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Draakon

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  1. October 2031 Fixtures and Results Only four games in October, but difficult matches against PSV Eindhoven and AS Roma. The Topper derby brought an almost full crowd to Johan Cruijff Arena and we started this match well - Ognjen Rajkovic headed in an indirect free kick and we took charge of the game, but just two minutes later PSV equalised. Amourricho van Axel Dongen squared for Hlynsson who made it 2:1 to give us the lead at the break, but in truth it was a game with just a few good chances for both teams. We held our lead in the second half and didn’t look in trouble defensively, but in 67’ Riswan Sinaga made a terrible mistake and played the ball straight to Jason van Duiven who had no problems converting this gift to an equaliser. We couldn’t score another goal and Sinaga’s error meant that spoils were shared in this derby. It has to be said that PSV defended well - we made only nine key passes in this game and John Meeuwis was well isolated in ninety minutes. You could say that PSV came to Amsterdam with a good game plan, it worked somewhat well most of the match and they were helped by a glaring mistake from our goalkeeper, but either way they were happy to get a point from this. I expected a fairly easy game against NEC Nijmegen and our team selection reflected the fact that some of our (younger) players were tired after the international window. There was a scary moment for us in 17’ when NEC’s Amine Essahel went for the ball in our six yard box and tackled it well, but Riswan Sinaga made a great save to keep it out. We went to half-time with a 1:0 lead, courtesy of a simple tap-in from van Axel Dongen. In the second half we were awarded a rather dubious penalty (that was surprisingly upheld by VAR) and when Nikita Tamm slotted in another clear cut chance it looked like NEC was starting to fall apart. However, their best striker from the last season, Conor Noss, headed in to give them a consolation goal. Two-goal win from away game was a decent result nonetheless. That gets us to our crucial home game against AS Roma. I’m happy that we have our best eleven available for those important Champions League games. We started with a positive mentality and took the lead in 12’ - van Axel Dongen’s attempt caused some difficulties to AS Roma goalkeeper Justin Bijlow and John Meeuwis was first to react and tuck it in. Portuguese striker Vitinha was labelled as the danger man for Roma and he showed it in the first half - he was everywhere where anything remotely dangerous happened, had a half-chance (that Riswan Sinaga turned away), won headers in our box and eventually he scored the equaliser after Claidel Muringen lost possession in midfield and allowed AS Roma to build a counter-attack. Vitinha’s skill was evident when he turned away from Can Tas with his first touch and put the ball next to the post calmly. The second half was a hard-fought battle, the one where one goal could be decisive and in this tactical challenge I did better than my counterpart on AS Roma bench - I sent out Ja-Ryong Kim and Quenten Hose and they built a lovely attack through the middle and Hose finished his opportunity nicely - he has wasted a number of chances in Eredivisie games and perhaps hasn’t been in the best form this season, but here the young winger delivered us the winning goal - such an important win, but also a warning that the repeat match in Stadio Olimpico in just two weeks is not going to be easy. The last match against Heracles was an easy one, but finished with a narrow 1:0 win. Our opponents came to Johan Cruijff Arena with a defensive 4-1-4-1 formation and couldn’t pose a real threat in attack. We created a number of chances in the first half, but our right winger Quenten Hose scored just once. In the second half we missed two big chances and hit the post twice, so I criticised our finishing in the post-match team talk. We could have dropped points easily here - Heracles only needed one corner or attempt to find a goal out of nowhere. That’s why we need to make sure earlier in the games. Players and Tactics Nothing to report tactically. Performance-wise we’ve managed to score goals, but struggled to get clean sheets, so there’s something to work on - we just have to keep our concentration up in defence and avoid conceding avoidable goals. Most of the results have come our way, but I’m disappointed with the inconsistency of most of our players and I don’t feel that we play as well as we should. Wingers have been under my special scrutiny in October - Nikita Tamm had one good performance in Nijmegen, but disappeared completely in matches with bigger opponents. Ja-Ryong Kim started against Heracles instead of him, but failed to impress. Quenten Hose scored the winner against AS Roma and Heracles, but at the same time missed more chances in front of goal than I count. Player of the Month: Ognjen Rajkovic - very difficult choice, because we changed so many players in the line-ups and there were just four games, but Rajkovic started against PSV and NEC Nijmegen and was very good in both of those games, getting on the score sheet as well. Goal of the Month: Quenten Hose vs. AS Roma - not because of the finish, but the passing combination that led to the goal and the sheer importance of that win. Eredivisie We still face close competition from Vitesse and PSV Eindhoven. Extremely surprised to see FC Groningen in the relegation zone (the club who’s in the Champions League this season!). SC Cambuur, on the other hand, looks like a clear relegation material. PEC Zwolle are probably the overachievers of the season so far. Champions League So far, so good. The home win against AS Roma helped us enormously.
  2. September 2031 Five games in September. The Champions League starts with a must win home game against AGF, but the Eredivisie schedule offers some tricky away fixtures against mid-table teams. My main concern is not to lose points until Prince Aning is fit again (he could be back for the Barcelona match, but we’ll know in a few weeks). It was nice to see our loan player Loet van Fessem start for ADO Den Haag in our first game of the month, but it was he who lost possession to John Meeuwis and we scored a quick goal in 12’ to take charge of the match. ADO equalised with a good header from close range, but a penalty restored our lead before half-time and the second penalty, awarded in the second half, made it sure. Penalties surely helped us, because we didn’t create too many opportunities from open play and ADO-s 5-2-3 WB formation packed their box with five players at most times. The home game against AGF turned out to be a walkover. We scored from a set piece early on and went to the half-time with a 2:0 lead, but the defining factor was that AGF had two men sent off in the first half, so we cruised after the break and finished the match with five goals. Kenneth Taylor produced the best goal of the night with a thunderous strike from 20 metres. We continued this form at Heerenveen - I anticipated a much more difficult away game, but I suppose Heerenveen made some serious tactical errors, because their defence looked all over the place and we found gaps and spaces between the lines and defenders easily. Finishing was excellent as well, Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson and John Meeuwis scored a brace and Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi found himself at the score sheet too. After two impressive results we hosted Fortuna Sittard at Johan Cruijff Arena. This game had ups and downs for as, starting off with a missed penalty by Kenneth Taylor. Then Hlynsson and Meeuwis combined two good goals in four minutes to give us a solid lead, but Fortuna stunned us with a counter-attack in 30’. Because of that our second half was a little bit nervous and our third goal kept itself waiting until Rajkovic scored from a corner to put this result beyond doubt. Decent win. Away game at Camp Nou was not supposed to be easy. I used our Champions League setup, but it still resulted in conceding two goals in the first 20 minutes. Barcelona players were just so technically gifted and managed to dismantle our defence with their measured passes. One good attack from us in 40’ made it 1:2 before half-time and gave us some hope for the second half, that if we’re lucky we might steal a point from here. This didn’t happen - we kept our defence more-less in order after half-time, but couldn’t create anything dangerous (just 3 key passes in the whole game and 3/2 shots for us), so a bit disappointing result, but at least we didn’t suffer more serious beating and we kept the final score respectable. Tactics and Players Tactically our positive 4-2-3-1 formation has gotten us through from domestic games easily. I expected tricky away matches and perhaps somewhat stronger opposition from ADO Den Haag and sc Heerenveen, but we felt fairly comfortable against them. The Champions League setup was tested against FC Barcelona, but the results were inconclusive - we were pretty much dominated in the game, but we got a goal in an away match, so it hints that in the right circumstances we might stun big teams with this tactic. The players have done incredibly well. Our main concern was Richard Svec at the left-back position, but the youngster has done OK to fill the gap in our team and has developed incredibly in the process. His performances are mediocre, because he’s not really in the first team level and I ordered him to play it safe and take less risks with the ball, so clearly his impact in attack is much lower than Prince Aning’s, but that’s OK. His main job has been to avoid mistakes defensively and not to give away easy chances, and he’s done really well in that regard in Eredivisie games. Aning should be fully fit for our first league game in October, so we don’t have to rely on Svec too much in the future. I’m happy with the progress of both Claidel Muringen and Mohamed Tahiri in midfield - both have trained well and performed OK, too. Kenneth Taylor is our leading scorer in midfield with 6 goals, but he has got many chances from the penalty spot, so that explains it. Nikita Tamm has continued to find a goal and he has earned us some penalties, too, so good form continues for him. John Meeuwis has scored six goals in the league. He’s a different kind of forward than Dramane Guehi - Meeuwis plays as PFa and doesn’t contribute much in build-up, but he’s there to finish off his chances and his composure has been evident in September. Player of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson - scored four goals in September and was really driving our attack forward. Even in our worst match against Barcelona it was Hlynsson who managed to create a goal. The Icelander is in fine form. Goal of the Month: Kenneth Taylor vs. AGF - a lot of penalties for Taylor this season, but this was beautifully struck from 20 metres. Eredivisie Six games played and we’re at the top of the table, but Vitesse have started incredibly well and share the top with 18 points from their matches. So far it’s been clear that some of the contestants (AZ Alkmaar, FC Utrecht) are not up to the challenge for the title this season, but the competition is still fairly tight. Champions League Group G Quite as expected - we won at home against AGF easily and struggled at Camp Nou. Important games are the ones against AS Roma.
