Defeat at Twente overshadows 'winter championship'
2 (1) - 0
(0)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
Arke Stadium,
Enschede
Sunday, 21 December, 2003
Thank God, the winter-break has arrived! About two weeks too
late, you might add cynically. December has been
a nightmare for Ajax. In only 13 days' time
Ajax crashed out of 'Europe' and the Amstel
Cup, after which PSV closed in in the Eredivisie this
weekend, in spite of their own 0-0 draw against ten
Vitesse players on Saturday. A win in Enschede's Arke
Stadium would have put Ajax three points ahead of
PSV, with a game in hand to make that six. However,
winning simply seems impossible for Ronald
Koeman's physically and mentally worn out troops
at this point, so that Ajax entered the winter-break with
its third defeat in two weeks' time: FC Twente 2, Ajax 0. PSV's
loss of points, in the end, only limited the damage.
Things can change fast in football: 15 days ago Ajax had
only lost one league game, had its fate in its own hands in the
Champions League and awaited a home game against the league's
#14 in the Dutch cup. And now? The Eredivisie is all that
remains, Ajax's second defeat in that competition is a fact and
the team is desperately struggling with its
poor form, dwindling self-esteem and an endless list of
injuries.
The latest name on the aforementioned injury list
was Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who wasn't even on the bench in
Enschede. The average Ajax fan knows the rest of the list by
heart (Trabelsi, Pienaar, Galásek,
O'Brien, Soetaers, Grygera). Coach Ronald Koeman only had
14 players to his availability, so that Young Ajax's Jason
Culina and Thomas Vermaelen were added to the squad.
Given those circumstances, plus the heavy,
bleak storm that swept across the pitch of
Arke Stadium, it must be said that Ajax had a good
start in Enschede. The hosts were pushed back and there
were shooting opportunities for Maxwell and Wesley
Sonck, who saw their attempts blocked by Twente defenders.
Rafaël van der Vaart's fine, curling shot from the edge of
the penalty box had to be punched out of the corner by a diving
Cees Paauwe.
Ajax had more possession and more dangerous attacks in the
first twenty minutes, but - in default of an experienced force
such as Tomás Galásek - Ajax is mentally fragile
and vulnerable in defence. So it showed in the 38th
minute as Adil Ramzi's high cross from the right flank landed
in the middle of the Ajax penalty area, where the
defenders reacted irresolutely,
allowing striker Blaise N'Kufo to calmly pick his
corner: 1-0.
Collins John (L) of FC Twente
celebrates with Blaise N'Kufo's
after the latter's first of two goals. [Photo:
ANP]
Ajax collapsed almost immediately. The remainder of the game
can be described as 55 minutes of desperate drudgery. Ajax
battled. Against FC Twente and against itself. FC Twente was
smart enough to let Ajax take the initiative and to wait for
counter-attacking opportunities itself. The 'Reds', by the
way, did not play very impressively themselves.
Good football was almost impossible anyway.
As the minutes ticked away in the second half it
slowly became obvious that nothing, literally
nothing was going right for Ajax. The weakest
players on the pitch (Wesley Sneijder, Wesley Sonck, Jelle Van
Damme and - more than anyone else - Victor Sikora, who
surprisingly started in Enschede, keeping Nicolae Mitea
benched) seemed totally unable to control a simple pass, to
simply tap a ball to a team-mate and to keep the ball in
possession during a simple dribble. Everything went
wrong. There were tiny opportunities to shoot, but it says a
lot that goalkeeper Cees Paauwe hardly had to act.
It is quite typical that the best chance in this phase was
for Twente: a slamming header by Collins John, spectacularly
punched out of the top corner by Bogdan Lobont. Even more
typical was the way in which the hosts secured the three
points: Blaise N'Kufo, a highly attractive, inpredictacle
striker, went after a long pass that seemed slightly too
hard, slipped past both Johnny Heitinga and Julien
Escudé in a simple slalom - and managed to score
from an impossible angle: 2-0 (60'). "That was miserably poor
defending, plain simple", said Ronald Koeman after the
game.
The Ajax coach did what he could possibly do: he brought his
only remaining offensive forces, namely Nicolae Mitea, Jari
Litmanen and Jason Culina. What an ironic moment for the
'Aussie', who's played for Young Ajax since 1999, to
finally make his first team début...
Litmanen in particular added some accuracy and intelligence to
Ajax's passing, but it was in vain. Ajax lacked the thrust, the
ideas, the energy to change something.
The only thing that could have brought Ajax back into the
game was a lucky strike, out of nowhere. Quite ironically, Ajax
did score such a goal (low cross by Sonck, released by
goalkeeper Paauwe, tapped home by Mitea), but according to the
linesman and referee Luinge Mitea was off-side. An incorrect
decision, but Ajax had no right to complain. The team simply
did not show enough quality football to really deserve a point,
let alone a win.
Ronald Koeman post-game analysis was remarkably
light-hearted: "The result is very disappointing, but I can not
blame the team. I could see they really went for it. Mistakes
have been made today, but they worked hard. We started well and
should have taken the lead. In the second half Twente was too
well organized. We couldn't find a way through. I felt a point
could have been in it for us, but we did not
really deserve it, I must admit."
Koeman continued: "If we don't play well, the difference in
physical power between Ajax and the opposition becomes more
obvious. But that's the choice we make: at Ajax we choose
for skill. Sometimes, when that doesn't work well,
you can have an occasional slip-up."
On a positive note: in spite of the defeat Ajax enters the
winter-break as the 'winter champion' of 2003, with the same
number of points as PSV, but with a game in hand to create a
three point gap. Moreover, says Koeman: "In January I will
have 25 fit players to my availability again. If we start well
everything will be okay."
Ajax is due back at the ArenA training pitch on Monday
05 January. For now, we wish them - and you - a merry
Christmas and a very happy new year. (MP)
GOALS
- 37' 1-0 Blaise N'Kufo
- 60' 2-0 Blaise N'Kufo
Referee: Luinge
Yellow cards: Ramzi, Heubach (FC
Twente)
Attendance: 13,250
Ajax line-up: Lobont; De Jong, Heitinga,
Escudé, Van Damme; Sneijder, Yakubu (51. Mitea),
Van der Vaart, Maxwell (64. Litmanen); Sonck, Sikora (64.
Culina).
FC Twente line-up: Paauwe; Van der Weerden,
Pothuizen (68. Allach), Zomer, Polak; Ramzi (75. Sibum),
Niemeijer, Heubach, Gakhokidze; N'Kufo (90. Christensen),
John.
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