FM11: Official AFC Ajax thread: Let's get that third star!

[fgh]

I`m also using a 4-2-3-1 but with wingbacks. So far everything is going good. In the first transfer window I`ve bought some youngsters for the future (Fazio, Araujo, Amine, Verratti and future buys Livaja & Sani Emmanuel) and sold Atouba, Bodul, Oleguer & Verhoeven.

[Fantaman]

My Ajax have just won the league for the third year in a row by a clear 19 points scoring 90 goals, conceding 32 goals. We switched to a more narrow formation, kind of a 4-1-2-1-2 and instructions were 'overload' in every game. Some games were a bit crazy notably one 8-4 win. What I've noticed is the game engine rewards really attack minded teams. Best form of defence is attack. And I can't recall many times getting caught on a counter attack. After three years in charge and winning three titles, two cups, it's time to retire in Holland and head to Spain for another challenge.

[madmufc]

Congrats and good luck.

[edgar555]

Ok then.

I started with Ajax last night.

The lack of any natural wingers and my desire to play Suarez up front with El-Hamdoui meant that I've gone for an un-Ajax like 4-3-1-2 which can change to a narrow diamond for tougher games.

Not made much noise in the transfer market, spending on only 2 players, Mazuch for £2.1m from Anderlecht and Ahmed Khillal(sp?) for £775k from Al Ahli.

I did make 3 other signings though, Julio Cruz, Anderson (CB ex Lyon) on frees and Sanogo on a loan to buy (£100k + £5m).

Alderweireld was the surprise exit, Lyon showed interest, he demanded a better contract but him and his agent made laughable requests, they were sent packing and he was soon out the door.

Extended contracts have been handed to Suarez, Vertonghen and VdWiel

A few other younger players and rubbish players been freed, have gone on loan or are at Ajax 2. Got £40k for Oleguer, £0 for Pie-do (was never going to be a part of my team, the lazy so and so!)

My squad looks like this:

GK: Stek/Vermeer

DR: VdWiel/Blind

DL: Urby/Anita

DC: Mazuch/Anderson

DC: Vertonghen/Ooijer

DMC(anchor) or MC (bwm/d): Enoh/Tainio

MCr(b2b): De Zeeuw/Lindgren

MCl(adv playmaker/att): Lodeiro/De Jong

AMC(ins fwd): Eriksen/Sulejmani

STr(DLF/support): Suarez/Cruz

STl(Poacher): El-Hamdoui/Khillal/Sanogo

AA Gent were beaten in the 1st CL round and now we face PAOK to reach the group stages.

Started well in the league, with Suarez on 9 in 6(all comps)

Eriksen is playing out of his skin and Lodeiro looks the business. Beat Twente 1-0 in the Super Cup. All in all very happy so far.

[Jens]

Finished my first season with Ajax last night. Nothing spectacular, really. Did not buy any players and shipped out some dead wood.

First half was mainly getting used to playing together. We did however with lots of luck manage to finish top of our CL-group on the last matchday by beating Valencia at home and United losing.

However Lyon knocked us out after the group stage and they went on to the final, only to lose after extra time.

Ran away with the league title in the second half of the season, but was knocked out of the semi's of the Dutch Cup by PSV.

Managed to give some of the youngsters a good run of 4 games in the final league matches (playing Kappelhof, Denswil, Schenk, Bonevacia, Sporkslede, Bouy, Jozefzoon, Zeegelaar and Castillion) with good results, winning 3 and drawing 1. Looks like a bright future ahead.

Lots of players are being wanted, but until now only a few bids have come in. I intend to continue with the current set of players available and see if I am capable of getting by without purchasing any players.

The only player that seems to be struggling is el Hamdaoui, he is getting worried that he is on a long goal drought. I must admit that he does miss a lot of good chances and Castillion has been more effective in the few games he has played. How are you guys getting the most out of Mounir?

On a side note: Twente have been relegated (in a play-off against Den Bosch) after selling Ruiz and Douglas in the first transfer window, remarkably Jol took over from Preud'Homme but could not save them.

