Three Stars PLUS One: The Ajax Stretch Run Begins! [R]

Overmars has just announced he will quit his job as technical director for Go Ahead Eagles. So I guess we got our AD for next year. Cruijff wants an interim AD as soon as possible for the remaining months of this season.

 

Yeah the moment I heard the news I could only think of one thing: he's leaving Go Ahead Eagles for Ajax. Add Edwin van der Sar and Theo van Duivenbode and we have three ex-footballers in the board.

 

Eriksen might do better as a #10, but that's not the way Ajax plays. Maybe he could play as a central midfielder with Anita to his right, and ???? (current problem anyways) to his left.
Plus if you play him as a 10, you're limiting his development. When you play a midfielder as a #10, you basically say "don't worry about defending, your teammates will do that for you" It seems these days that ever skilled midfielder with potential gets played as a #10 sooner or later where they immediately forget how to defend, or play any position other than the #10.
A skilled, intelligent all around midfielder should be able to play as a #10, but a player who's trained as a #10, where they don't have to defend and get to do whatever they want, probably wont be able to play any other midfield position. Just look at Wesley "I think of myself more as a striker than a midfielder" Sneijder, or Royston "I don't have to track back 'cause I'm so good at attacking" Drenthe. Is that really what you want Eriksen to develop into?

 

Yeah, I wanted VDS to come back to Ajax as well. That was until I read this interview where he suggests that Man U's way of developing young talents is better than the Dutch way, and that Dutch players are overrated by the Dutch media. The part about us overrating our players, I can live with a potential board member thinking that (It's just alarming to hear from a former Oranje captain, and might explain some underachievement during his era). But having board members, who think that giving top talents a chance on the first team is being too hasty, is exactly what we don't need

 

I think you need to read that interview in the right context. Obviously it's very focused on the English reader, he's never going to tell the English interviewer that the way English teams develop young players is crap when compared to Ajax. It's a bit laughable when he says: "A club like Sunderland or Aston Villa can eat Ajax for lunch." Anyway, when he wants to join the Ajax board it needs to be for the long haul, otherwise he should pass. Just my opinion.

 

Yes, I think he'll start out on one of wings - Krohn-Dehli will be a push-over for him - but you get the feeling he'll be better centrally. Bendtner is no van Persie but is needed for tactical reasons so that leaves Eriksen's position. Fischer could be a vastly improved Jon Dahl Tomasson. I think Fisher is a bigger talent than Eriksen but they're both good enough to play so...

In other Ajax/Danish-related news, Ronald de Boer is in Denmark right now watching Lucas Andersen (he wouldn't do an interview but confirmed he was looking at Lucas). It's a tough game for Lucas but in glimpses he shows what he can do, going through defenders like they're water etc. He was MOM and on team of the week last round. He's a better dribler than both Eriksen and Fischer and is playing senior football at an earlier stage than both, so GO GET HIM

 

http://www.bold.dk/nyt/Lucas-A-Ajax-er-en-droem

(Google translate)

 

Today is the other semifinal of the NextGen series.

Inter - OM

19.00 GMT kickoff

 

Inter wins 2-0. Didn't really see the game but they deserved the win as per the commentators. Anyway, we'll walk all over them on sunday

 

I hope so !

Or, more like, let's hope the lads get the chance to relax, enjoy, and truly play the game at their best level.

Sunday's feast begins at 14.30 at Leyton Orient

Then, the first team vs PSV at 16.30

Let's hope we get 4 hours of awesome football !

 

Ajax Cape Town kids will have the time of their life in less than 2 weeks, they are in a group with Barcelona, AC Milan and Bayern Munchen for the AEGON Future Cup.

 

Ton Ooijers, the TVNH soccer specialist said in last sunday's programm that it was a bloody shame that the Ajax paper "Telegraaf" totally ignored the performances of the A1 Ajax team and that it all has to do with their coach who didnot join Cruijff when he was in court against the board. He expects that he (Grimm I suppose) will be kicked out as soon as Cruijff takes over.
Yeah, how pathetic that shit head at the "Telegraaf" as a person can be to ignore everything that doesnot support JC's view that the Academy sucks (or has he been instructed by JC himself?).

