29 Mar 2008: SC Heerenveen - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

PSV away...
Twente away...

And now Heerenveen away. Not an easy one, either.

K.

[aveslacker]

PSV away...
Twente away...

And now Heerenveen away. Not an easy one, either.

K.

Naturally I hope Ajax win, but I would like to see Michael Bradley do well.

[SPL]

I think Ajax could do worse than give Javier Martina a game on the right wing.Especially after what i saw yesterday or should I say what I did not see.

I have watched the reserve highlights on youtube and Martina is seen to be quick and has a good cross and scores a few.

I read that Ajax rate the kid and want to extend his contract so give him a go now.

[Kowalczyk]

Yeah, why not?

As for the game... There are two scenarios: either we're not interested and lose, or we suddenly play well because the pressure is gone - and we win remarkably easily.

I haven't figured out yet which of these two options would annoy me the most.

K.

[Ayman]

Ok everyone is asleep....its 1-3 ajax..suarez, perez and huntelaar..its also NEC 0-0 PSV..if they lose or draw today and draw in one of their home fixtures either against twente or heracles and lose away to vitesse then we will be champions...sooo.....BELIEVE!!!!

[SPL]

4-2 win. In the second half the sopcast changed to the PSV game and would not show our game. I missed all the 2nd half goals.Still a good win.

[Ayman]

KJH strikes again and its finished Heerenveen 2-4 Ajax...its still NEC 0-0 PSV...3 games left....i think psv will panick nd crack a bit here nd there...hopefully anyway

[orange goblin]

NEC - PSV finishes 0-0...and the Nijmegen side had absolutely the best chances but gomes was the man..
anyway: there's still life on planet ajax....

[ajaxusa]

Home to De Graafschap, away at Groningen, and home to Heracles. Two "easy" ones bookending a tough away fixture. Still, it's not unreasonable to hope for 9 points from these games.

Meanwhile, PSV are looking at home games to Heracles and FC Twente, before finishing up with a potentially tough one at Vitesse.

I think it's unrealistic to expect them to drop 5 points, though. It's possible; they could draw with Twente and, if Ajax also manage to win at Groningen, PSV might panic and lose at Vitesse.

I'm not a betting man, but if I was, my money'd still be on the lightbulbs. Nice that it's still interesting, anyway.

[SPL]

Those 92nd minute goals for Twente cost us 3 points. But that is football.
Looking back to December we only drew withVVV and lost at Excelsior
that is where the title was lost.

[Monkey Tonk]

Ajax gave it away -again- by being inconsistent. A champion can't be like a box of chocolate; 'you never know what you're going to get'. Being a champion is about how little it shows when you're having a bad day. The brilliant days take care of themselves.

[bryan]

The title wasn't one or lost due to a particular match.

I can sum it up with numbers.

PSV: 23
Ajax: 42

That's the difference.

Goals against.

It was the same last year, and the year before, and the year before.

You can't win titles with a shitty defence.

[DanK]

The title wasn't one or lost due to a particular match.

I can sum it up with numbers.

PSV: 23
Ajax: 42

That's the difference.

Goals against.

It was the same last year, and the year before, and the year before.

You can't win titles with a shitty defence.

Thats very true and a good point, although consistency does play a part.

JC said it himself. To win a game you need to score more goals than the other team (or something like that). But in reality, it doesn't work that way. Ajax DO need to fix its defense. Such a pity we just lost of best defender from the squad for next season.

[Kowalczyk]

That's the difference.

Goals against.

It was the same last year, and the year before, and the year before.

You can't win titles with a shitty defence.

Very true. I've said it before and I will say it again: in the past 25 seasons of Eredivisie football it has happend precisely one time that the number of goals conceded by the champions was higher than 34 (= 1.00 per game).

This season Ajax conceded two goals in more than 50% of their league matches (17 of 'em, so far). End of story. There is absolutely no way in the world you can even dream of winning a title with a defence like that. There is no way, and that's a statistic fact.

K.

[ajaxusa]

There is absolutely no way in the world you can even dream of winning a title with a defence like that. There is no way, and that's a statistic fact.K.

True, unless they actually do, which is unlikely but possible. And then it won't be true. But, barring miracles.... true.

[bryan]

Wait for when the transfer windfall comes in the summer, we'll go out and sign 5 attacking midfielders.

[Monkey Tonk]

In the Ajax style defense starts with offense. We give up a lot of space in the back, so we need to have accurate passing. When an inaccurate pass results in a turnover and a goal, is that poor defense, in the way most people envision it? No. So while there is no question that we give up too many goals, it is an oversimplification to say we need better defense.

[DanK]

In the Ajax style defense starts with offense. We give up a lot of space in the back, so we need to have accurate passing. When an inaccurate pass results in a turnover and a goal, is that poor defense, in the way most people envision it? No. So while there is no question that we give up too many goals, it is an oversimplification to say we need better defense.

A lot of the goals we conceded this season has been to poor man marking, horrible defensive positioning, and in some cases just piss poor technique. IMHO that is poor defense.

I do agree that Ajax's 'classic' style will give up a few goals over the season, but not 42+. We need stronger, smarter and just plain better defenders. Actually the whole squad needs to defend better, but thats a whole different story

[aveslacker]

A lot of the 42 goals given up can be attributed to Urby and OMGraru not knowing how to play defense. I'd buy the Ajax "style" arguments if this club has played in that style, but I haven't seen much of it from them this season.