Babel returns as ailing Ajax demolish Willem II: 6-0
6 (5) - 0
(0)
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Sunday, 03 December, 2006
... and all of a sudden it all looked so simple: playing
football, entertaining the crowd, creating chances and - last
but not least - converting them. Piece of cake. 6-0,
largest win of the season. The dark month of
November is over. Ajax have returned to winning ways.
The opponent? Of course: Willem II from Tilburg, the team that
always seems to come along whenever Ajax are having a
rough stretch and are in need of a 'pick-me-up'. History
repeated itself again at the Amsterdam ArenA and it was
exactly what Ajax needed with the top fixture against
AZ coming up next.
"The past ten days, in particular, were overshadowed by...
let me just say 'the news'," was Henk ten Cate's comment after
the game - and it was pretty obvious which
news he was referring to. "There was
a lot for us to come to terms with. The lads were
very determined to show that we still know how to play
football. We've finished off a turbulent period with
this win and we can be satisfied with the fact that
we scored six goals. I want to look forward
now."
Grygera's opening goal broke a string of five straight games,
in all
competitions, in which Ajax had not scored from the
run of play. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
His Willem II colleague Dennis van Wijk, meanwhile, was
still bewildered by the drubbing of his team. "I am
disillusioned. As early as during our warming-up exercises I
sensed that six or seven of my players were already waving the
white flag. They were impressed with the stadium. I can't
accept this."
Impressed with the stadium? Remarkable, as the atmosphere
before kick-off was not really that impressive at all.
Thousands of season ticket holders did not even show
up for Ajax vs Willem II, perhaps due to the rain, the
cold and the stormy December wind, or simply because
of the way Ajax played in recent weeks. The Ajax
faithful sat down in their seats, arms folded, and waited in
silence. Most of them probably didn't expect too much of a
spectacle, especially now that
Wesley Sneijder,
Kenneth Perez and Gabri (fifth
yellow card) were suspended and Henk ten Cate had to
come up with an entirely new midfield. Many expected George
Ogararu and Roger, but the Ajax boss opted for Urby
Emanuelson on the left and - very surprisingly - Jan
Vertonghen in the middle. Captain Jaap Stam returned from
injury, as Nicolae Mitea played replaced Perez for
his first start in a long, long time.
The start was good - and that is an
understatement. Ajax started in such overwhelming
fashion, and the Tricolores' defending
was so spectacularly poor, that Ajax were
2-0 up after 10 minutes, 4-0 after 23 minutes and 5-0 at
half-time. The total upheaval of the Tilburg side was best
illustrated by Van Wijk's two first half substitutions, around
the half hour mark: a midfielder for a striker and an extra
defender for a midfielder, in a desperate attempt to reduce the
damage to a minimum.
The big man for Ajax in the spectacular opening phase
was right winger Tom De Mul, who had an outstanding first
half, constantly slipped past his defender (former Young
Ajax fullback José Valencia), delivered a hatful of
pristine crosses and was involved in the build-up to Ajax's
first three goals. In the 4th minute De Mul's
beautifully sweeping cross was clinically nodded home from
close range by Zdenek Grygera. In the 9th minute his cross was
controlled perfectly by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who - with an
opponent in his back - tapped it wide for an unmarked Urby
Emanuelson (excellent 'number 9' work), who dryly fired home
with his left. And in the 19th minute another perfect Tom
De Mul cross was volleyed first time by Nicolae Mitea, who
didn't produce the '200 mph' screamer he had in mind, but
saw his attempt diagonally bounce into the net.
Relief! KJH celebrates his second
goal of the day. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The most beautiful goal of the day, however, was Ajax's
fourth, only four minutes after Mitea had made it 3-0. Thomas
Vermaelen's long pass was a bit too hard for Klaas-Jan
Huntelaar, but Willem II's painfully insecure goalkeeper
Björn Sengiers stormed out of his goal and headed the ball
straight up into the air. Huntelaar didn't hesitate, jumped and
went for an absolutely stunning overhead volley, which hit
the back of the deserted net. What a way for KJH to lift his
Eredivisie total to five and bring an end to a
long period of drought in the Dutch league
(last league goal: 22 October). KJH shrugged off his
frustration and netted once again just before referee Temmink's
half-time whistle ended Willem II's journey through hell. A
Nicolae Mitea free-kick from the left caused a scrimmage in the
goalmouth, where KJH reacted like a striker should, stepping
forward and hammering the ball into the roof of Sengiers' goal:
5-0 (45').
