Dutch Super Cup: Ajax 3-2 AZ

Ajax, the three time defending champions of Eredivisie and AZ Alkmaar, the winners of KNVB Beker [beat league champions Ajax 3-0 at Amsterdam in semis and league runners up PSV 2-1 in finals] faced off against each other at Amsterdam for Johan Cruijff Schaal, the traditional Dutch Super Cup for nearly two decades. Participation in this tournament is not new for De Boer's Ajax, as they also contested for this trophy last 3 years. Though they lost all three times, De Amsterdammers went on to win the Eredivisie to complete a hat-trick and also added a third star to their badge [winning 30th league title in 2010/11]. For Ajax, this year's match was against a side who finished 11^th [out of 16] in league and lost Jozy Altidore and Adam Maher in the summer window, while no big names have moved out of Ajax. Bojan made his competitive debut for the Amsterdam side as right winger with Fischer on the left. Other starters: Sigthorsson, Siem De Jong, Eriksen, Schone, Van Rhijn, Alderweireld, Moisander, Blind, Vermeer.

Ajax started the match positively shaking off any pre-season rustiness and AZ desperately clung on after Ajax attacked the goal several times. AZ’s keeper Esteban was impressive in goal saving at least four one-on-ones in the entire game. It was a surprise the match went 0-0 at HT. Bojan was the best player on the pitch. Gertjan Verbeek sent his side with only one plan in mind – defend with 9 men and attack on counters. The ploy worked successfully as AZ went on counter after yet another wave of Ajax attack with Blind elbowed out. With a 2-on-1 situation, AZ easily scored the first goal through Gudmundsson. De Boer protested to the fourth official but that didn't change the outcome. This was when the tv channel did an Anderson and went missing for 20 mins. In that time, AZ managed to score another through Johansson while Gouweleeuw scored an own goal to cut AZ’s lead to just 2-1. Bojan got subbed with Lucas Andersen, who did extremely well after coming on as sub. Esteban kept saving AZ’s arse with Ajax camping in AZ’s half with all 10 outfield players. Finally, Ajax managed to get an equalizer when Alderweireld's powerful drive from outside the box could only be parried into Sigthorsson’s path who calmly slotted into the keeperless net.

Sigthorsson had another chance to score the winner in injury time but no further goals were added. Extra time was similar to how the match went till then – waves of Ajax attack desperately defended by AZ. Finally in the first period of extra time, Eriksen crossed the ball from near the corner flag after exchanging neat passes with Andersen and captain Siem scored a header from the far post. Ajax tried to score further but AZ had two great chances on counter which were both saved by Vermeer. Match finished 3-2 – a repeat of the scoreline when these two sides last met in Alkmaar – and Ajax won their 8^th JC Cup [PSV on 9].

Last time Frank de Boer won the Johan Cruijff Schaal ['95], Ajax won the league and went to European Cup finals. Wouldn't mind taking the same deal now

Positives:

1. Bojan Krkic - Overmars and De Boer were happy to get Bojan on loan as he was trained in La Masia and hence fits Ajax style perfectly. He started on the right and caused lot of trouble to AZ full back. He combined well with Van Rhijn who made overlapping runs while Bojan slipped between the defenders. He also has a good shot on him and forced Esteban into couple of good saves. With Lukoki still very raw and Sana capable of playing left wing [whenever Fischer needs a break], I expect Bojan to contribute a lot this season.

2. Alderweireld - The combination of Vertonghen and Alderweireld in 11/12 was so unique in the sense that both the defenders are comfortable on the ball and are capable of carrying it further up the pitch to join attacks. This is in contrast to usual blood-and-thunder-defender + slick-passer combinations that are found aplenty. Once again, Alderweireld was calm on the ball and contributed to several attacks by releasing long passes to Fischer/Blind on the left side. It was rumoured that he might leave Ajax soon [with Norwich City a strong possible destination], but he seems to bide his time. He may still leave but I hope he stays.

3. Joel Veltman - Losing big players every season is not new to Eredivisie clubs, which includes Ajax, even if they are hat-trick league winners. Siem de Jong, Christian Eriksen and Toby Alderweireld were all rumoured to leave and Veltman was identified as Toby's replacement. He came on as a sub and had a particularly impressive last man tackle without which AZ would have had two attackers on goal with only keeper Vermeer to beat.

4. Viktor Fischer - The current Ajax squad was put together at a cost of 19.5m Euros and this should bring a sense of perspective when you think they paid 16.5m Euros to get Miralem Sulejmani in 2008. After the club let him go to the Portuguese giants SL Benfica this year, Viktor Fischer inherited the #7 jersey which assures everyone that he's going to be a main starter from now on. Fischer had an impressive Next Gen tournament in 11/12 when Ajax lost to Inter Milan in finals and he was promoted to the senior team last season when he's only 18. After impressive performances last year, it seems like Fischer will now be a primary starter [over the likes of Boerrigter, Lukoki, Sana]. He was very good against AZ and could have scored a couple of goals but luck was not on his side. There was one particular moment when he brought down a long pass from Aldeweireld at the edge of the AZ box with an exquisite touch. My favorite moment of the match, though it didn't result in a goal.

