Shaky Ajax surrender lead in stoppage time to draw with FC Twente
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2 (0) |
Eredivisie
Amsterdam ArenA, Amsterdam
Thursday, 27 Dec 2007
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Strange, but true: Ajax started their home match against FC Twente as the underdogs. After a string of poor performances in the Eredivisie it seemed like almost everybody expected Ajax to sustain more damage against the on-form Enschede side, but guess what? The clock at the Amsterdam ArenA is standing still at '90:00' and Ajax are 2-1 up. One more minute of stoppage time to go - and Ajax can celebrate a rather unexpected win. Pleasant surprise for the fans; important boost to the team.
One more attack from Twente. El Ahmadi (what a superb midfielder, by the way) receives the ball in midfield and releases a thru ball that cuts Ajax's defense in two useless halves. Jan Vertonghen and Urby Emanuelson hesitate for a split second: your zone or mine? Too late: Blaise N'Kufo has already escaped. 'Thank you very much', the striker says. Bang. 2-2. An outraged Maarten Stekelenburg punches a hole in the grass with his fist.
A surprise? Of course not. Ajax's statistics of the season sum it all up, really. They played sixteen league games so far, and this was the 9th time (!) for the Amsterdammers to concede at least two goals. In other words: this was the 9th time that Ajax required (or would have required) three goals or more for a victory. It's swimming against the tide for the Ajax forwards. PSV clinched the title of 2006 with 23 goals conceded. In 2007 they conceded 25. This season they conceded 12 in 16 games so far. Ajax let in 23 in 16 matches. That's more than 1,43 goal per game on average. Question is: is it possible to clinch the championship with such a leaky defense? In theory: yes. But statistically, in modern football? No. In the past 25 seasons, it happened precisely once that an Eredivisie champion conceded more than one goal per game on average (Feyenoord, in 1999).
Ajax need defenders in January. Very, very, very badly. They need Thomas Vermaelen and Gregory van der Wiel back, but that won't be enough: they need a new Jaap Stam and quite frankly, they also need two fullbacks that can actually defend. And they need a derfensive midfielder. Edgar Davids: please get well soon.
Right. Time to talk about the actual football.
Ajax vs FC Twente was a very entertaining match and for that both teams deserve credit. Both Adrie Koster and Fred Rutten fielded an offensive side that wanted to win and allowed each other space. Both teams had chances. Both teams dominated parts of the match. 2-2 was, all in all, a totally fair result.
The opening phase was definitely for the visitors. Blaise N'Kufo missed an absolute sitter in the 3rd minute (unmarked scoring chance at the far post on a cross from the left) and in the 25 minutes that followed FC Twente played the best football of the evening. Luis Suárez almost surprised goalkeeper Sander Boschker with a beautiful long range lob (the Twente goalie had to sprint back and tip the ball over the cross-bar), but the second major 'fieldplay opportunity' fell – once again – to the visitors: Karim El Ahmadi came face to face with Stekelenburg on a Luke Wilkshire thru-ball. The Ajax 'keeper saved (30').
One minute later Ajax took the lead. Siem de Jong (who started instead of a suspended Hedwiges Maduro) turned away from his opponent in midfield and passed to Klaas-Jan Huntelaar, who had sneaked away from his defender and beat Boschker: 1-0 (31'). Did Ajax deserve their lead? Not really: possession must have been 50%-50% until then, but Twente showed more convincing 'position play' and they also created the two best chances of the first half hour.
The latter fifteen minutes of the first half, as well as the opening phase of the second, were dominated by Ajax. Twente would have had a two-goal deficit at half-time if it wasn't for Sander Boschker, who reacted well when Siem de Jong had a free passage, just before the break. After the tea break, Luis Suárez hit the outside of the post as Ajax started to play with a certain flair. This was easily their best performance in more than a month, regardless of the result.
It was a bit bitter for the Amsterdammers that Twente equalized in this phase. After 58 minutes Twente boss Fred Rutten replaced midfielder Brama with Flemish striker Stein Huysegems, who took advantage of a major communication error in the Ajax goalmouth only two minutes later. Karim El Ahmadi nicely chipped the ball into the no man's land behing John Heitinga – and no Ajacied seemed to know what to do: 1-1 (60').
Fifteen minutes of Twente dominance followed. Huysegems could have given his team the lead in the 75th minute (Stekelenburg saved) as Ajax seemed to have lost it a bit. However, history repeated itself: just when a goal for one team (Twente, in this case) seemed to be in the air, the other team scored. Ajax got to take a free-kick just outside the area. Klaas-Jan Huntelaar's attempt took a decisive deflection off the wall. Boschker was nailed to the ground and could only watch: 2-1 (77'). 'Good old' KJH… There's a lot you can say about the guy as a player, but his record as a goalscorer continues to amaze: 15 goals in 16 matches this season (imagine he could convert penalties, too!).
Less than fifteen minutes to go – and Ajax were 2-1 up. Koster replaced an exhausted striker (Suárez, who was once again booked for something that didn't look like a dive, by the way) with a 'fresh' one (Luque) and added some defensive strength to Ajax's midfield (Schilder for Kennedy), but it wasn't to be. Blaise N'Kufo always seems to score against Ajax and that wasn't the only reason why his stoppage time goal didn't come as a surprise. It it simply too easy for opponents to cause panic in the Ajax defense. Too many defenders allow their direct opponents too much space to do their thing (Ogararu, Vertonghen and Emanuelson, in this particular case).
After the game, Adrie Koster told a reporter of newspaper Het Parool that a new defender will not be his top priority in January. "Vermaelen and Van der Wiel will come back from their injuries. We will have more options then."
23 goals conceded in 16 matches… You can only hope he's joking. He must be. (Menno Pot)
Goals:
- 31' 1-0 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 60' 1-1 Stein Huysegems
- 77' 2-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 90+2’ 2-2 Blaise N’Kufo
Referee: Luinge
Yellow Cards: Suárez (Ajax), Huysegems, Arnautovic (FC Twente)
Attendance: 50,523
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Ogararu, Heitinga, Vertonghen, Emanuelson; Gabri, Kennedy (84. Schilder), De Jong; Rommedahl, Huntelaar, Suárez (89. Luque).
- FC Twente line-up: Boschker; Wilkshire, Wielaert (82. Wellenberg), Braafheid, Heubach; El Ahmadi, Brama (58. Huysegems), Engelaar; Denneboom (79. Arnautovic), N’Kufo, Elia.
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