Ajaxtalk

...here is my penny on the Ajax team for 2006/07. After the misery of the past two seasons we seem to have improved a little. Not enough perhaps to surprise in the CL, but good enough to be a contender for the national champs. Strong holders are Stam at back, Sneijder at midfield and Huntelaar up front.

We have a new coach in Henk ten Cate. This makes it hard to estimate exactly which line-up we will see this year. From what I’ve seen; this is the hierarchy that Ajax will start out with.

Stekelenburg
Heitinga – Stam – Vermaelen – Emanuelson
Gabri –Perez– Sneijder
Rosales – Huntelaar – Mitea

Gentenaar/ Vermeer
Ogararu - Grygera – Vertonghen - Lindenbergh
Krohn-Dehli - Maduro - Roger/ Schilder
De Mul – Babel / Charisteas – Rosenberg/ Manucharyan

I didn’t describe all players. Players like Sarpong, Boakye and Poepon are most likely to be loaned out for the season or remain within the youth squad.

After player's name I've listed year of birth, nationality, from which club player came, debut year for Ajax and current shirt number.

Ryan Babel (1986 - NL – Ajax – 2004 – # 8)
Talented youngster. Typical forward for a 422 system. Good shot, fair speed and technique. Player with a lot of flair. He lacks a good assist. The ball bounces off his feet too often. But he can score goals. He has some problems at Ajax because he is neither a true number 9 nor an outside attacker (numbers 7 or 11). Mostly used as a substitute.

Angelos Charisteas (1980 - GR – Werder Bremen – 2005 - # 27)
Static centre forward. Lacks speed and technical skills. Good physique. Great mentality and he can score goals. Would be better in a 442. Ajax will hope to sell him this august. I hope he stays because he had great impact last season as a sub. But I guess Ajax needs the money.

Tom De Mul (1986 - BE – GB Antwerp – 2004 - # 16)
Belgian player, back from loan from Vitesse. He has the pace and the technique to play at right wing in a 433. Good assist. Problem with him is that he is small, light and doesn’t score much. He could make the team this year but it remains doubtful to me.


Urby Emanuelson(1986 – NL – Ajax – 2005 - # 5)
Talented left back or left midfielder. Dutch international under –21. Not the best defender but technically skilled, good positional play and great when he comes forward. He was our first pick at left back last year and it looks like he will play there a lot again this season.

Gabri (1979 – ES – FC Barcelona – 2006 - # 18)
Spanish veteran from Barca. Controlling player on the right side of the mid-field. Reads the game well and has good technical skills. Gabri will play right midfield as replacement for Tomas Galasek, who left.

Dennis Gentenaar (1975 – NL – Borussia Dortmund – 2006 - # 30)
Veteran goalie who came to become 2nd goalie. Good overall goalkeeper. Very professional player. Good goalie for the sub top level. Useful back up.

Zdenek Grygera (1980 – CZ – Sparta Prague – 2003 - # 22)
From Chechia. Good defender. Grygera can play anywhere at back. Left centre he likes best. Good in the duels, fast too. Reasonable at passing. Not too good at heading. Last year he was our best defender.

Johnny Heitinga (1983 – NL – Ajax – 2001 - # 2)
Reasonable central defender. Dutch international. Can also play right back. Not fast but strong in the duels. Good header. Good long pass. Scores a lot with his head from free kicks and corners.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar (1983 – NL – SC Heerenveen – jan. 2006 - # 9)
Captain of the Dutch under –21 squad. Great number 9. Averages almost 1 on 1. Very clever, uses his body well. Doesn’t miss many chances. Excellent shot. Good header. Good free kick. Not very quick and not the kind of player who might go past two defenders. At his best in the penalty box.

Michael Krohn-Dehli (1983 – DK – RKC Waalwijk – 2006 - # 17)
Right midfielder or right attacker. Did well at RKC Waalwijk as a winger in a 442 system. Reasonable technique, passing and able to score goals. Needs to improve on all fronts. Does not have the potential to reach the top, imo. Ajax seems to think differently…

Olaf Lindenbergh (1974 – NL – AZ Alkmaar – 2005 - # 15)
Defensive midfielder or defender. Lindenbergh can do a bit of everything without actually excelling in any of them. When in good form he is useful but at Ajax he’s been a disappointment thus far. He will play when others are injured or suspended.

