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March 23rd, 2009 | By: Jan | 24 Comments »

Aissati, the Ajax number 10…

My friends, most of the spectacular action has been commented on, by all… And now it’s up to Scotland!!

But before we do, let’s just recap some of the action in Europe and by our internationals…

Liverpool trashed number 5 in the EPL, Aston Villa, 5-0! I saw the game and at 1-0 score(beauty by Kuyt… as I commented before: you do need skill to finish like that!!), it looked more likely that Villa would score the equalizer but Pepe Reyna (why don’t I read about him being the numero uno in the world??) saved a couple of Carew attempts and had the monster assist on Riera’s 2-0.

So, Kuyt happy. Pool putting pressure on Sir Alex… (why doesn’t Benitez ever smile??).

Robin won the three points and had an assist.

While Sneijder, Robben and in particular Hunter showed their form at Real Madrid. Good passing by Wes, good dribbles by Arjen and Klaas Jan…? Nothing spectacular. Apart from his two goals…

In Holland, the experts are convinced: we finally have a new “number 10″. The playmaker. His name? Ishmael Aissati! The Man of the Match against Olympique was again the MOTM against Ajax, winning 0-3 away at NAC. As you all know: Aissati chose to play for Morroco… And as we say in Holland, one swallow doesn’t make it summer!

AZ hosted Feyenoord and without “game accelerator” Demy de Zeeuw, AZ couldn’t settle in the game. The better chances were for Feyenoord (Makaay!, Bruins!) but no one found the net: 0-0.

Twente won at Groningen, NEC drew at Willem 2, while PSV won again, albeit in a boring match.

Ajax sets it’s sights on the second spot in the tables. Number 9 NEC (Mario Been’s team) feels the breath of Feyenoord (Mario’s new club) in it’s neck (nec). The difference is two points now and could be the deciding spot for play offs or not…

Willem 2’s Alphons Groenendijk (former Ajax player and former Ajax assistant coach) is named as NEC’s new coach and successor to Mario Been.

Tags: Aissati, Been, Group C, Huntelaar, Makaay, Oranje, Robben, Scotland, Sneijder, van Gaal

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Comments

By Bart | March 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 am

Robin had two assists actually

Posted from Canada

By Van Basten | March 23rd, 2009 at 8:04 am

I thought Sneijder was our “number 10″. Well he has no.10 at Real Madrid, and I don’t think he will let this unknown youngster Aissati take his number, and his starting spot.
Van der Vaart better be looking for a new team, and keep fit!

Posted from United States

By ferenc | March 23rd, 2009 at 8:26 am

i’m confused about snwijder. he’s talented,at euro 08 he was our best player. but in his club he’s quite bad,2-3 good games this year and that’s it. not dutch biased real supporters say that he’s not creative enough and should leave this summer. his first year was really good especially his start. but when i compare him to really creative midfielders (cesc,gerrard,xavi,iniesta) he doesn’t seem to fit in this catgory – i’m objective and say that they are better. fortunately for oranje he always overperforms in the national team (the total opposite of clarence seedorf).what do you think?

Posted from Hungary

By sonneveld | March 23rd, 2009 at 11:11 am

The reason Sneijder performs better for us is he is played in his favourite position. for madrid he is playing the left side of midfield. Or central with defensive responsibilities. He admits he was bad at the beginning but he is returning to top form now

By goose | March 23rd, 2009 at 11:14 am

@ferenc ; i really believe Sneijder has been out of form due to personal problems… i reckon he will get better and better each week ; hes just too good to play bad for too long!

i think Sneijder is as good as Xavi, Gerard, maybe even better in potential…just wait and see

Aisatti will never be Oranje number 10 ; he is just not strong enough…if anybody is our future nr10 it will be Affelay ….Aisatti has played 2 good games in 4 years!!! what are we talking about???? If Aisatti stays fit the next 2 seasons, if Aisatti is one of the best in Deb Eredivisie each week THAN we will talk about Aisatti

Posted from Netherlands

By Andrew | March 23rd, 2009 at 11:41 am

I’m going to agree with Sonneveld, here; Sneijder needs to play central. His best spot is a free position behind the striker(s); pushing the team forward. Based on current form, its Robben on the left, Kuyt on the right, Klass up top, and either VP or Sneijder playing behind Hunter.

Posted from United States

By Caleb | March 23rd, 2009 at 12:39 pm

@Ferenc – you being objective about anything related to Real Madrid?? Ha!

Posted from Canada

By sonneveld | March 23rd, 2009 at 2:38 pm

http://www.goal.com/en-us/news/1771/yahoo/2009/03/23/1171363/la-liga-team-of-the-week-round-28 look in the subs Hedwiges Maduro for the best team in spains lineup of the week. did anyone watch this game?

By Caleb | March 23rd, 2009 at 3:07 pm

^ KJH in the first team too. No surprise there though, considering how well he’s been doing lately.

