All right, here is the new thread. If you don't like the title, change it. Continuing the commentary from the previous thread about whether Ajax has lost its way or not, my response is not. We are training new players and ones that will see a lot of first team action. We have six players on the Dutch U-17 team that will be playing shortly. Our reserve team is at the top of the table and there are some exciting U-20s who are under contract to the team and will contribute moving forward. Will we challenge for the Champions League in the future? Probably not, that is difficult for any non big four team to do because of budgetary problems. However, we also need to see where the current economic problems shake out across Europe (and elsewhere). We could see teams with huge player salary lines run into financial difficulty. We may not win the Eredivisie this season (AZ is playing wonderfully right now and we need to see them slip up at some point in time). Could we slip to third behind Twente? That's a possibility. However, I think Van Basten has a plan moving forward. Regarding the transfer of players. Ajax have made a lot of money on transfers over the past five years (in fact one could argue that they made out like bandits with the Maduro, Babel, and Sneijder transfers). Also, I think defensively this is one of the best teams they have ever had. There is bite in the midfield and they are in every match they have played (even beating NEC while a man down).
Re: Ajax....the Growing Power I agree with pretty much everything you've said here. It seems that it's taken Ajax more than a decade to understand how the post-Bosman world works. In a pre-Bosman world, players like Maduro, de Jong, VdV and Babel would have stuck around longer. And, while it's not setting the bar particularly high, Marco van Basten is the best manager we've had since Co left. He's no Rinus Michels yet, but he's turned out a lot better than I expected, and will continue to do so.
Some of my comments on this: the NEC game was wildly entertaining and if Ajax could play with that enthusiasm all the time they would be fine---but sometimes it looks like they have no real leadership out there--my opinion The economics of running an expensive team means you have to play in Europe--preferably Champions league--just to break even--but this is changing and they are letting a lot of teams into Champions league so even some success will translate into big $$--I cannot see any Dutch club getting to the final 4 anymore AZ is like Oranje--I have stayed silent because they guys always find some way of choking--so its not over yet--but Twente look pretty solid also--I'll fly into Alkmaar for May-10 against Vitesse if we get there--but these guys seem to find some way of blowing it every year Prices for TOP players will continue to explode--what you got for Sniejder was fair--Babel as well--the best teams can afford the great players and will pay--its kind of stupid really--look at who sits on the bench on the very best teams--these guys are stars I am not sure about Van Basten--why did they not grab Van Gaal again?? Finally--they are still the glamor team in Holland--even though PSV has won it the last 3 years ---but its all about $$$ and good management and Ajax has $$$$ but I'm not sure they have the latter for the last little while and with Van Basten I'm not convinced either
I am confident that AZ is going to win the title, because van Basten is the Ajax coach. He has an unbelievable ability to put the wrong man in the wrong place in the wrong time. Did you notice his line up and then substitutions in the Groningen match? Unbelievable, so stupid. If I was the Ajax coach, the line up I would put in place would use the capabilities the players of Ajax have to the utmost effectiveness. Thanks to my comments van Basterd now puts Urby in the place where he belongs (unfortunately), but thank God he manages to put ..... Okay, I'm not stepping into the same trap giving that idiot insight in how to use his players as he should do. I loved Ten Cate to as an Ajax coach as he did the stupid thing to make Huntelaar do things he couldnot, thus limiting his scoring power.
Ahhh the number of posts per person in the last thread. aka I'm the biggest loser. But I like to pretend I am the winner.
