O'Brien returns as Ajax book badly needed win at Willem II
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Holland Casino Eredivisie
Willem II Stadium, Tilburg
Sunday, 07 November, 2004
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Ajax's line-up against Willem II showed how
hard Wednesday's embarrassing result in
Israel has hit Ajax. Knowing that something had
to happen, Koeman carried out a series of radical changes.
He replaced his young Dutch central defense
duo (Heitinga/De Jong) by a foreign, more experienced
couple (Grygera/Escudé). Heitinga was not even on the
bench in Tilburg. Maxwell (previously left fullback) and
Rafaël van der Vaart (previously centre forward) returned
to midfield, where Anthony Obodai (not even on the bench) and
Wesley Sneijder (benched) lost their spots.
The position of left fullback was now occupied by
John O'Brien, who returned for his first Ajax-1
action since
08 February. Forwards Yannis Anastasiou and Nourdin
Boukhari also started, instead of Wesley Sonck
(not even on the bench) and Nicolae Mitea (benched). Even
Wednesday's goalkeeper (Maarten Stekelenburg) dropped out,
making way for Hans Vonk.
It was, quite obviously,
Koeman's desperate attempt to 'hot-wire' his
struggling team. The coach knew that it could be his
last chance. The Ajax board recently chose his side (and not
Louis van Gaal's), but on Wednesday night chairman John Jaakke
was quoted saying that "the situation can not continue
like this for another six weeks".
It seems that on moments like these there's always
Willem II... The Tilburg club normally finishes in the top
ten of the Eredivisie, but 'Willem II away' is
traditionally one of the easiest road games of the season
for Ajax. The Amsterdammers scored 21 goals in the last five
visits (all of which were won) and won eight out of the last
ten games at Willem II Stadium. Willem II traditionally
are neither defensive nor physical. They allow Ajax to
play. On several occasions in the recent past they helped a
struggling Ajax side to triump their crisis.
Maxwell returned from a minor
injury - and scored Ajax's third goal. [Photo:
Ajax.nl]
History repeated itself, although it surely did not look
like it in the first half hour of the game.
Ajax started poorly. They were just as
clueless and just as insecure as in recent weeks and
the renovated defense did not exactly seem to be an
improvement at first. In the 11th minute Tom Caluwé
ripped the left zone of the Ajax defense to shreds, sending
former Ajacied Martijn Reuser on a free passage in a subtle
one-two. Reuser had plenty of time and space
to convert, but Hans Vonk kept his eye on the ball and
saved in magnificent fashion. Two minutes later, however,
a free kick by Michel Kreek (the second former Ajax man in the
Willem II team; Kevin Bobson was the third) landed at the far
post, Jos van Nieuwstadt touched the ball,
then Hans Vonk and Zdenek Grygera fumbled it into the
netting in what looked like a slapstick act. Ronald
Koeman's heart must have instantly sunken into his
boots. The situation seemed hopeless already. It gets
easier by the week to punch Ajax against the canvas.
But then something mysterious happened. Willem II started
playing slowly and inaccurately. They started making defensive
mistakes, thereby allowing Ajax to take a deep breath
and recover from the early blow. Yannis Anastasiou
had an open header opportunity on Ajax's second corner
kick (he nodded over the cross-bar) and Julien
Escudé scored on corner number
four (35') but referee Wegereef disallowed the goal
for a pushing foul. Grygera and Escudé were now in
complete control of Caluwé and Reuser (and remained so
for the remainder of the game), while Rafaël van
der Vaart stepped forward as Ajax's leader in midfield and
Yannis Anastasiou had one his best games in
the Ajax jersey.
It was a major error by Michel Kreek
(who nonchalantly lost the ball) that allowed Rafaël
van der Vaart to penetrate the penalty area over the right
flank and pull back to the near post, where Mauro Rosales
calmly chipped home for the tremendously important
equalizer and his first goal as an Ajacied:
1-1 (36').