  3. August 2031 Fixtures and Results The Johan Cruijff Schaal final was a bit of a revenge match because of the two finals we lost against FC Utrecht in the last season, but this time we didn’t give them any chances - two goals in the first half put us in charge and FC Utrecht were sinking without trace. Mohamed Tahiri headed in from a corner in 76’ to make it 3:0. It was a very convincing win because we had 64% possession and FC Utrecht didn’t get any chances in the full ninety minutes. An excellent start to our season. The first league game was at home and Sparta Rotterdam came to visit. Nothing too difficult on paper and we should have won that easily, but we couldn’t find a goal at first - we had a number of set pieces and even created chances from them, but couldn’t finish them off and at the other end of the pitch Sparta had two decent opportunities as well (perhaps partly because Olivier Aertssen served his suspension and defensive partnership of Rajkovic and Can Tas didn’t work together too well). Things got easier in the second half when Sparta’s Jürgen Braun was dismissed for a dangerous tackle on Quenten Hose and in the final ten minutes we finally were on the mark - John Meeuwis broke the deadlock and Kenneth Taylor wrapped things up with a penalty in injury time. In the end we had 26 shots with 3.67 xG - should have finished better. Trip to visit the newly promoted SC Cambuur was an equally difficult feat - Nikita Tamm scored with an accurate volley to give us the lead, but Prince Aning was carried off the pitch with an injury soon after the goal and it affected our match. 17 years old Richard Svec came on for him to make his first team debut. We had some good chances to extend our lead, but couldn’t finish (again!) - Olivier Aertssen headed against the crossbar and Nikita Tamm wasted a clear cut chance in the second half. We weren’t in trouble defensively and didn’t concede any chances, but I would have much preferred the second goal. The last match in August was the Noord-Hollandse derby at home. Our main concern was left defence - Prince Aning’s injury that he suffered in the last league game was a pretty serious one and sprained knee ligaments will keep him out for 4-6 weeks, so Richard Svec (who had just turned 17) started as our left full-back. We started well and soon Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi delivered a low cross into the six yard box where Nikita Tamm was ready to score with a simple tap-in. Despite our lead there was a certain anxiousness in the team and in 17’ AZ’s Ludwe Sibiya got through our defence, only to be denied by Riswan Sinaga. AZ’s equaliser came out of nowhere, though, when their midfielder Aymen Barkok hit the scorcher into our top corner from 27 metres. The penalty in 33’ restored our lead and our position improved a lot in 43’ when AZ’s Manfred Ugalde received his second yellow card and was sent off. We dominated possession in the second half (obviously, because we were 11 against 10), but couldn’t turn it into goals, even though we created some good chances and Olivier Aertssen headed against the crossbar from a corner. Substitutions looked risky, because most of our bench seemed nervous despite our lead. It remained 2:1 and I was pleased with a win, but I feel our second half performance was a disappointment. We should have grabbed AZ by the neck and finished them off after Ugalde’s dismissal, but we failed to do that. Overall I’m pleased with our results in August and to start with three wins in Eredivisie marks a good start. Players and Tactics Nothing interesting to report tactically there. Players have done what was expected of them and defensively we’ve looked fairly good. Prince Aning’s injury is an obvious concern before September. Nikita Tamm has been impressive in attack - he has two league goals in August and it looks like the form he had in the first half of the last season has returned. At least he’s getting into the right positions and taking his chances. John Meeuwis has started all four games and so far he’s done OK. Stanis Idumbo Muzambo and Ja-Ryong Kim have not featured as much, but that’s an extra gear we have in the coming weeks. Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - since that friendly against Arsenal where he scored a brace he’s been outstanding - two penalties in the competitive matches and one assist to add. He’s been excellent in every single game so far. Goal of the Month: Nikita Tamm vs. FC Utrecht - not so much because of the simple finish, but because of the cheeky backheel pass from John Meeuwis that set Tamm up for the goal Eredivisie Three clubs have three straight wins so far, with PSV Eindhoven and Vitesse sharing the lead with us. Feyenoord lost a match against FC Utrecht. AZ Alkmaar has had a long Summer in Conference League qualification and their Eredivisie form has suffered because of that and last season’s sensation FC Groningen is also low in the table. Champions League The draw landed us in the group G with Barcelona, AS Roma and AGF (that is Aarhus from Denmark). While the Danish are way out of their depth in this group, AS Roma are tricky opponents and like always, away fixtures (and ability to get at least a point out of those) are key.
  4. Squad Update 2031 Goalkeepers We have only one true first team goalkeeper in Riswan Sinaga (although Calvin Francis is pushing up from Jong Ajax). He doesn’t seem exceptional attribute-wise, but he’s surely talented and only 20 years old. Despite that young age he played 48 games in the last season and showed remarkable fitness (his injury susceptibility is below average) so he’s quite reliable for the whole season. Defence Here we have a solid first team trio that’s my preference for important matches - Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi on the right, Olivier Aertssen in the middle and Prince Aning on the left. Left centre-back position is shared between Can Tas and Ognjen Rajkovic (and mainly decided by how tall the opposition strikers are, because Can Tas isn’t really an aerial power). The main strength in our defence is that key players are reaching their best years of football. The main weakness, however, is that those influential players have usually just ‘balanced’ personalities and aren’t suitable mentors. Jasper Vogels left this Summer and we will probably miss his versatility, but instead we have several youngsters stepping up to fill the ranks. Giorgio Jongebloet featured in the last season as well and the 18 years old right-back has played in 12 Eredivisie games - he’s resilient, determined, brave, aggressive and with a good work rate, so he has all the necessary qualities to become a great player. In the central defence we have Rik Vos, who spent a year on loan in Belgium. Vos looks like a good prospect - no real weaknesses, and he’s tall (!) compared to most of our centre-backs. On the left side I needed a replacement for Vogels and promoted 16 years old Slovak talent Richard Svec to the first team. The boy is arguably not ready for first team football, but he’s another defender with excellent determination, teamwork and work rate attributes, so I expect him to develop quickly. Midfield No real changes here - Kenneth Taylor and Claidel Muringen are our go-to pair in midfield. Mohamed Tahiri can play as an attacking midfielder, but proved in last season that he can fill the BBMs role, too. Young Ruben Sergio is here just to fill the numbers and (perhaps) provide some resting minutes for Taylor if the game is decided, but in times of need I much prefer to drop Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson down to DLPd if Taylor is not available. Attacking Midfield At the moment attacking midfield looks like our strongest area on the pitch. On the right we have Amourricho van Axel Dongen who can score and assist. Quenten Hose has provided some competition for him for the place in the line-up - he’s young, quick, agile and good with the ball. Hose can be young, but he scored 6 goals and assisted 7 more in Eredivisie last season. In the middle we have Icelandic international Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson (possibly our most creative players and also our corner taker), Stanis Idumbo Muzambo (probably the best player with the ball) and Peter Misidjan who is just 22 years old, but it feels like he’s been around forever. On the left we have Estonian Nikita Tamm (who plays as IFs), a very inconsistent player, although his attributes are great, and South Korean international Ja-Ryong Kim (who is a Ws) - a player with great flair and the one who created most chances in Eredivisie games in the last season. There are no really young prospects in the first team at the moment, but there’s some interest in our key players and if there’s an opening in the January, we have some options to come in from Jong Ajax. Strikers Dramane Guehi has left, so John Meeuwis has to carry the load this season. He’s a wonderful talent - just 20 years old but finished the last season with 19 goals from 16 starts - but he can’t play as a CFa, so we go with PFa with both him and Koen Verlijsdonk. Verlijsdonk can certainly expect to get more minutes this season, as his game time was rather limited last year. He has certain weaknesses (like low rate, not too accurate passing and poor concentration), but he’s quick and can score and has a lot of flair, so that’s a start.
  5. Summer 2031 Transfer Window After reaching the Champions League semi finals in Spring, I knew that there will be some departures this Summer. Quick look at our squad list indicated that we have a number of players reaching their prime and being in the Ajax first eleven at 24-25 years of age, it’s the right moment to step up and move to Premier League, Serie A or La Liga if the player wants to further his career. The first unavoidable loss was Dramane Guehi - the African striker moved to PSG in June for the club record £75m + clauses. He was probably the best player (by ability) in the team and way too good for Eredivisie. At some point he was valued for around £100m, but it’s always tricky to get an actual bid for that amount and I settled for the offer that PSG made. I’m not overly worried about our attack, because we still have John Meeuwis who can contribute and develop in Ajax for a couple of seasons, at least. The second departure was Jasper Vogels - a versatile defender who went to Everton for £30,5m - a decent fee for him and I hope he’ll do well in the Premier League. We have a few younger options for full-back positions to replace him. We also loaned out youngsters Anass Sarpong and Loet van Fessem for the next season to get them some first team experience. The Club We have improvements for training facilities and youth facilities in progress this Summer and it looks like the board is willing to invest into the club, so they proposed to increase coaching staff wages (a thought that I was delighted to accept). With training facilities and youth facilities improved, I also managed to convince the board to increase the junior coaching budget. Our finances are huge. Selling Dramane Guehi and Jasper Vogels in June for a combined £105m brought our bank balance to £1,2b and so I received a curious message that the club has directed a large portion of those funds into investment reserves. I’ve never seen anything like that, but more than £300m disappeared from our books and I have no clue where they are or if we ever can use it if we need to.
