Christian Eriksen, ladies and gentlemen:
EDIT: Crikey, the KNVB are very quick these days. Enjoy it courtesy of 101greatgoals.com here
Unbelievable Jeff!
The home of football sarcasm
Showing posts with label Ajax. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Ajax. Show all posts
Sunday, 29 January 2012
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Unbelievable Jeff! #3
So, tonight's Dutch Cup match between Ajax Amsterdam and AZ Alkmaar was abandoned after this incident when an idiot fan ran onto the pitch to attack the AZ goalkeeper Esteban. The fan comes running on with a flying kick at the Costa Rican stopper who manages to avoid the idiot before landing a couple of hefty boots himself. Esteban was subsequently sent off by Jeremain Len's best friend Bas Nijhuis after the incident, so the whole AZ team did the decent thing and trooped off behind. The match was suspended and subsequently abandoned.
As we thought, the YouTube video got pulled so here it is on the BBC Sport Website
Unbelievable Jeff!
As we thought, the YouTube video got pulled so here it is on the BBC Sport Website
Unbelievable Jeff!
Tuesday, 27 July 2010
Not so Jol-ly
Fulham came calling for Martin Jol after Roy Hodgson departed for Liverpool. He was keen and had agreed personal terms, but Ajax weren't interested in talking turkey. Both points of view are easy to see: the lack of obvious names for a replacement is the obvious one for Ajax while the ongoing financial constraints at the Amsterdam club may hamper Jol's ambition. What does that say about Ajax and the Dutch league as a whole?
There is virtually no way that Ajax will match last season. Scoring over a hundred league goals in finishing a point behind champions Twente whilst attempting to reduce the squad and wage bill was quite an achievement. The Marco van Basten legacy was a bloated squad full of wasters. Dario Cvitanich was palmed off on Mexican club Pachuca, but takers couldn't be found for the likes of Miralem Sulejmani who cost an eye-watering €16.5m and has done pretty much nothing. Jol clearly doesn't want him at the club or he'd at least have played some games last season. Marko Pantelic has been let go despite his goals as the club couldn't/wouldn't offer him more than one year. His replacement? Serial failure Mido. Mounir El Hamdaoui has joined from AZ, but while expensive imports like Oleguer linger then sales of star players like Gregory van der Wiel (about to join Louis van Gaal's Dutch enclave in Munich) and Maarten Stekelenburg (Arsenal looking to take him on after his stellar World Cup) will have to make up the shortfall, undermining any manager's ability to get into that all-important Champions League group stage (a qualifier against PAOK begins tomorrow) and maybe challenge for the title next season.
But the same problems afflict the other runners and riders. Twente have always been a selling club. On finishing second two seasons ago, they lost Eljero Elia and Marko Arnautovic. This time, veterans Blaise N'Kufo and Kenneth Perez have gone and new boss Michel Preud'homme has all on to keep hold of Bryan Ruiz. Feyenoord are still undergoing their own financial restructuring as their big money players come to the end of their careers. Roy Makaay and Gio van Bronckhorst have gone and Jon Dahl Tomasson will soon follow. PSV did similarly over the last couple of years while AZ's financial meltdown arrived last season. There are plenty of other sides in trouble too, NAC for one, which will hamper the ambition of any side in the league. It may make it more open in the league, but not in a good way so far as Ajax are concerned.
Compared to a nice little sinecure in west London, managing any of the big five clubs in the Netherlands looks like a hassle anyone could do without.
