As the last three games of the season are coming up, I thought it a good idea to have one thread where we can evaluate and all share our fears and hopes - I'm sure Ajax fans are a bag of nerves by now as am I, god knows how De Graafschap, Roda, Volendam and ADO fans feel. First of all congratulations to AZ, I'm no big fan as they in my view are a sugardaddy club, still it's nice to see a club outside the traditional top three win the eredivisie, and over the full season its well deserved as they were not only the most consistent side out there but also played the best football. So what are the nailbiting issues now remaining to be settled? The biggest fight is in the relegation zone, my hopes are that De Graafschap stay in as they're by far the biggest club in said zone, bigger even than AZ you could argue. My vote goes to Volendam, who I don't begrudge anything as they're the Ms Congeniality of the eredivisie, but they are the club with the smallest fanbase and Roda have suffered enough. The second biggest fight is for second place which is between Ajax and Twente. If you were to follow the Dutch media you'd be forgiven for thinking that Ajax have some divine right to that second place, but they've still got to play for it, and seeing them defend today gives me the hope that theyll drop a couple of more points. For Twente the problem is that our forwards seem to have lost their scoring boots, and that the standard match scenario these days is that after an outstanding first half, a lacklustre second half follows. And we have the additional pressure of still being in the domestic cup, as the highest ranking eredivisie team we're expected to win that. We're also missing key players thanks to red cards and injuries so it's a big ask but like I said, Ajax don't exactly look awe inspiring either. Interesting aspect of this fight: in the very last game of the season, Ajax play Twente at home. To be honest I have absolutely no idea how it will all pan out. Third biggest fight is the fight for fourth place, which is the last place to guarantee European football (if Twente don't win the cup that is). This fight is between Heerenveen and PSV, and on current form, PSV look much more comfortable. But as this season has proved time and again, nothing is certain in this little football league that has given me a lot of entertainment this season, regardless of where Twente rank by the end of it. All hail the eredivisie!
Weird, all the top teams dropping points this weekend. What's going on? I thought Ajax would come out strong today and instead had the worst match of the year, handing goal after goal to PSV on a silver platter. We have AZ next week and of course the trophy gets handed to them at that point. Maybe Marco will have them set and ready to play. Will AZ be interested in playing the remainder of the season out? What will the suspensions mean for Twente next week? You are right about the value for the money. This is one exciting league and going down to the wire!!
Great season by AZ. Deserved champions. Forgettable one for Feyenoord. Didnt enjoy it at all. I am also hoping that Volendam are the ones to be relegated. Its not that i dislike them but more in fear of seeing a bigger team go down in their place. They re simply not an eredivisie side. at least not now.
I'm not sure what this means but Van Gaal was at a party in Enschede two weeks ago where he said that he'd rather have Twente than Ajax finish in second place and jokingly of course said that he'd try to help us. I do believe he feels animosity towards Ajax and he doesn't towards Twente, how that translates to AZ players of course is another matter. I'm glad we're playing Heerenveen away first. We haven't lost there in years, we're a bit of a bogey opponent for them. I also think we'll beat AZ at home. In conclusion, itll probably come down to that last game in Amsterdam. By the way as I've told you all before I wouldn't mind if we finished third but the comments of the Dutch media pissed me off so much this week that I want us to finish second now just to spite them.
My thoughts exactly. They're a charming little club but that's it. I hope Feyenoord fans have something to cheer about next season. I know I'm very critical of them (and I still think some of them are scum HA!) but fact remains that they always support their team even in miserable times and thats commendable.
I just want to say that it's been a crazy season and I am a big fan of this league. Can't wait to see how this season shakes out and to see if Ajax can continue to move forward towards a team with some sort of chemistry & consistency. Defensive issues were clearly highlighted today but I think that overall this is a unit (with Vertonghen as central defender) that has improved quite a bit and if kept together has a bright future. Congratulations to AZ for a dominant season. Congratulations to Twente for showing that they are one of the best teams in the league and representing us well in Europe. Congratulations to Feyenoord for discovering that the age of their strikeforce is inversely related to the number of goals they will score. Suck it PSV.
