"Let's take a look at the forward line. Ajax still has three forwards in this game, No. 11 Esati, No. 28 Romedal and No. 16 Luis Suarez."
"Hehe! Such an old and new combination can be said to require impact and impact, experience and experience, and technology. Alkmaar's defense will have a big problem."
"Then Director Zhang is optimistic that Ajax will win this game, right?"
"Hehe! It's hard to say! It's hard to say! Everything is possible in football! Ajax had a lot of rotations today. Even the unbeatable main goalkeeper Stekelenberg was sitting on the bench. It's hard for anyone to say. !”
"Let's take a look at the visiting team's lineup. Alkmaar, who played away from home, wore dark green uniforms, and head coach Advocaat arranged a 4-3-2-1 Christmas tree formation."
"The Christmas tree formation, hehe! It looks like there is an arrow, but in fact it is not. This lineup is almost a multi-layered compression defense strategy. Starting from the 1 of the most arrow, we go backward step by step to increase the defensive intensity step by step. So that nothing can go wrong.”
"Alkmaar's starting lineup is goalkeeper No. 22 Romero, the four back defenders are No. 2 Jariens, No. 15 Paulson, No. 4 Moreno and No. 25 Moisander, and the three defensive midfielders No. 6 Mende Si, No. 11 Martens, No. 8 Schaers, No. 18 Dembélé partners with No. 9 Alli in the double attacking midfielder, and No. 10 Elham Daoy is at the front.”
"Hey! This Ali was a player of Ajax last season. I don't know how he will perform against his old team here."
Beep! ~
The referee blew the whistle to start the game.
Suarez passed the kick to veteran Romedal, and he crossed forward.
Romedal continued to pass the ball backwards to find Lindgren in the midfield, and Lindgren controlled the rhythm on the court.
Alkmaar's players strictly followed the coach's tactical arrangements. Except for the arrow figure Elham Daoui, no other player crossed the center line. They were also guarding against Ajax's early start strategy.
Because of Alkmaar's multi-layered zone defense, Ajax's offense struggled to improve. It wasn't until the tenth minute that the first shot on the field came - from Suarez, who barely took off after breaking through three people. The football was not played on target and flew out of the baseline.
In the 24th minute of the game, the little Anita received a pass from Emmanuelson and decisively went down the wing.
Alkmaar full-back Moisander also rushed to catch up and block the defense.
Facing Moisander, Anita spiked the ball twice and quickly shook it off. He glanced at Suarez and Romedal in the penalty area and prepared to pass a high-altitude pass.
But every second counts on the football field. With just one glance, Moisander had already chased back, stretched out his leg to cut off the football from Anita's feet, and pushed Anita to the ground.
Beep! ~
Naturally, the referee would not let go of such a big defensive move, and issued a Topaz God of War card to Moisander, who was defending.
Ajax gets a free kick from the wing.
Unfortunately, this free kick did not create a threat. In the end, Essati's shot was weak and weak, and was easily resolved by the opponent's goalkeeper Romero.
In the 30th minute, Emmanuelson pushed the ball forward and played a beautiful one-two with Lindgren in the midfield. After catching the football, he moved towards the penalty area.
But another leg stretched out, blocking Emmanuelson's room to move forward.
Emmanuelson tripped over that leg and lost his center of gravity, falling heavily on the lawn.
It wasn't until the referee raised the yellow card that many people saw clearly that it was the winger Dembélé who tackled Emmanuelson. This shows how deep Alkmaar's defensive line was today.
This position is about 35 meters away from the goal, and both Lindgren and Emmanuelson can try a kick.
Perhaps it was really bad luck, Lindgren's free kick hit the crossbar hard and bounced back, and was cleared by Alkmaar defender Paulson.
Just three minutes later, Sim De Jong received a pass from Anita who was running in from the wing, and used the change of speed to dodge Martens' defense, but was overthrown to the ground in the next second.
Beep! ~
The referee showed the yellow card again.
The protagonist this time is Alkmaar's other midfielder Schaers.
It was only 35 minutes into the first half, and Alkmaar had already received three yellow cards, which is enough to show that Advocaat's defensive requirements today are very high.
"With such defensive intensity, it will be difficult for Ajax to organize an effective attack."
"Hehe! This depends on the head coach's on-the-spot dispatching ability. When the weak are fighting against the strong, it is also a very effective method to disrupt the opponent's rhythm with fouls. As for how to break the game, it depends on Martin Jol ”
Due to multiple fouls, Ajax failed to complete an effective attack in the last ten minutes of the first half, and the two sides entered the halftime break with a draw.
