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

[Draakon]

August 2012

Retained Dutch Super Cup. 3-2 against VVV Venlo. I'm pleased with result, but not pleased with performance, letting VVV score 2 easy goals from corners is a bit too much.

PSV is in takeover process, luckyly by local businessman, not Middle-East tycoon

Nevertheless they managed to snap up Toni Kroos from Bayern for free. At first it's ridiculous how Bayern just let him go free after end of contract, secondly he earns now £50 000 p/w in PSV - that's more than any of my players do. With Kroos and after loaning Lewis Holtby from Schalke PSV's midfield is massive!

AZ at the same time is selling their star players one by one (Elm, Moreno, Falkenburg) making over £23m and spending just £3m on transfers over Summer - plenty of bargain signings.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Well you won the cup, how about Stefano Denswil, is he making the grade fior you and I suggest looking at a striker called Kenneth Zohore, really exciting striker and Ajax always have a thing about Danish players, so give him a look

[Draakon]

I have plenty of young strikers. This youth intake gave me one excellent AML (again) and AMC/ST player. No defensive players though.

[Draakon]

August 2012

I have had easy start to Eredivisie season, it's always a relief when you can begin with easier opponents to get into rhythm and gain confidence before meeting stronger teams.

De Graaschap - Ajax 0:4 (De Zeeuw 3, de Jong) - my attacking were surprisingly quiet, but De Zeeuw from midfield step up to score 1st half hat-trick and game was decided.

Ajax - Heracles 1:0 (Lodeiro) - Heracles came back to Eredivisie and started with a win, but succumbed at Amsterdam Arena. They were battling hard in defense, my attack was awful at moments - 30 shots, but only 5 at goal. Lodeiro had one and only clear cut chance, coming from 2nd wave from deep and shooting low from Suarez cross. It was enough to win though.

Meanwhile Twente has lost their first two games and PSV only took a draw against Vitesse. Their mistakes are a bonus for me. Next opponent - sc Heerenveen - is a more serious one.

Christian Eriksen and Siem de Jong were called to U-23 teams for Olympics. Holland reched to quarter finals, they both missed the game against Heracles, but are back in squad now.

[Draakon]

September 2012

End of transfer window. I got £3m offer for Cvitanich from Werder Bremen which I decided to accept. 28 yo striker who is solid backup, but not probably couldn't get more money from him and he would have been too old to extend his contract when it's about to run out. Davy Klaassen and Daan van den Berg will get their chances to prove themselves in first team.

And then, just when I thought that was it, Sampdoria walked in with pile of cash and offered £10m + clauses for Alderweireld. I've told myself before that I will accept when bid over £10m is made, but I certainly didn't expect it to come in at 29th of August. I accepted though, so I lost my key defender. His replacement would be regen 20 yo Aziz Boukhari that I brought in last January.

Full squad then for this season:

GK: Stekelenburg, Vermeer

DR: Vanden Borre, Janmaat, Blind

DL: Emanuelson

DC: Boilesen

DC: Boukhari, Denswil

DMC: Enoh, Bonevacia

MC: De Zeeuw, Lindgren, Bouy

MC: Lodeiro, de Jong, Eriksen

AMR: Suarez, Josefszoon

AML: Sulejmani, Aissati

ST: El Hamdaoui, Klaassen, van den Berg

Still played 2 more games in August:

Heerenveen - Ajax 1:3 (Suarez 3) - this hat-trick shows a players importance for the club. Heerenveen played well but as in previous seasons, were poor in defense. Their attacking game is good though, I'd recommend Djuricic to anyone searching for good AMC.

Ajax - NAC Breda 3:0 (Sulejmani pen, Suarez, Alderweireld) - at first I got doubtful penalty and in 2nd half Alderweireld scored in his final game for me. Well done. I can't have any complaints about referees. In Heerenveen game they didn't give clear penalty to opponents, now I got a doubtful one. I'm clearly preferred side, lets mark it down here when I feel otherwise afterwards in this season.

I think the rest of the season will be tough though. Absence of Alderweireld will clearly show weakness in my defense and especially Champions League ambitions have to wait another season. I got drawn to one group with Sporting CP, Arsenal and Dinamo. 3rd place would be good enough.