I think AZ-Ajax game may be a great one They will both play for either second place--Ajax--or for AZ--to show Ajax that they are the true champs and bury them at the ArenA--Van Gaal would c-m in his pants if it got to 0-3 or 0-5 the relegation thing--I'm with the team that has the most money to hang around--a chain is only as strong as the weakest link and if Volendam has no base--money or future it should not be up--but this is decided on the field--not in the board room Consistency has been the big problem since January---I saw and thought PSV would contend for second and they lose to bad teams--I only saw Feyenoord twice in the last few months and thought they were vastly better than when I saw them in November--yet they lose games they should not Twente played in Europe longer than anyone else and are probably running on fumes now--but always play attacking which is fun and for my money deserve second Ajax has been a puzzle--I really do not like their style most games-- then in other games they play run and gun--great entertaining football--but not often enough--they play just well enough to win against weaker teams--much like Chelsea under Morinho When I joined this board 4 years ago I wished that the smaller clubs could compete with the big 3--it is happening--places like Den Haag and other larger centers should find sugar daddies or some money into the team--Gronigen and Heerenveen can get close then with a little more money they can also be there--to put them over the top---this is a democracy--everyone should have a chance--I know I'm dreaming my biggest complaint is that there are too many --poor-weak-teams--of 18 teams less than half can legitimately say--we can win every time out--but this is the problem in England and Spain as well---but it does dilute the quality I will sit and watch my computer screen for 2 hours if AZ is playing a good team but after an hour of watching 10 men behind the ball against a Heracles it gets tiring--and this happens too much going forward--the money for TV should be equally distributed--which I beleive is very skewered--it was 4 years ago
Overall I think it's a very evenly balanced league and if it ain't broke don't try to fix it. The Dutch are in love with their league, no matter how many media, at home and abroad, keep telling us how poor it is. Fact is the eredivisie is fun. It is a league that's mostly about people following their local team and as such about unconditional love. We all know that the big leagues will come and bleed our league dry again in the summer but what else is new, this is something that's happened for as long as I can remember. This season we're all talking about El Hamdaoui and Elia and Enoh and Arnautovic - who was talking about these players just a year ago? Every year our league seems to produce talents out of nowhere and that's what makes the eredivisie great. Yes these players will all move on but we all saw them before they were internationally recognised and before they were tarnished with the cynical brush of football. We eredivisie watchers are in a privileged position. It was nice to see Voetbal International TV bigging up Twente again saying that we're much more impressive as a team than erm anyone else in the top five outside AZ. A much needed confidence booster at a time when as Twente fan you're faced with many missing players.
Update: The relegation battle is heating up. There's just two points between the number 15 ADO and the number 18 De Graafschap. Come on De Graafschap! As for the fight for the no. 2 spot, Twente were struggling v Heerenveen but got a draw in the very last minute thanks to a brilliant Jansen free kick. Thankfully Ajax with 12 men still couldn't manage a 10 men AZ. I say 12 men as the referee was so biased it was embarrassing, even from an Ajax perspective I imagine. On a brighter note, judging on the readers comments in today's online Dutch papers, very few people want Ajax to finish second after today's antics, not just because of the refereeing but also because of Suarez, who while a great player again proved that he's scum. Thankfully Didulica was only left with a concussion after Suarez kicked him in the head out of frustration after he missed his first penalty. Oh and Heerenveen has secured European football as the top five is now sorted. Spot 2 to 4 are still very much open though, nothing's been decided. Whether Twente finish second or fourth, I'll be very proud. Van Basten on the Studio voetbal AKA Studio Ajax talkshow tonight, I wonder how creative hell be in finding excuses again.
Suarez is a prick but thats not really a fair description of the incident. The keeper bobbled the save with one hand and sacrificed his body to dive in front of Suarez who was clearly going for the rebound. Suarez followed through and caught Didiluca in the head with his knee. Both guys were doing what they were supposed to do. These things happen in contact sport, but I really hope the keeper is alright.. It's incredible that Ajax couldn't come away with the win today. Several posts and clearances off of AZ's line left us short at the end. Perhaps Suarez needs to stop being so cute with his finishing. He missed a wide open net, & keepers know he likes to chip it on his penalties. Very frustrating result.
