08 Dec 2012: Ajax - FC Groningen

[Tom_]

Looked like de Jong called it to me

[martinkohout]

Lukoki on for Boerrigter at 67'.

[rjf1]

I like Lukoki, but he really needs to work on his crossing of the ball.

[martinkohout]

Andersen for Hoesen at 79'.

[rjf1]

What do you guys think about de Jong asking Schöne to take the second penalty? I don't think that's a very good message coming from the captain after he missed the first...

Sign of someone who realizes he's not the best choice for the job -- deserves respect imo for being the kind of leader who is not afraid to delegate responsibility to a person better capable of doing the job.

[Tom_]

Yep... But in that case he shouldn't have taken the first one, I would say

[Tom_]

Argh that's a shame, Andersen almost scores on his debut. Is that three times off the woodwork today?

[martinkohout]

Glad of the three points, but can't say this was the most scintillating display I've seen. Coulda/shoulda been 4-0 or 5-0.

[SPL]

Should have won by more and a pity Andersen did not score. ( He must have put the mockers on my stream as it went dead when he came on and froze afew times after that . It had been very good up to then) Sign of the our future with Fischer putting the ball through to him . Schone was mom and not Boerrigter ,he works so hard and should start instead of Poulsen .

Anyway 3 points .

[SPL]

at the 2nd pen when Siem was calling for Schone I noticed Fischer was standing there patting his chest clearly indicating he would take it .

[Orange14]

In the end a comfortable win as Vermeer's goal was hardly threatened by Groningen at all (biggest danger came from weak passes along the back line resulting in some dangerous turnovers). Better play in the second half but the passing is still a little too slow and aimless as with some quicker play several more goals were there to be had. Good thing Luciano kissed his posts before each half as they saved three goals by my count. Three away matches before the winter break (1 a cup tie with Groningen) and it would be nice to take all the points.

Player ratings:

Vermeer (6.5) - no real difficult saves to make but a couple of really dicey kicks that led to dangerous situations
Blind (7) - really nice match going forward today with a nice entry pass to Hoesen to set up the first goal
Moisander (7.5) - didn't make a bad play all match and save Alderwiereld some embarrassment by disrupting the break after a weak pass was intercepted
Alderwiereld (6.5) - terrible pass toward Moisander that should have led to a Groningen score but otherwise solid
van Rhijn (7) - really rocked the crossbar with his shot and had an overall good game on offense; didn't really have to do much defending
Schöne (7) - cool on the PK and had a good game after a very slow first half hour where he didn't seem to know where to pick up the ball
Eriksen (6) - only average today, poor passes and a couple of wild shots
de Jong (6) - weak PK that was saved but was generally OK
Fischer (6) - picked up his game after a disappointing first half; suffers from Lukoki disease (taking on two players but he is no Leo Messi)
Hoesen (6) - lost the ball a little too much today but his pass to Boerrigter was beautiful
Boerrigter (7) - most solid match of the season, real nice turn and shot with his off foot to get the team on the scoreboard
Lukoki (6.5) - decent coming on for Boerrigter and created some decent chances
Andersen (6) - on briefly near the end and got sent in on goal by Fischer only to see the post save his shot

Three away matches before the winter break (1 a cup tie with Groningen) and it would be nice to take all the points. At least we are in a better position than the past two seasons!

[rjf1]

Back to the sack for me -- at least it's Sunday morning and I can sleep late. We could have scored more, but it was good to get the win, even if the woodwork turned out to be their 12th man on the field. One of the encouraging things that came out of the game is that we held firm and didn't crack when they tried the pressure tactics on us. If we can learn to do that, we will stop losing points to the 'lesser' teams.

[Kowalczyk]

Not spectacular, not bad either.

Three points, thank you very much, on to the next one.

K.

[Philippe]

First half was terrible, second was quite good.