Title seems out of sight after 2-0 defeat at PSV

It's only October, but the Eredivisie championship seems already out of reach for Ajax after having succumbed to a sovereign PSV team in Eindhoven's Philips Stadium. Ajax have now won less than half of their league games (4 out of 9) and are 6th on the table, ten points behind leaders PSV and seven behind arch-enemies Feyenoord. Those are the plain figures, but what really makes the situation so hopeless is the complete lack of offensive thrust, momentum and firepower the Amsterdammers are showing -- on an almost weekly basis.

The looming crisis at the Amsterdam ArenA seemed averted after Wednesday's promising 3-0 Champions League win, but in Eindhoven it turned out that Ajax's wish was the father of their thought. Ajax played well in the first half and dominated the game for some 40 minutes, but even in that phase the Amsterdammeres hardly ever seriously threatened PSV's physically superior and extremely well-organized defense (no goal conceded since 28 August), in spite of the absence of veteran André Ooijer and Brazilian giant Alex.

Understandably, Ajax boss Ronald Koeman kept most of the succesful tactical experiments from the Maccabi Tel-Aviv game intact: Anthony Obodai had the 'Galásek role' in midfield and Rafaël van der Vaart was the centre forward while Wesley Sonck played as a right winger. The only change compared to Wednesday was the return of Mauro Rosales, who surprisingly played as a left winger, instead of Nicolae Mitea. Ajax's problem upfront could not be illustrated any better: Koeman fielded a right winger on the left, a centre forward on the right and a left midfielder in the centre. They scored four goals between them so far and none of the three is taller than 1.75 metres. Ajax's only strikers of considerable heighth (Boukhari and Anastasiou) were not in even in the squad. Koeman preferred Young Ajax's Stanley Aborah and Rasmus Lindgren.

Mauro Rosales played in his first PSV-Ajax fixture. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

Ajax knew that they had to win to stay close to the top of the Eredivisie table, or not lose to at least keep PSV in sight. It was, therefore, hardly suprising that Ajax started offensively. The team seemed confident in the first half and knocked the ball around well, while Hatem Trabelsi penetrated the PSV defence with a few of his famous rushes. The trouble (it's becoming the story of the season) started halfway PSV's half of the pitch, as soon as the Ajax forwards bumped into PSV's defenders. Fullbacks Michael Lamey and Young-Pyo Lee had a hard time against, in particular, Rosales and Trabelsi, but Van der Vaart and Sonck remained invisible against Wilfred Bouma and Phillip Cocu. Ajax's only managed one moment that may be referred to as a chance: Pienaar's superb little chip launched Hatem Trabelsi, whose low cross was tapped over the cross-bar by Wesley Sonck.

In spite of the fact that Ajax was not too dangerous, it surely did seem as if the Amsterdammers could seriously go for their first win in Eindhoven since 23 October 1994, almost exactly then years ago. But sometimes, in rough times like these, it seems like everything goes wrong. After 39 minutes Ajax conceded an extremely unfortunate and, at that point, rather undeserved goal. The hosts surrounded Ajax for the first time in the game, left fullback Young-Pyo Lee cut into the penalty area and released a seemingly harmless shot. But then Bogdan Lobont slipped - and saw the ball bounce off his chest and arms and trickle across the line: 1-0.

A moment like that can be the knock-out blow for a team in such an unstable mental state as Ajax. And if it wasn't John de Jong's goal, only four minutes into the second half, definitely was: Farfán was launched over the left flank, Heitinga and Trabelsi failed to act, Farfán passed back to Park and Maxwell was sleepwalking as the latter's long cross sailed all the way to the far post, where John de Jong had all the time and space in the world to calmly nod home and wrap the game up for PSV: 2-0.

Nigel de Jong battles with PSV's Park. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

The remaining 41 minutes were a torture for Ajax. The Amsterdammers struggled and plodded along, unable to create a single scoring chance. Meanwhile, PSV comfortably leaned back, firmly believing in the rock-solid organisation and almost nonchalantly creating the chances that could have made it 3-0. Perhaps 4-0. Perhaps even more.

The first moment of utter defensive disorganization after De Jong's decisive goal marked the end of the game (and perhaps the end of the football year 2004) for Bogdan Lobont, who thoughtlessly stormed out of his goal to intercept a high ball, noticed that he was jumping out of his area with the ball in his hands, dropped it and then landed badly, apparently twisting his knee. The Ajax goalkeeper had to be stretchered off, making way for the official Ajax-1 début of veteran Hans Vonk, Ajax's third goalkeeper. A few days before the game Koeman announced that the goalkeeper playing against PSV would be the first man for the rest of the season, but the Ajax coach postponed his decision as Maarten Stekelenburg is not yet match fit. It seems like Koeman can postpone his decision for a bit longer.

It just wasn't Ajax's day, so it appeared once again in the 59th minute as Nicolae Mitea gave Rafaël van der Vaart a free passage to goalkeeper Gomes, but the Ajax captain saw his shot hit the post. In the remainder of the game Hans Vonk almost single-handedly kept the score down to 'only' 2-0, by saving stylishly as Park and substitute DaMarcus Beasley had open chances to hurt Ajax a bit more. PSV, by the way, also lost their goalkeeper due to injury. Guus Hiddink, too, had an Eredivisie veteran on the bench: former Volendam and Feyenoord man Edwin Zoetebier, who was never seriously brought into trouble by the Ajacieden, who collectively bowed their heads as the minutes ticked away.

Wesley Sneijder reacts to final whistle. [Photo: Ajax.nl]

So, does this defeat mark the untimely end of Ajax's aspirations to prolong their championship of The Netherlands? It seems so. Before the game Ronald Koeman did not beat around the bush: "If we lose, the gap will be ten points. That's a lot. To be honest with you I don't see PSV losing that many points in the remainder of the season." After the game he had a slightly different statement: "We're not surrendering yet." His captain, Rafaël van der Vaart, added: "We did not play well today. We must try to carry playing like we did on Tuesday - and forget about this one."

What other choice do Ajax have than to try and keep their spirits high? 25 Eredivisie games still have to be played and the Amsterdammers have no other choice than to try and make the most out of those, starting next weekend against NEC. (MP)

UPDATE (26 October 2004): After the game sources such as NOS Studio Sport and VI.nl reported that Bogdan Lobont had over-stretched but not torn his hamstring, and that his recovery would take four to six weeks. An MRI scan at hospital, however, did show hamstring damage. Ajax.nl now reports that the Romanian will be out for up to eight weeks.

GOALS

• 39'  1-0  Young-Pyo Lee
• 49'  2-0  John de Jong

Referee: Van Egmond
Yellow card: De Jong (Ajax)
Attendance: 35,000

Ajax line-up: Lobont (56. Vonk); Trabelsi, Heitinga, De Jong, Maxwell; Obodai (69. Aborah), Pienaar, Sneijder; Sonck, Van der Vaart, Rosales (58. Mitea).

PSV line-up: Gomes (71. Zoetebier); Lamey (80. Lucius), Cocu, Bouma, Lee; Van Bommel, Vogel, De Jong (58. Beasley); Farfán, Vennegoor of Hesselink, Park.

Related Links:

• Discussion: Eredivisie Games
• Ajax.nl: match report in Dutch and English
• PSV.nl: match report and post-game quotes (English)