Hopeless... Mediocre Utrecht too strong for Ajax: 1-0
1 (0) - 0
(0)
Holland Casino Eredivisie
Galgenwaard Stadium, Utrecht
Sunday, 29 February, 2004
Every Ajax fan who thought that
it couldn't get worse for the Amsterdammers than
last Wednesday in Heerenveen has been proven
wrong: at FC Utrecht, an opponent with not nearly as much
quality as the Frisians, Ajax did not have a fine first
half like in Heerenveen, neither were there any chances to
take the lead. At Galgenwaard Stadium Ajax was too
miserable to accomplish anything whatsoever. For the
hosts, meanwhile, one chance in the 76th minute was enough to
beat Ajax at home for the fifth time in a row.
Ironically, the average Ajax
fan didn't mourn about the embarrassing defeat for
longer than an hour or two. An 'hour by hour' report of
Sunday 29 February 2004: Ajax and FC Utrecht kicked off at
1:30 PM. Ajax's stumble was a fact at 2:20 or so. PSV and
Roda JC kicked off in Eindhoven at 2:30. Roda JC had a
shock-lead of 0-2 by 2:47. At approximately 4:20 PM,
almost exactly two hours after referee Dick Jol's final whistle
in Utrecht, Ajax knew that its precious six point lead -
established by beating PSV on 08 February - was still
intact, in spite of having lost two games in a
row.
PSV's failure to close in on
Ajax was definitely good for a chuckle, but didn't make Ajax's
appallingly weak performance in Utrecht any better. The figures
(1-0) may look less painful than the Heerenveen result (4-1),
but that's just deceptive appearance. In Heerenveen
Ajax played fairly well for more than 45 minutes and had
several good chances to take the lead. Then the team went 1-0
down at an unfortunate moment, after which Heerenveen proved to
be an opponent of high quality, very well able to build
on its first goal.
FC Utrecht, however, is a
mediocre, hapless football outfit, that was hardly able to
string three proper passes together and had not won a
single game since the winter-break yet. This made it so
shocking that the ambitious AFC Ajax from Amsterdam was hardly
able to string two proper passes together - although
the terrible state of the pitch also deserves a mention here.
In spite of the fact that Utrecht missed no less than five
starters, Ajax failed to create a single scoring chance.
Utrecht goalkeeper Terol is an inexperienced reserve,
but he was never tested. The only time he had to
'save' was on a Wesley Sneijder shot from 25 yards. Terol
did not have to dive or stretch. He could simply catch the
ball, as it came straight at him.
Sneijder 'sandwiched' by two
Utrecht opponents.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
After Wednesday's Heerenveen fixture, coach Ronald Koeman
came to the conclusion that it went wrong due to a lack of
determination and fighting spirit. The players, quite simply,
had to battle harder against FC Utrecht. And they
did. Ajax defended more aggressively and did not allow the
opponent as much space to play. But this
improvement proved worthless, in default of literally
everything else that is required to win football game:
freshness, speed, accurate passing, sassiness, ideas,
creativity. Ajax vs FC Utrecht was a disconcerting spectacle.
What happened to the team that grabbed PSV by the
throat in the second half, only three weeks ago?
Koeman replaced only a few players after the Heerenveen
disaster: Anthony Obodai, known for his aggressive style,
was in the starting line-up. Nigel de Jong moved back
to the right fullback position, where Hatem Trabelsi lost
his spot (the Tunisian remained on the bench). Rafaël
van der Vaart returned to the squad, but was not fit
enough yet to play a full game. He was brought on as
a substitute - and was unable to make a
difference.
The hosts, meanwhile, were also totally incapable of causing
any danger upfront. The only time the Ajax defense had to act
in the first half was when a Stefaan Tanghe cross reached
striker Donny de Groot, who had to turn in order to shoot
and lost the ball in doing so. In the end, both teams had
scored from every scoring chance they had.
The fact that the final score was 1-0 adequately
sums it all up. With 14 minutes left to play Utrecht's
Stefaan Tanghe all of a sudden found himself on a free passage
to Maarten Stekelenburg on a long Ricky Kruys pass -
and managed to fumble the ball past the Ajax goalie: 1-0
(76'). It was obvious that Ajax was going to be unable to
fight back.
"What we miss the most," was Ronald Koeman's post-game
analysis, "is an on-form winger." Koeman surely has a
point: it would be too simple to blame Yannis Anastasiou or his
replacement Wesley Sonck. They were all alone,
struggling upfront, with no crosses coming
in. One wonders why Koeman sticks to Ajax's traditional
4-3-3 system so stubbornly in the current situation: a 4-4-2
formation would release the struggling wingers (Sikora, Mitea,
De Ridder) from the obligation to get past their defenders and
provide the centre forward with high-quality crosses. Moreover,
both Anastasiou and Sonck are known to feel more
comfortable in a 4-4-2.
The greatest mystery, however, is the question why Koeman keeps
fielding Wesley Sneijder, who was once again one of the poorest
Ajacieden and only drew attention with a series of
useless corner kicks. The young Ajacied (and
Utrecht native...) is his own worst enemy at the moment.
It may be a good thing that Sneijder will miss next week's
against RKC Waalwijk due to accumulated yellow
cards.
It will not be necessary to tell the Ajax players they should
not underestimate RKC. The Waalwijk side is having a
disappointing season, but has the exact same number of points
as FC Utrecht and is one slot higher on the table. Last season
Ajax lost two points at RKC. "We have
to stay calm now," said Koeman. "Which is not that easy. Other
teams now see that Ajax is not unbeatable. We have to remain a
team and focus on our own qualities.
This downward spiral can be broken by winning a game."
(MP)
GOAL
Referee: Jol
Yellow cards: Sneijder, Heitinga, Sonck
(Ajax), Tanghe, Zwaanswijk (FC
Utrecht)
Attendance: 20,200
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; De Jong,
Heitinga, Escudé, Maxwell; Galásek, Sneijder,
Obodai (72. Van der Vaart); De Ridder (65. Sikora), Anastasiou
(65. Sonck), Mitea.
FC Utrecht line-up: Terol; Zuidam (90.
Keller), Zwaanswijk, Schut, Braafheid; Tanghe, Bosschaart, De
Jong, Van den Bergh; Leitoe (65. Kruys), De Groot (79.
Calabro).
Related Links:
