04 Nov 2007: Ajax - Roda JC

[raymon]

The Dutch press are bitching as usual, saying Ajax weren't playing good. I thought they were decent enough. Then, if Ajax do win 6-0 or something, they say the opposition was crap.

There are some real frustrated bastards in the Dutch sports press.

Top of the league. Undefeated. 3.1 goals a match. What a crisis!!

The commentator said something about this as well before todays game. If you believe the Dutch press then Ajax is as good as dead while the results in the competition and cup are pretty good. Same old story, some people just want to see us fail, regardless.

[SPL]

The only message to the anti Ajax press is to point to the top of the table
and then mention the youth VdWeil, De Jong VdHeijden all teenagers with Schilder and Vertonghen only about a year older.
Ajax are winning with young kids in the side, thats why I think this club is still special.

[Blind3]

Great result . Four goals , and chances for others , against a top six side is terrific . As for the press , probably a bunch of frustrated Saturday league no talents or no league no talents. Screw 'em .

Reading about several kids being blooded the last few weeks made me dig out my Kick-Off magazine from Feb. 1 , 2004 . Then , v. ADO , it was Ryan Babel , Thomas Vermaelen , Tom de Mul , John Heitinga , Nigel de Jong , and Daniel de Ridder contributing to a four goal output and a win . That club ended up winning the league .

Today it was the turn of Siem de Jong , Gregory van der Wiel , Robbert Schilder , Jan Arie van der Heijden , and Jan Veronghen . John Heitinga , Maarten Stekelenberg ,and Hedwiges Maduro are now among the "elders " integral to team success. Who knows how this club will fare , but I like the fact that homegrown talent is stepping forward .

[Blind3]

Also , Ajax are a plus 20 gd after 10 matches. Not too shabby.

[Van basten]

Our starting line-up today was 22.5 years old average

[bryan]

I don't think the press are specifically anti-Ajax, I think that they are overly negative in general. I've seen them write the same stuff about PSV.

There seem to be two possible results according to the Dutch press:

a) The big team only won by 1 or 2 goals, so they were average/lucky.

b) The big team won by 3 or more goals, so the opposition were crap.

All the media do this, but Teletext is the absolute worst. I never read their match reports because it's like reading an obituary. I just skip straight to the page with the match statistics.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Great result . Four goals , and chances for others , against a top six side is terrific . As for the press , probably a bunch of frustrated Saturday league no talents or no league no talents. Screw 'em .

Reading about several kids being blooded the last few weeks made me dig out my Kick-Off magazine from Feb. 1 , 2004 . Then , v. ADO , it was Ryan Babel , Thomas Vermaelen , Tom de Mul , John Heitinga , Nigel de Jong , and Daniel de Ridder contributing to a four goal output and a win . That club ended up winning the league .

Today it was the turn of Siem de Jong , Gregory van der Wiel , Robbert Schilder , Jan Arie van der Heijden , and Jan Veronghen . John Heitinga , Maarten Stekelenberg ,and Hedwiges Maduro are now among the "elders " integral to team success. Who knows how this club will fare , but I like the fact that homegrown talent is stepping forward .

That is one off the reasons we all love Ajax...maybe we had ost a part of that with Ten Cate...he seemed to rely too much on the older players instead of giving youth a chance...nice too this crop doing well.....hope they can keep growing and gelling together...who knows..we might have something special on our hands.

[Kowalczyk]

The headline and intro paragraph on the Ajax USA homepage were written by Jim and he has 100% editorial freedom, just like me, but I disagree with the negative tone.

I though Ajax played quite well. They looked like Ajax, for a change, and you can see that better times are ahead. The four goals were of very high quality and Ajax were very entertaining.

The fact that we played a very good opponent, who also played well[/i] and created excellent chances, doesn't mean that Ajax were not good (they are shaky in defense, obviously; that's undeniable). This was a game between two very offensive and courageous teams. That's why it was so entertaining.

Very good game. Very good result. What more can you ask for?

K.

[saddlerian]

Most entertaining game....and the fine performance of our new Left Back....Vertonghen. Antagonised all the way through the first half....stood up to it well and forced his antagoniser, Lamah, to switch wings.....a battle won!!!!
It worked this week......but next week's another story! We can but hope...the effort's there!!

[Kowalczyk]

Vertonghen was great. I really don't see why Urby Emanuelson should 'automatically' get his slot back when he's recovered.

Also, John Heitinga has been playing very well for many weeks. He's in great form. Siem de Jong looks quite good, although I do believe that we'll really need Gabri in midfield next week.

Sunday 04 November may be remembered as 'the day Amsterdam embraced Luque'. He's improving by the week, his assist for the second goal was stunning, he scored, he worked his nuts off and he interacted with the fans, who chanted his name a few times and really started to encourage him. This must have been his most pleasant afternoon on a football pitch in the last two or three years.

