Feilhaber leaves AGF Aarhus for MLS(5) [R]: Come give Ceres positive rep and say goodbye

Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Latest news about Benny... It's looking better than expected according to AGF's chief physiotherapist, who is "amazed about how well his ankle is doing" :

http://translate.google.com/transla....dk/news.asp?id=7523&sl=da&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

AGF have no depth at Left back now that Mikkel Kirkeskov is out for 3 month. They got Dennis Cagara and thats it... If he is injured, they could dig deep and try Anders Kure (when he is ready to play) , Jens Gjesing or perhaps Martin Jørgensen (who has played just about every position except goalkeeper, in the Italian Serie A). But it would be a problem.

AGF usually sign midfielders who are able to play several positions and Stephan Petersen, Martin Jørgensen, Davit Devdariani and young Casper Sloth are all able to play as left wingers, as well as right.

Though Davit Devdariani was suppose to play as one of the forwards, now that Nando Rafael is on loan in Germany. So in reality Benny has to "share" the left wing position, with Stephan Petersen (who is the regular starter in right wing position) and Martin Jørgensen (who was suppose to play in central midfield).

In other words, ther would only be a potential problem if all the regulars Jørgensen (CM/all-round), Jakob Poulsen (RM/CM), Stephan (RM/LM), Benny (LM/CM), Davit Devdariani (F/LM/RM) and Jerry Lucena (CM/RM) are 100% match fit at the same time, which is not going to happen this season.

The transfer window is always open to sign players who are free agents, and because of the financial crisis ther are more than plenty of free agents in Europe right now.... Infact, this week Polish midfielder Tomasz Mazurkiewicz rejoined AGF to play for the reserves. So he could potentially also play in the Superliga for AGF, if he is good enough that is.
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Besides picking up Polish midfielder Tomasz Mazurkiewicz as written above, the injuy problems at AGF are now so dire, that AGF Director of Sport Brian Steen Nielsen and assistant coach Jesper Sørensen both have agreed to play for the AGF reserves in the Danish 2nd division West (3rd level) against Tjørring IF this weekend.
http://translate.google.com/transla...et-til-divisionskamp&sl=da&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8

2nd division table :
http://www.bold.dk/statistik/tabel.php?liga=650
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Superliga 2009/10, round 21 (of 33) :

OB odense v AGF Aarhus, 2-0 (0-0)
1-0 Peter Utaka (57)
2-0 Cacá (68)
Jens Gjesing, AGF miss penalty (87)
Attendance: 7,631

Highlights : TV2 Sport
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AGF lineup (4-4-2):

....................... Steffen Rasmussen (C)

Frederik Krabbe.. Dan Thomassen.. Anders Kure.. Dennis Cagara

Stephan Petersen.. Martin Jørgensen.. Casper Sloth.. Davit Devdariani

.................... Dioh Williams... Sanel Kapidžic

Subs:
Sanel Kapidžic / Dennis Høegh (71')
Martin Jørgensen / Jens Gjesing (78')
David Devdariani / Anders Nielsen (90')

The AGF squad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aarhus_Gymnastik_Forening#Current_squad
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Not much to say really, except that the AGF coach once again was forced to rearrange the central midfield intirely, with Lucena and Kasper Povlsen being out, while Anders Kure had replaced Gjesing in central defense. As for the match and the result, it was predictable and "business as usual", with AGF being on pair with Odense the first 45 minutes, if not actually better, but then some young and very tired AGF players suffered the usual collapse the last 35 minutes of the match, though AGF also misused a penalty. So not much to be happy about after the first 3 rounds for this injury-plagued AGF team, though they could hardly have expected to get away with all that good results in the most difficult away games of the season anyway, against the two top teams FC København and OB Odense. So perhaps facing them now was not that bad after all, since they most likely would have lost anyway. The next match against Randers is on the other hand vital, if the AGF players are to rebuild their self confidence and finish this season in the top half of the table. Randers FC also struggle with injuries and match bans at the moment, so a good result is possible and the other mid-table teams have not been doing all too well either. So even if AGF is not going to win medals this season, the young talents are getting more experienced, while some of the injured regulars will hopefully soon return and help the team to some better results.

Highlights : TV2 Sport
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Btw, the AGF chief physiotherapist Jens Bo Vestergaard and physical trainer Frank Henriksen (who has a Master of Science degree and the UEFA 'A' license ) share their view about the injury problems at AGF (translated article) :

http://translate.google.com/transla....dk/news.asp?id=7538&sl=da&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

'baglårsskader' .... 'bag' = 'back' ... 'lår' = thigh... 'skade' = injury.

