17 APR 2016 Ajax - Utrecht Match Day 31

[Tom_]

Yep, that is likely to be our last shot at the title just slipping away. We never turn around this sort of game, in fact I'd say 0–2 is a better bet than 2–1.

PSV probably deserved it more than us to be honest.

[Orange14]

GET BAZOER OFF THE PITCH. HE'S HORRIBLE.

[SPL]

Cerny on for Younes!!

[SPL]

Bazoer is poor

[souras84]

One of Klaassen's worst games ever

[SPL]

MF are poor , deJong and Nouri could not do worse.We have bottled it,and finally the hopeless Bazoer is off.

[Orange14]

Tete for Bazoer????????????? Why not Schöne?

[rjf1]

All of a sudden my headache went away - I wondered why - it happened just at the time they got Bazoer off the pitch. I wonder if there was a correlation.

[SPL]

game over season over 3-4-3 has failed again MF is hopeless and Cillessen at fault on that.Now we score.

[SPL]

Penalty.

[Tom_]

He'll miss it

[SPL]

2-2 now we are fighting

[Orange14]

UNBELIEVABLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[SPL]

Very nearly stopped watching after their 2nd but what a come back.We are still top by GD of plus 6.WE still played poorly for 85 mins but got out of jail.

Must go to cricket now .Talk later tonight

[Van basten]

So lucky..

[Tom_]

Horrible game but still limping along...

[Orange14]

High drama in the Arena this afternoon. Just when things looked impossible two goals in the final five minutes get a point. Ajax are +6 in GD over PSV. Are we destined to see a repeat of what happened some years ago when Ajax lost out on the final day of the season because of GD??? Stay tuned.

IMO the 3-4-3 was the correct approach for this game and in the first half there was some good play in the midfield but the attackers were getting the ball in tight spaces and couldn't get off a meaningful shot. I've got no problems with FdB's approach. The first Utrecht goal was Klaassen's bad pass and Bazoer totally standing looking at the ball without making an effort to at least try. Maybe Cillessen could have saved Joosten's shot, don't know as I didn't see a good replay from the right angle but it looked like the ball had a wicked bend to it. It looks like we go down to the last match of the season yet again in the Eredivisie and PSV are going to look to score lots of goals now.

Player & Manager Ratings:

FdB (6) - picked the right formation but left Bazoer on the pitch for way too long; I wondered why he brought on Tete and of course it was to move van der Hoorn up front which did pay off

Cillessen (5.5) - some really bad kicking and maybe he should have saved the second goal, couldn't really tell
Viergever (7) - solid match
van der Hoorn (7.5) - very good and had a critical header when he was up front in the attack
Veltman (7) - solid play and had a nice intervention moving over to the left side when it looked like a Utrecht attacker was open
Mr. Irreplaceable (7) - rock solid on defense and distributed the ball quite well
Sinkgraven (7) - very nice match and if everyone is healthy, he starts over Bazoer in Heerenveen
The €2M Man (2) - value drops even more precipitously with yet another absolutely awful, terrible, horrible match; the only positive play was when he sent Cerny through and other than that all he did was look at other players all match long like it was their fault; he sits on the bench for the rest of the season
El Capitan (5) - he needed to step up and lead this team but other than the excellent strike for the first goal he was pretty bad with very poor ball control and erratic passing
Younes (5) - tricks didn't work today
Milik (7) - well it was a PK in the eyes of Danny Makelele and that's the only one who matters; calm and coolly slotted the tying goal home
el Ghazi (6) - worked hard all match but he really couldn't beat Ligeon
Cerny (5.5) - had some decent touches and clanged a shot of the outside of the post
Tete (6) - had one very nice defensive play prevent a Utrecht overload on his side of the pitch

PSV are home to Vitesse on Tuesday and Ajax travel to Heerenveen on Wednesday. PSV have Cambuur and Zwolle in the final two matches so expect lots of goals for the Eindhoven club. I don't have a good feeling that this will end with Ajax on top of the league.

[King Litti]

At 0-2 i thought dear God, not again. Am I going to see 180 minutes of football in the arena with out a goal or points, but then boom, klaassen with a great finnish and a nerve racking penalty that milk was able to put away. Decent pressure for a third, but I guess that was too much to ask for. Great comeback and after being two down the game certainly ended on a positive note.Tickets worked fine. Didn't realise that 416 was the visiting fan box but it didn't matter since there was no utrecht fans. Good game and a experience. With the late equaliser the title still in our own hands.

[Cruijff]

At 0-2 i thought dear God, not again. Am I going to see 180 minutes of football in the arena with out a goal or points, but then boom, klaassen with a great finnish and a nerve racking penalty that milk was able to put away. Decent pressure for a third, but I guess that was too much to ask for.

Yes during the match I was thinking about your visit in section 416 and was about to say that you'll be welcome back in Amsterdam any time but please stay the f*** away from Ajax-Utrecht games in the future.

Great comeback and after being two down the game certainly ended on a positive note.Tickets worked fine. Didn't realise that 416 was the visiting fan box but it didn't matter since there was no utrecht fans. Good game and a experience. With the late equaliser the title still in our own hands.

A bizar game and a great stadium experience. Hope it was worth your money in section 416..!

[SPL]

Well I went to my cricket ,which did calm me down ,but I was really pissed off with Ajax today.We can still win the title but even if we win the last 3 games I can see PSV winning by wide margins,ie I predict they will beat Cambuur by 5-0 or 6-0.

We have struggled for these last 2 games but I would not rush to bring Tete back .Bazoer should be dropped he has been poor for a while but today was dreadful. Dijks was missed today although Sinkgraven did have a decent game.

Not sure it was a penalty but frankly we deserved nothing today.

[Ayman]

While Ajax crack and crumble under pressure. PSV Eindhoven are resolute and brimming with confidence.

[Cruijff]

While Ajax crack and crumble under pressure. PSV Eindhoven are resolute and brimming with confidence.

Yes but PSV Eindhoven cracked at home against Heerenveen, against Excelsior and last but not least on 20 March in a direct confrontation with Ajax.

[Orange14]

Not sure it was a penalty but frankly we deserved nothing today.

It was not a penalty and all the Ajax players said so. Makalelie in his post match interview also said he got it wrong but that he was not in the best position to make the 'correct' call. Ajax got a gift on this one.

[Tom_]

Not a great call on the penalty but you need some luck every now and then.

@Orange I think van der Hoorn headed the ball down for Klaassen to score and headed the ball on to Milik for the penalty so that's two crucial contributions from him after FdB rolled the dice.

On the bright side, I would still say we win the title if we don't drop points. It's hard to see PSV overturning a 6 goal diffence if we keep winning. IF. ;)

[Cruijff]

Still in Amsterdam, King Litti? Check out your PM (Personal Message) Inbox.

Later today I will be inside Olympic Stadium and later in the afternoon I will go to Johan Cruyffs 'birth house'. Perhaps you would like to see these things.