Ajax, The Netherlands, and The Fearlessness of Youth

[Jedd95]

Surprised you sold Nissen, he turns out to be a solid Rb in most of my saves, winning champs League with me a few times! Going well so far mate, keep it up.

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Wiji should be a cracking loan deal, anything tied up regarding future fee?

 

[Klippybo]

AUGUST

Johan Cruyff Shield
v

​​Ajax 3 (Dolberg 15, 88pen, Gravenberch 17)
PSV Eindhoven 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum (Marin), Gravenberch, Ziyech, Van De Beek (Labyad), Tadic (Johnsen), Dolberg*

We kick off the new season with a win and a trophy. Gravenberch scored in the first game of last season so I was delighted to see him repeat the trick here. Tadic missed a penalty and Wijnaldum was poor lol. PSV haven't spent any money in the summer so far and have actually got weaker so its looking ominous for them already.

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UEFA Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round 1st Leg
​​v
Ajax 3 (Ziyech 2, 23, Zirkzee 75)
Red Star Belgrade 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico (Pierie), Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres (Gravenberch), Ziyech*, Tadic, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

While I think it is a joke that the Champions of Holland have to go through 2 qualifying rounds to reach the group stages of the Champions League I suppose if we continue to win handsomely like we did here it gives my younger players more European experience.

--

v
​​Sparta Rotterdam 0
Ajax 2 (Van De Beek 38, David Neres 49)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum (Marin), Gravenberch, David Neres, Van De Beek*, Tadic (Johnsen), Dolberg (Zirkzee)

Our performance deserved more goals tbh which is just as well as I expected to score 4 or 5 against a newly promoted team but hey-ho.

--

UEFA Champions League 3rd Qualifying Round 2nd Leg
v
​​Red Star Belgrade 2 (Joveljic 52, 87)
Ajax 2 (Labyad 1, 64)
(Agg: 2-5)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, Schuurs, Blind, Pierie, Marin (Sancet), Gravenberch, Cerny, Labyad, Johnsen (Van Der Heide), Zirkzee (Brobbey)

Out came my backups and they did OK. Young Boys of Switzerland are up next.

--

v
​​Ajax 3 (David Neres 10, 83, Tadic 19)
De Graafschap 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek (Gravenberch), David Neres*, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

David Neres has started the season on fire as he has 3 goals in our 2 league games. Labyad also had a goal disallowed.

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UEFA Champions League Playoff 1st Leg
​​v
Young Boys 0
Ajax 1 (Tadic 4pen)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Blind), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico (Pierie), Wijnaldum (Marin), Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech, Tadic, Dolberg

Not the most convincing of results but we weren't helped when Mazraoui went off injured and I didn't have a player who has played RB before so Daley Blind had to make do lol.

--

v
​​Helmond Sport 0
Ajax 2 (Dolberg 37, Gravenberch 71)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico (Pierie), Wijnaldum (Marin), Van De Beek (Gravenberch*), David Neres, Ziyech, Tadic, Dolberg

That's 3 wins out of 3 in the league with 3 clean sheets but I am not happy as I would have expected a lot more goals scored against our 3 opponents.

--

UEFA Champions League Playoff 2nd Leg
v
​​Ajax 5 (Ziyech 3, David Neres 28, Tadic 43, 87pen, Wijnaldum 73)
Young Boys 0
(Agg: 6-0)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek (Gravenberch), David Neres, Ziyech, Tadic*, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

That's better!!! Gini Wijnaldum finally began to show what he could do here as he ran the show tbh as he got 2 goals and an assist.

--

SUMMARY

Results wise our performances at the start of the season have been very good but the performances haven't been great apart from the 4-0 win over PSV to win the Super Cup and the 5-0 win over Young Boys in the Champions League.

I just noticed typing this that while I have been worrying about my strikers not scoring my defence certainly hasn't been conceding as we only conceded 2 goals in all those games and that was when my backups were out and in total we kept 7 clean sheets.

The draws for the cups have been kind as we have Achilles 29 in the Dutch Cup and PSG, Lokomotiv Moscow and Levski Sofia in the Champions League.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID NERES
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EREDIVISIE

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[Klippybo]

Wiji should be a cracking loan deal, anything tied up regarding future fee?

Nah. Tbh he would have cost £20m plus and I don't want to spend all of that on a player close to 30. Especially with Gravenberch waiting in the wings.

