New Players for Ajax

[bluedaddy19]

seriously, where the fuck is a new striker? i'm not even hearing rumours

this is zlatan all over again, except far worse because we've had 5 weeks to find someone

[Orange14]

seriously, where the fuck is a new striker? i'm not even hearing rumours

this is zlatan all over again, except far worse because we've had 5 weeks to find someone

Robbie Keane is looking to escape Liverpool big time! Trouble is that almost every other team in Europe that is having problems scoring goals are looking for strikers as well. Unless there are some teams willing to send someone out on loan, I'm not optimistic about getting anyone who is half decent. I have heard that Villareal are contemplating letting the young American striker Josy Altidore out for loan for the remainder of the season. Don't know if Ajax have any connections there but he could be an interesting pick up to help out. Current rumor is a second division La Liga team. Other than that choice and Keane do you have any ideas?

[bryan]

Keane does have a knack of scoring goals in the Arena. But I doubt Liverpool would want to loan him out to Ajax, and if they did, they'd probably want Ajax to contribute to his wages. Ajax simply can't afford Premier League wages.

Benitez is a weird one, today he didn't even have Keane in the squad for the match. Keane is no Torres, but he's better than Babel, Benayoun or even Kuijt for that matter.

[ozzerdibazio]

Keane is not better than Kuijt. Proven by Kuijt being a sucess at Liverpool and Keane not. Do you watch much of the premiership?

[The Purple Cow]

seriously, where the fuck is a new striker? i'm not even hearing rumours

this is zlatan all over again, except far worse because we've had 5 weeks to find someone

That presumes that Ajax have been looking for a new striker for the last five weeks. as I understand it they have not.

[The Purple Cow]

Keane is not better than Kuijt. Proven by Kuijt being a sucess at Liverpool and Keane not. Do you watch much of the premiership?

Keane's scoring record in the Premiership is massively better than Kuyt's. Keane is several classes better than Dirk Diggler.

Compare the Premiership records:

Keane: 293 games - 110 goals = .375 g/game

Kuijt: 79 games - 20 goals = .253 g/game

[Cedric]

And do you have any figures about their respective work rates?

I mean: I don't want to compare Keane and Kuijt, but I'm always a bit surprised to see how the latter is underrated. He may have played for two of the ugliest Dutch clubs, but he almost always impresses me. He's definitely not a typical striker that you can judge with his stats. He's everywhere on the pitch and would be an asset for a lot of clubs...

[The Purple Cow]

"And do you have any figures about their respective work rates? "

You don't get a .375 goal-rate in the Premiership if you don't work hard. It's not like the Eredivisie, they don't just hand you goals on a plate.

[ozzerdibazio]

Dirk Kuijt often plays off the front, sometimes even on the wing. He is a better football player than Robbie Keane and is more useful to a top club like Liverpool than Keane: Rafa Benitez agrees.

Kuijt also performs in the big matches, at the highest level something which Keane has failed to do. To be honest Keane has shown his limitations since joining Liverpool.

He's a great goalscorer for Wolves, Leeds or Tottenham; in a league with Yakubu, Alves, Philips, Beattie etc. Yakubu has an extraordinary scoring rate, is he better than Kuijt?

Comparing Kuijt and Keane by their scoring rate is also distoring the argument because they are different types of player. Do you Wielaert is better than Oleguer because he has recorded more tackles?

[bryan]

Rafa Benitez also wanted to flog Xabi Alonso in order to scrape money together to buy Gareth Barry. Luckily for Benitez he wasn't able to pull it off, but it wasn't for lack of trying.

Benitez has some, how shall we call it, interesting ideas.

Yakubu has an extraordinary scoring rate, is he better than Kuijt?

Yes, Yakubu is a seriously underrated striker.

[bryan]

Kuijt also performs in the big matches, at the highest level something which Keane has failed to do.

Unless you ignore the 2002 World Cup, where Robbie Keane tortured the Germand defence and made Carlos Puyol look a fool on numerous occasions.

Keane is a type of player whose confidence suffers when you put him on the bench. He starts trying too hard and can't score to save his life. That's the kind of player he is, he thrives on confidence. Dirk Kuijt, on the other hand, is the kind of player who you can stick on the bench for weeks on end and he won't care. Maybe being a squad player at Liverpool is his future.

