First things first, the stadium seems absolutely huge. Looking online it says the capacity is 54,000 odd. It just seems bigger, inside and out.
Transport wise, there’s car parking underneath the stadium, and given the place is surrounded by shops, bars, restaurants and cinemas, I’m sure there’ll be no shortage of car parks around.
Myself and my mate took the metro there and the train back from Amsterdam Central. Both were 10-15 minutes and easy to follow. The fact that most Dutch speak English it’s easy enough to ask if you’re stuck anyway.
Finding your way in and around the stadium is also pretty simple.
Sadly we had restricted view seats, and were sat next to blurry Perspex for the first 30 minutes. This obscured the left touchline for us, Ajax’s right wing in the first half.
I have no idea why they have this area as it’s just full of Ajax fans. I understand it could be for the likes of Feyenoord, but by all accounts there are no away fans at these fixtures and there haven’t been for years.
Restricted view just shouldn’t be a thing in today’s game!
We moved along to a pocket of empty seats in a better location at the 30 minute mark.
In terms of pre-match, or just local surrounds, it makes you realise how much Rangers are losing out by having nothing around the ground.
One thing that was extremely annoying was the constant stream of people coming in for the first 30-35 mins. The majority were on the bevvy, carrying beers and struggling to find their seats.
A serious revenue stream we don’t have, but I could imagine it’d be even worse with pissed up bears needing a slash every 10 mins and staggering about looking for their seats.
I’d have to say for someone who rarely drinks at games, it’d be more annoying than not for me.
I get pissed off at the 40 minute pie brigade or the subway Loyal from 80 mins onwards, so putting up with this for a whole game would seriously burst my chops!
Anyway, onto the game.
I wanted to see Ajax put on a show, but as a Bluenose, I actually took great comfort in watching them struggle.
Strange as that will sound, it was like any Rangers game at Ibrox where we struggle to break defensive teams down.
I won’t go into a full tactical breakdown of everything, but to see the game unfold the way it did, it made it so clear that even the best teams have these games. Top players have games where things don’t come off. Top teams drop points they should never be dropping.
Looking at individuals, I’ll just comment on the following.
Daley Blind - a very good footballer. Comfy on the ball and walks out of defence and plays passes. He is not quick though and can quite easily be got at.
Donny Van De Beek - The main man in their midfield. Very good on the ball. Takes it anywhere, turns and moves it on, always finds space and time. Unlucky not to score twice with similar efforts, one wide and one off the bar. A class act.
Dusan Tadic - had a quietish game. I like him and wanted to see him and Ziyech the most. One thing I did notice was that he’s very strong and uses his body a lot. He brings players close and then uses his body to manoeuvre them around and makes himself some space. Sadly he didn’t do much but you can see he has quality.
Hakim Ziyech - I’ve raved about this guy since before the last WC. He’s the guy that they really look to to make things happen. He flattered to deceive a bit last night, but was a constant threat. Possibly a bit frustrating as he got caught dribbling once or twice or just doing too much, but always a threat and always looked likely. Another one it just didn’t happen for.
Mike Tresor Ndayishiyime - Willem II
The boy was the absolute stand out player afield.
Fast, tricky, quick feet, touch, passing, vision.
My whole post was really about getting to this lad.
Had never heard of him before, but been looking up a little about him now.
He’s a 20 year old Belgian U21 international and was released by Anderlecht a year ago. Well I think anyway as he joined NEC Nijmegen on a free.
He’s on a year’s loan at Willem II just now.
Sometimes being at a game things just feel different, but around me you could hear the collective gasps every time the lad got the ball. He scampered down both wings and through the middle. Kept possession well and always made himself available. Looked assured every time he had it and controlled it and moved it well.
Had a couple of balls that didn’t quite come off, but as I said almost every time he got the ball the Ajax crowd and players just seemed to shite themselves.
Maybe this boy is a well known youngster, maybe he’s already a superstar, or maybe he’s had problems hence being possibly freed by Anderlecht, but to put that performance in that he did last night, in that arena, well, if he hasn’t already, I’d say this kid arrived last night.
Perhaps it was a flash in the pan and he’s not always like that, but I was genuinely excited watching him and hope he goes on and plays like that for his full career.
As I said, I knew nothing of him, but from what I saw I’d absolutely love to see this kid at Ibrox and would love to think we’d have a look.
