12 Nov 2006: Ajax - PSV

[Cedric]

1 victory against them in the last 22 league duels ? (home and away) :kloguck:
It has to change, but it won't until March of next year now...

[saddlerian]

:headbang: :headbang:

Well, it's happened again! The passionate crowd - the smoke filled ground and the inability to break "Champions League" teams down!

The bombs exploded, spewing out smoke, this prompting quick action from Ajax. They helped create a pulsating first 45 minutes!
UNFORTUNATELY......that was it!
The smoke died away...and so did the Ajax challenge. Even with PSV down to ten men, the Ajax midfield continued to play too deep! Gabri was almost chatting to the goalkeeper for most of the second half as he was so deep!
The positives.......Mitea came on..and touched the ball twice!

Not a very good weekend....but the Bock's, (sorry, Ray), OK this year!

Roll on Prague!!

:xyxthumbs: :xyxthumbs:

[ajaxusa]

Match report posted.

Stalwart PSV continue dominant record at ArenA

I'm pretty critical (tell me if I'm too much so), and a bit annoyed by Ten Cate's comments...

"If this was an exam, my team has passed'', and "It was really a 0-0 match, in which we were slightly better, but not enough to win."

WHAT? Tell me he knows better...

[Kowalczyk]

I totally agree with Ten Cate, to be honest... Did you think PSV were better...?

I think your report is way too negative of Ajax. I thought we had a splendid first half: quality football, fast, offensive, with swagger - and we were totally solid at the back. No big chances, but a handful of 'half' ones. We really were the better team.

After the break PSV were more into it, but they never created anything either. It totally felt like a 0-0 game. Over-all Ajax were the slightly better side. Rather typical that the only goal came was scored from a set-piece: the two teams were so well organized at the back (PSV, but Ajax too) that there were never huge scoring chances.

When the deadlock was broken, both teams had one major chance: Koné for PSV (post) and Sneijder for Ajax (from the edge of the box, after a little error in PSV's defense). This game had 0-0 written all over it, if you ask me. And over-all it was a game between two very strong teams, in my opinion. Both teams were physically powerful and very solid at the back. Only an isolated moment from a set-piece could decide this game - and it did.

That's how I experienced it...

K.

[Kowalczyk]

My friend believes it would have been 0-0 if not for Vermaelen's poor defending soon before the free kick for the goal when he failed to run down a slow ball on the goal line with Kone at his heels.

Any thoughts from you lot?

Yeah, I think Vermaelen was absolutely fantastic in the first half (I would say 8/10) and not nearly as good in the second (6/10). But I would have given him 7/10 over all. Good game from him. Total bollocks that he was poor. All the defenders on the pitch were 7/10 or higher today. These were two teams unable to break each other's defenses down, which - in this case - only said something about the quality of those defenses.

K.

[Dubbel]

Just eight minutes later, PSV would grab the only goal of the game on another free kick that found the head of Timmy Simons, whose deft glancing header easily beat Stekelenburg inside the far post. It was no less than the visitors deserved, having played all the good football in the opening phase of the second half.

I think Simons was lucky to get the ball to bounce into the far corner. And deserved? You could also say that Ajax deserved to lead at half time or that Sneijder deserved to equalize late in the 2nd half. I share the view that this match was a 0-0 gone sour due to a lucky goal.

[ajaxusa]

Hm, it must have been something in the TV signal, making Ajax look inept in the second half (not in defending, though. I agree; both defenses were very good all game). Did you not think Ajax looked harmless, lofting the ball into the box over and over again, never getting behind the defense, never crossing the ball to any good effect?

I'm 90% certain you're 90% right and I'm almost entirely wrong in my very negative assessment. But I'm just a bit pissed off because, for the second time in 3 years, Ajax-PSV made Ryan cry.

Okay, he didn't cry, but he was pretty disappointed. Been talking about 'revenge for 0-4' all weekend. Poor kid is screwed up.

[Philippe]

a crucial game lost, and a sad day for Ajax

now we can not afford not to beat AZ (home on the 10 december), otherwise it is unlikely that we will catch up with p$v for the title,

[Manneken Pis]

My view is that this was a very tight game; 0-0 would have been fair. In the end P$V's CL experience was the difference....this isn't the first game they played with a primary objective of not letting the opponent score and hoping to take advantage of a set piece opportunity. I must say that I did find myself shouting at the TV every time our wingers failed to deliver a half decent cross (Rosales 4 out of 5).....what do these guys practice all week ????????

Positives:
Mitea back.
The swagger of the first half was great.
Stam really looks like a leader.
It's not even Christmas yet...there's a long way to go.

[Philippe]

In the end P$V's CL experience was the difference....

What do you mean ? Have we already lost the CL experience ? We played it a number of times in recent years.

[ajaxusa]

I went back and watched some of the key plays (thanks to TIVO). I made some adjustments, which probably means I have no "journalistic integrity" - but I like the report better now. Seems less cynical.

