Ajax book solid win over Vitesse in 4-4-2 formation
0 (0) - 2 (1)
Eredivisie
Gelredome, Arnhem
Sunday, 11 December, 2005
"We lost 1-0 at PSV, NEC and Utrecht... That's
three defeats in a row in Eredivisie away games, without us
scoring a single goal. I just had to try
something different," explained Danny Blind, who - in
Ajax's 15th league game of the season - decided to do
something that is traditionally highly controversial
at the Amsterdam club: he dropped the 'house system' of
4-3-3, reverting to a 4-4-2 formation with Markus Rosenberg and
Angelos Charisteas (back after a concussion) as the two
strikers and 'wingers' Steven Pienaar and Nourdin Boukhari as
the two outer midfielders.
It had the desired effect. Ajax were never brilliant at
Arnhem's Gelredome, but they were rock-solid,
created considerably more chances than in recent games and
resolutely grabbed a 0-2 win in the traditionally
tough road game at Vitesse. The Amsterdammers were never
in serious danger. Defender Thomas Vermaelen after the game:
"It's all about the results now. We're recovering. What we
need are a few good wins and perhaps this is the way to
go. For now, anyway."
By winning in Arnhem Ajax leapfrogged Vitesse
and Heerenveen, who surprisingly dropped two points in
their home game against lowly Willem II. RKC Waalwijk and NEC
are now the last two 'small' clubs lodged between Ajax
(6th) and the three teams at the top of the table:
AZ, Feyenoord and PSV, in that order, based on their
respective goal-differentials. The three league leaders all
have 35 points. The gap between the top of the
table and Ajax narrowed this weekend: from 14 to 11
points.
Wesley Sneijder rushes forward.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
In Arnhem coach Danny Blind had to field a
completely different back four than in recent games. Zdenek
Grygera sustained a minor concussion against Arsenal (he is
expected to be back for next week's game at NAC Breda).
Alexander Hleb's dirty foul on Hedwiges Maduro's ankle caused
more damage: Maduro is out until the winter break. Thomas
Vermaelen and John Heitinga did the honours in the heart of the
Ajax defense. Left fullback Urby Emanuelson returned to
the squad after a brief period of overfatigue and illness,
but started on the bench (Juanfran started again). Hatem
Trabelsi, finally, was benched against RKC last weekend, but
returned to the starting eleven in Arnhem.
Quite a few changes indeed, but it must be said: Ajax's
defense was flawless in Arnhem. It seemed to be
made out of concrete. John Heitinga is on his way back to form,
Thomas Vermaelen is close to conquering a starting slot and
Juanfran (who had such a frustrating start at Ajax due to
Emanuelson's meteoric career) is finally getting his chance and
making the absolute most out of it. The Spaniard brings
experience and calm to the Ajax defense, is
a merciless man-marker and, in the words of Danny Blind,
"has something that Dutchies never have: he
understands that sometimes you just have to rocket that ball
into the stands."
Vitesse played aggressively and even dominated for most
of the second half, but in most
cases their 'chances' (shots by Janssen and Amoah in
the first half) were hardly more than harmless attempts. The
only time the hosts came seriously close
to scoring was in the 24th minutes, when a
corner kick by Ajax loanee Tom De Mul landed perfectly on
Matthew Amoah's forehead. Maarten Stekelenburg saved
well on the striker's close range header.
By that time Ajax already had the lead. The opening was
an early Christmas gift from Vitesse defenders
Ruud Knol and Stijn Vreven: Knol got to take a free kick
in his own penalty area and quickly wanted to tap it to Vreven.
His pass, however, was erratic and intercepted by
Nourdin Boukhari. Stijn Vreven (intimidating and violent as
usual in the first half) rather clumsily mowed the Ajacied
down. Tomás Galásek nicely rocketed into the top
corner from the penalty spot: 0-1 (17').
Another excellent performance:
Thomas Vermaelen. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The only thing Ajax could be blamed for was the fact that
they didn't wrap it up until the 75th minute. The
Amsterdammers created a hatful of chances, in many cases on
counter-attacks. Nourdin Boukhari should have doubled the score
in the 44th minute after great work by Markus Rosenberg, who
held the ball up like a true Ajax 'number 9' and deftly offered
Boukhari a chance he could hardly miss... but missed
anyway. It wasn't Boukhari's only unlucky moment. In fact, he
hardly did anything right and was the by far weakest Ajax
player on the pitch. Again.
After the break Vitesse increased the pressure, but the
chances were for Ajax. Goalkeeper Harold Wapenaar saved on a
thundering Wesley Sneijder shot in the 49th minute and tipped
Markus Rosenberg's well-aimed attempt over the cross-bar in the
61st. In the 73rd minute Nigel de Jong had a free passage to
Wapenaar, but also failed to beat the former Utrecht
goalkeeper. De Jong started on the bench, but was brought on
for his unfortunate mate Steven Pienaar, who required
treatment twice after assaults by Stijn Vreven, but saw a
yellow card when he took revenge on
the Flemish 'pitbull'. He will be
suspended for next week's NAC Breda game.
In the 75th minute Ajax finally wrapped it up. Most of the
credit went to Markus Rosenberg for his wonderful assist. The
Swede set up a lightning-quick one-two and perfectly
pulled the ball back to Angelos Charisteas, who
almost managed to waste the chance from less than one yard's
distance, but tapped home via Wapenaar's body: 0-2. The Greek's
over-all performance wasn't too impressive in Arnhem, but
his goal was his fifth in only six matches.
Ajax should have scored at least one more goal in
the dying minutes, but Ryan Babel, Nigel de Jong and
Markus Rosenberg (diagonal screamer, just wide of the
upper ninety) failed to net Ajax's third. It did not matter:
0-2 was comfortable enough. Their first five visits
to Vitesse's Gelredome did not bring Ajax a single
point, but this win under the closed Gelredome roof
was their fourth one straight at the Arnhem
ground.
Danny Blind, happy that his 4-4-2 experiment was succesful,
was a satisfied man after the game: "In some of our
previous games we performed better, but failed to grab the
result. These three points is very welcome, as you will
understand."
Three more Eredivisie fixtures (and a Gatorade Cup match)
are on Ajax's agenda until the (short) winter break: a
home game against Groningen (27 December) and road games
at NAC Breda (18 December) and Heerenveen (30
December). Ajax suffered recent defeats in both Breda
and Heerenveen, but if they perform as solidly over
there as they did in Arnhem, optimism may well
have returned to the ArenA by New Year's Eve.
(MP)
GOALS
- 17' 0-1 Tomás Galásek
(penalty)
- 75' 0-2 Angelos Charisteas
Referee: Vink
Yellow cards: Pienaar,
Charisteas (Ajax), Vreven, Yakubu, De
Mul (Vitesse)
Attendance: 24,400
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Heitinga, Vermaelen, Juanfran; Pienaar (50. De Jong),
Galásek, Sneijder, Boukhari; Rosenberg, Charisteas (87.
Babel).
Vitesse line-up: Wapenaar;
Vreven, Knol, Dingsdag, Swerts (81. Gluscevic); Van der Schaaf,
Janssen, Yakubu, De Mul (81. Benson); Amoah, Hersi (87.
Rojer).
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