Ajaxtalk

SPL schreef:Good news ,we can go back on top again tomorrow. I would have watched the last 10mins but the game was not on sky live not even the red button.

Having won our last 3 games 3-0 4-1 and 4-0 we are hitting form again at the right time.

I did watch the last 10 minutes and it was thrilling. Heerenveen defended mightily. There was a weird point in added time when a second ball was thrown on the pitch by one of the ball boys. The match was stopped and since it was the "fault" of the home team, a kick was awarded to Heerenveen. PSV thought the player would simply be a good sport and kick the ball back to PSV. Rather he took off down the pitch and a PSV player shoved him of the pitch and was promptly awarded a Yellow card. PSV supporters were not to happy about this!! I on the other had was laughing mightily.

PSV's game in Madrid has gone into extra time. They've done a fair job, no doubt Atletico are the better side but PSV only gave away one or two big chances.

Lost on penalties when Narsingh hit the crossbar on the 7th shot. Unfortunate loss but PSV exposed what is wrong with Dutch football these days. Athletico play against high tempo teams almost every week in the Spanish league and they have to be able to pass quickly and to the right player or they get punished. There is no Dutch club right now that can play this type of game and I think this is why they do so poorly in Europe. PSV's passing was just abysmal. I couldn't remember a single pass that Propper completed and even Guardado who is a savvy player was not quick with his passes. PSV had a couple of decent chances but they really were not from a good quick build up.

Cocu's plan to defend first and hope for a counter was doomed as I noted in my comment before the game. He kept the outside backs from going forward which is where Willems key talent lies. With a midfield that could not handle the ball at all they were left to hoofing the ball downfield or out of danger. I give them props for defending stoutly and keeping Atheltico from scoring and Zoet did a nice job between the pipes; too bad he didn't save the third penalty after getting both hands on it.

I watched the Ajax A1 match earlier today against Chelsea in the youth league. Some amateur defending gave Chelsea the lone goal of the match but I saw far more quick passing and movement than one sees in the Ajax senior squad. Until Dutch teams get out of the current rut of slow build up from the back nothing will improve. This also has implications for the NT as we are seeing a generation of too slow players evolving and this will not bode well for the future. We criticize young players for going abroad but maybe that's not such a bad idea.

Don't know what the extra time loss means for the Ajax match this Sunday. There were clearly players that were dragging at the end.

Orange14 schreef:Lost on penalties when Narsingh hit the crossbar on the 7th shot. Unfortunate loss but PSV exposed what is wrong with Dutch football these days. Athletico play against high tempo teams almost every week in the Spanish league and they have to be able to pass quickly and to the right player or they get punished.

PSV got really close. It was just a coin flip, 'for the same money' (that's a Dutch expression) they would have been in the quarter finals now. Zoet got really close at several penalties.

In my opinion Cocu made a huge blunder with his last substitution. He took off Luuk de Jong who is the leader of the team and the topscorer. Luuk de Jong also missed some penalties during this season, Cocu replaced him by Narsingh.

In that case you let Narsingh shoot the 2th, 3th or 4th penalty. Not number 8 where he misses the only one out of 16 penalties... If you make a substitution just for the penalty kicks and don't have trust in Narsingh, why not bring in a guy who kicks the ball right through the net??

Orange14 schreef:Lost on penalties when Narsingh hit the crossbar on the 7th shot. Unfortunate loss but PSV

It was in fact even the 8th shot.

Out of 16 penalties only one missed.

Thought P$V did really well last night against a better team. Defensive organisation was (mostly) excellent. They could have nicked it with counters that got very close. The de Jong - Narsing substitution at the end was baffling, especially as he didn't take the early penalties. So, either a blunder pure and simple, or de Jong asked to come off, and Narsing was the best "bad" option to take a penalty on the bench.

Still, nice to see see them all look knackered and disappointed at the end. Hopefully it gives us the edge this week-end.

Cruijff schreef: In my opinion Cocu made a huge blunder with his last substitution. He took off Luuk de Jong who is the leader of the team and the topscorer. Luuk de Jong also missed some penalties during this season, Cocu replaced him by Narsingh.

In that case you let Narsingh shoot the 2th, 3th or 4th penalty. Not number 8 where he misses the only one out of 16 penalties... If you make a substitution just for the penalty kicks and don't have trust in Narsingh, why not bring in a guy who kicks the ball right through the net??

He had Schaars on the bench who IIRC used to take penalties for AZ.

Orange14 schreef:

Cruijff schreef: In my opinion Cocu made a huge blunder with his last substitution.

If you make a substitution just for the penalty kicks and don't have trust in Narsingh, why not bring in a guy who kicks the ball right through the net??

He had Schaars on the bench who IIRC used to take penalties for AZ.

That's true.