[ReggaeBwoy]

You sold Vertonghen and Alderweild, OH DEAR

[Draakon]

You sold Vertonghen and Alderweild, OH DEAR

Well, that's a challenge. Vertonghen went last Summer anyway, I did well wihtout him.

First game without Alderweireld was away fixture against Vitesse Arnhem. I used Boukhari-Boilesen duo in central defense. Suarez was out with fractured arm (3 weeks) so Florian Josefzsoon started on right wing. Won 5-0 (Josefszoon, El Hamdaoui 2, De Zeeuw 2). It wasn't completely one sided game. Stekelenburg made at least 2 top class saves to keep clean sheet, Josefzoon scored his first league goal, Daan van den Berg made his debut from substitution. De Zeeuw has now scored 5 goals in 5 league games which is quite remarkable for midfielder.

To be honest, at least some part of this scoreline is due to fact that Vitesse sold their no. 1 GK in last week of transfer window, 2nd choice GK was injured, so they came against me with their 3rd goalie who actually was out of contract. Pretty much every decent shot landed in the net.

Next fixture is against Sporting CP. I'm sure they're not going to be so kind.

[Draakon]

September/October 2012

Sporting CP - Ajax 2:1 - although I took the lead it was 2:1 for HT and it was unlikely to turn around. Away fixture though, I wasn't too harsh with players.

Ajax - ADO Den Haag 3:1 - well controlled game from my side. Took an early lead and players kept composure and concentration

Ajax - Dos Kampen 4:0 - Dutch Cup 2nd round. Too easy.

NEC Nijmegen - Ajax 0:2 (Eriksen, Boukhari) - harder than it looks. I scored first goal around 60-70 minutes and second just before the end. In away game it took a while until we claimed the win. NEC had 100% chance earlier but missed and I took full advantage. I'm not pleased with gameplay, but satisfied with 3 points.

So, 7 wins in a row in the league. I have to admit that opponents haven't been the strongest. FC Groningen is having a good start too, they have 19 points in 7 games, PSV is behind me by 7 points.

[Draakon]

October 2012

Ajax - Arsenal 3:2 (Lindgren, El Hamdaoui, Sulejmani) - didn't expect much of this game, Arsenal took lead twice, but we equalized and Sulejmani scored a winner in 2nd half. Great result and 3 points to the table from where I didn't expect to get any. Perhaps we can prolong our European season after all.

FC Twente - Ajax 0:1 (Boukhari) - Twente has performed well below all expectations this season and poor discipline is the most obvious reason. It's hard to win games with 10 or even 9 men on the pitch. This game was no different. Twente's Mark van Bommel earned red card already in 22nd minute, Boukhari's header from the corner just before half-time was enough to secure 3 points in away game against strong opponent.

So far, so good. 8 wins and 24 points in the table. Groningen still behind by just 2 points, with others I have extended the distance (Feyenoord 19 points, PSV 17, Twente just 7)

[Draakon]

Anyone still playing?

Ajax - Almere City 2:0 - Almere is by far the weakest team in Eredivisie, besides that they missed most of the midfield out injured and best striker (Castillion who I loaned out) ineligible. So 2:0 win is no surprise and attack lacked motivation. Nevertheless pretty comfortable win.

Ajax - Dinamo 1:1 (El Hamdaoui) - disappointment, I don't remember any game from near past that included so many missed chances, 5-6 times it was just inches wide, once hit the post... the only goal for me was a lucky deflection from defenders back. At the same time, Dinamo capitalized from Vanden Borre foul in the penalty box to equalize from the spot and left definitely more happier with one point.

Squad rotation is based on injuries. Suarez is back, Eriksen has now also returned from injury. Josefszoon is couple of weeks out and Aissati will return in January earliest.

Next domestic game is pretty important away fixture against PSV, then cup against SC Cambuur and then Dinamo again, this time away.

[Suggy33]

I have an Ajax save going, but I before I started I gave myself rich owners etc, so I can easily get all the Dutch/Belgian talent. Spent £80m-90m in the first season on players like:

Heitinga

Elia

Hazard

Kuiper

Narsingh

Jaanmat

Bruma

Lukaku

El Ghanassy

and the best of the young Dutch talent (that were willing to join). Players like Kilic, Courtois and Valpoort have seen significant first team game time. I did the domestic double first season.

