Doesnt Ajax dominate the Hollands premier Divison

[AFC Ajax198]

Doesnt A.F.C Ajax dominate Hollands Premier divinson.

I think they will win it this season as they have done it over 12 times :ronaldo:

I think there is 95% chance that they will win this season.
But whats your thought :confused:

[nimesh0775]

Maybe, But Psv Have Managed To Keep Kezman And They Have Masterful Hiidink In Charge......after All Psv Won It Last Year So Ajax R Not Dominating The Lge...its Normally 3 Teams - Psv, Feyenoord And Ajax

[Zarak]

this season ajax started off slowly and dis-orientated, but have now found their form I think. the team lost their captain, cristian chivu, to roma in the transfer period, and also one of their star players from last season, andy van der meyde, also went to italy.

chivu's replacement, new-buy julien escude, hasn't done too well so far, but he's making fewer mistakes compared to his first few matches. so he is improving.
another new-buy, wesley sonck, has done extremely well so far. he's scored four goals in the league competition and scored both goals in the champions league match against club brugge.

the form of ajax is clearly improving by every match, there is a lot expected from them this season, and i think if injuries don't disrupt their upward line then they can definitely be champions of the netherlands, and possibly go to the latter stages of the champions league again.

[nimesh0775]

[QUOTE=Daniel Swildens]
chivu's replacement, new-buy julien escude, hasn't done too well so far, but he's making fewer mistakes compared to his first few matches. so he is improving.
another new-buy, wesley sonck, has done extremely well so far. he's scored four goals in the league competition and scored both goals in the champions league match against club brugge.
QUOTE]

I DUNNO ABOUT ESCUDE...I THOUGHT MAN U WANTED TO BUY HIM AS A LEFT-BACK....ARE AJAX PLAYING HIM AS A CENTRE-BACK? THAT MIGHT BE WHY HE ISN'T DOING WELL

AS 4 SONCK, I'M REALLY IMPRESSED...HE REMINDS ME OF RVN

I THINK GRYGERA IS A BRILLIANT SIGNING ALSO...

[Zarak]

escude hasn't adapted to the ajax style of football yet. but i'm noticing an upward curve, which is a postive sign. he is a left-central defender by nature, not left-back. besides, ajax has three players challenging for the left-back position already.
manchester united wanted to buy escude last summer, but then he got injured, and the deal was off.

sonck didn't start well, staying dry for a couple of matches, but has now found his element and seems to be scoring in every game. softly we can start saying that ajax have finally got their long-awaited goal-scorer. nikos machlas and shota arveladze eventually turned into disappointments, and zlatan ibrahimovich didn't too well in his first two seasons, but since he has to challenge sock for a starting position, zlatan has been playing great, and koeman has even abandoned the traditional 4-3-3 that ajax plays, and moved to a 4-4-2 formation.
if sonck can be compared to ruud van nistelrooij i don't know, but they both have an eye for goal it seems.

grygera has yet to prove himself. he came to amsterdam with a big reputation, but hasn't really convinced yet. a recent injury didn't help either, but he is now almost 100% fit again, so it's time he makes it happen.

[nimesh0775]

Who R The Three Players Challenging For Left-back? Maxwell, O'brien And Van Damme?

As 4 Grygera, Where Would He Play, Cos Trabelsi Plays At Right-back Doesn't He?

[Zarak]

Yes, the three players that you mentioned are indeed the three players that are all fighting to play in the same position. Last season it were just O'Brien and van Damme striding for left-back, but during the pre-season and during the Amsterdam Tournament, the Brazilian Maxwell impressed playing at left-back, so Koeman tried him out in that position in the first important match of the season against Grazer AK in a Champions League qualifier. Again, Maxwell played well, and ever since he's shifted from left-half to left-back indefinitely it seems. However, I think he has also played one or two matches in the league competition in his former left-half position.
van Damme recently played a Champions League match against Celta de Vigo in the centre of defence, and didn't do that bad. So perhaps Koeman sees van Damme now also as a centre-back alternative.

Zdenek Grygera was bought, mainly in the anticipation that Hatem Trabelsi would leave to go to Manchester United, whom were rumoured to be interested in him. Anything close to a deal it didn't come if I remember correctly, so Trabelsi would start this season as an Ajax player, but Grygera was now also in the squad. Koeman found an alternative position for Grygera, and that was right-centre-back. Pasanen would move out of the starting line-up and Grygera - Escude would form the heart of the defence while Trabelsi maintained his position at right-back. Trabelsi is now injured, and could be out for upto another nine weeks, what sort of injury he has I can't remember right now, but that has given the opportunity to Grygera to move to his "natural" position for a while, and Pasanen temporarily returns to the starting line-up.
Grygera isn't 100% match fit yet, as he has only just recovered from an injury, but I think he will be in the starting line-up at home against AZ on Saturday night.

