Ajaxtalk

Thank you for joining, Philippe and Venezuelan Ajacied. I forgot to let all of you know that the next round has already started. It seems Venezuelan Ajacied didn't notice either and has now chosen winners from the last round. My bad. Here's the second round matchups.

So, I see that Feijenoord is making moves left and right and we haven't done too much. Is anyone else getting worried that we won't have strengthened the team enough in the offseason? Or is it too early to tell?

I still think Sneijder is likely to go. If he does, that is going to leave a mighty big gap in midfield. I know we're bringing up some of the more promising youngsters this year, but they remain players with potential for now.

What do you guys think? Is it still early days?

It's still very early. Aside from Colin, Delorge and Kennedy, Ajax will still sign a backup striker, a right winger and a left winger.

And I think we don't have to strengthen our team like the #7...

Feyenoord's 'shopping spree' is quite remarkable, I'll give you that, but it looks more impressive than it actually is. I am 100% convinced that Davids is better than Van Bronckhorst, Stam is better than Hofland and our youngsters are better than their youngsters (and definitely a mile ahead in their careers). The only truly spectacular buy is Makaay, who's great but not necessarily better than KJH.

It's not like they're suddenly the favourites for the title... come on.

Ajax's focus was on keeping last season's team together (which is the best thing to do). As long as they don't sell, they will keep a low profile on the transfer market. But if (for example) Babel goes, they will act and splash out some cash. Don't worry.

K.

Kowalczyk schreef:
Ajax's focus was on keeping last season's team together (which is the best thing to do). As long as they don't sell, they will keep a low profile on the transfer market. But if (for example) Babel goes, they will act and splash out some cash. Don't worry.

K.

may you be right, but news are slightly worrying so far don't you think : ket players on the move, and not much coming over

There's only one "key" player on the move right now, and it isn't the best one imo. So no reason to worry so far.

out of curiosity, who do you think are the key players ?

what happens if Babel, Sneijder, De Mul and maybe Huntelaar all leave, and Ajax again fails to win the eredivisie. Given that he had lost practically his entire attacking line-up of the previous season, would we consider that Ten Cate had been given enough time to build a team, rememering also that it's likely Stam and Davids will be gone after next season too, so he would be having to replace more key players.

Haha, check out the pessimism before the kick-off of the first pre-season friendly,

philippe schreef:out of curiosity, who do you think are the key players ?

Sneijder, Huntelaar, Gabri, Davids, Stam, Emanuelson and maybe Heitinga. All the others can be replaced quite easily within the team. If not, it's not hard to find someone as good elsewhere.

mark my words : wingers will be very hard to find

The third round has commenced! Vote now!

We do need some forwards as Leonardo is out to Jan , Manucharyan is always injured and Mitea has struggled with injuries for nearly 2 years.Perez will go soon.

Unless Man U or Real Madrid come along KJH will be with us but we need another striker and a right winger.All the young kids coming through are defenders and midfielders.

The round of sixteen has commenced! Vote now!

Hi Everyone,

I wonder if anyone can help? The Champions League, 3rd preliminary round, we don't know who we're playing yet, but, as the seeded team, are we guaranteed to play the home leg 2nd, August 28-29?

Anyone any ideas? I need to get it booked!!

The quarter finales have begun! Sneijder, Ibrahimovic, Van Nistelrooij, Cristiano Ronaldo, Berbatov, Diego, Messi and Kaká are the 8 remaining candidates. Vote now, everyone!

SaddlerIan schreef:Hi Everyone,

I wonder if anyone can help? The Champions League, 3rd preliminary round, we don't know who we're playing yet, but, as the seeded team, are we guaranteed to play the home leg 2nd, August 28-29?

Anyone any ideas? I need to get it booked!!

I think it is yet to be decided. Looking at the third round Q matches of last years CL edition I'd say that most seeded teams start with an away match but not all of them(Milan, Liverpool?).

http://www.vi.nl/vi/show/id=289586/dbid ... /sc=786496

The time has come for the semi-finals! Ruud van Nistelrooij, Cristiano Ronaldo, Lionel Messi and Kaká are the 4 favourites left to face eachother.

Does anyone know a website that shows a fixture list of pre-season friendlies in Holland?

I'll be in the Netherlands for a few days next week on a short break, might take in one of the Amsterdam tournement games but fancy going to some other games as well if possible.

SE6Ajacied schreef:Does anyone know a website that shows a fixture list of pre-season friendlies in Holland?

I'll be in the Netherlands for a few days next week on a short break, might take in one of the Amsterdam tournement games but fancy going to some other games as well if possible.

If memory serves me right there will not be anymore friendlies after the Scotland trip. Maybe clubs like FC Volendam, Telstar of Haarlem are having friendlies, but I doubt that you want to see that.

The Amsterdam tournament are the last friendly games before the Champions League qualifiers.

GangstaRiB schreef:
If memory serves me right there will not be anymore friendlies after the Scotland trip. Maybe clubs like FC Volendam, Telstar of Haarlem are having friendlies, but I doubt that you want to see that.

I'm a bit of a footy junkie to be honest so a bit of ground-hopping was exactly what I had in mind. I've got all the Ajax dates already but wondered who else was playing.

GangstaRiB: this guy even attends local non-league games when in Amsterdam. DWS, Blauw-Wit, that kind of stuff...

He's a nutter.

K.

Ok.... didn't know that. :)

I know that Voetbal International magazine has a list of fixtures per club, both eredivisie and first division. Maybe somebody can scan those pages for you. Otherwise you have to check the club's website.

I checked Fc Volendam for you and they play a friendly match next monday against Young Ajax (!) at fortuna wormerveer. That's an amateur side, where even I occasionally play with my team :)

Kowalczyk schreef:
He's a nutter.

K.

Cheers Ko - How many others on this board (not from/living in NL) have been to see Blauw-Wit Amsterdam then? - great game for about 3 Euro's from memory - the cab there cost far more.

BTW on a similar subject, here in England they have a thing called the "92 Club" ( www.fanzone.co.uk/Info/The92Club.aspx )who's members have been to all 92 League/Premier League grounds in England and Wales. Nowhere near that for me, I've been to around 45 but was pretty hamstrung by my team refusing to leave the bottom two divisions (and I've pretty much given that up now - too much money apart from anything else).

I do like visiting grounds though - do they have a "38 club" in NL? - would probably need to include the top amateur teams to make it really worthwhile and a real achievement (believe me - visiting some of the crap serving for facilities at English Division 3/4 level makes belonging to the 92 club here a real achievement!)

SE6Ajacied schreef: (believe me - visiting some of the crap serving for facilities at English Division 3/4 level makes belonging to the 92 club here a real achievement!)

You're OBVIOUSLY reffering going to crappy old dumps like the "Shitty Ground" in a sleepy suburb of Nottingham called West Bridgeford and NOT reffering to the priviledge of setting foot in the hallowed "San Sirrel" located at Meadow Lane in the fair city of Nottingham....