AZ - The Swedish Immigrant

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AZ - The Swedish Immigrant

As of today, June 20th 2011, there is a new manager at AZ.
The Swede, Christopher Warås Harjo, has been handpicked to be the head of a new era at the Dutch club hand picked, from the Swedish First Division team, Örgryte IS' coaching staff.

-


Press Conference

Christopher Warås Harjo: Hello, I'd like to start to thank everyone here at AZ for this fantastic opportunity. I have never before managed a team at this level so I realize that the club is taking a real gamble appointing me at this crucial time of the club.
To make the big leap easier I have decided to bring in a team of coaches from Sweden with me, and I am sure that their experience will help me where I might lack.

As far as goals go, we have to be realistic, we won just a couple of years ago and we still have a really competable team, but threre are many strong teams in Holland and I don't like to make promises where I might not be able to keep them, therefore I set my sight on getting a spot for the Europe Competitions next year.

Today I won't be answering any questions as I'd like to go straight to work.

-


As I have just arrived here at the club, I think it might be a good thing to start off naming some of the, according to me, star players of the team.


No. 1 - Attacker

Jozy Altidore

Jozy is new at the club and joined a short time before me, and he's one for the future.
A very athletic, American striker who needs to practice his shooting. He misses too much to take the next step so that'll be something we'll try to fix.

No. 2 - Midfielder

Rasmus Elm
Making this the third season at the club, he has proven himself a crucial part of the starting eleven.
Rasmus is a player I, as a Swede, have a pretty good knowledge about, having seen him at Kalmar FF in Allsvenskan, dominating with his brothers.
A young central midfielder with good mental attributes for his age, able to read the game well and set a tempo we are comfortable with. I will be looking for him to be a central cog in our machinery.
A candidate for the Captain title.


No. 3 - Defender

Niklas Moisander

A young but intelligent defender. Playing here for his fourth season he will be looking to stay in the starting 11 after doing so the past three years.
What he lacks in speed and strength he makes up for in work rate and determination, I trust him to do his very best for 120 minutes and I hope that trust is well placed.
Another candidate for the Captaincy.

-

Transfers


I sold a bunch of players whom I didn't have real faith in, and then some where I just couldn't refuse the money being offered.
The biggest loss, I belive, will be Maarten Martens who is a really good player. I wish him all luck at Sunderland now.


Here we go, a whole lot of players indeed. I did as I intended and got many of the up and coming Scandinavian talents, some of which may even be part of the starting eleven before the season has gone and past.

The players I belive can make an instant impact are:

Aleksander Milosevic - Central Defender


Aleksander joined us from AIK after a bid war with the likes of Celtic and fellow dutchmen PSV, he finally decided joining us here in Alkmaar.
A tall defender with more than acceptable passing skills, I can see him being better at starting up the offense, after taking back the ball, than many other big central tanks. I have faith in that he'll grow much as a player here with us.
He signed a 5 year contract ending in 2016.

Markus Henriksen -Central Midfielder


Norweigan midfielder joining us from Rosenborg. Already an accomplished player in his homeland with two apperances for his country already. He came for a lot of money so I really had to convince the owners that this was a player we would regret missing, and so he came. He to is a big player with good passing skills, a lot of stamina and a heck of a spirit, he never stops running, never stops working. That are great qualities in a player nowadays when many youngsters only possess the flair.

Kevin Trapp -Goalkeeper


Our largest transfer in this window. Joining us from Bundesliga outfits, Kaiserslautern, he didn't come cheap. I think it really is a transfer that shows we are out to go far this season. A young super-talent goalkeeper who will fill the void between our posts.
He has shown lightning reflexes and I'm sure that he'll be even more commanding once he learns the language, and then he'll be great at reassuring the defensive line.
Also signed a 5 year deal.
-------

A few words from the author

So this is my new story, AZ. I am Swedish in real life as some of you might already realise. I know this project might not work out all that well seeing as I do not only sign all the best available players, but I had a thought of playing a team that might have use of, and be able to afford, the new up and coming stars from Scandinavian football, we'll see how it all turns out. Thanks in advance.

Christopher Warås Harjo
​
 
Preparing For a New Season

Christopher W-H: A little time has past since I took my first steps at the AFAS Stadion. I barely have time to settle in at my new apartment before the pre-season starts, a time for my new players to settle in, show that they're prepared to fight for a place on the team, and for the old players to show why they are here in the first place.