[nimesh0775]

Is This Koeman's 1st Choice Xi?

Lobont

Trabelsi
Pasanen
Escude
Maxwell

Sneijder
Pienaar
Galasek
Van Der Vaart

Ibrahimovic
Sonck

I Would Like To Also Know More About The Positions Of Soetaers, Yakubu

[Zarak]

It's been difficult to puzzle out a definite favourite 11 that Koeman prefers, as sometimes he has had to make changes because of injuries and suspensions. Also, sometimes Ronald Koeman plays a 4-3-3 formation, and sometimes he chooses for a 4-2-2. Most recently, I think he has chosen for a 4-3-3, where Ibrahimovic is the deepest striker, Sonck is right-winger, but operates pretty much as a striker, and Soetaers is left-winger, but hasn't been very impressive so far.

Anyway, playing 4-4-2, I'm guessing Koeman's ideal line-up is as follows

------------------ Lobont ---------------------------

Trabelsi ----------- Grygera ------------ Escude ---------- Maxwell

Galasek ----------- Pienaar ----------- van der Vaart ---- Soetaers

------------------- Sonck ------------ Zlatan --------------------

I definitely don't think Tom Soetaers is the right player for left-half, and either see Maxwell return to that position and play Jelle van Damme at left-back, or Play with either Wesley Sneijder(although he's more of a central player) or the talented Nicolae Mitea. Mitea has had a few chances recently, and even scored twice as a subsitute, however, he still has a lot to learn, and needs to work on his right-foot. He received a good chance to score with his right-foot against AZ Saturday night, but his attempt was easily saved by the keeper, being overly-clear that Mitea isn't very capable with his right-foot yet. A professional player must always be able to pass, shoot, control etc with both feet equally well. Only when taking a penalty, should there be a preference of the most dominant leg. Rafael van der Vaart for instance, has lost possesion quite few times this season becuase when he receives the ball, he touches it five to six times in order to get the ball in the proper position to use it with his left. So he takes far too much time on the ball, resulting frequently in loss of possesion. Especially against big opponents he can't permit himself to do that.

Back to line-ups. A 4-3-3 might look as follows -

-----------------------------Lobont ---------------------------

Trabelsi ----------- Grygera ------------ Escude ---------- Maxwell

Galasek --------------------Litmanen --------------- van der Vaart

--------Pienaar -------------- Zlatan ------------ Sonck ---------

Where Wesley Sonck would drift in from the left frequently to act more as a second striker. Sonck and Zlatan Ibrahimovic are both in good form, and no particular two wingers are in good form at the moment. So it would make sense only play 4-2-2 and play Zlatan and Sonck in a partnership. By the way, in the league Zlatan is now on 6 goals and 3 assists and Sonck is on 5 goals. Sonck has got 2 goals in the Champions League and Zlatan has 1.

Tom Soetaers, as I already mentioned, plays left-wing, and has only played on that position so far. To me he looks like a player who misses that extra something to be an Ajax player, but he has managed to score 2 goals and has given some assists in the league competition.

Abubakari Yakubu isn't a started, but a very useful utility player. He is a defensive-programmed player who can play as central defender or defensive midfielder. I think the position he comes most in recognition for is the right-half position, which Tomas Galasek usually occupies, and John Heitinga and Nigel de Jong can also play there.

:p

[nimesh0775]

1) i'm probably wrong, but i always thought galasek was a defensive midfield anchor... in teh 4-4-2 u suggest, is pienaar the defensive midfielder, cos in the centre i see vdv and pienaar, one of them has got to stay back and defend otherwise ajax would be exposed on the counter attack...

2) in the 4-3-3, there seems to be no defensive player in the midfield...litmanen is the only central player and he's definitely an attackminded player...is this just koeman's style to play with no defensive anchor?

[Zarak]

about the 4-4-2 -
you're right to point out that it looks as though there is no defensive "ball retriever" kind of player there. but galasek and pienaar interchange positions often. against tougher opponents, galasek would probably start in the centre and pienaar on the right. when they are 3-0 up for example or when they are facing a lower team like volendam, ajax won't have to be too defensive-minded and pienaar can get into the centre more to create more openings. vdvaart is a decent tackler too by the way. he's not only the playmaker that creates and scores goals, he does his defensive duties too.

in the ideal line-up, both litmanen and vdvaart feature. koeman has said that on several occasions. afterall, litmanen is captain of the team. vdvaart is vice-captain, but has been wearing the armband for most of the matches so far because litmanen isn't match fit yet after an long-term injury.
in champions league matches koeman may choose for two defensive players instead of one, and may reverse it with two attacking players when he feels confident ajax can go for the win. last night against celta de vigo koeman started with nigel de jong(defensive), galasek(defensive), and vdvaart(attacking). the funny thing is, galasek is not only a great ball retriever, put is a very good playmaker too. he's able to read the game magnificently and he can give wonderful through-passes. galasek maybe is one of the quietest and most un-noticed players in the team, but certainly one of the most important. his only flaw is probably that he sometimes makes an unthoughtful tackle which he receives a yellow card for, and he doesn't really know how to deal with pressure. as one of the older players in the team, he doesn't really know how to lead the younger players either. but other than that he's a great all-round player. i hope he finishes his career at ajax.