——
"In the second half, we have to speed up the frequency of passing football and use more passes to open up gaps in Alkmaar's defense. We must also be careful not to get injured, pass the ball as much as possible, don't stick to the ball, and get less fouled."
In the locker room, Martin Jol did not make any comments about the first half, but simply made a request for the second half.
——
In the second half, the teams changed sides and fought again, but both sides still maintained their starting lineups.
Alkmaar kicked off, and the away team that had the ball seemed to be less anxious to attack. By constantly moving from the backcourt to the feet, the entire midfield and frontcourt of Ajax were hoisted into their own half.
However, the strategy of luring the enemy deep is a double-edged sword.
When the football was about to be passed to Mendes' feet, Sime de Jong, who had already rushed up, took the lead and poked the football with his toe.
Essati rushed over to win the football immediately. Ajax completed the frontcourt steal and immediately started to attack.
Beep! ~
Essati fell to the ground in pain.
Mendes was shown a yellow card by the referee.
As the player who had the ball stolen, Mendes implemented the coach's principle of making amends for whoever made a mistake.
At the first moment, he rushed towards the football, intending to regain the ball in the fastest way.
But Essati was indeed one step faster. Mendes' legs did not touch the football immediately when he put the shovel, but instead knocked Essati down.
Ajax once again received a well-positioned free kick in the frontcourt.
Unfortunately, Lindgren's free kick went over the crossbar.
In the 62nd minute, Suarez completed an anti-offside breakthrough and a powerful shot was saved by goalkeeper Romero.
Ajax gets a corner kick.
The corner kick was taken by Lindgren. He pointed his index finger at the sky and then drove the corner kick high towards the back of the goal.
"Come in!"
"The ball went in!"
"Number 2! Vanderveer!"
"Vanderveer made a beautiful diving shot and pushed the football into the blind spot!"
"Ajax played too hard in the previous 63 minutes. Whether it was passing or breaking through, they would be restricted by Alkmaar's players. As for this corner kick, Alkmaar obviously ignored the end. Although every Ajax offensive player was surrounded by at least one or two defenders staring closely, they ignored the defender. Because of this oversight, Van der Veer, a defender, scored with a goal The ball taught Alkmaar’s defense a hard lesson that no player should be underestimated in any case, whether he is a forward or a defender.”
"Hey! Congratulations to Ajax for taking the lead!"
Van der Veer, who scored, excitedly rushed towards the bench and hugged Stekelenberg who rushed out.
In the Dutch national team, these two are a stable defensive partner.
——
The Ajax players were particularly excited after the goal. When Alkmaar kicked off again, Suarez actually snatched the football from Martens' feet.
Ajax immediately put in five offensive players including Suarez, Essati, Romedal, Sime de Jong and Emmanuelson to press towards Alkmaar's penalty area.
After some conduction.
The football finally passed to the feet of Essati in front of the penalty area.
Essati caught the ball sideways and passed Mendes, who was defending him, with a very beautiful pull.
Then it's time to step into the penalty area.
But a big foot had already kicked towards him.
Essati wanted to dodge, but Mendez and Shales had already surrounded him.
So for a while, three Alkmaar players blocked Esati.
However, Essati still made a quick kick and poked the football out first.
Unfortunately, it was too hasty and Suarez rushed and failed to catch up.
Then Essati fell heavily into Alkmaar's penalty area.
The Ajax players immediately surrounded the referee and wanted a penalty kick.
During this period, there was no VAR assistance on the football field, and many decisions relied on the subjective judgment of the referee and his assistants.
Although Essati did indeed fall in the penalty area, the referee still gave Ajax a free kick at the top of the penalty area out of caution.
And issued a topaz war card to Jialiens who tackled the ball.
Some players with outstanding footwork can take free kicks at this position as penalty kicks.
This time, both Suarez and Lindgren stood in front of the football.
Beep! ~
With the referee's whistle.
Lindgren took the lead, but he jumped over the football, which only caused part of the wall to jump up in advance.
Suarez, who started immediately, volleyed hard at the football.
Unfortunately, the football did not leap over the wall and was blocked by Martens with his head.
Due to Suarez's strong and heavy kick, Martens' high nose was crooked, and his nosebleeds kept flowing. Alkmaar had to replace him in advance with No. 7 Jermain Lens. .
No one expected that Jermaine Lens, who had just come on the field, would receive the topaz God of War card from the referee in his first defense!
