Bologna appears to have told Jesper Karlsson he can leave in January. He's hardly playing for the Italian side and the rumor is he has been offered to Ajax. He was a more than decent winger for AZ. We'll see if this materializes.
Menno Geelen paints a rather unattractive picture for Farioli: https://www.voetbalprimeur.nl/nieuw...t-ambitieus-ondanks-alarmerende-geluiden.html This part makes it unlikely you can attract quality players, it's only interesting for unproven ones: "If Ajax does not qualify for the billion-dollar ball, it is forced to take measures. "Like selling players," Geelen explains. "Especially by making the player salaries variable, we can absorb any blows financially. This gives a much greater manoeuvrability. If we play Champions League, then our players still earn a lot of money, but if we only make it to Europa League, then they get less."
Yeah, and Kroes doesnot sugarcoat the situation either: https://sportnieuws.nl/voetbal/nieu...omst-dat-kan-jaren-duren-2024122711005023640/ Ajax director makes little hopeful statement about the future: 'That could take years'
I’d be very happy with this if it came to be. Always rated him pretty well there, found that he could be dangerous/creative but could also shut off for periods. I imagine Farioli would get the best out of him in that regard.
This is all pretty tiresome. The results will be what they will be and this is why they go out and play matches. No sense in worrying about this until we see what happens with the season. Bottom line so far, Ajax beat both PSV and Feyenoord. The same cannot be said about the opponents.
Hasn't this been the case for, like, the last 15 years or so? I don't see why people are surprised that the club relies on CL money to stay at the top of the table.
Uhm, Feyenoord got into financial trouble because of mismanagement, not by budgetting with CL money. We hardly won a title per decade, so we simply werenot doing that.
05/01 15:17 Captain Klaassen receives a red card. Fitz-Jim does not get a free kick, despite being pulled by his shirt. Klaassen then goes on hard: he comes in hard, doesn't touch the ball and ends up full on the ankle. Klaassen is nevertheless on the field. Presumably it has been agreed that they want to continue practicing with eleven against eleven. Although Klaassen is not the player for it, this was a huge charge. Wtf? You retaliate a shirt pull with a severe injury risk charge and stay on the pitch? Even with agreement of 11 vs 11 a coach with disciplinary ratio should have swapped him for another player.
Ajax had a friendly with Stuttgart today. The Ajax channels were blocked over here so I had to watch the match on the Sky German site. It wasn't a great performance by Ajax as they allowed two goals in the first half that were a result of poor coverage. The first looked like a savable ball but Pasveer was not quick enough. The second looked like Rensch was very late in getting back and there was a free attacker. Ajax pegged two back in the second half. The first came off a corner kick and though initially given to Rugani was ruled an own goal. The second was a nice cut back pass by Wijndal to an open Akpom who had an easy open net to shoot at. There was some controversy at minute 60 when Klaassen was shown a Red Card for a foul on a Stuttgart MF. It was not a reckless challenge at all and it appeared to be downgraded to Yellow after some consultation (my German is pretty rusty so I'm not exactly sure). Not many highlights. Berghuis again was not very good. The passing was much better and playing out from the back was decent. Traore had one very good chance in the first half but the ball was just wide of the goal. Ramaj came on for Pasveer in the 2nd half and Farioli changed almost the whole team at halftime. Rugani stayed on for about 15 minutes and Mannswerk came in to play centerback.
Match report: On the hour, things boiled over during the duel in Germany. There was no whistle for a foul on Kian Fitz-Jim, after which Klaassen crossed the line. The attacking midfielder tackled Atakan Karazor ugly on the ankle, that even folded up. The red card was the result. Klaassen himself aknowledged it was a red card. The Ajax midfielder acknowledged that the referee was right, and stated once again that it was at the request of both coaches that he was allowed to stay on the pitch
Did watch it. Was hard enough, but more a clumsey tackle that could have ended badly. The ankle folded seriously. But it wasnot like in the match report a deliberated foul as a revenge.
Raul Moro of Real Valladolid looks to be coming to Ajax. He's a Spanish youth international and left winger. Final price will be between €6 to 9M
I thought we were more in a need of a right winger as we have no one decent there. As for Moro I have watched him on several occasions and I've been very impressed by his skills. Hope he'll be as good in Ajax too.
Ajax did everything wrong in the second half and made this match interesting, escaping with a 2-1 win after going down to 10 men with a late injury to Wijndal. Two goals in the first half and some good play seemed to point to an easy win over the bottom of the table club but it was not to be. A late goal by Ihatteran when Ajax were woeful in getting back made things tight and without Henderson to help steel the defense, I was waiting for the goal that would have split the points. Taylor's goal which a better keeper would have saved ends up being the match winner. Berghuis with a very early spot kick following what had to be one of the stupidest defensive plays that I've seen in some time when Brobby who presented no danger at all was taken down on the right side of the box right near the edge. What was the defender thinking?? So Ajax start off the second half of the season with a win which is good and now will wait to see what happens in the PSV-AZ match. Player Ratings: Pasveer (6) - made one good save and had little to do as RKC were not pressing so he didn't see a lot of back passes come his way Rensch (6.5) - decent enough game both defensively and going forward Rugani (6) - had one poor play in the first half but generally good defending the rest of the way Baas (6.5) - good play but then the quality of the opponent was quite poor Hato (6.5) - played one half and did a nice job Henderson (7) - really controlled things in the defensive end and had several good long passes Davy One Goal (6) - put in a decent shift Taylor (7) - one of the better players along with Henderson, got the match winner while stumbling and could have easily fluffed it Berghuis (6.5) - looked better tonight and made sure of the PK Brobbey (6.5) - hold up play and passing was quite good and looked peeved when he was subbed off Godts (6.5) - very active with lots of shots that were blocked and a couple that were well saved Wijndal (6) - looked good with some very nice runs and crosses unfortunately, it looks like his knee injury might be serious Weghorst (5.5) - just pretty much average Fitz-Jim (5.5) - had no impact coming on van den Boomen (5) - nothing special Akpom (NR) - on late Away to AZ in a cup match mid week.
Looking at goal differential, this shouldn't be close at all, but Ajax deserve to be in second spot right now. A draw in Feyenoord - Kutrecht would be nice.