Ajax is landskampioen!

Ajax beat VVV 2-0 and this was the time when they succeeded to retain their Eredivisie title. This is their 31st title in Holland.


Siem de Jong scored twice. He again proved that he can score goals at decisive moments. He did exactly the same (scored twice) against Twente last season, which brought the championship for the first time in many years to Amsterdam. The victory was rather comfortable for Ajax, as they maintained over 70% ball possession.


Ajax have experienced a lot of problems this season. Injuries, conflict among the executive board, and elimination from the Champions League... they have overcome all these challenges and eventually grown stronger.


De Boer already told that Vertonghen had played his last game in the Eredivisie. He will perhaps leave for one of the Premier League clubs (though De Boer recommended Barcelona!). And the game was probably Ooijer's last match in his career. Some players will leave, but still Ajax have wonderful players who have developed rapidly throughout the season. I hope Eriksen, Anita and De Jong will all continue to lead Ajax.


Ajax have been loyal to their own philosophy. The success of the Ajax top team coincided with the renovation of their youth academy. Ajax A1 showed their quality to all the football fans in Europe, as new talents like Davy Klaassen, Lesley de Sa, Stefano Denswil, Joel Veltman, and Viktor Fischer played excellent football in the NextGen series. These young kids have never appeared in the Eredivisie matches (with some exceptions of  Klaassen and Ligeon), but the future is blight for Ajax.


Here's De Boer's comment after the victory, saying that the second title feels better than the first one.

"For the fans, last season was special because they waited so long for the third star on the shirt. But for me and my staff this one feels more beautiful seeing what happened this season. All the injuries we had and then the turbulence through all the problems in our board, but we stayed loyal to our vision."

Feyenoord's coach Koeman praised De Boer.

"I know Frank well, and he did a great job and won a deserved title. Nobody gave a dime for the chances of Ajax when we beat them at the end of January, but Frank stayed calm despite all the board turbulences. He never used it as an excuse and kept everything far away from his players and that deserves a big compliment."

(See the whole news article here)



Ajax will fight the last match of the seasons (vs Vittesse) probably with young or inexperienced players. This is also going to be a very interesting game.


Anyway, many congratulations to the players and those who live in Amsterdam!
And I would like thank the club for having shown us wonderful football.

One Hand on the Title? (and a little bit about the future...)

So this is my second blog post of this month (Sorry, I'm kind of busy these days...)

After their last match against Groningen, Ajax have won 11 consecutive games in the Eredivisie. Ajax have gained 67 points so far, and now they are sitting on the top of the table with 6 points ahead from AZ. Only 3 games are remaining, which means Ajax need only 4 points to secure their league title.

The entire team is in good form these days. Boerrigter, Sigthorsson and Van der Wiel have all recovered from injury, and Boerrgter scored 3 goals in the recent 2 games! Sigthorsson has also scored 2 goals since his comeback. What's making Ajax strong these days is the increasing variety of players who can make a difference on the pitch. De Jong has scored 14 goals this season (and I think it's fair to say that he is already a very dangerous striker), but even when he plays as a midfielder, coach De Boer can send Sigthorsson or Bulykin to the pitch!

So these days I often wonder who will be playing on the pitch next season (of course I know it's too early). Vertonghen will surely leave the club, and Van der Wiel will also move abroad. Aissati once expressed his wish to leave the club, and considering the current situation, I don't think Lodeiro will be playing at Ajax next season.


De Boer told that he wanted AZ's Moisander or NEC's Nuytinck as potential replacement for Vertonghen. And Ajax recently announced that they reached an agreement with NEC on the transfer of Danish midfielder Lasse Schone. Schone is an offensive midfielder with good vision and technique. He is also good at mid-range shots, so my image of him is something like "(Eriksen + Janssen) / 2". I think he can be used immediately upon joining the team. 

De Boer said an interesting thing about this transfer. This is what he said. 

"Lasse fits our philosophy perfectly. He's a creative player who can both score and assist. We like that type of player at Ajax. He’ll have to compete with the other midfielders for a spot. But this season has shown that we really do need everyone. We need a good, broad selection. Earlier this season, we needed to call up some A-juniors. With a good player like Lasse on board, we’ll have even more options next season." 

So the aim of Ajax is clear; To get more options for midfield. And Shorne himself knows that he is not guaranteed a spot in the squad. But one interpretation of this comment is that the coach does not really want to call young players into the first team squad. This is perhaps because De Boer believes in the academy. Jong Ajax fought the NextGen series and showed great performance (they went to the final and lost against Inter on penalties). Having young players concentrate on their time at Jong Ajax is one way to preserve the Ajax brand.

Another target is Heerenveen's Narsingh. He is perhaps the best winger at the moment in the Eredivisie. He is a graduate of the Ajax academy, so he knows how to play at Ajax. He has made 22 assists this season. Just incredible. He already told that he wanted to move to Ajax, so I hope the two clubs reach an agreement on a transfer fee. 


Moreover, according to Voetbal International, Ajax are keeping an eye on AZ's side back Simon Poulsen. Ajax already have at least three players who can play at left back (Blind, Koppers and Boilessen), but from an objective point of view, I think Poulsen is the best side back among them. Poulsen admits that he is happy to hear the news that Ajax are following him, but he also tells that he wants to play in another league.