Hedwiges Maduro (1985 – NL – Ajax – 2005 - # 6)
Defensive midfielder or right half. Talented youngster. Sees the game very well and should become a good controller on the midfield. Good technique with the ability to go forward and assist the strikers.

Edgar Manucharyan (1987 – AM- Pyunik Yerevan – 2005 - # 26)
Left forward (number 11) in the 433 system. Lightweight player from Armenia. Great technique, good assist and lots of pace. Trouble with Manu is that he has been injured for the past two years.

Nicolae Mitea (1985 – RO – Dinamo Bucharest – 2003 - # 21)
Plays the same position as Manucharyan. Same qualities though he is quicker and has less technical skills. His assist is less good but he scores goals more easily. Also suffers a lot from injuries.

George Ogararu (1980 – RO – Steaua Bucharest – 2006 - # 20)
Rumanian right-defender. Sees the game well and is strong in the duels. Able to come forward and help the offense. Not too quick for a player at his position. I haven’t seen him play a lot yet as he is new and Heitinga has often played at right-back.

Kenneth Perez (1974 – DK – AZ Alkmaar – 2006 - # 11)
Left forward or central midfielder (number 10) in an attacking role. Veteran Danish ex-international. Beautiful technique, great assist. Sees the game very well. Lacks pace.

Roger (1976 – ES – Villareal – 2006 - # 14)
Spanish left midfielder. Superb technique. Good pass. Very slow though. Because of that he will most likely fall short against serious opposition. I will be surprised if he becomes a success story at Ajax.

Mauro Rosales (1981 – AR – Newell’s Old Boys – 2004 - # 7)
Argentinean right striker (number 7) in the 433. Strong on the ball. Fast player. He has a reasonable assist. Scores goals. Problem is that he draws to the centre too much thus overcrowding the central positions.

Markus Rosenberg (1982 – SE – Malmo FF – 2005 - # 19)
Swedish number 9 who has been positioned on the wings because Huntelaar is the man in the centre. Very fast. Poor technique but good ability to score goals. Good shot, poor header. He is needs space, an ideal player for a 422, however not for a 433.

Robbert Schilder (1986 – NL – Ajax – 2006 - # 24)
Left midfielder of left defender. Talented youngster. Good passing. Too slow for the defensive position, imo. Needs to improve in the duels. Looks like a candidate for a loan-out the coming season.

Wesley Sneijder (1984 – NL – Ajax –2003 - # 10)
Left or central midfielder. Arguably our best player. Great technical skills. Sees the game well. Good pass. Can pass opponents easily. Also pretty good at defensive tasks. Scores a lot from outside the penalty box. Good free kick too. He is very small which can be a handicap at the top level.

Jaap Stam (1972 – NL – AC Milan – 2006 - # 3)
Captain and central defender. Very strong guy. Excellent in the duels. Fast player. Good header. Good technique for a defender. Poor at passing.

Maarten Stekelenburg (1982 – NL – Ajax – 2002 - # 1)
First choice goalie. Good reflexes. Good in 1 on 1 with a striker. Poor at stopping high cross passes. Lacks the charisma for a top class goalie. This season, Maarten has to prove that he is the real thing.

Thomas Vermaelen (1985 – BE – GB Antwerp – 2004 - # 4)
Belgian central defender. Good in the duels. Good header. Quite fast. Should improve his positional play to become a top class player.

Kenneth Vermeer (1986 – NL – Ajax – 2005 - # 12)
Third choice goalie. Could even become second choice if he manages to look more secure. Goalie of the under –21 that won the European title this summer. Very good reflexes. Good pass. Needs to improve a lot on leading his defense. He is a small guy so high balls in the box often cause panic.

Jan Vertonghen (1987 – BE – GB Antwerp – 2005 - # 28)
Left midfielder or central defender. Talented young player. Big guy with a good technique. Fairly quick. Good in the duels. Good passing. Needs to improve his right leg and his heading ability. Could break through this season.

aveslacker schreef:Babel- fair speed?!?!?

Sneijder- our best player?!?!?