Finally, too many people at the ArenA are taking the piss out of Dennis Rommedahl all the time, but in the last two games (Heerenveen and Roda) he's been a very valuable subsitute. He's not a world beater by anyone's standards, but he was a constant threat against Heerenveen and his goal against Roda was well taken (and a major relief, as Roda has a fucking massive chance one minute earlier...).

To me, this was the most enjoyable afternoon of football this season, so far. I had a blast. Thoroughly enjoyed myself.

K.

[Ayman]

Kowalczyk said:

Sunday 04 October may be remembered as 'the day Amsterdam embraced Luque'.

you mean 04 November

[Arthur]

I though Ajax played quite well. They looked like Ajax, for a change, and you can see that better times are ahead. The four goals were of very high quality and Ajax were very entertaining.

It was indeed enjoyable, but i completely disagree that this was a good match. All Ajax did was pump the ball forward to the strikers. People talk of the 'new Ajax' but this type of football couldn't be further from what Ajax stands for.

Of course there were a lot of positives (we have great strikers and talented youth), but just because some things are positive it doesn't mean that everything should be positive ;)

[aveslacker]

This game could have ended 3-3, or it could have been 7-2. There's a lot to be encouraged about -- I said earlier that we should give Adrie a chance, and I stand by that. Here are my thoughts about the match:

Positives:

Luque was my man of the match, edging out Suarez and Heitinga. I don't think he's 90 minutes fit yet, but he seems to be enjoying himself out there, and is building some chemistry with KJH and Suarez. If that continues, we'll have the best attack in the eredivisie.

Suarez played well, but seemed to make some bad decisions in close. Nonetheless, he routinely beat his man and, when he's not playing dirty, is a great player to watch.

The youth were out in force today. By my count, there were 8 products of the youth program on the pitch at various times in the match. It's great to see Koster bringing the kids in, because after all, that is part of what Ajax is all about. To be fair, though, I don't think Schilder played all that well, and van der Heijden got beat like a rented mule one time (which really should have led to a Roda equalizer). But he played a great ball to Rommedahl to put the game away.

Heitinga was very good. As was Ograru, Vertonghen and vd Wiel.

Negatives:

We lacked bite in midfiled. Maduro had his moments, but he seems to want to dribble the ball out of trouble too much. Roda seemed to be able to string too many unconstested passes together. Hopefully, when we get Gabri and Davids back, we will not have this problem as much.
Also, with the departure of Sneijder, we lack a midfielder who can capably link the backs to the forwards.

We seem to give up an inordinate number of goals off crosses from the wings. This isn't new this season -- we had this problem a lot last season.

All in all, though, I thought we saw some flashes of really classy, stylish play. I really think that Suarez, Luque, KJH and possibly Kennedy can become a force to be reckoned with.

Furthermore, it seemed that last season Ajax always faltered when our competition left an opening. Ajax seemingly wasn't brave enough to win the easy games with the top of the table beckoning. Based on yesterday's results, this season might be different.

[DanK]

Dutch football is finally back on TV in Australia via Setanta (of course I leave the country in 1 month...but I shouldn't bitch too much). What an entertaining match. It could have been anywhere from 4-2 to 6-6 or 2-4. As Menno mentioned earlier both teams attacked and all credit (esp to Roda) for this.

For what its worth. Luque had a great game. Even when he lost the ball he fought to get it back, and I also thought Heitinga was solid throughout.

It was also positive to see how many youth players were there. van der heijden showed some nice touches (the pass to setup the final goal was as good as I have seen this season).

Not always a brilliant display technically, but I liked the mentality of the players. Its this mentality that will win us more games, which in turn leads to confidence, which leads to better displays of football etc.

Keep it up boys!

btw - The Scottish Setanta commentator was making out that there is friction b/w Huntelaar and Suarez...am I missing something here?

[aveslacker]

They had some argument after Suarez passed up a wide open Huntelaar early in the match. KJH was right in front of the goal and let him have it. Suarez yelled back. Also, after Suarez beat his man and the keeper, he looked to miss a wide open goal from a tight angle, but one announcer made it out as though Suarez was pulling it back for Huntelaar.

I wouldn't make too much out of it. It looked like a couple of men yelling at each other. Most Dutch and most South Americans are pretty quick to let their opinions fly. I'm sure (hoping?) it was forgotten as soon as the match was over.

Has anyone else heard anything?

[ajaxusa]

Hello folks, my match report is up on Ajax USA... Would love to hear what you think of my astute analysis.

http://ajaxusa.wsm.ga3.org/matches/ajax ... giddy.html

[ZoefdeHaas]

I wouldn't make too much out of it. It looked like a couple of men yelling at each other. Most Dutch and most South Americans are pretty quick to let their opinions fly. I'm sure (hoping?) it was forgotten as soon as the match was over.

Has anyone else heard anything?

