I thought Ajax were great last night. They did play possession football but it was also quite attacking, with Spain it seems at times they just pass the ball around thier back 4 and that can get a bit boring after a while, Ajax were keeping possession but also constantly pushing forward and creating plenty of goal scoring opportunities. They totally nullified our midfield and passed it through us with relative ease. Not once did I see their keeper punt it long, something that Ruddy was doing almost everytime. I think the players would have learnt a lot though and CH. A good run out.
I thought Ajax were good once they got into their stride. Just the kick up the arse you need pre-season
Coming sunday the Johan Cruijff Schaal match is going to be played. It's similar to the Community Shield. Ajax will play PSV Eindhoven in the Amsterdam Arena. I will make a match thread in the Newcastle section of the game and will add links so that you guys can see for yourself what the Eredivisie is like. In the match the following players you should watch will very likely be fielded: Ajax: Vurnon Anita Gregory van der Wiel Christian Eriksen Siem de Jong Alderweireld PSV: Georgino Wijnaldum Luciano Narsingh Tim Matavz Ola Toivonen Jermaine Lens These are considered to be in the pool of greatest talents currently in the Eredivisie. The match will start at 17:00 GMT, hope you guys will just watch a Dutch game and maybe you'll enjoy it, who knows
cove, i've brought up toivonen and lens on here before as possible signings for us. what do you reckon? any chance? what sort of values would you stick on them? probably don't need lens as we bought snodgrass but toivonen is a player i like, though he didn't impress at the euros. do you reckon he'd score goals in the premier league?
Here is my analysis on him from a month ago when he was linked with Newcastle: Ola Toivonen: ****ing bastard, extremely annoying player. He provokes players and referee's, he's a guy you just want to punch in the face after the game. He's not a striker, best positioned as AM. Can play CM and DM as well. Great technique, can take free kicks and penalties. His speed decision making is poor though, he just lacks speed in that department. His acceldration is good, agility aswell. His main strength is his stamina and tactical insight. He can give a brilliant pass, and he can shoot from distance. His heading is perfect, most of his goals are from corners or crosses in the box. Pro's: Technique Heading Strenght Stamina Playmaking Passing Tactical insight Provoking the opposition Cons: Mentally weak Defensively weak Real bastard Estimate worth: 8-9 million pounds Analysis on Jermaine Lens from two weeks ago: Very versatile player. Can play on the right flank, can throw in a decent cross but don't expect too much from it. Great striker or CF. Very fast and agile player. Give him space in the box and he can be very lethal. Very big and strong guy, great stamina and endurance. He's not the game changing type and he needs games to get in form. If he is benched and subsititued from time to time he's ****, seen that happen in the 2010-2011 season. Mentally he is a bit weak. When behind he is not the guy who can take a team to new heights and turn around a defeat. He has shown some temper last season and he can be complacent. Position wise a natural striker. If you put him on the RW position he's more the Robben type. He makes a move to get into the box and shoots on target rather then chosing to head to the corner flag and throw in a cross from there. Like i said, his crossing on par level, nothing extraordinary. He is someone who can play on the counter attack. Within that tactic he can play perfectly on RW position because he is really fast. But he is more like a Sturridge type of player. But overall he is a great striker and if you can get him, you should. Price tag estimate: 6-7,5 million pounds
I was at the game last night and whilst it wasn't the most inspiring despite some positives, a couple of things struck me: -I know he's not played for a while, but did anyone else think Vaughan's first touch was atrocious? I thought it caused him problems several times, and took the danger out of a couple of breaks. -Towards the end of the game, I really felt we were lacking pace in midfield when trying to break. Hoolahan has always lacked a yard of pace, and Snodgrass didn't look the quickest, but hopefully if we're ever looking to play on the counter we'll have a different outlet. I guess it's unlikely Hoolahan and Snodgrass will play together too often though. -Hardly a revelation, but I think Lappin is definitely being considered as our backup left back more than anything else. I thought he did ok except being beaten once by their winger, but I'd still be a little concerned if Tierney was to have a long injury lay-off. -As mentioned on other threads, our midfield was deep leaving the strikers isolated. As a tactic against stronger sides (like last night), it might be enough for a draw, but I can't see us coming back from behind like that.