There is virtually no way that Ajax will match last season. Scoring over a hundred league goals in finishing a point behind champions Twente whilst attempting to reduce the squad and wage bill was quite an achievement. The Marco van Basten legacy was a bloated squad full of wasters. Dario Cvitanich was palmed off on Mexican club Pachuca, but takers couldn't be found for the likes of Miralem Sulejmani who cost an eye-watering €16.5m and has done pretty much nothing. Jol clearly doesn't want him at the club or he'd at least have played some games last season. Marko Pantelic has been let go despite his goals as the club couldn't/wouldn't offer him more than one year. His replacement? Serial failure Mido. Mounir El Hamdaoui has joined from AZ, but while expensive imports like Oleguer linger then sales of star players like Gregory van der Wiel (about to join Louis van Gaal's Dutch enclave in Munich) and Maarten Stekelenburg (Arsenal looking to take him on after his stellar World Cup) will have to make up the shortfall, undermining any manager's ability to get into that all-important Champions League group stage (a qualifier against PAOK begins tomorrow) and maybe challenge for the title next season.
But the same problems afflict the other runners and riders. Twente have always been a selling club. On finishing second two seasons ago, they lost Eljero Elia and Marko Arnautovic. This time, veterans Blaise N'Kufo and Kenneth Perez have gone and new boss Michel Preud'homme has all on to keep hold of Bryan Ruiz. Feyenoord are still undergoing their own financial restructuring as their big money players come to the end of their careers. Roy Makaay and Gio van Bronckhorst have gone and Jon Dahl Tomasson will soon follow. PSV did similarly over the last couple of years while AZ's financial meltdown arrived last season. There are plenty of other sides in trouble too, NAC for one, which will hamper the ambition of any side in the league. It may make it more open in the league, but not in a good way so far as Ajax are concerned.
Compared to a nice little sinecure in west London, managing any of the big five clubs in the Netherlands looks like a hassle anyone could do without.
Monday, 9 February 2009
Van Basten on the brink: Eredivisie reviews
Roda 0-1 Sparta
Heerenveen 3-1 NAC
AZ 3-1 Willem II
Heracles 1-1 NEC
Utrecht 3-1 Den Haag
Vitesse 4-1 Ajax
Feyenoord 0-0 Groningen
De Graafschap 2-2 Twente
Volendam 3-5 PSV
How much longer will Marco van Basten last at Ajax? That's the big question emerging from the Eredivisie this weekend after Ajax came well and truly unstuck in Arnhem. Vitesse aren't a special side, but the time and space they created as they overran an abject Ajax defence was alarming to say the least. With van Basten on the sidelines wearing the expression of someone whose cat has just been run over, the Arnhem side stuck four goals away and, really, it could have been twice that many. Lasse Nilsson sprang the offside trap in the seventh minute to open the scoring and, though Luis Suarez - probably the only Amsterdammer to emerge with reputation intact - quickly equalised, the pattern was set. The defence was pulled to bits and Nilsson had a second in the first half to go with Dalibor Stevanovic's goal for a 3-1 half time lead. Despite dominating possession for the remainder of the game, Vitesse only had Ricky van Wolfswinkel's excellently worked goal to show for it in the second half. Ajax are at a very low ebb and it would not be a surprise if van Basten walked.
A change of coach worked wonders for PSV and they're now within a point of Ajax after a barmy game in Volendam. The hosts have improved markedly, but so have the Eindhoven side. Even so, eight goals and two red cards were something of a surprise. Ola Toivonen is in sparkling form and he opened the scoring on seven minutes with a stunning free-kick and Jeremie Bréchet doubled the lead 20 minutes later. Back came Volendam, first through Gerson, punishing some sloppy defending, and then via the penalty spot and Paul de Lange, Toivonen seeing yellow for a push in conceding the spot kick. Either side of the break, Edison Mendez got two from close range to restore the two goal cushion. Toivonen had been warned for use of an elbow in the first half and received a second yellow for the same offence to reduce PSV to ten. Jack Tuyp was then dismissed for Volendam to even things up again, an ugly, two-footed lunge from behind on Ibrahim Afellay. Otman Bakkal waltzed past the Volendam defence for PSV's fifth and Rowin van Zaanen profted from a horrendous mistake from Carlos Salcido to pinch a consolation goal late on.
