Something tells me that there will be a lot of experimentation and rotation in midfield this season. Don't see any of these guys as the answer but maybe one of them will surprise me. Honestly it's just a waiting game for Enoh to be fit.
I'm less worried about Enoh's speed on the ball and more worried about his lack of discipline with picking up cards. Hes always a danger to be sent off.
Where are Fischer, Denswil, Boccara and Sporkslede? What are Klaassen and Veltman doing there? We can't buy anyone because Denswil needs to get ready for next season, yet he's not even with the squad. Bringing a youth player like Fischer slowly apparently also means he'll switch between Jong Ajax and the first team every week. I don't see Denswil being first choice next season if he doesn't even at least make the bench every week this season.
Either Blind or Veltman shouldn't be there. As long as VdW is here, van Rhijn should be the first choice LCB and Denswil his sub
It is now 35 Celcius in Enschede and considering that Nijmegen is bound to be even hotter I feel VERY sorry for both Ajax and NEC players....
Vermeer; Van der Wiel, Alderweireld, Van Rhijn, Dijks; Eriksen, Janssen, Schøne; Lukoki, De Jong en Sana.
Kuipers gave everyone a water break in the match at Rotterdam yesterday, I hope they do the same today. Agree with Verbeek's comment today that they should be able to switch these matches to the evening in these conditions. EDIT Added: I feel sorry for you; we went through this kind of weather for about five straight weeks from the end of June through July. It has finally cooled off here. I assume you don't generally have air conditioning in you homes, correct?
Really terrible defending and goalkeeping from NEC is making this one way too easy. Good to see Sana getting on the scoreboard and Lukoki has been a terror down the wing. Alderweireld and van Rhijn got really lucky on the Sno through ball. Any other team would have scored on that break. Game will get progressively slower because of the heat and it's good that we are up 4-0 since we don't need to spend much energy to see this one out. Glad that Vink gave them a 2 minute break at the 23rd minute for water and cold towels. Assume 3 substitutions in the 2nd half and it will be interesting to see who gets some playing time.
We've actually got airconditioning in our bedrooms and I've got airconditioning at work so I'm quite lucky really. I was worrying mostly about Sno today what with his heart condition. Congrats, impressive win! NEC are god awful in defence though, here's hoping Twente can take similar advantage next week.
Win with 6 - 1, still get's pissed about the 1 conceding goal. Wij zijn Ajax. Buy of the season, decade, century!
I was completely shocked to see Frank de Boer give a Fergie style hairdryer, albeit in public, when Ajax went 5-1 into drinks break. I won't even call it a stupid goal, a good effort from Nuytinck imo. But Frank just blasted them all
Just back from Yoga. A slow motion game because of the heat but Ajax were two steps quicker than NEC who were absolutely horrid on defense. Rightly Ajax should have had a couple of more goals but missed some very good chances but then NEC also should really have done better when the exploited some real bad plays by the two central defenders. NEC seemed to have good possession in the first 15 minutes but then Ajax took over controlling the ball and opening up passing lanes all over the pitch. NAC at home next Saturday which should turn out to be a relatively easy fixture. The key question now is whether Van der Wiel and Janssen will be leaving and who if anyone will be coming into the squad. It was good to see Boerrigter back today but I don't know how Sulejmani's recovery is coming along. Player ratings: Vermeer (7) - I think there were only two shots on frame and he saved one and had no chance on the Nuytinck goal off the corner; decent job today Van der Wiel (7) - pretty good match but is he staying with the team Alderweireld (6) - really bad on the Sno through pass letting NEC get in 2 on 1 but lucky their shooting boots were not on; was he at fault on the Nuytinck goal, I couldn't tell van Rhijn (6) - lost his positioning on the pitch several times but was as lucky as Toby that NEC could not shoot Dijks (6) - a couple of dicey plays on defense and a deserved Yellow card when he wasn't paying attention and had to grab his man Schöne (7) - looks like he was the holding mid today and didn't have much to do defensively; very good passing in the midfield Janssen (7) - didn't have to play defense at all and was incisive taking some good shots on goal and passing to the open man Eriksen (7) - I don't think he even touched the ball in the first 25 minutes of the match but then really came alive passing and taking some good shots that just missed; good to see him go a full 90 Lukoki (7) - an absolute terror down the wing creating a lot of danger Sana (7) - delightful chipped goal and may turn out to be the best transfer we've brought in over the last six or so years de Jong (7) - good passing and ball handling; one can't really credit him with the goal though it does go down on the score sheet Boerrigter (7) - somewhat rusty but had some decent plays Blind (6) - one really dumb back pass that almost cost the team; looks like he has lost his position to Dijks and certainly when Boilesen comes back FDB may not need him other than as a real emergency player Veltman (NR) - not on long enough I didn't give anyone more than a '7' today because the quality of the opposition was so poor that we really did not require any exceptional plays to win this. In terms of the best all around play, I think Lukoki was my MOTM.
They deserved it, very lackadaisical on defense today. When Van der Wiel is the best defender on the pitch, you know something is wrong.