Crisis goes on in first game under Koster: Ajax 0, NEC 0
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Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Saturday, 20 Oct 2007
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Maduro. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
Of course, Koster can’t be blamed. He’s only been in charge of Ajax-1 since Monday 08 October and during his first twelve days ‘in office’ the large part of his squad was away for international matches. All that Koster could do was put a line-up of eleven players together and hope for the best.
But Ajax, at the moment, are a scared and shaky lot. Against NEC (four points and two goals scored, thus far) they never looked like a team that was going to win. At this moment in time they seem unable to string more than two proper passes together. There are no structures, no patters and no ideas; only hope of a moment of brilliance from either Klaas-Jan Huntelaar or Luis Suárez, but the latter didn’t even start against the visitors from Nijmegen. Suárez had only just returned from South America, jetlagged after a long trip. He was deemed not fit enough to play the full 90 minutes and started on the bench.
The very first real chance of the match, after 13 minutes of cautious football, was also the very best chance of the entire game. John Heitinga pulled Peter Wisgerhof down when a corner kick sailed into the Ajax goalmouth. Referee Van Hulten noticed it and resolutely pointed to the spot. Penalty. Rutger Worm’s attempt was low, hard and well-aimed. The perfect penalty kick, you’d say, but Maarten Stekelenburg’s reflex on the goal-line was good enough for his third penalty save of the season. An amazing 3-out-of-3 score for the Ajax ‘keeper.
Did it give Ajax a confidence boost? Well… no. In fact: the first half of Ajax vs NEC was a very humiliating experience. Ajax had slightly more possession than the visitors, but it didn’t feel that way: NEC were more confident and solid, better organized and easily more dangerous than the home side, and they actually had the by far best chances in the first half, but Lorenzo Davids (Edgar’s cousin: NEC <I>did</I> have their Davids…) fired into the side netting (37’), whereas Maarten Stekelenburg triumphed in a man-to-man duel with one of NEC’s forwards (40’).
Ajax’s chances? Well, they hardly had any. Goalkeeper Gabor Babos punched a Klaas-Jan Huntelaar free-kick wide without much difficulty and reacted well on a fierce Luque shot from the edge of the penalty box (43’). Most of the danger really was created by NEC. Maarten Stekelenburg had plenty of work to do, and it cost him an injury. During the half-time break it turned out that Ajax’s best man of the past month or so had broken two fingers. Dennis Gentenaar replaced him for the second half, against the club Gentenaar played for for many years. Jaap Stam also had to call it a day: he had pain in the chest and felt like he was getting ill. Young Gregory van der Wiel played alongside John Heitinga in the Ajax defense.
Dennis Gentenaar didn’t get much to do in the second 45 minutes, as Ajax more or less restored the order. That is: the Amsterdammers dominated, had loads of possession and created the best chances, especially after Adrie Koster had played his last trump card: Luis Suárez came on for Dennis Rommedahl.
Ajax’s very best chance of the entire game was wasted by Klaas-Jan Huntelaar in the 62nd minute. After good work on the left flank, Albert Luque (one of Ajax’s better outfield players on the day) offered Huntelaar a chance he couldn’t miss… but the striker did, firing diagonally wide. Suárez tried to shoot one or two times, Luque saw an attempt blocked and – in the 88th minute – the ArenA thought for one second that Ajax were going to pocket the three points after all: Babos got a hand behind a fine header from Albert Luque. The rebound was a piece of cake for Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, but the striker was off-side on Luque’s header, a correct call from the linesman.
Perhaps it was the jetlag, but in the dying minutes of the match Luis Suárez couldn’t control himself: after having outraged the entire NEC team by taking a blatant dive inside the penalty area, the Uruguayan could consider himself very, very lucky indeed for not being red carded off after a very dirty foul on Lorenzo Davids. It only underscored Ajax’s powerlessness and frustration: another two points squandered, at home, against the Eredivisie’s pale #16.
“At this point, some of our players don’t have the courage to play and ask for the ball. In order to win, you should want to get ball. The quality is there, but right now it simply doesn’t work.”
And the Ajax supporters? They continued their chants (“Jaakke f##k off”, etc.) and tried to raise revolt by the main entrance of the Amsterdam ArenA, after the game. There was some material damage. And there were seven police arrests. It only shows how frustrated the entire Ajax family is: players, coaches, board members, directors and supporters alike. They will fear that yet another season will end in tears. (Menno Pot)
Goals:
none
Referee: Van Hulten
Yellow Cards: Heitinga, Suárez (Ajax), Kivuvu, Olsson (NEC)
Attendance: 48,123
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg (46. Gentenaar); Ogararu, Stam (46. Van der Wiel), Heitinga, Emanuelson; Gabri, Maduro, Vertonghen; Rommedahl (55. Suárez), Huntelaar, Luque.
- NEC line-up: Babos, Nalbantoglu, Wisgerhof, Olsson, El-Akchaoui; Kivuvu, Davids, Vadócz, Prent; Lens (82. Ntibazonkiza), Worm (62. Hrepka).
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