5. Eriksen and Siem de Jong - Two important players who were touted to leave Amsterdam for pastures anew, it is nearly confirmed that captain Siem de Jong will be staying. Siem is probably the least technical of all midfielders that Ajax got [let's forget for a moment that Poulsen still plays for them] but he always comes up with big goals. He can play as a midfielder alongside Eriksen and bully his way out of opposition midfield and he can also cover for Sigthorsson as CF when Siggy gets his annual long term injury. For the last 3 seasons, Siem de Jong has scored in league winning games and once again, when his side crawled back from 2-0 down to 2-2, Siem came up with the winner. Both the players are still very young and if they decide to stay for another season, Ajax might actually do well in Europe as long as they don't get silly groups [12/13: Group of Death - Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund, Man City, 11/12: Real Madrid and Lyon with Lyon beating Dinamo Zagreb 7-1 in final group game knocking out Ajax who saw two perfectly legitimate goals ruled out for offside against Madrid, 10/11: Real Madrid and AC Milan].

Special mention: Nicolai Boilesen who came as substitute for Blind after battling a long term injury. Last time he played was in 2012 against Manchester United in Europa League.

Last time a Johan Cruijff Schaal winner went on to win the Eredivisie was in 2000/01 [PSV Eindhoven]. Let's hope Ajax repeat the same.

Final score: 

Ajax 3-2 AZ [Gouweleeuw og, Sigthorsson, Siem de Jong; Gudmundsson, Johansson]

How important is Nani?

I have been a massive fan of Nani ever since he scored his first goal against Spurs in 2007 and celebrated by his trademark flip. I agree he infuriates many Utd fans but that is only because everyone knows his capabilities and the frustration is because he seldom seems to play to his level.

Nevertheless, I checked out the statistics of few other players to compare with Nani since he moved to Man Utd in 2007. Ribery and Robben have been top wingers playing in Bayern Munchen [as well as Real Madrid for Robben] where the tactical systems use wingers prominently instead of wide forwards. Then I've checked out Cesc Fabregas, the best central midfielder in England when he left to Barcelona. He has played as wide forward and false 9 in Barcelona since his move in 2011 but it only saw an increase in goals with his assist tally reducing a bit. Then there's David Silva and Juan Mata who I liked ever since their Valencia days [along with David Villa] playing in tactical systems which focus on chance creation through center [Silva - Man City, Mata - Chelsea].

Included Jesus Navas as he was impressive with Sevilla previously [is he the only winger available as plan B for Del Bosque?] and recently moved to Man City. Inclusion of Ozil's name has been tricky though. He was the main man for Werder Bremen and after he moved to Real Madrid, the tactical system is not completely focused on center. With Ronaldo and Di Maria, Madrid can afford to attack incessantly through wings and with the pace of their attack, they also rely on fast counter attacks occasionally instead of methodical passing in center trying to draw opposition defenders out. Ozil has also played  as the wide player in a 4-2-3-1 and despite all these factors, he has done well. Fabregas, Nani, Silva and Navas are of similar age, separated by just few months while Mata, Ozil are 2 yrs younger. Ribery and Robben are of course more experienced.

A look at their statistics* from 07-08 through 12-13.

Franck Ribery - 18370 mins - 203 goals+assists - a goal or assist every 90.5 mins
Arjen Robben - 13583 mins - 139 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 97.7 mins
Cesc Fabregas - 18830 mins - 182 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 103.4 mins
Mesut Ozil - 20391 mins - 184 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 110.8 mins
Juan Mata - 21486 mins - 184 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 116.7 mins
Luis Nani - 14891 mins - 113 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 131.7 mins
David Silva - 20075 mins - 120 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 167.3 mins
Jesus Navas - 22452 mins - 101 goals + assists - a goal or assist every 222.3 mins

Franck Ribery has been frankly scary for last 3 seasons despite Borussia Dortmund winning the league title in two of those seasons. Arjen Robben was in and out of the team with injuries and even last season he only got a look in after the impressive Toni Kroos got injured but Robben grabbed his chances and played brilliant in winning The Treble. He single handedly got Munchen on the verge of Treble in 2010 and without his goals, Munchen would have lost to either Fiorentina [Round of 16] or Man Utd [Quarterfinals] in the CL that year. Good God, just look at the figures he put up despite his injuries.

Cesc Fabregas, was the provider-in-chief at Arsenal and after he went to Barcelona, he didn't always play as a central midfielder. But statistically, he didn't suffer any dip. As the assists column saw a dip, the goals column shot up. Mesut Ozil and Juan Mata, despite being teenagers for 2 of the seasons under consideration, put up highly impressive figures. One can argue that Ozil has Ronaldo in Madrid to shoot up his assists charts [I think Ronaldo-Ozil is the most frequent combo in goal scoring for past 3 seasons cumulative] but Ozil put up brilliant performances though the team is not built around him like Mata at Chelsea.

