I think pushing Beek to the back position is a mistake. At the end he had a nice assist on Manu, but he is prone to making mistakes there. Also with U21 he made a blunder on the back position. He is a center defender. Kongolo had his first bad game since a long time. Could be that Mathijsen is making everybody nervous. Rutten is responsible to play the experience card. Would a center of Beek-Kongolo have resulted in conceding less goals? Mathijsen looked awful these past 2 games. Not only with mistakes, but also the way he deals with making mistakes, blaming others. I really dislike that trait in people. Nelom is mediocre. I hope Woudenberg steps up. Saw him 1 time with U17 or U19 I think. Looked pretty nice in that game. I don't know with Boulah and Mathijsen. The first one prone to injury and kicking off by scoring an own goal. Just feel that with a young but capable partnership of Beek and Kongolo it would have gone better. The lack of options on the back position is a problem. That is why Beek and Kongolo are pushed out wide often, while you throw something potentially good away. Midfield Clasie with cramp. His old problem, not having enough juice. I know he played a WC and I can understand, just a pity he has no real buffer in this area. Vilhena becomes suspect for me. I saw a Turkish player press him and he was clueless how to solve it. Turn away or do a trick. None. He got an easy free kick, but Vilhena's football must go up more. Had no real impact in the game. Boëtius played 2 horrible games. Checked out for these 2 games. Very disappointing. Glad Louis did not take him to the WC and for now Depay is ahead of him. Immers is Immers. Wonder if Karsdorp can become a threat to him. Immers is like the canary in the coalmine. Nobody underrates hard work. That being said. As long as he runs on midfield with that going for him, things are not what they should be. Te Vrede offered little and Manu created a penalty in the first leg, now scored in the second leg. Why is Manu so shut out? I remember him also doing well in a game vs Heerenveen a while ago as striker. Just give this guy a shot at striker position. It irks me that a guy with some speed is again disqualified for a center position. His speed made that goal. Vilhena might develop a through ball on him during the season (yes he does have that one in his locker). I am sure people can come up with things that he is not, like being a good header or something, but he makes up for it in different ways. Manu made some thing happen and that is 10 times better than a dead body up front waiting for the perfect ball. Mulder must be challenged this year. Very disappointed with the result.
When I see the current dutch teams I wonder if one will pass the EL group stage this year. What is Twente doing ? In the past they always used to bring good players. Sold Elia for 9mo ? Brought Ruiz for 5mo from Gent where he already had some good reputation. Sold John 9mo ? Brought Tadic for 7,5 mo. Sold L. De Jong 11mo ? Brought Castaignos for 6 mo. Janssen went to Ajax ? They brought Fer for 5mo. They were always keeping quality in their squad and we saw it in europe. But now Tadic left for 13mo and they brought a danish guy from Aalborg who cost about 2mo. Let's to see before to judge him, but I'm not really feeling it. Last year they brought Corona for 4mo and he wasn't even good enough to be with the senior team. Probably Promes and Castaignos will also move, I wonder who Twente will bring with all the money...
Not bad but I would rather see Toornstra there. The problem is in attack, considering that Promes and Castaignos will leave. Mokhtar, Corona, Kusk and Borven, that's not enough to do more than the EL group stage. People don't realize what a difference you have with an attack Tadic-Castaignos-Promes. That's the problem of dutch football, that they sell players is considered as normal for me, but they should replace them with as much quality as possible every time. Fans cannot and shouldn't accept to suscribe to the stadium if the club isn't doing any financial effort to attract good players. Twente was doing good before, they were making some benefits with selling but were bringing serious players. Now the gap between Tadic and Kusk seems to be a bit too big for me, even if the danish guy had a promising season with his club, scoring 12 goals in 32 games. But Tadic was just too productive, if they cannot have a player like him next season I won't be surprised if they don't get the eredivisie top 5. Tadic contributed easily in 60 % of their goals the two last seasons. An attack Tadic-Castaignos-Promes is quite strong, that can be the attack of Lazio, Sociedad or Everton. You can get EL semi finals with that line. But when you have Mokhtar-Kusk-Borven few months later, you become more like Heerenveen or Molde, and you can be satisfied with reaching the EL group stages.
@Lauren75 - your post is bizzare. You are aware that Twente no longer have Tadic or Promes. Why write in the present tense?
