With all the transfers, I'm a little lost on what the starting lineup will look like most likely for the Amsterdamn side. I know Van de Vaart will be in it...grin....and John O'Brien won't. Thanks.
Won't be much different from last years line-up. Besides, there havent been too many transfers from ajax side... yet. The ones that went werent part of the starting XI anyway
Mitea - - - - - - Zlatan - - - - - - De Mul vdVaart - - - - Galasek - - - - - - Sneijder Maxwell - - Escude - - Heitinga - - De Jong - - - - - - - - - Lobont
subs: soetaers - - - - - sonck - - - - - - de ridder (maybe not this yr, but he is going to be a #10) lindgren - - - - - obodai - - - - - - pienaar obrien - - vermaelen - - maduro - - grygera - - - - - - - - stekelenburg other subs: anastasiou (center forward) vonk (goalie) emanuelson (defender) i think thats the whole first team. emanuelson and lindgren may not be first teamers. anyone know if they are on the Amsterdam Tournie roster? imo lindgren has the least chance of making Ajax1 due to his position, not talent. With Sneijder, vdVaart, Pienaar, De Ridder, and Sonck (who played somewhat as a #10 in recent friendlies), he is not really needed. vermaelen was part of the first team for a fraction of last yr, so i guess he will stay up. maduro is supposed to be very good in defence and at dmid. i have heard he is similar to Frank Rijkaard. because of that i expect him to be part of the 1st team for a good amount (maybe half?) of the year. idk anything about emanuelson.
Ronald Koeman already announced he doesn't want the players who just got back from the euro2004 tournament to play 2 whole matches during the Amsterdam Tournament. He also said this tournament will be a very important experience for the younger players (arent they all quite young ). In other words, i expect them to be there during the Amsterdam tournament
Its a miracle that Ajax were able to hold on to VDV for another year, (if not injured) he'll be integral for Ajax's success, especially in the CL.
It's because he had a rubbish season with Ajax. He needs to prove himself this year (only way he can do that is by losing some weight and that horrid fiancee of his)
I don't know what all the hype around van der Vaart is all about, everytime I watch him play he fails to impress. He's either overrated or going through a lack of form, I don't know - what do you think?
did you happen to watch him the 2 years before this last one? so 2001-2003? one quote i saw from koeman really makes me think raffy is going to do well. he said he needs him to be in shape, get back to form, and help create for the rest of the team and stop playing so close to the forwards.
well it will change a lot, but i'm kinda hoping koeman will send VDV back to LW and see what happens - we haveplenty of central guys to do more of the work (pienaar, galasek, o'brien) - i'd like to see this VDV.......zlatan.......de mul/de ridder ....sneijder......pienaar ..........galasek(or JOB when fit) maxwell.................de jong .....escude......heitenga vonk for a while, then stekelenberg screw lobum
Maybe Stekelenberg will get a lot more time than we think this year. It might be partly motivated so that he can get ready for the National Team. With van der Sar aging, isnt he tipped to be the successor? I remember there was a bit of debate before the Euro that he should be the no.3 keeper. Anway, what I would LIKE to see is similar to you BlueDaddy, but given Koeman's intention to keep VDV in the midfield: Mitea........Ibrahimovic.........De Mul Sneijder..........VDV.......Pienaar Maxwell.....Escude......Heitenga.....De Jong Stekelenberg Not sure whether the midfield lines up alright, but Obodai could see some more time too.
saying that stek is still with ajax i believe that he will see a lot more time this yr. i say that only because he is at the point where he needs playing time and he could have been loaned out. anyway you got the attackers and defenders correct, but the midfield wont work. it needs a defensive mid.
Yeah the kid is monster expensive. He probably wont go for anything less then 25m. sterling which is incredible market value considering the bad form the player market is in.
so honetly how good is van der vaart ??? ive seen him play hear and there but he didnt get a proper run out in euro. i belive hes ajax captain?? and hes only 21, and proove me if im wrong here but hes said to be the next best dutch player since cruyff. i must admit i love dutch football, ajax have a great youth system and most clubs have young talent. i dont wanna sound stupid but did ajaz win there league? i look forward to watching ajaz vs arsenal, and seeing van dert vaart but knowing my luck he wont play. if he is as good as he is i would love arsenal to buy him. i bet chelsea will though. anyway, another reason why the premeirship is getting better and better, due to the finest young dutch talent i.e Van Persie, Robben, also classics like bergkahmp and nistlerooy. later.
Careful, don't let BlueDaddy see that The question in my mind is who Ajax will get more for: Ibrahimovic or Van der Vaart. Again, this will all be told this upcoming season. FYI: Ajax did win the championship last season and will have direct entry into the Champion's League, unless this has changed this year
yes he turned 21 last february and this is his 2nd year as captain. in hindsight he shouldnt have been captain last yr, but there really wasnt an alternative with litmanen being injured and galasek not being the leader type. the funny thing is raffy is kind of middle aged at the club. last yr out of the startes, only lobont, galasek, escude, maxwell, and zlatan were older than him. judging by last yr, no he wasnt that good, but if you judge him on when he was 19 and 20 then yeah he is amazing and was being called the best thing since cruijff. anyway unless if he got hurt against panathanakos (sp?) today, which i dont believe he did, then he will play against arsenal. also you need to add collins john to your list of dutch starlets in the EPL. he is from twente and plays for fulham.
Sonk.......zlatan......de ridder ....sneijder......vdVaart........ ............galasek.................. maxwell.................de jong. .....escude......heitenga....... .....stekelenberg/Labont...... more or less.
if sonck were going to play as a winger, which unfortunately he already has, he would play on the right. however, de mul will most likely start as right winger with de ridder being a backup to him and the right side of midfierld. also i have never seen vd vaart play on the right and dont know why he would.
dont you feel though, if ajax try to keep there youngsters and there xperienced ones too, then maybe this or next year win the chmapions league. They were one of the world greats back in the day, they could be again. Dont get me wrong the a very good side, i feel they should go for the champions league. and remember just like porto, you dont alsways have to be the worlds best to win it. Trabelzi?? why isnt he in the squad?? i hear he is greedy, he has turned down, or well is expecting more cash per week from arsenal if he joins. I mean, who does he think he is? david beckham?
they had a great chance 2yrs ago, but i guess it came down to bad luck. they were lucky enough to get that far anyway with all the injuries they dealt with. this yr is probably the last yr for a few players. zlatan and vd vaart are 90% gone next summer and then there is heitinga, maxwell, and maybe even escude. trabelsi isnt in because he will never play for ajax again. he sued ajax so he could be released for free and signed by a big club like arsenal. having said that, trabelsi is the biggest idiot i have seen if he screws up this arsenal deal, which it looks like he will.
Mitea------Zlatan------De Mul Vd Vaart----Galasék---Sneijder Maxwell--Escudé-Heitinga--De Jong -----------Lobont-------------- Or On the centre mid. position Sonck or pienaar.. Ajax has To Many good players !
this is the lineup. i think i did read somewhere that koeman is going to play with multiple #10s. have them move around and do the total football thing. i think 3 10s could work against the smaller teams, but not the bigger ones. 2 is fine tho. koeman needs to do 2 things: 1) get vd vaart playing more like his old self. he needs to stop trying to score, move closer midfield, and create for others. remember he was the leading scorer for ajax (i think he was scoring like 14goals a season) when he was not trying to score. whether if he goes to the left wing, which i dont believe he will, or to the left mid, he needs to improve and create for others. 2) get pienaar time as the #10. he has so much friggin potential and it is being wasted by playing him out of position.