Benitez should have known this about Keane and dealt with it (and possibly not signed him), but Benitez is not at the Wenger, Moyes, Ferguson or O'Neill level of man management. He's much too impatient and not really good with dealing with different personalities. He's a great defensive tactician.

[Orange14]

Benitez should have known this about Keane and dealt with it (and possibly not signed him), but Benitez is not at the Wenger, Moyes, Ferguson or O'Neill level of man management. He's much too impatient and not really good with dealing with different personalities. He's a great defensive tactician.

I think he over manages to the detriment of his team. Most managers pick a starting eleven and pretty much stick to it (some have a limited roster and the starting 11 is pretty much ordained, e.g., Aston Villa with O'Neill). Benitez is always tinkering and requesting that the owners get more players for him. This is one of the reasons I think Ryan Babel made a terrible choice of clubs. Of course the two owners of Liverpool don't even talk to one another and the plans for the new stadium are on hold because of the current economic climate. If you look at ManU and Liverpool there's not a great deal of difference between the players. However, Alex Ferguson will triumph as he is the better manager by far.

[bluedaddy19]

I have heard that Villareal are contemplating letting the young American striker Josy Altidore out for loan for the remainder of the season. Don't know if Ajax have any connections there but he could be an interesting pick up to help out. Current rumor is a second division La Liga team. Other than that choice and Keane do you have any ideas?

Jozy was loaned to Xerez on Friday. He'd have been absolutely perfect (and I happen to know he's in love with Ajax), but Villarreal wanted him to stay in Spain.

There were scads of players we could have gotten, Kalinic of Hajduk Split comes to mind quickly. Or Janko of Red Bull Salzburg. Fanatstic young Cruzeiro striker Guilherme chose Dinamo Kyiv and cast 6M euro. Tons of options out there.

Pathetic. We have one #9 on the roster, no fit #10.... they are hoarding money.

[cdnajaxfan]

Number 1 and 2 don't play play-offs this year.

I was not sure if that was next year or this one. However, the last table that I saw seemed to indicate that they do. Are you sure?

[cdnajaxfan]

[quote="bluedaddy19
Pathetic. We have one #9 on the roster, no fit #10.... they are hoarding money.[/quote]

I am trying to figure out who are cheaper, Ajax or Arsenal?

They squeezed Zenit for 12.5 million pounds, for Arshavin, 1 million more than their previous record. I think our 18 million Euros record this summer beats that. However, our Season Tickets start at 120 Euros and their start at 1000 pounds. If I were an Arsenal Fan, I'd be pretty pissed about them hoarding money when they have the highest gate receipts in Europe.

That said, we have to spend to get back into the Champions League. I can't believe that we are not in first place this year. Who would have thought AZ would probably be Dutch Champions this year?!

[SE6Ajacied]

If I were an Arsenal Fan, I'd be pretty pissed about them hoarding money when they have the highest gate receipts in Europe.

Well I'm no Arsenal fan, and I'm not going to defend pricing in English football (It's one reason why I mainly watch level 5 and 6 games here) but just to point out that Arsenal do have the small matter of the new stadium to pay for as well. I don't know whether the fans are happy with that but it's surely a fact. With property prices going through the floor their "Highbury Luxury Apartments" at the old ground aren't bringing in that much either compared to what they hoped .

[bluedaddy19]

Well I'm no Arsenal fan, and I'm not going to defend pricing in English football (It's one reason why I mainly watch level 5 and 6 games here) but just to point out that Arsenal do have the small matter of the new stadium to pay for as well. I don't know whether the fans are happy with that but it's surely a fact. With property prices going through the floor their "Highbury Luxury Apartments" at the old ground aren't bringing in that much either compared to what they hoped .

Ya gotta spend money to make money. If they have a new stadium and other projects, it would behoove them to win as much as possible to boost all fronts of revenue.

It's just simple hoarding.

[SE6Ajacied]

Well I'm no Arsenal fan, and I'm not going to defend pricing in English football (It's one reason why I mainly watch level 5 and 6 games here) but just to point out that Arsenal do have the small matter of the new stadium to pay for as well. I don't know whether the fans are happy with that but it's surely a fact. With property prices going through the floor their "Highbury Luxury Apartments" at the old ground aren't bringing in that much either compared to what they hoped .