Schaars took a penalty during a penalty serie for the Dutch national team once. That one he scored like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u2o4A3un3k

Cruijff schreef:
Schaars took a penalty during a penalty serie for the Dutch national team once. That one he scored like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u2o4A3un3k

That one almost went through the back of the net!!!!!!

That's what Philips fans are like :
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... in-madrid/

Philippe schreef:That's what Philips fans are like :
http://www.dutchnews.nl/news/archives/2 ... in-madrid/

Yes that was not good advertisement for Dutch football fans.

Crazy facist Erdogan from Turkey also gave his opinion about this misbehaviour by western European people, instead of psv supporters he called the 'barbarians' feyenoord fans. A mistake easy made.

Cruijff schreef: Crazy facist Erdogan from Turkey also gave his opinion about this misbehaviour by western European people, instead of psv supporters he called the 'barbarians' feyenoord fans. A mistake easy made.

Or the dictator got it right thus refering to feyenoord fans in Rome last year ...

No he literally referred to 'feyenooit fans' as the barbarians in Madrid.

But several media, for example the British, also referred to those incidents in Rome. It was worldwide news.

I will put play off news here

Tonight MVV v Volendam

Almere v Emmen .

2nd legs at the weekend.

There will then be 2 groups of 4

de Graafschap and either Excelsior or Willem , the 2 winners above, plus 4 others from Jupiler league, Go Ahead Eagles,VVV ,FC Eindhoven,NAC .

2 group winners in the Eredivisie next season. Hope Volendam get there.No other reason than I have been there ,lovely little fishing village and its twin village Edam is simple a magical place.

In the play offs for relegation promotion the final games are known. home and away 19th and 22nd May

Go Ahead Eagles v de Graafschap

Willem v NAC


Initially MVV beat Volendam and Almere beat Emmen

Then de Graafschap beat MVV 3-1 overall

NAC beat Eindhoven 2-1 overall

Go Ahead beat VVV 3-2 overall

Willem beat Almere 6-2 overall

Andersen had a hattrick in the return against Almere. I had it on in the background, the first was a terrible fumble from the goalie and Almere had given up defending when he scored the second two on the break.

Scoring 3 v Almere is nothing to write home about ! I do hope Willem get through and stay up but not too worried who the other winner is.

If we are sick at not beating de Graafschap we might feel worse tonight.

1st leg of the playoffs Go Ahead Eagles 4 de Graafschap 1

NAC beat Willem 2-1 in the other.

No idea who is going down as the Dutch FA yesterday decided Twente should be relegated to the Jupiler league for financial irregularites.

How on earth can they make this decision in the middle of the playoffs.The Jupiler league are not happy.

Heracles playing Utrecht over 2 legs for Europa Cup place. Heracles 1-0 up at HT in the first leg

de Graafschap relegated. Lost 4-1 at Go Ahead Eagles and drew 1-1 today so GAE win 5-2 overall

Willem are safe won 3-1 today v NAC so thats 4-3 overall.

The Europa League playoff was a shock .After a 1-1 draw in Almelo, Heracles today won 2-0 in Utrecht so they win 3-1 overall and are in Europe.

de Graafschap may be saved if Twente are relegated but GAE are certain to be up.

Good for Heracles. Though Utrecht are probably a better side, Heracles played over their heads and with passion all season long. They may bounce out of the EL early on but they will give it a go. I don't know why Utrecht give Ajax so much trouble and roll over against lesser opposition.

Appeals have now allowed Twente to stay in the Eredivisie. What a complete shambles .Evidently had they been relegated they would have gone Bankrupt.I believe the local council is now going to loan them a few million.

Twente said that they had met all of the NVKB's requests and that relegation would be unfair. We'll see how the bail out by Enschede helps.

Maybe it's better to have them in the eredivisie. Obviously it's not good if they had an unfair advantage over other clubs, but I guess you want the strongest teams in the top division. Not sure what you guys think...

This is astonishing. Vilhena, who was on the brink of signing for Inter Milan, after being released from Feyenoord, has made a dramatic U turn, and signed a two year deal with the Rotterdammers. People underestimate them. But I think their future is bright. They have the best youth system in the world. It's so good that the Real Madrid staff, particularly youth coaches went to see their youth team play. Not to mention the Norwegian youth coaches also paid them a visit. I wouldn't be surprised if they competed for the Eredivisie this season, coupled with a good run in the Europa League.

I would dispute theirs is the best in the world. When it comes to producing players in the premier leagues of Europe Ajax still rules , as there are more players in those leagues from our academy than any other. We have released about 25 kids aged 15 to 19 this summer and so far about 15 of them have joined Eredivisie sides .These are kids we dont want but still good enough for others in our league. In addition one has joined Chelsea and another Burnley.

Feyenoord do have a very good youth system but they dont produce the numbers of players we do. In fact no one produces the numbers we do.

de Toekomst is still the best youth factory in Europe.