Ajax lack thrust in 'battle of reserves teams'
1 (0) - 2
(1)
UEFA Champions League
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Tuesday, 27 September,
2005
The news that Arsenal would make the trip to
Amsterdam without players such as Lehmann, Van Persie,
Henry and Bergkamp raised Ajax's hopes, but the
Amsterdammers sustained unexpectedly heavy damage in Saturday's
Eredivisie game against Roda JC and eventually took the
pitch with a team that was at least as
injury-battered as Arsenal's: Hatem Trabelsi, Hedwiges
Maduro, Mauro Rosales and Wesley
Sneijder were unavailable, so that Ajax boss Danny
Blind was forced to shift his players around. As
a result, Ajax had even less thrust than they
normally have. The inevitable outcome: zero points.
Edgar Manucharyan gets a cross in
during his
European début game (Photo: Ajax.nl)
Ajax and Arsenal had more in common than
their extensive injury lists. Both sides started poorly
in their respective domestic leagues (both dropping eight
points in the first six matches) and both teams have
trouble converting their chances. A 0-0
draw, perhaps? Both Arsène Wenger and Danny Blind
would probably have been satisfied with that score, but thanks
to the immaturity of the Ajacieden Arsenal left Amsterdam
with the full three points. Ajax held on to the 0-0 scoreline
for precisely eighty seconds. A risky (or should we say
clumsy?) pass by Urby Emanuelson was poorly controlled by
Nourdin Boukhari -- and a few seconds later
(after resolute passing by Fabregas and Reyes) Fredrik
Ljungberg chipped the ball over Hans Vonk: 0-1. Ajax were
already overtaken by the facts.
The early goal hit Ajax hard. The game was a confrontation
between men and boys for the rest of the first half. Ajax
were desperately trying to find balance in midfield and
attacked with good intentions but little creativity,
determination and power. Arsenal, meanwhile, were
comfortably leaning back, knowing that
their rock-solid defense (with Campbell and Touré)
would easily remain upright. The North London
visitors patiently waited for opportunities to
counter-attack. When they had an opportunity they were
invariably more threatening than Ajax ever were.
The normally stylish and entertaining football
team of Arsène Wenger looked a lot like the 'boring
Arsenal' of the olden times, but - understandably -
they couldn't care less. Ajax had given them a gift
in the second minute, they had gratefully unwrapped it and,
given their 'personnel shortage', they did not feel a moral
obligation to entertain 43,250 Ajax supporters. No-one
could blame them.
Ajax, meanwhile, hardly created anything. Goalkeeper
Almunia had some difficulty with a Boukhari shot (28') but it
took Ajax 45 minutes to create a real scoring opportunity: just
before the half-time break Steven Pienaar set up Nourdin
Boukhari, who was face to face with Almunia but (rather
than firing immediately with his right) he wanted to turn to
his left foot, allowing four or five Arsenal defenders to
quickly raise a barricade. Scoring chance wasted, but
Boukhari did manage to pass the ball to Steven
Pienaar, providing him with an unmarked shooting
chance from the edge of the box. Almunia was out of
position and the Arsenal goal pretty much deserted, but
Pienaar demonstrated once again that he is a terrible
'marksman': he wildly fired over the cross-bar. Almost every
spectactor instantly realized how badly Wesley Sneijder was
missed.
The home side made a much better impression in
the second half, keeping the visitors under pressure.
Ajax's promising start was marked by shooting
attempts of Ryan Babel (51', on Almunia's fists) and Nigel
de Jong (53', diagonally wide). It made clear that
the Amsterdammers were not going to surrender just yet. A
few minutes after these 'warning shots' Ajax lost yet another
player due to injury: Angelos Charisteas and Kolo
Touré collided head-to-head. The Ajacied had to be
replaced with Markus Rosenberg; Touré could carry
on and was easily recognizable by his white
'turban' in the remaining 33 minutes.
Two minutes after Markus Rosenberg had popped up
dangerously in Arsenal's penalty area, a much discussed penalty
call by referee Medina Cantalejo allowed the visitors to
score the decisive second goal. A razorsharp counter-attack
gave Jose Antonio Reyes a free passage to Hans Vonk.
The Ajax goalkeeper reacted late and Reyes seized the
opportunity and gratefully went down. Was it a dive? Of course
it was, but Vonk did touch the Spaniard and had
no-one else but himself to blame. Robert Pirès converted
from the spot: 0-2 (69').
It seemed over, but Ajax came back into the game
less than two minutes later. Tomás Galásek (just
booked for furiously protesting against the penalty call)
got his own back by releasing a mighty long-range
shot. Almunia spectacularly pushed it against the inside
of the post, only to see how Markus Rosenberg graced his 23rd
birthday with a goal in the rebound: 1-2 (71'). Ajax deserved
the goal based on their second half determination, but it
somehow felt like they would never have gotten it
had the deficit been one goal instead of
two.
Quite typically, Ajax increased the pressure a bit more in
the latter 20 minutes of the game (the Amsterdammers had
more than 60% possession in total) but never came close to
notching a point. Ryan Babel gave it a try from long range and
Olaf Lindenbergh popped up in front of Almunia, but
he had to control the ball with his forehead and saw the
Arsenal goalie snatch it away from him. That was it. Ajax
did everything they could and did not have to be ashamed of
their second half performance. Yet. it wasn't enough. End
of story.
"The first goal haunted us for the rest of the game," said
Danny Blind. "We didn't play well."
"Tactically the team did okay," added Ajax fullback Nigel de
Jong, "but with two individual mistakes in defence we just
collapsed. I am convinced that this match didn't deserve a
winner, but unfortunately for us, there was a winner."
Two games, one point. It may feel as if the second slot is
already far away, but if Ajax swallow their disappointment
and look at the plain facts they will find that
the situation is not that bad: a win in the next game
(at home to FC Thun) will push Ajax to the second slot in group
B. One thing is for sure, though: Ajax will have to grab four
points at the very least from the upcoming 'double
confrontation' with the dark horse from Switzerland.
(MP)
GOALS
- 02' 0-1 Fredrik Ljungberg
- 69' 0-2 Robert Pires (penalty)
- 71' 1-2 Markus Rosenberg
Referee: Medina Cantalejo (Spain)
Yellow cards: Vonk, Grygera, Galásek,
Pienaar (Ajax), Almunia, Touré (Arsenal
FC)
Attendance: 43,250
Ajax line-up: Vonk; De Jong, Grygera,
Vermaelen, Emanuelson (84. Juanfran); Galásek, Pienaar,
Lindenbergh; Babel, Charisteas (57. Rosenberg), Boukhari (70.
Manucharyan).
Arsenal FC line-up: Almunia; Lauren,
Touré, Campbell, Cole; Hleb (90+4. Cygan), Fabregas,
Flamini, Pires (88. Clichy); Ljungberg, Reyes (81.
Owusu-Abeyie).
Other Group B result:
FC Thun vs AC Sparta Praha 1-0 (
UEFA.com match report )
Group B standings:
- Arsenal FC: 2-6 (4-2)
- FC Thun: 2-3 (2-2)
- Ajax: 2-1 (2-3)
- AC Sparta Praha: 2-1 (1-2)
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