..or in other words 'Hamstring injuries'
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

according to injuries.dk, Yura Movsisyan is also serving a match ban against AGF (round 21 and 22) for this deliberate attack against the FCN player Benjamin Kibebe :

http://tv2sport.dk/partner/tipsbladet/player/51303
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Too depressing to write a match report from the midweek match against Randers , and ther are no highlights available from the match at this point... But I have written a few lines about AGF, Feilhaber and the other yanks in the Superliga in the Danish Superliga 2009/10 thread right here, where you can also see the league table :

https://www.bigsoccer.com/forum/showpost.php?p=20264402&postcount=95

Next game for AGF is yet another match against the league leaders FC København.
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Superliga 2009/10, round 22 (of 33) :

Randers FC v AGF Aarhus, 2-1 (0-1)
0-1 Dan Thomassen (43)
1-1 Ricki Olsen (48)
2-1 Søren Jensen (57)
Attendance: 5,213

[LINEUP-4-4-2]Dioh Williams, Davit Devdariani, Martin Jørgensen, Kasper Povlsen, Jerry Lucena, Stephan Petersen, Dennis Cagara, Jens Gjesing, Dan Thomassen, Frederik Krabbe, Steffen Rasmussen[/LINEUP-4-4-2]
Subs:
Martin Jørgensen / Sanel Kapidžic (67')
Stephan Petersen / Casper Sloth (80')


Finally some highlights : [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uaiD13AIYn4"]YouTube- Randers FC - AGF, 2-1 (25-03-2010)[/ame]
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Superliga 2009/10, round 23 (of 33) :

AGF Aarhus v FC København, 0-0 (0-0)
Attendance: 9,893

AGF lineup (4-4-1-1):

[LINEUP-4-5-1]Sanel Kapidžic, Martin Jørgensen, Stephan Petersen, Kasper Povlsen, Davit Devdariani, Jerry Lucena, Dennis Cagara, Anders Kure, Dan Thomassen, Anders Nielsen, Steffen Rasmussen[/LINEUP-4-5-1]
Subs:
Martin Jørgensen / Dioh Williams (46')
Anders Nielsen / Frederik Krabbe (75')
Stephan Petersen / Casper Sloth (81')
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The AGF attack has looked absolutely toothless ever since Nando Rafael was sent on loan and Graulund got long-term injured... and since the AGF midfielders hardly ever score any goals and the defense usually collapse in the 2nd half, when the team run out of gas, the AGF head coach finally gave up on his highly agressive and attacking minded style of play and made some tactical changes for this match, more or less playing 4-5-1, with a more solid looking midfield and defense. So this match was more about team work and physical duels in midfield, to keep the pace down and the visitors from scoring, which worked rather well, since both teams produced little to nothing in attack the first 45 minutes... and AGF was finally able to keep up the pace more or less the full 90 minutes, though AGF captain Steffen Rasmussen was forced to produce two excellent saves, but that was also just about it, because FCK was not allowed to produced more than the few opportunities that you always should expect a top team will get in any case, while AGF were simply not able to produce anything worth mentioning. But then for AGF the main issue in this match was also to keep FCK from scoring. So an "Italian style" tactical fight with AGF getting the result they had hoped for, while FCK are losing their grip at the top of the table, having lost points in their last two games in a row.

Martin Jørgensen suffred a minor injury (or in his own cryptic words, not an actual injury but a "tired back-thigh") and was replaced at half-time, but should be ready to play against Esbjerg... Infact, perhaps it was more for tactical reasons he was replaced, to get a fresh player in there at halftime and give Jørgensen some needed rest, since he is not really fit to play the full 90 minutes in any case and surely not fit to play two games a week at the moment.