  6. Thanks. About Champions League - it's not the main target. Obviously I try to do as well as I can, but because my youth only policy and transfer policy that allows best players to leave I know that I'm always handicapped compared to big teams and sometimes it's just too difficult to compete with them. I know that I do most of the times everything right tactically, but if the individual level of players is so much higher in the other team, it's really difficult to prevent all goals you concede. I have won the Champions League in previous versions of FM with the same 'youth only' strategy. I believe I won in FM16, but in FM20 I reached to the semi-final once. Here in FM22 I've got to the semi final several times, so it builds a platform, but let's see how it goes. About favourite player - that's a tough question. From the initial group of players it's difficult to choose, because in almost every FM and every Ajax save you have a lot of interest in the players from big clubs and several of the players are sold in early years, so Ryan Gravenberch? Because he has a great potential that is obvious from the start and I managed to keep him around for some years to get the maximum out of him before allowing him to move forward with his career. But I also felt attached to Daley Blind and Davy Klaassen, because they were true leaders on the pitch and remained in the club almost to the end of their careers (and Klaassen continued to be part of our coaching staff after hanging his boots). From regens I have to say that Dramane Guehi has reached the highest ability level so far - driven personality, a lot of talent, experience on both club and international level. He's the first player in the team who has been touted to have around £100m transfer value and because of that he's probably the biggest talent who has come from our youth ranks into the first team in those 10 seasons I've been in charge.
  7. Competitions We won our tenth Eredivisie title in a row (a small reminder, that I’ve been managing Ajax for ten years already) and this time it was a rather impressive campaign. We pretty much ran away with the title after the New Year and clinched it at the beginning of April, so the second part of the season was pretty relaxed. It was a great Champions League campaign. Reaching the quarter finals counts as a very successful season for us, but the semi final is quite exceptional. Perhaps we had a bit of luck to get Hertha in the first knockout round, but beating Chelsea proved that we deserved to be there and with this squad managed to be very competitive until the end. We were called the biggest overachievers of the competition as a result. Champions League final was Italy’s inner affair and Inter beat Juventus in the final (ex-Ajax player Gabrial Misehouy scored a goal for the winners!) Domestic cups continue to escape from us and we were beaten twice by FC Utrecht - firstly in the Johan Cruijff Schaal final and then in the KNVB Beker Final. It means that FC Utrecht seems to have a real knack for the cup silverware. My inability to win the KNVB Beker two seasons in a row was the main criticism from the board and players alike. Jong Ajax had a pretty good season with 7th place finish in Keuken Kampioen Divisie, while our academy youngsters finished 2nd in the table after AZ Alkmaar U-19. Players The main question before the season was our goalkeeper and how Riswan Sinaga will do in goal after Mert Alegoz departed to FC Barcelona. In the end the young goalkeeper did fairly well - not an exceptional season, but sold enough and he finished as runner-up in the Eredivisie Goalkeeper of the Year category. Not bad for a 19 years old bloke. He developed well throughout the season and has a much better ability for next year. Our defence looked solid throughout the season, although a serious injury to Ognjen Rajkovic left us a little bit thin in the centre-back department. On the other hand Jasper Vogels provided cover for both full-back positions and in the second part of the season young Giorgio Jongebloet started to get first team appearances, so that helped to increase our options. Prince Aning sometimes featured for the Holland national team (and sometimes didn’t) so in and out of international football. Our key defensive players start to get into their prime years, so I expect them to mix ability with experience in the coming seasons. In midfield we were thin. Team captain Kenneth Taylor carried a huge load. Young Claidel Muringen filled the BBMs role - wasn’t exceptional, but wasn’t terrible either and more attacking midfielders Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson and Mohamed Tahiri had to drop to deeper positions once in a while to provide rotation options. Hlynsson excelled as DLPd in several games, so that was a nice surprise, but at some point I included some youngsters like Ruben Sergio or Jaap Prinsen who were clearly not ready for first team football. Attacking midfield seemed to work the best, even Nikita Tamm was great in the first half of the season (but his form dropped dramatically since March). We had the most options in attacking midfield and at some point it seemed that however I rotated, we still managed to create chances and score goals. Young winger Quenten Hose emerged to the AMR IWa position this season. In attack Dramane Guehi was clearly our best striker, but John Meeuwis also scored 19 goals for the club and I had the luxury to rotate even our best players. Guehi was away at AFCON in January and our attack didn’t skip a beat. With two such good players in front of him, Koen Verlijsdonk struggled to get into the team. Eredivisie Awards I rotated a lot and that left a mark to our award season. Olivier Aertssen managed to collect 30 games in Eredivisie and retained his Golden Boot award, but my rotation policy and AFCON didn’t allow Dramane Guehi to get enough goals to reach top three in the top goalscorer charts. As I already mentioned Riswan Sinaga was the runner-up in the Goalkeeper of the Year category and we made a clean sweep in the Young Player of the Year list. After a brief pause I was again selected as the manager’s manager of the year by my peers. Elsewhere in the World Meanwhile, Leicester City surprised everyone by winning the Premier League again after 15 years (wow!)
  8. May 2031 Four games in May and our main focus is on the second leg match in Turin. Remaining Eredivisie fixture list is rather difficult and offers strong opponents, but the results don’t matter, so we can ignore what happens there. We started with a home game against Vitesse and there was a hint of revenge in this match, because we lost our away game against them 1:4, if some of you remember that - our only defeat this Eredivisie season. The first half was a rather uneventful one, until Quenten Hose had a good chance to score just before the half-time whistle, but the right winger hit the post from a good position. The second half was a little bit better - Stanis Idumbo Muzambo and John Meeuwis missed their chances, but we got a penalty after a Vitesse player handballed in the box and Kenneth Taylor scored from the spot. Peter Misidjan returned from an injury and was available for selection for this match and he came on in the second half to score after a good team move in 88’ and that made it 2:0. A solid win in the end. Our attack looked much better after the break. And there was the day - the second leg in Turin, against Juventus, with a decent 2:1 lead from home in our bag. The players looked rested enough, although we had to do without Nikita Tamm (who picked up a knock in the Vitesse game) and Ognjen Rajkovic. I started with the same tactics that proved to be successful against Chelsea, but I have to say that Juventus dominated the first half - they a few good chances, but also eight corners in the first period and 70-80% of those corners led to a dangerous header that they won in our box and that was a serious threat. We had a quiet first half ,but in 41’ Dramane Guehi had a great chance to score, but his shot was held by the Juventus keeper and this was the sort of chance you need to take in the game against teams like Juventus. Unfortunately, Juventus used their opportunities better in the second half - Sandro Veloso scored their first goal in 55’ and stunned us with a chip in 88’ that gave them aggregate win over two legs. Our chances dried up in the second half and eventually our shooting was just 5/2 in this game - nowhere near good enough to get anything from an away match and Juventus were deserved winners, while our campaign ended in the semi final. We then managed to beat AZ Alkmaar quite comfortably. I say, comfortably, because we took the lead after a fairly even first half and Dramane Guehi doubled his tally in the second half to make it 2:0. At the same time AZ managed to get some shots in, but didn’t create any real chances in this match and although we didn’t have a dominating performance, we didn’t look under pressure either. Home fans obviously helped (and/or AZ just didn’t dare to take too many risks in an away game). A bit bland for a derby, but so it was. The last game in Eredivisie was the Topper derby at Philips Stadion. We obviously wanted to win because it was against our rivals, but PSV were undefeated in the league since we beat them in January and looked very confident, so perhaps it wasn’t a wonder that they managed to score the first goal - their attacking midfielder Fran Villalba looked well marked by Olivier Aertssen, but still managed to put a places shot next to the post. We then wasted a number of chances in the first half and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was denied by the crossbar with his attempt from some way out, so the first half finished 0:1. Hlynsson found the net with a nice volley in 57’ to score an equaliser. We had initiative for the most of the second half, but couldn’t find the winner. PSV’s left-back Kevin Paredes was sent off after a dreadful two-footed lunge on Stanis Idumbo Muzambo in 78’ and then we obviously had an initiative and in the end John Meeuwis managed to score the late winner to put the final touches to our pretty wonderful season. Tough match, but great second half performance and a dramatic winner that sent the fans home happy. Players and Tactics Strong opponents in May demanded less rotation from the squad, but we fared well against other Eredivisie teams and there were some good performances from the players. Just a few injury problems in May - we still missed Ognjen Rajkovic, but Nikita Tamm and Amourricho van Axel Dongen had also problems with minor traumas and had to skip some games. Some landmarks were also reached in May - Dramane Guehi’s second goal against AZ Alkmaar was the 100th league goal of his career. Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - one of the few players who had a decent match against Juventus, but he also scored from the spot against Vitesse and was the man of the match in the PSV game with a number of chances he created. Goal of the Month: John Meeuwis vs. PSV Eindhoven - expertly placed shot by the young striker that won us the derby. Eredivisie We have a huge lead in the table at the end of the season. 23 points - wow. FC Groningen managed to hold on to their second place and FC Utrecht can be really happy with their season - finished 3rd in the league and won the KNVB Beker. Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven finished in Europa League places. Go Ahead Eagles and NAC Breda were relegated - no surprises there. FC Twente managed to keep their place after the play-offs, but I still wonder why they underperform so often and find themselves perilously close to relegation in every other season.
