14 Sep 2005: AC Sparta Praha - Ajax

[SE6Ajacied]

Well, I did say earlier that I'd be happy with 1-1 and I think on balance I have to stick with that. I know we had by far the better possession and that but we were playing away from home and we've played better and lost worse games than that.

I'm not getting on his back, he's young and out of position and I'm not totally sure who else can play there but Babel is not a winger. For a time during the second half he was the only one with any shots on target and every time it was really painful to watch as he came over to the centre to have a shot at goal

[dws]

I have yet to see the game . Tonight i will watch highlights on Sky , in the morning i will download the full game from Maxxed soccer.
I listened to the game on radio 1 and it seems that Markus missed quite a few chances to score. I hope that his overall performance is not as described By Steef, but going by what i have witnessed of M R this season (Talpa and channel 5 in the uk) i fear the worst.

[SE6Ajacied]

it seems that Markus missed quite a few chances to score. I hope that his overall performance is not as described By Steef, .

Welcome dws - don't listen to Steef, anyone who has Bert van Marwijk as their avater is bound to talk more rubbish than sense :nooo:

[dws]

Thanks for the welcome SE6 Ajacied.

It's funny you should mention Borussia Bert because he didn't seem to care for the defensive side of the game but had very good attackers at F'noord.

[__earth]

crappy day.

arsenal won against Thun on a very last minute goal and ajax (luckily) draw.

I'll have to disagree with you here. The boys deserve more credit than this. In the first half they played an almost perfect game. No-one was weak. Prague's counter-attacks were never dangerous (they only had two silly shots that went yards wide) and Ajax had four, five good chances to score.K.

Maybe. I didn't watch the game after all. I instead watched Arsenal running out of cannonball and almost got whack a somebody they thought they gonna slaughter. Eh, fun game.

Still, I'm sort of result oriented. Not happy with a draw. Should have gotten a better result. =(

[Philippe]

Watched the whole game on tv. And after all I feel optimistic about our future in the CL.
Prague was the most negative and unskilled side I have seen in years. They only had 2 chances and the truth is that the goal they scored was pure luck. And it is always very difficult to play against such anti-football.
But Ajax did quite well. Everyone played well. Fast combinations, many chances, total control over the game (70% ball possession).
The best game for Ajax since Blind became our coach.
Blind himself made the right decisions on the right time. Non unnecessary early substitutions.
I would not be surprised if yesterday's line up became our basis team (till Maxwell, Mitea and Stekelenburg are back from injuries).
About the CL, we have the potential to finish first of this group.
Danny Blind, Ajax coach
"We played well in the first half, particularly within the opening 30 minutes when we dominated the game. We had several chances, which should be enough to win an away game like this. Then in the second half we had two or three more opportunities, so I am disappointed with the result. I should be happy that we scored a goal in the last minute, but I saw only one team who deserved to win, and it was Ajax."

[Manneken Pis]

Er....we said we'd leave Rosenberg alone and let him settle....

When does the "cease fire" end?

:X

[Philippe]

I think Rosenberg had a rather good game in Prague. Ajax is Ajax, meaning that the striker is far from being the only player supposed to score. In general, except under the Koeman era, the shadow striker scores more goals than the striker himself (remember Litmanen).
So I don't think that Blind's remark is meant for him in particular.

[Manneken Pis]

I think Rosenberg had a rather good game in Prague.

:X :X :X

So I don't think that Blind's remark is meant for him in particular.

When pressed on Dutch tv he was more specific...saying scoring was Rosenberg's job. He did not however go on about it and didn't look overly frustrated with him individualy.

[Cedric]

I don't care who has to score the goals : it is a fact that Rosenberg missed chances he 'just' had to convert, even if he isn't used yet to Ajax and its play. When you're alone in front of goal with the ball, you can't waste such opportunity several times.

It's not the problem of Rosenberg in particular (I think he will be good, but yesterday, as I said, he missed things he souldn't), it's always the same song : "Ajax played well but forgot to win" (WHY ????) and I don't think it's about luck, you can't have 'bad luck' for such a long time. It's not a fatality that Ajax is not able anymore to score lot of goals.