Geez, this is much easier when you let the pro's handle it. ;-)

[aveslacker]

Hm, it must have been something in the TV signal, making Ajax look inept in the second half (not in defending, though. I agree; both defenses were very good all game). Did you not think Ajax looked harmless, lofting the ball into the box over and over again, never getting behind the defense, never crossing the ball to any good effect?

I'm 90% certain you're 90% right and I'm almost entirely wrong in my very negative assessment. But I'm just a bit pissed off because, for the second time in 3 years, Ajax-PSV made Ryan cry.

Okay, he didn't cry, but he was pretty disappointed. Been talking about 'revenge for 0-4' all weekend. Poor kid is screwed up.

I happen to agree with your first paragraph, Jimmer. Against a ten-man PSV, with a man-mountain (Alex) in the middle of the defense, all Ajax could manage in the second half was to loft balls into the middle of the box, most of whom went straight to the keeper. That was disappointing.

The first half was great, though. Ajax was definitely the better team in the first half, and PSV the better, imo, in the second.

But lets remember where we were at this point last year: in crapsville, that's where. As much as we've all been enjoying Ajax's return to form this year, it still takes a while to build a team up after they've fallen as spectacularly as Ajax has in the last two years (thanks in large part to the coach of yesterday's opposition).

It would have been wonderful if Ajax beat PSV, and they easily could have won or tied this match, but they're still growing as a team. There's no reason to think that they won't rebound from this; they managed to do so quite well after the Copenhagen debacle. They're still a work in progress.

In spite of the disappointment of losing to PSV (and Koeman), it is important to look at the progress made and see the big picture.

PSV had been murdering teams this year, and the best they could do was sit back and play for the 0-0, which is what they did, imo, getting a bit lucky for their lone goal. That has to show what esteem they held Ajax in.

I have every confidence that Ajax will rebound from this match nicely, and that the return match in Eindhoven will be competitive. Ajax only trail PSV by one point, and there is a lot of footy to be played. No reason to push the panic button yet.

[Philippe]

But lets remember where we were at this point last year: in crapsville, that's where.

May I remind you that last season we played p$v three times :
in the league, we played well in the away game and lost only due to a fake penalty,
we drew the home game,
we beat them in the cup final

Anyway, keeping telling that we had a crap season last year will not make this one better.

We have to beat AZ if we want to keep chances for the title. Let's focus on the future.

[aveslacker]

But lets remember where we were at this point last year: in crapsville, that's where.

Anyway, keeping telling that we had a crap season last year will not make this one better.

Even if we did relatively well against PSV last year, they haven't blown us out of the water this year, and our results against virtually every other team are significantly better.

I agree the AZ match is important, there's no doubt about it.

All I'm saying is that the title hasn't been lost. There are plenty of banana skins out there for both teams, and Ajax is a rapidly improving club. They need to bounce back, and I'm optimistic that they will.

[Philippe]

I agree with you. But now we lost to p$v, we have to beat AZ.
What would our season look like if we don't win the league ?
If we don't get the 3 points on the 10 december, it will be very tough.

[Kowalczyk]

I agree with you. But now we lost to p$v, we have to beat AZ.

Yeah, agreed.

By the way: it's Feyenoord vs AZ this weekend... Who we gonna root for?

K.

[FlaFlu]

Feyenoord.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Feyenoord.

:drecul2: LOL!!!

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

PSV won because they did what they came too do (Defend) better than what Ajax had too do (Atack) plain and simple. Because of that they were the better team. Did Ajax play well ??? In the first half yes, In the second half hell no!!! the inconsistency of Ajax is what made PSV the better team out of both.

If we want to make it to the top we will have to play 90 minutes of consistant football. That is the lesson our team has to learn, it happened against Copenhagen, and it happened yesterday and it has happened more than what people think, only problem is that only good teams make us pay for this.

Their is still a long season to go and like some have said this team is still a work in progress, lets hope we learn this leason sooner than later.

[Philippe]

By the way: it's Feyenoord vs AZ this weekend... Who we gonna root for?

K.

draw, with 3 red cards each

[ZoefdeHaas]

By the way: it's Feyenoord vs AZ this weekend... Who we gonna root for?

K.

I'd say, so much crowd trouble the game is cancelled and both teams get no points, fined, they argue, fail, more fines, and we're happy

[Per]

I think Ajax were clearly dominating the first half. PSV played a solid defense, but in all fairness, the number of qulity crosses from de Mul were basically 1 or 2 from a possible 10-12. That's too few to convert.

All in all, I think we showed a bit of inability to make the best use of the 4-3-3. If the numerous attacks and successful runs along the flanks do not render in good crosses or a nice diagonal back to no 10 for a distance shot then what are we playing in it for?

In the second half, the quality just went down overall, and I agree with all comments on that it was a 0-0 game with a slight overall better impression of Ajax.

On a personal note, it was great to be back in the Arena, and the night before was good enough to forget about the poor result.

Hup Ajax!