Yes, it is. A1 = U19 A2 = U18 B1 = U17 etc. This season the KNVB has renamed the age categories along the lines of the international Uxx system.
Decision time for the league today. The absolute need to win for both Ajax and PSV might affect both games today in unexpected ways.
Yeah, remember when AZ had the advantage on the last matchday facing the relegation team and Ajax in second with a better goal difference than PSV
Those subs were unreal. No creativity at all, against a team second to the bottom with absolutely nothing to play for and big playoff game coming up.
A meltdown of epic proportions led by a manager who other than a couple of matches never had his team tactically prepared for matches. We cannot complain about points dropped in earlier matches because today everything was on the table and there was an across the board failure. I'm sure that FdB will cast blame at everyone but himself but if he was honorable he would submit his resignation tomorrow morning and move on. He's never going to do this team justice going forward. Other than the one goal, they really never threatened to score. Lots of players wanted to be a hero taking wild shots that never came close to the frame. I don't know which of the midfielders was at fault for not tracking the Graafschap runner who scored the goal, either Serero or Gudelj should have marked him but it was a cool and clinical finish. Graafschap did all they had to do defending to secure the tie. Why oh why was van der Hoorn up front for the last 20 minutes. He was totally out of gas and can't handle the ball as an attacker should. Maybe for the last five minutes in desperation but not longer than that. Player Ratings (and manager): FdB (0) - needed to have the team ready to play and score some goals; total failure Cillessen (5) - one really nice save at the end but lost his head when he had a player behind him and tried rolling the ball to Gudlej only to have it deflected; kicking mediocre at best Dijks (5) - had a couple of crosses that were decent never had to worry about defending and then off because of an injury Viergever (5) - defended OK van der Hoorn (5) - defended OK and totally out of place up front for the last 20 minutes Veltman (5) - OK but not enough pace to play RB when someone needed to rampage forward to deliver a cross Mr. Irreplaceable (4) - most of his free kicks were poor and had some wild shots on goal when a pass would have been better Serero (4) - no impact on the match at all and the €6M man might have done better today el Capitan (3.5) - absolutely awful game other than he probably ran more than any other Ajax player Younes (5) - nice goal but then he wanted to be a hero and try to score rather than pass Milik (4) - had a couple of half chances and one right at the keeper Cerny (4) - not good enough today Riedewald (?) - did he even touch the ball? I can't remember his name being called but I guess I'll give him a 5 for being on the pitch el Ghazi (5) - nothing good or bad about his play coming on in the middle and I think having van der Hoorn up front interferred with what he might have been able to do Fischer (4) - looks like he has lost speed as he couldn't even beat the Graafschap LB 1 v 1 Would have, could have, should have - the team laid a big egg today. Here's hoping we have a new manager next season as we now have to go through the CL qualification rounds and we know how that has turned out under FdB.
Why did the players leave De Graafschap so much space for their goal when they were leading 1-0 ? Unbelievable naiveté.
I don't think Cerny was terrible, except for that big missing the first half, he had some interesting percussions with the ball. Younes did his job pretty well. The problem was the midfield. No engagement and no control. Guldej was the one who tried the most but he failed, and had some garbage free kicks. Serero did nothing special. The worst player was Klaassen by far, terrible passing, as long as Ajax will be associated and leaded by that crap player, they will continue to lose against Rapid Wien, Molde etc.
He will blame everyone but himself as he has all season long. Unless he resigns, there is no future for Ajax football.
The midfield has been awful all season long. Klaassen should move to Napoli if he still has any value as he is not good enough (there is a good reason that Blind left him off the list of call ups for the NT). Nouri, van de Beek and Bazoer should start next year but that won't happen as long as FdB remains. He loves static MFs like Klaassen and S. de Jong; I don't know why but he does.