  9. April 2031 Fixtures and Results A number of games in April. Our strong position in the Eredivisie table allows us to rotate the squad and focus on matches against Chelsea and the KNVB Beker final. We started with a visit to Heracles. Home game with Chelsea was just three days away, so I rotated the team and started with pretty much our second eleven. Heracles had four straight defeats before the match and it also helped our cause. We scored two early goals and looked fairly comfortable in the first half, but then allowed Heracles to score right after the second half kick-off and the rest of the game was more nervous because of that than I would have liked. Heracles clearly gained momentum after the goal and they hoped to find an equaliser, but we held firm in defence and maintained our narrow lead. This win also secured our Eredivisie title with five match days to go and we could go on to Champions League fixtures without pressure. The 3:0 win over Chelsea in the first leg was a pleasant surprise for us - we started really well, van Axel Dongen scored a flyer and we generally dominated the first half. Olivier Aertssen doubled our lead from a corner and Chelsea found themselves in trouble. They’re a good team and of course, had a couple of moments in the first half, but our finishing was clearly better than theirs. We managed to control the game fairly well in the second half as well, and Stanis Idumbo Muzambo scored a wonderful solo goal in injury time to make it 3:0 - that might prove incredibly important in the second leg match at Stamford Bridge. That three goal win was probably the result I’m most delighted with in April. I rotated a lot again in the next match against NEC and the team offered ups and downs performance - we scored an early goal, but then allowed NEC to equalise (their striker Conor Noss is the top goalscorer in the league at the moment). Stanis Idumbo Muzambo scored to send us to half-time with a 2:1 lead. We looked very good in attack, but careless in defence and in the end it finished 4:2. A decent win, but we shouldn’t concede two goals against teams like NEC Nijmegen. The away leg at Stamford Bridge was a big test. I started with our usual 4-2-3-1 formation, but tuned the line of engagement lower, but started with a balanced mentality and in the first half it worked really well. We kept Chelsea under control for the first 20 minutes, but they slowly started to find opportunities in attack in 23’ Romelu Lukaku scored their first goal and at half time it was a deserved 0:1 to them. But in the second half everything changed - Quenten Hose came on for van Axel Dongen a(who picked up a knock in the first half) at half time and soon Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi found him with a long forward ball and the young winger kept his composure, rounded the keeper and scored. Three minutes later Dramane Guehi showed why he’s the best striker in Eredivisie and curled his shot into the top corner - 2:1! Chelsea was in serious trouble and they needed to score four more goals to save something from here, but they managed just one - Lukaku doubled his tally to make it 2:2 and that was it. Very good result in a tough away game. We had reached the Champions League semi finals, but we still had to win the KNVB Beker Final to add to the trophy cabinet in Johan Cruijff Arena. The final was held at De Kuip which was a neutral ground for both teams. FC Utrecht started the final better and their centre-back Hans-Jürgen Berger scored from a corner in 8’. The early goal gave them some confidence, but we didn’t play too well in the first half and Dramane Guehi missed one big chance in 30’ that should have been our equaliser. FC Utrecht continued to play well in the second half - it was a fairly even battle in midfield, but they were very disciplined in defence and managed to limit our chances. I started to see more and more nervous faces on the pitch and it was clear that players were not handling the pressure well. In the end we failed to find a goal and FC Utrecht celebrated their consecutive KNVB Beker wins - they did beat us a year ago as well, if you don’t remember. We had just 9/3 shots in the final, we made only 9 key passes and our tackling was just 50% - some numbers from the stat sheet indicate that the players were not in the game and couldn’t make right decisions on the pitch. That’s a huge setback and the board was obviously unhappy as well - they expected to win the KNVB Beker at least once in a couple of seasons and we’ve failed now two years in a row. I had to leave the cup final disappointment behind us and focus on the remaining games. Go Ahead Eagles are in the relegation zone and I didn’t think of them as a threat. We’re now focused on Juventus, so I again allowed rotation players and youngsters to step up for that game. The match itself was a fairly boring one - we controlled the midfield and didn’t give Eagles any good opportunities in the first half and took a solid 2:0 lead at half-time. John Meeuwis scored and Kenneth Taylor doubled our lead from the spot. I made changes at half time and we sent on Loet van Fessem and Ruben Sergio to give Olivier Aertssen and Kenneth Taylor some rest, so that led to an Eagles chance in 50’, but Luuk Browers wasted his opportunity to mount a come-back by sending his clear cut chance just wide of the post. We hit the woodwork three times in this game, so we probably could have scored more, but 2:0 was good enough in the end. At the same time I wasn’t happy with complacency that was more evident in the second half, especially from attacking players and that was one of the causes that limited our goals to two. We need better focus in the coming league games, because we have three much stronger opponents coming up. And then there was time to play Juventus in the Champions League semi final. We were bold enough to continue with our positive mentality and 4-2-3-1 formation against them, but the first half wasn’t very entertaining. Juventus looked slightly better before half-time and they managed to hit the crossbar once, but we were well in the game. I switched to standard tempo at half-time and that improved things somewhat - Amourricho van Axel Dongen surprised the Juventus goalkeeper with a good strike and although Dylan Tavares equalised for our opponents, Stanis Idumbo Muzambo scored the winner with a nice curled effort from the edge of area that landed in the top corner. An excellent result and we have a good position before the return leg in Italy. Our shooting was 6/6 with 0.53 xG in this game - on one hand we managed to get all our attempts on target, on the other hand we didn’t have too many good opportunities, but finishing was just exceptional. Players and Tactics Focus has been clearly on Champions League matches and the cup final, so we’ve rotated a lot in Eredivisie and player form or performances are very difficult to evaluate, because the level of opponents has been so different. Our rotation options in defence are somewhat limited, because Ognjen Rajkovic is out with a serious injury. Olivier Aertssen and Can Tas have carried the weight in central defence, but young defender Loet van Fessem made his senior debut for the club. Ruben Sergio and Tomas Koikkalainen have also played some minutes. Nikita Tamm has been in poor form again - he disappears completely as IFs in our formation and whenever Ja-Ryong Kim comes on, he plays a lot better than Tamm. That has limited our attacking threat seriously and Tamm’s five game average rating is just 6.40. Tactically I feel that I’ve found a good setup for away games in the Champions League. At least our 2:2 draw at Stamford Bridge indicated that if we could play a similar game in Turin, we might have a chance to beat Juventus on aggregate. The recipe is quite simple, actually - maintain a balanced mentality (to keep at least some level attacking threat and create some chances) but tweak pressing and line heights to limit space for opponents. We’ve also played without WBIB instruction, because even though it works well in Eredivisie, the big teams rarely give you this kind of time and space around their area. At the same time we lost the KNVB Beker Final against FC Utrecht and that left me puzzled, because we failed to play our usual game and in the second half I was a little bit out of ideas tactically. Player nervousness had an obvious impact, because the players who are anxious will not follow instructions very well, but we didn’t dominate the possession and midfield like we’ve used to in league games. Player of the Month: Stanis Idumbo Muzambo - the attacking midfielder has changed games whenever he has come on in April, scored four goals and has been a consistently good performer. Goal of the Month: Stanis Idumbo Muzambo vs. Juventus - curled into the top corner from the edge of the area. The Club After securing another Ereidivise title it looked like a great opportunity to ask for club improvements and the board happily agreed with my request to improve youth facilities. More than £5m will be invested this year to training grounds and supporting infrastructure. Eredivisie Our title is secured early and now all that is left to do is watch how next positions in the table will be distributed. FC Groningen are holding onto their second place and Feyenoord has stepped up their game late in the season and they’ve reached top three now. At the bottom of the table it looks like Eagles are bound to drop back into the Keuken Kampioen Divisie after four seasons of top tier football - with three match days to go it looks unlikely that they could find at least two wins and to be fair, their squad is not good enough to be in Eredivisie anyway.