@Orange14 I have no problem reading it. Laurent is just contrasting one attacking line up vs the one that is now shaping up. @Laurent75 Promes was pretty cheap as well. Elia in the past. Chadli? Twente is good in buying wingers with potential for cheap, make them effective with their cross and delivery and then selling off for a good price. The problem is that a FC Twente would make losses over 2010, 2011 and 2012 in case they did not reach CL and/or make transfer profits. They tried to close the gap with the top, buying many players and offering them a salary that is expected from a "topclub". The stadium expansion resulted in interest expenses, while the crisis lead to less sponsor money and having to pay crisis tax. Twente needed to sell players, needed to make a deal with the Doyen group to quickly solve their liquidity problem and used future TV money now to cut back on the high mortgage to reduce the interest they were paying. With the millions from Tadic+Promes they can further speed up take the stadium repayment, creating a situation with a healthy cash flow for the club again. This must all lead to a situation where FC Twente without CL or transfer money still make a profit. Ajax is on the same page already. FC Twente might have spin off the road, but their idea is good. It's not moving towards more risk, but creating a steady stream of money, year in, year out. With this in mind, they can defend their actions. As long as their long term aim is to enhance the financial solidity of the club, fans will understand. Entitled fans end up with a broken heart. Ask Rangers fans. At the end of the day, the numbers must add up. Not so far from now FC Twente can probably say no again to many clubs wanting to buy their players. Clubs must first become independent from transfer income to keep players. If a club is under constant stress over an incoming loss for the year, as they needed CL football or score or the transfer market, then their negotiation position is weak. Players and "hostile club" know that Twente need to sell. So trying to move away from that situation is good IMO.
Yes I forgot Chadli. I was worried about this player coming from the 2nd division but he was really good in my opinion. Maybe that danish guy they just brought will also be really good. About your last paragraph, I don't know, you may be right and seem to be pretty well informed about the economical situation but for the moment I see it with extern eyes and worry a bit. I have the impression that dutch clubs are just money machines, and that something is hidden behind all this. I may be paranoid but what other league in the world in acting like the dutch league currently ? Even among poor ones, it's just strange that Salzburg spends more money in transfer periods than Ajax.
PSV, Twente and Feyenoord seeded for the EL draw tomorrow, Zwolle not. Here are the teams that PSV Twente and Feyenoord may play against with my personnal feeling : To avoid : FK Krasnodar (RUS) = Good team with some talented brazilian players Petrolul (ROM) = Beat Vitesse last year and just destroyed Viktoria Plzen 4-1 away Dinamo Minsk (BLR) = Is dominating the league ahead BATE, looks strong. Shakytor Soligorsk (BLR) = Beat Zulte Waregem 5-2, looks dangerous. Not good, not bad : Rostov (RUS), Grasshopers (SWI), Debrecen (HUN), Ruch Chorzaw (POL), ,Omonia Nicosia (CYP), AEL Limassol (CYP), Apollon Limassol (CYP), Aktobe (KAZ), Hajduk Split (CRO), Rijeka (CRO), Asteras Tripolis (GRE), Neftchi Baku (AZE), Qarabag (AZE), Karabukspor (TUR), Midtylland (DEN), Zorya (UKR), Astra Giurgu (ROM). To take : Astana (KAZ), Helsinki (FIN), Lokeren (BEL), Elfsborg (SWE), RNK Split (CRO), Starjan (ICE), Trnava (SLK), Zimbru (MOL).
Eredivisie is a financial desert. Netherlands is a country that does not take financial discipline with a grain of salt. It is far from perfect, but when Europe was collapsing Netherlands was one of the country's keeping things floating. Kundus agreement happened and clubs had to pay a lot of money for the crisis tax. The country's with big leagues that can still attract many sponsors and get much TV money live in a different reality as many Dutch clubs. The country's with leagues in similar circumstances as Netherlands that just go on doing business as usual will feel it soon enough. There is also proof that there is nothing to be suspicious about. Quite some Dutch clubs have gone bankrupt. Like Haarlem and Veendam for example. They don't do that for fun. It's a tragedy for those communities. NAC struggles. Feyenoord needed the friends of Feyenoord. PSV needed a financial restructuring of tens of millions with help from local government. Even despite the financial discipline the water is still at many clubs lips. Tough times. That is why the nurture and education model is more popular than ever. It's the only sustainable model, but it takes time to master the finesses. This is a transition period that might take longer than people think. I remain saying that to keep a team longer together a club must fight itself up to a situation where they do not need to sell. Being independent from reaching Europa or profits from transfers. Doing that while also being competitive is really hard. The only way for Dutch clubs to really grow is to own and exploit their own stadium, but that takes a lot of money. Look at Arsenal not being really competitive during the repayment of the Emirates. They have at least healthy (increasing) income to build a new stadium, for many Dutch clubs this is already a step too far.
