Ajax - Let's Play - Back Where We Belong

Transfer Summary

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Transfer Summary​

With the transfer window came the usual storm of transfer offers for at least half of the first team. There were a few to go, but let’s start with the good news:

Transfers IN:

Jerry St. Juste – Centre Back – Heerenveen – £2.6m

I was really pleased to get this guy on the cheap! He was bought to replace Viergever at centre half. He’s only 20 years old and Dutch so fits our signing policy. He’s a complete all rounder in that he is quick, strong and composed on the ball. He won’t start right away, but will hopefully provide good cover for Riedewald and Veltman.

Steven Bergwijn – Left Winger – PSV – £6.75m

Our biggest money signing of the window, and the one who will possibly have the biggest one team in the short team. The fact that we took him off our greatest domestic rivals made it even better. Even though we bought him from PSV, Bergwijn was actually born and raised in Amsterdam, so technically he’s coming home! He’s got electric pace and can cross and shoot from distance.

Maarten Paes – Goalkeeper – NEC - £1.2m

A squad depth signing. I will play him in the cup games and let him develop. He’s got a lot of potential and I’m looking forward to seeing how he progresses.

Predrag Rajkovic – Goalkeeper – Maccabi Tel-Aviv - £6m

A commanding young goalkeeper who can do everything well. He’s only 21, but will start for us immediately and is an upgrade on Onana. The only problem is, he doesn’t speak any Dutch. Still, no one really ever understands goalkeepers anyway, so it can’t be that much of a problem, right?

Jaimy Brute – Centre Midfielder – Sparta Rotterdam - £1m

Another squad depth signing. He’s a tough tackling midfielder who could be the eventual successor to Bazoer. I will keep him at Jong Ajax until he improves. Should hopefully prove a bargain at 1m.

Transfers OUT:

Julian Green

Sadly, I decided to accept the bid from Bremen for Green. I made a profit on him. At this point, I was really keen on Bergwijn, so knew Green was getting less playing time if he stayed.

Justin Kluivert

I did NOT want to sell him. However, he was kicking up a fuss, handed in a transfer request and generally annoyed me, so off he went for a good fee and large part of his sell on fee will come back to me.

Daley Sinkgraven

After the signing of Anita, I really didn’t need him. My coaches reckon he won’t improve much, so he shouldn’t be a great loss to be honest.

Nick Viergever

Nick was in the last year of his contract and I decided to move him on for a fair price. He again isn’t likely to improve much, so shouldn’t be much of a loss and I would rather get rid of him and give some of our young players a chance.

Davinson Sanchez

Hertha Berlin came in last minute for him and I decidd to let him go. I didn’t really want to, but with Eiting needing more game time, I had to move someone on. I got quite a lot of money for him plus some add ons, so I think I’ve done well here.

Francesco Antonucci

Another one who I didn’t want to sell, but circumstances forced my hand. He was out of contract at the end of this season so I had to either sell him now, or let him leave for nothing. With Klaassen and Nouri already playing in his position, I let him leave for 2.2m to Chelsea. I also get 40% of the profit on his next sale, so hopefully that should bring in a lot of money at some point.
Coming Up In The Next Post...

Although this update covers all the transfers up to the end of the window, I will go back to cover all of the matches and goings on from the beginning of the window.
 
July and August Update

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July and August Update​


Back to the important stuff – the actual football! Here is the team I plan on using from the start of the season. Not much has changed tactically:

Board Expectations:

Win the Eredivise
Dutch Super Cup isn’t important
Dutch Cup isn’t important
Reach UCL group stage (already done that)

So in summary, I’m going to use the Dutch Cup to blood a few more youngsters as the board don’t care how I do in it. I need to get out of the UCL group to improve our UEFA co-efficient.

Davy Klaassen remains as captain, with Joel Veltman will also staying as Vice captain.

Dutch Super Cup

Ajax 2-1 Feyenoord

Scorers: Zivkovic (2)

First Blood to the Boys from ‘Dam!

Feyenoord beat us in the Dutch Cup final, so we definitely owed them one. Things didn’t start well with Sergio Diaz scoring early in his debut appearance. They got the 19 year old Paraguayan on loan from Real Madrid and he played well from them. Zivkovic came off the bench to turn the game on it’s head for us. First trophy of the season in the bag already.