  10. March 2031 Fixtures and Results After such a good month we had something more to anticipate in March besides our annual youth intake. We’re going against FC Groningen (who are second in the table!) in the cup semi-final and travel to Berlin for our second leg match where our odds are rather good to get into the quarter finals of the Champions League. Eredivisie games don’t have the usual edge when we’re so far ahead in the table. At the same time it feels like most of the other teams have already given up before kick-off. That was certainly the case with Sparta Rotterdam who offered very little resistance at Het Kasteel - we scored four goals, including two from set pieces by Olivier Aertssen (who finished with 9.5 rating) and enjoyed the game without much pressure. Sparta could make just one shot in the game and that was from some way out and fairly late in the game, so we never felt any real threat. The KNVB Beker semi final against FC Groningen was a different sort of test - Groningen sit in the second place in Eredivisie at the moment, so they should be considered a strong opponent, but we used our home advantage well. After the first half when we held possession, but failed to get our shots on target, we scored two good goals in the second half (both assisted by substitute Ja-Ryong Kim) and secured our place in the final. We have a really good lead in the league and I have to admit that we didn’t take Excelsior seriously enough. I know that even small teams could be tough to beat in some away games, but I rotated the team and sent out bench players. Despite that we looked well in control and scored two goals late in the first half to give us a solid 2:0 lead at half time. Peter Misidjan hit the post early in the second half, but then I made substitutions and sent on Giorgio Jongebloet and young Ruben Sergio and I think that was our undoing - Excelsior got some space in midfield and scored two goals from set pieces while our defence looked complacent and all over the place. The second half performance was clearly not good enough, but it was more of a let-off by myself, because I’m responsible for substitutions and keeping the team focused. The only positive is that the draw probably doesn’t cost us much in the league. We then travelled to Germany to play our second leg against Hertha Berlin. As we expected, Hertha were much more attacking minded in the home game. We had an early chance in 5’ when Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson could have scored with a chip, but the ball landed against the post and the rest of the first half was controlled by Hertha. They had a few good chances, one of their long shots clipped the crossbar and at the end of the first half their striker Christos Tzolis wasted a clear cut chance. We were carved open 2-3 times in the first half and were grateful for our opponents’ poor finishing that the score was still 0:0. Tzolis wasted another easy opportunity after restart but then Amourricho van Axel Dongen hit the crossbar. As Hertha took more risks it looked like we were more in the game in the second half and could have snatched the winner with our late chances, but it remained goalless and we moved into the quarter final with 3:1 aggregate win. Tough game, but I was pleased with the result. NAC Breda were 18th in the table and I went against them with rotation players. It was a drab match, honestly - we took the lead, allowed NAC to equalise early in the second half, but reacted well and John Meeuwis struck it into the top corner to secure all three points. The result aside, it was a poor performance - our shooting was just 9/2 with 0.95 xG and we made only 9 key passes in the game - well below par in front of our home fans. The last match was a potentially important trip to Groningen. I selected our best eleven and chose to start with a balanced mentality in the away game and it brought dividends - we controlled things more-less through the match and a couple of through balls led to chances in the first half, one of which Nikita Tamm turned to our first goal. Dramane Guehi extended our lead with an excellent strike in the second half and FC Groningen didn’t have real answers to that. A solid 2:0 win on the road to prove that we’re clearly above FC Groningen in level of football. So, despite that little mishap against Excelsior we had a good month. Eredivisie title is almost secured, we’re in the cup final and also in the last eight in the Champions League. Players It has been an up and down month for most of the squad. Performances have been uneven and we haven’t had any leaders who were carrying us in games, so perhaps it’s a good thing? March was probably the worst for Peter Misidjan and Ognjen Rajkovic who both got injured in training before the Hertha match. Rajkovic had the worst of it and a broken foot will keep him out until August. Misidjan could be fit for our last games in May. Young midfielder Mohamed Tahiri also missed most of March due to injury, so in some games our bench was shorter than ideal. Goals have distributed nicely - Dramane Guehi has 23 in all competitions, as Nikita Tamm and John Meeuwis follow with 15 each. Both Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson and Amourricho van Axel Dongen have 15 assists, Kenneth Taylor has set up 10 goals so far. The NxGn list was announced out in March and perhaps surprisingly John Meeuwis topped the list. I knew he was talented, but I never knew to rate him that highly. Quenten Hose also made the cut and was placed 40th. Player of the Month: Olivier Aertssen - good in most games and exceptional in a couple of them, perhaps the most consistent performer in March. Scored a brace against Sparta Rotterdam as well. Goal of the Month: John Meeuwis vs. NAC Breda - fired into the top corner from 19 metres. Youth Intake The youth intake arrived and I was a bit disappointed this time - yes, we had a decent striker from Serbia, but his personality is poor as it often happens (more on that below). Overall it’s a decent group, but I’d prefer 2-3 real talents to several average prospects who could make it into the first team. Sladan Krunic is a 15 years old striker from Serbia, who sadly has low self belief. It’s possible we can cure that. I’d prefer him to have a better finishing attribute, but he doesn’t have real weaknesses in his game (besides poor vision) and that’s good. Metodi Borisov is a young goalkeeper from Bulgaria. Has decent basics (reflexes and handling), but needs to improve on the tactical side of things and he’s not the tallest keeper, so his aerial ability is lower than ideal. Frank Goossens is a right-back/centre-back from Belgium and this lad I really like, because he boasts good physical attributes, has 15 for decisions and no real weaknesses for a defender. He could really make it in Ajax. Csaba Urban is from Hungary (we’re supposed to be a Dutch club, right?) and looks like a midget with his 155cm. Obviously he’s terrible physically, especially in the air, but perhaps can make it up by his intelligence. At least he can pass the ball. Revy Martinus is a decent right-back - nothing more - but the best option from local players. Eredivisie Our lead of 16 points means we have a chance to secure our title on the next match day. FC Groningen and Vitesse are second and third while Feyenoord and PSV are still a bit further from top three. Ex-Feyenoord manager Colin Balkenstein took charge of PEC Zwolle.
  11. February 2031 Fixtures and Results We’re very Amsterdam-based in February - four home games after the away derby at De Kuip. Let’s make this home advantage count. Our trip to Rotterdam was a bit of hit and miss for me - we had Dramane Guehi and Ja-Ryong Kim back with the team, but Kenneth Taylor was suspended and Peter Misidjan injured. I struggled to find a solution to our midfield problems and eventually played Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson as DLPd (and he did it quite well in the end). We controlled most of the match and had good chances in both first and second half, but relied on Feyenoord’s own goal to take the lead in 40’ and eventually allowed them to equalise with a late header in 82’. We had two clear cut chances in the second half, but missed them both and had to settle with a draw. A bit disappointing, because we were clearly the better team, but on the other hand the draw doesn’t matter too much in the table and to take one point from De Kuip is not the end of the world until we continue to beat smaller teams. We did beat smaller teams indeed - we had a favourable draw to get FC Eindhoven in the cup quarter final. I used this opportunity to send out a very young squad and the youngsters destroyed the Keuken Kampioen Divisie side easily - an early goal certainly helped to calm nerves, John Meeuwis scored a brace and Ja-Ryong Kim capped things off with a good header from a free kick. Very comfortable win. We struggled a bit more against ADO at home (but ADO are one of the best defensive teams in Eredivisie and they’re third in the table because of their defence and ability to use their 5-2-3 WB formation most efficiently). The game was under our control, but it took us 70 minutes to score, but finally two chances in three minutes in the second half did the damage and the final whistle marked our 2:0 win. We retained our positive mentality against Hertha Berlin, anticipating (again correctly) their more than cautious approach to away games. The first half offered quite entertaining football. We had initiative, but teams went to half-time without goals and we had to improve in the second half. We did exactly that - Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was again conducting our game from midfield and his forward pass released Dramane Guehi to put us ahead and then van Axel Dongen and Stanis Idumbo Muzambo extended our lead further. We conceded a late goal from a corner and I was a bit disappointed with that, because it opened the door for Hertha to come back in the second leg, but overall I was delighted with our improved performance in the second half. It was still a better result than I expected before the game. The last match against Zwolle was another easy fixture - we dominated it from start to finish and only our poor finishing limited us to two goals. Our xG was 4.01, so we probably should have been more clinical, but we got plenty of attempts and although we had to rely on a penalty for the opener, our win was never in doubt. Zwolle didn’t get a proper shot in during those ninety minutes. A solid result. Overall I was very pleased with our continuing good form - we felt comfortable in every game and feel confident ahead of March fixtures. Players and Tactics I haven’t had to make changes to our tactics and our positive 4-2-3-1 formation has done the job so far. We don’t have too many injuries either, but Kenneth Taylor was unavailable for all month - he was suspended in the derby against Feyenoord and picked up some sort of virus after that and it kept him out for the remainder of the games. I had to find a solution to our DLPd problems and Kristian Nökvvi Hlynsson was moved to deeper midfield to that role - he did a wonderful job there in those games, dishing key passes right and left and leading our attacks from deep. I was delighted to see him excel in new role and it certainly gives me options for the future. Hlynsson also earned a new contract with his performances - he’s now with us until 2035 and earns a hefty £60,000 p/w. Youngsters had a chance to impress against FC Eindhoven and ADO Den Haag, mostly. Mohamed Tahiri and Giorgio Jongebloet played more minutes than usual, Koen Verlijsdonk got some game time. Claidel Muringen has carried the load in midfield and young midfielder Ruben Sergio made his first team debut against ADO to give some rest to Hlynsson in the second half. All of those youngsters played well and worked together as a team and I’m very happy to see a new generation of players edging themselves into the team. Player of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson - outstanding performances in midfield as DLPd. His average rating was 7.92 in February and he collected 3 assists, but averaged 5 key passes in those games. Goal of the Month: Dramane Guehi vs. Hertha Berlin - February didn’t offer any spectacular goals, so the award goes to the most important one and that’s Guehi with his goal against Hertha that paved the way for our 3:1 win. The Club I got a bit upset when I noticed that Feyenoord have invested a lot of money to their facilities and both their training ground and youth facilities are state of the art level in 2031 while our board remains rather cheap in that regard and have rejected several of my proposals to spend some of the money to upgrade our facilities. What’s the worst - we have more than £1,1b in the bank and most of it has been gathered during my reign by selling home-grown players, but they still doubt if spending a couple of millions is a sound investment. I finally managed to convince them to make the right decision and our training facilities will be upgraded this year. Great news! Eredivisie Very strong lead in the table with FC Groningen still trying to hold on to their runners up position. PSV Eindhoven have picked up form in February while ADO Den Haag have dropped out of the top three after two defeats this month. Feyenoord have been in poor form in Winter and at the moment I can’t see any real contenders for the title who could challenge us. Feyenoord board were obviously disappointed with their season and they sacked Colin Balkenstein after they dropped out in the KNVB Beker Quarter Final. PEC Zwolle manager Pieter de Jongh also lost his job after we defeated them at Amsterdam Arena - he didn’t look to have ability to be an Eredivisie manager anyway, so it was probably a good decision from the club.
