Ajax: Driving for a Three-peat

Discussion in 'The Netherlands' started by Orange14, Aug 14, 2012.

  1. MisterLee

    MisterLee New Member

    Feb 21, 2013
    www.dutchfootball-league.com
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Good! I'm not too found of Siggie, in potential he's a great striker but never fit enough to play a whole season. I would like to see Ajax buy Finnbogason as his replacement. He would fit perfectly in this team.
     
  2. TFC Ajax

    TFC Ajax Member+

    Mar 20, 2011
    Greater Toronto Area
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Starting XI: Vermeer; Van Rhijn, Alderweireld, Moisander, Blind; Eriksen, Poulsen, De Jong, Cuenca, Sigthórsson, Fischer
     
  3. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    ^no injuries; I don't care about the result.
     
  4. RomaRomaRoma

    RomaRomaRoma Member

    Jul 8, 2010
    Denmark
    Club:
    AS Roma
    Vermeer, hehe. Oh well, nobody scores from these kinds of freekicks anyway.
     
  5. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Brain failures by Vermeer and van Rhijn and we are quite fortunate not to be down by 2-0. We are too content to play defensively rather than opening up the Steaua defense which looks to be quite porous. I really don't want to see this go into extra time given our thin squad.
     
  6. BTV802

    BTV802 BigSoccer Supporter

    AFC Ajax
    Jul 11, 2006
    Vermont
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Whoooo that 2nd Steau goal was nutty.
     
  7. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Well this was the worst result, going into extra time. Just a terrible match except for the last 10 minutes of regular time when they finally decided to play some offense. What was the game plan for this match? It looked like we were content to sit back and defend which was a very poor decision. Poor play all around!
     
  8. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Well this just sucks. We don't have anyone decent at converting penalties!
     
  9. BTV802

    BTV802 BigSoccer Supporter

    AFC Ajax
    Jul 11, 2006
    Vermont
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Yeah but Kenneth is excellent at stopping them.

    edit: He's gonna have to be now.
     
  10. BTV802

    BTV802 BigSoccer Supporter

    AFC Ajax
    Jul 11, 2006
    Vermont
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Moisander...Dude.
     
  11. he so scrumptiouz

    Jun 1, 2006
    amsterdam
    Out of NextGen and out of the EL.. Not a good week for Ajax. :(

    I blame Vermeer, his brainfart was what started it all. Huge dent in confidence if you can't rely on your goalkeeper.
     
  12. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    No European distractions any longer. Terrible match all around and I don't think there is anyone who can be proud of how they played in this match. On to Ado den Haag on the weekend, a team we always have difficulty with. I'm just disgusted!
     
  13. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Nonsense, it's a team game and there was nobody who distinguished themselves tonight. If you can point to a single player who played well more is the credit. they were all terrible and FdB is to blame for allowing the defensive football to be played. Utter rubbish of a match and I'm not proud of this team one bit.
     
  14. he so scrumptiouz

    Jun 1, 2006
    amsterdam
    I just want to blame someone and Vermeer came to mind first. :p

    FdB did nothing wrong, we were coasting right before the relapse from Vermeer and all of a sudden Ajax was playing with fear in their heart. Our defense was what let us down. Steaua coach was right, our backline isn't that good without someone like Vertonghen. For whatever reason Daley gives acres of space to his opponents each and every time. Vermeer is usually solid, but Cillessen is more talented imo. He can raise the bar higher, no pun intended.
     
  15. TFC Ajax

    TFC Ajax Member+

    Mar 20, 2011
    Greater Toronto Area
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Didn't watch the game (fortunately :()
    Always a poor decision for a team like Ajax. When you have a team that is built to attack, than you have to stay on your front foot and keep the ball away from your own net. Playing defensively plays to our weaknesses rather than our strengths.
    We've seen this before in this competition. Two years ago in Moscow, Verhoeven was afraid of the ball and it was clear that it caused confidence issues with the CBs which made playing out of the back impossible. Not that I can say that that happened today, but I agree that it hurts confidence, and IMO bad goal keeping can have more of a detrimental effect on the team than most other positions
     
    he so scrumptiouz repped this.
  16. aveslacker

    aveslacker Member+

    Ajax
    United States
    Apr 2, 2006
    Old Madras
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    United States
    Eh. If this means that we have more energy to spend on winning the league then I'm ok with it. I'm not that bothered about the Europa League anyway.
     
    red & wite army repped this.
  17. CorDeSang

    CorDeSang Member

    May 23, 2007
    You might feel differently if and when Ajax makes it to the CL group stage next season and you end up in pot 3 or 4... Just saying.
     
  18. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    It won't matter because we get screwed on the draw each year.
     
  19. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    I'm just completely stunned that the players and FdB have been quoted as saying there was a great deal of luck associated with the Steaua victory last night. GET REAL!!!!! This team was just not ready to play an away match in an arena where the noise level was going to be high against a physical team that wanted to show that their performance in Amsterdam was just a fluke. They succeeded and Ajax did not. Sure penalties are a bit of a lottery and I was doubtful that we were going to come through regardless of what kind of great saves Vermeer would make (he made none).

