darts.

We concede two goals in every away game, at the very, very least. Which means: one point against Feyenoord (whereas everybody else beats them), a defeat at Willem II, a spanking at Heerenveen and even when we're playing relatively well a defeat at Aston Villa... Six goals in four away games. One point.

K.

[saddlerian]

Yes, Ko, I agree with you; frustrating...BUT, I think the team did well! I was in the Villa section and the crowd were getting VERY upset at the way Ajax were keeping and passing the ball, the main threat, according to them, being Vertonghen....he had a very good game, running the show in midfield with Gabri.
To be honest, if that's the best that 4th place in the English Premier league can throw at us, what are we so worried about? We're going through a transition stage, and at the moment, not doing to bad.
Villa fans, and the local press, were pleased with the Villa display.....I thought they were shocking..being outplayed for much of the game.....just being beaten by the "long ball" game......and that's not football!

Qualify...........no problem!

[SPL]

Having to start again. I was just getting to the end of this posting and my computer decided an update was needed thus closing me down.
I will probably be briefer this time!!!

Big problem in defence is that Steks may not be back until after new year and Vermeer is a liability at crosses. He got away with it on Sat v Groningen but the first goal yesterday was a horrible mistake by him.The less said about the second. Silva is a poor right back at defending (but better than Ogararu and Colin which shows how poor they were) but Asley Young is a fast and outstanding winger who tore him to pieces.

Why we did not buy anymore defenders in the summer but we bought defensive midfielders which we have too many of. And why Leonardo replaced Suarez, who is the only forward this season who looks like breaking a defence down.

Villa looked good and pleased to see so many young englishmen in a team.But as Ian said this is the 4th or 5th best team in england and they only just beat us. With Steks back and Sulejmani and possibly Aissati we would be stronger.And 4 decent defenders.

One moan about Channel 5 they used Stan Collymore as a commentator
but he did no homework on Ajax saying KJH was from out of our academy.

Worst comment "I cannot understand Ajax as they bring kids through from 8 put them in the first team at 16/17 and sell them at 19".I wonder if he could give many examples as he suggested we do that with every player??? (Off the top of my head in the last 8 years since being on this site VDVaart and Anita debut 16 and Babel 17. Babel sold aged 20 about the only one under the age of 22 ) Sorry going off
subject.

Hopefully we will win our 2 home games but this season is going to be very long unless Marco buys some defenders in January. Vermaelen impressed me more than Olguer last night.

[saddlerian]

Silva is a poor right back at defending (but better than Ogararu and Colin which shows how poor they were) but Asley Young is a fast and outstanding winger who tore him to pieces.

Villa looked good and pleased to see so many young englishmen in a team.............this is the 4th or 5th best team in england and they only just beat us.

Sorry, but I can't agree with your first comment! Ashley Young, who is supposed to be the new English hope for next World Cup, might have torn Silva to shreds, but, as many Villa fans around me noted, he hasn't got a left foot, so although he was beaten for speed, he knew that Young was going to come back onto his right foot! In short, Young had a shit game! Why? because Ajax are used to wingers like this after Ryan Babel...Young's influence on the game was virtually zero....
On your other quote, yes, it was nice to see many English players in the Villa line up, but who shone?
Yes, there is a big gap there......because I can't make a case for any of them! In short, although they scored one goal fewer than Villa, Ajax outplayed, outpassed and outskilled Villa; they should have nothing to fear as this "new" team is just "bedding" in.
One positive thing is that MVB was not afraid to change the "Ajax" system of 4-3-3. When he made the changes last night he decided that attack was the best way as Villa were almost inept! O'Neil seems to think that Villa played very well. I think that he got caught up in all of the hype about the "Great Ajax" team visiting the Midlands. Just because they took the points they played "brilliantly". Biased I may be, but Ajax outplayed Villa! I have been less worried about the Ajax performances as the season has progressed....maybe, just maybe, it's starting to come together....with the January window getting closer to find a defender, (although many will now be Euro cup-tied), and the progress can continue at a faster pace.

The changes are noticable; the improvement is noticable......let's just hope that the results show the same progress.

[Orange14]

Enjoyed the commentary by those at the match! I still think we need a central playmaker in the midfield. Don't know if Aisatti is the one or not but he needs to be given the chance. Maybe that is what is needed to help KJH break out of the goal drought he is in. I also thought that the defense played pretty well except on the Barry goal. We also have to remember that Vermeer is still a work in progress. He has great reflexes and reminds me a lot of Iker Casillas in that regard. What he is lacking is the game savvy which will come in time. Personally I think Stek would have punched the ball away on the first goal but then he wasn't on the pitch.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

It's so frustrating...

I thought Ajax looked quite good in the first half. Passing was okay. There was passion. There was more pace than usual and Vermaelen's goal was a really powerful, physical, 'mature' goal. What a fantastic header. Slammed home like a mortar grenade. Ajax were up for it in the first half and really played with confidence, which was good to see.

But what does it all mean when you give 'em away so easily...?

That first goal... Jesus Christ, Vermeer... My f*cking God. What was he thinking? He was walking backwards, went for the ball, but his hands weren't even as high as Laursen's head. He didn't even punch (or try to catch) with stretched arms, but tried to catch it as if it was a balloon and all the Villa players were little children.

And then that second goal. I have to say: the cross took a nasty deflection, so that everybody was out of position, but then still: how could Barry be waiting for the chance, right in front of the goal on the edge of the box, with absolutely no Ajax defender even close to him?? Lindgren in particular looked awful.