  12. January 2031 The new year brings the January transfer window that I wait with excitement and (at least) some anxiety, because after December fixtures revealed our problems I’m not sure how many first team players (and who, by position) we could afford to leave without suffering serious setbacks. We start our year with a friendly against Hertha Berlin and that’s a curious one. I think it’s the first time we play a Winter friendly against a club that we’ll meet in the Champions League latter stages in February. Not sure that clubs would agree that in real life, but the friendly was set up at the beginning of December and the knockout round draw was made before Christmas, so it gives us a rare opportunity to test tactics and team against Hertha in an away game. Those chances don’t come too often. Another event that January brings is AFCON and you all know what that means - if Dramane Guehi isn’t bought by some big European giant before that, he’ll miss at least all January games because of the international tournament. Fortunately he’s our only African player. John Meeuwis will get his games now and hopefully he can continue his goalscoring form to January. Fixtures and Results We played a good friendly against Hertha - controlled the game well and scored, but allowed them to equalise with a header. I had a sense that Hertha didn’t play at their best level and in the real competition the away match will be a lot tougher, but they should be playable at home. We resumed Eredivisie football with a good 2:0 win over rivals PSV Eindhoven - Kristian Nökkvi Hlnysson scored an early goal and that gave us a lot of confidence that allowed us to control most of the first half and when we doubled our lead from the spot it was difficult to see PSV coming back from this. However, Bart Smits took his second yellow card in 74’ (literally seconds before I was prepared to take him off) and we had to hold onto our lead with ten men in the final 10-15 minutes. We earned another penalty after Prince Aning was tripped in the box, but Taylor missed it. Despite that miss our 2:0 lead was good enough and we took a good win to restart our season after the Winter break. That win gave us so much confidence that we dismantled sc Heerenveen 7:1 in the next round.We had played two rather challenging games against them this season already and I didn’t expect it to be that easy, but we ripped their defences to pieces in the first half and continued to score at ease after the break. John Meeuwis and Nikita Tamm both scored a brace, young midfielder Mohamed Tahiri scored his first ever senior goal and a rare header from Naouirou Ahamada that landed in our goals was the only thing that ruined our party. A really comprehensive display of strength and a title warning to other clubs. Nikita Tamm was the best performer with two goals and two assists - great to see him excel after a rather quiet December from him. We defeated Sparta Rotterdam 2:0 in the KNVB Beker - a solid result for an away game and we played well, scoring two goals in the first 30 minutes. We actually dominated until the end and should have scored a lot more goals in the second half, but failed to add to our goals, even though we hit the woodwork four times. So, performance was a lot better than the actual result. FC Utrecht was another opponent that I expected to offer stronger resistance than it actually turned out - we missed two clear cut chances before finally scoring two goals in the first half, then added the third right after the second half kick-off and controlled things until the final whistle. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was at his creative best in that match, giving all three assists and finding all kinds of spaces and movements in attack. We finished our month with a good 3:1 away win over FC Twente - that was the first match in January where we struggled to create chances in the first half, but I switched tempo to standard at half-time and it brought results in the first ten minutes after the play resumed - we scored two goals and although we clumsily allowed FC Twente to score right after our second goal, maintained our edge and van Axel Dongen put this game beyond doubt with a simple tap-in in 78’. Another three points in the bag. In conclusion it was kind of a perfect month for us - we’re still in the cup and all wins in the league have allowed us to extend our lead in the Eredivisie table. Players and Tactics My main concern in January was if we could continue to play well without Dramane Guehi, but in truth we didn’t miss a beat - John Meeuwis stepped up and started to bang in goals like he’s the first team striker already. He took his season goals to 10 in January and was very reliable (until having a quiet game against FC Twente). Another standout performer was Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson who managed to score important goals himself, but mainly created things in attack for others and was almost unplayable in certain games. With goals flowing I was also delighted to see that we finally started to score from set pieces again - Olivier Aertssen scored from a corner, but Taylor was a threat from set pieces and we created several chances from dead ball situations (that we should have used better). It’s a big improvement from December when we had more than 10 corners in some matches, but couldn’t create anything from them. Tactically I didn’t change much in those games - as I mentioned already we switched tempo in the second half in the FC Twente match, but generally our positive 4-2-3-1 formation did the job, even with Meeuwis as a PFa up front. With Ja-Ryong Kim away I had a chance to use Amourricho van Axel Dongen as a substitute in AML IWs role that he prefers himself and allow Stanis Idumbo Muzambo and Quenten Hose more game time on the right wing. That worked out pretty well, at least no worse than our usual IFs with Nikita Tamm on the left. The transfer window brought just one change - Bart Smits was unhappy with his contract and handed in a transfer request and I allowed him to leave to Cercle Brugge for a decent £4,4m fee. That could be a risky move in the short term, because we’re really thin in midfield already, but in long term Smits was very close to his full potential and Claidel Muringen has developed really well in recent months, so we can rely on him a bit more in the second half of the season. I was still desperate to develop a new midfielder, so 16 years old Jaap Prinsen made his debut for the club against FC Twente and I’m taking a closer look at Ruben Sergio who plays currently for Jong Ajax in Keuken Kampioen Divisie. A few youngsters also left who were not close to first team potential, including our backup goalkeeper Jonathan Koppers, so I decided to recall Calvin Francis from loan - he has not got enough game time at Almere City and I feel his development would be better if he stayed in Ajax and played for Jong Ajax in the lower league. Unfortunately (or, fortunately) big interest in our first team players that I noticed in December didn’t develop into any serious bids. There were some rumours about a possible £86m move for Dramane Guehi until the transfer deadline day, but no official bids were made and our first team remains the same until Summer, apart from Bart Smits leaving. Player of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson - played in four games, scored two goals and dished out four assists in January and was our creative force in midfield Goal of the Month: Peter Misidjan vs. Sparta Rotterdam - Misidjan chipped the goalkeeper from some way out with that one Eredivisie Strong results in January (and at the same time - Feyenoord’s poor form) have increased our lead in the table and I feel pretty safe about our title chances at the moment. PSV is slowly climbing up in the table, but they’re nowhere near top three. At the bottom of the table NAC Breda got two wins in a row, but it didn’t help them escape the relegation zone, because their competitors have collected some points on the way as well.
