The context
A horrible performance. Lots of excuses. All apart of the hot mess mountain Edwin van der Sar has created.
Look at this.
“I saw the picture from Kudus, it was not offside. Normally we should not talk about that but it’s a clear goal and it would have more easy for us”.
“Criticism? It’s not fun. But look, life goes on. Failing is part of reaching the top, I believe in this.”
These are some of the quotes made by Ajax players post-game. It sounds like deflation and excuses.
It’s almost a confession of ‘we accept the current embarrassing state of the club’.
John Heitinga was even more embarrassing. He made a continual effort to blame the assistant referee for a bad offside decision that cost the club a goal.
Understandable. Football is fine margins and a single referee decision could make a large impact.
Go Away Eagles have a dismal record in the league and Ajax had a lion share of the possession. Are you telling me that Ajax could not muster up more chances given these facts and bearing in mind football is a 90 min game?
The fallout is a horrific reminder of the landscape of the club and where the current direction of the club is going. Absolutely nowhere.
All that talk of rejuvenation in the match preview might have to be removed to save face.
The game.
In the eighth minute, a Go Ahead Eagles players tripped an Ajax players while the ball was speared in from a Eagles corner. The ball was headed in but was dramatically chalked off by the referee due to the foul.
Eagles forward, Finn Stokkers was given a one on one chance with the keeper after a venomous counter attack started by midfielder Philippe Rommens. Rulli charged out to make a vital save in the 15th minute.
Kenneth Taylor made an outrageous pinpoint pass taking out five Eagles players in the process – along the ground no-less. Brian Brobbey made great hold-up play but his shot was thwarted by the keeper in the 19th minute.
Mohammed Kudus had a slightly harder chance inside the box in the 24th minute. The shot ended up going way over the crossbar as Kudus probably found it hard to wrap all of his foot under the volley.
Kudus smashed a header into goal from a great cross coming in from left flank. The first Ajax goal was denied by the referee due to offside.
Similarly, another chance was squandered by Kudus when he was at the tip of a counter-attack but decided to square the ball at an awful time when he could have dribbled straight on to be in a great position to shoot.
Summary
The above was a litany of chances created. Ajax continued their unusual patterns of inconsistent quality. Great in patches. Good in minutes. Okay in halves. Awful in weeks.
There is no defined team structure or style of play. The post-match comments from both manager and players will paint you the picture.
It makes you question do they really care? A KNVB cup semi-final against Feyenoord awaits. Yikes.