[ItalianBoy]

So?
They area good team.
I dont think they dominate.
PSV and Feyernoord are good too.

[nimesh0775]

that clears that up nicely...ajax have so many talented youngsters, that if a player is older (like litmanen/galasek) yet they still get into the line-up they must be good players!!

[Zarak]

in order for a team to be succesfull, they need at least two experienced players. i think a mix of young and old can go further than just a team of youngsters, and as wev'e seen in the past with germany for example, a team that is too old usually disappoints.
litmanen is an excellent leader, when he plays he constantly gives directions to the younger players and is a big influence on the team during training sessions too.
richard witschge didn't do that too much. one of the reasons probably why he didn't get a re-newed contract.

[nimesh0775]

Yeah, Absolutely...the Problem Is U Can't See Ajax Ever Winning The Ch Lge With Their Current Dependency On Inexperienced Young Players...although Its Great For The Future Of The Players And For Dutch National Team...

[ItalianBoy]

Ajax should concentrate more in the CL IMO.

[nimesh0775]

Yeah, But They Need To Do Well In Holland Cos They Need To Qualify For Ch Lge Evry Year...otherwise Bye-bye To Ibrahimovic And V.d.vaart!!!

[Zarak]

You are right. Koeman has said that naturally Ajax goes for the title and the Dutch Cup but it is essential that Ajax continues to qualify for the Champions League. It's Koeman's, van Gaal's, and Ajax's ultimate goal to win the Champions League within a 3-5 year period they said last season.

van der Vaart has recently signed an re-newed contract which will keep him at Ajax until at least the summer of 2004. It wouldn't surprise me if Manchester United and Liverpool come with concrete offers to lure the young talent away, as they had already shown firm interest in him last summer. However, van der Vaart still has a lot to learn, he may be one of Holland's biggest talents, but he knows, there are still a lot of things he needs to improve on before he is ready to have such a commanding role in midfield at Manchester United for example, as he does at Ajax.
He's only 21 next year, and he has his feet remarkably firm on the ground for a person who is under so much pressure, I think he knows that he'll only receive more pressure by going to a big club, so I think he'll stay with Ajax at least another two seasons.

Ibrahimovic has hinted he'd like to go to Italy, but the only club that showed real interest in him last summer was Olympique Lyon. Zlatan decided to stay because 1) He prefered an Italian team over Lyon and 2) He was quite happy in Amsterdam and Marco van Basten, who was his personal trainer for a little while, said that he'd better stay at Ajax at least another season because van Basten felt that Zlatan wasn't ready for Italy yet.
Ibrahimovic is doing much better this season so far compared to this period last season and the season before. He's already scored 6 goals in 10 league matches and has scored 1 goal in the Champions League. The Sonck - Ibrahimovic isn't as lethal as the once vNistelrooij - Nilis combination for example, who'd together scored over 40 goals in the 1998-1999 season for PSV, and I don't expect the Ajax duo to be that impressive, but I think they can be, if Zlatan decides to stay a few more years at Ajax. Besides, like van der Vaart, he's also still very young, just 21, so there is still plenty of time for Italy.

[nimesh0775]

1) why do u mention van gaal - is he part of the coaching set up at ajax or something?

2) as for zlatan, a move to lyon would be a move sideways rather than up...so he is right to stay at ajax...

3) that's the problem, when ajax have a young strike partnership (zlatan-sonck) its imposible to get the very best out of them, cos players reach their peak at the age of 28-30...

[Zarak]

1 - vgaal is the new technical director since 1 november

2 - the french league is more competitive then the dutch league, so it wouldn't be a step down in that perspective. comparing ajax to lyon, i think ajax is a better team, with better players, and italian clubs are more charmed about ajax players then lyon players. so in that perspective, zlatan was right to stay with ajax.

3 - not entirely true, nilis - vnistelrooij was an absolutely devastating partnership a few season ago in holland, nilis was 30 and vnistelrooij 23.
raul - ronaldo hasn't really shown us their best, but has to potential to be the deadliest duo in the world. they are 26 and 27 i believe.