Another blow... Strong Utrecht strangle Ajax: 1-4
1 (0) - 4 (1)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 29 January, 2006
Another defeat, another blow in the face of Ajax,
Amsterdam's proud football club... And the journalists
asked the questions they are supposed to ask in times like
these. Mr Blind, do you feel you are under pressure? Mr Blind,
are you thinking about
resigning? Blind understood
that answering these questions is part of the
deal: "No, I will not resign. As far as I know I will carry on
as head-coach of Ajax."
Mr Blind, are you still the right man for Ajax?
"Others will have to decide. To me, it's an irrelevant
question."
Ajax 1, FC Utrecht 4. Those are the cold facts on an
ice-cold day. Let's compare the current campaign to the
1999-2000 season, the centennial season under Jan Wouters
that is generally regarded as one of the most dramatic in
recent Ajax history. On 13 February 2000, Ajax had 43 points
out of 21 games. Their goal differential was +23 and they were
second on the table, 7 points behind leaders PSV. On 29
January 2006 Ajax have 34 points out of 21 games, a goal
differential of +8 and they are 7th on the table, 17 points
behind PSV.
A sad day for Tomás
Galásek... [Photo: Ajax.nl]
In default of Zdenek Grygera (suspended) and Wesley Sneijder
(injured) Ajax started with John Heitinga, Thomas Vermaelen and
Hedwiges Maduro in defense, veterans Tomás
Galásek and Olaf Lindenbergh in midfield, Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar as an unlikely 'number 10' and Angelos
Charisteas and Markus Rosenberg upfront, the latter as a
left winger.
It all went terribly wrong from the very start. After less
than 100 seconds Ajax conceded the first goal of the
afternoon, in flabbergastingly clumsy fashion: a long throw by
Joost Broerse bounced twice in the Ajax penalty area, where
Vermaelen and Maduro reacted inadequately and Maarten
Stekelenburg did not exactly look fantastic on Adil
Ramzi's low strike: 0-1 (2'). The game had hardly started
and Ajax were already playing against themselves...
again.
Eight minutes later the hosts had the perfect chance to
level the score when Jean-Paul de Jong pulled Olaf Lindenbergh
down in the penalty area and referee Dick Jol resolutely
pointed to the spot. The man to convert was, as usual,
captain Tomás Galásek, but the Czech did what he
never did before: he wildly fired over the
cross-bar. His miss was the sad climax of a
very sad week: the veteran midfielder did not reach an
agreement with Ajax on the terms of his contract renewal.
He will leave Ajax at season's end.
Thomas Vermalaen duels with
Utrecht's Robin Nelisse. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
An early Utrecht goal and a missed
penalty... Ajax spent the rest of the first half
recovering from these early setbacks. The only time
Ajax came close to scoring was on a 33rd minute
corner kick: Charisteas' attempt was pushed wide by
goalkeeper Joost Terol. Utrecht were simply better
organized, more determined and more dangerous than Ajax.
The most dangerous attack of the first half was an Utrecht
break over the right flank. The man to come to rescue at
the far post, a split second before Hans Somers could
make it 0-2, was Ajax's striker of 9 million, Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar. Of all people.
After the break Ajax were back into the game before they
knew it. Utrecht goalkeeper Joost Terol had picked up an injury
just before half-time and the very first thing his replacement,
Franck Grandel, had to do was pick the ball out of the net.
Straight from kick-off Angelos Charisteas controlled the ball
very well inside the penalty area. He pulled it back to
Markus Rosenberg, who converted from close range: 1-1 (46').
Ajax were back... no, they weren't. Just like last
week in Enschede, Rosenberg's hard-fought equalizer was
immediately followed by a goal at the other end. Once again the
Ajax defense was sleepwalking. John Heitinga gave Edson
Braafheid all the time and space in the world to cross from the
left wing and Maarten Stekelenburg was nailed to the
ground as Adil Ramzi's artistic backward header hit
the far side netting: 1-2 (48').