Just to make clear, I never said you had budget problems. I said that you won't make (much) money on transfers out of the players you've bought over the past 18 months, apart from probably Suarez. Your club hasn't invested in the future, they've invested in quick fixes. This combined with the fact that you don't own your own stadium and that you (like all other Dutch clubs) have no chance of catching up with European elite, tells me that you're stagnating. Which again in combination with the fact that other clubs in the eredivisie are growing their revenues tells me that your position as a top club in the Netherlands will get increasingly unstable. It is my belief (and that of many, many others who know more about football than me) that the end of the traditional top 3 is near, if it isn't already, seeing the current league table. The old Ajax would have laughed about an away game against NEC, and would have looked down on winning games through fighting spirit rather than on footballing superiority. Surely you've all noticed how things have changed. As I've told you all before I'm not stupid and can look at this from the perspective of someone who wants the best for Dutch football in general. And from that perspective, I hope to god that youll sack Van Basten sooner rather than later, along with that entire field hockey loving board of directors of yours, torch the Arena and build a new De Meer. Get Ajax back to what it once was, a proud club that played attacking football no matter who the opponent was with home-grown youngsters with lots of attitude and personality and a manager who contrary to Van Basten encouraged attitude in his players rather than discourage it. I almost miss the Amsterdamse bluf, and if you don't know what that is ask AFCA. I still wouldn't like you mind but I'd forgive you for your arrogance as you would indeed have something to be proud about.
I certainly don't think you are stupid! I confess to not having attended any match at the Arena but the look of it leaves me cold. It's too much like the multipurpose stadiums that were built here in the US 30 or so years ago. Some of those have now been torn down and replaced despite having usable life in them. Most of this was the need for luxury boxes that could be sold for very high prices. Only a few teams in the US own their own stadiums; most get revenues from the city that built it. When I did my post-doctoral fellowship in Utrecht in the late 1970s I regularly went up to Amsterdam to attend Ajax matches with my relatives who lived there. Totally wonderful experience (just wish I had been a few years earlier to see Cruyff). I think you will be seeing more home grown players coming on to the first team for Ajax. Remember that we always had the occasional foreigner (Litamen was an integral part of the Van Gaal teams) in past days. In the post Bosman world things are very much different.
Of course, a lot has changed and Ajax has to change with the times. I just think they've lost the things that used to make the club special. There seems to be no respect for the old Ajax football culture and that comes from way up, the board of directors, in my view. They seem to be interested only in the business aspect of things. And Van Basten's ego doesn't seem to help things much either. You might still win the league mind, as AZ of course have a history of choking. But that would only gloss over things. Truth is AZ have not been playing that well, not in recent weeks in any case, we all know PSV have been rubbish all season, and Twente while playing to their potential should on the basis of the quality of their players have no chance of getting anywhere near Ajax. If Ajax can't win the league now, I don't think you will for the next five years to be honest. Unless you get a different management team and coaching staff.
Check out: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/column...ot=europe&lpos=spotlight&lid=tab1pos2&cc=5901 a good argument why teams should invest more in youth academies. Near the end is a good paragraph on Ajax (though several errors about players who really were not youth products such as Huntelaar).
Google News Search Headlines of the Day. Ajax Set To Keep Leonardo New Deal For van der Wiel Ajax Banish Evander Sno To Reserves
Why? I don't get this...he looks lost out there and is extremely inconsistent...*sigh* WooHooo!!!! Great news...Gregory is going to be one of the staples of the Ajax defence for many years to come! To be honest...this signing left me scratching my head over the summer. Yes...Sno used to be regarded as one of the best prospects in the world a few years ago, and now is relegated to the Ajax reserves. Maybe it was worth rolling the dice on him...but how much did MvB spend on him?
Alderweireld Renews Ajax Deal Tough for him being behind Vertonghen, Wielaert & Oleguer...But he's still very young and it seems that MvB is not afraid to let young guys supplant the vets if they show they deserve it (vdWiel took over Silvas spot).
Injury report vs Heerenveen I'd like to see something like this. Stek vdWiel--Oleguer--Wielaert--Vermaelen Gabri----Sulejmani----Lindgren Suarez----Cvitanich----Urby Big win today fellas!!!!
Anita is getting a start...Interesting. Stek vdWiel--Wielaert--Vermaelen--Schilder Gabri---Sulejmani---Anita Suarez--Cvitanich--Urby
Oh man Bereens with the stepovers and then Pranjic gets a rediculous amount of time & space to shoot wide....Close em down.