Second season, as well as about 16 regens I signed:

Castelen

Zuiverloon

Lorenzo Davids

Van Wolfswinkel

Andre (Dynamo Kiev - I know, he's Brazilian, but I wanted a striker to replace Lukaku, and Wolfy was injured at the time.)

Royston Drenthe to join in Summer.

Set to do the League and Cup double again.

[Draakon]

I try not to change my team unless necessary (old players leave, new regens break in). When relying to your own youth system, I usually wait until July to see who's coming from youth intake and then decide if any position needs strengthening from outside. 16 regens is a huge bunch, some of them will go to waste.

Lorenzo Davids is a 2,5* player for me. Not worthy buying. Kuiper is a good option though. I didn't buy it as DL position was well covered (Emanuelson, Anita, Boilesen). Now Anita is sold and Boilesen plays in central defence, I lack cover there and as youth system hasn't given me anyone I have to take a look at him again.

By the way, my youth system upgrade is now ready and it's state of the art now.

I've set myself a rule though that I don't buy any Dutch players from bigger (more reputable) leagues, considering it would be a step back for them and they won't come back IRL if other options are available. Although bringing back some Ajax talents is a temptation from time to time. In my save Nigel de Jong is available for some £2m and transfer listed at ManCity.

[Suggy33]

I started on 11.3, so I didn't have players like Suarez and Emmaneuelson. Davids and Castelen both joined on free's as back-up, Kuiper cost me like £11m though. I have sent all my reserves and youths out on loan to Almere and Volendam, so I will be re-evaluating them when they return.

Valpoort, Boilesen, Bouy, Roland Bergkamp and a regen DC have all impressed out on loan and will be considered for the first team, Lorenzo Ebecilio, who I thought was going to be a great player, has turned out rubbish.

Did the double again, and progressed slightly further in Europe than the first season.

Among the 15 regens that joined, Royston Drenthe joined on a free, Khalid Bouhlarouz for £3m, Luuk de Jong for £7.5m and Jordy Lukoki for £3m (buy back from Schalke).

I let Andre go as well as Heitinga and El Hamdaoui, allowing my regen CB, Boilesen and de Jong more game time.

[smithyboy]

Started an Ajax game on 11.3 as they always seem to be a fun team but also a challenging in europe.

So far i've bought in

Simeone Verdi loan to buy- £400k upfront £2.5 future

Leandro Grimi - £250K great little left back

Marco Verratti - £2.5 M

Roland Bergkamp - £1.9M

Christian Romaric - £1.2M

Players out

Anita Vurnon £4M

Suk £2M

Siem De Jong £6M

Timothee Atouba £1.8M

Demy De Zeeuw £8M

Eyong Enoh £2.5M

Dario Cvintanich £5M

Kenneth Vermeer £2.5M

play an attacking 4-2-3-1

Gk-Steklenberg

Dr-van der Wiel - Wb attack

Dl-Grimi Wb - attack

Dc-Alderweireld/Vertonghen

Mcr-Romaric Bw Defend

Mcl-Eriksen/Verratti Adv Playmaker Support

Amr Jozefzoon Winger Attack

Aml Verdi Winger Attack

Amc Lodiero Att Mid Attack

St-Bergkamp/El Hamdaoui Complete Forward Attack

Currently 2pts of first with a game in hand after 12 games and 3rd placed in champions league groups in a group of Chelsea OM Ajax Bursaspor

got Richard Stearman coming in from Wolves for £1M to provide cover for the CBs apart from that no strengthening seems to be needed.

Any suggestions or criticisms are welcomed

[Suggy33]

Bergkamp really didn't turn out well for me (sold for £160k), let me know how you get on with him.

[smithyboy]

So far he's done okay. He got thrown into the first team due to injuries and in the league he's had 3 goals and 7 assists in 14 games and in europe he's played 5 scored 4. not spectacular by any means but slowly starting to improve in the league.

[Suggy33]

I stuck him out on loan second season and he did awesome, but was only rated 1*/2* CA/PA.

Got a regen defender with 16 Heading, 17 Jumping and is 6'7

Luuk de Jong hit some form after swapping him from a Target Man to Advanced Forward, with 10 in 13. Wolfy has 6 in 7 too.

[smithyboy]

Bit of a downer that he's now out for 3-4 months so now Lodieros having to play upfront due to all my strikers good enough being injured or suspended. may throw a youth player in there to see if they sink or swim.

