14 Sep 2013: Ajax - PEC Zwolle

[Kowalczyk]

Eredivisie 2013-2014. Matchday 6.

Kick-off time at the ArenA is 18:45 CET.

Will PEC Zwolle still be top of the league on 14 September...? We do not know, but one thing's for sure: they had a truly excellent start of the season. Important fixture. They will not roll over just like that.

For the record: PEC Zwolle = FC Zwolle. PEC Zwolle is the old club name, they changed it into FC Zwolle around 1990, but now it's PEC Zwolle again.

K.

[Kowalczyk]

PSV drew, which means that we now know for sure that PEC Zwolle will travel to Amsterdam as the league leaders.

K.

[Orange14]

Guys, I won't be joining you for tomorrow's match as I will be in synagogue repenting for all the sins of omission and commission of the last year (it's not a very long list fortunately) so no player ratings on this one. I hope the club shifts into top gear now after a couple of stumbles. I'll look forward to reading all the comments on the match Sunday morning.

Forza Ajax

[Cruijff]

Too bad, no player ratings by Orange14 this match. Next time better!

I will be present in that big church/synagogue called the Amsterdam Arena! Really looking forward to this one! Come on Ajax win for us!

[aveslacker]

Too bad, no player ratings by Orange14 this match. Next time better!

I will be present in that big church/synagogue called the Amsterdam Arena! Really looking forward to this one! Come on Ajax win for us!

Enjoy it for those of us who can't be there!

[King Litti]

Who would have guessed we would face the league leaders in this fixture. The season is still young, but after five rounds it can't be just luck that PEC is on top. We have to take them seriously.

Interesting to see what Duarte can bring to the game. Hoping that plenty. De Jong back in the roster, but he will start on the bench. Klaassen and Andersen are out. They will play on sunday with young Ajax.

squad:

Kenneth Vermeer
Ricardo van Rhijn
Niklas Moisander
Christian Poulsen
Mike van der Hoorn
Viktor Fischer
Lerin Duarte
Kolbeinn Sigthórsson
Siem de Jong
Bojan Krkic
Nicolai Boilesen
Daley Blind
Tobias Sana
Lasse Schöne
Jasper Cillessen
Danny Hoesen
Stefano Denswil
Thulani Serero
Ruben Ligeon

[Cruijff]

Who would have guessed we would face the league leaders in this fixture. The season is still young, but after five rounds it can't be just luck that PEC is on top. We have to take them seriously.

Of course we have to take them seriously, PEC Zwolle has a very nice squad. Altough they sold their best attacker Mokhtar to Twente, it is a very attractive team with a several really strong players.

The team with head coach Ron Jans has an attacking play style, they are expected to come to Amsterdam for a nice game of football which is a positive thing for us. They will not come to defend, defend, defend.

[Cruijff]

They will not come to defend, defend, defend.

Perhaps I'm wrong on this. Of course it is always posible that a team adepts a certain playing plan only for the match against Ajax.

[Ayman]

Daley Blind should start in midfield in place of Poulsen.

[souras84]

Daley Blind should start in midfield in place of Poulsen.

It's the perfect time for it to happen.

[Cruijff]

That's a nice option. But at the other hand: Christian Poulsen should also keep his match ritm as we will really need him against Barcelona, PSV and Milan.

[Ayman]

Poulsen isnt good enough in the european competition, he slows things down. Daley Blind can turn defense into attack, rather than pass backs like Poulsen does

[King Litti]

I think FdB should at least try Blind in a midfield position at some point. Though he hasn't played in that role in a while and he has made a name for himself as a left back and even made it to the national team in that position.

Poulsen is slow, but I think we still have use for him. His experience will come handy in the next weeks. His physical game will hopefully frustrate the skilled players of Barca and Milan.

[ajaxusa]

Hey, anybody got advice on where I can look for a good internet feed of the game?

[souras84]

13th stream is as clear as it gets!!

[ajaxusa]

13th stream is as clear as it gets!!

OK thanks. I went to http://www.livefootballol.com/streaming ... pcast.html and grabbed this SOP url:
sop://broker.sopcast.com:3912/106491

Seems to be working. Showing pre-game now. :-)

[martinkohout]

Pretty open game so far - lots of possession, but unable to finish it off. (Sound familiar?)

[paladinby]

I liked our movement with the ball - lots of cute passes and some options for players. However Zwolle looked dangerous and could easily move through our defence. Hoesen and Sana looked ok.

[rjf1]

Good, purposeful, attacking football for the first 25 minutes, then went into pitty pat mode, with a predictable loss of steam and loss of attacking focus, and finished out the half in ragged style with no sense of coherence in our play. Maybe something will change in the 2nd half, but I'm not optimistic -- it's 2 AM here, and I think I have seen enough. Off to bed -- I'll read about it in the morning.

[King Litti]

So which one is it? Is PEC a worthy adversary or are we just rubbish tonight? I guess it's a bit of both.

We are definetly having some trouble in the final third. Not enough quality in the decisive pass/run though Pec is marking our guys and defending well. Even game. Not suprised anymore that Pec is so high in the table.

[Ayman]

What is the line up? Anyone?

[martinkohout]

Serero!

[martinkohout]

And Sigthorsson!

[souras84]

Stealing the game! Me like it!!!! There wasn't any other way. We ain't going anywhere playing like that. How long will it take to link this team??

[martinkohout]

Uh oh... Gravenbeek with a laser for 2-1, 89th minute.