And all of a sudden, believe it or not, everything that
went wrong in recent weeks now went right. You could
almost see the Ajax players grow: their passing
improved, ball circulation went faster, there was
more movement, they fought air duels
with increasing self-awareness
and determination. Referee Jan Wegereef should most
definitely have whistled for a penalty as Hatem
Trabelsi was brought down, face to face with
goalkeeper Oscar Moens, after a beautiful one-two with Van der
Vaart. He didn't, but one minute later Ajax were in
the lead anyway. Albert van der Haar defended poorly,
allowing Mauro Rosales to control the ball and diagonally
fire home for his and Ajax's second: 1-2 (43').
The relief in the team was almost tangible.
It was highly remarkable how tepid and unconvincing Willem
II's resistance was, even after the 15 minute break. The hosts
never even came close to getting back into the game, so that
Ajax could set their first steps towards recovery - shakily and
insecurely at first, but with more self-assurance as the
minutes ticked away. The Amsterdammers could have scored three,
perhaps four goals in the second half. The most beautiful
moment was in the 52nd minute, as Yannis Anastasiou's
well-placed, first-time volley (from some 20 yards, on a
Boukhari cross) hit the underside of the
cross-bar. The Greek would have deserved a goal in the
second half, but was unlucky on two more occasions. Mauro
Rosales, meanwhile, could have scored a third as he had an
unmarked shooting opportunity from 15 yards or so,
but Moens saved. Ajax wrapped it up in the 62nd
minute, as a speedy and well-executed attack was concluded
with a perfect Anastasiou assist, which Maxwell only had to tap
across the goal-line: 1-3.
John O'Brien returned to Ajax 1
action. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
What about John O'Brien, meanwhile? The
American had a somewhat inconspicuous, but
flawless comeback to Ajax-1. He focused on his
defensive work and usually chose for a simple option when
he rushed forward. O'Brien was, by the way, not
the only Ajacied to return from a persistent injury:
Tomás Galásek also returned to action,
replacing Steven Pienaar. Galásek last played on
22 August, in the home game against NAC Breda.
Sadly, O'Brien had to be replaced ten minutes after
Galásek's arrival. The American (once again) sustained a
hamstring injury of as yet unknown seriousness. O'Brien
limped off in the 80th minute. "John played well," said Ronald
Koeman after the game, "but now he's having a hamstring injury
again. It's such a shame he's so injury-prone."
"I am very relieved," the Ajax head-coach admitted after the
game. "I think we all are. We're going through a very
tough period, especially since Wednesday. Some kind of
'shock effect' was necessary. If you take such drastic
decisions as I did today, you really have to win. I was aware
of that and luckily it happened."
The Ajacieden took their time to celebrate the three points
with the travelling supporters. It was moving to see them hold
hands and bow collectively, under loud applause. Does
this win mark Ajax's resurrection? As much as every
supporter would love to believe so, it is far too early for
that conclusion. Didn't we think the same thing after the
whopping 3-0 home win over Maccabi Tel-Aviv? Nevertheless, the
second half of this remarkably easy road game most definitely
had a healing effect on the visibly stressed Amsterdam team.
This game, quite typically against this particular opponent,
came just in time for Ajax, namely one week before the always
emotional (and already sold-out) 'Classic' against Feyenoord...
(MP)
UPDATE (08 November 2004): One day after the game
NOS Teletekst reported that John O'Brien picked up a new,
rather serious hamstring injury that will keep him sidelined
for up to six weeks, which in practice almost certainly
means that the American will be out until the winter
break.
GOALS
- 14' 1-0 Zdenek Grygera (own goal)
- 36' 1-1 Mauro Rosales
- 43' 1-2 Mauro Rosales
- 62' 1-3 Maxwell
Referee: Wegereef
Yellow card: Wau, Victoria (Willem
II), Boukhari, Pienaar (Ajax)
Attendance: 13,100
Ajax line-up: Vonk; Trabelsi, Grygera,
Escudé, O'Brien (80. Sneijder); Pienaar (70.
Galásek), Van der Vaart, Maxwell (77. De Jong); Rosales,
Anastasiou, Boukhari.
Willem II line-up: Moens; Wau, Van
Nieuwstadt, Kreek (54. Redan), Van der Haar; Victoria,
Caluwé (73. Quinn), Mathijssen; Hadouir (78. Agustien),
Reuser, Bobson.
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