Too bad that our new keeper, Kevin Trapp, won't be able to join us until after the friendlies due to personal matters, but we'll have to manage without him and hope he'll be in form when he finally arrives.

I'm trying to keep to the Dutch way and have decided to play a 4-3-3 Formation, and will try with one defensive midfielder and two central, but also a bit of training with two central and one offensive midfielder, for the 'easier' games. We'll have to see what works best and when.

Now, we're welcoming two Ukraine teams that are visiting us, Metalist and Shakhtar.

-



Seems like we did something wrong... Very wrong.
A terrible start for me, really, the players didn't really get my directions and didn't seem to be able to read eachothers plays, but hey that's what friendlies are for.
Still, I would have liked to atleast win a single game, but instead we conceded like crazy, we are all a bit ashamed.
I'm not going to blame Esteban (GK) for the losses but I sure hope that Trapp will do a better job commanding this defensive.




​
 
Time to Get Serious



After a horrible pre-season, it's nice to get the real deal going, the games that matter.
Even with all the bad results earlier, there's a good vibe about the team at practice, the new players are settling in pretty well and we got our new goalkeeper, Trapp, in place.

The Europa League draw saw us agains Swiss team Vaduz in the 3rd Qualifying round, and this is a game we should win, and I have confidence that we will.

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AZ 3 - 1 Vaduz
 Jozy Altidore (24, 49, 90+3)
Mathias Batliner (70)

Attendance: 13.200


MoM: Jozy Altidore (9.5)

It wasn't even close. The pre-season was soo far away it almost seemed it never happened. We totally dominated the whole game, with chance after chance while they only had one shot on goal, that one went in though, a bit annoying.
Altidore did very well and scored a hat-trick, seems like he got his aim right, let's hope this is a sign of what will come. Not much to say really, we played very clean and didn't get a single card, only 4 fouls in all for us.

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AZ 2 - 0 RKC
Oskar Hiljemark (62)
Niklas Moisander (77)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM: Niklas Moisander (8.0)

Feels good to start the Eredivisie with a win, a solid one where we once again dominated all 90 minutes.
It feels good to see Hiljemark come off to a good start, playing instead of Wernbloom who were suspended, he took the chance and scored our first goal.
Moisander and Milosevic did a solid job at our back when RKC actually did get close, and once again we only had a single shot against our goal.

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Vaduz 0 - 1 AZ
Rasmus Elm (74)

Attendance: 3.720


MoM: Pontus Wernbloom (7.9)

This time around, it wasn't as much action as before. A close game with an equal amount of chances for both teams, we just proved more effective.
Not much to note here, a boring game in general, but we won so I'm happy.

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Heracles 0 - 2 AZ
Jozy Altidore (1, 12)

Attendance: 8.500


MoM: Jozy Altidore (8.8)

While they had the better possession, we got the ball forward a tad more, while we also managed to score.
Altidore once again proved that he can score on occasion, with two quick goals in the beginning of the game.
After that great start the game seemed to slow down and never really picked up pace, Heracles didn't really get any clear cut chances and mostly fired from afar and missed the goal completely.


-


Jozy Altidore - Shooting AZ to victory in the league as well as in Europa

-

From the Author
Ah, it feels good to get started for real and I'm really happy with the results we've had soo far.
I was a bit afraid that Altidore would continue like he did in Spain, and not take the chance when he got it, but the Dutch league might be just the stage he can star on.
A lot of my own Scandinavian signings have played really well also, I'd like to point out Milosevic as the most prominent one, working really well with Moisander in the defense, and also Kevin Trapp who's proven top-notch so far, not letting many balls get past him.
Now I just hope I can keep this up while also rotating the players a bit so they all can get some first team experience and grow.

I'd appreciate any suggestions and critique you might have.

Thank you, Christopher Warås Harjo.




​
 



Playing through August

Hoping to continue our good form, we are up against last years runner-ups and 2010 champions, FC Twente.
They are on a bad run, and they lost against Zürich in Champions League in both legs and they only have one point from the first two game sin the league, let's pile on the pain.