Ya gotta spend money to make money. If they have a new stadium and other projects, it would behoove them to win as much as possible to boost all fronts of revenue.

It's just simple hoarding.

Yeah but the other point is that they are so far trying to resist the attentions of foreign "investment" ownership. I'm sure the fans aren't happy but from what I've seen (and the London free papers are full of it) the money just isn't there so I can't see they are "hoarding" it. Mute point of course, frankly I don't care one way or the other but I do have some sympathy with what they say they are trying to do re keeping a responsible business model etc....When the football money bubble bursts which it surely will and the foreign investors have had enough of their playthings then we'll see who was right I suppose.

[bryan]

Yup, Abramovich is starting to get bored of Chelsea already. Man Utd, once the best run and most financially sound club in the world, have become a massive loan book for all of the Glazers' debts... in the middle of a financial crisis. The Man City sheiks aren't signing quite the world class calibre of players they promised to since the price of oil went down, and the Liverpool owners are only a moment's notice away from throwing all their toys out of the pram.

There are two well run clubs at the top of the Premier League. One is Arsenal and the other is Aston Villa.

[SE6Ajacied]

and the other is Aston Villa.

Yep, I'll go along with that. A good example of a rich invester (Randy Learner in this case) who seemingly has the right ideas at heart. Yes, you get some of the corporate stuff like another badge change and the "limited edition" UEFA Cup programmes at £5.00 a time, but also a sensible financial structure and a free shirt sponsorship with a local charity. Can't see Liverpool, Man U, or Chelski doing that (or even Ajax come to that)

[bryan]

Aston Villa's sound financial based is built upon decades of unbelievable stinginess from former chairman Doug Ellis, who made Arie van Os look like a full blown philanthropist. That meant they would never win anything under Ellis, but he left the club in excellent financial shape. And he only sold it to Lerner because he knew Lerner was going to run it as a business and not use the club to build up debt. And now they have an excellent manager in O'Neill as well. They're doing well, Villa.

[Orange14]

After today I want a brand new starting eleven. They can come from the streets of Amsterdam as far as I am concerned. I cannot stand to watch this team play like grade school kids.

[bryan]

It's years of that kind of constant reactionary tearing down and rebuilding that have lead us to where we are now.

We have a team that can continually finish second in the league. We need to build on it, improve it and make it better in order to make it finish first. A new starting eleven only sets us back two years, costs millions and pisses a load of people off. Then we're back at square one again.

[bluedaddy19]

Yeah but the other point is that they are so far trying to resist the attentions of foreign "investment" ownership. I'm sure the fans aren't happy but from what I've seen (and the London free papers are full of it) the money just isn't there so I can't see they are "hoarding" it. Mute point of course, frankly I don't care one way or the other but I do have some sympathy with what they say they are trying to do re keeping a responsible business model etc....When the football money bubble bursts which it surely will and the foreign investors have had enough of their playthings then we'll see who was right I suppose.

easy example: huntelaar out for 27M

replacement? no one, zero money out

net: 27M

for 27M, i think they can be arsed to drop 6M on some kind of replacement for our best player - instead we are now short a #9 on the roster

what's next? call up yannis annistasiou?

[SE6Ajacied]

Yeah but the other point is that they are so far trying to resist the attentions of foreign "investment" ownership. I'm sure the fans aren't happy but from what I've seen (and the London free papers are full of it) the money just isn't there so I can't see they are "hoarding" it. Mute point of course, frankly I don't care one way or the other but I do have some sympathy with what they say they are trying to do re keeping a responsible business model etc....When the football money bubble bursts which it surely will and the foreign investors have had enough of their playthings then we'll see who was right I suppose.

easy example: huntelaar out for 27M

replacement? no one, zero money out

net: 27M

for 27M, i think they can be arsed to drop 6M on some kind of replacement for our best player - instead we are now short a #9 on the roster

what's next? call up yannis annistasiou?

OK - perhaps, I was talking specifically about Arsenal so not really relevant to the points I was making btw.