The will, but not the way; Ajax lose again at Kerkrade
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Eredivisie
Parkstad Limburg Stadium, Kerkrade
Sunday, 10 Feb 2008
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More of the same, unfortunately… In what has become a depressing habit, Ajax let slip an opportunity to make up ground on PSV, and actually ended up a further point behind the league leaders. Ajax lost away at Roda JC on Sunday (2-1), thereby dropping down to third place in the league. You could say they were unlucky in a game they could have won, but there is a pattern that has emerged this season where lack of good fortune somehow justifies a sub-optimal performance.
Still without a win in 2008, Roda JC looked very motivated from the start and got in some heavy tackles. Tioté was the main culprit, first on Silva, then even more heavily on De Jong. The Belgian referee, Gumienny, gave no more than a free kick, but that was not be his biggest mistake of the afternoon.
Ajax stayed composed and created several chances in the opening phase, but both Huntelaar and De Jong missed opportunities to take the lead. Another pattern the team has fallen into is dominating and then conceding a silly goal, which is exactly what happened next. Lamah was wandering towards the penalty area when four Ajax players converged on him. Despite the weight of numbers, he simply continued on his way unhindered, entered the penalty area and struck a low shot past Stekelenburg. Twenty two minutes played and it all felt too familiar.
De Jong battles with Roda JC player in an aerial duel. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The goal gave Roda a psychological lift and they kept coming forward. Lamah managed to break down the left flank, but none of his team mates could connect with the cross. A couple of minutes later Janssen had a shot deflected off Vermaelen, and got a second bite at the cherry in the resulting corner but shot wide on this occasion.
Mr. Gumienny now had a major impact on the game. Firstly, he failed to award a penalty for a blatant handball by Saeijs. In fact he worsened the error by booking Perez and Kennedy for protesting. If anything positive came out of the handball affair, it was that Ajax were fired up again. Next Lindgren headed the ball towards the goal, just as Heitinga bundled over Roda keeper Bram Castro. The goal was correctly disallowed.
But Ajax were not be denied, and in the 38th minute a combination between Silva, De Jong and Huntelaar saw the latter burying the ball into the back of the net for his 22nd of the season: 1-1 and game on, you would think… except if you've seen much of Ajax this season.
The second half saw an Ajax team with fresh 'wings': the two wingers who had started (Kennedy and Perez) had failed miserably. Suarez (too tired to start after his trip to Uruguay) and Rommedahl replaced them. A couple of minutes into the half and De Jong escaped his marker and passed perfectly to Huntelaar, who shot over the bar.
The heavy tackles continued from the home side and Wau finally became the first Roda player in the book for a heavy challenge on Suarez. From the resulting free kick Silva perfectly curled the ball into the far corner. Unfortunately the referee disallowed another Ajax goal, this time very incorrectly. One can only assume the referee felt that Huntelaar interfered with the goalkeeper, but TV replays made clear that this wasn't the case.
That familiar feeling in the pit of your stomach was back… This was not going to be Ajax's day. A few minutes later a long pass from Silva to Suarez was flagged as offside. TV replays shows this was clearly not the case.
And so it went on, and on, and on. Endless heavy fouls from Roda, (correct) offside decisions against Suarez and Rommedahl, missed chances by Huntelaar. Lindgren being replaced by Emanuelson didn't change much, and it all had an inevitable feel to it.
Lindgren seems to get the best of this encounter. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The sucker-punch, when it came, had a particularly bitter taste to it. Vermaelen was shepherding a rolling ball out of play for a goal kick when Van Tornhout , who had been brought on a minute before, tackled him on the line. The ball could have gone anywhere, but ended up at the feet of the Roda player, who immediately crossed only for Hadouir to head home with a rocket: 2-1 (80'). It is safe to assume Vermaelen will have nightmares for years to come over such a ridiculous blunder.
The game died a slow, miserable death. More heavy fouls from Roda (two yellow cards). More missed chances by Huntelaar and one by De Jong. One outstanding save by Stekelenburg. And finally after four minutes of added time the suffering was over.
After the game head-coach Adrie Koster said: "We were determined to take all three points here. You know your rivals have dropped points and you can draw closer to them. Unfortunately, we were not sharp enough." That summed it up, really.
Yes, Roda tackled heavily, but Ajax let them. Yes, the referee was atrocious (even Hugo Borst mentioned it on TV on Sunday evening), but if they'd finished their chances it wouldn't have mattered. Yes, Ajax didn't have much luck… but hey, you've got to make your own luck with ingenuity, and passion, and hard work, none of which were very much present on Sunday.
Any positives? Well, De Jong did have a good game and Silva was impressive, but that's all folks. Once again, Ajax's season won't be finished after 34 league matches, that's now a sure thing. (Rudy Hulsman)
Goals:
- 22' 1-0 Roland Lamah
- 38' 1-1 Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
- 80’ 2-1 Anouar Hadouir
Referee: Gumienny
Yellow Cards: Wau, Hadouir, Bodor (Roda JC), Kennedy, Perez (Ajax).
Attendance: 17,800
Lineups:
- Ajax line-up: Stekelenburg; Silva, Heitinga, Vermaelen,Vertonghen; Gabri, De Jong, Lindgren (74. Emanuelson); Kennedy (46. Rommedahl), Huntelaar, Perez (46. Suárez).
- Roda JC line-up: Castro; Wau, Saeijs, De Fauw, De Jong,; Janssen, Meeuwis (70. Bodor), Tioté, Hadouir (82. Senden); Yulu Matondo (78. Van Tornhout), Lamah.
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