Tepid Ajax lose to last-place Excelsior
| 2 (1) |
1 (0) |
Eredivisie
Woudestein Stadium, Rotterdam
Sunday, 23 Dec 2007
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It appears to be a 21st century Ajax tradition to suffer a highly painful league defeat just before or just after Christmas (remember last year's second half collapse at Vitesse, for example), but it was never as bizarre and humiliating as this year. Excelsior, Rotterdam's old 'waste paper club', never beat Ajax before in a league match, were the bottom team of the Eredivisie before the game and conceded more goals than any other team in the league (41), yet they surprisingly floored Ajax at Woudestein: 2-1.
As if the result itself wasn't embarrassing enough just yet, Ajax coach Adrie Koster coughed up some lame excuses after the game: Luis Suárez should have been given a penalty in the second half, Ajax wasted too many chances and, last but not least, the pitch was rock-hard, which makes it easy to defend and difficult to attack.
Turf shoes on natural grass? Yes, when the ground itself is frozen solid. (Photo: Ajax.nl)
Even if that's true: why exactly were Ajax forced to attack, down in Rotterdam-Kralingen? The Amsterdammers had to because the Ajax defense broke their own record again: they managed to keep a clean sheet for thirty seconds. During the week the independent AFCA Supportersclub urged the Ajax fans to support poor Jurgen Colin, and they're 100% right, but let's face it… the man is a disaster. He played from the start in defeault of an ill George Ogararu – and Ajax paid the price for it after less than a minute: Colin failed to clear, lost his footing and off went former Ajax man Mitchell Piqué, who fired home with his left: 1-0 (01').
In the 90 minutes that followed Ajax had 74% possession. Of course, they created a few chances (although there weren't as many as Adrie Koster claimed to have seen). Goalkeeper Graafland turned attempts from Rommedahl (20') and Kennedy (21') around the post, as well as a fine free-kick from Jan Vertonghen (26'). But Ajax's play was so slow, tepid and predictable that Excelsior's defense, in which Bandjar and Van Steensel performed outstandingly, was never seriously ripped apart. Okay: referee Nijhuis should have protected Klaas-Jan Huntelaar a bit more. Excelsior's defenders frequently used him as a climbing frame, but the truth is that this didn't affect the scoreline.
In fact, the best chance after Pique's goal fell to Excelsior again, this time in the opening minutes of the second half: Maarten Stekelenburg was already beaten, but Jan Vertonghen cleared Geert den Ouden's header off the goalline. One minute later, Excelsior's second goal was on the boards. Stekelenburg failed to hold on to Pique's low shot. The loose ball was calmly lifted into the empty goal by Den Ouden: 2-0 (49') and an Ajax defeat seemed in the making.
More bad news: two minutes later Hedwiges Maduro mowed Voskamp down in a very shameless manner. The midfielder, one of Ajax's very few on-form players at the moment, will now miss Thursday's home game against FC Twente due to accumulated yellow cards.
What could Adrie Koster do? The Ajax boss had already put Jurgen Colin out of his misery and brought on young Jan-Arie van der Heijden. The Young Ajax rookie couldn't make an impact. Next to Adrie Koster, on the Ajax bench, were two experienced Spanish forwards - Urzaiz and Luque - but only the latter appears to be an option for Koster. Luque replaced Kennedy Bakirçioglü (one of Ajax's many useless players on the day) in the 62nd minute. One minute later the Amsterdammers were back into the game: Graafland couldn't hold on to Heitinga's free-kick, and the rebound fell to Hedwiges Maduro, who made it 2-1 (63') with almost a half hour left to play.
Suarez retrieves the ball from the snowbank beyond the touchline. (Photo: Ajax.nl)
Should be enough…? Well, no. It really says everything about the state Ajax are in that the Amsterdammers almost totally failed to give Excelsior's defense a rough time. Possession aplenty, but no ideas (or determination, for that matter) whatsoever. Luis Suárez should indeed have been awarded a penalty in the 86th minute, but he didn't get it. In fact, referee Nijhuis showed a flabbergasted Suárez the yellow card. Nijhuis was wrong, but it was – in a way – a case of karma, after a shameless dive or two.
At Woudestein, Ajax looked like a team that didn't feel like playing football on a bad, partly frozen pitch. Before the match, technical director Martin van Geel had urged referee Nijhuis to call the game off. After the match, Adrie Koster repeated Ajax's point of view: "Win or defeat, fact is that you really shouldn't play on a pitch like this in the first place." A lame excuse and an embarrassing thing to say. The reactions from the Excelsior camp summed it all up. Head-coach Ton Lokhoff: "On a pitch like this, the most determined team normally wins." Goalkeeper Roland Graafland: "We got stuck in, that's all. Pardon my French, but we beat a bunch of spoilt little brats today." (Menno Pot)
Goals:
- 01' 1-0 Mitchell Piqué
- 49' 2-0 Geert den Ouden
- 63' 2-1 Hedwiges Maduro
Referee: Nijhuis
Yellow Cards: Van Steensel (Excelsior); Maduro, Suárez (Ajax)
Attendance: 3,500
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Colin (46. Van der Heijden), Heitinga, Vertonghen; Gabri, Maduro (84. De Jong), Kennedy (62. Luque), Emanuelson; Rommedahl, Huntelaar, Suárez.
- Excelsior line-up: Graafland; Bandjar, Van Nieuwstadt, Van Steensel, Zijm; Braber, Altheer, Luyckx, Piqué; Voskamp, Den Ouden (72. Korf).
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