Surprised you sold Nissen, he turns out to be a solid Rb in most of my saves, winning champs League with me a few times! Going well so far mate, keep it up.​

• http://www.fm-base.co.uk/forum/fm19-manager-stories/379718-ajax-netherlands-fearlessness-youth.html#

​

Cheers. I just didn't need 3 RBs and although he had decent stats he isn't Dutch which was a downfall and I preferred Veltman and Mazraoui. He didn't really impress last season either although admittedly he didn't start much.

 

[Brane_Orsou]

Originally Posted by neavie pops23
Wiji should be a cracking loan deal, anything tied up regarding future fee?


Nah. Tbh he would have cost £20m plus and I don't want to spend all of that on a player close to 30. Especially with Gravenberch waiting in the wings.

Aye £20m plus isn't worth it, sometimes I've managed to get a very low future fee but depends on the wages and loan fee upfront, and if you're only paying 30% of his wages then a year out of him will be more than enough. Good to see him starting to perform now as well.

 

[Klippybo]

SEPTEMBER

v

Ajax 1 (Viergever 27og)
PSV Eindhoven 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik*, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Gravenberch, David Neres, Van De Beek (Labyad), Tadic (Johnsen), Dolberg (Brobbey)

While it wasn't as convincing as the 4-0 win a matter of weeks ago it is still a nice win and its another clean sheet.

--

v
Ajax 3 (Dolberg 29, David Neres 85, Labyad 90)
VVV-Venlo 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman (Mazraoui), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic*, Dolberg

Forget about the scoreline, or the fact that we had a goal disallowed or that we had a goal disallowed. What I need to point out is that we had an amazing 53 shots on goal!!!!

This really could have been double figures.

--

UEFA Champions League Group B
v
Ajax 1 (David Neres 18)
Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Cavani 51)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Marin, Van De Beek, David Neres*, Ziyech (Labyad), Johnsen, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

No 51 shots on goal here but we still played very well and this is a good result especially when you consider I had to pitch in Marin and Johnsen.

--

v
sc Heerenveen 0
Ajax 1 (Labyad 90)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico*, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

Somebody is going to get a serious hiding sometime and with a non-league side coming up it could be them. We had 22 shots on goal, they had none yet we had to wait until stoppage time to get the winner from Labyad.

--

KNVB Cup 1st Round
v
Ajax 11 (Labyad 1, 51, 65, 83, Marin 4, Pierie 11, Cerny 22, 26, 32, Brobbey 67, 71)
Achilles 29 1 (Senden 49)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, Schuurs, Blind, Pierie, Marin (Sancet), Gravenberch, Cerny, Labyad*, Johnsen (Van Der Heide), Zirkzee (Brobbey)

I did say somebody would get a hiding but I didn't think we would score 11 in a game - imagine what my first team would have done!! On a side note - how the **** did they score given our defensive record? lol

--

v
Heracles Almelo 0
Ajax 1 (Tadic 90pen)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Gravenberch, David Neres (Johnsen), Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic*, Dolberg (Brobbey)

Jeezo - another league match where we wipe the floor with them only to rely on a last minute goal to win. This time it was thanks to a last minute penalty and Heracles had their man sent-off too.

--

SUMMARY

Our strong start to the season continued but somehow we are not top of the league as Utrecht have also won all of their games and have a better goal difference to ourselves. Now Utrecht have scored a few goals but we haven't conceded any but the fact we average less than 2 goals a game is a big worry - especially when we take on average 25-30 shots on goal a game (over 50 in 2 matches this month).

In the Dutch Cup we thumped Achilles 29 11-1 in a game where Labyad scored 4 and Cerny scored 3. I actually considered selling Labyad in the summer but he has been my supersub this season while Cerny has been demoted to my reserve side where he has been banging in the goals.

Finally Hakim Ziyech and Matthijs De Ligt are now happy again and I have moved to extend their contracts until 2024 - I just need Kik Pierie to be happy now.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
ZAKARIA LABYAD
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EREDIVISIE

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[Klippybo]

OCTOBER

UEFA Champions League Group B
v
Lokomotiv Moscow 1 (Igboun 40)
Ajax 2 (Dolberg 16, 52)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Wijnaldum, Gravenberch (Marin), David Neres, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic, Dolberg*

Just the 43 shots on goal in this game lol.

