Ajax best top club on 5th position

By: Jan | October 26th, 2008

Former Ajax star Van Basten hamming it up, with former Feyenoord star (and NEC coach) Mario Been admiring him…

We see it in England, in Italy and we still see it in Holland. The top clubs are struggling…

Ajax was the only one of the three winning their game this weekend. Marco van Basten’s men defeated Mario Been’s NEC 2-0 in the Arena. Van Basten: “Our supporters were the men of the match, this time.”
Huntelaar showed his lack of form, missing good opportunities, but he did score the first goal in the rebound. Suarez scored the second after the break.” Van Basten wasn’t happy with his midfield, taking Gabri off in the first half for Siem de Jong. “I could have taken all midfielders off, in all honesty.”

Mario Been felt NEC was stolen. In the 33rd minute, ref Bossen pointed at the spot after an Ajax foul in the box. His linesman overruled the decision, explaining that the foul happened outside of the box. Been: “I first though Bossen wanted to take the penalty himself, when he claimed the ball. But then he put it outside of the box. I think he feared the Ajax supporters. They tend to boo referees when they take decisions against Ajax and he didn’t like that, I guess…”

Feyenoord needed something against Heerenveen in the Rotterdam Kuip. A victory was hoped for, Verbeek and his men had to settle for a draw (2-2). The Feyenoord fans came to De Kuip to openly support their team. The fans had written an open letter to the media, asking their colleagues to positively support the struggling pride of Rotterdam. “The media are doing their best to talk us into a depression. Let’s show them we support our team.” Feyenoord didn’t play too bad and Henk Timmer was the big man, deying several Heerenveen attempts, while Roy Makaay showed his sharpness in the box, albeit without scoring. Heerenveen led 0-2 however, when Feyenoord started to tap into their energy reserves, pushed forward by their infamous group of supporters. Makaay scored the 1-2 after a blistering free kick and Michael Mols tortured the cross bar. It looked like Verbeek would have to cop another defeat, but it was Mols who “pushed” the ball over the line with his head in the dying seconds (!), offering everyone that loves Feyenoord a little party.

Verbeek: “There is hope. We didn’t want to lose and we played brave football today. It felt really good that our 12th man was our best man (like in Amsterdam) and we owe them a lot. The interaction between the team and the fans is superb.” Verbeek took De Cler off in the 77th minute, who reacted very angry and shouted something to Verbeek. Can it be repeated in the media? Verbeek: “Sure, why not? He shouted: why do you have to do this? And I will explain to him tomorrow. And then he can explain to me why he played like that…”

PSV lost on Saturday at home against Roda JC (2-3) without the injured Afellay. FC Groningen beat Sparta (3-0) and remains the leader in the standings. AZ Alkmaar keeps on winning and Van Gaal is eyeing the top position again. NAC played 0-0 against FC Utrecht, where Willem van Hanegem was on sick leave due to stress (as a result of the sacking of the four assistant coaches).

So it’s:

FC Groningen
NAC Breda
AZ Alkmaar
FC Twente
Ajax
PSV
Heracles
Heerenveen
NEC
Willem2
Ado Den Haag
FC Utrecht
De Graafschap
Roda JC
Feyenoord
Sparta Rotterdam
Vitesse
FC Volendam