Pass-Pass
Everyone recalls the 80th minute Golasa scorcher from two weeks ago at the AFAS. One of the things that people don’t remember is the fact that Maccabi didn’t open up the second half well leading to Alkmaar controlling the ball more than the Yellow & Blue especially during the 60-75th minutes when AZ was in charge for 53% of the time. The same is true about the Dutch side’s passing and successful actions between the 45th and 75th minutes when their percentages were higher than Maccabi’s.
The change over the course of the final quarter hour occurred when Dor Micha and Nosa Igibeor replaced winger Tal Ben Chaim and Gal Alberman. With the introduction of the pair, Maccabi’s accuracy rate improved with Micha being successful on 14/17 (82%) passes and Igibeor 15/16 (94%). Take a look for yourself at the graph with Maccabi being shown in blue. Take note of the massive improvement in the last 15 minutes of the match.
van den Brom’s Ace
Interesting fact – During our stay in Holland we spoke with one of the local taxi drivers about the match and asked him who he thought was Alkmaar’s most dangerous player. To our surprise he didn’t mention Fred Friday or Wout Weghorst but striker Robert Muhren who ended up scoring the goal for AZ.
The 27-year old Muhren has not been frequently featured by the coach and has played less than 20 minutes per match in most cases. However, the Dutchman is in terrific shape scoring four goals in the past four matches all coming off of the bench. Muhren is a classic striker, one that scores with one touch, has a fabulous head game (which we learned about first hand) and surprisingly is a master of free kicks. Just ask Sheran Yeini at Vitesse Arnhem who gave up a goal in the 87th minute to Muhren.
Extreme right
Eli Dasa played very well in Alkmaar and with a bit of luck could have recorded an assist. At the AFAS Stadion, Dasa was part of a threesome which included Haris Medunjanin and Oscar Scarione that made over 50 passes together. Dasa’s average location on the pitch was much higher up and he took part in 33 attacking plays while also delivering the majority of the crosses into the box (four, one of which found Kjartansson). Dasa was also the player who sent Golasa the pass that led to the midfielder’s goal.
Similar to Alkmaar’s defensive back Haps, the fact that Dasa played much of the match in the AZ area meant that the majority of the time when he turned over the ball it was in the host’s area of the pitch (two in Maccabi’s and six in AZ’s) which is better than losing the ball in his own half.
