2005-2006: Ajax Formation & Starting Eleven

[Per]

or shit (Anastasiou) I'm going to come for Arsenal

Well Carcajou, I'm coming for the Arsenal game too and we must have words about your negative-hostile attitude :nooo:

That's great, then I can be a Swedish advocate and we can all row about who to play upfront - beers on the guy who votes Greek(?)

[dws]

Annastasiou should start on the bench and remain there. He is no where near the type of player we require for Ajax type football. As for criticising Babel for his lack of ball control , well what about a certain Mr P Kluivert ?

Babel has similar qualities to the young P K . Babel is strong, quick and decisive with a blistering shot. As for Charisteas he is to slow, decent player ,but not what Ajax require for the main central striker.

[carcajou]

Annastasiou should start on the bench and remain there. He is no where near the type of player we require for Ajax type football. As for criticising Babel for his lack of ball control , well what about a certain Mr P Kluivert ?

Babel has similar qualities to the young P K . Babel is strong, quick and decisive with a blistering shot. As for Charisteas he is to slow, decent player ,but not what Ajax require for the main central striker.

Anastasiou is a "locker player". That is where he should play :)

[Philippe]

According to you, all our strikers are "average", or "locker players". And our team is "shit".
This is very interesting indeed. We need support when times get rough. Thanks so much.
Anyway, my opinion about anastasiou is that he can be a worthy and decisive substitute just like Teddy Sheringham was for MU in their golden age.

[Kowalczyk]

Our team is not "shit".

Ajax actually played really well at Willem II, in Prague and also in the first half hour of AZ. In these they showed football that we never saw last season: good combination play, accurate passing, dominance and - in all of these games - chances. A handful at least; an overwhelming number in some cases.

We don't score enough and we do have a problem upfront (no killers), but last season I watched many games in which the formation had no balance, the combinations were crap and there really were no chances at all. The home games against Den Haag, Twente, Den Bosch and De Graafschap, to name but a few? We just couldn't create a chance.

If you look at the play and the ease with which Ajax create chances now, we have improved tremendously. The new midfield, with Galásek, Sneijder and Lindenbergh, really seems to work and there was no problem whatsoever in the first half hour in Alkmaar. We looked pretty damned good, actually.

Don't panic. Blind is doing good work and the team is very, very clearly improving. As supporters we shouldn't be blinded by good results if the play is poor; but the other way round is just as bad. I enjoyed watching Ajax in Tilburg, Prague and during the first half hour in Alkmaar and I think we're getting there.

Carcajou: calm down and don't be so negative.

K.

[Per]

IF one of our forwards really get the flow, I mean score a couple of easy ones, soon - this season can develop into something really good.

As Ko says, many chances are being created, we have balance for the first time in two seasons and if we can only start converting on these a third of the time - things are looking pretty darn good.

AZ away is one of the three most difficult matches of the season - scoring twice is actually quite good. Conceding four is never good - but looking at what AZ have done so far, not a catastrophe.

So heads up and forward looks - things can change.

[carcajou]

Carcajou: calm down and don't be so negative.

K.

You're not looking at the good side of the problem in my opinion.

Ajax is a big European club. I want this team to be amongst the 16 best teams every year. And sincerely I don't see this team doing this kind of job.

They're struggling in the Eredivisie and each time they've faced a real opponent (AZ, Feyenoord) we were defeated. Consequently I have some doubts about our national and even more on our international level.

[aveslacker]

Ahh, the curse of high expectations. It is part of what makes Ajax unique. Three games into the season and already the world is coming to an end...

I agree with those who say, "don't panic." We're not in trouble yet, not by a long shot. If the strikers are getting chances and not scoring, then it is only a matter of time before those chances start going in. It would be much more worrying if no chances were created at all.

In the long term, I think the lack of true wingers is more worrying than the fact that our strikeforce is failing to put away opportunities. (Makes me wish Ajax had bought DaMarcus Beasley, but that's another story.)

I think we'll know a little more about this team around the winter break -- and I still think they should be considered favorites to win the league this year.

Naturally, I expect all of you to shout "I told you so!!!" if they don't. :yes:

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

Thought i'd ad my two cent's

I agree with k,per and gang... It is not anywhere near panic time, we are playing beter football than last year and that's the most important thing, we just need to start doing business, the matches that we have lost have been matches that we in theory could loose, we still havent fucked up against a weak team like groningen,nec etc. Last year we struggled against weak teams beating a lot of them by a 1-0 score.This year seems diferent we might be experiencing striker problems but i dont think we'll have problems scoring agaisnt the lower class teams. If you look at the other title contenders you can see that we are still favourites just take a look:

Az: this team is giving me the creeps playing really well right now, BUT... Wasnt this the same story last year???? They were heading fast to the champions league and all of a sudden fell apart, so will this team be able to stand the presure of being at the top at the end of the season ? Tough question looking at their current form.AZ is a Star team that can quickly become a Supenova.

Feyenoord: looking good with their captain kuyt at the helm, but come on guys its feyenoord they will fuck up sooner or later its kind of their destiny.Plus they have some guy named Koeman as their coach.

Psv: This team just cant be able to repeat the championship, lost to many players... not even a shadow of what they were last year, just like ajax are currently strugling(against weaker teams).

So... is it Panic time ??????? NOOOOOOOO its not. we still have to be tested to a certain extent, those test's are coming soon its going to be good to see how Ajax do against teams that are playing relatively well right now(Heracles,Roda etc)and with teams from the lower class who always seem to cause problems to Ajax(Sparta,Nec etc).