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AZ 5 - 0 FC Twente
Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson (2)
Rasmus Bengtsson O.G (30)
Aleksander Milosevic (59)
Jozy Altidore (61, 74)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM:Jozy Altidore (9.1)

Once again Jozy is man of the match, this time around he scored our two finishing goals that didn't really mean much, but still, he worked hard all game long and really deserved his award.
Also, both Gudmundsson and Milosevic had a really good game, scoring one each and while Gudmundsson stayed a threat forward, Milosevic helped to completely dull the Twente offense with Welbeck at its tip.
A good job through and through.

-

AZ 0 - 0 Jablonec (CZ)

Attendance 15.345



MoM: Milosevic (7.5)

A boring game, mostly because we didn't win, but also because it kind of got stuck in the middle. Neither team got many chances forward and the ones that were, often ended up high in the stands.
Milosevic stood in the right places when Jablonec actually attacked, and managed to fend them off well. Not much more to say, we still have a higher attendance in the league than in Europe, hopefully that'll change later in the tournament, if we get there, so our fans can cheer us on.

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ADO Den Haag 0 - 3 AZ
Jozy Altidore (26)
Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson (49)
Pontus Wernbloom (90)

Attendance: 12.178


MoM: Jozy Altidore (8.2)

A well played game, from our side, where we totally dominated. 21-4 in shots, 9-0 of them on target. ADO never stood a chance. First goal of the season for Wernbloom who had do come in as a CD when Milosevic got a bit jaded after a air duel, came on a corner in the last minute of full time.

-

A New Record



Eredivisie Team of the Week



Congratulations to Altidore and Henriksen.
A result of hard work and genuine talent, thanks to our supporters who make us work so hard for this city, the team and the people.

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Jablonec (CZ) 3 - 2 AZ
Jozy Altidore (5, 9)
Radek Kalivoda (20)
Vladimir Janacek (44)
David Lafata (82)

Attendance: 5.199


MoM: Jozy Altidore (8.8)

I'm soo terribly disappointed right now, we actually had a terrific start with two goals in the first ten minutes, but then we fell apart. This was supposed to be an easy game against a weaker opponent, they proved everyone wrong. They deserved the win, no question, they kept us at bay in Alkmaar and they played a bit better than us in the game here in Czech Republic.
I don't know what to say about this, I'm at a loss. Our European adventure is already over, so we have to focus on the league, let's win that instead then.

-

A Word From the Author
So that was an abrubt end to our race for an European title. Losing against a Czech team I've never even heard of, and conceding three goals after having such a good defensive streak... I'm dumbfounded, I'm actually really annoyed. Knocked out that early. Very well, it's in the past now, I have to focus on the league which we've started really well and we're actually number one soo far.
Jozy keeps on scoring and Milosevic is still a rock in the defence (apart from games against Czech opposition that is) and so is Trapp. I'm having a bit of a trouble deciding on who to play at the AML position. There are these Dutch players who were at the team when I arrived, Roy Beerens & Charlison Benschop, they are in competition with my signing Branimir Hrgota who I'm trainging to fit the part. We'll see how that goes in the future as none of them has impressed soo far.

Christopher Warås Harjo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~



​
 
I think you'll focus on Championship now, I think you and your players will be able to win the championship. Good luck.
 
MimoFCD said:
I think you'll focus on Championship now, I think you and your players will be able to win the championship. Good luck.
Click to expand...

Thank you, and yes, I will do my very best to win the league and the cup. Soo far soo good.
 
unlucky in Europa league, you'll do better in CL next year :)

I like your idea of building around young Scandinavian stars, actually you have inspired me to sart a new challenge!
 
kandersson said:
unlucky in Europa league, you'll do better in CL next year :)

I like your idea of building around young Scandinavian stars, actually you have inspired me to sart a new challenge!
Click to expand...

Yeah, it really felt terrible losing to that obscure team. But hopefully it'll be CL next year and some games against top competition.

Oh thank you, always nice to hear you're inspirational. Good luck with that!
 
Focusing on domestic competitions

After a fast end to Europa League, for us, we are going to put all our efforts in winning the league and Dutch Cup.
The cup draw us against Volendam, a team in the Juliper league, we should win with no problems but I'm not that sure of my self anymore, got to play a little to get my confidence back. I guess that's something that comes with experience, to be able to move on faster, it'll come, here we go!