Posted from Canada

By Michel-Olivier | March 23rd, 2009 at 5:11 pm

@ goose
aissati is strong enough for morocco, however i hope he play for orange and hope his not another bakkal or boukhari.

Posted from United States

By Andrew | March 23rd, 2009 at 6:35 pm

@ Sonneveld, I’ve seen the last few games Maduro has played. They’ve got him on the backline these days and he looks pretty decent. When he’s at right back, he generally plays a stay at home role and his build up play is good.

Posted from United States

By finnster01 | March 23rd, 2009 at 6:48 pm

Check out the photo again. What is the thing to the right of his head? Looks like some giant bug just flew off his head, either that or he lost some weave.

In any event, I know teams need sponsors, especially in Eredivisie. But that Aegon logo just kills the sacred Ajax jersey. Could you imagine JC wearing one of those?

By sonneveld | March 23rd, 2009 at 7:30 pm

Thanks Andrew His height and good passing could be valuable

By Jan | March 23rd, 2009 at 9:47 pm

A quick note: the “we have a number 10″ again statement made on Aissati was from the Ajax fan perspective, not so much the Oranje angle. Lazy editorial work on my behalf. Mea Culpa .

By tiju | March 23rd, 2009 at 11:07 pm

@goose agree on znijder’s current state.sure he will comeback,
@ferenc if we compare to xavi,inesta,fabergas,gerrad i think znijder is equal to them except one problem. i saw some selfishness in him like roban(mainly single shooting at sometimes-intead of passing to a well positioned collegue)Apart from this problem he an unpredictable matchwinner only Gerrad can compete with him in terms of goals.But i felt for an oiledteam play Xavi,Iniesta and fabergas is better than znijder.
The poor thing is our Vaart has better potential than all these players but its pitty that he is spoiling his career through lazyness.

Posted from India

By Miguel Rosado | March 24th, 2009 at 12:13 am

Every player has to face tough times during their careers and Sneijder is getting back to his top form. He has already demonstrated how good he’s so I’m not worried about him.

Van Persie is playing good. I’ve seen his games and he’s scored, he has hit the wood many times and he’s been giving many assists.

By Carlos | March 24th, 2009 at 3:09 am

Finn – the buzzword is now “Toxic Asset” sounds like a couple of football players I know in certain teams …hahaha….I bought many shares last few weeks and they are ALL in the green already. Hope you did too Mr Wall St.

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | March 24th, 2009 at 3:14 am

and….think we can forget Heitinga for the first game..he is still in Hospital.

Posted from Singapore

By finnster01 | March 24th, 2009 at 3:45 am

@Carlos: Good move mate. I did a bit but I am still cautious. In fact, I probably will do a little bit of selling over the next few days and lock in some profit

By Carlos | March 24th, 2009 at 4:49 am

I always love reading Scottish Newspapers before an important game, where analysis and past memories are discussed. The article below is one such of many. Once you’re on this page read some of the other articles on the Holland Scotland game on the left side of the page. Some excellent synopsis here – ENJOY !!

http://sport.scotsman.com/scotlandsfootballteam/Tom-English-Van-Marwijk39s-embarrassment.5096683.jp

Posted from Singapore

By Carlos | March 24th, 2009 at 4:50 am

right side of the page….sorry

Posted from Singapore

By Jan | March 24th, 2009 at 7:25 am

Thanks Carlos… I actually missed out on this big move. My computer – including my trading system and TA software were in repair …

By Caleb | March 24th, 2009 at 10:34 am

Nice link Carlos – it’s interesting to hear talk about our team from the other side’s viewpoint. Over here at the blog we discuss our team day in day out that sometimes we can forget what other people think of it.

As for all the stock talk – I bought Petro-Canada a few months ago and now with the takeover from Suncor I’m looking to be in a pretty good position

Posted from Canada

By finnster01 | March 24th, 2009 at 4:20 pm

@Caleb and Carlos: Just to echo Caleb’s sentiments, always good to read what the other country’s view is.

So here is what Norway thinks about the upcoming Oranje-Scotland game. Everyone including our head coach wants Holland to win. We have no beef with the Scots but realistically everone but Oranje is playing for second place. So a Scotland loss will certainly be helping Norway. Everyone is rooting for Oranje. We have forgiven Kramer and you handing our arses back to us in a shopping bag everytime there is a speedskating championship these days. There is of course the flipside that mathematically Oranje will not have qualified for WC2010 no matter what happens until Norway plays Holland again.

Holland is getting great praise in the press in Norway but our new “old” coach Olsen (the guy that took us to WC94 and WC98) is hopeful that we can produce a result in the Holland game. He gave Oranje quite a bit of a fight back in those years so I guess people are hoping of a repeat. However, if we manage to lose to Macedonia before that, the game will be pretty much meaningless. Anyway, Norway’s next two games are friendlies, South Africa away followed by Finland at home. Since half the team are 2 meters tall, there are a lot of people annoyed wondering why on earth we arrange a friendly in South Africa? I would hate to be on a plane from Norway to SA squoshed between two of those lads

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