[madmufc]

Jens, Mounir has been playing well for me, 28(4) 24 goals 13 assists. I've been playing him as an advanced forward with tweaked settings. I've raised his mentality to the 4th click of attacking, creative freedom on normal, passing 1st of direct, closing down first of whole pitch, run from deep sometimes, long shots rarely, throught balls often while all the other sliders remain on default for the poistion.

I'm in March of the first season on my save, 14 points clear at the top of the league, in semi-final of the cup against Groningen, 1st knockout round against Chelsea looks like I'll struggle as I lost the first leg 4-1 at home after dominating the game and Drogba torching me from 30 yards out twice and scoring a penalty. The problems I have is Suarez wanting to leave, I told him to stay as I thought the team could progress, he was ok with it but I had 8 players complain that I'd mistreated him. I was able to get most of it under control but van der Wiel requested a transfer. I will most likely look to move Suarez and van der Wiel on in the summer, was thinking of bringing Lukaku in for Suarez as lately I've been playing him up front and Sulejmani on the right wing and Eriksen on the left and its been working well. I should have some room to manover in the summer with Mido, Tainio, and snows contracts coming off the books. I might also move on Emanuelson as Dodo has been filling in at left back and looking very dependable. I will most likely wait until I see what is coming through the academy before making any major moves, but I will most likely need another striker and would love a player who could play both wings any ideas?

[TaNeR_08]

won the league 2nd time in a row and did not managed to get out of groups first year but 2nd year managed to grab the first place suprisingly beating b.munich away ! beat benfica 4-0 at home and drew 1-1 away and faced man utd in quarters...

first game lost 2-0 they dominated the whole match

second game fletcher gets sent off 15th minute i go all out attack booom 2-0 up by half then evans score a flukey goal from a corner.. i pull another one up and ended up loosing 3-3 agg on away goals , well gutted, my contract runs out end of year but think im gona stick one more year then move out as there are no dcent clubs looking for managers.

[madmufc]

Second season summer transfer window just shut and I have managed to hold on to both Suarez and van der Wiel.

Out:

El Hamdaoui to Man Utd for 12

Emanuelson to Everton for 7

Enoh to Marseille for 3.1

Suk to Valencia for 4.6

Stekelenberg to Lyon for 6.5

Civitanich to A.C Milan for 7.5

I also released a lot of players freeing up wages including Ooijer, Tainio, Sno, and Mido

In:

Delac on loan from Chelsea

Sanogo 2 million from Auxerre

Lukaku 3.3 from Anderlecht

Vela on loan from Arsenal

Livaja for free

I also bout a few promising regens

My total spending was 12.5 and brought in 41.5 in income so I'm pleased with that, had to sell Stekelenberg as his contract was up in a year and he wanted 50,000 a week and I was not paying that. I will most likely try and bring Delac in on a permanant at the end of the season or if he's too costly I was thinking Begovic as he keeps being offered to me.

[TaNeR_08]

i need to get rid of steekelenburg as well any replacements for him ? sergio romero of AZ was transferlisted in first season but didnt had the money to get him and i doubt they will let him go cheap

[madmufc]

I suppose it depends really who is transfer listed, how much you want to spend, wage demands, and how much time players have on their contracts. You might look into Ochoa from Mexico or Ospina from Nice, Delac is doing a solid job for me with over a 7 for avg rating. Could also look at Kameni from Espanyol, and look at Fiorentina to see if Frey or Boruc are unhappy.

[edgar555]

i need to get rid of steekelenburg as well any replacements for him ? sergio romero of AZ was transferlisted in first season but didnt had the money to get him and i doubt they will let him go cheap

Have a look at Oscar Ustari, or as madmufc says, Ochoa.

[edgar555]

So Mido's transfer to PSG didn't get confirmed by the end of the window, meaning he's stuck at Ajax2 til January. Into October and he's already been fined 6 times for missing training. Idiot. He's virtually free at the moment, with 2 week fines each time.

