05 NOV 2017 Ajax - FC Utrecht Match Day 11

[Orange14]

An offsides goal coupled with a horrible defensive mistake by Veltman gifted Utrecht a win at the Arena today. PSV can now go eight points clear with a win over Twente in the late match. I think Ziyech's late shot that hit the crossbar was the only hard shot on frame by Ajax. Other than the two wingers who had very nice matches everyone else didn't do enough. Just not enough commitment from Ajax and I'm afraid a real clean out of management and players is now required if this club is to prosper in the next several years. The only thing left to play for at this point is the Beker which will bring qualification into the Europa League next season; is this really what we want and need to expect of a club that some of us have supported for over forty years?

Player Ratings:

Onana (6.5) - had a couple of decent saves but the goals were not his fault
Viergever (6) - OK match but with no new contract he is no long term solution at any position
Wöber (6) - 2nd straight match he is subbed off, why? He's been brought in to be the next left side CB
de Ligt (6) - he played the off side trap well but the linesman missed the call on the first goal
Veltman (3) - not only was he out of position but he then missed a crucial clearance kick on the match winner
Schöne (4) - too slow today and should only see sub duty in the last 20 minutes if needed
Ziyech (4.5) - one shot that hit the crossbar and that was it; he should be sold in January but it will probably be for a loss as he's not good enough for any other league
Siem de Jong (4) - the nightmares that I had three years ago about a slow MF have returned; did anyone else see how slowly he left the field when he was subbed off?
Younes (7) - consistently created danger on the left; I think he still believes he has a chance for the German NT next summer in Russia so he will be playing his rear end off trying to impress
Dolberg (5) - KJH would not have done much better
Neres (7) - some very good movement with the ball and a constant danger
Frenkie de Jong (5) - just OK coming in; needs to be a starter to see if he has what it takes
Sinkgraven (4.5) - a failed experiment at LB and who knows if he is good enough to play in the MF
van de Beek (5) - came in way to late to have much of an impact.

Two weeks off to think about things and then a trip to Breda to play NAC. I hope my despair over the current state of Ajax will lift but I am not optimistic

[Orange14]

Great save by Onana but then Younes should have buried that chance.

To be fair, it looked to me that the ball took a bad bounce up and he hit it with his shin.

[Orange14]

Woefully poor rubbish by Ajax ,tactics too not good, zero creativity sorry but last week we were lucky today we got what we deserved Nothing.

Keizer must go tactics poor.

Maybe one of the Dutch guy can comment on this but what is Spjilkerman still doing with this club. I know that Bosz did not want him around and that might have been one of the reasons Bosz bailed. As I noted in my match comments, maybe the whole lot of them need to be sacked.

[SPL]

Midfield rubbish but Schone was the best,yes we were that bad .I am in despair about this side.Subs usage is dreadful.Frenkie ok but surely Kluivert and KJH should have come on.

Dont really know what Keizer is doing but I do think he is out of his depth as head coach here. We have gone back to the slow dreadful footy of de Boer.

I can only dream of that beautiful football that Donny Frenkie and dear little Appie had Jong Ajax playing last season and of course the decent footy Bosz got us playing in the end.

This was not worthy of the name of Ajax
.

[zeux]

Younes (7) - consistently created danger on the left; I think he still believes he has a chance for the German NT next summer in Russia so he will be playing his rear end off trying to impress

Very interesting rating.
On the Dutch side of this forum, Younes is absolutely grilled. One of the worst on the pitch. Being silly off side, actions that go no where, the missed chance, his awful 'defending' that let to the goal, general ineffectiveness, lot of foot movement but zero result. There is rather a large consensus that he needs to go.

[Orange14]

Younes (7) - consistently created danger on the left; I think he still believes he has a chance for the German NT next summer in Russia so he will be playing his rear end off trying to impress

Very interesting rating.
On the Dutch side of this forum, Younes is absolutely grilled. One of the worst on the pitch. Being silly off side, actions that go no where, the missed chance, his awful 'defending' that let to the goal, general ineffectiveness, lot of foot movement but zero result. There is rather a large consensus that he needs to go.

Thanks for the comments. I think he beat his man to the goal line 4-5 times and tried to get a cross in. A couple times he ended up with a corner. I guess the difference is I'm watching the match on my computer screen in America in the morning with only one cup of coffee.

He's not a long term solution in any event as he wants to play for a bigger club.

[zeux]

Getting to the back line is in itself not that spectacular, it's what you do next. And Younes fails too many times, squandering the ball that way.

I think I saw one good action in the first half, where he played a ball hard into the 16 that Dolberg didn't manage to control very well. Otherwise: very ineffective. With the off side, the missed chance and the bad defending play as low points.
Nowhere near a '7' as far as i'm concerned.

[Orange14]

Getting to the back line is in itself not that spectacular, it's what you do next. And Younes fails too many times, squandering the ball that way.

I think I saw one good action in the first half, where he played a ball hard into the 16 that Dolberg didn't manage to control very well. Otherwise: very ineffective. With the off side, the missed chance and the bad defending play as low points.
Nowhere near a '7' as far as i'm concerned.

Fair enough; I'll try to be more critical next match. I wonder if he gets called up to the German NT for the upcoming friendly matches.

[SPL]

Younes was indeed poor but probably still did better than any of our midfielders or Dolberg .He gets to the by line easily but he never scores and he always seems to run into trouble.

