Ajax: The Drive For Five

Discussion in 'The Netherlands' started by Orange14, Jun 4, 2014.

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  1. gabriel_guilarte

    Aug 16, 2014
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
  2. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    This was an abomination. No way Ajax even deserves a draw in this match. The corner was gifted as van der Hoorn clearly headed the ball out of play. Credit to Sigthorrsson for winning a header and then slotting home the ball after Hahn couldn't control it. There were five minutes of good football at the beginning of the match followed by 85 minutes of absolutely dreadful football. For all of FdB's huffing and puffing this week, the team clearly is not prepared to play any semblance of football. Jurgen Klopp is leaving Dortmund in another month and the management staff would do well to just buy out FdB, send him on his way, and bring in a manager who has passion and knows how to get the best out of his players.

    I was busy getting some bread ready for baking at half time so I missed the PEC goal. Forgive any of the player ratings if someone was at blame on that one.

    Player ratings:

    Cillessen (7) - another solid match from the one who should be player of the year for the club; nobody else comes close to his consistency
    Viergever (5) - more comfortable on the inside but did have some good interventions
    Riedewald (4) - did he know he was not playing fullback? Should have been punished for the weak pass to Schöne that was intercepted and led to a 2 on 1 chance as he not only made a bad pass but was caught upfield
    Veltman (6.5) - only other player besides Cillessen that seemed to understand what was happening
    Tete (5.5) - wasn't threatened defensively and in the last 20 minutes did go forward
    Serero (4.5) - mediocre but good at drawing fouls which was the only positive on the day
    Klaassen (5) - average when he needed to be above average
    Bazoer (5.5) - really works hard but he is way too slow making passing decisions; I hope this doesn't prove to be a long term problem
    Andersen (2) - worst game of any Ajax player this season; never play him on the wing again (didn't I already say this last year????)
    Fischer (5) - good to see him get 60 minutes but he really was not anything special
    el Ghazi (5) - sure he is selfish at times but who else on this team attacks the goal (answer: nobody)
    Schöne (5.5) - understood what needed to be done and did shield the ball decently, but his really looking slow these days
    Sigthorrsson (6) - yes we have to give our plow horse a point for the goal!
    van der Hoorn (5) - desperate times call for desperation football and this means van der Hoorn up front for the final 10 minutes; how utterly exciting

    Well second place belongs to Ajax and an opportunity to play CL football next season. I truly hope that we will see a new manager as FdB has taken this team as far as he can and personally I think the players are so afraid of making mistakes that they cannot possibility play to their abilities. Ajax do the right thing and send FdB to the EPL and free our team to play real Ajax football.

    That's the rant for this week. I think we are spared watching this team next week as the cup final is scheduled.
     
    DRB300 repped this.
  3. Antario2

    Antario2 Member

    Jan 29, 2012
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Gudelj transfers from AZ to Ajax for 6m and signs a 5 year contract. First time in a while that the club brings in a midfielder at the start of his prime on a long term contract.

    However I do have some doubts, where will he play? Ajax needs a DM but Gudelj is a CM and his skill set is very similar to Klaassen. Also he is not a technical player who can play in confined spaces. Time will tell.
     
    JC-14 repped this.
  4. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Duarte? But of course we found out he was not as good as need plus plagued by injuries. I have doubts about Gudelj given the relative youth of all the other midfielders plus Nouri and van de Beek who are probably a year away from first team action. Maybe the club is stockpiling players for a CL run next year.
     
  5. Laurent75

    Laurent75 Member

    Aug 2, 2014
    The plan is to sell him in the two coming years
     
  6. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    How do you know this? Do you have a secret seat in the Ajax planning room?
     
  7. Laurent75

    Laurent75 Member

    Aug 2, 2014
    Ajax would only spend such an amount for a player they can sell and make benefit in the coming seasons. That's what they tried with Sulejmani, Cvitanich, Siggy...Has Ajax ever spent millions for a +24 yo player ? They waited for Schone to be transfer free before to sign him.

    + Gudelj said last year that he wanted to play in a top league, that's why you can almost be sure that Ajax is just another transit for him.

    It's not something bad though, better to have Gudelj for two seasons rather than Zimling or an unexperienced youngster again. That's the biggest problem Ajax had last years, very few 24-30 yo players.
     