FC Eindhoven 0-0 Ajax (Fixture 1)
Scorers: Nouri (2), Jerry St. Juste

New Boys Taught A Lesson

Our first league action of the season pitted us against newly promoted FC Eindhoven who came up via the play offs. I started Nouri and he repaid my faith with 2 breath taking goals. He only scored 1 goal in the whole of last season! The wonderfully named new signing Jerry St. Juste chipped in with a third to put a shine on the score line. A good performance all round.

Ajax 6-0 GA Eagles (Fixture 2)
Scorers: Ziyech (2), Veltman (2), Zivkovic, Nouri

Forget Total Football – This is Six-y Football

I am yet to drop points against GA Eagles and I wasn’t about to start now. They were awful and were 4 down by half time. This was also Rajkovic’s first game for us, so it was nice for him to get a clean sheet, I suppose!

Ajax 4-1 PSV (Fixture 3)
Scorers: Bergwijn, Zivkovic (3)

There were so many subplots to this game! Younes returns to start against us. Bergwijn, Younes replacement, starts against his former club, PSV. Suprisingly, PSV dropped Kardec and started Locadia up front, instead of out on the left where he had been playing. A statement game early in the season. PSV also signed my new favourite left back – Juankar! I’m not even joking, that is his actual name!

Bergwijn endeared himself to his new fans by opening the scoring and celebrating wildly against his former club. PSV pegged us back before Zivkovic went nuts and rattled in a hat trick. A fantastic result to start the season.

Ajax 0-0 FC Twente (Fixture 4)
Scorers: None

This was such a let done after the high of the game before. A turgid 0-0 with neither side creating many chances. Still, the result kept us top of the league.

Heracles 1-3 Ajax (Fixture 5)
Scorers: Klaassen, Bergwijn, Zivkovic

We had lost our last game against Heracles, so we knew not to underestimate them. Our big players turned up when it mattered to seal us another win. Zivkovic is in a rich vein of goalscoring form and Bergwijn is already getting into the habit of chipping in with a few goals.

Month(s) in Review​

A productive couple of months to start the season. Top of the league already and 2 wins against our biggest rivals already in the bag. The new signings seem to have settled in well which bodes well for the UCL campaign.

Dutch Cup 2nd​ Round Draw

RBC v Ajax

We seem to almost always play away from home in this competition, so that part wasn’t a surprise. RBC are a lower league semi professional side who I know literally nothing else about.

UCL Group Stage Draw
This was not good. Bayern and Chelsea will be overwhelming favourites to go through and Partizan are certainly no mugs, meaning even 3rd​ place and dropping into the EL won’t be easy. This isn’t good especially when I need to perform well to improve our UEFA Co-efficient.

Star Performer

Richairo Zivkovic (CF) – He has started the season brilliantly. So well, in fact, that Dolberg (our hero from last season) can’t get a game at the moment. Keep it up, mate.

Concerning Performers

None… yet.

Coming Up In The Next Post…

The league continues.

UCL games against Bayern and Chelsea.

Dutch Cup 2nd​ Round
 
September Update

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September Update
​

Now that the transfer business is out of the way, we can finally concentrate on the football again! The bad news, Anita and Rajkovic are going to miss the entire month with injuries. Not good when we have 2 UCL games this months and could do with our best goalkeeper and most experienced player.

SC Heerenveen 1-2 Ajax (Fixture 6)
Scorers: Bazoer, Nouri

Nouri Saves the Day!

I rotated the team as much as I dared with my first UCL game as manager against Partizan coming up on the Tuesday. We really struggled against a decent Heerenveen side who appear to have bought well over the summer. I started Sisto as he really needs to start showing he is worth all the money we paid for him. Bazoer got it back to 1-1 before Nouri, who was summoned from the bench, slotted home a free kick with 10 minutes to go. At least we carry some momentum into the Partizan game.


UCL Group Stage

Partizan Belgrade 0-1 Ajax (Fixture 1)
Scorer: Zivkovic

Party V Partizan!