  13. December 2030 Six more games in December and two tough matches in the second week of the month - we go to Camp Nou and follow it up with a difficult away trip to Arnhem. We also play sc Heerenveen twice - once in the league and then in the KNVB Beker 2nd round. The draw doesn’t seem to favour us, because we constantly get Eredivisie teams in early cup rounds. We started with a good away win against sc Heerenveen and decided that game already in the first half - good attacking combinations led to our two goals and Dramane Guehi added the third from a penalty. Heerenveen didn’t play poorly, but our finishing was pretty clinical as well and we looked good on the pitch despite resting some key players like Prince Aning and Kenneth Taylor. The only downside was the late goal we conceded that ruined our clean sheet. sc Heerenveen’s Jurgen Streppel was sacked after that defeat. I was optimistic after that win with rotation players, so I rotated even more in the home game against relegation-battling Sparta Rotterdam. I expected an easy win, but Sparta started definitely better and the first half was pretty poor from us. The players who came in failed to impress and after another half-chance we gave away in the second half I switched to a balanced mentality. That improved things a bit and we managed to find two goals in the final 20 minutes. Peter Misidjan scored with a lovely strike from 18 metres to put a beautiful finishing touch to this game, but our overall performance was well below par - just 9/6 shooting with 0.92 xG in a home game against a smaller club. I was hopeful before our trip to Camp Nou, because just a draw would have given us the win in our group, but Barcelona gave us no chances. We had a decent first half, but an individual mistake from Can Tas gave Barca the lead and then their right-back Eric Garcia scored from 15 metres with a lovely strike and we were 0:2 down at half-time, although our defence had been quite good through the first half. In the second half we looked slightly better in attack - Stanis Idumbo Muzambo hit the post, but then we collapsed for a couple of minutes and allowed Barcelona to score two goals in a row before Misidjan again found a goal with a great strike from the edge of the area to make it little less disappointing for us - a 1:4 defeat means we were clearly beaten and were no match for Barcelona. I can’t say I could have done much better tactically - it probably was just a difference in individual skills and attributes that cost us. That defeat at Camp Nou rattled us more than I expected and we fell apart four days later at GelreDome. We looked tired, Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was sidelined with a stubbed toe, Bart Smits and Amourricho van Axel Dongen needed to be rested and I had to make changes in the line-up. Vitesse looked like a strong team and I opted for a balanced mentality for this game, but they took initiative in the first half and although I tried to tweak things tactically we didn’t look like our usual Ajax. We held on to the 0:0 in the first half, but Vitesse took the lead in 52’ and in 67’ they were awarded a fairly dubious penalty. Substitute John Meeuwis scored to make it 1:2 and in the final 15 minutes we still looked like we could get back into this game, but then Vitesse scored two late goals from corners and the final result was an astounding 1:4 defeat. It was our first defeat after 21 undefeated league games. Those runs are always meant to end one way or another, but I have to admit that 1:4 was a bit too embarrassing. The reasons were obvious - we were wrong with team selection, tactical choices and some players were not there 100% mentally either, so eventually the blame lies on the manager. We wanted to bounce back in the next cup game against sc Heerenveen, but had another terrible first half. Heerenveen took the lead from a corner in 7’ and we couldn’t create anything in the first half. Things slowly started to improve after substitutions - John Meeuwis saw his attempt hit the post in 70’ and our pressure to Heerenveen goal increased until Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson was pushed in the box and Kenneth Taylor equalised from the spot. Another substitute Quenten Hose scored with five minutes to go and that proved to be a winner - somehow we managed to win after two goals in the final 15 minutes, despite our really poor performance throughout the whole game. I hoped to use that confidence we got from the win against Fortuna Sittard, but the first half was again pretty poor - we didn’t create enough chances, but took the lead from a brilliant strike by Dramane Guehi who bent it into the top corner and scored his 20th goal of the season. We had possession in the game and controlled midfield and that inevitably led to some corners, but we couldn’t deliver any of them to our players in the box, because Fortuna fielded a pretty tall team and their players were cut well above us in the aerial duels. That hurt us in the second half when Jesurun Rak-Sakyi won a header against Jasper Vogels and scored an equaliser. However, a well struck volley from van Axel Dongen gave us a valuable win before Christmas, even though the performance left a lot to desire. Players and Tactics December was clearly the month when most of our weaknesses were found out. Terrible defeat against Vitesse highlighted them all, but we were poor in almost all of the fixtures this month, even though we managed to win most of the league games we played. Starting from defence - Riswan Sinaga had just an average month and he couldn’t save us most of the time. A few good saves from one-on-one situations (which is his main strength) come to mind, but whenever the shots were accurate enough, they went past him and although he wasn’t particularly poor in any of the games (his low rating against Barcelona was a bit harsh in my opinion), he wasn’t very good either. Then there are defenders, who were kind of error-prone in December (even Olivier Aertssen) and our short selection in the back was a real achilles heel in those games. We were really vulnerable in the air, most of the teams threatened from set pieces against us. Vitesse, Barcelona and Heerenveen scored goals from corners and at least one of the other Vitesse’s goals came from a lost header in midfield. And then Fortuna also headed in after Vogels lost a header. It’s not that we can’t mark their players - we can (and tight marking sometimes helped the situation a little) - but we’re just short and can’t compete. Jermoumi has a jumping reach of 6, Vogels 10, Can Tas (who is a centre-back) has 9. Aertssen and Rajkovic are the only decent players in the air, but they too can’t reach 15 and our midfield doesn’t add much to that department either. That’s not good enough and clear vulnerability in the second half of the season as well. And then there’s midfield - it’s clear that we’re overly dependent on Kenneth Taylor, mainly because if Taylor needs to be rested, I use Bart Smits as DLPd and young Claidel Muringen starts as a BBMs. There’s not much wrong with Muringen as a player - he’s 20 years old, a talented lad and has 2* current ability, so he should do fine in Eredivisie level, especially against smaller teams. We have controlled possession in most of the games and Muringen has collected a decent rating (7.0-7.3) but here’s a catch - he has a ‘plays short simple passes’ in his preferred moves, so it mean there’s not much creativity from his side (although he’s labelled as ‘attacking midfielder’). His passing and creativity is average (attribute value 12) and his passing accuracy is good (that accumulates to a decent rating in most games) but he just doesn’t make any forward/risky passes, so our overall creativity is much lower with him as BBMs. He doesn’t offer much extra either - he isn’t particularly a good dribbler and his long shots attribute is just 6, so I can’t give him any additional instructions to make him more of a threat. So, in all of the games where Kenneth Taylor doesn’t play, we’re so much worse in creativity, even when playing at home and against smaller teams. Games against Sparta and Heerenveen were proof of that in December. In attacking midfield we lacked consistency and I couldn’t find a single good performer. Peter Misidjan delighted me with two exceptional goals in the first matches, but his form diminished in the next games. Nikita Tamm has lost all the mojo he had in the previous months and hasn’t added to his 11 goals in a long time, but Dramane Guehi has received a lot of praise for his 20 goals this season and a manner of how he has led the line for us in attack (although even he has had some off games in December). Player of the Month: John Meeuwis - that’s a difficult choice, because most of the players were so inconsistent this month and a few poor games hurt their stats a lot, so the award goes for a substitute striker John Meeuwis. He came on three times in December, scored twice and gave one assist Goal of the Month: Dramane Guehi vs. Fortuna Sittard - a lovely strike from 22 metres into the top corner. It was a good month and we saw two good strikes from Peter Misidjan, too, but Guehi got the award. Youth Intake Preview This years’ preview came in and I’m delighted to see at least one talented striker coming through, plus one wing-back and a centre-back. Exactly the positions we needed to strengthen in the long term. Let’s see how these players really turn out in March. Eredivisie We have a really good lead despite that loss to Vitesse. We’ve collected 42 points with 17 games and so we’re right on track in our title challenge. Our competitors are way worse, especially PSV Eindhoven, so FC Groningen is sitting in second place at the moment and Feyenoord look in a good position to climb into the top three. Siem de Jong was sacked by AZ Alkmaar after their mediocre first half of the season. AZ is just in the middle of the table and that’s clearly not good enough for the club who are used to finishing in European places. Champions League The final standings of our group. We were lucky with the next round draw and got Hertha Berlin in the first knockout round - that’s the club we should be able to play as equals. Feyenoord fought bravely and finished third in their group with seven points - not bad in the group that contains Real Madrid and PSG. FC Utrecht couldn’t qualify from their Europa League group and they continue in the Conference league knockout stages with PSV Eindhoven.