That CB sounds like a real prospect and good to see that your strikers are doing

[Suggy33]

Expectant squad going into season 4 (currently in January of season 3)

GK: Marten Stekelenberg, Thibault Courtois

DR: Gregory Van Der Wiel, Gianni Zuiverloon, Daryl Janmaat

DC: Jan Vertonghen, Nicolai Boilesen, Jeffrey Bruma

DC: Khalid Bouhlarouz, Toby Alderwiereld, Joel Fofana (French regen 2.5/3.5* CA/PA)

DL: Vurnon Anita, Nicky Kuiper

DMC: Steven Defour**, Eyong Enoh, Daley Blind

MC: Demy de Zeeuw, John McDermott (regen from Turks and Caicos Islands 3/4* CA/PA)

AMR: Luciano Narsingh, Jody Lukoki

AMC: Eden Hazard, Siem de Jong, Cristian Eriksen

AML: Eljero Elia, Royston Drenthe, Ryan Babel**

ST: Luuk de Jong, Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, Adam Szalai

**= joining on free in Summer 2013

And this is before I re-evaluate the 30 players I have out on loan too.

[Draakon]

I decreased my first team to 22 player before 2012/13 season. It looked like it's good for rotation and fair game time. Now (in November) I feel that I could use 1-2 players more to provide cover. Especially DL is problematic as Emanuelson is getting a bit tired, playing most of the games. It's a bit risky to rotate players purely on injury-fitness basis, not form or selection. Davy Klaassen and Bouy have got their fair share of playing time because of that.

So, I bought young, 18-yo Belgian DL regen from Genk. Will join in January 2013.

Results:

PSV - Ajax 1:1 - I had better chances, but ruined most of them, equalized with lucky own goal... pleased about gameplay, disappointed with finishing, overall I feel satisfied with lucky draw from difficult away fixture

Ajax - Cambuur 3:0 (Dutch Cup) - game was done in 15 minutes. After 3rd goal it was control tactics and 'take a breather' until the end. Goals from Lodeiro, Boukhari and Klaassen (his 1st goal for Ajax)

Next is a decisive league encounter against 2nd placed Groningen.

[Draakon]

Ajax - Groningen 0:0 - fairly even game, draw was a fair result. All players from both sides were really motivated, but teams cancelled each other out.

Dinamo - Ajax 2:3 - (Boukhari, Blind, Eriksen) - satisfied with 3 points, disappointed in defence, we let them score 2 easy goals from set pieces. Sadly Boilesen got injured and will miss next 3 weeks.

Next game is also important fixture against Utrecht, they took over 2nd place from Groningen and are playing well. De Zeeuw is also out against Utrecht. Perhaps I'll try to play Enoh in DC and Bonevacia in DMC.

Champions League Group after 4 games:

Arsenal 9

Ajax 7

Sporting CP 6

Dinamo 1

Next game is at home against Sporting to decide who will continue in playoff rounds and who will seek success in Euro Cup. Although I defeated Arsenal at home, I don't have much faith in success at Emirates Stadium.

[dangerpuss]

I started an Ajax game (11.3) today and I'm really enjoying it. They have a very talented squad even without Suarez. I've so far spent €30m and recouped €32m from player sales.

I play 4-2-3-1 Wide or sometimes Narrow with three AMC.

I sold quite a few first team players as I wanted to bring in my own favourites and some of them such as Sulejmani are on really high wages.

Defenders:

I sold Alderweireld for €8.5m to Shaktar. He's a good player but his stats are not ideal for a centre back. I replaced him with Mazuch from Anderlect for €5.25m. I also got rid of Oleguer. I sold Bruno Silva for €1.2m and Vurnon Anita for €7.5 and brought in Peter Masilela for €450k. He's better than both of those I sold. I'm using Blind as a back-up. I bought Vrsaljko for €3.1m.

Midfielders:

I also sold Rasmus Lingren for €5.5m and Enoh for €5.5m also. He's a good player but his mental stats are not ideal for a ball-winning CM. I brought in Steven Defour for €15m as I really needed a natural leader and class CM. I also signed Javad Nekounam from Osasuna for €777k.