Another thing that we should remind ourselves is that there are going to be play-off's this year so its all or nothing, we have to give it all we've got to be champions, there is going to be no pressure what so ever if we cant get the second place like last year, hell we could really suck this regular season end up 5th, enter the play-off, play a couple of strong games and finish in the champions league. So why panic right now? There's still a long way to go, keep the faith :eusa_pray: and hope for the best Go AJAX!!!!!

That was more like 50 cents ;)

[cdnajaxfan]

Annastasiou should start on the bench and remain there. He is no where near the type of player we require for Ajax type football. As for criticising Babel for his lack of ball control , well what about a certain Mr P Kluivert ?

Babel has similar qualities to the young P K . Babel is strong, quick and decisive with a blistering shot. As for Charisteas he is to slow, decent player ,but not what Ajax require for the main central striker.

At least Kluivert scored when it really counted. We have one more European Cup thanks to him. I can't see Babel ever doing that. Babel will NEVER be the player that Kluivert once was. That is just a fact.

Charisteas can be slow as a turtle for all I care, I thought that his usefulness would be to head crosses into the net (not over or on the bar). It does not seem like that is happening.

I think that Rosenberg will work out. I just think we threw him in a little too early.

And for Anastasiou, I think that he has scored more goals for Ajax than all 3; Babel, Rosenberg and Charisteas combined!!!!

[cdnajaxfan]

If you look at the play and the ease with which Ajax create chances now, we have improved tremendously. The new midfield, with Galásek, Sneijder and Lindenbergh, really seems to work and there was no problem whatsoever in the first half hour in Alkmaar.

K.

They may create chances but they can't finish them! AZ have 2 "finishers", we have none right now. Feyenoord have 1 finisher and yes, they will perish if anything happens to him and will slip up as always. However, they both have more goal scoring ability than we do. Based on the fact that we have already lost 2 games and rarely lose many more than that a season, it is time to start worrying.

Yeah, we do have a good midfield but Sneijder can't always bail the team out. Watching the "striker drills" at the practice before the PSV game that we lost 4-0 last year, both Babel and Charisteas seemed to struggle a bit. We have to improve the finishing! What good is creating chances when they are not capitalized on?!

I fear that this is van Gaal's year. He is going to have the last laugh at Ajax's expense!

[dws]

cdn i am not being critical of kluivert i am just pointing out that not all strikers have the sublime first touch of Bergkamp.

Kluivert is a favourite of mine , he did score crucial goals for Ajax and Oranje, but he missed a fair few chances such as in the '98 semi against Brazil or the qualifier in Dublin v's Republic of Ireland.

As i said earlier , Babel has similar attributes to Kluivert and these qualities greatly disturb opposing defenders.

[dws]

Play Charisteas as a wide striker with Babel as the central striker.

[Sir Alex Ferguson]

I feel some disturbances in the force!

You have some good players and if you play a more flexible team structure then you will achieve better results for sure.

In this day and age you must be able to adapt. 3-5-2 can actually give you 5 defenders when under pressure so it not really a risk.Pizza 5 is a wise Jedi.

Oh yes and Teddy started more games during the Golden age of Man U than he spent on the bench.

You will get a result at Highbury in my opinion.

[Ferrykoek]

put Maduro as deep midfielder/striker.. i'm sure he can play any position you put him, atleast where he doesn't need to run. he'd be a perfect finisher.. simple, no tricks

[SPL]

Lots of criticism about Babel, an 18 year old who is played on the wing and out of position.

Give the boy a chance.

We will still be challenging for the title come May and next week we play Arsenal without Henry and with no Veira they are not the same side. We can beat them. Have faith.

.

[Frans]

Charisteas can be slow as a turtle for all I care, I thought that his usefulness would be to head crosses into the net (not over or on the bar). It does not seem like that is happening.

The poor guy has received so few decent crosses in his time at Ajax it's no wonder he's struggling a bit in this department.

[Over Pasanens Head]

The new midfield, with Galásek, Sneijder and Lindenbergh, really seems to work and there was no problem whatsoever in the first half hour in Alkmaar. We looked pretty damned good, actually.
K.

So first half in Prague and for half an hour at AZ we looked good - then we went backwards in each of these games. I haven't seen either so I cannot comment, but maybe Ko can come up with the reasons.

As to us being in with a shout for the championship come next May - the guys in Amsterdam stand more of a chance of hearing me say a sentence in Dutch - and as they know that is virtually zero :D

This season is all about Blind developing a team from the mess that was left by the board and Koeman. Its going to be a long hard winter.

[carcajou]

Its going to be a long hard winter.

Amen Father William....

[pizza 5]

Father William is very wise,thats why he is in strategic............

3-5-2.........I say please hear me O lord.

[343]

AJAX and 352 for the long run?

Never.

[pizza 5]

Ok....lets stick with 4-3-3 and draw at home with the Den Haags of this world.The team of the 70s has long gone,lets get real and make the most of the current players.I know about the whole "grolsh you cant rush these things" attitude but lets try something else for fucks sake.

[343]

No, never. Don't forget the AJAX of the 80's and the 90's, Pizza 5.

It's in the veins of the club and we develop our youthplayers to play in 343/433. That's the AJAX-key to success.

[Bert]

:yes:

[pizza 5]

Yeah,i know all that but nothings forever,football and life moves on.If you dont change and evolve with it you die.We dont have Cruyff,or Van Basten or Kluivert any more....we have Boukari SQD and Rosales.....can you follow what Im saying?????