This really was must win, not just for UCL progress, but if we fall short in that bid, we will need to finish above Partizan to finish 3rd​ and get in the EL competition.

We set up to counter attack them, but this was not as boring a game as it looks. Lots of chances for both teams – our 2 centre halves were our best players. Luckily, Zivkovic’s pace took him away from the Partizan defenders to score on the break. Brilliant.

Ajax 2-0 NEC Nijmegen (Fixture 7)
Scorers: O.G., Sisto

Nij and Easy!

We had a relatively easy win here. Sierhuis started up front and forced the own goal off the Nijmegen defender. Sisto scored a free kick to seal the deal. We score an unusually large amount of goals from free kicks and dead ball situations in general. I would love to sign a player who has the free kick ability of Juninho, the Brazilian who used to bang them in on a daily basis for Lyon, to do that job for us. But for now we seem to be taking turns at scoring them.

Dutch Cup – Round 2

RBC 0-4 Ajax
Scorers: Sisto (2), Nouri, Sierhuis

RBC were hopeless and didn’t manage a shot on our goal in 90 minutes! Sisto continued a goal scoring run, as did Nouri. It was a much changed squad today, but Nouri is definitely sticking his hand up to start more games for us.

Ajax 4-0 RKC Waalwijk (Fixture 8)
Scorers: Sierhuis (2), Sisto (2)

Woeful Waalwijk!

Recently promoted RKC were our next victims. They were clearly overwhelmed by they visit to the bright lights of the Amsterdam Arena and paid the price. Sisto and Sierhuis (SAS, anyone?) with the goals today. Really, it could have been anyone. My Nan could have bagged a hatful against this lot. And she’s dead.

UCL Group Stage

Ajax 0-2 Bayern (Fixture 2)

Mullered by Muller!

We were very close to a decent result here. We started well and looked dangerous on the break. I kept in Sierhuis and Sisto after their good recent form, but they couldn’t tuck away their chances. Then we decided we’d smash that great big self destruct button like we were attempting to kill a dead spider on it. Tete got sent off for a second bookable offence just before half time. Then we gave away a penalty. Then we gited them a second. Game over. I was hoping to get something out of this game, so it was a bit of a blow. Still, Chelsea beat Partizan, so it’s not the end of the world.

Excelsior 1-0 Ajax (Fixture 9)

No Ex-cuse!

Anita was back from injury so came off the bench for us today. Rajkovic was also on the bench, but wasn’t risked. We majorly took our eye off the ball in the league here. Excelsior are not great but we made them look like the gods of football here. I tried to move things around with the subs, but nothing really seemed to have any effect. 2 defeats on the bounce. Woeful.

Month in Review

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A rollercoaster month for the team. 5 wins and 2 defeats. Defensively, we seem much better than last season, despite not having changed the team much in this area. Sisto and Siehuis have been playing well for us. We need to get our act together in the UCL now. Also, 3 points clear at the top of the league is always nice and still motoring along in the Dutch Cup. Even though the board don't care about it - I do.

Dutch Cup 3rd​ Round Draw

Roda v Ajax

Happy with this, even though it is away from home. Easy win – nailed on.

Star Performer

Pione Sisto (AMR) – Has really got it together this last month. Finally looking worth the money I paid for him.

Concerning Performers

Kenny Tete (RB) – infuriated me by getting sent off v Bayern. Not happy. I blame him entirely. Muppet!

Coming Up In The Next Post…

UCL games (Chelsea twice!)

The league continues.
 
October Update

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October Update​


A big month ahead. Make our break in the UCL and a chance to extend our lead in the Eredivisie. It didn’t start well. Captain Davy Klaassen is out for 3-4 weeks. So he will definitely miss the Chelsea game. The only comfort is that Nouri has been playing really well in his place.

Groningen 2-4 Ajax (Fixture 10)
Scorers: Dolberg (2), Zivkovic, Sisto

Dolberg Does It When It Matters!

We did our best to throw this one away. We steamed into a 2-0 lead after 15 minutes through Zivkovic and Dolberg. But somehow, we managed to let Groningen back into it and they scored 2 quick goals to get back to 2-2 before half time. We’d defended so well last month, so this was a nasty surprise. Fortunately, a few choice words at half time was enough to wake us up and we quickly finished the job.