Ps. I forgot to mention that I, before the window closed, bought swedish right defender Mattias Johansson from Kalmar FF for €1.1 Million and he's been rotating on that position with Victor Nilsson Lindelöf, whom despite his young age has played really well soo far, he might be taking that spot in the long run. Ds.

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AZ 2 - 1 Roda JC
Branimir Hrgota (30)
Sanharib Malki (81)
Markus Henriksen (86)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM: Giliano Wijnaldum (7.9)

A close one, we had a upper hand most of the game, with chances. They still got more possession than we did though, but didn't manage to capitalize on that.
A late equalizer from them got me sending more men forward, I wanted the win not a draw, it worked out this time when Markus Henriksen scored a great goal from the far outs of the penalty area.
Giliano Wijnaldum won the MoM award thank to two assists, I hope that he can reach his full potential, then he might even be of dutch national team standard.

[video=youtube;KjAqOCynDt8]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjAqOCynDt8[/video]

-

Feyenoord 0 - 0 AZ

Attendance: 49.061


MoM: Stefan de Vrij (7.6)

A close and tight game, not many chances for either side. This was my first really big game here, Feyenoord really got a huge following, our arena has been full every home game if I'm not mistaken, and hopefully, if we play well this season, I can talk the board in to investing in some more seats. Might be hard though and I'll have to look in to the financial aspect especially considering that our stadium is relatively new, built as late as 2006.

-

Dutch Cup



Volendam 1 - 2 AZ
Charlison Benschop (19)
Maikel van der Werff (45+2)
Jóhann Berg Gudmundsson (63)

Attendance: 4.820


MoM: Charlison Benschop (8.0)

I sometimes get amazed by our inability to score when given the chance, we had 10 shots on goal and only scored twice, against weak opposition. They never really stood a chance but still managed to rattle us with their first half equalizer and, as I said, our lack of efficiency.
In the end though we won and qualified to the next round, there we will meet Ajax 2, their B-side team, and if we don't win that one, I'm officially ashamed.

-

Eredivisie



AZ 2 - 0 NAC Breda
Jozy Altidore (52)
Jelle ten Rouwelaar O.G (56)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM: Aleksander Milosevic (8.2)

Once again we lost in terms of possession, not by much but still we lost, while we also totally dominated up front, created loads of more chances. Managed to score twice, well one own goal by their keeper but I want to contribute that goal to Altidore anyways, he created the chance himself and shot at the keeper who steered it in.
Our good run in the league is still on and we still haven't lost, who knows how long we'll be able to keep this up, I'm hoping for the best.

-

VVV2 - 1 AZ
Juraj Halenar (33, 61)
Maya Yoshida O.G (67)

Attendance: 8.000


MoM: Juraj Halenar (8.8)

Here it is, our first league loss for the season, against VVV, we won the statistics by far.
19 - 7 shots, 4 - 2 of them on target, 53 - 47 possession.
Still, they won the score, 2-1.
It's really annoying to get beaten by a team you're outplaying, we didn't even manage to score without the help of their Japanese defender.
Hopefully this sort of games won't come around to often, I do not enjoy losing to teams that playing worse than us, I just can't wrap my head around it. We're inefficient that's all, but that's a really really bad trait.
We have to fix that, I have to.

Summary

League Table


Player Stats


-
Words from the Author

That concludes September, plus a game in October, a good month for us with three wins and an away draw against Feyenoord, but in October we lost our first Eredivisie game, hopefully it'll be a rare occasion.
I would've liked to score some more goals in the games that we dominated, but that's life. Altidore is capable but I'm having my doubts at my wingers, they don't score as much as I'd like them to, neither are my midfielders who still plays a bit too defensively at times. I'll have to look in to that, and perhaps make some tactical tweaks.
Feel free to comment, give me advice, tips and critique, thank you.

Christopher Warås Harjo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~




​
 
October

A month with some difficult games, especially the ones against FC Utrecht & FC Groningen, both have impressed so far and are title contenders. The first game was in the last update so I won't bring it up again, but that turned out to be a hard one as well, that we lost against VVV.
But that's in the past, now let's get this started, the weather is getting worse and I'm not a huge fan of the cold.