Attackers:

I swapped Siem de Jong and Sulejmani for Eden Hazard in my best bit of business. Lille were interested in both players and I offered them in exchange for Hazard with no fee and they accepted. de Jong looks a very good player but Ajax have lots of talent at AMC so I won't miss him. I also sold Araz Özbiliz as he doesn't appear to have much potential on the game. I also signed Milan Badelj for €4.5m and Mohamed Aboutrika for €1.5m.

My team is currently

GK: Stekelenberg / Vermeer

RB: Van der Wiel / Vrsaljko

CBR: Mazuch / Ooijer

CBL: Vertonghen / Boilesan

LB: Masilela / Blind

CMR: Defour / Nekounam

CML: De Zeeuw / Tainio

AMR: Eriksen / Overtoom

AMC: Lodeiro / Badelj

AML: Hazard / Aboutrika

ST: el Hamdaoui / Cvitanich

So far this team has performed reasonably well. We utterly dominate possession and have a very large amount of shots on goal, usually around 20 or so. Most of these miss unfortunately as el Hamdaoui has not been scoring goals so far but he has played well. Hazard and Eriksen both take a lot of long shots despite being instructed not to and usually miss. Both have poor finishing stats. Badelj is my top scorer so far and Hazard has scored twice in three games.

I'm considering buying another striker and selling Cvitanich if el Hamdaoui doesn't start hitting the target.

[Draakon]

Good to see some new saves started. Quick overview of mine:

December 2012:

Had some setbacks during recent months. Lost to Utrecht (1-2 away) and Feyenoord (0-1 away). Utrechts game was the first of the season where I was truly second best on the pitch. Consolation goal in 84th minute didn't help enough. And 0-1 defeat at De Kuip was repeat of previous season - I felt I did enough to deserve at least a draw but that's football.

Still 1st in the league, 4 points above Utrecht and PSV.

There are better news too, though. Won 2-1 against Sporting at home and secured qualification from Champions League group prior the last match at Emirates against Arsenal.

[dangerpuss]

I'm nearing the end of my first season at Ajax. I won the league at the end of February and my expensive team is tearing up the Eredivisie. Hazard has been brilliant and currently has 18 goals and 10 assists in 27 games. Eriksen has been the main provider and has 8 goals and 20 assists in 28 games. He doesn't look that impressive but he's brilliant in the match engine. He and Hazard are always cutting inside and running at and past the defence. El Hamdaoui has really come good and has 21 goals and 8 assists in 28 games. My back four and midfield have been a solid base to build an excellent attack.

I brought in some real bargains in the January window. I got Christian Rodriguez of Porto for €1.5m. He's already got 5 goals in 7 games. I picked up Gonzalo Rodriguez of Villareal for only €2.5m. His wages are high (same as Stekelenberg's) but he's real quality.

I also brought in Lukaku for €17m but he's one for the future.

I've spent about €60m in transfers but recouped about €40m so financially I should be fine. I'm also in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup against Milan. I expect to lose but I should make a good bit of cash from it.

[dangerpuss]

I played my first leg against Milan in the quarter-finals of the Champions Cup and won 3-0 and it should have been more. Papastathopoulos got sent off in the first half for diving, it was a second yellow, he tried to dive for a penalty in the box. Eriksen and Hazard tormented their defence with their pace and skill. I also beat PSV 4-1 and Heerenveen 6-0 in the league.

I've changed my formation slightly in the past few weeks because I noticed I was conceding silly goals to counter attacks. My full backs are extremely attacking and sometimes leave my centre-backs in a vulnerable position. I've moved the two CMs back to the DMC position. All of my CMs can play naturally at DMC and some like Defour only play naturally at DMC. Since making this adjustment we have been much better defensively and Defour is playing better too. He was averaging 6.8 in the CM spot and is now on 7.2. Defour or De Zeeuw play as deep-lying playmakers and the other DMC is an anchor man, either Adam Vass, Vertonghen or Vanden-Borre.

Even if we manage to hold Milan away, I very much doubt whether we can beat either Inter or Chelsea in the semi-final. I've also reached the Dutch Cup final and am facing one of my feeder clubs from the second division, Volendam. An incredible achievement for them.

[Draakon]

Perhaps I shouldn't have let Cvitanich go. He has scored already 10 goals for Bremen Werder and having an excellent season.

