WINTERSTOP TRAINING RESULTS
Entry of:15-01-00
15-01-00
TUNESIAN NATIONAL TEAM-AJAX
2-1
Line up Ajax: van der Ban,Vierklau(Yakubu),van Halst(Witschge),Chivu(Reuser),de Cler
(Kanu),Winter,Knopper(van der Gun),Dani(Nieuwenburg),Wamberto,Machlas(Hose), Laudrup(Gronkjaer)
Against the winner of the Africa Cup from 2 years ago, Tunesia, Ajax had a reasonable opponent to test their actual technical skills. And the score does not represent the number of chances that each team had, cause Ajax played a reasonable game. Knopper and Wamberto had several chances and Dani, back from injury and the best man in the field also was very dangerous in front of the goal, testing the bar of the goal one time. Machlas tried to catch it in the rebound and got injured.
Not only Dani came back from injury, so did Vierklau and he totally chained Sellimi, the Tunesian defender from Freiburg SC to the ground. Nevertheless Tunesia scored the first goal after an hour of play, with a free kick from Kanzari. Reuser equalized in the 83th minute, also out of a free kick. Zitouni ruined the party for Ajax in the last minute scoring the 2-1. Wouters spoke of a good result in the conditional area. Ajax only had one technical training and the game against Tunesia came to early to test that technique, but conditionally Ajax seems ready for the second half of the season, Wouters declared. Remarkable is the way Wouters let Ajax play, a more held-back play which kept the entire team of Ajax on their own half for a majority of time. Will Ajax give up on their attacking style of football in the second half of the season?
18-01-00
ANDERLECHT-AJAX
3-0
Line up Ajax:van der Ban,Vierklau,Chivu,de Cler,van der Gun(Wamberto),Winter,
van Halst(Nieuwenburg),Dani,Laudrup,Machlas,Gronkjaer
Humiliating,humiliating,humiliating. That is all there is to say about this match. A 3-0
defeat by Anderlecht was perhaps ok, but the performance Ajax showed the fans that
came to Brussels was a pure disgrace. Not even a glimpse of the name and fame Ajax
had was to be seen. Almost nonchalant Ajax allowed itself to be crushed by the
Belgians and it could have been worse if Anderlecht did not bring in a lot of substitutes
in the second half. Stoica(9th),Zetterberg(29) and Anastasiou(50) brought the score
to 3 for the Brussels team. Ajax did leave out Grim, Witschge,Verlaat and Knopper but
still had a team that was supposed to give serious opposition to Anderlecht. And finally
the one who should be blamed,was blamed. In the second half the fans shouted
Wouters to piss off, compared him to Aad de Mos and Simon Kistemaker, which are
not the topcoaches over here. Let's hope Ajax can at least win one of the matches,
it has to be against the Japanese of Urawa Red Diamonds. Normally I would
have laughed, now I am in fear. Ajax, once majectic and firm, discover serious
humiliation now. Let's hope that they wake up soon.
23-01-00
AJAX-URAWA RED DIAMONDS
1-1
Line up Ajax: van der Ban,Vierklau,van Halst,Chivu,de Cler,Nieuwenburg,O'Brien,Dani,
Laudrup(Wamberto),Machlas,Gronkjaer
Chances, chances and chances. So many chances, so many blown chances. Ajax
problem is crystalclear, no killerinstinct is present in the team at this moment. The
Japanese were peanuts for a team in a good form, but since Ajax isn't, it was a long wait
till something productive came from the Amsterdam squad. Even worse, Urawa scored
the first goal in the 51st minute by Mishiki. And that was a surprise cause until
that moment Ajax was the one team that was pushing Urawa back in their defense the
whole time. Urawa is not that great team, they have many Japanese and old players like Beguiristain and Petrovic. But they did not need to worry cause Gronkjaer and Machlas
were not planning on using any of the chances. The only one who came near to the
goal was Dani, who is noticeable getting back into form. Laudrup got injured badly
enough in the 69th minute, the same minute that Gronkjaer decided that the 0-1 was
not a justified score and equalized to 1-1. Again this whole missing of chances makes
the Ajax squad the laughing stock of the league at this moment sadly. And all this talk
about a change in the concept is nothing but a little balloon to draw away the attention
from the terrible playing from Ajax this moment. And that from a man who's days are
counted if the next few weeks will not be flawless.
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