  8. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    @Laurent75 - we'll see how this does turn out. Ajax track record on large signings is not very good.
     
  9. Laurent75

    Laurent75 Member

    Aug 2, 2014
    I think doing like Twente did with Tadic would be good. They bought him for 7,5mo, he had two great seasons where he lead the team, and they sold him for almost the double (it should be more ). Same happened for Strootman and Mertens at PSV (Mertens should be sold much more). If the same can happen with Gudelj at Ajax, then it's all benefit for everyone.

    I'm definitly for the AZ, Twente, Heerenveen, Utrecht...young talented players to transit at Ajax,PSV or Feyenoord before to leave for a big league.
    Vitesse has a particular state considering the politic of their team and the money they have, they don't sell to Ajax or PSV. And we all saw what happened to Van Ginkel who jumped directly in a big league instead of transiting to Ajax. I would like to see Propper or Kazaishvili signing for PSV or Feyenoord this summer but I doubt about it.

    Anyway, I think leaving the Eredivisie at 22-23-24 is the right age. 20-21 if you're Depay or Eriksen and already proved with a big eredivisie team isn't necessarly wrong. For Van Ginkel it was wrong, for Ola John as well in my opinion.

    Tadic and Mertens left at 26 because they stayed a bit too long with Groningen and Utrecht, same will probably happen with Gudelj.
     
  10. JC-14

    JC-14 Member+

    Jan 28, 2010
    Amsterdam
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    #1135 JC-14, May 7, 2015
    Last edited: May 7, 2015
    We had Schone, Sightorsson, Serero, Moisander, Zimling, Viergever, Cillessen who are all older than 24. It's not about age. It's about quality.

    Of course they want to sell Gudelj; they want to sell every player. But they do not buy players just to sell him within 2 years. They're paying this much because they're betting on Gudelj being an asset for the team as well as having resell value. I think they are overestimating both of these points. I'm not happy with this signing at all. I think he's a similar kind of player as Klaassen and Bazoer, just less talented. And knowing Frank de Boer he will probably play all 3 of them at the same time.
     
    Orange14 repped this.
  11. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Money quote of the day!!
    EDIT: JC-14 forgot to add one of FdB's favorite signings, Theo Janssen who was utterly worthless as an Ajax player.
     
  12. Laurent75

    Laurent75 Member

    Aug 2, 2014
    Siggy, Serero and Cillessen were less than 24 when they came .Schone, Moisander and Viergever were free or had one year of contract, Ajax didn't have to pay anything big.

    Cilessen, Schone and Moisander have been globally good with Ajax, we cannot really contest their presence in the team, Serero and Viergever have been ok so far, not that good and not bad. Siggy could have done better without his injuries.

    I don't think that any of these transfers was initially bad, just like for El Hamdaoui, Janssen or De Zeeuw , they became bad because of the wrong gestion of the team, and because of De Boer. El Hamdaoui had scored two important goals against Kyiv and Milan in CL before De Boer to reject him.

    I would consider a very bad transfer to be Sana, even if he didn't cost anything significant, he was brought and played CL games while he obviously didn't have the level for that. He was no one in Sweden and he is still no one. But bringing players from AZ, Twente etc. who proved good things there is something logical. The only one player who had proved good things with his previous team but showed he isn't good enough for Ajax is Van Der Hoorn.

    Otherwise Janssen, De Zeeuw and El Hamdaoui weren't bad with Ajax, they were not used in the right way or had problems with De Boer . De Boer wanted to use Janssen as a pure DM while he is obviously more a distributor. He was absolutly great for Twente during their CL adventure against Inter and Werder I remember his games, so it's not his level which was the problem.

    Now there are good chances that De Boer spoils Gudelj as well
     
  13. Jalepinho

    Jalepinho Member

    Aug 18, 2014
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    wait why is everyone assuming FdB is returning next season? there still a chance he could be moving to a newcastle or a liverpool. i'm keeping my hopes up!

    and btw, Napoli tied Dnipro at home. that makes me feel abit better about ajax poor result vs Dnipro...
     
  14. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    It looks like Ajax have offered van der Vaart a one year contract for next season. We'll see if he accepts (cannot see him getting any offer from a big time club at this point given his age). He still can score goals but I doubt whether he's a 90 minute player any longer. Will he be the type of steadying hand that Andre Oojier was?
     
