Determined Den Haag easily remain upright at ArenA: 0-0

"This was downright bad," said Rafaël van der Vaart, "we failed to start aggressively. We were never in the game."

"We played in too low a pace," added goalkeeper Hans Vonk, who surely had hoped for a better result on his 35th birthday than 0-0. "And we were inaccurate. The perfect ingredients for a miserable performance."

Ajax vs ADO Den Haag was, indeed, Ajax's weakest performance of the season. Worse, probably, than the lost home fixture against Heerenveen or the dismal away match against ADO Den Haag, in which a 0-3 lead was squandered. In those games Ajax at least had a handful of chances. Today they had not. The lowly visitors remained upright with remarkable ease, were well organized defensively and had the by far best chances of the game. What a painful and unexpected setback for Ajax: 0-0.

The first half, in particular, came as a shock to the ArenA crowd, who could hardly believe that, so shortly after the fine performances against Utrecht and Heerenveen, the exact same Ajax team could look so utterly miserable against a relegation candidate. The Ajacieden pottered about apathetically, while Den Haag forward Cedric van der Gun (still owned by Ajax) came face to face with Hans Vonk in the first five minutes. Ajax would have conceded an early goal if it wasn't for the veteran goalie, who was voted 'Ajacied of the Match' for want of someone better.

Ajax's only chance of the first half (in the 8th minute) wasn't even a real one: Angelos Charisteas launched Nicolae Mitea with a fine chip into the penalty area, but instead of pulling the ball back to a team-mate the Romanian went for his own success and hammered it yards over the cross-bar. It typified Mitea's performance: out of all those weak Ajacieden he was probably the weakest.

Ryan Babel reacts to a lost opportunity. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Ronald Koeman could (and might have wanted...) to replace eight or nine players at half time. Only a few Ajacieden (Vonk, Escudé, Trabelsi, Rosales) had a more or less good game, while Angelos Charisteas did well when he dropped back, but he couldn't crack it up front, either. Koeman ended up substituting the two very weakest of the lot: Wesley Sneijder and Nicolae Mitea. Steven Pienaar and Ryan Babel replaced.

It did not help. Admittedly, Ajax were more aggressive in the second half and at least managed to put the visitors under pressure, but not after they had once again failed to take the lead: Roy Stroeve suddenly had a finishing opportunity from close range, but Hans Vonk once again came to the rescue.

Just when Ajax seemed to have found the inspiration to accelerate (around the 60th minute mark) a typically mysterious Ronald Koeman tactical nipped the offensive in the bud: the only Ajax forward who was sometimes threatening (Mauro Rosales) moved to the left flank, midfielder Steven Pienaar moved to the right and Ryan Babel (threatening from the left flank) moved to the centre to play as a #10. All three were totally out of it for the remainder of the game. Even 'boy wonder' Ryan Babel hardly did anything right.

In spite of Ajax's almost constant possession in the second half the best chances were still for Den Haag. The ArenA crowd collectively held its breath as right fullback Gill Swerts stormed forward in the 75th minute. Luckily for Ajax he pulled back inaccurately: just behind two unmarked team-mates. Hans Vonk was already beaten, but Hatem Trabelsi could clear in the nick of time. Even Swerts' shot on goal a few minutes later (an eay prey for Vonk) was more dangerous than almost any Ajax attack on the day.   

Julien Escudé gives it a try from long range. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

The crowd had to wait until the 86th minute for Ajax's first (and only) real chance of the game - and their only well-taken shot on goal. Rafaël van der Vaart's quick turn was good and so was his low, diagonal shot, but goalkeeper Dorus de Vries just managed to get a finger against the ball and tip it past the far post.

A last-gasp Ajax win would have been utterly undeserved. ADO Den Haag (with central defender Spira Grujic as their best man) were ultra-defensive but never dirty. They did not have to against an Ajax side that, for the second time this season, had to settle for an unforgiveably poor result against the yellow and green outfit from The Hague. PSV (1-4 at RKC Waalwijk) and AZ (0-1 at Den Bosch) did win their fixtures. This frustrating draw effectively marks the end of a good two months of optimism and positivity, in which Ajax's play was improving. The points Ajax dropped were precious: the Amsterdammers are now seven points behind PSV and five behind AZ. (MP)

NO GOALS

Referee: Bossen
Yellow cards: Verhoek (ADO Den Haag)
Attendance: 45,119

Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, Grygera, Escudé, Maxwell; Sneijder (46. Pienaar), Heitinga, Van der Vaart; Rosales (77. De Ridder), Charisteas, Mitea (46. Babel).

ADO Den Haag line-up: De Vries; Swerts, Saeijs, Grujic, El Akchaoui; Stroeve, Van der Leegte (74. Rijaard), Polak; Van der Gun (26. Verhoef [85. Elia]), Den Ouden, Smith.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie games 2004-2005
• Ajax.nl: Match report in English and  Dutch