--

v
FC Twente 1 (Brustad 58)
Ajax 4 (Labyad 28, Marin 30, David Neres 32, 45)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt (Blind), Rekik, Tagliafico, Marin, Sancet, David Neres*, Labyad, Johnsen, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

Finally we get a few goals to shout about in the league and it comes in a match where I had to throw in a few backup players. We concede our first league goal though which was annoying.

--

KNVB Cup 2nd Round

v
VVV-Venlo 1 (Van Ooijen 90)
Ajax 2 (Johnsen 42, Sancet 90+3)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt (Van Den Berg), Rekik, Tagliafico, Sancet*, Van De Beek, David Neres, Labyad (Ekkelenkamp), Johnsen, Zirkzee (Brobbey)

This game was exciting!!! We took the lead and it looked like that was that although they had a goal disallowed but then they levelled right at the death. Things were not over though as Brobbey then had a goal disallowed and we still had enough time for Sancet to get the winner.

--

UEFA Champions League Group B
v
Ajax 4 (Marin 24, Johnsen 26, 55, 90)
Levski Sofia 1 (Bozhinov 90)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, Van Den Berg, Blind, Pierie, Marin, Gravenberch (Sancet), David Neres, Labyad, Johnsen*, Zirkzee (Brobbey)

My backups are certainly getting plenty of opportunities to shine and they did so again here. Dennis Johnsen, newly capped by Norway, scored a hat-trick but Joshua Zirkzee, somehow newly capped by Holland, cant buy a goal.

--

v
Ajax 3 (Van De Beek 6, Dolberg 25, Tadic 42)
FC Utrecht 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico (Pierie), Wijnaldum (Marin), Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech (Johnsen), Tadic*, Dolberg

This was a meeting of the top 2 and remarkably we were the team in 2nd place but not anymore as we leapfrog them with this victory.

--

v
Ajax 2 (David Neres 51, Dolberg 66)
Feyenoord 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Marin, Van De Beek, David Neres*, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic (Van Der Heide), Dolberg

This is our rivals we were up against and supposedly one of the big 3 in Holland - they didn't even take a shot on goal.

--

SUMMARY

Another month and we are still unbeaten this season plus we still have our 100% league record and if you tie that in with our unbeaten domestic campaign last season...….

We had some big victories this month especially against Utrecht who have had an amazing start to the season and our bitter rivals Feyenoord. In Europe we are looking good for qualifying as I would expect as it isn't the toughest of groups and in the Dutch Cup we will play PEC Zwolle.

Finally I was amazed that Joshua Zirkzee got a call up for Holland and got capped. He has scored 1 goal this season and couldn't even score when we banged in 11 against the non league side.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DAVID NERES

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EREDIVISIE
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[Klippybo]

NOVEMBER

v
Willem II 0
Ajax 2 (Tadic 45pen, Dolberg 56)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico*, Marin, Gravenberch, David Neres (Johnsen), Ziyech, Tadic, Dolberg

We weren't at our best here and they had an equaliser disallowed however we got the job done and in scoring in each of his last 3 league games Dolberg is beginning to find some form.

--

UEFA Champions League Group B
v
Levski Sofia 0
Ajax 5 (Zirkzee 41, 47, 67pen, Sancet 59, Gravenberch 81)

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, Schuurs (Eiting), Blind, Pierie, Sancet, Gravenberch, Cerny, Labyad (Proper), Johnsen (Van Der Heide), Zirkzee*

My backups do me proud here with a thumping victory over Levski Sofia. Joshua Zirkzee banged in a hat-trick as he is back on the goal trail. This win secures our qualification to the knockout stages.

--

v
Ajax 6 (Tadic 5pen, 14, Van De Beek 23, David Neres 41, 78, Dolberg 49)
FC Groningen 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Tagliafico, Marin (Sancet), Van De Beek, David Neres*, Ziyech, Tadic, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

About time!!! My first team have been threatening to give someone a hiding in the league and they finally did it here against 3rd placed Groningen.

--

v
Ajax 2 (Tadic 26pen, Labyad 87)
NAC Breda 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie (Blind), Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres (Johnsen), Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic*, Dolberg

--

UEFA Champions League Group B

v
Paris Saint-Germain 1 (Mbappe 16)
Ajax 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech (Labyad), Tadic, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

A tight match although I must admit that they were the better side as it is not often the opposition get more shots than us. Our first defeat in all competitions this season.

