Ajaxtalk

Hell, let's have a separate thread for the Boss...

I must admit: I have more faith in him now than I had before Euro 2008. Also, it is kind of cool to have him - and nobody can deny that. I mean: look at the press conference pictures on Ajax.nl and compare them to last season's snapshots, with Adrie Koster sitting there... I mean: it's not Mr. Nobody. It's Marco van Basten, fer fack's sake, and there's something cool about the guy. It just looks different. It feels different and I'm sure that's important.

He also said he wants an extra defender: "That's desirable," he said. "Someone like Jaap Stam would be useful."

One, or even two quality defenders: a young, strong bloke and an old hand. That would make this a fine squad to work with. I guess.

K.

Well....I dont expect too much from MVB, an eredivisie title and a good run in Europe is fine, and yes I agree with him, only one extra defender and we dont need to sign any more players, if anything we need to axe some players e.g. mitea, manucharyan, luque, Kennedy, Colin, Ogararu, the list can go on. I can see Van Basten giving more kids a chance i.e. Goosens, Martina, Daley Blind, Castillion, Rodney Sneijder etc. At the same time I hope we sell Huntelaar (for the right price) and hope we sell Urby aswell as we already have Slijngaard and Vertoghen.

I agree with Ko -- before Euro '08, I was pretty lukewarm about him. But now I'm more optimistic. If nothing else, he fully committed to the club when it needed him, unlike Cruijff who apparently wanted credit as the savior but didn't actually want to stick his neck out and risk hurting his reputation.

I think we're about three players away (midfielder, two defenders) from being the most talented side in the eredivisie. What this team needs is heart. I want Marco's Ajax to play like Oranje vs Italy, not Russia.

No matter what, I'm excited about the season to start.

Maybe MvB has plans to unleash a 2-4-4 formation this season.

Well, it looks like he announced today that Ajax will play 4-3-3, so nothing drastic in that regard.

Like I said when he was with Oranje, I think the formation during the course of the game becomes irrelevant, it's about finding the space that is available. There was a good interview with Foppe de Haan I read recently where he responded to JC's criticism about the switch to 4-2-3-1 that I think sums it up:

"As he did with Van Basten as well. That’s all good. We all have different opinions, but at the same time, the 4-3-3 isn’t that much different from the 4-2-3-1. It’s about a couple of meters. Not more. I think any coach needs to follow his own compass. And people with different opinions? Fine… There should be room for discussion, right?”"

I think it will be most interesting to see who becomes the first XI and where once things get going.

I think it might take a season or two to weed out the 'so-so' players and make this squad a really great one. I have some faith that MvB is the man to do it.

Just the guy standing on the sidelines should lift moral by 20% on its own.

Nice write-up on UEFA.com:

http://www.uefa.com/competitions/uefacu ... 32364.html

K.

I think his presence will be good against opponents as well, especially in Holland.

"Wow Van Basten! Damn,.."

Add Bergkamp and such, and you got a bad ass staff.

I dont expect him to be a magician, but I think he'll bring Ajax to a better level than in past years

http://www.ajax.nl/web/show/id=154417/contentid=66882

That top picture... Is that cool, or what?

It's the bollocks, is what I say.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:http://www.ajax.nl/web/show/id=154417/contentid=66882

That top picture... Is that cool, or what?

It's the bollocks, is what I say.

K.

Damn! How good is that? My two favourite Ajacied of all time. Nice.

Kowalczyk schreef:http://www.ajax.nl/web/show/id=154417/contentid=66882

That top picture... Is that cool, or what?

It's the bollocks, is what I say.

K.

Absolutely brilliant. Menno - that was an awesome article on the supporters club website.

I can't find it anywhere now - to put up here.

Amol schreef:

Kowalczyk schreef:http://www.ajax.nl/web/show/id=154417/contentid=66882

That top picture... Is that cool, or what?

It's the bollocks, is what I say.

K.

Absolutely brilliant. Menno - that was an awesome article on the supporters club website.

I can't find it anywhere now - to put up here.

Found it -

http://www.afcasupportersclub.nl/scripts/columns.asp

Too bad all those columns are in Dutch though (including those on NU Sport).

Cedric_AeF schreef:Too bad all those columns are in Dutch though (including those on NU Sport).

Its not brilliant but it can help:
http://www.google.com/translate_t

I think I can translate/understand Dutch better than that, but it's a bit more difficult than English...

Cedric_AeF schreef:I think I can translate/understand Dutch better than that, but it's a bit more difficult than English...

I think those translators are hilarious sometimes, but they do come in handy every now and then, especially with my German, or more to the point, my lack of German.

DanK schreef:

Cedric_AeF schreef:I think I can translate/understand Dutch better than that, but it's a bit more difficult than English...

I think those translators are hilarious sometimes, .

Dutch names come out so well don't they Rafael of the Speed anyone?

Dennis Bergkamp in newspaper Algemeen Dagblad: "I've never really worked at the ArenA, but this feels like coming home nonetheless. I left Holland and Ajax fifteen years ago and now I'm back. All the players seem to be really fit. They were very focused in training. I can explain a thing or two, explain to players how I look at certain things. If that makes some of them better players, that would be very nice."

K.

Please don't break our hearts, Marco!

Marco van Basten announced yesterday that he has added Frank de Boer to his staff. De Boer is fluent in Spanish, which is useful in a squad with so many Uruguayans and Spa... errr, Catalonians. Van Basten himself (and his assistant John van 't Schip) speak Italian, but not Spanish.

I take it the Spanish-speaking players also attend Dutch classes at the ArenA (this used to be a standard thing in the past).

K.

The current make up of the club might make it necessary for the dutch speakers to learn spanish and vice versa. La Paella on Warmoestraat should get alot of business.

http://www.afcasupportersclub.nl/scripts/columns.asp



If you look at the 'Foto's. In the last picture it shows Van der Wiel...has he grown taller by that much, he used to be a midget, can anyone vouch for that?

Gregory van der Wiel definitely has grown since a photo of him which appears on page 268 of Het Ajax Boek . In the book I have he is an E2 level youth.

Another great photo in the same book shows a young "Mascotte Johnny Heitinga" standing next to , and being a good head shorter than ( NOT A TYPO) , Marc Overmars.

At the start of the pre-season campaign, Marco van Basten said that he wants to work with a squad of 24 players this season. Which means that a number of players will drop out. In an interview with Highlow.nl, Van Basten has said that he will make up his mind after the U.K. friendlies. He wants to purchase one more defender, too.

Sounds like the squad will be definitive for the Amsterdam Tournament.

K.

Ayman schreef:http://www.afcasupportersclub.nl/scripts/columns.asp



If you look at the 'Foto's. In the last picture it shows Van der Wiel...has he grown taller by that much, he used to be a midget, can anyone vouch for that?

I sure hope he has grown and might still have a lot growing to do...that was one of his drawbacks as a defender.