Sorry for what’s now turned into a massive post, but if someone can tell me how to post pics from my iPhone I’ll do it!
Transport wise, there’s car parking underneath the stadium, and given the place is surrounded by shops, bars, restaurants and cinemas, I’m sure there’ll be no shortage of car parks around.
Myself and my mate took the metro there and the train back from Amsterdam Central. Both were 10-15 minutes and easy to follow. The fact that most Dutch speak English it’s easy enough to ask if you’re stuck anyway.
Finding your way in and around the stadium is also pretty simple.
Sadly we had restricted view seats, and were sat next to blurry Perspex for the first 30 minutes. This obscured the left touchline for us, Ajax’s right wing in the first half.
I have no idea why they have this area as it’s just full of Ajax fans. I understand it could be for the likes of Feyenoord, but by all accounts there are no away fans at these fixtures and there haven’t been for years.
Restricted view just shouldn’t be a thing in today’s game!
We moved along to a pocket of empty seats in a better location at the 30 minute mark.
In terms of pre-match, or just local surrounds, it makes you realise how much Rangers are losing out by having nothing around the ground.
One thing that was extremely annoying was the constant stream of people coming in for the first 30-35 mins. The majority were on the bevvy, carrying beers and struggling to find their seats.
A serious revenue stream we don’t have, but I could imagine it’d be even worse with pissed up bears needing a slash every 10 mins and staggering about looking for their seats.
I’d have to say for someone who rarely drinks at games, it’d be more annoying than not for me.
I get pissed off at the 40 minute pie brigade or the subway Loyal from 80 mins onwards, so putting up with this for a whole game would seriously burst my chops!
Anyway, onto the game.
I wanted to see Ajax put on a show, but as a Bluenose, I actually took great comfort in watching them struggle.
Strange as that will sound, it was like any Rangers game at Ibrox where we struggle to break defensive teams down.
I won’t go into a full tactical breakdown of everything, but to see the game unfold the way it did, it made it so clear that even the best teams have these games. Top players have games where things don’t come off. Top teams drop points they should never be dropping.
Looking at individuals, I’ll just comment on the following.
Daley Blind - a very good footballer. Comfy on the ball and walks out of defence and plays passes. He is not quick though and can quite easily be got at.
Donny Van De Beek - The main man in their midfield. Very good on the ball. Takes it anywhere, turns and moves it on, always finds space and time. Unlucky not to score twice with similar efforts, one wide and one off the bar. A class act.
Dusan Tadic - had a quietish game. I like him and wanted to see him and Ziyech the most. One thing I did notice was that he’s very strong and uses his body a lot. He brings players close and then uses his body to manoeuvre them around and makes himself some space. Sadly he didn’t do much but you can see he has quality.
Hakim Ziyech - I’ve raved about this guy since before the last WC. He’s the guy that they really look to to make things happen. He flattered to deceive a bit last night, but was a constant threat. Possibly a bit frustrating as he got caught dribbling once or twice or just doing too much, but always a threat and always looked likely. Another one it just didn’t happen for.
Mike Tresor Ndayishiyime - Willem II
The boy was the absolute stand out player afield.
Fast, tricky, quick feet, touch, passing, vision.
My whole post was really about getting to this lad.
Had never heard of him before, but been looking up a little about him now.
He’s a 20 year old Belgian U21 international and was released by Anderlecht a year ago. Well I think anyway as he joined NEC Nijmegen on a free.
He’s on a year’s loan at Willem II just now.
Sometimes being at a game things just feel different, but around me you could hear the collective gasps every time the lad got the ball. He scampered down both wings and through the middle. Kept possession well and always made himself available. Looked assured every time he had it and controlled it and moved it well.
Had a couple of balls that didn’t quite come off, but as I said almost every time he got the ball the Ajax crowd and players just seemed to shite themselves.
Maybe this boy is a well known youngster, maybe he’s already a superstar, or maybe he’s had problems hence being possibly freed by Anderlecht, but to put that performance in that he did last night, in that arena, well, if he hasn’t already, I’d say this kid arrived last night.
Perhaps it was a flash in the pan and he’s not always like that, but I was genuinely excited watching him and hope he goes on and plays like that for his full career.
As I said, I knew nothing of him, but from what I saw I’d absolutely love to see this kid at Ibrox and would love to think we’d have a look.
Sorry for what’s now turned into a massive post, but if someone can tell me how to post pics from my iPhone I’ll do it!
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