Nope, but Castro and Kah from Roda had it out against each other during the game

[aveslacker]

I wouldn't make too much out of it. It looked like a couple of men yelling at each other. Most Dutch and most South Americans are pretty quick to let their opinions fly. I'm sure (hoping?) it was forgotten as soon as the match was over.

Has anyone else heard anything?

Nope, but Castro and Kah from Roda had it out against each other during the game

That was funny -- they're yelling at eachother until the referee has to step in. Then they give each other a kiss.

[aveslacker]

Hello folks, my match report is up on Ajax USA... Would love to hear what you think of my astute analysis.

http://ajaxusa.wsm.ga3.org/matches/ajax ... giddy.html

Good article, Jim. I'm still wondering about the exact amount of tension between KJH and Suarez. Has anyone heard or read anything more about this? I've thought that they looked in-sync in the past, but I have to admit they didn't work well together last week.

[Kowalczyk]

It's sooo funny...

In the first weeks of the season every journalist in Holland was raving about the chemistry between KJH and Suárez, and how they seemed to 'find' each other with their eyes closed, like they'd been on the same team forever.

Now, sometimes the exact same people, are writing the exact opposite.

The only person who had something intelligent to say about this was, in my opinion, Jan van Halst (commentator/analyst for NOS TV these days): he noticed that Suárez, as brilliant as his movements and runs sometimes are, often makes his individual actions face down. He's looking at his own feet. It's not that he's a selfish wanker; he just doesn't look around, which is (in most cases) a matter of experience. Van Halst illustrated his point with some TV footage he selected: a string of very clear examples that seemed to prove his point.

I'm sure this can be annoying for a guy like KJH, especially when he's in perfect scoring position but gets ignored by Suárez, but I don't think he hates Suárez for it or anything like that.

If Suárez does have the time to look around, he's definitely not too selfish to give the goal to a team-mate in a better position (i.e. Luque's goal against Roda). No-one in the Ajax squad has as many assists behind his name as Suárez, and several of these assists were set-ups for KJH, so their partnership is not exactly a disaster. But: there's still room for improvement. Suárez must learn to look around when dribbling.

Nothing more serious than that, if you ask me.

K.

[aveslacker]

Good points, Ko. That was kind of my thinking as well, but when they started yelling at each other, I kind of wondered. But who hasn't yelled at a teammate from time to time, only to go have a beer with them after the match?

It is also important to remember that Suarez is only 20 years old.

[Cedric]

No-one in the Eredivisie has as many assists behind his name as Suárez

=> 6

For me, the only really annoying thing about Suarez is his lack of balance, if you see what I mean...

[aveslacker]

No-one in the Eredivisie has as many assists behind his name as Suárez

=> 6

For me, the only really annoying thing about Suarez is his lack of balance, if you see what I mean...

Agreed. I still think that these guys have the potential to be a fantastic strike force.

Maybe our European failures will be a blessing in disguise. The team can concentrate on the league (which would of course mean not having to go through the playoffs OR the qualifying round for next year's CL if they win).

Perhaps a few wins and a little more attractive play have helped too. I hope so. I hope Koster is given a chance to succeed, and if he does win the league and Ajax play attractive soccer in the process, I hope Adrie has an honest chance to keep his job.

We'll see, I guess.

[ajaxusa]

Hello folks, my match report is up on Ajax USA...
http://ajaxusa.wsm.ga3.org/matches/ajax ... giddy.html

Ha, how stupid: I pasted the "administrative" URL. The "real" URL is of course:
http://ajaxusa.com/matches/ajax-are-nervous-giddy.html

or

http://www.ajaxusa.com/matches/ajax-are ... giddy.html or
http://ajax-usa.com/matches/ajax-are-nervous-giddy.html or
http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/ajax-ar ... giddy.html

[ajaxusa]

The headline and intro paragraph on the Ajax USA homepage were written by Jim and he has 100% editorial freedom, just like me, but I disagree with the negative tone.

I don't think the tone of my intro is that negative, really...

Not good for the nervous system, maybe. But very entertaining stuff, this. Against a tenacious Roda JC defense, Ajax managed to score four goals while also missing a penalty and handing the visitors a bucketful of chances. Fortunately for Ajax, the visitors from Kerkrade only converted two of them, leaving all three points for the hosts. With PSV's loss at Heerenveen, Ajax are now top of the Eredivisie table.

I note that they scored loads of goals against a good defense. I do say they handed Roda a lot of chances, but that's nothing but the truth. Roda could have had 5 themselves, if they converted all of those. Of course, most teams don't do that.

However, I'd say my headline is a bit outrageous. In retrospect, I'm not sure Ajax really were all that nervous and giddy. They played with confidence and some swagger, especially Luque...

I though Ajax played quite well.

I agree completely. It was highly entertaining, and Ajax were a team you wanted to root for... This is hardly scientific... but this Ajax reminded me of Ajax of the mid 1990's, where you just couldn't take your eyes off them for fear of missing something.