Red cards too elsewhere. At the De Kuip, an error-strewn game with bags of chances ended 0-0 with Feyenoord probably being the happier with it seeing as they played the entire second half a man down after Norichio Nieveld's dismissal just before the break. Den Haag had taken a lead at Utrecht through Csaba Horváth before Robert Zwinkels was sent off just before half-time. Unlike Feyenoord, they couldn't hold out and Utrecht picked them off. Gregoor van Dijk's penalty got them going and further goals from Ali Boussaboun and Sander Keller sealed the win. Roda were reduced to ten men 12 minutes from time when Eric Addo saw red for a bad tackle on Rydell Popeon who then punished them further with a free-kick to give Sparta a much-needed 1-0 win.
Twente had to come from behind to draw with De Graafschap. Blaise N'Kufo had given the Enschede side the lead, but goals from Stephan Keller and Luuk de Jong gave the relegation battlers a lifeline. De Jong turned villain late on when, seven minutes from time, he handled in the box and N'Kufo lashed home from 12 yards. De Jong almost snatched it at the end, but Sander Boschker tipped his header round the post to claim a point for Steve McClaren's men. Though Twente are well worth their second place, let's not kid ourselves that they're title challengers. Two dropped points mean that AZ are now eleven points clear. Willem II did take a lead on 18 minutes through Said Boutchar, but that only seemed to make the champions-elect angry. Seven minutes later, Moussa Dembele had levelled it up and further goals from Maarten Martens and, inevitably, Mounir El Hamdaoui with Demy de Zeeuw instrumental throughout made it eleven straight wins for Louis van Gaal's men.
Elsewhere, Heerenveen got back on track with a comfortable 3-1 win over NAC and Vojtěch Schulmeister's late goal gave Heracles a share of the points with NEC meaning that NAC remain a point ahead of the Nijmegen side in the race for UEFA Cup play-off spots.
Heerenveen 3-1 NAC
AZ 3-1 Willem II
Heracles 1-1 NEC
Utrecht 3-1 Den Haag
Vitesse 4-1 Ajax
Feyenoord 0-0 Groningen
De Graafschap 2-2 Twente
Volendam 3-5 PSV
How much longer will Marco van Basten last at Ajax? That's the big question emerging from the Eredivisie this weekend after Ajax came well and truly unstuck in Arnhem. Vitesse aren't a special side, but the time and space they created as they overran an abject Ajax defence was alarming to say the least. With van Basten on the sidelines wearing the expression of someone whose cat has just been run over, the Arnhem side stuck four goals away and, really, it could have been twice that many. Lasse Nilsson sprang the offside trap in the seventh minute to open the scoring and, though Luis Suarez - probably the only Amsterdammer to emerge with reputation intact - quickly equalised, the pattern was set. The defence was pulled to bits and Nilsson had a second in the first half to go with Dalibor Stevanovic's goal for a 3-1 half time lead. Despite dominating possession for the remainder of the game, Vitesse only had Ricky van Wolfswinkel's excellently worked goal to show for it in the second half. Ajax are at a very low ebb and it would not be a surprise if van Basten walked.
A change of coach worked wonders for PSV and they're now within a point of Ajax after a barmy game in Volendam. The hosts have improved markedly, but so have the Eindhoven side. Even so, eight goals and two red cards were something of a surprise. Ola Toivonen is in sparkling form and he opened the scoring on seven minutes with a stunning free-kick and Jeremie Bréchet doubled the lead 20 minutes later. Back came Volendam, first through Gerson, punishing some sloppy defending, and then via the penalty spot and Paul de Lange, Toivonen seeing yellow for a push in conceding the spot kick. Either side of the break, Edison Mendez got two from close range to restore the two goal cushion. Toivonen had been warned for use of an elbow in the first half and received a second yellow for the same offence to reduce PSV to ten. Jack Tuyp was then dismissed for Volendam to even things up again, an ugly, two-footed lunge from behind on Ibrahim Afellay. Otman Bakkal waltzed past the Volendam defence for PSV's fifth and Rowin van Zaanen profted from a horrendous mistake from Carlos Salcido to pinch a consolation goal late on.
