Ajax once again fail to score: 0-0 against Heerenveen
0 (0) - 0
(0)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Friday, 28 October, 2005
It can no longer be denied: Ajax are in crisis. Two out of
the club's three board members
resigned last week, while the first team continue
to struggle. For the second time in a row Ajax failed to score
in an Eredivisie home game: 0-0 against SC Heerenveen, who are
10th on the table and are having a disappointing season so far.
The Amsterdammers have failed to find the net in the
last 285 minutes of Eredivisie football. The last time
that happened was in the dismal centennial season of 1999-2000.
They will enter the month of November with only one home win in
the league. Ajax have now dropped as many points as they
have grabbed (15, to be precise) and scored only 1.5 goals per
game on average.
Given these tragic facts, it was remarkable that the
fanatical fans of the F-Side and Vak 410 vocally supported
head-coach Danny Blind throughout the game, even in the dying
minutes, when a new loss of points came closer and
closer. An enormous banner was put up on the East
stand: "Blind faith in Danny", it read. The Ajax
Supporters Delegation (ASD) issued a statement this week,
in which they underscored that the Ajax boss has their
support and that not Blind, but Arie van Eijden and
chairman John Jaakke must be held responsible for the current
problems.
"The support of the fans moved me," admitted Blind after the
game. "I do not feel any pressure within the club yet, but I am
very well aware that our poor results in the league
are unacceptable for a club like Ajax. It hurts. Ajax
is my club and if your club doesn't do well, it
really gets to you."
Yannis Anastasiou couldn't
score... [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The statement of the fans makes sense in many ways: once
again Ajax started energetically, played entertaining one-touch
football in the first half, were almost constantly the better
side and created a hatful of scoring chances. On the other
hand: Blind surely deserves criticism for the way he keeps
shuffling his forward line around, in spite of the fact that
even some of his players (Markus Rosenberg, Ryan Babel) stated
in the press that this makes them feel insecure. Let's
take a quick look at the Ajax forward line in
recent games (from right to left)...
Against Roda JC: Rosales - Charisteas -
Boukhari
Against Arsenal: Babel - Charisteas -
Boukhari
Against Sparta: Babel - Rosenberg -
Manucharyan
Against Heracles: Rosales - Rosenberg -
Boukhari
Against FC Thun: Pienaar - Anastasiou -
Rosales
Against PSV: Rosales - Babel - Pienaar
Against Heerenveen: Pienaar - Anastasiou -
Babel
Seven games in a row; seven different forward lines. Steven
Pienaar, Mauro Rosales and Ryan Babel played on both
wings. No less than four different players got the nod as
Ajax's 'number 9' in the past seven games. Literally
everyone (press, fans, but also the players and Blind
himself) have said that this is not the way to give players
self-confidence and to work towards chemistry between the Ajax
forwards. Blind's search for the right forward line is very
obviously a desperate one. He just can't figure it
out.
... and Ryan Babel couldn't score
either. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Against Heerenveen Blind once again had to improvise due to
the absence of Wesley Sneijder (who served a one game
suspension due to accumulated yellow cards) and the early
departure of Hatem Trabelsi, who picked up a knock against the
hamstring, was replaced with John Heitinga in the 23rd minute
and is a serious worry for Tuesday's Champions League visit to
Berne, Switzerland, for the second match against FC Thun.
In spite of all this, Ajax once again looked good in the
opening phase and could easily have taken an early lead. Yannis
Anastasiou (a hero against FC Thun the other week, but mostly
invisible against Heerenveen) drilled a low Ryan Babel cross
inches wide of the goal of former Young Ajax goalkeeper
Boy Waterman. Steven Pienaar also had a chance, after a
good combination in which Boukhari and Anastasiou
were involved. The South-African's attempt was too soft
and an easy prey for Waterman. Ryan Babel created two
shooting opportunities for himself, but (typically) fired too
wildly.
In the second half Ajax were even more dominant than in the
first, but - as the minutes ticked away - the visitors from
Friesland started taking advantage of Ajax's insecurity and
despair. The two best chances of the second half were for
Heerenveen's Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. In the 70th minute he should
have given his team the lead when an erratic pass was
intercepted by left winger Lasse Nilsson, who delivered a
perfect cross. Huntelaar was unmarked, right in front of
Maarten Stekelenburg's goal, but nodded wide from five yards'
distance or so.
Speaking of Stekelenburg: the Ajax goalkeeper is responsible
for what is one of the very few positive statistics at the
moment. He played four matches since his return from
injury and kept a clean sheet three times. In the
fourth game (PSV away) he was only beaten once from the
penalty spot.
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar missed an enormous chance, but played a
near-perfect first half and was - no doubt about it - the
most discussed man on the pitch. The striker wants to leave
Heerenveen for a top club in The Netherlands. Some of his
recent statements in the press were open application letters to
Ajax. "I know a few big clubs are following me, but I prefer to
play in a 4-3-3 system with wingers on both flanks and a
'number 10' in my back." According to the Dutch media Ajax
will make a move for the striker in the winter
break. The price-tag: 6 million euros.
As usual, Ajax's passing became more erratic in the
second half, but Yannis Anastasiou and Nigel de Jong had
enormous chances on low Mauro Rosales crosses: Anastasiou
missed the ball completely from close range, whereas a sliding
De Jong was a split-second late. De Jong seemed to give Ajax a
last-gasp win in the 90th minute, but his goal was disallowed
by referee Van Hulten. Yannis Anastasiou was apparently one
step off-side when he flicked the ball on to De Jong.
"Another good performance, another hatful of chances,
another 0-0 draw," grumbled De Jong after the game. "This is
getting very frustrating."
Knowing that the Eredivisie championship is out of sight (at
least for the time being) there is only one way for Ajax
to make sure they will feel good
about themselves over Christmas: by finishing second
in their Champions League group and advancing to the knock-out
stages. A win at Berne's Stade de Suisse
('Stadium of Switzerland') on Wednseday would be extremely,
extremely welcome. (MP)
Sources: Ajax.nl, de Volkskrant, Het Parool,
VI.nl
NO GOALS
Referee: Van Hulten
Yellow cards: Maduro (Ajax), Bosvelt,
Derveld (SC Heerenveen)
Attendance: 47,364
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Trabelsi
(23. Heitinga), Grygera, Maduro (70. Vermaelen), Emanuelson; De
Jong, Galásek, Boukhari; Pienaar (57. Rosales),
Anastasiou, Babel.
SC Heerenveen line-up: Waterman; Seip
(75. Bakkati), Hansson, Breuer, Derveld; Bosvelt, Kissi,
Pranjic; Yildirim (63. Samaras), Huntelaar, Nilsson (90.
Steur).
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