01 FEB 2015 Vitesse-Ajax Match Day 20

[Orange14]

Can our beloved Red & Whites get revenge on the poor showing in the Cup knockout by Vitesse? Can we even score a goal? Will the defense leave us tottering on a knife's edge? Too many questions, too few answers! Tune in Sunday for the continuing perils of Ajax as they seek a fifth straight league championship.

[SPL]

Klaassen is still struggling with his injury . Without him our midfield is way too lightweight and I think we will struggle.

From that 60th min v Groningen when he went off, our midfield for that remaining 30 mins plus all 90 mins v Fword were non existant.

[Orange14]

@SPL - It's not clear also whether Riedewald will be fit for the match. The solution in my opinion is to move Schöne back to the midfield and play el Ghazi and Kishna up front. Of course this is too commons sense for FdB in all likelihood.

[SPL]

Lots of injuries. Siggy is out with a knee injury so good news Zivkovic in the squad.Klaassen and Riedewald may be fit. However Serero has a groin injury and there is some doubt and Boer has injured a knee and doubtful.

The TH have decided they actually need to buy an experienced midfielder!

Onana the new goalie got his work permit yesterday so is available as sub.With Jong playing tomorrow Alblas Leeuwenburgh are injured and Mous suspended so youth goal Groothuizen will play in that .Had Onana's permit not come through Groothuizen would have been on standby for the first.

[Orange14]

Our new youth keeper Onana is in the selection as are Klaassen, Riedewald and Serero. Don't know how fit these guys are. I guess the purchase of Sinkgraven was too late to include him.

Jasper Cillessen
Ricardo van Rhijn
Niklas Moisander
Nicolai Boilesen
Mike van der Hoorn
Davy Klaassen
Ricardo Kishna
Jairo Riedewald
Lucas Andersen
Arek Milik
Lasse Schöne
Anwar el Ghazi
Kenny Tete
André Onana
Thulani Serero
Nick Viergever
Riechedly Bazoer
Richairo Živkovic
Niki Zimling

[SPL]

Important that Klaassen and Serero are fit. The only player out is Siggy and sadly doubt anyone will care.

[King Litti]

Opening line up:

Cillessen, van Rhijn, van der Hoorn, Moisander, Boilesen, Riedewald, Klaassen, Andersen, El Ghazi, Milik, Schöne

Serero not match fit. Riedewald with a big oppurtunity to impress. Hope he can handle the pressure. Surprised Boilesen gets to start. Hope the Fword game was a wake up call for him. He needs to step up his game. Was hoping to see both el Ghazi and Kishna starting with Schöne in midfield, but Kishna will start on the bench. Sure he will come on at some point against hopefully tired Vitesse defenders.

[SPL]

On sky so looking forward to maybe us winning

[Orange14]

Haven't seen the red shorts in quite some time!

[King Litti]

Haven't seen us playing good football in quite some time. As psv won yesterday, we would need to take the all three points. Hard to win without shots on frame.

[rjf1]

If it wasn't for the different color uniforms, I could swear I was watching a rebroadcast of last week's game.

[Orange14]

If I didn't know better I think we look more like Stoke City than Ajax. Everything is long balls and kicks by the keeper. Poor first touch by every single player on the pitch. I'm pretty sure that we didn't even have a shot on goal either. Defense did just enough though Riedewald fell totally asleep and let Traore go right through the middle but lucked out as Cillessen came out early. Nobody in the Red & White playing anything close to average. Disgusting.

[Tom_]

Wow, we really suck don't we. Boring, clueless football. Endless punts upfield and panicky defending.

[SPL]

Just like Excelsior Groningen and Fword ,ie just looking poor. Midfield non existant. Put Schone into Andersen's place and bring Kishna on.

Anything other than a win and the title will be a distant dream

[Amol]

Wow - that was so bad. Unbelievable.

