New Players for Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

A whole lot of action on the last day, but no central defender.

I am flabbergasted. Shocked.

I don't understand this club anymore. How many more seasons do we wish to concede 40 goals and not win the title?

My faith for this season has conceded a devastating blow yesterday, that's for sure.

No defender. I can't believe it. I really, really can't believe it.

K.

[saddlerian]

Totally unbelievable!!!! All of the "maybe's" and the "be patient's" , linked to the "amazing" work in increasing the workload of the reserves......and yet STILL no defender!!1

To build a house you have to have good foundations....the foundations in this case being the defence.

I'll be betting on more than 2.5 goals in every game now....I can virtually guarantee conceding at least a goal each game....we've got to wait until February now....unless there's someone out of contract!!!!!

Looks as though the prayer mats will be coming out again!!!!

[SPL]

The lack of a real defender all summer . We needed a good quality CB and LB . Left back is still a problem. We have tried Anita Atouba and Urby so far .I would rather play Vertonghen than those 3 but
he is currently CB as Wielaert is crap and Jol has decided to ditch Oleguer.

I am not jumping up and down after yesterday and see another season chasing 2nd or 3rd with soft goals being let in.

I do not think it is good that we have about 7/8 senior overpaid players sitting around not wanted and not being played.

[orange goblin]

I hope we get someone who is a free agent. And that jol kicks to the reserves all the players who refused/failed the transfer.

[bluedaddy19]

what happened to he last minute defender catch? is it not on? or have they just not announced it yet?

[bluedaddy19]

I hope we get someone who is a free agent. And that jol kicks to the reserves all the players who refused/failed the transfer.

the LB tosic we were linked to is a free agent, he could still arrive

i also wonder, are they maybe waiting for someone to be let loose?

there has to be something going on... they wouldn't try for 50 guys, miss out and then have no plan

right?

[rjf1]

its still possible, not all the transfers are announced straight away, some take a few hours

You know what's funny - all of us have seen this club go about their transfer dealings for a long long time. I just don't understand how all of us are so optimistic

What you mean "all of us"?

[bluedaddy19]

i try to be optimistic because it beats the alternative

gets more done, too

[bluedaddy19]

btw i just noticed that edu dracena is a free agent... why not him? he's a lugano copy

what about lucas neill?

[afcajax73]

http://www.goal.com/en/news/9/england/2 ... -loan-move

this would be nice, always thought babel left too soon

[ZoefdeHaas]

For some reason, not many teams this season were able to find good defenders. The defense department really has been something of worry for many clubs, and notably of course for Ajax.

Now we haven't conceded a hell lot so far, but our backline hasn't been magnificent either. But I'm not one that would complain if we won with a high goal margin, as these new signings are supposedly going to bring.

Let's just win, fuck it.

[bluedaddy19]

Let's just win, fuck it.

yes!

toby will just grow up faster and one of the other three slugs will remember how to play

actually... i think atouba could maybe play CB better than he does anywhere else, just use his size and speed and stay back and stay off the ball

[Orange14]

For some reason, not many teams this season were able to find good defenders. The defense department really has been something of worry for many clubs, and notably of course for Ajax.

I've been saying the same thing for some time. Good defenders are quite rare. Maybe we undercharged Arsenal for Vermaelen (and maybe we also didn't use him correctly while at Ajax) given his performance so far this season. I think also we should improve on the marketing side. Look at Oneywu who starts for the US NT. He's sitting on the bench at Milan. We could have told him, come to the Eredivisie; you will face great attacking football on a weekly basis and improve your skills much more than you ever would in Italy.

I think we will make out OK in the end. Toby will improve and we will get workmanlike performances from the rest of our back line. I'm more worried about the lack of consistency in scoring (I don't count two goals against a man down team in the late stages of a match as great offense).

[Philippe]

These Kerlon en Zé Eduardo could bring more to the P&L account, when they will be sold to a much higher price than we paid for them, than to Ajax in terms of football success.
They look like investors’ choices.
Hope the season will prove me wrong.

[jamcocteau]

These Kerlon en Zé Eduardo could bring more to the P&L account, when they will be sold to a much higher price than we paid for them, than to Ajax in terms of football success.
They look like investors’ choices.
Hope the season will prove me wrong.

Both Karlon and Ze Eduardo are only on loan to Ajax so how can we sell them on - they are not our players to sell on unless we decide to buy them at the end of the loan period.

Very disappointed that no defenders signed but still think we can win the League. This years Eredivisie is as poor as I can ever remember - there are no outstanding teams and bar Suarez not many top class players either. If we had signed a couple of half decent defenders then think we could walk this league but alas if we are going to win it then it is going to be a long hard slog. This will not be a season of record number of points etc, the eventual winners I think will drop many points on the way and it will not be decided possibly until last couple of games.

