SperzieNoob
Member
- Joined
- Oct 23, 2011
- Messages
- 17
- Reaction score
- 0
- Points
- 0
Club Name: AFC Ajax
Nickname: De Godenzonen (The sons of the gods)
Founded: March 18, 1900
Stadium: Amsterdam ArenA (Holds 52,960 - Retractable roof)
Domestic League: Eredivisie (Recent wins in ‘98, ’02, ‘04, ’11, ‘12)
Domestic Cup: KNVB Beker (Recent wins in ’99, ‘02, ’06, ‘07, ’10)
Continental League: Champions League (‘Recent’ wins in ‘71, ’72, ‘73, ’95)
Rivals: Feyenoord (Main) PSV, ADO Den Haag, FC Utrecht (Lesser)
Season Expectations
In the first season, the board expects you to go for the championship. The media predict a first place as well and all facts considered, there’s no reason you shouldn’t be able to contend for the titel and domestic cup. Expect major competition from PSV, who have a very good side this year, and also Vitesse, because they’ve got cash to burn and have some decent players as well. Other contenders for the top 5 include Feyenoord, FC Twente and perhaps AZ Alkmaar.
To meet those expectations, the club has given you a decent budget. With £8,7 million to spend on transfers and a wage budget of £1.35M a month, there should be ample room for some reinforcements should you feel you need them.
Ajax has also qualified for the group phase of the Champions League, but you’ll probably end up drawing at least 2 top teams, so settle for Europa League football after the winter break.
Squad & Tactics
Ajax have got a decent squad with some overall good and versatile players. Your starting eleven are good enough to win the league and there’s some decent talent to put on the bench as well.
Top Players: Toby Alderweireld, Christian Eriksen, Ryan Babel
Top Talents: Stefano Denswil, Nicolai Boilesen, Viktor Fischer, Lukas Andersen
I left out the Playing style settings, which are all set to default. I just set the players’ playing style individually. (I‘ll put up the tactic I use if anyone is interested.) Some thoughts on this: I like to play it wide, to make good use of the quick wingers, Babel and Boerrigter. However, I don’t focus my passing over both sides, cause I feel that would leave out the creative midfielders to much.
About the starting eleven: I recommend retraining Babel to AMR and focus on his Crossing ability, same goes for Boerrigter, he has the pace, but lacks technique. The only position that’s really debatable is the DM. Enoh is physically better, but Poulsen has got the experience and mental edge.
Reinforcements
While there’s always room for improvement, I wouldn’t recommend on spending an awful lot on extra players in the first season. The team is good enough to compete on a national level and I’d rather recommend saving up for some quality signings to go for European succes in the 2nd or 3rd season.
What you do wanna get is a decent striker. Kolbeinn Sigþórsson is a great allround striker and will be your first choice. Unfortunately, he is prone to injury and your immediate backup Hoessen is not that great of a player, he has a bit of speed, but lacks the ability to be your lone striker. The same applies to either Sulejmani, Babel or Fischer, whom can also play up front. Siem de Jong is a decent emergency targetman.
Recommended signings: Nicklas Helenius (AaB - £2-3million), John Guidetti (Manchester City - Loan), Raul Rusescu (Steau Bukarest - £2-3million)
Other than that it’s a matter of personal preference. I usually focus on either Dutch speaking (Dutch or Belgian) players or I buy players from Scandinavia. So usually I try to get rid of Enoh and Serero and get some replacements for them. Enoh could be easily replaced by Daley Blind. He’s fairly talented (if a bit slow) and he has a home-grown status. Sulejmani is also a player I’d like to get rid of, since his contract is about to expire, and you can use Fischer instead as backup. If you can sell these three, it should net you around £8-10million. Which you can spend on a backup AMR and if you feel you need some extra quality on the bench, there’s room for that as well.
Recommended siginings: Thomas Drage (Tromsø - £1-1.5million)
Roy Beerens (AZ - £4million or loan - cannot guarantee he gets listed every game)
Staff
I’d suggest promoting a few youth team trainers and if possible get Johan Cruijff as an assistant manager, he should just about fit into the wage maximum, but you can probably sign him for a bit less, since he loves the club so much. He’s also an excellent scout.
Scouts: I’d get rid of Schilzer, Moonen and van der Zee and sign up Jan Verbong (JA:13 JP:18) and Nol de Ruiter (JA:17 JP: 13).
Physio: Fire the lot of them, since the highest Physio level they have is 14. Get a few new ones, anyone really.
Contracts
Basic stuff, I know. Be sure to extend the contracts of Vermeer, Blind and Babel at least and either sell Sulejmani or get him to sign as well. Other contracts you might wanna look at are those of Alderweireld, Eriksen, Fischer and Boerrigter. They expire in 2014 and you might wanna up that for some potential extra transfer income and to prevent them from playing a **** of a season and start asking higher wages.
Affiliations
Lots of rubbish here actually, Ajax CT, Ajax Amateurs and Almere City are long-term deals, but do not really add anything. Volendam is a decent side to lend players to that need some first team experience. Beijing gets you some extra sales from merchandise, which is nice. You might wanna look out for a club outside of the
Netherlands for some scouting knowledge.