--

SUMMARY

We just keep motoring on!!! Domestically we cannot be touched and still have only conceded 1 goal in the league remarkably and we thrashed Groningen 6-0 which was a great result and performance to boot.

One thing that ****** me off however is that Calvin Stengs and Myron Boadu of AZ Alkmaar have release clauses to let them join foreign clubs for a total of £30m yet when I enquire about them I am quoted a total of £140m!!!!!!

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PLAYER OF THE MONTH
DUSAN TADIC
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EREDIVISIE

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[Klippybo]

DECEMBER

v
ADO Den Haag 0
Ajax 3 (David Neres 16, Johnsen 70, De Ligt 72)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt*, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek (Gravenberch), David Neres (Labyad), Ziyech, Johnsen, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

ADO Den Haag sacked their manager immediately after this match. Tbh they played quite well but two goals in as many minutes added a bit of gloss to the scoreline.

--

v
Ajax 3 (De Ligt 58, 62, Tadic 90)
AZ Alkmaar 1 (Maher 64)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Veltman), De Ligt*, Rekik, Pierie, Marin, Gravenberch, Johnsen, Van De Beek(Labyad), Tadic, Dolberg (Brobbey)

Matthijs De Ligt all of a sudden thinks he is a striker with 3 goals in 2 games. This was only our 2nd goal conceded in the league so far this season.

--

v
PEC Zwolle 0
Ajax 1 (Zirkzee 64)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, Blind, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek (Gravenberch), David Neres, Ziyech (Labyad), Johnsen, Dolberg (Zirkzee)

We were poor in this match and we sneaked the win thanks to Zirkzee's 1st league goal of the season.

--

UEFA Champions League Group B
v
Ajax 6 (Marin 5, 89, Zirkzee 10, 20, Johnsen 59, Proper 75)
Lokomotiv Moscow 0

Lineup - Onana, Veltman, Schuurs, Blind (Van Gelderen), Pierie, Marin*, Gravenberch (Sancet), David Neres, Labyad (Proper), Johnsen, Zirkzee

Not a bad way to end the group stage!!

--

v
Ajax 5 (David Neres 21, 42, Zirkzee 55, De Ligt 69, Proper 88)
Sparta Rotterdam 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum (Sancet), Van De Beek (Gravenberch), David Neres*, Ziyech (Proper), Tadic, Zirkzee

Wonderful. De Ligt was at it again while Dirk Proper, fresh after scoring in our last match came off the bench and fired one in from 25 yards.

--

KNVB Cup
v
Ajax 3 (Zirkzee 14, Ziyech 53, Johnsen 85)
PEC Zwolle 0

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui (Schuurs), De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie*, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres (Proper), Ziyech, Tadic (Johnsen), Zirkzee

Remember Hakim Ziyech? This was only his 4th goal this season and he is yet to score in the league. Joshua Zirkzee is taking his chance since Dolberg got a small injury.

--

v
De Graafschap 0
Ajax 2 (Johnsen 65, Brobbey 90)

Lineup - Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Rekik, Pierie, Wijnaldum, Van De Beek, David Neres, Ziyech (Gravenberch), Tadic (Johnsen*), Zirkzee (Brobbey)

My subs won it for me here. Johnsen has really impressed this season and he now has 8 goals for the season. Karim Rekik got sent-off in between our goals.

--

SUMMARY

So we go into the winter break having won all 18 league matches, only conceding 2 goals in the process and are 13pts clear with a game in hand - not too shabby lol. Sometimes winning all the time is boring but this isn't really as I am enjoying working with this young squad.

What makes it all the more remarkable is that I am not happy with some of my players such as Dolberg, Ziyech, Wijnaldum and Van De Beek - they just aren't contributing enough however a special mention goes out to Pierie (who finally signed a new deal) and Johnsen who have excelled.

In the Champions League we have been drawn against Liverpool so that will be really tough to progress there.

Finally I have agreed to sign 3 players in January while one will leave - should be interesting lol.

--

PLAYER OF THE MONTH
MATTHIJS DE LIGT
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EREDIVISIE
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[Logorex]

Loving it so far, keep it up!

 

[Trophy_Whorder]

Make sure you use Ryan Gravenberch 16 years old at the start of the game in season six on my Ajax save I sold him for £35m get him in your first team right away.

Here he is in my Derby County save season 2

View attachment 9381​

 

[Skojardu]

what tactic are u using?