Highlights :
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7ELkZQl9MM"]YouTube- AGF - FCK, 0-0 (28-03-2010)[/ame]

or TV2 Sport
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Feilhaber is now finally "fit for fight" according to the official AGF website and kanalsport.dk, though they are taking it slow and easy, not to take any risk, but he expect to be on the bench for the Randers match on April 4th if not for the midweek match against Esbjerg two days from now. Watch the interview :

http://www.kanalsport.dk/index.php/tv/clip_id=33380

and read the translated story at agffodbold.dk :
http://translate.google.com/transla....dk/news.asp?id=7560&sl=da&tl=en&hl=&ie=UTF-8
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Superliga 2009/10, round 24 (of 33) :

Esbjerg fB v AGF Aarhus, 0-4 (0-0)
0-1 Stephan Petersen (65) (assist: Casper Sloth)
0-2 David Devdariani (72) (assist: Casper Sloth)
0-3 Dennis Høegh (74) (assist: Dennis Cagara)
Jesper Jørgensen, Esbjerg miss penalty (88)
0-4 Stephan Petersen (90+3) (assist: Jens Gjesing)
Attendance: 6,210

AGF lineup (4-5-1/4-4-1-1):

................................ Steffen Rasmussen (C)

Frederik Krabbe.. Dan Thomassen.. Anders Kure.. Dennis Cagara

..................... Kasper Povlsen..... Casper Sloth ......................

Stephan Petersen.......... Davit Devdariani........... Sanel Kapidžic

.................................... Dennis Høegh................................

Subs:
Sanel Kapidžic / Benny Feilhaber (69')
Davit Devdariani / Jens Gjesing (90')
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AGF head coach Erik Rasmussen was once again in need of rearranging the intire midfield, when both Jerry Lucena and Martin Jørgensen suddenly were forced to skip this midweek match, due to their injuries... and to add to the AGF misfortune he was also forced to rearrange the attack, because Dioh Williams was out, so the coach was forced to use his most inexperienced and very last option in the squad, young Dennis Høegh, as the lone striker, while using young Sanel Kapidžic as left winger instead of Jørgensen.

In lack of experienced midfielders, coach Rasmussen chose a very cautious and highly defensive minded approach. Even more so than it was the case against FC København a few days ago. But it worked better than expected, perhaps because Esbjerg is an even deeper crisis than AGF at the moment. Atleast the AGF players know why they are struggling, while Esbjerg do not have injury problems, but simply show lack of self-confidence, especially after last weeks 0-4 loss to Randers.

So the AGF players were more than happy to keep down the pace and leaving possession to Esbjerg, to keep a 0-0 result. But the home team were not able to produce more than a few real clear-cut opportunities, of which the most dangerous attempt by Esbjergs Dutch striker and top scorer Tim Janssen, was saved by AGF captain Steffen Rasmussen, who did an excellent job in this match I may add and also saved a penalty at the end of the match.... But though the first 45 minutes was totally dominated by Esbjerg, AGF was as usually able to keep a good result at half-time.

AGF have lost too many games this season by using up all their energy pushing forward and then running out of gas in the 2nd half. But by keeping down the pace with this highly defensive minded approach, this was not to be a problem in this match.. quite the opposite actually... since it was the Esbjerg players who grew more and more despondent as the match progressed, while some quick AGF counter attacks finished them off. Infact the AGF players only produced the 4 clear-cut opportunities they made use of, so for the first time this season it was AGF being highly clinical and efficient... Especially thanks to the two excellent goals by Stephan Petersen who AGF signed last year as a replacement for Jeremiah White.... But also young Casper Sloth (who turned 18 last week), should be praised for his good defensive work and excellent assists, that lead to the two first AGF goals.... and then also some praise to young Dennis Høegh, who may be the coach "last option" and really was on a mission impossible as the lone striker in a match like this. But he did quite well, also scoring an excellent goal, so perhaps ther is still hope for the young lad at AGF. He used to be regarded as a huge talent who was scouted by lots of big clubs and was on trial at Chelsea and Inter Milan, but he has never really made it in the Superliga so far.... In anly case, despite the injuries it's now looking more bright for AGF, while the Esbjerg crisis is growing deeper, with two 0-4 losses in a row.

As written in my last match report, Benny Feilhaber is finally fit for fight and was able to play the last 21 minutes of this match, replacing Sanel Kapidžic in left wing position.. and he made his mark almost straight away, when he made a few clever moves that lead directly to the corner kick that gave AGF their second goal in this match (you can watch the incident by clicking.. 'here'.. and then move "fast forward" to around 01:13:50 , so you do not need to watch the match in full )

Highlights : TV2 Sport

... and a few words from Feilhaber after the Esbjerg match :
http://tv2sport.dk/partner/tipsbladet/player/52534
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Re: Feilhaber at AGF Aarhus (5) [R]: Ben and Jerry make like a banana and...

Probably because it's the full match.. and they have recently sold the rights to show Danish Superliga games abroad to IMG .
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