Didulica held the ball. You're not allowed to attack a goalkeeper who holds the ball, that's the entire point. A goalkeeper is protected by the rules and with reason as today showed. To have Suarez get away with that while AZ had Schaars sent off for an offence that was at most a yellow card, to then have the referee indicate 14 minutes of extra time while he let play on for 17 minutes, and that´s not even talking about the two penalties that shouldnt have been given and the fact that Ajax didn´t create anything when AZ still had 11 men on the pitch. I can completely sympathise with you trying to defend your club, I would have probably done the same if this was Twente, but to non Ajax fans, it was appalling refereeing and I don´t think the referee will be leading any top games in the eredivisie for some time. I know some of you will probably think this is just me but you should see the outrage on Dutch newspaper sites and forums today. What little sympathy Ajax had left is now gone out of the window. As for Suarez´s chip. If that was a Twente player I would have been completely pissed off with him for taking that kind of risk at that stage of a game. It was downright stupid and unbelievably arrogant. I´m sure his team mates are furious with him.
I see what you are saying and it's a very close call. It may have been a desperate attempt out of frustration for missing, but I still don't believe that Suarez's intention was to hurt Didulica. I fully agree about Suarez. He needs to smash that ball into the back of the net. He also missed a wide open chance after being set up by Sulejmani. He's a cheeky little Uruguayan.
To much stuff to quote. However....Peter Vink had one of the worst matches for an official that I have seen. Terribly inconsistent. The Schaars challenge is a red card under FIFA rules. He went in from the rear with studs up. I've seen a red card given for this in every league. the was another missed call on one of the AZ players who already was carrying a yellow which would have been another send off. Vink missed two clear penalties in AZ's favor, one a clear hand ball in the box and the early take down of Suarez in the box (I know Suarez's reputation as a diver never gets him these calls). It's not Van Basten's fault that five shots hit the post or cross bar in the final 20 minutes or that Romero made one of the great saves of the year to keep Ajax off the board. One cannot say that the officiating was in Ajax favor. If anything, it cut in favor of AZ. We had another solid match from Vermeer who save three decent chances. The AZ goal was no fault of his, as Lens hit the ball solid in the only place it could go in as Vermeer really did take the angle away. Poor Stekelenberg, he won't get any more playing time this year and sadly his transfer value is diminished.
Johan, Regarding the Suarez-Didulica collision, look closely at the clip that Drewbrink has posted on the Ajax thread. The keeper swats the ball away and only secures possession when he hits the ground just as Suarez arrives. There was no malicious intent on Suarez's part. he sees the ball hit the ground and does what anyone who follows up a penalty miss would do, goes after the ball. He can hardly be blamed for that. What he can be blamed for is stupidly chipping the ball (though I've seen C. Ronaldo do the same thing on occasion). I know you are 100% anti-Ajax and that's your right, but the film doesn't present the same picture that you note in the post above.
I'm sorry but Vink was shamefully pro-Ajax in the eyes of most people. Again if you can read Dutch, read the papers and see what the rest of the country thinks. On the subject of the papers: De Telegraaf cracks me up. When we won the cup semifinal they published a tiny article about it. After the Heerenveen game, a big fat headline: "Twente has to fear". What do we have to fear exactly I wonder. We're not the club that told its fans that it would win the league at the start of the season. We're not the club that spent millions and needs a return on investment. We don't have the pressures of shareholders requiring us to qualify for the CL. We don't have to finish second, or third. We'd be happy even with fourth place.
Van Basten is a whiney little bitch. Last night on Studio Voetbal he was whingeing about Twente getting so much praise and Ajax getting slagged off even though Twente's only one point above them. At which resident pundit Hugo Borst rightfully pointed out the massive difference in financial resources between the two which shut him up thankfully. I hope he'll stay your manager for a long long time as you'll never win the league under his leadership. You don't lose or win the league in games against other top sides. You win it by being consistent and that's precisely what Ajax are not. That's down to the manager.
We can agree to disagree about whether Vink was pro-Ajax or not. I think the calls pretty much evened out during the course of the match. My general impression is that the quality of match officials in the league is below the standards of the the other Euro leagues. Too bad. My Dutch is rudimentary at best (too many years away) so I can't vouch for what the rank and file are saying on message boards. I do agree with you that Twente are being given a raw deal in De Telegraaf. Your team has done a great job with a new manager. I'm still pulling for Ajax to finish second but if Twente win, my hat is off to you and the citizens for giving it great support!!!