Nevertheless, 1st half of 2012/13 season is about to end and 17 games played in Eredivisie, 13 wins, 2 draws, 2 losses 41 points and 1st in the league.

Qualiified 2nd from Champions League group (lost 1-2 to Arsenal in last game). Arsenal game wasn't too bad, but I have to say that mostly due to fact that their Chamakh earned an early red card in the game. Still decent performance and respectable scoreline.

Goals scored - all competitions - Suarez 10, Boukhari 10, El Hamdaoui 9, Sulejmani 8 (3 penalties).

[dangerpuss]

I lost to Chelsea in the Champions League semi-final on away goals. Won the league and cup double and have €60m plus in the bank after the summer's business.

In the summer transfer window I brought in some experienced players to act as mentors because I didn't have many at the club because my squad is so young. I signed Munitis (Determination 20) for €200k and Riquelme (Determination 18) for €1.5m. Riquelme is slow (9 and 9) but still brilliant mentally and technically.

I was also looking for a ball-winning DMC as Adam Vass is just not good enough. I got Mudingayi for €3.5m and Fernando from Porto for €3.2. Fernando is first choice due to not having 9 Decisions like Mudingayi. I got €7.5m for Vass so that covered the outlay on the two DMCs. I signed Jorge Fucile for €5.5m initially as a replacement for Masilela but Masilela has been excellent so far so it looks like Fucile will be sold in January, probably along with Mudingayi. I sold De Zeeuw to Atlectico for €11.25m as his contract was up in a couple of years and his wage demands were ridiculous. I've retrained Milan Badelj to play as a DMC to provide backup for Defour.

I also brought in Afellay from Barca with an option to buy for €3m. Matias Fernandez is coming in January for the bargain fee of €950k and Radoi is also coming on a free.

Badelj has been rubbish at AMC for 8 months now so I'm going to try him as a DLP at DMC and if he doesn't perform I'll sell him in the summer. Liverpool offered €13m for him in the summer so I should make a huge profit. El Hamdaoui has started slowly again but Vossen and Lukaku have chipped in with a few goals each. Lodeiro has made the AMC position his with some excellent performances, he's also deadly from free-kicks. My centre-back pairing of Vertonghen and Gonzalo Rodriguez is extremely reliable. Vertonghen scored 3 headers in 3 league games at the start of the season and is always a threat at set-pieces. Mazuch is an excellent backup and Boilesen is starting to develop nicely. I'm happy with every position except striker. I don't think El Hamdaoui scores enough of the opportunities created for him and I'll try to give Lukaku more time this season or sign a replacement for El Hamdaoui next summer.

[Draakon]

For some reason my save crashed... nice. I do backup save every July though, so back to the start of season 2012/13.

[dangerpuss]

I'm at the January transfer window in the second season now. I've won every game so far in the league, scored 54 goals and conceded 7. I'm through to the second round of the Champions League again and have been drawn against Anderlecht who are the worst team left in the competition. I had a tough group with Real Madrid, Napoli and Toulouse. I lost to Real away but won every other game and won the group. I beat Real at home, 1-0, Lukaku scored a lovely goal on the counter.

I sold Fucile for €5.5m, same as I paid for him. He just didn't get much playing time due to the consistency of first choice players and when he did play, he was disappointing. I also sold Vermeer for €2.5m as my 19-year old German keeper Bernd Leno has developed really well and has more potential than Vermeer. Ouasim Buoy has developed very well under the tutelage of Dufour and Mudingayi and I've sent him on loan to Almere in the Ereste Divise. He should develop into a very good DMC.

Fernando has been an excellent signing so far and is my first choice ahead of Mudingayi. Afellay didn't work out and I sent him home in December. He wasn't happy and wasn't playing well. Pedro Munitis did a very good job at AMR when Eriksen got injured. Riquelme has been mediocre so far but I'll give him more games this year and see how he does. I signed Mati Fernandez for €950k and will be getting Radoi for free. I'm also looking to sign a young ball-playing CB and I'll probably sell Mazuch in the summer as he's too good to be a backup player. I think I'll train Boilesen to be a LB as he has all the right attributes and isn't strong enough for CB.

[dangerpuss]

I'm at the end of February now in the second season.