Red cards too elsewhere. At the De Kuip, an error-strewn game with bags of chances ended 0-0 with Feyenoord probably being the happier with it seeing as they played the entire second half a man down after Norichio Nieveld's dismissal just before the break. Den Haag had taken a lead at Utrecht through Csaba Horváth before Robert Zwinkels was sent off just before half-time. Unlike Feyenoord, they couldn't hold out and Utrecht picked them off. Gregoor van Dijk's penalty got them going and further goals from Ali Boussaboun and Sander Keller sealed the win. Roda were reduced to ten men 12 minutes from time when Eric Addo saw red for a bad tackle on Rydell Popeon who then punished them further with a free-kick to give Sparta a much-needed 1-0 win.
Twente had to come from behind to draw with De Graafschap. Blaise N'Kufo had given the Enschede side the lead, but goals from Stephan Keller and Luuk de Jong gave the relegation battlers a lifeline. De Jong turned villain late on when, seven minutes from time, he handled in the box and N'Kufo lashed home from 12 yards. De Jong almost snatched it at the end, but Sander Boschker tipped his header round the post to claim a point for Steve McClaren's men. Though Twente are well worth their second place, let's not kid ourselves that they're title challengers. Two dropped points mean that AZ are now eleven points clear. Willem II did take a lead on 18 minutes through Said Boutchar, but that only seemed to make the champions-elect angry. Seven minutes later, Moussa Dembele had levelled it up and further goals from Maarten Martens and, inevitably, Mounir El Hamdaoui with Demy de Zeeuw instrumental throughout made it eleven straight wins for Louis van Gaal's men.
Elsewhere, Heerenveen got back on track with a comfortable 3-1 win over NAC and Vojtěch Schulmeister's late goal gave Heracles a share of the points with NEC meaning that NAC remain a point ahead of the Nijmegen side in the race for UEFA Cup play-off spots.
Monday, 19 January 2009
PSV fall away
Heerenveen 3-1 Feyenoord
De Graafschap 1-0 Willem II
Twente 2-1 Vitesse
Den Haag 2-2 Heracles
NAC 1-1 Utrecht
Roda 1-1 PSV
Sparta 1-1 Groningen
Volendam 0-2 AZ
NEC 2-4 Ajax
The top three all won in the Eredivisie this weekend, but PSV dropped points away at Roda. AZ were comfortable against Volendam and Twente had a Kenneth Perez thunderbolt to thank for rescuing them against Vitesse. The Arnhem side had levelled matters through Sébastien Sansoni following Blaise N'Kufo's opener before Perez rattled one in from 20 yards following some slick play. That all put pressure on Ajax to keep up by beating NEC in Nijmegen. Having led 1-0 and 2-1, NEC equalised through El Akchaoui before Dario Cvitanich was needlessly sent off for a second booking, having earlier been cautioned for a stupid handball. It had the effect of galvanising a patchy Ajax side and with Luis Suarez prominent, an own goal from Dani Fernandez and a late one from Gabri snatched the points.
Tim Simons' penalty on the hour for PSV was nullified a minute later by Will Janssen. The sole point meant that Heerenveen's win over struggling Feyenoord now leapfrog them into fourth. A point does nothing for Roda, still deep in trouble. Sparta are now level with they're city neighbours after an uninspiring draw and there were draws at Breda and in the capital.
