Let's make it 14 wins in a row in honor of Cruyff, AFC Ajax [R]

I've seen these called both ways since the match official has to make a determination whether the keeper is going for the ball and the contact comes from the missed attempt at the ball. I don't have any problems with the call.

 

+1 and he will keep Ola John occupied tracking back.

 

This was a very even match and it took a bit of luck and some really good goalkeeping from Vermeer to keep the scoreline at 2-1. Great awareness from Ebecilio to set the plate up for Van der Wiel who took his chance as well as any striker I've ever seen with the off foot. Despite having some issues with defensive shape, the team did enough and kept decent possession in the midfield. I really do question FdB's choice of substitutes in this match. If Sigthorsson is going to come on, don't take off the winger who has been relentlessly tracking back all match to help on defense. Why take off Anita for Enoh and leave Janssen on the pitch (I really don't get this one since if you are going to control the midfield keep your best player out on the pitch!)

Player ratings:

Vermeer (8) - very poor kicking but three incredible saves and good ball distribution
Blind (7) - very solid match on both sides of the pitch
Vertonghen (8) - excellent defensively and the one charge along the goal line in the Twente half was pretty
Alderwiereld (7) - good in the back yet again
Van der Wiel (8) - dicey against John in the opening 10 minutes and then was just superb, responsible for both Ajax goals and defensively pretty good down the stretch
Anita (8) - is there a better holding midfielder in the league during the 2nd half of the season? I think not
Eriksen (6) - surprisingly subdued match today
Janssen (7) - rating only because of the PK, otherwise not all that great and couldn't even keep the ball in the corner with 40 seconds to go
Boerrigter (7) - again solid on the left wing
de Jong (7) - good match
Aissati (7) - realized he had to give Van der Wiel help on Ola John and did just that
Ebecilio (8) - great assist on the 2nd goal and almost got #3 creating space for himself in the middle
Sigthorsson (NR) - maybe only got one touch as a substitute
Enoh (NR) - didn't see any touch as he came on late for Anita

This team has really come together and I think the two EL matches against ManU showed that even with young players if they play as a team they can win matches. Forza AJAX!!!