Last week Ajax signed a 16-year-old Danish midfielder from FC Midtjylland. Viktor Fischer has joined on a three-year deal and will link up with the Ajax Academy before becoming a member of the under-19 squad in July. There are two other Danish players in Ajax’s squad at the moment and one of those is the subject of this new feature on GUSU: the minute-by-minute player analysis. This is similar in style to a minute-by-minute report of a football match but instead focuses on just one player’s performance with the intention of providing an in-depth analysis of that player’s participation in a particular game.
The prestige, success and altogether greatness of the famous Ajax Academy is well-documented and the legendary status that the club has within the game makes them a favourite with GUSU and a good place to begin this new feature. There have been some fantastic articles written recently about Ajax including Eric Beard’s enjoyable piece on The Future (De Toekomst) and a hugely detailed account of ‘How a Soccer Star Is Made’ by Michael Sokolove in The New York Times.
I want to focus on perhaps the less established young players for the minute-by-minute player analysis as opposed to those who already seem destined for a big move or whose ability is already well known. Therefore the Danish player in focus first time around is not Christian Eriksen but the lesser known of the two Danes at Ajax: Nicolai Boilesen.
After playing for various amateur clubs in small Danish towns Ballerup and Skovlunde, Boilesen joined Brøndby IF in the Danish Superliga when he was 12 years old and spent five years with the club. Representing Denmark at various youth national team levels, Boilesen had spent time training with Manchester United and was being tracked by various European clubs. Allegedly, he chose to join Ajax on Christian Eriksen’s advice and Ajax paid Brøndby 4 million Danish krone in compensation.
One year and four months after signing for Ajax, Nicolai Boilesen made is debut for the first team earlier this month as a second half substitute in a victory over Heracles. He has since made three more appearances including last weekend’s 4-1 win at home against Excelsior, the focus of this minute-by-minute player analysis. Items in green signify a particularly good contribution while items in red denote a mistake / not so good action…
3’ – Throw-in: played square to Anita
4’ – Throw-in: played short to Eriksen
Receives pass back from Eriksen, returns ball to him before receiving again, clears ball way up field, all the while under pressure from opposition player (possession is surrendered)
Intercepts long ball played out of opposition half and passes back to GK
5’ – Collects ball just over halfway line. Attempts through ball but pass is intercepted. After 2 passes are played by opposition, he tackles and ball goes out for a throw
6’ – Receives short pass back from Ebicilio. Attempts forward pass but doesn’t reach target and possession changes hands in opposition half
9’ – Receives square-ball from Vertonghen, beats one player with little knock forward + pace. Tackled by Excelsior player Ramsteijn but wins throw on
Takes throw-in square to Ebicilio, receives first-time pass back then passes again to Ebicilio
Has Fernandez (Excelsior) running at him when in left back position. Stands him up well in penalty area and makes tackle – ball goes out for corner
11’ Doesn’t close down Fernandez who get’s cross into box. Proves to be harmless though
12’ Receives short pass from El Hamdaoui and plays back to GK
Overlaps on El Hamdaoui, runs towards opposition area and is fouled a few yards outside. Wins free kick in good position and gets opposition player (Gudde) a yellow card. Ajax score their first goal from the resulting passage of play through Ebicilio
15’ Intercepts ball in opposition half and plays short pass to El Hamdaoui.
Overlaps on Ebicilio and receives through ball. Attempts cross into box and wins corner
17’ Throw-in played short to Eriksen, receives ball back and plays pass again to Eriksen
- 18’-22’ Break in ESPN coverage! -
23’ Receives square ball from Eriksen. Beats one player with simple approach as before: little knock + pace then drops shoulder and flicks ball past a second player. Storming towards penalty area, squares ball to De Jong (De Jong passes to El Hamdaoui who shoots over)
25’ Intercepts ball on edge of own area and plays short pass to El Hamdaoui. After playing pass; bombs up field but possession is lost: is not in position when ball comes to Excelsior player Fernandez but Ebicilio is covering: gives away free kick however
27’ Receives pass out of defence (from Anita) whilst in opposition half and plays square pass to Eriksen
Attempts tackle on Fernandez. Unsuccessful. Also does not really close down quick enough beforehand
28’ Is beaten to the ball in the air by Fernandez. But Excelsior striker heads wide. Is positioned slightly too far away from Fernandez when cross is played in
29’ Receives pass from Ebicilio and plays forward pass to Eriksen. Triangle.
31’ Should perhaps close down Roorda when approaching penalty area but does not and subsequent cross into box wins corner for Excelsior
32’ Receives pass from Anita and sprints over halfway line. Plays ball across to Eriksen
Loses header with Fernandez but ball returns straight back to Ajax
33’ Receives pass from Ebicilio, attempts forward pass to El Hamdaoui but target is outmuscled by Excelsior defender
34’ Receives square ball from Vertonghen and passes forward to Ebicilio. Bombs on to give option for 1-2. Not taken.
35’ Receives pass back from Vertonghen and plays it back again to Alderweireld
Receives pass back from Eriksen and gives it straight back
38’ Pass received from Alderweireld and played straight back
Receives pass from Anita but miscontrols ball and concedes a throw in
39’ Similar cross-field pass received from Anita along the floor. Attempts forward pass to Ebicilio who cannot get on the end of it. Goal kick to Excelsior.
41’ Concedes foul and his booked for challenge on Lagouireh. Free kick in good area for opposition but booking seems harsh.
42’ From resulting play, he heads ball out of area but falls straight to opposition player
Later phase of player, stands up Lagouireh but cannot prevent cross being played into area
44’ Receives pass back from Ebicilio deep in opposition half, plays back to Anita as ball is worked round
Intercepts an attempted through ball, Anita picks it up
45+1’ Intercepts ball near halfway line and passes short to Anita
Halftime
50’ Receives simple pass from Vertonghen but miscontrols and concedes throw-in
51’ Takes a throw-in short to Anita, receives ball again and plays back to Vertonghen
52’ Pass received square from Vertonghen, plays it forward to El Hamdaoui
53’ Tackles Roland Bergkamp (Dennis’s nephew) and puts ball out for a throw in the process
56’ Wins ball on halfway line in tussle with Excelsior player
57’ Receives pass from Sulejmani, plays one-two with Ebicilio then passes back to Vertonghen
58’ Square pass received from Anita, attempts through ball to Eriksen but does not find target. Wins ball back from opposition though and passes back to Alderweireld
59’ Receives short pass from Eriksen and plays across to Vertonghen
60’ Wins free kick in own area after being pushed
Receives pass from Vertonghen, plays it to Eriksen, continues run forward but doesn’t receive ball again
62’ Receives short pass back from Ebicilio, kicks it long up field and concedes possession but wins ball from Lagouireh afterwards. Making up for an error for a second time. Plays ball short to El Hamdaoui and continues run forward
64’ Takes short throw-in square to Eriksen, receives ball back and plays behind to Vertonghen
65’ Receives ball from Alderweireld and plays it back inside to Vertonghen
66’ Intercepts ball from Lagouireh but cannot keep hold of it – is unlucky, Lagouireh eventually gets shot on target, rebound falls to Roorda who goes very close.