[TaNeR_08]

i put him in reserves gave him fines every week and asked to terminate the contract and he agreed for free !!! shuld do that if you want to free wage

[edgar555]

To be honest he's probably paying me at the moment with 2 week fines and his missing training happening at least that!

[madmufc]

Mido is not the worst situation in the squad in the first season in my opinion, sure he's on ridiculous wages for what he can do for you but he can at least come in and do a job for you if you get hit by injuries. Evander Sno is much worse, 18,000 odd wage for a 5th or 6th choice defensive mid who never saw the field for me was a much worse proposition. That said both of them are off the books after the first season which really helps the wage budget, I think I'm running around 325,000 right now.

[correzz]

great, a topic about my fav club!

Mido did well for me (as a sub for mounir) so I extended his contract. but I must admit I regret that action now. Cvitanich returned from loan and is way cheaper and about as good.

havnt made alot of adjustments to the squad. let de zeeuw go for 8 mil to rubin and swooped defour back from standard in return. bought kramaric as a backup and future striker. im afraid im going to lose quite some players next summer tho (vertonghen and v/d wiel especially)

after 24 games I have a gap of 16 points to number 2 psv and will easily become champion. qualified for the next round of the championsleague in a group with barcelona,werder bremen and bursaspor (2 wins 4 draws) and will take on OL next.

My formation is 4-2-3-1

from left to right:

Mounir

sulejmani-lodeiro-suarez(inside forward)

defour(playmaker)-enoh(ball winning midfielder)

emanuelson-vertonghen-alderweireld-v/d wiel

so far lodeiro has been working miracles for me, reminds me of litmanen with the amount he scores .

[madmufc]

Lodeiro is a cracking little player, last season for played 37(1) scored 13 assisted on 18 with an average rating of 7.56. Up until Christmas this year he has played 12 scored 3 assisted on 7 with an average rating of 7.78 unfortunately he's been injured. Only bad thing I have to say about him is he went 0/3 on penalties last season.

[edgar555]

I also <3 Lodeiro. Playing MC/adv playmaker/attack for me, so not scoring as many as you guys but is the heartbeat of my team, everything goes through him.

[waldywaldy]

End of season two. And keeping all key players payed off! Brought the cup with the big ears back where it belongs! Beating Dinamo Kiev, Lyon and Milan (5-0 on aggregate winning 0-3 at San Siro)allong the way we met Barcelona in the final. After a game wich gave me about three heart attacks (and the first game of the season we actually deserved to lose) we managed to sneak a win from a Mascherano own goal folllowing a magistral solo by El Hamdaoui. Won the league undefeated and 18 points clear. Only downside was the 1-0 loss to Groningen in the cup final after fielding a ''b-squad'' because the game was played inbetween the semi-final legs with Milan.

Champions League winning squad at the end of the seccond season:

Afellay and Sakho are comming in at the start of the transer window and nobody's seems to be unhappy (yet). Am I looking at another dynasty in world Football??

[madmufc]

Thinking of buying a regen keeper from Brazil, most of his attributes are awesome for an 18 year old, Aerial Ab. is very weak at 5, and eccentricity is 15 but all the other major keeper stats are 15 or above except positioning of 10. He will cost me about 2.9 but the AA and eccentricity worry me, anyone have experience with eccentric keepers?

[edgar555]

Thinking of buying a regen keeper from Brazil, most of his attributes are awesome for an 18 year old, Aerial Ab. is very weak at 5, and eccentricity is 15 but all the other major keeper stats are 15 or above except positioning of 10. He will cost me about 2.9 but the AA and eccentricity worry me, anyone have experience with eccentric keepers?

No, I simply won't let them near my squad if eccentricity is above 12.

[madmufc]

From what I've found on here eccentricity by itself is not that bad as long as the keeper has good decisions. For example Julio Cesar has 14 eccentricity and 14 decisions and he seems to do a pretty solid job, I'm tempted to give it a go its the Aerial Ability of 5 I'm more worried about.

