In JC we trust. The AJAX Amsterdam Thread [R]

I think this debate has pretty much run its course. I could come up with more examples but it's pointless. I think we have to agree that both men were influential in their own way and leave it like that.

 

Looks like Bulykin picked up a foot injury. If it's a metatarsal, he will be out for a while and we will be down to zero strikers. I don't know if Boare is ready for the first team or not. I guess Ozzie and Lodeiro will be doing the duties up front now.

 

When you go up 2-0 with less than 10 minutes to go in the match and you are at home with a big crowd YOU SHOULD WIN EVERY SINGLE TIME! This team is mentally weak and has been all season long. How many chances were squandered against an inferior opponent? Too many to count. It's the story of the season, incredibly poor finishing and conceding cheap goals. I don't even care about the CL match mid-week since this is no better than a mid-table Eredivisie club that really should be ashamed of their league performance this season.

Questions really need to be asked about Vermeer now. The first shot should have been saved unless he was really screened which was hard to tell on an internet feed. Hard to tell but his positioning didn't look great on Schilder's goal. He did make the one early save when the match was at 1-0 which I'll give him credit. van der Wiel got beaten easily by Jozefzoon with a resulting yellow card and he was lucky it wasn't in the box which would have been a sure penalty. Otherwise he had a pretty decent game going forward. I'm not rating any of our defenders as they really had little to do all match long until the final 10 minutes. Vertonghen has to put the ball in the net on that opportunity he had; he's a midfielder after all. Anita went forward well and had some good passes to the middle. After the stupid yellow card, Enoh had a decent match though it was difficult to tell if he was caught out of position when Schilder got the ball after the clumsy tackle on Eriksen. Janssen took the free kicks but again proved he is a liability in a pressing game; he's just too slow for this team and cannot defend. Eriksen had some good moments and should have done better with some of the offensive opportunities he had. Lodeiro was excellent coming on in a difficult situation and having to play up front in the middle. Good passes but some poor shot selection. Ebecilio was average. Sulejmani played well for the first 3/4 of the match and then ran out of gas; he cannot go a full 90 minutes. Boerrigter converted a difficult shot opportunity and it's too bad he could go the full match since he is so much better than Ebecilio. Serrero is to small and weak to play at this level. He got pushed off the ball way to easily.

Just a terrible result for a team that already was facing the need to win out the rest of the way and they all need to think about why this happens week in and week out. DISGUSTING!

 

Yes, he took some free kicks!

 

Lots of cute back-heels and juking throughout the match and only two goals when there should have been at least five against this quality opposition.

 

Lengthy discussion of the current troubles is on the World Cup Blog.

 

What he should have done last year is told Dani that he is going to take a year away from his villa in Barcelona and move back to Amsterdam and straighten out the team from top to bottom. This is the only way it would have worked.

My favorite banner of the day was:

Apple = Jobs
Ajax = Cruyff

 

I think Cillessen has to start now to see if he's the solution. Vermeer hasn't extended his contract and I cannot see anyone buying him. This is the second league match in a row that he lost points for us.

I agree with your first statement regarding the offense but the bottom line is they squandered lots of scoring chances. Same thing happened against Utrecht.

 

van der Wiel - slightly above average but beaten badly by on-loan Ajacied Jozefzoon such that he had to pull his shirt for a card just outside the penalty box.
Janssen - took free kicks and again showed that he is a liability for this team as he is too slow to press and cannot defend; hurts the midfield by his immobility; he should not be playing for this team and any thoughts of him playing for the NT will elicit howls of laughter from me
Anita - good game but he is a better midfielder than left back
Enoh - one of his better games this year; few lapses on offense and only a couple of silly fouls
Sulejmani -good for 70 minutes and then runs out of gas
Vetonghen - decent but missed badly when he ran in on the keeper
Alderweireld - nothing to complain about as the defense was hardly tested all match long