20 MAR 2016 PSV - Ajax Match Day 28

[Tom_]

Half way there, but we will almost certainly look to hang on to the 1–0 in the second. Could be a long 45 minutes!

[Orange14]

,lucky Bazoer did not give away a penalty

don't understand why Kuipers didn't call Guardado for diving. It's either the penalty or a dive.

[rjf1]

I don't like this game plan -- seems like only a matter of time before we get burned at this rate. At the least we need to do more counterattacking to keep them a bit more honest. And I hate to say it, but Schone is really past it -- a step slow in mind as well as in foot.

[SPL]

The commentators both thought Bazoer was at fault and a pen but the Psv lad went down easy.Its going to be along 45 mins

[Cruijff]

I don't like this game plan -- seems like only a matter of time before we get burned at this rate.

I don't think it's a game plan. Especially Bazoer and Younes are really weak, also Schöne loses the ball way to often. Sometimes it looks Ajax is only playing with 9 or 10 against 11.

We are helping PSV by passing a lot of balls right in their feet, meanwhile you see that we are able to hurt their defense quite easy.

[Cruijff]

PSV has a weak performance the first 10 minutes after half time. Their pressure from the 1st half is completely gone.

[Cruijff]

Arias, Bruma and also Moreno show quite often what an uncertain defense PSV has. Time to punish them and score the 0-2.

[SPL]

Magic goal.

[Van basten]

Golaaaazoooo!!!!

[SPL]

A very good win and we deserved it ,better side in the 2nd half.PSV faded and their defence looked weaker .Our 2 CD had good games .

[Cruijff]

I'm looking forward to Orange14's player ratings.

Dijks had some real strange moments today, Van der Hoorn switching good plays with weak plays. Viergever was pure class.

[King Litti]

A big win. It was great to see us play so calmly in the end.

So, winning the title is in our own hands now. Let's bring it back to the capital!

[Tom_]

Wow, excellent and surprising result.

[SPL]

Not sure who mom is. will await orange.At least we are now 2 points clear and its our title to lose.

[Orange14]

Amazing display of mediocre Catanaccio but it was enough to take home a 0-2 victory in Eindhoven. Ajax had only 41% of the possession and I don't remember a match with such a low amount. I can only think that FdB thought PSV would run out of gas in the last 30 minutes because of their tiring CL match against Athletico on Tuesday. On this point he was correct. Nice goal by el Ghazi off an assist by Milik to secure the points. Despite the win, Ajax again displayed glaring weakness in the midfield with lots of mediocre passing and speculative balls over the top. Still any time you come away from Eindhoven with all three points it's a good match.

Player Ratings:

FdB (8) - I give him props for calculating PSV would come with an empty tank at the 60 minute mark; they did

Cillessen (6.5) - one difficult save and did take a lot of time off the clock without getting a Yellow card, but he had three awful passes in the last 20 minutes that no respectable keeper would do
Dijks (6) - virtually all alone in the first half as Younes offered little help at all but he manged to defend reasonably well
Viergever (7) - stood his ground and did the job
van der Hoorn (7) - one dicey play when de Jong was slightly ahead of him but the pass was way off; other than that rock solid
Veltman (7.5) - did the job well and the pass to Milik was terrific (but it was the only successful over the top pass all match long)
Mr. Indispensable (7) - nice game and too bad his curling shot was wide of the frame as he had Zoet beaten
The €25M Man (6.5) - value went up a bit after this match but he's still too slow on the ball for Barca, defended well
Klaassen (6) - did a lot of work positioning players and defended well; offensively he was very bad
Younes (4) - two good offensive plays amidst glaring mediocrity; didn't want to do much defensive duty at all and constantly dribbled into triple teams
Milik (6.5) - very nice match but wish he would have finished one of the other two chances he had
Schöne (5) - worked hard but that was it as he ran out of gas after an hour
el Ghazi (6) - got the second goal
Fischer (5.5) - had a couple of touches
van Rhijn (5.5) - looked like he was surprised when FdB yelled at him to get ready to go in; had a nice whipped in corner but otherwise didn't figure much

Back on top of the league and in control of their own destiny now. No match next weekend because of the international break

[Orange14]

Not sure who mom is. will await orange.At least we are now 2 points clear and its our title to lose.

I'm not sure either. There was nobody on the pitch that was totally outstanding. I think my top two players were Viergever and Veltman with Milik a close 3rd.

[SPL]

Cannot complain Younes the poorest,Veltman was very good and set up the 1st with a superb pass. Both CD's had very good games today,which will give them confidence after their mistakes of last week.

Good day in EPL for old Ajax .Spurs win and Man u beat Man c.

[rjf1]

A win is a win and we top the table at last -- but frankly, the first half was embarrassing. It's the kind of football the minnows play in the hope of stealing one from the big fish. Fortunately, the game plan worked and PSV couldn't keep the pressure up in the second half -- but teams aspiring to be league champions really ought to put in a better display than the one we saw tonight.

[SPL]

Agree we were not great but in the 2nd half they faded and we were in control once that 2nd went in. Their Cl game caught up with them.

On paper our 3 home games will be tougher than the 3 away ie Zwolle,Utrecht Twente at home , Cambuur, Heerenveen and de Graafschap away.

[Manneken Pis]

I think P$V's extra time efforts in mid-week had their effect in the second half.

[Philippe]

We played like champions, plain simple. I don't think their CL game had an impact : they had had 5 days to recover.

[souras84]

I agree with Philippe. It was clearly, as they say in my country, the "Heart of the Champions". Since Frank arrived, we may have struggled in many ways, but when there is a must win game on a national level, we always deliver.

[Manneken Pis]

Since Frank arrived, we may have struggled in many ways, but when there is a must win game on a national level, we always deliver.

Unlike in Europe unfortunately...

[souras84]

Since Frank arrived, we may have struggled in many ways, but when there is a must win game on a national level, we always deliver.

Unlike in Europe unfortunately...

Exactly!

[Orange14]

He has also never won a Beker Cup as manager! I don't think he's a good knockout tournament manager.