[edgar555]

From what I've found on here eccentricity by itself is not that bad as long as the keeper has good decisions. For example Julio Cesar has 14 eccentricity and 14 decisions and he seems to do a pretty solid job, I'm tempted to give it a go its the Aerial Ability of 5 I'm more worried about.

Yeah that is true, I'd just rather find a keeper without a mental streak. And Aerial 5 is poor.

[madmufc]

Yep I think your right, especially after looking at the training and seeing there is no way to focus in on his aerial ability. I will probably try and loan Delac for another year and search more regens.

[Suggy33]

I have started with Ajax.

I had a quick look in the OP, but thought I should check the squad myself to see what I should do.

I released a whole load of youth players, as well as Evander Sno and Timothee Atouba. Mitchell Donald and Jeroen Verhoeven both left on loan, to Volendam and Arsenal(!!!) respectively, before Rasmus Lindgren left to Hoffenheim for £500k.

I felt I had to strengthen the DR, DC and MC positions.

For a right back, I bought Tom Hiariej from FC Groningen for £975k. Reasonable potential, cheap, young and Dutch. Fits my criteria perfectly.

As for a centre back, I looked to VVV's Japanese defender Maya Yoshida. I had negotiated a £3.2m fee, but when the transfer went through, it apparently cost me £6.5m!!! He's young and talented, but I would rather have not spent so much.

I had no faith in Mido as a back up, and with El Hamdaoui picking up a long term injury, so I picked up Romano Denneboom on a free transfer on a years contract.

I'm playing a 2-4-1-2-1 formation, which worked well in pre-season. I beat Twente 2-0 in the Super Cup (Ninis O.G, Eriksen). In the Euro Cup, I drew Young Boys, and in the first leg, I drewe 2-2 (Mido, Eriksen). I'm confident of beating them in the return leg. Eugh, lost the return leg 2-1

[correzz]

intresting. with anita,ooijer,oleguer and blind I felt the defence was pretty well covered and I managed to win both the league,cup and super cup. lost to lyon in the champions league knockout fase tho. ( after winning 2-0 at home and scoring an away goal enoh got himself a red card and I even lost 4-1 -_-)

so even tho hiariej might be a good transfer I wouldnt have spent my cash on a central defender. Mido did well for me as a backup and dont forget cvitanich will return in januari. plus im not a big fan of denneboom irl so i would never have signed him .

Into the second season I got rid of the expensive old players (wielaert,ooijer,tainio and mido..(valencia paid 2,7 million for him and I lol'd hard) and twente offered me douglas for 2.7 million. sold anita for 6 million and bought digne for 3 million. also bought iturbe who can play at both wings.. have quite some cash left but I feel confident I can do well without any major transfers because all my important players signed new contracts. as we speak I just beat psv for the super cup with 2-0. psv sold affellay and their squad doesnt look too good anymore..

[Ajax765]

Nice thread guys

I just lost the Champions League final against Real Madrid on penalties in my first season. =(

Oh well better luck next year and atleast I easily won the Eredivsie and the cup. =)

It was one of my best saves ever and I'm already looking forward to the next season.

I used a 4-3-3 Barca type of formation and it resulted in some great attacking football whilst maintaining a sollid defence which is well reflected by the +60 goal ratio in the league. Suárez, El Hamdaoui and De Zeeuw have been my 3 key players. El Hamdaoui scored 42 goals total which wasn't that bad I guess =D

Here are some screens:

Final league table

Formation

Fixtures

Transfers

[rafa95]

Could you upload your tactic?

I've been playing with Ajax as I'm a French supporter of the club but never succeeded in having such good results...

[Ajax765]

Could you upload your tactic?

I've been playing with Ajax as I'm a French supporter of the club but never succeeded in having such good results...