  14. November 2030 Six matches to come and the one against Atalanta is the key fixture to our Champions League group results. We will also meet Feyenoord in the first Klassieker derby of the season, but we should be favourites for the other four games. The opening game of the month was a disappointment and we dropped points against Heracles Almelo. We started well and took the lead, but Delano Burgzorg managed to find an equaliser with a fine volley in 56’ and we couldn’t create enough good chances to find another goal in the game. Our possession was 64%, but shooting just 9/2 with 0.93xG and Heracles’ deep formation (5-3-2 DM WB) worked well to limit our space in attacks. It’s fair to say that their tactical plan worked better than ours - they managed to soak the pressure, score a goal out of nowhere and leave Johan Cruijff Arena with a point. From our long trip to Baku we returned with a routine win - two goals from the first half did the damage (van Axel Dongen scored a beautiful goal from 21 metres to give us a good lead). We were a slightly better team in the game, but more clinical with our chances and that mattered the most. I was happy with a clean sheet and three points from a potentially tricky away match. A goalless draw against newly-promoted NEC Nijmegen was another disappointing result this month, although this one comes down to squad rotation. I needed to rest some players after our midweek game. We once again missed Kenneth Taylor in midfield, where Claidel Muringen paired up with Bart Smits, and Dramane Guehi came on for the final 15 minutes, but the youngsters and rotation players failed to score a goal and we dropped another two points in the table. John Meeuwis missed our best chance in the first half and Olivier Aertssen found two good headers from corners that didn’t get to the target. NEC couldn’t create much threat themselves, but our attack was without edge in this match, so a poor draw was our result from here. The first team players returned for the first Klassieker derby of the season and this one was a much better performance - we destroyed Feyenoord 4:0 in front of our home fans. Dramane Guehi scored a brace, Amourricho van Axel Dongen got to the score sheet and Nikita Tamm wrapped things up with a low drive from 21 metres into the bottom corner - a wonderful goal in an excellent win. Feyenoord were a bit too passive and couldn’t pose a real threat to our goal, so our win looked very convincing to fans and pundits alike. We continued this form into our Champions League match against Atalanta. We needed a draw from this match, because of our defeat in Bergamo a few weeks ago. The first half was pretty even and both teams had chances, but Dramane Guehi found a great opportunity in 38’ and finished with a tricky heel chip (!) over the goalkeeper to make it 1:0. Guehi doubled his tally from the penalty spot early in the second half and then it started to look that this game is ours - Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi added another goal (his second of the season!) and Ja-Ryong Kim headed in from a corner to wrap things up. Atalanta offered little resistance in the second half and we managed to control midfield much better after the break, so I was really happy with the performance and the result with it. This win also secured our qualification from the group stage. Our last opponents ADO Den Haag had a curious season - they were 3rd in the table before that match and had just conceded 8 goals in 13 games (the second best defence in the league after us), but scored just 12 goals themselves, so a very good defending team with their 5-2-3 WB formation and their goalkeeper Nikola Vasilj was praised for his recent performances in goal. I anticipated a tough match and thought that we needed to work hard to break down their defence, but instead we dismantled it in the first half - an early penalty helped us on the way, but we soon doubled our lead and Olivier Aertssen headed in from a free kick to make it 3:0 with just 20 minutes on the clock. Dramane Guehi then fired in an outstanding strike from 26 metres to pile up on the misery of ADO players and that was it. I could send on youngsters in the second half and while ADO played well and tried to get back into the game, it was no contest after the impressive first half from us. Another great result and the third 4:0 in a row. Players and Tactics Defensively we continue to be really good. Just five goals conceded in the league (and only one in November). All defenders have impressed and we have limited our opponent’s chances, but Riswan Sinaga has made some pretty good saves, too, and his first team football shows in his progress as a goalkeeper. On the attacking end we’ve scored 40 goals in 13 games in the league (more than 3 goals per game) and are by far the best attacking team in the league. Goals are distributed nicely, but Dramane Guehi has collected 15 so far and Nikita Tamm has 11 on his name. It’s just one month from the Winter transfer window and interest in some of our players is huge. Most of the top clubs in Europe are aware of Dramane Guehi, his attributes, personality and 15 goals scored in the first half of the season, so it will be very difficult to keep him in January. He’s now valued around £100m, so I won’t allow him to leave for cheap. Nikita Tamm is also scouted by Manchester United and Real Madrid and Kenneth Taylor sparked interest from Tottenham. Player of the Month: Dramane Guehi - had a poor game against Heracles, but really picked up after that and scored two goals in each of the last three games. Is in a really great form. Goal of the Month: Dramane Guehi vs. ADO Den Haag - an excellent strike from 26 metres. Eredivisie Despite two draws we have a healthy lead in the table. Feyenoord is starting to climb their way up to the top three and FC Groningen have maintained their good form. At the bottom of the table we still find PSV Eindhoven (who sacked their manager Mark van Bommel in November and hired Kim Bergstrand to lead their way back into the top half). PSV’s season is effectively ruined, that can be said. Champions League We have secured qualification and have a pole position before the last match at Camp Nou. A draw from the away game would be enough to win the group, because we did beat Barcelona in the first game between clubs.
  15. October 2030 Five games in October and our focus is on the Champions League. The Eredivisie fixture list starts to ease up - we have smaller teams coming up until the middle of November and also three games at home after our travels to Italy and Zwolle. I expect to rotate the team somewhat in those games and if we could maintain our momentum in October we could be in a really good position in the title race. We started with a trip to Bergamo and faced Atalanta - one point from away match would have been good enough and we started well when Nikita Tamm fired in his attempt to give us the lead with just six minutes into the match, but Atalanta got back into the game soon enough - Tamm’s mistake allowed their tall striker Beto to send his header past Riswan Sinaga and then Olivier Aertssen couldn’t stop Beto turning away from him and scoring again. Atalanta scored their third goal in 47’ after both of our centre-backs (Rajkovic and Aertssen) made a mess of their tackles in the box and gave their striker another opportunity. We were still in the game in the second half - Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson hit the crossbar from the edge of the area and we had a penalty in 72’ after Tamm was tripped in the box, but Taylor’s spot kick was saved and although substitute John Meeuwis scored from the following corner and made it 2:3, we couldn’t find the equaliser in the remaining minutes. In conclusion - it looked like an even game, but we made costly mistakes in both defence and attack, so individual errors cost us the result. In the following game against Zwolle we rotated the squad a little to give some players a rest after the midweek game. Kenneth Taylor was to sit this one out, so Bart Smits and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson partnered up in midfield. Perhaps that rotation was the reason, but we couldn’t create anything dangerous in the first half and a questionable foul by Jermoumi gave PEC Zwolle a penalty in 47’ (a decision that was surprisingly upheld by VAR), so we had a tough challenge to find an equaliser in a game where we had created so little opportunities so far. Substitute Ja-Ryong Kim was close, but hit the post in 64’ before another substitute John Meeuwis finally found the net with his late goal. At least we avoided defeat, but we have no reason to be happy with the performance - our average rating was just 6.76 in this match and we lost a lot of duels against very motivated Zwolle players. We certainly reacted well in our next match against Fortuna Sittard. Fortuna have played fairly well and find themselves in the top three so they might be considered contenders to the title, but I know they don’t possess the quality and consistency to actually present a serious threat to us. We scored three goals in the first 15 minutes (two of them from set pieces) before conceding a goal ourselves, but Olivier Aertssen made it 4:1 with a powerful header from another free kick to send us to half-time break with a solid lead. We enjoyed the second half and controlled the game, created good chances (but our finishing quality dropped compared to the first half), so no more goals. Despite that, a very good result. Qarabaq also offered little resistance to us at Johan Cruijff Arena - we pretty much controlled the game and gave them just one half chance at the end of the first half, but two first half goals from Nikita Tamm gave us a solid win. We also hit the woodwork twice in the game. Confident win and three points in the table. I never felt that we were under any real pressure, so I’m happy with the performance. Excelsior didn’t offer much of a challenge for us at home - we controlled midfield and Amourricho van Axel Dongen opened things up with a lovely goal from outside of the box. Jasper Vogels scored his first goal of the season to make it 2:0 before we lost all concentration in the very next attack and allowed Excelsior to score one back, but Taylor scored from a free kick just two minutes later and Peter Misidjan chipped in over the goalkeeper before the half-time whistle. 4:1 in the first half put the result beyond doubt, so I made early substitutions and the second half was fairly quiet. So, the defeat at Bergamo, dropped two points against PEC Zwolle, but our performances against smaller teams have been convincing after that and our form is picking up again. Players and Tactics No tactical testing in October - we’ve played as we’ve used to and players are familiar with instructions. Also, no serious injuries (Mohamed Tahiri continued to be sidelined in October, but he, too, joined training at the end of the month) and I have been able to rotate the squad when necessary. Defensively we’ve been a bit fragile and as expected, Riswan Sinaga hasn’t been able to save all the shots that came his way (he especially struggled against Atalanta in Champions League level), but at least we’ve managed to score consistently and find chances in attack. Four goals against Fortuna and Excelsior is a good sign that we can score if we play at our usual level. Nikita Tamm has continued to find goals and he scored three in October. Dramane Guehi added two goals in the match against Fortuna (one of them was his 10th goal in the season and 100th goal for Ajax), but you can’t overestimate John Meeuwis’ influence, who came from the bench and scored in two games (rescuing us a point in the match against Zwolle). Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - has been good in all of the games he played in October and also got one goal and two assists to his name with 7.75 average rating in four games. I rested him against PEC Zwolle and his absence was felt in midfield, so we also lost points in that match. That shows how important Taylor is to the way we play from midfield. Goal of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen vs. Excelsior - really well struck effort from outside of the area that landed in the top left corner Eredivisie We have a really good lead in the table (it’s a bit of a mess, because some clubs have more games to play), and have extended our lead despite dropping points in Zwolle. Feyenoord is trying to get their way up into the top three, but PSV are down in the relegation zone (sic!), so we have less competition than we used to in the previous seasons. Champions League Three games played and we’re second, thanks to Atalanta’s inability to beat Qarabaq and our points against Barcelona. All three clubs still have a good chance and our home game against Atalanta is the key fixture in November. In other groups Feyenoord have been really good in their first games - they fought out 1:1 draws against both PSG and Real Madrid and are still in competition for qualification places in a really difficult group. Well done for them (and Dutch football in general).
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