UCL Group Stage

Ajax 1-2 Chelsea (Fixture 3)
Scorer: Sisto

Chelsea Too Classy!

The scoreline suggests it was close, but it really wasn’t. We were 2-0 down early on and allowed Chelsea to completely control the game. We applied some pressure late on and got our goal, but it was never going to be enough to win the game. Hard lines. We now need to somehow beat Partizan, Bayern and / or Chelsea away to progress from the group.

Ajax 6-0 PEC Zwolle (Fixture 11)
Scorers: Zivkovic (3), Dolberg (2), Nunnely

You’ve been Ziv’d!

I took the opportunity to change things up against a PEC side who have been underperforming massively compared to their surprisingly good season last year. Eiting started at centre half and Nunnely on the wing. Zivkovic bagged a hat trick which was great. Zeefuik grabbed 2 assists which suggests he’s getting more comfortable at playing right back. Che Nunnely even managed his first goal for the club. Another academy graduate in the headlines.

Willem II 2-2 Ajax (Fixture 12)
Scorers: Dolberg, Van Bergwijn

2 points dropped!

A dire display against the team bottom of the league and 5 points adrift of safety. It was especially annoying because we were 2-1 up with only 10 minutes left. Still, at least we didn’t lose it and Van Bergwijn finally chipped in with one. We really didn’t play anything like we are capable of.

UCL Group Stage

Chelsea 4-1 Ajax (Fixture 4)

Sub Par at Stamford Bridge!

Awful, awful performance. We were 4-0 down until Nouri scored a very late consolation. Sisto went missing today. He won’t be starting the next UCL game as I can’t trust him. He was a liability. Bayern Beat Partizan. This means a point from our next 2 games should get us EL football and we definitely need 2 wins to have any chance of getting UCL qualification.
Month in Review​

A very poor month for us. We only managed 2 wins out 5. The UCL campaign is turning into a disaster. We need to make sure we get the EL spot by getting a good result against Partizan at home. I have decided we will go for it against Bayern away. I am happy to take a hiding if it means we had a good go at them. On the plus side, we managed to extend our lead at the top of the league by a few points.

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Dutch Cup 4rd​ Round Draw (Last 16)

Roda or Ajax v FC Utrecht

Although we still need to win our 3rd​ round game and Utrecht are a very good team, I’m happy to get a home draw. I will still play a reserve team for this game.

Star Performer

Abdelhak Nouri (AMC) – Performed consistently well in the absence of Davy Klaassen. Great to know he can be relied upon when needed.

Concerning Performers

Pione Sisto (AMR) – First to worst this month. Really poor v Chelsea. Needs to improve his consistency if he wants more game time.

Coming Up In The Next Post…

FC Utrecht in the league.

The conclusion of the UCL Group Stage.
 
Good read mate, much like yourself I enjoy the games more when building homegrown teams. Keep it up mate
 
Thanks for the feedback guys! eagleheartf1chl , I had a look at your youtube channel, keep up the good work with Barca. Jasper Cillessen is a former Ajax player, so I hope he gets some game time for you!
 
November Update

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November Update​


We are looking to improve drastically this month. The big aim is to guarantee at least EL qualification. If we could maintain our lead at the top of the Eredivisie that would be great and the reserves have a chance to impress in the Dutch Cup.

Ajax 2-1 FC Utrecht (Fixture 13)
Scorers: Zivkovic (2)

Turning Things Around!

This looked to be a tricky tie against 4th​ placed Utrecht and the legend that is Fred Friday! Fortunately, he didn’t start for them – a terrible move on their part. I had no choice but to go full strength against Utrecht to try and get some momentum back into our season.

Bergwijn went off injured after half an hour. He will be out for 2-3 months with a broken ankle. On came Dolberg – time to shine, boy! He duly obliged putting a great ball in for Zivkovic to score within 5 minutes. Ziv added another one, before Gudelj gave away a penalty which they converted. The win puts us 7 points clear at the top.