Sure mate, here you go:

http://www.filefront.com/17549700/AJax-4-3-3-final-Ajax-Apr-2011.tac/

Just make sure you have 2 attacking players with good passing and creativity at the 2 mc spots. The left winger cuts inside so make sure he has good creativity and passing as well. The right winger hugs the touchline so he should be a pacey one with good crossing and technique. The ST should be quick and technical such as El Hamdaoui, aerial ability isn't that important at all. Make sure the goalkeeper's passing is set to one of your CB's.

If you have any questions feel free to ask.

Good luck with it mate

[tcoleman1]

Anyone find that a lot of the youth players tend to have the potential to become good/leading eredivise players? Is this mainly due to the standard of the league being lower than most e.g. if they were in the prem they may only be championship/low prem players? Or do most of them have the potential to become that good a player in the eredivise?

[Helegoed]

I think you are correct with both statements...

[Smoke420]

I have a question for you all. What did you get for the transfer budget for second season?

I only got 3 million euros after winning the league, dutch cup, and euro cup. On fm10 I got like 20 million or so for second season.

[Ajax765]

I only got about 7 milion euros but you can easily sell players for a lot of money if you need it. And you should have a big wage budget which you can convert in extra transfer money.

[madmufc]

I believe my budget second season was 17.5 million pounds, but by the time they handed that down I'd already sold El Hamdaoui for 12, Emanuelason for 7, and Cvitanich for 7.5. You should also have room to adjust your budgets as you can release some big earners like Sno, Mido, Ooijer. I personally try to cap player wages around 35,000 a week per player and if they want more I move them on and look for bargains for replacements. 3rd season I let Suarez go but brought Arnautovic for 1.7, I let deZeeuw go for 7.5 then got Annan for 2.2. With Ajax youll be scouring the market for bargains and talented youth but if done right you can compete on all fronts.

[fgh]

I`m in the 2nd transfer window of my first season with Ajax and all my players are wanted by other clubs. I turned down an offer of €7 million for Suarez and immediately I got angry players.

[TaNeR_08]

yeh they all wanted by big clubs but you dont have to let them go. if you reject a bid for a playe they usually go unhappy and have a chat with you and you can just say i want you to be part of this club bla blah and it usually works

[fgh]

yeh they all wanted by big clubs but you dont have to let them go. if you reject a bid for a playe they usually go unhappy and have a chat with you and you can just say i want you to be part of this club bla blah and it usually works

I know, but some players have minimum fee release clauses (Vertonghen, Van Der Wiel). I don`t want to loose those players.

The players that are wanted are: Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Van Der Wiel, Fazio, Emanuelson, De Zeeuw, Eriksen, Siem de Jong, Suk, Suarez, El Hamdaoui & Cvitanich. Which players are good or better replacements for these wnated players?

[madmufc]

If you are playing with a lone striker I'd let Cvitanich and Suk go, then use the money for young players that you can groom to replace the players that you will have to let go at some point. Iturbe is a player you could bring in that in a year or two can be an ideal replacement for any of your wingers, you cold also look at Boyata as a replacement cb, I'd let Alderweireld go out of that group depending on the offers though. Look at Dodo as a replacement for Emanuelson, if he hasn't signed a new contract he has a release clause of 1.1.

[fgh]

If you are playing with a lone striker I'd let Cvitanich and Suk go, then use the money for young players that you can groom to replace the players that you will have to let go at some point. Iturbe is a player you could bring in that in a year or two can be an ideal replacement for any of your wingers, you cold also look at Boyata as a replacement cb, I'd let Alderweireld go out of that group depending on the offers though. Look at Dodo as a replacement for Emanuelson, if he hasn't signed a new contract he has a release clause of 1.1.

I am playing with a lone striker (El Hamdaoui). Suk has a PA of 131 and Cvitanich has a PA of 145. I`ve already bought Iturbe & Livaja, Zohore for next season.

Boyata plays for Man City, so I think he won`t join my team. Dodô is loaned out, but maybe he wants to join and then maybe I can sell Vurnon Anita.

Should I sell Sulejmani and let Eriksen play as AML? Unfortunately, I won`t get the money for Sulejmani what he cost Ajax.