One more player that's worth talking about; Rodney Sneijder. Wesley Sneijder's younger brother is a product of the Ajax academy and now is on loan at Utrecht. He has the same kind of play style as his brother. He has good technique, good vision and accurate kicks. I want to see him play at Ajax again, but De Boer is unclear about him. (they say that he doesn't value Suneijder...)


So that's all I know about transfer news around Amsterdam. I'm looking forward to seeing these players joining Ajax, and I also hope that those who leave Ajax will have a good football life elsewhere.

Theo Janssen and Ajax Midfield

Last weekend Ajax showed a brilliant performance and beat Heracles 6-0. Their next Eredivisie match is scheduled on Wednesday, which means there is no game this weekend. So today I would like to focus on one Ajax player; Theo Janssen.

Everybody knew that Janssen was one of the best players in the Eredivisie when he was transferred from Twente. He was going to be a player who could lead the young team, and he was expected to become a regular set-play kicker in the team. In terms of these points, he has proven his high quality so far. But as many people had anticipated, it took a long time for him to be fit in the tactics of Ajax. At first many people did not believe that he was the best option as defensive midfielder. That prediction was in part proven to be right, as Janssen has recently played excellently as offensive midfielder.This was partly because of the growing injury list of the team. Striker Sigthorsson's absence forced De Boer to put De Jong at central striker, and somebody else had to replace De Jong's former position in midfield. It was a logical decision of De Boer to put Enoh or Anita at anchor, with Janssen and Eriksen playing a more offensive role. Therefore, many would think that De Boer's masterplan has been ineffective. Even an offensive team like Ajax needs at least one hardworking defensive midfielder who can provide a balance to the team. But anyway, Janssen is still one of the best players in the Eredivisie. Vitesse's Japanese defender Yasuda named Janssen when he was asked on twitter who the best player in the Eredivisie was. (He named three players; Grooningen's Tadic, PSV's Mertens and Janssen).

So I agree that Janssen should be playing as offensive midfielder in today's squad. This is because of the presence of Vertonghen. Vertonghen often decides to move into midfield to build attacks, so somebody else has to remain backwards to prepare for opponents' counter attack. Janssen simply is not suit for this role. If the club chose to buy a classical type of center back as a replacement of Vertonghen (Twente's Douglas, let's say), the situation would be different, but this is not what I want to talk about today.

Let's see Janssen's play (watch his latest video below). In the match against Heracles I felt that he was playing differently than before. Instead of concentrating on making long through passes behind the opposing defenders, he himself ran behind them and got closer to the goal.

Ajax are excellent at maintaining the ball, but they tend to fail to turn their high ball possession rate into goals. You often see the midfielders remaining where they are after passing the ball to the attackers. They rely on the attackers' individual brilliance. However, De Jong can be an exception. He is good at running behind the defense and score a goal, so when he is playing as offensive midfielder with another reliable striker up front, Ajax can put more players in front of the opponents' goal. But when De Jong has to play as striker and Eriksen and Janssen start as offensive midfielders, nobody in midfield tries to threaten the opposing goalkeeper on their own. (It is true that Eriksen has been trying to score more goals these days, but he has much room for improvement as to his shooting skills.)

This was different in the last match against Heracles. Janssen was more eager than ever to get closer to the goal. Janssen's role was more like No.10, and this was actually very effective as he scored one goal and assisted one more. I don't know if this was a result of De Boer's instruction. Also, it remains to be seen which players will be playing in midfield next match as Sigthorsson has made his comeback and De Jong no longer needs to play as striker. But as for the last match, at least, I guess everybody can agree that the man of the match was Janssen. At Twente, he scored 10 goals last season. You can say that he is not just a player who can assist others' goals, but is a great offensive midfielder who is dangerous in front of the goal.

The next match against Heerenveen will be extremely important for the title race. Keep our fingers crossed so they can remain as champions!

Eredivisie - Ajax vs PSV

Last Sunday Ajax defeated PSV 2-0, and it was indeed a crucial victory for the title race as the rival team Twente also dropped points. Aissati's great goal (whether he intended or not) and Siem de Jong's calm penalty kick led to the victory.

from english.ajax.nl

Ajax's starting line-up seemed defensive at first sight. Anita and Enoh were both starting members. Janssen missed this game as he received a yellow card in the last match, so perhaps Eriksen was the only one who could make a difference in midfield and in front of goal. The team maintained fast and tight pressure all around the pitch. 

Like in recent matches, Anita often dropped down in the defense line when in ball possession. This gave Vertonghen more space and time to progress up front so he was able to give mid- to long-range passes to attackers. By doing this, Vertonghen complemented Janssen's absence. But all this would not be possible without hardworking Anita. Anita has been in impressive form these days.

Van Rijn also showed good performance. His one-on-one defense against Mertens was perfect, and he made good overlap runs many times. I had been thinking of him as a down-to-earth kind of player excellent at marking an opponent, but this time he showed good dribbling and passing technique near PSV's goal. He is developing rapidly.

After the victory at Old Trafford against Manchester United, Ajax gained confidence and have played excellently. Seven matches remaining in the Eredivisie 2011-2012. They are coming closer to the top.