Trimmed down Ajax awkwardly stumbles past NEC
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Holland Casino Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA,
Amsterdam
Sunday, 25 January, 2004
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When it comes to injuries Ajax is not exactly spared these
days: Zlatan Ibrahimovic underwent surgery and will
be ruled out for months. Zdenek Grygera and Tom
Soetaers had to be added to the almost endless injury list
after Wednesday's Roda JC game. Meanwhile, Hatem Trabelsi and
Maxwell are playing for their respective countries
and captain Rafaël van der Vaart appeared on the
ArenA pitch with the flu glowing in his body. The efforts
of the Ajax 'emergency troops' were just enough
for a meagre home win (1-0) over a hapless NEC team.
Coach Ronald Koeman has at least two fully fledged players
for each position, but no football coach in the world can
anticipate on the amazing injury epidemic currently
sweeping the Ajax squad. The Ajax boss not only has to
rely heavily on his reserves, he's also forced to revert
to Young Ajax and even Ajax A1 players. Daniël
de Ridder, a Young Ajacied until January, was in the
starting line-up for the first time, but the situation was best
illustrated by the bench, on which two Young Ajax players
(Thomas Vermaelen and Jason Culina) sat next to
two 17 year-old rookies from the A1 team: Tom De Mul
and Ryan Babel.
Daniel De Ridder played well in
his first start for Ajax 1. [Photo: Gerard van
Hees/Ajax.nl]
The result was, almost inevitably, an unconvincing 90
minute struggle against NEC, the modest #12 of the Eredivisie
table. The guests from Nijmegen easily kept up with
Ajax for a full hour and were stalwart in defence and
midfield. These facts made NEC's almost
cowardly caution very hard to grasp. In spite of Ajax's
obvious problems and vulnerability NEC never seemed to have the
intention of a serious offensive. In fact, they
managed only one truly dangerous moment, quite typically in the
very last minute of the game: substitute Patrick Ax fired
diagonally wide from an unmarked position on the edge of the
penalty box.
Ajax itself was almost equally powerless upfront, making
for what was arguably the dullest and poorest Ajax
match of the season. Rafaël van der Vaart, physically
weakened by the flu, was deemed not fit enough to race
around in midfield and was fielded as a central
forward, changing positions with Wesley Sonck, who played a
poor game as a 'shadow striker' in midfield. "Rafaël
wouldn't normally have played", explained Koeman. "He
really wasn't fit, but he wanted to be there for the team.
He lacked the power to play in midfield. Instead, we
fielded him as a striker, which allowed him to wait
for his moments upfront."
However, Ajax hardly had any 'moments' to capitalize on.
Sonck, who was visibly unhappy in midfield, had a tiny
opportunity in the first half, while Sneijder tried a
few shots. As Julien Escudé almost nodded home from
a difficult angle on a Wesley Sneijder corner kick in the
53rd minute, it was slightly painful to realize that it was
actually Ajax's most dangerous moment so far.
Meanwhile, Daniël de Ridder was having a fine
first game in the ArenA. The young winger has the looks
and the swagger to become a true Ajax fan hero.
Moreover, he played energetically and sometimes good on no less
than three different positions: he started as a right winger,
moved to the left in the second half and ended up as a
'shadow striker' after the official first team début of
right winger Tom De Mul. For his efforts De Ridder was
rewarded with the title of 'Man of the Match'.
The actual 'match winner' for Ajax, however, was a man
who needed a goal badly and played a dreadful game: Wesley
Sonck. The Belgian's artistic, graceful and light-footed finish
marked the end of a stylish Ajax attack, set up
by Julien Escudé with a superb diagonal pass, a
fine cross by Sikora and a smart little backward flick by Van
der Vaart. It was a moment of true beauty, which
contrasted so sharply with the rest of the game
that it didn't seem to fit into the game
or Sonck's own performance.
Tom De Mul made his Ajax 1 debut.
[Photo: Gerard van Hees/Ajax.nl]
The attempts by De Ridder (fine shot, saved by Gentenaar),
Sonck and De Mul in the remainder of the game were hardly
noteworthy. The most interesting fact in the second
half: John O'Brien played his first 27 minutes
of Eredivisie football as Ajax's team captain. When
Tomás Galásek left the pitch the 26 year-old
American was the oldest remaining Ajacied. However, apart from
a simple 'age thing', his official début as the
captain of Ajax must also be regarded as a reward for his
convincing return to first team action. For the second
consecutive game O'Brien played like he was never injured:
calm, smart and self-assured, with tremendous energy.
Another interesting development, regarded as positive by
the majority of Ajax fans, is the fact that Ajax
started the game with no less than seven Dutchmen, of
whom six from the club's own youth ranks. The last
time there were seven Dutchies in an Ajax-1 starting line-up
was on 01 April 2001 in the Eredivisie away game
at... NEC.
It's definitely a positive development that the
current, light-weight and historically inexperienced Ajax
team is actually able to win a game without players
such as Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Steven Pienaar, Hatem Trabelsi,
Maxwell and Jari Litmanen. The reality for the moment, however,
is that the current line-up is simply too young and tender
to entertain and convince a football crowd. Grabbing the
points is quite an achievement already. The NEC game made
crystal clear that the team has nothing more to offer at this
point. Which is understandable, but also worrying, with a
tough away fixture in Heerenveen coming up on Wednesday -
and the top clash with PSV at the Amsterdam
ArenA appearing at the horizon... (MP)
GOAL
Referee: Van Hulten
Yellow cards: Heitinga (Ajax), Demouge, Simr,
Ebbinge, Van der Doelen (NEC)
Attendance: 49,018
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; De Jong,
Heitinga, Escudé, O'Brien; Galásek (73. Yakubu),
Sonck, Sneijder; De Ridder, Van der Vaart (81. Mitea), Sikora
(63. De Mul).
NEC line-up: Gentenaar; Leiwakabessy,
Wielaert, Ebbinge, Wisgerhof; Schuurman, Heije, Simr, Van der
Doelen; Demouge (75. Ax), Niedzielan (64. De Freitas).
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