[TaNeR_08]

you dont need wingers for ajax, the team full of good creative MCs and AMFs i play with 2 CB 2 WB 1 DMF 2CM 1AMF and 2 FC , works out pretty good also look out for verratti he becomes greaet in midfield

[madmufc]

I kept Sulejmani as cover for both wings and amc, I play Eriksen as AML he does very well there.

[Jens]

I just finished my second season with Ajax. Without making any transfers I have managed to win the league by a landslide, which allowed me to focus on the CL.

I'm still amazed that I have managed to fluke my way to the title beating Milan, Shaktar, Liverpool and Barcelona in the process.

I am actually a bit disappointed that I achieved my goal so easily (I don't consider myself a good manager) and did it the PSV-way ("zakelijk", keeping it tight at the back and just score a goal (if I'm lucky 2).

I now set out for a new challenge that would make Cruyff proud. I am now solely focussing on players that have come through the youth setup and see what we can achieve.

I have signed Maduro, Babel and Sneijder (). Maybe Heitinga is a possibility as well. Nigel de Jong and van der Vaart are not interested (yet)

As staff I have managed to sign Ooijer, Davids, Benni McCarthy, Seedorf and van der Sar. Unfortunately Kluivert, Reiziger and Winter don't want to join.

Also a targer is to play attractive football with wingers and a AMC (10), at the moment playing with DMC but with wingers.

I will try to post a few screenshots after the weekend

[waldywaldy]

I am playing with a lone striker (El Hamdaoui). Suk has a PA of 131 and Cvitanich has a PA of 145. I`ve already bought Iturbe & Livaja, Zohore for next season.

Boyata plays for Man City, so I think he won`t join my team. Dodô is loaned out, but maybe he wants to join and then maybe I can sell Vurnon Anita.

Should I sell Sulejmani and let Eriksen play as AML? Unfortunately, I won`t get the money for Sulejmani what he cost Ajax.

Good tips! Please try to refrain from posting CA and PA though (just add a spoiler bar thingie!). Eriksen is ripping up defences on AML for me halfway through season three. 7.6 average rating as an inside forward, with long shots on rarely and play through balls on often he's allmost on 1 assist a match!

[waldywaldy]

Great challenge bringing back all the big boys! How the hell did you afford sneijder hes on a 650k a month contract on my save?

[Jens]

Sneijder was unhappy at Inter almost directly in the first season. I started praising these former Ajax players from the start and after I won the CL his value had dropped to 19,5 mil (from 25 in the beginning). He kept rejecting contract offers from Inter.

He was on 135k a month and managed to get his initial offer from 250k/month down to 145k

Also quickly offered Stekelenburg a new contract to remove his "match highest salary clause", good thing I checked that first

Already have found good use for Sneijder in tutoring a hot prospect that came through the acadamy after the first season. He has already played in the final as I thought I would stand no chance against Barcelona (getting an assist and the second highest rating in the game).

[TaNeR_08]

omg what a prospect !! nice one

[fgh]

Nice hot prospect. I can only hope that I will get someone like that after my first season.

[dagoonerfan]

I have decided to start a Ajax game. I have signed Roque Santa Cruz so far and Robert Pires. I have sold De Jong and I'm going with a 4-2-3-1 possesion tactic.

[fgh]

I`m close to finishing the first season. I want to run some things by everyone to see what your opinions are:

- I`m being offered the AZ goalkeeper Romero for € 3 million. Should I buy him?

- Should I sell El Hamdaoui (top goalscorer) and buy yaya Sanogo?

- Suarez keeps on handing in transfer requests? Who would be a good replacement for him?

- Alderweireld dislikes Vertonghen (new contract with min fee release clause of €9 million) and wants to go. Is fazio a good replacement?

- How can get the most money for my players? For example, everybody is selling Emanuelson for €7 million and El Hamdaoui for €12 million, but on my game they are worth between 4 and 5 million.

[TaNeR_08]

definately get romero for 3 mil thats a bargain and get rid of steekelenburg, he asks stupid wages plus romero is better than him