I didn't even one combination where there were 2 passes strung together. Wow. Completely clueless. All they want to do is hoof the ball up the ground - from defense, from midfield

[Tom_]

Is boilesen just on for comic relief??? Time for some subs I think!

[King Litti]

FdB needs to do something. Maybe some subs could bring some life in to the team. Kishna? Zivkovic?

[Orange14]

Well deserved winner by Vitesse's substitute. Good skill!!! Wish we had someone who could also do that.

[rjf1]

Two stinkeroos in a row -- you have to wonder after the last game what they worked on in training this week -- if anything it was an even worse performance. Still, it could have been worse -- if Traore was any better at scoring goals they could have hit double digits.

[King Litti]

We really didn't look like the 33 times champion that we are. More like a bottom table team trying desperately to hold on to a scoreless draw and even failed at that. wtf? Why keep Kishna on the bench and bring in Zimling when we are a goal behind?

[Amol]

Is FDB being blackmailed by the betting mafia? I don't get it.

I don't think anyone watching the game at the 90th minute would have thought - oh yeah - lets bring on Zimling for Andersen. That makes sense. Yeah lets do that.

I think the title race is officially over. But, we've seen weird things happen over the last 4 years.

[Tom_]

It looks like, after getting away with some bad play for the last two seasons, our luck has finally run out. I guess we can't complain, we had a nice run without ever really being that good.

[SPL]

utter rubbish.Was Kishna ill after all why was he not playing!!

Season over all we have to play for is 2nd place.

[Orange14]

It took a wonderful goal to beat a thoroughly outclassed and inept Ajax side this Sunday. 39% possession by Ajax must be a low under FdB's reign which should come to an end this June as he has taken the team about as far as he can. Two shots on goal and only el Ghazi's volley in the closing minutes had any chance of going in. A midfield which was so lacking in confidence that long ball was the plan of the day. Attackers who couldn't get the ball and a defense that managed to hang on for 85 minutes or so throwing their bodies in the path of any shot on target. It looks like it's going to be a long haul to hang onto second place right now but there is still some breathing room between Ajax and Feyenoord. That being said this team is really poor in all aspects of the game which is quite shocking for this point in the season. Let's hope for a quick exit in the EL against Legia Warsaw to avoid further embarrassment in the league.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (6) - really didn't have any hard shots at him at all and nothing he could do about the game winner; may need some treatment on his right leg with all the kicking he did
Boilsesen (5.5) - much better than last week and he did press into the Vitesse half a couple of times
Moisander (6) - positionally very good all game long
van der Hoorn (5.5) - a couple of poor plays positionally but some good interventions in the box
van Rhijn (5.5) - decent enough not giving up any space to attack down his side
Riedewald (4.5) - slightly below average and not sure he's the long term solution here
Klaassen (4.5) - decent defending, woeful on attack
Andersen (4) - lightweight performance again
Schöne (4) - very poor in possession all game long; looks too tired at this point in the season
Milik (4) - had two chances with the ball at his feet in scoring range; failed each time but also a victim of the poor midfield
el Ghazi (5) - flattered by the good shot on goal but the rest of his game was mediocre
Bazoer (5.5) - decent enough in the last quarter of the match, deserving of a start over Riedewald if Serero is still out
Zivkovic (5) - every player starts out with '5', Zivkovic didn't have a touch I think so he neither gains nor loses points
Zimling (NR) - weird substitution at the end

Midweek match coming up home to AZ. Will Sinkgraven be ready to play? the team certainly needs someone in the midfield that can play the game. Schöne needs to sit down, the adventure as a winger should be officially over and the team needs to see if Kishna and el Ghazi can get the job done.

[Tom_]

I said this last year, but I wonder if de Boer would consider a 4-man midfield. We're not getting the ball to the front line, so what's the point in 3 attackers?

Anyway, it'll be interesting to see how he goes in the UK. I guess he won't be stuck with the "technical heart's" requirement for a certain playing style... But then I can't imagine the UK press being particularly kind to him if he remains tactically clueless / obstinate and then blames his players.