They're an Amsterdam-based paper so some Ajax bias is to be expected. This was comically blatant though! Again we've nothing to fear, we've already done more than what was expected. The only thing we fear is the summer transfer window really. Also please don't take it personally, I have nothing against you or our other resident Ajax fans. I won't even be particularly bothered if Ajax do take second place (but would love to see what de Telegraaf make of it if they don't). Yes our referees suck in general. I've no idea why that is exactly!
Yes i agree and hope Van Basten stays for a long time as well--better for the league for Ajax to flounder -- -when was the last time they won the Eredivisie--was it in this century? From an AZ fan--that game looked fixed but the gang that couldn't shoot straight still only managed a tie Lets see here--1-game in Amsterdam--2-AZ has nothing to play for --except to show them who is better--3 ajax needs a win--4---3 regulars --ElHam--Martens--DeZeeuw are out--5-Referee as bad as any game I've seen-- -and they still do not win if that was a red card then there should be red cards every game Saurez looked like he was in panic mode far too often---and his dive act is getting too tired--even Vink could not help him there-did not play controled and that PK was amateur hour folks--cannot judge the kick to the head but drive the shot--don't fluff it to where the keeper was--good plan if you are still in high school--but like mentioned above--ram it home I hope he stays as well--for all his hype--every time I've seen him against a good club he's a choke artist we were better most of the time we had even strength--after that its impossible to make a call--even the call on the PK--looked like a bad one--I've seen worse
Here is the exact FIFA language: A tackle from behind which endangers the safety of an opponent must be sanctioned as serious foul play. Acts of serious foul play are punishable by a red card. This is from Law XII and was accepted back in 1998!!! Tackles from behind with studs up is pretty much an automatic red card everywhere. Schaars had nothing to complain about!
What do the rules say about attacking the goalkeeper in the five metre goalkeeper area? It's not so much that Schaars got a red card (even though he didn't even touch the player mind) but it's the inconsistency of refereeing. Again that first penalty in particular was in no way a penalty, and kneeing a goalkeeper would at least be a yellow card, regardless of whether it was intentional. The funny bit is that the KNVB asked for a three match suspension for Schaars, in the full knowledge that he would contend it because it's an absurd punishment, and that if he would contend it, he would still get to play the Twente game. Which of course all happened. It's a good thing I don't believe in shooters from grassy knolls.
You mean there wasn't a second man behind the grassy knoll?? After all these years, I'm stunned to hear this. I think we can agree that Sunday's match was not one of Peter Vink's better days. I've seen him several other times this season and he did an all right job. I think the penalty call was a make up call for two that he missed earlier (the pull down of Suarez (but we all know Louie-Louie will never get those calls) and the hand ball in the box on a cross in (I can't remember which AZ player stuck his arm out)); in general, I oppose such calls as it only makes the official look worse. Schaars probably can appeal and get the ban reduced. However, anyone who goes in like that from behind will get a red card; it's a snap judgement decision and one that has to be made. I'm sure if you saw Enoh do the same thing to Elia, you would be yelling for the Red to come out.
That's the thing though, not everybody who goes in like that from behind gets a red card. That's precisely the issue. It's always the same clubs that get protected by the referees, and it's not just Ajax. Feyenoord is another case in point. I cannot even remember the last time they had a penalty against them at home, and ADO got screwed against them last weekend too. It's almost like the referees are scared of certain clubs. Either way some clubs always get the benefit of the doubt whilst others will always get screwed. And that is very bad refereeing full stop. It's downright sad that people in Twente are right now worrying more about the referee than about the quality of the Ajax side with regards to the Ajax v Twente game. Again I'm sorry but Ajax have lost what little public support outside of Amsterdam it had left last weekend. And the sad thing for the fans is that it's not even really down to the club. It's the referees and the media who are making people hate your club. And Marco van Basten complaining about things like Twente getting more respect than Ajax. Well hellooo, if you don't understand why that is, you really need to step out of your own little bubble for a bit, Mr Previously known as San Marco who spent an unprecedented thirty million on a team that's not going to win a single thing this season. I'm right now watching the CL semifinal. If not even Barcelona can manage to look entertaining in that tournament, then I thank the lucky stars yet again for the eredivisie, which even when it's bad is almost always more entertaining than the allegedly high profile European football.