The table:
1 AZ 18 44
2 Ajax 18 41
3 FC Twente 18 37
4 Heerenveen 18 32
5 PSV 18 31
6 NAC 18 30
7 FC Groningen 18 27
8 NEC 18 26
9 FC Utrecht 18 26
10 Willem II 18 24
11 Heracles 18 21
12 Feyenoord 18 19
13 Sparta 18 19
14 Den Haag 18 16
15 De Graafschap 18 16
16 Roda 18 15
17 Vitesse 18 15
18 Volendam 18 11
De Graafschap 1-0 Willem II
Twente 2-1 Vitesse
Den Haag 2-2 Heracles
NAC 1-1 Utrecht
Roda 1-1 PSV
Sparta 1-1 Groningen
Volendam 0-2 AZ
NEC 2-4 Ajax
The top three all won in the Eredivisie this weekend, but PSV dropped points away at Roda. AZ were comfortable against Volendam and Twente had a Kenneth Perez thunderbolt to thank for rescuing them against Vitesse. The Arnhem side had levelled matters through Sébastien Sansoni following Blaise N'Kufo's opener before Perez rattled one in from 20 yards following some slick play. That all put pressure on Ajax to keep up by beating NEC in Nijmegen. Having led 1-0 and 2-1, NEC equalised through El Akchaoui before Dario Cvitanich was needlessly sent off for a second booking, having earlier been cautioned for a stupid handball. It had the effect of galvanising a patchy Ajax side and with Luis Suarez prominent, an own goal from Dani Fernandez and a late one from Gabri snatched the points.
Tim Simons' penalty on the hour for PSV was nullified a minute later by Will Janssen. The sole point meant that Heerenveen's win over struggling Feyenoord now leapfrog them into fourth. A point does nothing for Roda, still deep in trouble. Sparta are now level with they're city neighbours after an uninspiring draw and there were draws at Breda and in the capital.
The table:
1 AZ 18 44
2 Ajax 18 41
3 FC Twente 18 37
4 Heerenveen 18 32
5 PSV 18 31
6 NAC 18 30
7 FC Groningen 18 27
8 NEC 18 26
9 FC Utrecht 18 26
10 Willem II 18 24
11 Heracles 18 21
12 Feyenoord 18 19
13 Sparta 18 19
14 Den Haag 18 16
15 De Graafschap 18 16
16 Roda 18 15
17 Vitesse 18 15
18 Volendam 18 11
Monday, 12 January 2009
While they're away
The Eredivisie is still on a break, but news comes in that FC Twente skipper Rob Wielaert is off to Ajax. This is a massive blow to Shteve McClaren's side. The skipper leads from the centre of defence and lends experience to an otherwise young side.
Twente had got themselves in a comfortable third place before the break, although the top two - AZ and Ajax - had begun to break away. McClaren hasn't changed much since he arrived in Enschede, personnel-wise, but he may have to dabble in the market to replace his defensive rock.
It's been a strange time in the Eredivisie this season. Traditional powerhouses of the Dutch game have struggled, with Feyenoord in particular having a tough time with the accountants. Ajax are going OK, but may face issues if they fail to get Champions League football next season, and with the second spot in Europe decided by a play-off rather than league position, it's not as straightforward a proposition as it may seem. And so it's the well run clubs that are prevailing. It looks like AZ's to lose, but they've been in that position many times previously. PSV are just coming up on the rails, but they've also spent an eye-watering amount of money.
The league gets back underway next week and we'll preview it in due course.
Twente had got themselves in a comfortable third place before the break, although the top two - AZ and Ajax - had begun to break away. McClaren hasn't changed much since he arrived in Enschede, personnel-wise, but he may have to dabble in the market to replace his defensive rock.
It's been a strange time in the Eredivisie this season. Traditional powerhouses of the Dutch game have struggled, with Feyenoord in particular having a tough time with the accountants. Ajax are going OK, but may face issues if they fail to get Champions League football next season, and with the second spot in Europe decided by a play-off rather than league position, it's not as straightforward a proposition as it may seem. And so it's the well run clubs that are prevailing. It looks like AZ's to lose, but they've been in that position many times previously. PSV are just coming up on the rails, but they've also spent an eye-watering amount of money.
The league gets back underway next week and we'll preview it in due course.
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