Ajax lose in Utrecht and drop to 9th place
1 (0) - 0 (0)
Eredivisie
Galgenwaard Stadium, Utrecht
Sunday, 27 November, 2005
Okay, so the equalizer of substitute Yannis Anastasiou in
the last minute of stoppage time should have stood. Nigel
de Jong did not pull Dwight Tiendalli down; it
was actually the other way round. And there was nothing
wrong with Anastasiou's left-footed finish at the far
post, on Wesley Sneijder's free-kick. That should have been
1-1, plain simple. Ajax should have left Utrecht with one
point, but they didn't - thanks to Belgian referee Johan
Verbist.
But then: what difference would it have
made, had Ajax escaped from Galgenwaard Stadium with
a draw? Would it have solved the problems?
Would it have been a hopeful sign in any way? Would their
apathetic, powerless performance have been any better because
of it? Would Ajax even have deserved
a point? Not really. And it doesn't matter
anyway. Fact is that Ajax lost in Utrecht (for
the sixth time in seven visits). After 13 games (that's some
40% of the season) the league table does not lie:
Ajax are Holland's #9 football team. If Groningen win the game
they still have in hand, the Amsterdammers will drop
to the bottom half of the table (10th).
Rush-hour in the Ajax goalmouth.
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
For the first time since Danny Blind became Ajax's
head-coach he looked like a desperate man after the game,
admitting that it feels like he "can't get through to the
players". He's trying everything, but after some promising
football in the opening weeks of the season, the
team have turned into last season's Ajax again: a team
without a plan, without determination and visibly afraid
to lose. As for Blind? He's doing what every desperate coach
would do: he shifts his line-up around on a weekly
basis.
Compared to last Wednesday (against Sparta
Prague) Blind fielded a completely different forward line:
not Pienaar (suspended for the Eredivisie), Anastasiou and
Boukhari, but Manucharyan, Rosenberg and Babel. Not Maduro
and Lindenbergh started in midfield, but De Jong and
Galásek. There you go again: 50% of the outfield
players that beat Sparta Prague on Wednesday were left
out. For various and in
some cases mysterious reasons.
Today's Ajax team kept up with the ever pugnacious
street-fighting gang that is FC Utrecht for 45 minutes, but
they were apathetic and failed to create a real scoring
chance until they had conceded a goal in the 58th minute, when
former Young Ajax man Dwight Tiendalli fired home after a
brief scrimmage in the Ajax goalmouth.
The only Ajax danger in the first half came came out of
nowhere, in the 29th minute, when Nigel de Jong acrobatically
deflected a long ball from the back into the net behind
goalkeeper Joost Terol. The goal was disallowed by referee
Verbist, because De Jong was off-side. This time Verbist's call
was correct, by the way.
The only other noteworthy moments
in the boring and erratic first half were
some rather harmless Utrecht attempts (blocked shots by Rick
Kruys and Dwight Tiendalli) and a serious injury for
unfortunate Edgar Manucharyan, who just recovered from a
previous injury and started as Ajax's right winger, keeping
Mauro Rosales on the bench. The Armenian youngster had to be
stretchered off after 19 minutes with what appeared to be a
torn muscle. He will be out for a while again, whereas Rosales
played 71 minutes in Utrecht after all.
Edgar Manucharyan: injured once
again... [Photo: Ajax.nl]
In the second half Utrecht decided to shrug off their
reluctance and grab the insecure Amsterdammers by the throat. A
goal was almost immediately in the air. Di Tommaso's attempt
hit the side-netting and the hosts got their best chance of the
game after 55 minutes, when Nassir Maachi's shot was released
by Maarten Stekelenburg, after which (former Young Ajax winger)
Darl Douglas managed to lift the ball over an empty goal.
Three minutes later Utrecht had the lead and (not
for the first time) Ajax finally showed some
determination after that. "I've said it a few times before,"
analyzed Danny Blind after the game, "once again
we had to go a goal down first, in order to wake up."
Ajax created two major chances in the remaining half
hour. Mauro Rosales suddenly had the chance on a low cross from
the right, standing unmarked near the penalty spot, but
he waited too long, turned too slowly and saw his
attempt blocked. The best Ajax chance of the game
was missed by Wesley Sneijder in the 80th
minute: he showed up in front of the Utrecht goalkeeper
but fired straight into him from close range.
That Utrecht goalkeeper to save Sneijder's attempy was
not Joost Terol, but the much-discussed Franck
Grandel, the Frenchman who made a
string of truly hilarious blunders in his first
months at Utrecht. He became a cult figure, but lost his spot
in the team. Against Ajax he was brought on in
the 75th minute, after Nigel de Jong had hit Terol in the
face with his right boot, in a much too wild attempt
to convert a rebound. Terol left the pitch bleeding
and needed stitches.
Violence... It's an unpleasant tradition in games between
Utrecht and Ajax. Two players (Manucharyan and Terol) had to be
stretchered off and Utrecht captain Jean-Paul de Jong should
most definitely have been sent off for brutally mowing down
Markus Rosenberg from behind, when the Swede was rushing
towards goal. The foul terminated a dangerous run, was hard
and very clearly committed from behind, so why in the
world didn't referee Verbist pull the red card out of
his breast pocket...? It was a mystery to almost everyone,
and it wasn't the only remarkable call from the Flemish
referee.
There was violence on the stands as well:
verbal violence from the home support and
physical violence from the deeply frustrated
travelling Ajax supporters, who collectively went on
the rampage when Anastasiou's goal was disallowed.
Hundreds of plastic seats were destroyed and flying through the
air, while stewards and riot police had enormous
difficulty to keep the fence upright that separated the
outraged Amsterdam horde from the home terraces.
It almost seemed like Utrecht coach Foeke Booy wanted
to hearten Danny Blind when he said: "Still:
Ajax have a good team. They can play quality
football. I know that. And I admit that we were very
lucky that Anastasiou's goal was disallowed. On the other
hand: I think we deserved the win, over all."
It was, all in all, just another ordinary, tragic day
in Ajax's 2005-2006 season. But the show must go on.
Next week RKC Waalwijk come to the ArenA. They're just one out
of the eight teams that are higher on the table
than Ajax. (MP)
Update 29 November: After the game it appeared
that Edgar Manucharyan sustained a tear in a muscle in his
upper right leg. This will keep the Armenian sidelined for an
estimated six weeks, which effectively means that he will be
out until the winter break.
Bad news for Ajax, but it is all overshadowed by the
sudden and totally unexpected death of French Utrecht
defender David di Tommaso on Tuesday 29 November. The player
died in his sleep. He was only 26 years of age.
Disallowed goals, fouls, trouble on the stands... This
dreadful news puts everything into the right perspective. Ajax
USA is shocked by this terrible news. We wish to
extend our heartfelt condolences to Di Tommaso's family and
friends, as well as FC Utrecht and their fans. (MP)
GOAL
Referee: Verbist (Belgium)
Yellow cards: Sneijder, Grygera
(Ajax), Keller, De Jong (FC Utrecht)
Attendance: 22,137
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi,
Grygera, Vermaelen (70. Maduro), Emanuelson; De Jong,
Galásek, Sneijder; Manucharyan (19. Rosales), Rosenberg,
Babel (83. Anastasiou).
FC Utrecht line-up: Terol (75.
Grandel); Cornelisse, Keller, Di Tommaso, Braafheid; De Jong
(86. Van Steensel), Kruys (83. Somers), Tiendalli; Douglas,
Fortuné, Maachi.
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