There's more things that are not great about this team, but you don't even have to name 'em. With a defense like this anything else is useless and the result can never be anything else than this. Even talking about it is a waste of time. You might as well quit and think of another game to play. Tennis, perhaps. Or darts.

We concede two goals in every away game, at the very, very least. Which means: one point against Feyenoord (whereas everybody else beats them), a defeat at Willem II, a spanking at Heerenveen and even when we're playing relatively well a defeat at Aston Villa... Six goals in four away games. One point.

K.

Yeah frustrating is the word, i just cant understand why we cant go out and get a freaking decent defender, everybody knows we have defensive issues yet the people up top seem to be blindfolded.
Another thing i cant understand is how can an ajax goalkeeper be bad at crosses ?? the whole fucking ajax system revolves around crosses even steks has problems with crosses....i just dont get it with this team

We lost this game because we did not have the mother fucking balls to win....its that simple.

I hope Marco gave them a spank after the game.

end of rant.

[Over Pasanens Head]

KJH on last nights showing doesn't deserve a starting place in the line-up. His play is just too slow and ponderous and his control and passing isn't up to much either. The guy is a great goalscorer, but when he isn't scoring he is a liability.

Watching from the stands, my question is what did the team do at halftime as the second half Ajax was a very pale imitation of the first half Ajax? Villa were there for the taking as their defence in the conditions was as weak as ours.

[SE6Ajacied]

Pretty much agree with OPH and Ian's comments. I was in the Villa section too and the fans around me were very worried before they scored that second goal.

I was unfortunate enough to be at the opposite end from Raymon, Ian and the Ajax section so saw both of their goals at close hand but missed seeing much of ours.....missed seeing that much from our "star" "strikers" in the second half as well, KJH was completely anonymous and Suarez huffed and puffed a lot without achieving very much.

Good to see the returns from injury though, Gabri looked good to me and I have to say overall the performance was OK. (I'm going to watch the game again later taped from TV so that last comment might just change judging by some of the comments here - it seems that those who watched on TV were much less satisfied than those of use who were there???)

[SPL]

I see your point Ian about Young. Have to say I have never bothered to watch Villa before and Young did have too much pace for Silva but I was probably talking him up too much . Villa looked a good organised team but they should not have won last night. I made the point about good to see a team with so many young english but none shone. Not sure I can even name them all!!! 2 are called Young !!!!!!!

As I said we will be stronger when 2/3 injured return and we have to buy another decent defender.

[raymon]

Pretty much agree with OPH and Ian's comments. I was in the Villa section too and the fans around me were very worried before they scored that second goal.

I was unfortunate enough to be at the opposite end from Raymon, Ian and the Ajax section so saw both of their goals at close hand but missed seeing much of ours.....missed seeing that much from our "star" "strikers" in the second half as well, KJH was completely anonymous and Suarez huffed and puffed a lot without achieving very much.

Good to see the returns from injury though, Gabri looked good to me and I have to say overall the performance was OK. (I'm going to watch the game again later taped from TV so that last comment might just change judging by some of the comments here - it seems that those who watched on TV were much less satisfied than those of use who were there???)

The ambiance at Villa Park was great. The Ajax crowd sang their lungs out for most of the game and the Villa supporters were slightly worried about the end result. However they did win and I felt we lost very unfortunate. I think we deserved a draw. Nothing more though, we didn't play well enough, didn't have enough strike force. But the passing was alright and I reckon that we had most possession as well.

But regardless the game it was great to meet up with yourself and the others. I really admire such a dedicated bunch of fans and I hope to be able to meet up with you guys again.

[Monkey Tonk]

KJH on last nights showing doesn't deserve a starting place in the line-up. His play is just too slow and ponderous and his control and passing isn't up to much either. The guy is a great goalscorer, but when he isn't scoring he is a liability.

Watching from the stands, my question is what did the team do at halftime as the second half Ajax was a very pale imitation of the first half Ajax? Villa were there for the taking as their defence in the conditions was as weak as ours.

The only reason that Ajax looked reasonable in the 1H, was that Villa withdrew to their own half and allowed Ajax to pass the ball around. Only in the five minutes right before the deciding goal was Ajax actually humiliating them a bit. And immediately the defensive nonchalance crept back in. With a huge price to pay for it.

Villa changed their approach after the half. They no longer showed the respect - for a 'European Giant'- that they had started out the game with; a respect that made Ajax look better than they were. In the second half you saw the real mess Ajax is in. Everybody can look ok when they're being respected on the pitch.

There is not a single Ajax player that can read the opponent, and take advantage accordingly. A real Ajax team would have stuffed it down Villa's throat as soon as they realized that Villa was in awe. Instead, Ajax handed the win to Villa. With horrible mistakes in defense. And the worst part is that nobody, NOBODY, on the squad seems willing to chew out a team mate after yet another mind numbing error. The players are not holding each other accountable.

Let's get one thing straight. Just because they're wearing red and white, that doesn't mean they're Ajax. These zombies didn't even care that they had lost. Wasn't it an honorable score? This team has one player worthy of the sacred red and white. One. And that is Suarez. The rest took a wrong turn on their way to Rotterdam.

F*ck this.

[Kowalczyk]

@ Monkey Tonk:

I am 'famous' for that type of rant myself, but the next day I always think: well, it isn't that terrible... Does that happen to you, too?

K.