When David Silva came to the Premier League, he didn't readily adjust like Mata did. But Silva walked away from 2011-12 season, where City won their 3rd ever league title, as the best midfielder [though that mantle is taken away by Mata now].

Then there's Nani. Joined in 2007-08 as 20 yr old Portuguese talent following the footsteps of Ronaldo but he has suffered heavily with the comparisons. I haven't come across any interview where he compares himself with Ronaldo, but that doesn't stop the detractors to mock him. When you're only the 2nd player from your country to join a club like Man Utd with the first ever player being hailed as best player in the world, I guess it's understandable to feel a bit nervous. His perceived lack of consistency is nothing more than an exaggerated myth imo. As a Utd player, the turnaround in his performances came in January 2010 after a 3-1 win over Arsenal at Emirates and he never looked back. For the next 60 or so Premier League games from 2010 January till end of 2011-12 season, he averaged a goal or assist every 80 mins. An average of a goal or assist in every Premier League game for two and a half seasons is pretty consistent imo.

There were rumours in 2012 summer that Nani might be offloaded. With Berbatov already leaving [Berbatov-Nani-Carrick are my favorite Underrated Holy Trinity], I was worried if Nani might leave. He was 25, he had brilliant two and a half seasons and just about entering his prime years. Thankfully, he wasn't sold. There were murmurs that he was stalling his contract talks and with only 2 years left on his deal [Jun, 2014], the club had to either extend his contract or risk losing him for relatively less money. Fergie was unimpressed with what I understand as strictly background information [let's agree here, no one actually knows whether Nani had created problems with respect to contract negotiations] and Nani was frozen from the team. The continuous injuries and lack of faith from the manager saw his performance levels oscillate for past season but with Fergie's unexpected retirement, Nani can pin his hopes on the new manager Moyes.

Moyes can use Nani as he used Pienaar at Everton. With Baines providing the width on the left, Pienaar was encouraged to cut in and take scoring chances. Despite all the criticism of Nani, he averages a goal or assist every 131 mins over six seasons, which is like 1.5 matches. So, if he plays 45 games in a season and performs as well as his career average at Utd, he'd be bagging 30 goals + assists. And with two and half seasons of consistent performances backing me up, I can safely say he'd definitely achieve that, if not more, by getting more and more games. Utd currently have 4 wingers - Ashley Young, Antonia Valencia, Wilfried Zaha, Luis Nani - for 2 spots. An exciting player in Nani, a solid performer in Valencia [though he was surprisingly poor in 12/13], a young prospect in Zaha and a squad backup in Ashley Young, I hope the wide spots are sealed. All that is left to do now, is to extend Nani's contract.

* - There are discrepancies in stats reported by different sites but for the sake of uniformity, I used transfermarkt for every player. Stats include performances in league, domestic cup, domestic league cup, champions league, community shield or super cup, europa league, champions league qualifiers, europa league qualifiers, uefa super cup and club world cup. National team performances are not included.

Book Review: Five Little Pigs

Author: Agatha Christie

I finished The Last Don on Saturday and before I could start the heavy Dangerous Fortune [Ken Follet], I needed a filler. My last two Agatha Christie books didn’t impress me [Dumb Witness & A Murder Is Announced] and I put this in the same category.

A woman is accused of killing her artist husband and though she pleads not guilty in court, she puts up an unimpressive defence against the prosecution which doesn’t impress the jury and they give her penal servitude. Their 5 yr old daughter is taken away to Canada to grow up with her Uncle and Aunt but a year after the case, the mother writes her last letter to the daughter telling she is innocent before dying. Armed with this letter, Carla Lemarchant [aka Caroline Clare II] goes to Poirot believing her mother’s innocence 16 years after the case was concluded. Poirot ponders over the contents and agrees to help Carla in getting the truth out – whatever that might be. At the time of death, there were 5 other people present at the house who could have committed the murder:

Kid Carla [daughter of the deceased] – 5 yr old

Caroline Clare [wife of the deceased] – accused

Other five:

Angela Warren [half-sister of Caroline] – 15 yr old

Phillip Blake [best friend of the deceased]

Meredith Blake [brother of Phillip]

Cecile Williams [governess of Angela]

Elsa Greer [mistress of deceased]

After Poirot goes to meet the solicitors who worked on this case to understand who all were involved, he gets reminded of the nursery rhyme, Five Little Pigs

This pig went to the market

This pig stayed at home

This pig had roasted beef

This pig had none

And this pig went wee wee wee

[I might have forgotten the exact words]

The story was decent, it’s just 180 pages long but this would have suited Miss Marple much more than Monsieur Poirot in my opinion. The setting is in a nice country place and the end result is dependent on psychology of the people. Only thing which was a hindrance for Miss Marple to be involved was probably coz the investigation takes place 16 years after the death but I think Christie could have easily worked around that part. Last 3 books of Agatha Christie I read have left me unimpressed and I’m starting to wonder if I’ve outgrown [sorry Calvin] her stories. Give it a read if you’re undertaking a short 4-6 hr travel and don't have anything else to read. Or maybe as a filler while you move from one heavy book to another. Otherwise, it's not recommended.