More questions than answers.
This was Ajax Cape Town coach Roger de Sa’s blunt assessment of the current state of his team following Saturday night’s 4-0 drubbing at Orlando Pirates. The result brought to an end one of the worst weeks in the club’s history after they were also put away 4-2 by Wits last Wednesday.
Ajax looked like a second-rate team in both those matches, with only a screamer from Nazeer Allie and a Noah Sadaoui penalty saving some of the team’s blushes against the Clever Boys.
Ajax don’t have a lot of time to turn things around before facing AmaZulu at Cape Town Stadium tomorrow night (kickoff 7.30pm). Another defeat could see them drop outside the top eight after occupying second place in the standings for quite a few weeks this season.
On Saturday night, Ajax never really looked like scoring, due to a lack of creatively and a shortage of thrust from midfield. The intensity they had at the start of the campaign has gone missing.
And, when your defensive effort, especially from set pieces, has gone pear-shaped, then it is really a miserable state of affairs.
The Urban Warriors have only scored four goals in their last seven matches, while they have conceded three-times as many – 12 – during that period.
Injuries and suspensions haven’t helped, but some of the regulars have lost form and some of the new faces haven’t quite cut the mustard as yet.
But while Ajax have had a massive dip in form following their best start to a league season, Pirates have come good at this crucial and congested part of the season before the Christmas break.
And the gulf in class between the two teams was there for all to see at Orlando Stadium.
“We tried to hold out for about 60 minutes or so, but it was going to be difficult and in the end we had to give in and it showed,” De Sa said after the defeat at Pirates.
“They were a lot better than us on the night, and individually they were a lot better. So we got what we deserved tonight.”
The likes of Lehlohonolo Majoro, who scored a brace, and second-half substitute Kermit Erasmus, who scored one himself, showed their quality with great movement upfront. And after Ajax had to chase the game after the first goal, Pirates exploited the space and got in behind the Cape side’s defence.
It’s something De Sa’s men couldn’t do, and the coach bemoaned that fact afterwards.
“I thought we would turn them a lot more, but we couldn’t get in behind them,” the Ajax coach said. “So we weren’t getting any runners. We tried to make a few changes to improve on that, but it didn’t work.”
Pirates took the lead through a comical Anssi Jaakkola own goal after Majoro was left unmarked at a corner. Defender Siyabonga Sangweni also scored the third goal from a corner, as Ajax’s defence seemed to forget how dangerous he is from set pieces and left him unmarked in the penalty area.
“I thought the defence let me down. Again defending the set pieces was very bad, very amateurish. It is something we have been working on for some time,” De Sa said. “After this match we have a lot more questions than answers right now.
“This is a young team and we have to keep on working and try to improve.” - Cape Times