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Match Report: Meandering, apathetic Ajax lose at home again

	Gert Claessens celebrates with Vitesse teammate Mahamadou Diarra. [source: ANP]

For years, people asked me how I could remain an Ajax fan even though I never got to see them play. These days, the question must be reversed.

In Thursday's 1-2 home loss to Vitesse Arnhem, Ajax picked up where they left off in the second half of Sunday's loss, playing listless, directionless football against an inferior opponent and paying the price for it. Despite having a majority of ball possession, much of it in Vitesse's half, Ajax created virtually no dangerous chances. Their one goal was created 'out of nothing' on a cross from Tomas Galasek to a poorly marked Shota Arveladze, the latter scoring for the fourth time in two games.

Meanwhile, Vitesse's two goals were the result of Ajax's most nagging problems this season: poor goalkeeping and poor defending. To make matters worse, the visitors were able to expose their hosts' weaknesses despite playing without their most feared striker, Bob Peeters (injured) their Holland international, Victor Sikora (suspended) and their vice-captain Marc van Hintum (suspended).

Vitesse broke the deadlock just before halftime, when Fred Grim fumbled a tough but catchable cross just outside the 6-yard box. Vitesse's Amoah was grateful for the opportunity to sweep it home (0-1).

After Arveladze's equalizer in the 52nd minute, Ajax played with a renewed purpose, sensing that they could atone for their so-far abysmal performance by stealing all three points in the final 30 minutes. But inexplicably, Co Adriaanse subbed defender John O'Brien, who had played another solid game at right back, for a nervous and ineffectual Nikos Machlas. The ensuing defensive shuffle proved fatal for Ajax. Exactly two minutes after the substitution, the Ajax defense was flayed by Vitesse, thanks largely to uncharacteristically inept marking by Chivu, which allowed a Vitesse winger to roll the ball across the 18-yard box to an unmarked Van Beukering. The 17 year-old substitute was only too happy to tap in the winner, just as easily as one clips the ribbon at a new shopping mall.

The only high point in this dismal affair was the return of Richar Knopper, who was brought in to replace an off-form Richard Witschge at the start of the second half. Not that his insertion improved Ajax; it would be unfair to expect much of Knopper, who was seeing his first Ajax-1 action since 22 September, 2000. But the game did further highlight the importance of the once-forgotten Witschge as creative playmaker, in a team that seems otherwise utterly bereft of ideas.

After the game, Adriaanse was very critical of certain members of his team: "We had possesion of the ball often, and in the first ten minutes we played well. But neither winger got past their defense, and as a result, our strikers never saw a decent pass. ... Mistakes by Fred Grim and Chris Chivu cost us this match."

However, the coach himself was not excused from the post-match criticism. He was taken to task by Dutch newspapers for his substitution of O'Brien, a capable defender, for Machlas, a struggling striker. The pundits deemed Ajax more likely to win than Vitesse after their equalizer, and even a 1-1 result would not have been a disaster, since they would have remained in third place with one point. The substitution, they surmised, reduced Ajax's chances for such results.

Even TV viewers could not fail to have been impressed by the incessant whistling of the angry Ajax crowd of 35,000, especially at the close of each half.

For the record, this was the first time this year that Ajax has lost two consecutive home games. It was actually their third consecutive loss to Vitesse this season, having fallen 3-2 in Arnhem on October 15 and 1-2 on January 26 in the Amstel Cup. It's doubly astounding that Ajax, once so unassailable at home, have lost twice in a row at home both on the calendar and to Vitesse.

Ajax must now pull a Superman act, changing form completely for their two remaining games against FC Twente away this Sunday (match to be televised on FSW) and finally against AZ at home on May 27. Six points from those two remaining fixtures may allow Ajax to squeak into the play-offs for a Champions League berth this summer. (JM)

GOALS

• 44' Amoah 0-1
• 52' Arveladze 1-1
• 76' Van Beukering 1-2

Referee: Wegereef
Yellow cards: Stefanovic, Nanu (Vitesse); Arveladze (Ajax)
Attendance: 35,667
Ajax line-up: Grim; O'Brien (74. Machlas), Pasanen, Chivu, De Cler; Galasek, Witschge (46. Knopper), Van der Vaart; Ikedia, Arveladze, Wamberto (46. Cruz)
Vitesse line-up: Zoetebier; Nanu, Diarra (90. Terpstra), Zeman, Kreek, Claessens (65. Van Beukering), Mbamba (65.Janssen), Amoah, Van der Schaaf, Cornelisse, Stefanovic