@DRB - excellent post! I know that Twente own their stadium but how many other Dutch clubs also own theirs? Ajax own the training ground but not the Arena. Certainly this would help earnings but as long as the television money is so low, I don't see a way forward.
Well, at least PSV made Europa. Barely beating some unknown Austrian team though, but at least they made it
EL Playoff Draw: Zwolle - Sparta Praha (tough one for Ron Jans team) Quarabag - FC Twente (trip to Azerbajain lies ahead) Feyenoord - Zorya (have no clue at all about this Ukrainian team) PSV - Shaktyor (Belarus team) Would be happy to see three out of four progress and maybe Zwolle can surprise.
Thank you for your post DRB About he EL draw, PSV should be very serious to beat Shakytor, they are a tone above St Polten. Feyenoord-Zorya, they finished 7th in the ukrainian league, I went to check their squad, I know only few players by name. Feyenoord should absolutly get the group stages this year after having being unable to do it last years. I consider this as a good draw. Twente-Qarabag. Twente already beat them in 2009 but the azeri team changed quite much in few years. They brought some brazilian players and they have a dutch former : Leroy Georges. Also they almost resised to Salzburg last week in CL, winning 2-1 the first game but losing 2-0 the return. Not an easy draw for Twente. Zwolle quite lucky to get Sparta Praha while they could take Inter, Tottenham...Maybe they can surprise indeed.
Zorya Luhansk - Feyenoord will probably* be played in Kiev, and not in Luhansk, because we dont want to die. *almost certainly
^^Has the Ukrainian league even started yet? I wonder about the future. BTW I think the map you show is wrong as it still shows Crimea as part of Ukraine.
Ukraine league started last weekend, and 'seemingly' (not much info i can find to confirm), Luhansk played their opening game, home game, also in Kiev instead in Luhansk. Not a suprisise.. But still nice to know asap we are not going to that region. (though i would have liked to not play in that country at all)
Kostic from Groningen moving to Stuttgart for 8mo. Does anyone know how much Groningen got for Van Dijk and Bacuna last year ? Two years ago Tadic brought 7,5mo, seems like they are doing good money every year
started, but the clubs from the East in the dangerzone play in Kiev or Lviv. The 2 clubs from Crimea last year are now RIP. While Russia is in control of Crimea, de jure it belongs it belongs to Ukraine and there still are a lot of ways the western world and Ukraine can influence control of the territory.
Agree, the map is right. Russians gaining control does not equal ownership. These airplane shooters do not need to think they can get away with everything. Cowards.
Apart from propaganda in Russia in which they are saints, apart from the (hopefully less) propaganda in ''democratic'' NL and or other european countries who think this is a matter of good vs evil, and ofcourse somehow we ignore our own role in starting this conflict... We shouldnt be playing football games in a country torn in civil war. Especially when Feyenoord has the worst of records against Ukrainian clubs!
Aside from the Donbas the rest of the country is safe. There is no real civil war, as the majority are Russian tourists. only in Sloviansk and Kramatorsk was there a majority who supported the separatist movement. Russia, or more Putin, is almost solely responsible for what is happening right now in Ukraine. Putin gambled high and he failed. I have been following the situation closely as I have a lot of Russian and Ukrainian friends and I study Russian. Wouldn't worry too much about Feyenoord's chances, the crisis has taken a noticeable effect on Ukrainian clubs as they aren't doing too well in the EL qualifiers.
Ajax stream: http://gofirstrow.eu/watch/274542/1/watch-ajax-vs-vitesse.html Cillessen, Blind and Veltman all getting a rest
So it begins ; The big guns "Ajax , PSV and Feyenoord" with three points each. I could only watch the PSV game. I liked Terrel Ondan from Willem 2 Tilburg. A 20 year old Dutch winger. He is worth following. Storng , fast and an excellent dribbler. He got injured in the 2nd half though.