 

Hey Fey what happened with your claims that AEGON wanted to quit.

 

interview with the Sneijders. Rodney says that he went on loan because they bought Janssen (who would push him down the depth chart) and he wants to play more. Personally, I'd like to see him back in Ajax to see what he can do when he has other good footballers around him. Surely he can be more useful than Janssen, and at worst, better depth than we currently have.
The other thing I found interesting was when he says:

what if Rodney doesn't go anywhere big, or even biggish? It would be interesting to see if he'd be willing to play for say, and Eerste divisie team, to play with his bro.
But, I think it would be pretty cool if he got to play with him at a bigger club.

 

Remember this?


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5fUrgIiJFQ"]StreetKings met Edward van Gils en Vurnon Anita voor LAFTV.NL - YouTube[/ame]

 

That's because people like you, and Ton Ooijers (lol), do no understand what is important in the youth academy. Teams don't make their debut, players do. What's important is that there are supertalents like Victor Fischer. Ajax A1 winning a prize is of none importance whatsoever. Remember that Jong Ajax team that made it to the semis of the KNVB cup? Who of that team has made it to the top? Remember those Jong Oranje teams that won the EC? Who of those teams made it to the top?

And wasn't it you that said Ajax doesn't even have the best academy of the Netherlands? So what suddenly changed your mind? The fact that you hate Jaap de Groots guts for no reason at all but just have to use every straw man you find to argue against him?

 

If you have read and remember what I wrote about youth development than you wouldnot write this. I from the very beginning posting at Bigsoccer has always made clear that it isnot about winning in the development of young players, but about fine tuning their capabilities.
But the A1 team has shown team work with class capabilities and that was sorely missing in the Telegraaf.

Your second remark misses completely what I ever wrote about Dutch soccer academies. I wrote that the qualities of the Dutch soccer Academies are about even to each others. The only thing that seperates them are the capabilities to attract and scout the best talents. So it is wrong to make judgements about Academies based on the players that come out of it, because no academy has ever made a diamond out of a pebble. But that is what Ajax guys always claim. So if that is the case, why isnot there another Kluivert every year.

And with my quoting Ooijers I didnot say that the Ajax Academy is the best or better ( or worse), but pointed at the pathetic behaviour of the "Telegraaf" as an Ajax paper ignoring the very good performance of a youth team and the reason behind it. Manipulative behaviour. That's all.


The AEGON Saga is that AEGON cannot jump out as the condition to do so, the complete sacking of the "Commissarissen en Bestuur" didnot take place.

 

When has the Telegraaf ever reported about the performances of an Ajax youth team?

 

Not sure what you're trying to tell here, but are you aware that they mentioned on Studio Voetbal last week that AEGON wants to extend the deal even though the current one is until 2015?

AD and Telegraaf are now both Amsterdam based papers with AD having quite a few articles on Ajax A1, maybe Telegraaf thought they didn't need to cover it as well?

 

It's only on the Dutch version. http://www.ajax.nl/De-Toekomst/Weekbericht/Programma.htm and from there on click on "uitslagen"

Sites like www.ajaxshowtime.com are more directed towards the youth. Jong Ajax will play their cup final in the Amsterdam ArenA a month from now against FC Utrecht. We play at home and it's against lowly Utrecht, I think this trophy is in the bag!

This is also a quite useful link for Jong Ajax http://jongajax.ucoz.com/

It's still kind of funny to me how the reserves/Jong Ajax are subtop in their league, but have the best goaldifference.

 

Twente drop points to ADO. A win tomorrow would be huge.

 

McClaren : "It does not look like Ajax is going to lose" LOL

Comics aside, he's quite right to say that the last 7 matches will be the true test of adversity. There will be some surprising results, and experience can/will determine who will be champions.

Does today also signal the last of Twente's 90th minute heroics have come to an end? We shall see !