Right now, Ajax can't win this group if they don't improve their scoring abilities, I'm even doubtful about the possibilty to qualify for next round...

[Philippe]

The situation in Prague was very different to what we were used to.
Simply because we managed to control the game and to create many goal chances. This was not the case in most of our last season CL games, when we were passing the ball around but without creating danger -not to mention the recent Ajax-fey#&d game-.
And this is quite remarkable given the way Prague played with 11 players defending.
Besides, we currently have a significant striking power with Rosenberg, whose understanding of the Ajax system has improved, Charisteas, Babel, Rosales and Anastasiou.

[Manneken Pis]

Besides, we currently have a significant striking power with Rosenberg,

:X :X :X :X

whose understanding of the Ajax system has improved, Charisteas, Babel, Rosales and Anastasiou.

Charisteas: OK, best bet to cause confusion in defence, unfortunately in attack too
Babel: Potential...not there yet.
Rosales... Unproven / Failed to impress with any consistency
Anastasiou... Great will, limited ability

Don't mean to be overly negative, but we don't have a CL standard striker (with some doubts about our (true) winger situation too).

Look at the teams getting results in the first games in the CL, quality makes the difference.....

[Philippe]

Never mind :aai: , we will see what happens with the coming games. But my opinion today is that we found balance and pace. Although I generally am on the critical fan side, from what I saw yesterday I think Ajax can do very well this season.

[English Eagle]

If the game had been a boxing match it would have been stopped after a couple of rounds,with Ajax winning by a technical knockout.A great goal by Sneijder,saving all his best shots for Champions League games this season,still couldnt stop the feeling of injustice.Never mind though because Arsenal are in Amsterdam in 2 weeks looking very average & lacking forward options,heres to 3 points. :eusa_pray:

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

I watched the Bremen- Barcelona game and i can compare Bremen with Ajax, well played game with several good chances that they just couldent convert, the result ajax get a lucky(but deserved) draw and Bremen loose at home.The only reason ajax dident loose was because the team in front was a lousy weak team.There is a saying in spanish football lingo that say's " El que no anota, se los anotan" witch translate roughly to "He who dosent score, shall be scored upon".That was se case yesterdy and has been a problem for ajax for quite sometime now.

[Philippe]

The only reason ajax dident loose was because the team in front was a lousy weak team.

:whip: somewhat exagerated don't you think .....

[SPL]

I was unable to watch the game as Junior was watching Arsenal. I do get to watch 4 out of the 5 other games live ( miss one of the Thun games) I think we have a good chance against the Arsenal. They are without Henry and with Veira sold and not replaced they do not look the same team.

The game does get repeated tomorrow so I will have a watch . Sky showed 5 mins of highlights and Wesley's goal was superb. Rosenberg did look to miss one or two chances. My son actually commented that our striker looked poor!!
We do not appear to sign strikers who score goals by the bucketful. I told my son that our best young striker plays at left wing !! I do think that one day we need to buy a real goalscoring machine.

[dws]

I have yet to see the full game (downloading it now), but from the highlights (ultrasuid) it is evident Markus has to improve his finishing.
Maybe we can forgive Markus for not scoring when double tackled , but he then missed on the right side of goal because he was to slow in shooting.
However, his positional play looked fine and the overall play of Ajax of a much improved standard from last season.

At least this set of highlights was not typical of last seasons 10 to 12 minute borefests.

[Per]

I do think that one day we need to buy a real goalscoring machine.

If it only was that simple....

[SE6Ajacied]

Well Rosenberg did miss a couple of sitters but he seemed to be getting the basics right (if you can call positional play etc the "basics" for someone who is meant to score goals). At times though I must admit I couldn't work out what he was doing - he seemed to be taking shots from way out and impossible positions. I remember thinking at the time that at least he didn't lack the confidence to shoot but going over it in my mind I'm not sure it was actually that positive.

