Sucks. Alot of midfield bite and experience sidelined. What would possess any footballer to not wear shinguards? That's crazy.

ok i guess theres nothing we can do about the injurie...lets think about who can replace him. Maduro and Schilder come to mind....or are we going to buy someone else ?? Any rumours

Rumors about Engelaar will replace him. First of all, he is 27, second of all he is not an type Davids, and third of all he has to cost 7 million euro's. I hope that Ajax will see that that is too much and try to find someone better.

I take it Ajax will not be considering Schilder, Vertonghen or Maduro.??

In addition also in our first team squad are Donald Anita and Sarpong!!

All these young midfielders and they are not likely to be considered and we panic into buying someone.What about Delorge??

I know known are in the same league as the pitbull but do any of you regulars
think we should give any of the above a chance??

Forgot to add would anyone put Urby in that position and bring in Vertonghen or Schilder at left back?

Ideal time for Hedwiges Maduro to step up to the plate and show everyone why he's been so highly rated. I remember watching an interview with Ruud Krol and he was certain then that Maduro would be a world class player by 2008.

Engelaar has been linked with Ajax before and he's a good player, but you're right: as a stand-in for Davids it makes no sense whatsoever.

Moving Urby to midfield, and Vertonghen to left-back - that would be an option. That's why it's such bad news that Vertonghen picked up an injury in the very first friendly and will be out for up to four weeks. He will miss the whole pre-season thing, which sucks big time.

K.

It has already been reported in the Dutch section that there are some rumors including something in the Telegraaf that Ajax might be interested in getting Ono as a replacement for Davids. He used to be a player in R'Dam and is currently playing for a Japanese team.

Ono? good player but injury prone, more of the Gabri type than Davids. I would give Maduro or Schilder a chance, and theres no none like Davids, other than Drenthe

I say go with what we have in house already. Between them , Sarpong . Schilder , and Emanuelson should be able to slot in to the left side spots , with Vertonghen back in the mix when he returns.

Why panic buy , for 7 million no less , a guy who is more a central player( Engelaar) anyway? The only good things about Engelaar : 1) He is a beast and presents match up problems; 2) He and Kennedy would have on field chemistry. Not enough to splurge for 7 mil IMHO .But then , maybe you put Sneijder on the left an put Engelaar in the center. But then ,What the fuck do I know ? I'm three thousand miles away and have never been in MvG or HtC's shoes: Under the gun , with 40,000 season cards sold , tired of Bulb City winning the league , and tired of hearing about under performing in cup campaigns.Of course , HtC did talk of bringing in another mf in addition to Delorge.

I'd rather see a left wing , where we're very thin ( Sarpong, with match experience but playing out of his normal mf slot , the often injured Mitea , Goossens) than a left midfielder , a position where there is more than one player with Eredivisie match experience. Suarez may be that guy. Crossing fingers.

As for any link to Shinji " Yoko " Ono , my thought is Ono = Oh No!! Too frail. We've enough injuries without him.

Very daft, this whole story...

Davids did not wear shinguards and it was his own tackle that broke his shinbone...

K.

Ono is just a rumour, made up by De Telegraaf. I wouldn't take it to serious.

As they do...

That's one shit newspaper for ya...

K.

In all honesty i really have faith in Schilder...he impressed me during his spell in Heracles plus he's got the style off play we need in that positiòn..hes got skill and he's got bite....and he's a lefty....I say plug him in the positiòn instead of panic buying.

Yeh, Schilder was sent to Almelo because Ajax wanted him to play defensive mid, which he did and did quite well. Id go for him or Maduro

Actually I don't find it daft.... I find it unprofessional.

With all his seniority and experience... it's something you might expect from the under 10's....

He loses a lot of respect in my eyes....

I like Davids, but man was that stupid. I think Schilder or Maduro can fill in for a few months.

Schilder or Sarpong for sure, with Schilder being my first choice. As for Davids screw up , it reminds me of the old line from Animal House : YOU FUCKED UP!!!

It was a bit dumb! I'm not going to advocate any punishment against him - I expect he's suffered enough, losing his place in the team and a broken leg isn't exactly unpainful but I can't help but compare his situation with say a professional briver who gets caught drink driving and loses his licence - uanable to work through his own fault......

My kid has been playing since he was seven and the Belgian league rules are clear; no shinpads; no game.

The last time I played 'real' football (on grass, not indoor) was last year, for the team of de Volkskrant, the newspaper I work for. It's an annual friendly tournament in the town of Muiderberg, just outside of Amsterdam and it's totally and completely for fun. The participating teams were de Volkskrant, Muiderberg-3 (the third team of Muiderberg, organizers of the tourney), 'The Actors' (a team of theatre and TV actors) and Concertgebouw (the Amsterdam Concert Hall).

Loads of fun. Nothing serious about it. The referee was a fat, old bloke. The Cooper test would probably kill him and he looked like they'd kindnapped him straight from the local pub.

But when he noticed that one of our players wasn't wearing shinpads, he said: "Sorry mate, but you'll have to wear shinpads, otherwise I won't start this match."
The guy said: "But I don't even have shinpads."
Said the ref: "Then borrow a pair from a player from one of the other teams. I don't want to be responsible for someone breaking his bones over here."

And mind you: this was a little friendly kickabout that took the expression 'low key' to the next level.

Conclusion: I absolutely can not believe that Davids was not wearing shinpads. Totally absurd.

(we lost the final on pennos, by the way, but I converted mine)

K.

Does that mean we can sue Dik Jol???

Thats crazy. Why would he not wear them?

BTW - The last season i played (some years ago now) in an amateur league, I saw someones leg get broken from an aggressive tackle by the oppositions keeper. Went directly for the shin in a one-on-one situation.

I just remember hearing a sickening crack and one of the most horrible blood curdling screams I have ever heard, running over to our team mate lying on the ground and seeing bone protruding from his leg with the shin pad sticking out the other side.

Even with the shin pads on legs can break, but why oh why would he do that. Insane!

Yuk... That's a horrible story...

Okay, so shinpads can break. But I think Davids would not have broken his shinbone, had he worn shinpads. It all looked pretty innocent. It was Davids' own tackle, but his timing wasn't perfect, so he didn't hit the guy with his boot, but with his shin. Ouch. But it didn't look like an 'bone-breaking incident'. A shinpad would have been enough, I think.

K.

Davids is expected to resume training at the beginning of next month.