I have the option of Dolberg or Sisto to replace Berwijn. Based on his performance, Dolberg will get the first crack at it. We need someone to consistently score goals other than Ziv, so Dolberg might just be the man.

International Break

We had some stand out performers in the traditional November international slot.

Che Nunnely – scored 2 goals for the Dutch U-19’s v Slovakia

Mateo Casierra – scored twice for Columbia’s U-20’s v Peru. He’s now scored 10 goals for the U-20’s in just 18 games – that’s a decent record!

Richairo Zivkovic – Came on as a sub for his first senior international cap for the Netherlands. He played about 30 mins. So proud…

Cambuur 1-2 Ajax (Fixture 14)
Scorers: Sisto, Nunnely

Con-Sis-tency is key!

We rolled out the reserves again for this game with the crucial Partizan game in mind. Things didn’t start well, as we went 1-0 down inside 5 minutes. Newly promoted Cambuur were much better than I expected. Sisto, who had a great game on the left of midfield, cut in and shot to level it up. Then Nunnely nicked a winner mid way through the second half. I can see Cambuur causing a lot of teams problems this season, so this could be a good win.

UCL Group Stage

Ajax 3-0 Partizan Belgrade (Fixture 5)
Scorer: Ziyech, Dolberg, Veltman

Partizan Aj-axed!

We went into this game knowing that a point would be enough to ensure we finished 3rd​ and qualified for the EL, but I was going to go for the win. We aren’t used to playing defensively, so we weren’t about to start now. Ziyech floated home a beautiful free kick early on to get the party started. Dolberg, who was excellent all game, finished off a wonderful flowing move for 2-0. The centre halves teamed up to assist each other for the third.

Bayern beat Chelsea in the other game, so we are going to finish third regardless of what happens in our last group game. So definitely no UCL after Christmas.

Ajax 2-1 Vitesse (Fixture 15)
Scorers: Zivkovic (2)

Victory V Vitesse!

Vitesse could go 2nd​ with a win here, so had plenty of motivation. I started Anita to give us a bit more steal in the middle of the park. Vitesse scored a wonderful goal early on – I actually applauded Beta da Silva. It could have been much worse had Vitesse converted a penalty late in the first half. Luckily Rajkovic saved it. We came back in the second half with Zivkovic grabbing 2 goals (again).

Dutch Cup – Round 3

Roda JC 1-2 Ajax
Scorers: Sierhuis, Nunnely

The reserves got another win in the cup. We went 1-0 when Sierhuis scored his 5th​ of the season. Then, Simon Church (yes that Simon Church) scored for Vitesse. Nunnely then scored a winner (3rd​ of season). Home to Utrecht in the next round.

Month in Review​

A perfect month with 5 wins out 5. I was delighted to get EL football, if a little disappointed we didn’t get closer to UCL qualification. Still, it’s all good experience for next season. We now have an 8 point lead at the top of the Eredivisie over Heracles who are somehow 2nd​! Feyenoord and PSV are 3rd​ and 4th​.


Dutch Cup 4rd​ Round Draw (Last 16)

Ajax v FC Utrecht

Star Performer

Kasper Dolberg (AML) – He has been great since coming in for Bergwijn. He could score more goals, but does get loads of assists.

Concerning Performers

Nemanja Gudelj (CM) – He’s not been performing well for about 6 weeks now. Liable to get sold if he can’t get his act together. Anita has moved above him in the pecking order.

Coming Up In The Next Post…

The league draws to a close before the winter break..

Our final UCL game.
 
Thank you so much :)
I will give him some gametime but probably just in the cups because we are not doing good in the La Liga.
 
December Update

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December Update​


We need to keep this good form up. I would like to get a positive result in the UCL against Bayern. Hopefully we will get a decent EL draw and go far enough in it to improve the Dutch UEFA co-efficient.

Feyenoord 0-0 Ajax (Fixture 16)
Scorers: None

Feyenoord Not Firing (and neither are Ajax)!

Feyenoord threw up a few surprises with their team selection – 37 year old Dirk Kuyt starting the game at right back. The game also saw the return of former Ajax academy graduate Sheraldo Becker to the club. The game itself was quite dull. Becker actually managed to score against us, but it was disallowed for a foul in the build up. I did try the change things by bringing on Nunnely, but nothing worked. Still, a draw away from home against our major title rivals can’t be a bad result.