    Our vaunted possession game was terrible and Steaua had 52% to our 48% and if you take away all the passes between Moisander, Vermeer and Alderwiereld it was even worse (the only statistic we seemed to come out on top of was fewer off sides). We only wanted to probe up the left side of the pitch (and this may be why Latovlecici was able to have a free run down our right defensive side and consistently cause trouble for van Rhijn, who was rubbish on the goal). Even that was unsuccessful as Blind, Eriksen and Fischer were constantly getting too close to one another making it really easy for them to defend. As we all know de Jong cannot play in the midfield as his handling speed is too slow which is probably why the right side is unavailable unless Schöne is in the lineup at that spot. Cuenca saw the ball so little that he might as well have bought a ticket and watched from the stands.

    I don't know what possessed Vermeer to handle the back pass; that's the first time in years that I've seen a keeper do that and it just points to a lack of mental acuity (though he did have a decent enough match otherwise). I thought Alderwiereld and Moisander had good matches against some big and rough players and the second goal quite frankly was a thing of beauty. Now maybe Chiriches never hits another one like it in his lifetime, but I sure wouldn't use this as an excuse.

    I was thinking that after the Milan/Barcelona match that the Calans played just like Ajax, lots of possession and nothing to show for it. Well last night Ajax looked just like Wednesday's Barca but without the possession. This team is in desparate need of some psychological counselling to figure out why they are not mentally tough (I can count on one hand the number of players in recent time who had this type of toughness and were able to set an example).

    I'm sure that management will say, "...we will learn something from this match," but that is simply unacceptable to Ajax.
     
    DRB300 repped this.
  20. MisterLee

    MisterLee New Member

    Feb 21, 2013
    www.dutchfootball-league.com
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Full Match Report: http://www.dutchfootball-league.com/?p=940

    What a dramatic night for Dutch Football! First half, Ajax controlled most of the game,
    because of the fact the Romanian side sat back and allowed Ajax to pass around the ball.
    If Steaua had the ball, they would lose it soon due to very good pressure and positioning of Ajax.
    The 1-0 goal came out of the blue as Steaua barely came close to the Ajax's goal. A long pass from the back,
    the Steaua left back Latovlevici controlled the ball well and scored with a cool-finish.

    The second half was a different story as Steaua put the pedal to the floor and pressured Ajax well through
    sheer determination and mentality. Ajax's backs were put against the wall, but no clear cut chances were created.
    A great scorcher from distance put the 2-0 on the scoreboard. A deflected cross came in front of Chiricheş, and the midfielder shot the ball with no hesitation. Ajax showed some resilience but was very unlucky, by hitting the post and heading just wide.

    The extra time proved to be very dull and the Romanians showed more composure, by netting in all their penalty kicks as Schone and Moisander missed for the Dutchies.
     
    he so scrumptiouz repped this.
  21. he so scrumptiouz

    Jun 1, 2006
    amsterdam
    We have the worst record in penalty shoot outs apparently in European Cup history.. Lost 5 in a row. :D
     
  22. MisterLee

    MisterLee New Member

    Feb 21, 2013
    www.dutchfootball-league.com
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    I'm not suprised at all... the moment I saw Moisander step up, I already knew he was going to miss it......
     
  23. BTV802

    BTV802 BigSoccer Supporter

    AFC Ajax
    Jul 11, 2006
    Vermont
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    People talk a lot about the 3-4-3 being the best formation for us to play with Van Rhijn as one of the back 3 and Blind as a left sided midfielder. I'm just curious what do people think the rest of our best 3-4-3 lineup would be and what the base formation would actually look like? I'm so locked into the mindset of our 4-3-3 formation I cant wrap my head around it. Is it a diamond midfield? Who do we have that can run up and down the right flank like Blind does on the left? Do you play De Jong up top and somebody with a high work rate like Boerrigter as right midfielder? Would that be a good role for Ligeon with his pace or does it make sense to have a midfielder like Schone or De Jong play there? De Jong is way too static to be playing out wide on the right but I guess I can picture Schone doing it. Am I not imagining this formation correctly? Am I oversimplying?

    I DON'T GET IT!!!!!

    [​IMG]
     
  24. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    You are delusional. They've gone into a 3-4-3 on numerous occasions this season with Blind moving forward and Moisander sliding over. The problem is that Blind is really too slow to do this, you need more of wingback type player who has some speed and can recover to help out when the other team counters. This is the least of the worries for Ajax, better to sell de Jong ASAP and see how the team markedly improves. He's not a striker and he sure isn't a midfielder.
     
  25. TFC Ajax

    TFC Ajax Member+

    Mar 20, 2011
    Greater Toronto Area
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    The problem with playing 3-4-3 isn't the lack of a RM, but rather the lack of a DM, which also happens to be the same problem we have playing 4-3-3

    BTW playing Beorrigter as a box to box player would be a complete failure as he has no clue how to properly dispossess a player the way Blind does. He just runs into them and gives away needless fouls
     

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