For the record I rated our worse player as Siem de Jong.Did almost nothing and just makes the whole MF slow and today he played behind the front 3 and Ziyech seemed to play further back ,sky commentator kept on mentioning this about Ziyech.

[SPL]

The season is best summed up looking down the pages of our games.

The final v Man U and all the hype and hope of a new era. Next game Werder Bremen the utter sadness and the feeling that this season and the football wont matter. After that we started badly and continued poorly until a brief good win v Heerenveen which kept Keizer in a job(nothing to cheer about ) and the one bright spark stuffing an equally poor Feyenoord. Flattering wins v Sparta and Willem and the utter rubbish today.

In effect our season died that day in Austria and it has never really started. 2nd place and maybe the cup and if Keizer stays just poor football not worthy of the name and tradition of this club.

The old boy mafia running this club (into the ground) had all summer to buy a left back and a proper left winger who not only can beat a player but can actually cross a ball properly and can score goals. Why should they get either in January.

I am very down beat this season and at present this is as bad as any football I have seen going back to V Basten and Blind's time. Poor football and not winning . de Boer got stick for poor footy but we still won 4 titles.

[Orange14]

In effect our season died that day in Austria and it has never really started.

I continue to grieve and I silently mention Appie's name every time we recite the Misheberach (Jewish prayer for healing; and it's about the only 'religious' belief this otherwise atheist has).

The old boy mafia running this club (into the ground) had all summer to buy a left back and a proper left winger who not only can beat a player but can actually cross a ball properly and can score goals. Why should they get either in January.

I am very down beat this season and at present this is as bad as any football I have seen going back to V Basten and Blind's time. Poor football and not winning . de Boer got stick for poor footy but we still won 4 titles.

Agree with all these comments. Unfortunately, the great Cruyff is not with us any longer to exert his pressure on the Board. The way it is structured it's almost impossible to get rid of any of these guys. Maybe the supporters will start to boycott games or do something like that. de Boer championships were weird. PSV were struggling during those four years and de Boer still had Vertonghen, Alderwiereld and Erikson for part of the time. The only exciting time was when Martin Jol was trainer and Suarez and Huntelaar were lighting up the scoreboard.

[zeux]

Unfortunately, the great Cruyff is not with us any longer to exert his pressure on the Board. The way it is structured it's almost impossible to get rid of any of these guys.

Well, uhm, he was the architect of this structure, no? Bergkamp was one of his pupils and Sar - as Cruyff Academy-graduate - the one he had in mind for the top job, starting with an intern-period Cruyff arranged.
I would say, it is His mess as well...

[Orange14]

Unfortunately, the great Cruyff is not with us any longer to exert his pressure on the Board. The way it is structured it's almost impossible to get rid of any of these guys.

Well, uhm, he was the architect of this structure, no? Bergkamp was one of his pupils and Sar - as Cruyff Academy-graduate - the one he had in mind for the top job, starting with an intern-period Cruyff arranged.
I would say, it is His mess as well...

Yes, it certainly is and of course he frequently would just walk away from stuff like this. We'll never know what he thought about this one. I read on another forum I'm on that someone wants Jordi Cruyff to come in as technical director and right he ship. I'm not sure he would even want to put a foot into this mess. Meanwhile we are stuck with a dysfunctional football team.

[zeux]

Jordi is doing a good job at Maccabi it seems, but that is a "different cook" from Ajax. Not sure he is ready for the snake pit. Or wanting to go into it.

If one is really bold, you would suggest LVG, but since he is 'the one that can't be named' among the Ajax faithful, this is also a no-go. And the last time he took the helm it was not really a success. Maybe with Koeman as coach. But an enlightened 'dictator' might be just what the doctor ordered. Someone who takes charge and sorts out the mess 'below'.

[Tom_]

That was a deserved win for Utrecht. Solid defensively and several dangerous counters; we can’t complain.

I also thought Younes was awful, but the midfield even worse. I don’t ever want to see that lineup again!!!

[Orange14]

It's clear that I need to take off my Younes Rose Colored glasses!!! One of the Dutch magazines gave Younes a '4' rating.

[SPL]

How on earth does Younes get in the German side. I have never been a fan of his ,he beats 2 or 3 players superbly but always runs into a brick wall or shoots miles wide.Only goal this season was a rebound off his head.

Overmars wanted to act quicker to get Richarlison but the TH dithered ,so I read ,and Watford nipped in. Had we bought him we could then have sold Younes.

Of course Younes is not our worst problem the whole of the midfield was utter rubbish yesterday and we need a proper left back badly.

[Orange14]

How on earth does Younes get in the German side. I have never been a fan of his ,he beats 2 or 3 players superbly but always runs into a brick wall or shoots miles wide.Only goal this season was a rebound off his head.

He was called up for the Confederations Cup which was the meaningless pre-WC competition in Russia and has also been called up for a couple of WC qualifiers against minnow teams. He has played in three matches and scored one goal. I do believe that he thinks he has a chance of making the WC squad and maybe if they get injuries that "might" happen but compared to other choices he is not good enough.

[Tom_]

We also need a holding midfielder!

Younes was reported moaning publicly (he wanted to leave in summer, he’s tired because he didn’t get a vacation...). I guess that also influences the way he’s seen by the fans and media.