It was the second time that Ajax's defenders were a bit
apathetic at the very least. It must have been very
frustrating for the forwards, who - as strange as it
may sound - all performed well. Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar played out of position, but did well as
a midfielder. Markus Rosenberg also played out of
position, but once again showed that he is on form. Mauro
Rosales, finally, would have been Ajax's best man if
it wasn't for Angelos Charisteas, who
- seriously - played his best ever game for
Ajax. The Greek did everything right: he won
every aerial duel, controlled the ball better than ever, held
it up, tricked defenders and had a few good solo runs
and fine shots on target.
Ajax's forwards were not to blame. The defense, on the
other hand, was as leaky as the names of Heitinga, Maduro
and Vermaelen suggest, whereas the biggest disappointment were
the extremely poor performances of both Galásek and
Lindenbergh. The two veteran midfielders completely failed to
bring balance to the team.
Ajax played with their hearts in the second half. They
attacked with passion, battled for every yard, put Utrecht
under pressure and created a few chances. Charisteas saw his
61st and 65th minute attempts go inches wide, Mauro Rosales
should have been given a penalty when he was pulled down inside
the box and the Argentinian's diagonal 81st minute shot was
spectacularly tipped over the bar by
Grandel. No Ajax fan at the ArenA could accuse
Ajax of laziness, but Utrecht were - quite simply - the better
side on the day. They knew they could win at the ArenA, they
comfortably leaned back, were dangerous on counter-attacks and
waited for the chances they were inevitably going to get.
Last week, in Enschede, Ajax were 2-1 down until a few
minutes before the final whistle. Today, at the ArenA, the
red and white faced the same deficit as the game pulled into
the last five minutes. Just like last week the dying
minutes saw two goals, but this time they went in at the
'wrong' end, making for a final score that makes Ajax look
worse than they actually were. In the 86th minute Juanfran
fouled his opponent by the middle line. Utrecht took the
free-kick quickly. It was taken many yards from where Juanfran
had committed his foul and (although it was a direct free
kick) referee Jol allowed Utrecht to take
it before he had whistled. Away were Caluwé
and Ramzi. The latter finished. It was the AZ
loanee's third goal of the day: 1-3.
Another former AZ man, Robin Nelisse, made things even worse
for Ajax. Juanfran committed another foul, this time on Dave
van den Bergh and inside the penalty box, after which
Nelisse demonstrated how a spotkick must be taken:
1-4 (89'). Painful. Painful. Painful. In spite of the fact that
Ajax weren't as bad as the figures suggest.
Full-time leads to resignation...
[Photo: Ajax.nl]
Danny Blind will not resign. He says. And he does
not feel any pressure from the board. He says. But
things can change quickly at Ajax. On Thursday Ajax travel
to their 'Waterloo of the North' (Heerenveen) for an encounter
in the quarter final of the Gatorade Cup. Three days later, on
Sunday, it's time for the 'Classic' at Feyenoord, who are
surely smelling blood. The Ajax boss knows that Ajax can
not afford two bad results in those extremely tough road
fixtures. And he sighed. "It will require hard
work to get everybody back on track. All we can do is carry
on." (MP)
GOALS
- 02' 0-1 Adil Ramzi
- 46' 1-1 Markus Rosenberg
- 48' 1-2 Adil Ramzi
- 86' 1-3 Adil Ramzi
- 89' 1-4 Robin Nelisse (penalty)
Referee: Jol
Yellow cards: Heitinga, Charisteas,
Maduro, Juanfran (Ajax), Broerse, De Jong,
Caluwé, Keller, Van den Bergh (FC Utrecht)
Attendance: 45,000
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga,
Maduro, Vermaelen, Juanfran; Galásek, Huntelaar,
Lindenbergh (71. Emanuelson); Rosales, Charisteas, Rosenberg
(83. Babel).
FC Utrecht line-up: Terol (46.
Grandel); Tiendalli (52. Shew-Atjon), Keller, Broerse,
Braafheid; Ramzi, Caluwé, De Jong (78. Kruys); Somers,
Nelisse, Van den Bergh.
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