In addition to Mati Fernandez and Radoi, I brought in Milevskiy from from Dynamo Kyiv for €8m. I sold Garra Dembele for €4.5m and Jelle Vossen for €6.2m. I decided I needed a better back up to El Hamdaoui than those strikers. I signed Erik Lamela for €6m and he'll be coming in the summer as he's on loan at Lanus.

Milevskiy has started brilliantly. He has 9 goals in 9 games and is now first choice ahead of El Hamdaoui contingent on him maintaining form. Radoi and Matigol have started very well too. Since the end of the transfer window I've given my reserve and squad players more opportunities to impress. Munitis (36!) and Boilesen have both done well, Munitis at AMR and Boilesen at LB. Riquelme has gotten some starting opportunities and along with Matigol has provided me with a major selection headache. In 4 matches he's got 6 assists and 2 goals. He's brilliant to watch in the match engine and makes passes I've never seen any other player even attempt. And he has this habit of delivering killer balls on the first touch.

Lodeiro and Mati Fernandez are also in excellent form so I have three superb players and one position. For the moment Riquelme's outstanding form demands a starting spot but he's not the fittest and starts to fade at 55 mins or so and then Lodeiro or Mati get their chance to impress. I have a similar problem at centre-back with the signing of Radoi, I now have 4 top-class centre-backs. Gonzalo Rodriguez is first choice and has 7 goals so far this season. Vertonghen and Radoi takes turns in the other spot and Mazuch is not getting much playing time this season but he hasn't complained so far. Mazuch will probably be sold in the summer and I'll try to get Raphael Varane in or just promote Boilesen to the CB slot.

I should have the league wrapped up in a few weeks time and I'm through to the cup final against PSV. I beat Anderlecht 7-1 on aggregate in the 2 round of the Champions Cup and now face Milan in the quarter final for the second year in a row. I don't think I'll be able to beat them again as the first time was a bit lucky but we'll see.

My current team is:

GK: Stekelenberg / Leno

LB: Masilela / Boilesen

CBR: G. Rodriguez / Mazuch

CBL: Vertonghen / Radoi

RB: Van der Wiel / Vrsaljko

DMR: Fernando / Vanden Borre

DML: Defour / Badelj

AMR: Eriksen / Munitis

AMC: Lodeiro / Riquelme / Mati Fernandez

AML: Hazard / C. Rodriguez

ST: Milevskiy / El Hamdaoui / Lukaku

[dangerpuss]

I just won the Champions League in my second season. Beat AC Milan in the quarters, Man Utd in the semis and Chelsea in the final. 1-0 to us with Lodeiro scoring from a free kick. We were brilliant defensively and restricted them to long shots for the most part. We should have been 3 up in the first 20 mins. Absolutely delighted and surprised. That's the Treble. The club's reputation is now continental and the value of the club has doubled from €180m to €409m.

Oh and after winning the Treble I wasn't even in the top three of the Dutch Manager of the Year awards.

[Robert the Spud]

what is Stekelnburg like? Trying to buy him for Spurs

[Draakon]

August 2012 second try.

Started season well with Super Cup win against VVV and Eredivisie win against De Graafschap. Liverpool offered £1,5m for Daan van den Berg (see picture in previous post this page) and chairman accepted on behalf of management. First time this happened for me in FM11. I'm even more disappointed that my youth intake was so much poorer in terms of quality than in the save that crashed and now my best home-grown young striker is to be taken away from me.

Alright, either way, let's see how this season goes onwards.

[dangerpuss]

what is Stekelnburg like? Trying to buy him for Spurs

He's very good indeed. Much better than he looks. He's an excellent shot stopper, very good in one-on-ones and good in the air. There are better keepers but he performs very well.

[dangerpuss]

The summer transfer window 2012 has seen a number of departures. I sold Lukaku and El Hamdaoui as neither was performing particularly well and they were demanding new deal which they hadn't earned. I know Lukaku is very talented but he didn't fit into my system at all. I like to use a "False No. 9" like Messi, a Deep-lying forward in the game and Lukaku is not suited to the role at all. I got €10.25m for Lukaku and €14.25m for El Hamdaoui. I lost money on Lukaku but I felt it was time to cut my losses on him.

Anthony Vanden-Borre wanted first-team football so I sold him for €2.7m. Gabi Mudingayi left for €3.5m. I decided to sell Cristian Rodriquez and Ondrej Mazuch as they're both too good to be backups. I got €11.25m for both of them. That's a €10m profit for Rodriguez after a season and a half of decent performances.