-

FC Utrecht 2 - 0 AZ
Frank Demouge (Pen 3)
NanaAsare (53)

Attendandce: 23.441


MoM: Nana Asare (8.1)

This one turned out to be a bit too tough for us, two goals down in a fair game, we had a few half chances but nothing close to as dangerous as their offensive moves. Twice in a row we've lost now, I'm starting to hope I didn't just have beginners luck in the earlier games.
This time around Giliano Wijnaldum played dreadfully, I guess that's a thing you have to expect from young players, which I have plenty of (Perhaps too many), they're inconsistend, play fantastic one game just to collapse completely the next. Hopefully I can get the teamwork up enough to be able to handle these sudden downs of form.

-

AZ 1 - 0 FC Groningen
Kees Kwakman O.G (74)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM: Pontus Wernbloom (8.9)

A real warrior effort from, among others, Wernbloom granted us this win. They scored an own goal when Gudmundsson went for a cross ball from Wijnaldum, Kwakman just reached it first but kneed it right into his own goal. Good for us, and good by Gudmundsson to really challenging. Other than that nothing really special happened, we had some clear cut chances but didn't manage to capitalize, as usual, I'm starting to get used to it. Time for target practice perhaps, with severe punishment for those who fail?
Just a thought.

-

AZ 1 - 4 NEC
Jozy Altidore (20)
Krisztián Vadócz (29)
Andre Schembri (45)
Jozy Altidore Second Yellow Card (51)
Frederik Frans (89)
Stef Nijland (90+4)

Attendance: 17.000


MoM: Frederik Frans (8.3)

What the **** happened? We were totally outplayed, all game long. Managed to get an early goal on a counter move, other than that we stood no chance. They scored twice in the first half, Altidore made a stupid challenge from behind when putting preassure high in the field and managed to get sent off, after that it took a while and they still had us under constant attack. In a last quarter effort I told the team to go forward and try for the goal, it failed completely and we got two balls in the *** just before the referee blew the whistle.
All in all bad, really bad. Oh, and Wijnaldum got injured in overtime and won't be able to play for about a week. Great.

-

AZ 1 - 0 Ajax 2
Lucas Andersen (8)

Attendance: 5.140


MoM: Dirk Marcellis

A boring game, we dominated as one should expect, but didn't manage to score, as I've learnt to expect.
Lucas did manage an early goal though, his first for the season. I might as well mention, for those who didn't realize, that I fielded a B-Team today, many players who haven't played regularly. Our win was never in danger though as Ajax 2 lacked any power forward. A win and we've qualified to the next round, that was enough even though a moral boost would've been nice after the last couple of weeks.

-

Vitesse 1 - 1 AZ
Markus Henriksen (15)
KaimarSaag (53)

Attendance: 19.135


MoM: PietVelthuizen (8.1)

Wow, their keeper really played well today, and kept them from losing single-handed at times.
We had the upper hand all game long but he saved them time after time, and got the MoM award fair and square.
Vitesse haven't played really well in the league soo far this season but they're a good team with a few players I wouldn't mind having, perhaps this'll be a turning point for them, if their keeper can keep this form for a while.

-

Summary

League Table


So we're still pretty far up, with a game more played than a few of those around us, but it's still pretty even among the top contenders with only FC Utrecht pulling a bit ahead.

Player Stats


So Jozy is tied with Hesselink for the most goals scored. Other than that, there isn't really much positives for us at this point, player stats-wise.

Player Progression

Rasmus Elm, Jozy Altidore & Fernando Lewis



These are the players who have impressed the most this month, on practices. I'm really enjoying Lewis' progression seeing as he haven't played much 1st team football, I'll bring him up to the A-team and let him play a little, I like his style. Hopefully he can prove to be a weapon up front. Both Elm and Altidore have done it well also, and are starting to become real leader figures for the team.
-

A Word From the Author
A month with ups and downs, we're still doing pretty good but have had a few questionable results lately. I'm still naggin' the players about their inability to score on the chances they get, and even though Jozy is scoring his fair share, he could've scored even more with a bit more composure.
Zohore haven't improved much yet at the club, so he isn't really even a decent substitute when Jozy gets tired or suspended. A big thank you for everyone reading, cheers!

Christopher Warås Harjo

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


​
 
Last edited:
love this story mate great layout, unlucky few results there but sure youll turn it around keep up the good work
 
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