The visitors from Tilburg, who are having another deeply
disappointing campaign and knew at half-time that
they were going to slide down to a 16th
position, seemed to have no clue what they were doing.
They didn't get stuck in, were constantly one step
too late and, with all due respect, defended in sometimes
unbelievable, Chaplin-esque kind of way. Yet, they had one
enormous chance in the first half: a pretty brilliant solo run
by former Ajax winger Kevin Bobson, who stormed past a few
Ajacieden and saw his attempt go inches wide of the
far post, where Mohamed Messoudi was too surprised to tap home.
This was in the 17th minute, as Willem II were 2-0
down...
A welcome sight: Babel returns to
the Ajax attack. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Time for Henk ten Cate to take off some players out of
precaution. Thomas Vermaelen had picked up a minor knock
against the knee and was replaced with Michael Krohn-Dehli. On
the hour mark Jaap Stam joined him in the dressing room, so
that George Ogararu (who was generally expected to play from
the start) got 30 minutes of action after all.
The second 45 minutes were nowhere near as entertaining
as the first, but Ajax continued to play well. The
Amsterdammers worked hard, constantly kept Willem II under
pressure and never allowed the visitors an attack. 5-0 on the
boards, no difficulties whatsoever; it was a truly
wonderful day for Ajax and it became even better in the 75th
minute, as Ryan Babel quite surprisingly made his comeback
from injury. Ten Cate previously announced that Babel was
working towards the AZ fixture, but saw his first 15
minutes of action since 22 October one week ahead of schedule.
Ajax could surely have used the left forward's
physical power and inpredictability
in November...
Just before and just after Babel's arrival former Ajax man
José Valencia couldn't control his frustrations and
picked up two yellow cards in ten minutes' time. Indeed: things
could still get worse for Willem II... As Valencia was slinking
off the score on the boards was 6-0. Two minutes earlier Tom De
Mul had tapped the ball into the net from close range after no
less than three Willem II defender attempted to whack the ball
out of the goalmouth, but totally and utterly missed it. It
summed it all up. Good for De Mul, who definitely deserved
his 'Man of the Match' title.
Henk ten Cate was also very pleased with Urby Emanuelson's
performance in midfield: "In the first half we played with
confidence and showed some very good football. Urby, in
particular, played very well. He was a revelation in the first
half, just like Tom De Mul, of course. Tom lost his focus a
little bit in the second half and started playing too
frivolously, but oh well: details, details. I was also very
pleased indeed with the return of Ryan Babel."
Of course, it was 'only' Willem II - and they had a terribly
bad day, too. But Ajax deserve credit for the way
they played. Even against a poor team one can
play either well or poorly. Ajax played well. Which
is reassuring with Ajax vs AZ coming up next. It is a
game that Ajax will have to win if they want to keep
league leaders PSV in sight. (MP)
GOALS
- 04' 1-0 Zdenek Grygera
- 10' 2-0 Urby Emanuelson
- 19' 3-0 Nicolae Mitea
- 23' 4-0 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 45' 5-0 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 78' 6-0 Tom De Mul
Referee: Temmink
Yellow cards: Vermaelen (Ajax),
Bælum (Willem II)
Red card: Valencia (Willem II, 'double
yellow', 80')
Attendance: 46,695
Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Heitinga,
Stam (62. Ogararu), Grygera, Vermaelen (46. Krohn-Dehli);
Maduro, Vertonghen, Emanuelson; De Mul, Huntelaar, Mitea (75.
Babel).
Willem II line-up: Sengier; Wau (32.
Van der Struijk), Bælum, Hermans, Valencia; Kargbo,
Hadouir (83. Nieuwendaal), Assou-Ekotto; Redan, Messoudi (36.
Imschoot), Bobson.
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