One of problems last few seasons for me has not only been defence but midfield and attack losing ball far too easily and putting an already shit defence under uneccesary pressure. If midfield can dominate their area and keep hold of ball it would help give defence a bit more confidence. However one area scares me and that is dealing with set pieces be they corner kicks or free kicks. In recent games we have not been able to clear ball at all, we have won no free headers against opposing forwards from set pieces and Stekks is not exactly know for his prowess at commanding the six yard box from crosses. Need to ensure we dont give away too many free kicks round the box.

While writing may as well add that transfer fees received by Ajax and other Dutch clubs are not going to be as high as in previous year. Barring Zlatan, Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt at Liverpool to an extent none of the players transferred from Dutch clubs recently for vast sums of money has set the world alight. It appears that Dutch and Dutch based players have been overvalued and I honestly think this will have a knock on effect in years to come - lower transfer fees received by Dutch clubs and therefore less money to spend on players. Could be worrying times ahead for Eredivisie.

[bluedaddy19]

Barring Zlatan, Robben, Van Persie and Kuyt at Liverpool to an extent none of the players transferred from Dutch clubs recently for vast sums of money has set the world alight. It appears that Dutch and Dutch based players have been overvalued and I honestly think this will have a knock on effect in years to come - lower transfer fees received by Dutch clubs and therefore less money to spend on players. Could be worrying times ahead for Eredivisie.

this is not a complete picture

first of all, guys you fail to mention like chivu and van der sar have had much great success... guys like robben and rafi have enjoyed plenty of success... all the dutch players that trapped themselves by going to real madrid performed well being used sparingly in a political line-up (robben showed that in his bayern debut)... guys like berg, pranjic, elia, vermaelen haven't had their chance yet

then, we alone just sold sneijder, huntelaar, babel and vermaelen inside of 2 years and a month for a total of 82M euros AND still have suarez, who could break the record of 27M

the sky is not falling just yet

[Philippe]

meanwhile, Philips seem about to get Honda

[ZoefdeHaas]

Seriously Ajax should buy Japanese talent like Honda.

Not only are they good players, but Japan is a football crazy nation that rakes in cash and promotion. When Shinji Ono played for Feyenoord, a huge number of Japanese became 'fans' of Feyenoord. Same with Celtic and Nakamura.

I would know because I've lived there for years, and Ajax (or the Eredivisie for that matter) doesn't get enough attention in a country that's mad for football (not as much as baseball of course)

I for one would love to see Honda or any good Japanese player at Ajax. Would be an interesting experience.

[Philippe]

These Kerlon en Zé Eduardo could bring more to the P&L account, when they will be sold to a much higher price than we paid for them, than to Ajax in terms of football success.
They look like investors’ choices.
Hope the season will prove me wrong.

Both Karlon and Ze Eduardo are only on loan to Ajax so how can we sell them on - they are not our players to sell on unless we decide to buy them at the end of the loan period.

Good point

[bryan]

No defender. I can't believe it. I really, really can't believe it.

I can. I wasn't expecting us to sign one. Neither the current Ajax board or Martin Jol are known for accepting the fact that a team needs a defence. At Spurs Jol spent all his money on midfielders (he had millions of them) and strikers (he signed four starting centre-forwards, plus a number of backups) and only picked up the cheapest, free-agent defenders he could find, long after the team started leaking goals.

Get ready for another season of hell.

It would be nice if the club was run by people who know what the fuck they are doing.

[Cedric]

What would have you said if Ajax had signed Onyewu then? (or Lugano?)
Because Jol spoke of Onyewu well before Ajax started leaking goals. But yeah, I guess it's still stupid of him to be interested in such a defender and it's Jol's fault if he prefered to sign at Milan...

[rjf1]

What would have you said if Ajax had signed Onyewu then? (or Lugano?

If my aunt had balls she'd be my uncle.

[Cedric]

Glad to see you master some basic biology principles, but what it has to do with the fact that Jol is supposed to be a kamikaze who only tries to sign defenders on the cheap when it's too late?
He failed to get the defenders he wanted, so he's a fool who didn't even tried to get one ?

[bluedaddy19]

i am very dismayed we failed to get a defender... however, i am also somewhat pleased that we did not go get another bad defender... so i have mixed feelings, but i'm also done with summer window hand wringing... we have business to do and we have to get it done as is for now

[bryan]

He failed to get the defenders he wanted, so he's a fool who didn't even tried to get one ?

He failed to get one. Trying isn't good enough. Meanwhile he did find the time to find some flashy ball juggler and a washed up striker.

All you have to do is look at the goals for and goals against column for the last couple of seasons to know what has to be done. Signing a couple of proper defenders should have been the number one goal from day one of the transfer window, with no exceptions. The priorities were obviously wrong.