  15. Antario2

    Antario2 Member

    Jan 29, 2012
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Doubtful as Van der Vaart always struggled with a lack of discipline and drive in both his personal life and career. Not really a man I'd like to see as a guide for players at the start of their careers.
     
    Orange14 repped this.
  16. JC-14

    JC-14 Member+

    Jan 28, 2010
    Amsterdam
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    I would love to have Vdv at Ajax. The kids wouldn't believe how skillful Van der Vaart is. And in a slow league like the Eredivisie Raffie would have it easy. He's also the kind of player that we're lacking. A player that you can always pass the ball to and expect him to be able to hold on to it and create. I just don't see it happening unfortunately.
     
    TFC Ajax repped this.
  17. JC-14

    JC-14 Member+

    Jan 28, 2010
    Amsterdam
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    You said we didn't have enough players in the 24-30 years old age group. I'm saying we have quite a few. No matter how old they were when they were signed or how much they cost. Also, PSV on average was probably younger this season.
     
  18. JC-14

    JC-14 Member+

    Jan 28, 2010
    Amsterdam
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    This guy, ProHulst0sTV, makes great compilations. He focusses just on skills and football with no shitty video editing. And he has made a lot of compilations of Ajax youth players as well.

    Here's one about central defender (or defending midfielder) Matthijs de Ligt who has been making an impression this season. Very versatile player.

     
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  19. Brilliant Dutch

    Brilliant Dutch Member+

    Ajax
    Netherlands
    Oct 14, 2013
    Amsterdam, Holland
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    Dnipro up 1-0.
    Looks like Ajax might have lost to the EL finalists.

    That makes me feel a bit better
     
  20. thatkid

    thatkid Member

    Jun 21, 2010
    Netherlands
    Club:
    --other--
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    It's too bad that they want to turn him into a defender now.. He is much better on the midfield.
     
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  21. Ceres

    Ceres Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    Aarhus, Denmark
    Club:
    AGF Aarhus
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    It took plenty of years, but the young winger Pione Sisto has now finally turned 20 and become a Danish citizen and was called up for the Danish NT straight away ... Danish NT coach Morten Olsen regard him to be as big a talent as Eriksen, if not bigger.

     
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  22. Ceres

    Ceres Member+

    Jan 18, 2004
    Aarhus, Denmark
    Club:
    AGF Aarhus
    Nat'l Team:
    Denmark
    #1147 Ceres, May 22, 2015
    Last edited: May 22, 2015
    Regarding Pione Sisto, then he was excellent in the first half of this season for FC Midtjylland, but he was unfortunately injured most of 2015 before he then returned for the top clash against FC København 5 days ago and practically secured the Danish Championship for FC Midtjylland by scoring this goal :



    ... and as written, he was then called up for the Danish NT, for the next Euro qualifier against Serbia ... a few weeks ago he was also granted permission by FIFA to play for Denmark at the U21 Euro Finals, though he obviously did not play in the qualifiers, because his citizenship was pending .. Sisto came to Denmark when he was only two month old, but it's highly difficult to obtain a Danish citizenship, so this has been a long hard battle for him, but now he can move abroad, not losing his chance to play for Denmark..
    .
     
  23. roxbury

    roxbury Member+

    Apr 27, 2004
    Nicolai Boilesen to Trabzonspor. rumour I saw at twitter.

    regards,
     
  24. Orange14

    Orange14 Moderator
    Staff Member

    Apr 27, 2007
    Bethesda, MD
    Club:
    AFC Ajax
    Nat'l Team:
    Netherlands
    So they are going to pay big €s for a player who has never played a full season without suffering pretty bad leg injuries?
     
  25. roxbury

    roxbury Member+

    Apr 27, 2004
    Hi Oranje14,

    Well, I dunno about it. As a neutral myself;

    All I heard is;
    Trabzonspor recent two season made a huge players signs…
    It seems they continue same trend. Beside,this season league rule changed. foreign spots become very wide. 14 players can be at the squad.

    I assume they will sign more on…

    They sign new sportive director, whom scouts Netherlands ,Belgium etc very well they say…

    I heard usual they find interesting talents some are well known some are not.

    It seems this time for them a hard gamble.

    Regards,
     

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