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Match Report: Ajax 0, NEC 0

Ajax can't get three points from NEC at home

06 September: After having seen PSV miss out on two points against Willem II last night, Ajax did the same thing at home against NEC from Nijmegen: 0-0, in a game in which Ajax was clearly dominant, but not creative and determined enough to bring the extremely defensively playing opponent to its knees. This enabled the Nijmegen team, coachd by Ajax seventies star Johan Neeskens, to notch a point from Amsterdam for the first time in 25 years.

Coach Co Adriaanse made it all crystal clear in his short analysis after the game: "Defense was good, midfield was okay, attack was not so good." That was the problem, indeed: after having been substituted last week against Sparta, Shota Arveladze's goal-scoring misery continued against NEC. Crowd and coaching staff seem to be desperately waiting for the return of Nikos Machlas, which is, in fact, coming soon.

Arveladze's colleague on the left forward spot, Kevin Bobson, did not have a good day either. Jesper Grønkjær, who replaced him in the second half, caused more danger. He even came awfully close to scoring a brilliant goal, but his shot from an extremely close angle hit the bottom of the cross-bar.

The defense was, again, solid. NEC did not create any real chances, and if they came close, Fred Grim proved himself a much more confident goalkeeper than last season. The NEC counter-attacks got more dangerous along the way, though, for the simple reason that Ajax wanted to win and therefore took more risk. But the attacking patterns were too slow and obviously too predictable.

Maybe it would have all gone differently if Richard Knopper had been luckier in the second minute, as Winter hit a Bobson cross, goalie Gentenaar saved his shot, and Knopper failed to tip the rebound into the empty goal. The only period of real Ajax pressure came too late: Van der Meyde's attempt was stopped by Gentenaar, Brutil Hosé headed onto an opponent's shoulder and Gentenaar's reaction to a perfect-looking Witschge free-kick was magnificent.

The fifteen minutes of pressure were in vain. Ajax ended up failing again to make the most out of PSV's equally mediocre season opening. The two richest teams of The Netherlands find themselves back halfway down the table, at the 9th (Ajax) and 10th (PSV) position... (MP)

STATISTICS

Line-up Ajax:
Grim; Vierklau (76. Hosé), Chivu, Bergdølmo; Galásek, Witschge, Knopper (81. Van der Gun), Winter; Van der Meyde, Arveladze, Bobson (65. Grønkjær).

Line-up NEC:
Gentenaar; Collen, Wisgerhof (88. Leiwakabessy), Zonneveld, Hesp; Van Rijswijk (76. Schultz), Koning, Latuheru (70. Janssen), Ax; Hristov, De Gier.

Referee: Van Dijk
Bookings: Van der Meyde, Winter (Ajax), De Gier, Zonneveld (NEC)
Attendance: 37,500

Next game: Ajax - FC Groningen (Saturday 9 September, 7:00pm CET)

Pictures:
Ajax Foto Side