atouba :(

[deselina]

we were standing proud on top of the eredivisie.

most goals to our name and 2nd best defense with only 1 goal against.

..along came psv, one of the nos 4 (yes we have our own version of the sky4. ajax, psv, feyenoord & az, although this twente side is probably better than most of the nos 4).

psv, who had only drawn their games so far and were far from impressive.

our backline of vd wiel (dutch international) - wielaert (dutch international) - alderweireld (belgian international) - vertonghen (belgian international) worked because we had 3 young promising defenders alongside a dutch veteran for the experience.

..along came atouba, 4 goals against later and we're suddenly on 4th place, psv just behind us and az above us on goal difference. we now have one of the worst defensive records of the league.

jol, can we have our regular backline back without atouba?

 

[kcmei]

i watched abit of the game and PSV deserved to win from what i saw. even at latter stages when 1 goal up PSV still dominated

 

[deselina]

they were also 1 goal down in the beginning of the game.

psv are always strong at home but our usual line-up shouldn't be changed just because they are psv.

we had 2 players in midfield that are normally defenders in vertonghen and emanuelson, we were too defensively installed and suarez was on his own most of the time.

i think jol surprised psv somewhat with that unusual tactic, but they had the game basicly under control after the 2 - 2.

hopefully this is just a one-off and psv were so good because we were the opponents and they have raised their game against us.

 

[donny1013]

Was a great game and a great atmosphere. Was very impressed with Dzsudzsack on the left for PSV. Ajax seem to be crying out for a number 9 who can hold up the ball

 

[deselina]

yeah dzudszak is great! i thought he was one of those loanee's from chelsea but it turned out to be that he's not, they have got theirself a gem there. won't be long before bigger foreign clubs will be scouting him.

suarez is our number 9 and he's very very good at holding the ball. we played with the wrong tactics today and we were punished for it. only attacking minded players from the starting line-up were suarez and rommedahl.

de zeeuw is a controlling midfielder who had enoh next to him who's a dm and vertonghen is basicly a defender. emanuelson at the wings is something jol prefers but i'd rather see serbian international sulejmani there.

he kept the likes of aissati, cvitanich (topscorer brazilian competition), de jong and gabri (ex-barcelona) on the bench for a more conservative, 'safer' line-up while psv had dzudszak, toivonen, lazovic, bakkal and afellay. it was only evident that psv saw more of the ball and were the more controlling side when looking at both line-ups. psv came to attack and they did. had it not been for the class of suarez or we would've lost with a much bigger margin.

 

[Bobishism]

From what I've seen of Suarez, he rarely holds up play or wins the ball. He likes to attack the goal and bring overs into play. Not a number 9 that can hold the ball.

 

[deselina]

suarez is a ball hog, that is the definition of someone holding the ball a lot imo. he rarely does the one touch football the others around him do.

he keeps the ball at his feet and most of his goals come from a scrimmage that he sets up, he likes to run at the defense. defenders rarely take the ball from him.

ooijer had to resort to bully tactics the whole match but he lost against suarez, ooijer was lucky not to be send off.

 

[donny1013]

When I think number 9 though I think Kluivert, Ibra, KJH and not Suarez. He is a great player but I see him more as a support striker than a number 9. I'm looking to see more of Dzsudzsack for PSV, sweet left foot and great dribbling ability.

 

[deselina]

i agree that he's not the typical ajax number 9, we have cvitanich but jol has little faith in him, shame.

marvin zeegelaar is still too young while ricky van wolfswinkel went to utrecht. ajax are hoping to get the eredivisie's current topscorer honda before the end of the transfer period, so that we can play like oranje.

suarez on top with emanuelson/sulejmani, honda and rommedahl/aissati just behind him all interacting and switching positions with de zeeuw and enoh/donald as the controlling midfielders. enoh comes from ajax cape town and he's impressed so far, hopefully he can follow in the same steps as steven pienaar and benni mc cartney and turned out to be great.

 

[SpurSince57]

From what I've seen of Suarez, he rarely holds up play or wins the ball. He likes to attack the goal and bring overs into play. Not a number 9 that can hold the ball.

He's also a regular Jacques Cousteau.

4-3 is a lot less embarrassing than last season's 6-2 (let alone 4-0 against regular Eredivisie deadbeats Sparta ).

 

[deselina]

last seasons 6 - 2 happened because there was little to play for and we won the season before with 5 - 1, they were eager for a revenge.

 

[Michey]

..along came atouba, 4 goals against later and we're suddenly on 4th place, psv just behind us and az above us on goal difference. we now have one of the worst defensive records of the league.

jol, can we have our regular backline back without atouba?

It's such a joke to see a player like Atouba in a team like Ajax. That is if they're not giving up their believes in trying to play one-touch football.

Jols fascination for him is more than weird.

 

[deselina]

he was on a free but still

i hope he's not going to be this year's oleguer, a player we had to play because of injury woes.

we should just play emanuelson - vertonghen - alderweireld - vd wiel at the back. all young, strong and talented, all internationals with an experienced stekelenburg behind them to lead the way.

 

[SpurSince57]

It's such a joke to see a player like Atouba in a team like Ajax. That is if they're not giving up their believes in trying to play one-touch football.

Jols fascination for him is more than weird.

Despite the coronary-inducing showboating in our penalty area and an apparent total inability to do anything simply Atouba rarely got turned or otherwise 'done'. He's probably better than anyone Ajax had, so no 'fascination' involved—he figured very little for HSV last season, partly due to injury.

As for Ajax and 'one-touch' football, that tended to translate into kicking the opposition last season. Sad.

 

[DEFchenkOE]

I recorded this game as I had football and I've only watched about 55mins so far but Atouba hasn't played too badly. Wasn't at fault for any of the goals. Dzsudzsack has been very influential so far, a great free-kick and nice setup for Bakaal i think. I like Affelay as well, think he's a bit too weak though, needs to bulk up a bith then I think he could do a job in the EPL. He looks a bit like Jenas to me.

 

[Kyras]

Atouba's not that bad, showboating aside, he can be quite solid and offers something going forward.

 

[dirtydave]

You know Jols been linked with a return to WHL one day...

 

[deselina]

I recorded this game as I had football and I've only watched about 55mins so far but Atouba hasn't played too badly. Wasn't at fault for any of the goals. Dzsudzsack has been very influential so far, a great free-kick and nice setup for Bakaal i think. I like Affelay as well, think he's a bit too weak though, needs to bulk up a bith then I think he could do a job in the EPL. He looks a bit like Jenas to me.

pundits in holland blamed atouba for disrupting the cohesion in ajax defense and showed clips of him with the ball on his feet and losing it everytime or kicking it to nobody. we don't do this kick and rush football, leave that to the epl.

 

[deselina]

Atouba's not that bad, showboating aside, he can be quite solid and offers something going forward.

no he doesn't. all his crosses or whatever never landed at an ajax player. if he's not that bad how come hsv released him.

 

[deselina]

He's probably better than anyone Ajax had, so no 'fascination' involved—he figured very little for HSV last season, partly due to injury.

As for Ajax and 'one-touch' football, that tended to translate into kicking the opposition last season. Sad.

please put your prejudice aside.

for you to say atouba is better than anything ajax had is too comical and to cover it up with 'probably' is a joke.

that's what atouba is, a joke. funny how dutch football is so underrated on here that atouba is regarded as a player better than anything ajax has to offer.

eredivisie as a whole had the 2nd best fair play record of last season while ajax contested with a club in norway for the fair play award.

posters often wonder why some clubs have so few foreign posters on certain messageboards compared to others. if they pay attention they know why this is.