Fans turn against clueless Ajax despite last-gasp win

The supporters at the Amsterdam ArenA have made clear that they're fed up with the almost invariably tepid, slow and uninspired football Ajax has been offering them this season. They mercilessly turned against their team and, particularly, its head-coach at the end of another stultifying yawn-fest of a home game against the bottom team of the Eredivisie. Even Daniël de Ridder's last minute winner, or Nourdin Boukhari's 2-0 immediately thereafter, could not stop the chants from the crowd: "Koeman f#ck off! Koeman f#ck off!"

The Ajax boss ("I'm getting used to it") and several players wished to underscore how difficult it can be to play against an ultra-defensive side battling for survival. Which may be true, but the outrage of the fans was at least equally understandable as Ajax's trouble to crack the defense of FC Den Bosch, a team that lost seventeen of their 22 league games. Ajax's home record this season will almost certainly end up historically poor: i n eleven Eredivisie home games Ajax already dropped ten points (two draws, two defeats) and scored a dramatically low number of 19 goals (1.7 per game).

Julien Escudé. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

For 90 minutes it seemed like Ajax were going to drop points against Den Bosch (it would have been the third time in a row, against the numbers 15, 13 and 18 of the table, respectively). As the game pulled into overtime the ArenA crowd had sat through an absolutely disgraceful game of football, in which the hosts hardly managed to build up a proper attack. But then, suddenly, Yannis Anastasiou nodded a high cross back for Daniël de Ridder to convert with his left, finally beating Den Bosch's excellent goalkeeper Kris Mampaey: 1-0 (91'). Den Bosch were K.O. One minute later none of them bothered to attack De Ridder as he rushed over the right flank and delivered a cross, which Nourdin Boukhari tapped against the netting at the far post: 2-0.

All's well that ends well...?

Not if you asked the Ajax supporters, who saw their team escape like this in a few other home fixtures this season. They hardly seemed excited. Their "Koeman f#ck off!" chants only increased in volume.

Ajax have reached the point where match details or tactical discussions no longer matter. What does it matter that Galásek, Grygera, Sneijder, Pienaar, Vonk and De Jong (the latter suspended, the rest injured) were unavailable? What does it matter that Julien Escudé was the only Ajacied to have a truly good game and was once again voted 'Ajacied of the Match'? What does it matter in which formation Ajax played? What does it matter that the crossing was poor, but the defense solid? Was Den Bosch coach Henk Wisman right in claiming that referee Van Hulten should have booked a few Ajacieden for diving (for the record: no, he wasn't), or did Rasmus Lindgren really deserve a penalty in the first half (for the record: yes, he did)...?

What does it all matter?

Players, systems, draws, wins... They are futilities. Minor details. Totally irrelevant to anyone looking at the the bigger picture: a picture that shows a football team like a ship adrift, a team that's falling apart and playing absolutely terrible football. It's not offensive, it's not stylish, it's not fast, it's not beautiful - it is, quite frankly, an absolute insult to 105 years of Ajax history. As individuals most of the players did not even have a truly weak performance. The problem goes much deeper: the current Ajax is not a team. The build-up is slow, there are no structures, no ideas, no patterns. It's going absolutely nowhere, and the painful truth is that this has been the case all season (or even longer).

It may be hard to play ultra-defensive opposition, but still: if AZ players such as Barry Opdam, Martijn Meerdink and Stijn Huysegems can play fast, attractive, thoroughly entertaining and succesful football, then Rafaël van der Vaart, Maxwell, Hatem Trabelsi and Angelos Charisteas should be able to do more or less the same. The quality is there. It made Koeman's post-game claim ("the people expect us to win a game like this by 5-0 or 6-0, and if we don't they start whistling") unfair and rather pathetic: that is not what it's about to the Ajax fans. Their problem is that Ajax don't look like Ajax - and don't even seem to have a genuine desire to do so. For that, one would say, the technical staff is to be held responsible.

For the record: Ajax had no more than a few rather harmless shots on goal in the first half. Strikingly enough, Julien Escudé was involved in almost every dangerous Ajax attack, whereas Angelos Charisteas almost never was. The Greek started his Ajax career with two good games, but had four terrible ones since. Johnny Heitinga saw his header hit the cross-bar, but the linesman was already waving his flag: off-side.

Th e arrival of Ryan Babel, on the hour, only slightly improved Ajax's play: the youngster's thundering shot on Mampaey's fists in the 83rd minute was arguably the most exciting moment. The very best chance of the game, however, was for Marcel Cas, three minutes later: he was totally unmarked as the ball was pulled back to him for a finish from close range, but his shot was poor and Maarten Stekelenburg could save with his legs.

By this time a part of the Ajax crowd almost seemed to hope that Den Bosch would score. The noise from the stands could no longer be called grumbling. It had turned into a load, castigating roar of anger, frustration and downright disgust. "We've got another point!" the F-Side sang, sarcastically. The fact that Ajax had three points a few minutes later did not help. Not this time. Two goals were not enough to make the Ajax fiathful forget this epitome of a 'forgettable' game, this parody of professional football.

Ironically, Ajax actually had a 'good weekend' in theory: Roda held on to a 1-1 draw at AZ, so that the gap between the Alkmaar side and Ajax is now down to four points. Next up is the return leg against Auxerre, in which Ajax will defend a 1-0 lead. The French side have an equally disappointing season as Ajax and also seem to have lost the plot. Just like Ajax they played the bottom team of the league this weekend (Istres) - and did even worse than Ajax: a 1-0 defeat. 

A tiny little triumph in the UEFA Cup, by making it to the quarter finals? It's possible and every Ajax supporter is hoping for it. But it won't change the fact that Ajax are currently ignoring all the 'football values' they're historically supposed to stand for - and that, undeniably, something will have to change.  (MP) 

GOALS

• 90'      1-0  Daniël de Ridder
• 90+1'  2-0  Nourdin Boukhari

Referee: Van Hulten
Yellow cards: Mampaey (FC Den Bosch)
Attendance: 45,619

Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi, Heitinga, Escudé, Maxwell; Obodai (60. Babel), Lindgren (81. Anastasiou), Van der Vaart; Rosales, Charisteas (68. De Ridder), Boukhari.

FC Den Bosch line-up: Mampaey; Olfers, Uneken, Beekmans, Snoyl; Van den Ouweland, Schulp (86. Euvrard), Biyadat; Cas, Janssen, Van de Laak (49. Haemhouts).

Related Links:

• Discussion: 20 Feb 2005: Ajax - FC Den Bosch
• Ajax.nl: Match report in Dutch and English