Dubbel schreef:

aveslacker schreef:Babel- fair speed?!?!?

Sneijder- our best player?!?!?

Babel isn't slow, is he? No Mitea or Rosenberg but still, one of our faster strikers.

Sneijder is our best man, imo. Technical ability, positional play, passing, shot. All good. Ajax'revival at the end of last season coincided wit his return. He is also our only Dutch international as far as actually playing is concerned.

Who do you figure is our best player? As I stated, Stam, Sneijder and Huntelaar are our strong holders. For each player you could argue they are the best but to compare them isn't easy. From these three I think Sneijder is the most complete. No wonder perhaps as he is a mid-fielder. ;)

aveslacker schreef: For me there is no doubt that Huntelaar is the best player. He almost single-handedly salvaged the season for Ajax. Without him, Ajax may not have even made the playoffs.

carcajou schreef:

aveslacker schreef: For me there is no doubt that Huntelaar is the best player. He almost single-handedly salvaged the season for Ajax. Without him, Ajax may not have even made the playoffs.

I don't think it makes sense to compare players like that and to pick a "best player" out of the lot. Huntelaar scored a lot of goals sure, but what about Trabelsi, hasn't he been fantastic? What about Urby?

aveslacker schreef:Good point. It is really like comparing apples and oranges. I would consider that Huntelaar was the most "valuable" player for reasons I described above. It seems like he was able to conjure goals at will out of nothing at all, and we needed all those goals to make the playoffs.

Which isn't to say that Trabelsi, Urby, Maduro, or others weren't as good at their respectives positions.

Dubbel schreef:

aveslacker schreef:Good point. It is really like comparing apples and oranges. I would consider that Huntelaar was the most "valuable" player for reasons I described above. It seems like he was able to conjure goals at will out of nothing at all, and we needed all those goals to make the playoffs.

Which isn't to say that Trabelsi, Urby, Maduro, or others weren't as good at their respectives positions.

I didn't mean who was our most valuable player in the current or prev season, but simply; who do you think is the best?. If you play one on one against him on the beach or on a parking lot, which Ajax player will give you the most problems? Or if you have to choose a team-mate in a two against two set up, who would you pick? Etcetera, etcetera.

There is no neutral criterium in comparing players with totally different roles in the field. I know that. But that should not stop you from picking who you think is best.

Last sunday, I was asked to pick whether I wanted an apple or an orange for desert. Both were serious options as I enjoy both. After a quick comparison I chose the apple for reasons I will not bore you with. This only shows that you can compare anything as long as you want to. ;)

aveslacker schreef:By those criteria, I would choose Huntelaar. It should be pretty obvious that I'm sold on the guy.

Dubbel schreef:Heitinga, Grygera, Vermaelen... I would not dare to put Johnny on top of this list. If Grygera gets sold and Oga takes right-back then Johnny will get a good amount of playing time on his favo position with 3 central defenders for 2 central positions. If Grygera stays then Johnny must play his top game just to make the squad. Unless HTC puts him at right-back in stead of Oga. Which, btw, is not unlikely.

bluedaddy19 schreef:

Dubbel schreef:Heitinga, Grygera, Vermaelen... I would not dare to put Johnny on top of this list. If Grygera gets sold and Oga takes right-back then Johnny will get a good amount of playing time on his favo position with 3 central defenders for 2 central positions. If Grygera stays then Johnny must play his top game just to make the squad. Unless HTC puts him at right-back in stead of Oga. Which, btw, is not unlikely.

i'm guessing you haven't seen heitinga play over the last seven months, he's been simply fantastic

he must start somewhere, for HTC to leave him out the way he has played would be retarded

Dubbel schreef:How do you guys come up with putting Wes on 6? To make room for Perez or Gabri on 8? Strange train of thought. At back I would play Heitinga for Oga. Heit is better at defending and because it is the start of the season a bit more defensive security can't hurt. Plenty of time to fit Oga in later, once the team is hopefully on a roll. Perez didn't impress in the midfield so he should start left front. The rest kind of fills out itself. Manu, Rosenberg and Babel look like the most useful subs to me.

Stex
Heit-Stam-Vermaelen-Urbs
Gabri-Maduro-Sneijder
Rosales-KJH-Perez