UCL Group Stage

Bayern 3-0 Ajax (Fixture 6)
Scorer: None

Bayern Simply Better!

I put out all of our promising players to give them some top level experience. Bayern were far too good and were 3 up by half time. We steadied the ship in the second half, but never really threatened them. EL football for us after Christmas.

On the upside, our U-19’s got through the group and will be playing UCL U-19 knock out football after Chistmas.


Ajax 5-1 FC Eindhoven (Fixture 17)
Scorers: Zivkovic (2), Klaassen, Ziyech, Dolberg

Hi-Five For Eindhoven!

Eindhoven had lost there last 6 games, so I wasn’t expecting much from them. That turned out to be a good assumption. We shared the goals around, with Zivkovic getting 2. He seems to have a habit of scoring in bunches. We will have much tougher fixtures than this ahead.

EL Draw

There are some great teams left in the competition – all of whom I’d like to avoid. Arsenal, Lazio, Inter Milan, AC Milan, Tottenham Hotspur, Leicester, Sevilla, Bayer Leverkusen and AS Monaco to name but a few.


Borussia Monchengladbach v Ajax

Given all of the other possibilities, this wasn’t too bad of a draw. There are so many sub plots in this game again. BMG have spent heavily in the summer, buying Saido Berahino and Holger Badstuder. Despite this, they are currently 15th​ out of 18 teams in the Bundesliga. This game will also see the return of Anwar El Ghazi!!! We sold him for 15 million to them in the summer and they paid him 65k a week, which we simply can’t afford! Hopefully he won’t come back to haunt us.

Dutch Cup – Round 4

Ajax 3-2 FC Utrecht
Scorers: Sisto, Sierhuis (2)

The Beautiful Game!

What a game this was! 2-0 down inside 20 minutes and looking shambolic! We continued to be under pressure and could easily have conceded more. Fortunately, Sisto scored in first half injury time from a Nunnely cross to give us some home. It didn’t save the players from getting ripped a new one at half time. In the second half, Nunnely could easily have been mistaken for Cristiano Ronaldo on steroids! He terrorized their poor left back and by the end of the game had provided all 3 assists for our goals. Sierhuis got the 2 goals to win the game for us.

We have to count ourselves lucky after the poor start. PSV got put out as well. Anita got injured (again) for 6-7 weeks. Deyo Zeefuik praised my team talk in the media after the game saying it was the reason we managed to turn the game around. The man clearly wants more starts!

GA Eagles 0-3 Ajax (Fixture 18)
Scorers: Zivkovic (2), Dolberg

Go Behind Eagles!

Another game, another couple of goals for Zivkovic. On this form he’s definitely getting more call ups for Holland. Eagles have been a boggy team for us before, so I was pleased to get out of this game without too much trouble.

Ajax 5-0 ADO Den Haag (Fixture 19)
Scorers: Nunnely (3), Zivkovic, own goal.

Destruction Derby!

Nunnely continued his fine form with this performance against a very poor Den Haag side. This was his first hat trick at senior level and what better place to do it than in the local derby. This was a fantastic way to end off 2017 and go into the Christmas break.

Month in Review​

I was disappointed by the heavy loss to Bayern, but the rest of the month was a success. We have a big lead in the Eredivisie already and seem to be sailing through the Dutch Cup with our B team. The EL is going to take on massive significance in the 2nd​ half of the season and I plan on winning it.


Dutch Cup ¼ final Draw

Ajax v Groningen

The U-19's also got Dynamo Kyiv in the last 16 of the UCL.

Star Performer

Che Nunnely (AMR) – 3 goals and 3 assists this month is a fantastic return. He’s really stepped up and put pressure on Ziyech and Sisto for the starting job.

Concerning Performers

Kenny Tete (RB) – He’s not been as good lately, putting in sub par performances. Zeefuik is putting him under real pressure for his starting job.

Coming Up In The Next Post…

League fixtures.

Transfer window in’s and out’s.
 
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