[dws]

SE6 , over the last few seasons Ajax strikers have all been lacking that magic ingredient. Machlas lacked the ability to move , the guy was so static its a wonder he didn't take root. Dear old Zlatan who could conjure a goal out of nothing lacked service and hence didn't score as often as he should have. Markus and Charisteas ? I think each has a quality the other lacks.
Charisteas is more of chance taker than Markus , but never seems to get into as many good positions as Markus.
Maybe we could get that machine from the Sci-fi movie The Fly and combine markus and angelos to get the ideal striker . Then again , we'd
more than likely combine their shittier qualities and come up with Ivan Gabrich. :pukey:

[SE6Ajacied]

Maybe we could get that machine from the Sci-fi movie The Fly and combine markus and angelos to get the ideal striker .

Yeah, I'm warming to this - or maybe we could get some of those stn guns from Star Wars and then it wouldn't matter how shitty our strikers were :yes:

[ZoefdeHaas]

Screw Sparta wait till we play against Arsenal. We'll give em upset :headbang:

[AjaxThailand]

Guys, I had a great night. I have lived abroad and mostly in Asia that for more then 10 years I was able to actually attend an Ajax game. As some might know, I was trying to get tickets for the Ajax vak but couldnt get any so i ended up with tickets for the Czech section. I was early in the stadion and saw the Ajax fans in their section and I had to get in these somehow. Tried playing ignorant and just walking through the Ajax entrance and the Ajax head steward didnt mind but the f.ucking Czech stewards who checked the tickets wouldnt let me get in. I finally went to my own seat and noticed that near to my chair there was a small gate, all locked up which lead directly to the Ajax vak. No one was going in or out but there was a old Czech steward standing there. I explained that I was dutch, really wanted to sit with my guys but again no. So I just stood there and didnt know what else I could do. Then he called me over, looked around, and said to me he was thirsty, do i have 50 crowns (less then 2 euro) so he could buy a beer. LOL, i gave it to him and he took of the locks and let me go through. I made it.

Anyway, sorry to bore all of you with my story but it was a terrific night for me. What a great atmosphere.


About the game:

You see things if you at the game that you might miss if you watch on TV. I thought we played much better as anyone could have seen. The wingers were also a bit of a nightmare although Babel did some nice things but no real good passed from either winger into the box as wingers are supposed to. If you want to use Babel as a Winger with him allways moving in to the box then you might as well play with 2 forwards and a number 10 behind because we are actually not playing with wingers in the real sense of the word.

And then Rosenberg. I looked a lot at him even without the ball when the focus of the cameras and public was elsewhere. He is very static although he does try to play on the edge of offside so as to have an advantage when the ball is playes his way. You noticed the Czech defenders also saw that and played the offside trap with sucess.

I was rather dissapointed with Rosenberg overall. When he tried to pass a player and the other guy pushed him a bit or got infront of him then Rosenberg just seemed to give up like he didnt have strength or didnt care. Also there were a number of balls which he could have gone for and could have made it but he didnt go after the balls and when he did it was with a half hearted approach. It pissed of many ajax fans and me also. The guy get changes throughout the game where he had a clear shot at goal or could have have shot anyway but he either missed the ball completely or couldt put any power and direction behind it or passed it off as it seemed he didnt believe in it. I mean kuytt and haiselbank dont have the greatest skills but they can kick one after the other great shot at goals and one will always end up going in or creating some danger but this guy just doesnt seem to be able to do that.

Then about Blind. I think his changes were a bit off. Rosenberg was doing shit, every one could see and then still leave him in until 15 minutes before time. He should have put Charisteas in shortly after halftime. I think it could have made a big difference. Then he brings in Roseles for Pienaar. Why not take out a defender or midfielder (depending on how the players were possitioned) and try to push for the goal as we were still a goal behing and we were the better team. Then after we score, it seemed we could have made another goal if we could stretch the time but NO, Blind brings in Heitinga. What the fuck for? Waste more time. Bring in a defender for Galasek? He should have told the players to push for another goal rather then wasting extra time on a sub. This is just my opinion, i am sure others wont agree.

[Kowalczyk]

Hello folks,

I'm in Berlin for work (had to check in at the airport at 5:55 AM in the morning the day after the game...), so I couldn't write the match report sooner than this. But now it's up, straight from Berlin, Germany.

http://www.ajax-usa.com/matches/m05-06/ ... e-1-1.html

K.