Ajax did not look so convincing or maybe Feyenoord put in some good pressure in the second half. FC Twente looked very good and not only Tadic. The whole team looked like an oiled machine. Will be funny to hear Aad de Mos soon. Utrecht has lost the plot. Positive football is ruling a bit? FC Zwolle, FC Twente, Ajax, PSV, AZ, Cambuur, Heracles but also FC Groningen are looking brand themselves as attacking side's. Really attractive season is on the way.
Playing surface was terrible, huge amounts of grass coming up when players tried to pivot. Feyenoord did put more pressure on in the second half but the Ajax defense held firm. Ajax still haven't figured out how to create chances in the attacking third. they don't have enough spacing to move the ball in the midfield and teams just pack back and let the central defenders pass the ball around. Bojan Kirkic is proving to be the worst spending of €s since the transfer of Sulejmani. Fortunately it's only a loan and only for one year. Maybe he figures out what is required of him but right now after three games, I would rather see Andersen on the right wing.
Only 3 games so a little early BUT PSV look like the best of the bunch--their lineup has a lot of talent and they are playing up to it --I want to see PEC Zwolle play a contender --they must be considered the surprise after 3 games Ajax has a lot of talent but like last year are still figuring things out--Feyenoord looks like they are still in traing camp mode I've only seen Twente on highlites and they look like a pretty good squad as well AZ have a better team this year even with the loss of Maher and Jozy--I predict they will definitely be there in the top 4 if they don't lose too many players--- they actually also have a little depth this year---(the keeper is my biggest worry--kind of sloppy) We need the supposed top teams playing each other --so far only AZ-Ajax and Twente-Feyenoord, and now Ajax Feyenoord--to get a better read on where things are headed
I've still not figured out whether there is just gross mismanagement at the club or what. Look at the quality players they have lost over the past three years. They have a decent size stadium and the supporters are good.
I forgot about Mulenga, who has quality's as well. The midfield of Utrecht is not that bad and Ayoub is a little gem. It's defense and that could use improvement and an extra quality striker would be nice as well.
He was part of a group (Tannane being the main culprit) that repeatedly slapped another youth player on the back of the head until he had a concussion. Did some other bad things as well.
That's why it was stupid to fall back/let Ajax push them back, instead of keeping the play with space behind the defense. Ajax is at their strongest when they can play combination in the attacking third but not when they have to play fast forward.
[R] . . . . Looks like there may only be three Dutch teams in European competition. Veerry poor... Feyenoord is under pressure at Krasnodar, and currently down 1-0 Meanwhile AZ is leading 0-1 at Athens
Oke so far Eredivisie is very exciting. A lot of teams that aim to make plays, instead of holding the other team off. This is the ranking so far: Looking at everybody's opponents so far: PEC Zwolle obviously being the surprise. Leading the table. Props to Ron and his predecessor Langeler. Play attractive football. Feyenoord needed the points and got them. PSV slipped after a European game which is likely to happen and Ajax gave away a 2-0 lead. Let's look at some team stats after having witnessed 4 rounds of football: First some discipline numbers: FC Twente not dishing it out, FC Groningen today added 2 reds, 1 for an elbow (and rightly so). Have not seen much shocking stuff so far, or maybe I have missed something. Next the Possession percentages: As expected, Ajax on top. NEC who fired their coach already all the way down. Plan B football somewhere in the middle and not the refreshing PSV on 2, but number 3 having to let Twente take the second spot on this number. Vitesse was a counter club last season (though far less so at home IIRC) and take the fourth spot, AZ not far away. Moving on. Pass accuracy: Heerenveen very low, but they just played Ajax and the sample size is still small. They could be a very dangerous counter tam against the top team. I would not say they are a counter team as I have seen enough plays from them last season and I think this season as well, that would not make me use that label yet. Here is the shots per game stat: FC Twente dominating this stat and continue to do so with shots on target. Luc is a dissonance in that team and waists a lot for them. Their stumping of Utrecht boosted his and FC twente's stats, but they need a proper striker or one that can finally kick those chances in the goal. Then they would be a big force. Feyenoord bit low for a top club, no wonder they wanted Armenteros. Next up is a stat I wanted to leave out, but then I noticed something: Ajax draw the least amount of fouls, while PSV sits on top. Dribbles play their part in this stat and that on itself is interesting as well. Moving on to the goal types so far per team: And there we have it. Zwolle scoring a lot and almost all from open play. Shows part of the reason why people love them. Ajax is actually strong in set pieces so far. If Eriksen stays and de Jong comes back, this will probably continue to be a strong point of Ajax. Here are some stats on pass types: Long balls should be something Feyenoord is leading in and they sit on a second place indeed. At Vitesse Janssen is probably doing his thing, Roda using it the least. That can be a negative thing if it concerns the "wisselpass" as it is an important weapon, but they are fifth in the ranking so they do fine for now. Short passing then: On top no strange, but Heracles is maybe a bit surprising to see them so low? New post as I can only use 10 pics at a time.
Who plays most on the opponents half? FC Twente actually. Not PSV as maybe many expected. Ajax is criticized for having uninteresting possession a lot, but they are not that far from PSV. In the middle: FC Twente here very low. Finally the teams having it the least at the back: All in all just some numbers that could expose some characteristics of the teams. Cheers
Good stuff. Will be interesting to see the difference between now, halfway and at the end of the season.
The Ajax passing accuracy means nothing as they against Heerenveen for instance played most of the time in possession the ball back to the defenders and these to each other. It would be more interesting to see how many passes forwards are successful.
LOL, nothing has changed from last season. I think Moisander and Alderwiereld have the most passes received and sent; this is not a recipe for success. Things won't really change much until the midfield is fixed.
That's nuthin mate : you should see our passing stat when we play Italian teams ...( but just don't look at the final scoreline...)