Pre-match: AJAX - Twente: The Johan Cruijff-schaal 30-07-2011

yeah, Jan were certainly missed, as well as Anita, i think Siem didn't do much good in the midfield, even Siggy were seen much more in the action than Siem

still, a heart breaking loss, oh well, now lets just look forward to the Season

 

Seriously? That was a fair penalty in my opinion. It doesn't matter that the ball wouldn't have reached him.

Berghuis got hit, wasn't a schwable and might even have been another penalty.

 

I only watched the YouTube highlight, but once again I am with Paga. Players tug shirts all the day long, but in this incident Theo was all over Luuk and it was blatantly obvious. Also, looked like Theo tried to trip out Luuk even before the shirt pulling. Correct decision. The Berghuis decision I am indifference. I couldn't tell what happened from the angle I saw. Seemed like Berghuis was fouled and the decision could have been going the other way.

 

The thing with the Berghuis red card was that close up replay shows he was off his feet and going down before Boileson made contact. Would have been a penalty had he stayed on his feet. Close call but looked like it was the right one to me.

 

There was physical contact and intention to bring him down. That would've been a penalty nine out of ten times. The only thing with Berghuis is that he's young and inexperienced and doesn't know how to make the most out of a situation like that.

Never mind, thankfully it did not have a deciding impact on the game.

Two things decided this game. One, Ruiz was the only player on the pitch last night that truly stood out and truly had the ability to decide it. Two, the subbing, which with all due respect was silly from the Ajax end, and was good by contrast from Adriaanse. To then hear De Boer say he was saving his best players for the crucial game against De Graafschap next week, I don't even know what to make of that. Twente has a massive game in three days time with a lot of money riding on it. So unlike Twente players, Ajax players aren't up for two games in a week?? Smells like a sore loser to me. Another thing that bothered me was Eriksen refusing to acknowledge Adriaanse after the game, not shaking his hand and not looking him in the eye at the winners line-up. I do hope De Boer tells him off for it, that is not the type of behaviour you want to condone in a youngster.

While the game as such was fairly meaningless I have to say my jaw dropped at the post match reactions overall. The Ajax attitude remains totally alien to me, and to be honest I don't think it's helping them much. Twente has picked up where it's left off, and that's being effective. Twente does not need to dominate a match to win it. If De Boer is complaining about that, what in god's name does he expect his opponents in the CL will be like.

I'm not bigging up Twente here, obviously there's a lot to work on at our end. But while our management fully agrees there's plenty of room for improvement, it seems Ajax, as usual, are blaming a loss on bad luck. Where this is coming from I really do not know. Ajax lalaland.

 

Boileson pulled up while he was sliding into the tackle and Berghuis was going down before Boileson even touched him. Berghuis just needs to try to stay on his feet or take some lessons from Luuk on how be more convincing.

 

We were outplayed yet won. With ten men. In Amsterdam.

Bottom line being that the Twente reaction to this game was that they feel there was a lot of room for improvement. Meanwhile Ajax think they were brilliant and think on the basis of this game they'll win the league easily. Am I missing something here? If Twente can beat Ajax while not playing well, what does this mean? Twente has Ruiz, who do you think your potential CL opponents will have?

Ajax still aren't focusing on their own weaknesses. The problems at Twente to me are blatantly obvious, as they are to Twente management. Ajax meanwhile make the impression, as per usual, that they think they're the greatest team in the world even after losing at home to ten men. Seriously it is baffling to me.

 

Again why in god's name does De Boer think his starters need A WEEK's rest for a game against De Graafschap?! By contrast Twente have a game in three days coming up with millions riding on it?

That's the whole point I was trying to make wasn't it. Adriaanse believes there's a lot of improvement work to be done, yet he won. De Boer thinks things are great at Ajax despite losing. Schiet mij maar lek.

When you seriously look at the game, Ajax was great outside of the 16 metres, but that's where it stopped. Douglas and Wisgerhof, while diabolical in build-up play, like nothing more than being old school defenders. How many chances did Ajax really create then? I mean REAL chances?

Twente went up early in the game. You probably disagree but this Twente does not actually mind leaning back in the knowledge that Ajax have no real muscle up front.

I'm willing to bet that Ajax will put a bid in for Ruiz next week.

 

Toby Alderweireld has literally said he believes Ajax are pretty certain to win the league on the basis of this game.

Í would have no problem with anyone at Ajax saying that they're a title candidate. Clearly, they are, and along with PSV seeing the money they've spent, they are the top two favourites, as usual. I just can't believe the lack of self-criticism from the Ajax camp. Every single loss to Twente over the past three years has been put down to bad luck. Do me a bloody favour. Twente has won four out of the five most recent prizes to be won in the Dutch league. Yet still we hear from De Boer and Ajax players that it was all down to bad luck and if there was one team who deserved to win it it was Ajax. From a Twente perspective mind this is all good news. As long as Ajax can't face its own weaknesses Twente will be, as the Dutch saying goes, a lice in your pelt.

 

I don't get your focus on Twente. If you can't beat a down to ten men Twente I have no idea where your confidence in Ajax comes from, sorry. You're missing killers up front and you're missing muscle at the back. It's probably good enough to give you a real chance of winning the Dutch league. But it in no means makes you a real favourite to win the Dutch league, let alone do well in the CL. Again that's why I don't get the sour comments by De Boer. If de Boer wants to concentrate on attributing losses to bad luck, your beloved Ajax is in trouble. This Twente by contrast is by no means a perfect team but at least our coach admits to that.

 

Eh? I never said that. We were the most effective team though. As football is not a jury sport, that does seem rather important.

 

No they weren't measured, they were sour. He said one team attacked yet Twente created two chances and scored from those. Like I said, never mind Twente. This type of thing happens all the time in European football, against better opponents than Twente. We're going to see a lot of sour De Boer comments in the CL season that's for certain.

 

The Dutch posters here know what I'm on about. They've all seen the post match comments by both the Twente and the Ajax side. You're lying if you don't see a difference in attitude between the two. The winning side has said they feel embarrassed about the quality of play from their end. The losing side has said they were dominant and felt the only team that deserved to win this was Ajax. You know that this was said, and how childish is it of you to try and discredit me as a poster in denying it. I'm not bothered by any of it. To tell you the truth it makes me feel increasingly positive about the Twente season. As long as Ajax feel all high and mighty that increases Twente's chances big time. I hope PSV feel the same as Ajax.

Not a game goes by that Twente management does not criticise itself. Not a game goes by that Ajax management does not big itself up. The same applies to Feyenoord and to a lesser extent PSV. If you don't see how this all is massively benefitting Twente then good luck to you in the new season, you'll have a hard time coping with all these other clubs, not just Twente.