I wanted to sell both Van der Wiel and Badelj because they're always looking for improved deals after clubs come in with bid but none of the clubs interested were willing to pay €15m for them which is the minimum I would accept. They're off the transfer list and happy for now. The reason I was prepared to let Van der Wiel go is because Vrsaljko has improved a lot and plays better than Van der Viel. He's first choice now.

I needed a backup left-back so I bought Lucas Digne for €2.6m and I also needed another striker as I only had Milevskiy after getting rid of Lukaku and El Hamdaoui. I bought Sergio Araujo from Barca for €5.4m. I needed a replacement for Vanden-Borre so I got Blasi from Villareal for €2m. He's old (31) but he a very good DM and should be a good tutor for a while. I also needed another right winger to provide competition and back-up to Eriksen so I managed to buy Alexis Sanchez for €18m. He would usually cost more but he wasn't signing a new contract so I got him relatively cheaply.

I've started the season in extremely good form. We beat Feyenoord 2-1 in the Dutch Super Cup. Alexis Sanchez scored the winner in the 90th min. Milevskiy got badly injured in this game and was ruled out for 3 months. So I was left with one inexperiend striker and I was a bit apprehensive about the new season. I shouldn't have worried, Araujo has been in incredible form and is already a Favoured Person of the club and most of the first team players. He scored a hat-trick on his league debut and then four goals in the next game and a hatrick against Everton in the European Super Cup. Then four goals in the league again. I've never had such a prolific striker before. His attributes aren't all that impressive but he's fast, skillful and a decent finisher. Sanchez has started very well to and has 5 goals in 5 league games. Araujo has 12 in four games. 16 in all competitions which is already better than El Hamdoui's total for the whole last season.

[dangerpuss]

I'm in March of Season 3 now and we are completely dominating the Eredivisie. The quality of the league of pretty poor and I now have one of the best teams in Europe so the League and Cup Double are a bit too easy. So far:

This is my current team:

Eriksen is leaving for €12.5m at the end of the season. He's 21 and although he's a very good player, he hasn't really developed at all. I think I've been unlucky with his PA.

I bought Bocchetti for €15m from Rubin and Kleber for €13.25m from Palmeiras.

[Onlyonemalouda]

Can't believe most of you guys! Buying Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard etc.. ,My philosophy has always been to promote promising youth players and not to sell my established stars! Selling Eriksen.... Madness! Make your saves more realistic and bring back total football to Ajax!

[dangerpuss]

Most of the young Ajax players in the game are average, only Ouasim Buoy has decent potential. Hopefully this will be changed next year. I would buy Dutch players but there aren't any good ones outside PSV, Feyenoord or Twente. The good ones play abroad and won't return. I like Eriksen but he has low potential on my game unfortunately.

[ReggaeBwoy]

Can't believe most of you guys! Buying Alexis Sanchez, Eden Hazard etc.. ,My philosophy has always been to promote promising youth players and not to sell my established stars! Selling Eriksen.... Madness! Make your saves more realistic and bring back total football to Ajax!

Agree with you mate

[Draakon]

Second crash of hard disk and format swept all my saves. So back to square one and I started my first ever save with 11.3 database. Things look more interesting as I don't have Emanuelson and Suarez any more and some youth prospects (Kappelhof, Sneijder, Klaassen, Bouy, Özbiliz, Ebecilio, Jozefszoon) are way better than they were in 11.2 plus few extra ones (Toivonmäki, Lukoki).

Won against FC Twente in Dutch Super Cup game (penalty shoot-out after 3-3 draw) - the worst game I've seen from my side. Vertonghen baked 2 massive cakes and conceded 2 goals (one penalty) while Enoh's foul gave Twente 2nd penalty in extra time so they could equalize 3-3. I've never seen Vertonghen play like this..., but in the end we won.

Got a relatively easy draw in Champions Cup 3rd round against Belgium side Gent. Won first game away 3-0 (Cvitanich 2, Özbiliz). So far I haven't made any transfers, so probably keep initial squad at least for the first half of the season. First games are fairly tough though, against Groningen and Heerenveen.

[Draakon]

Won first Eredivisie match against FC Groningen 3-1 (El Hamdaoui, Ooijer, Sulejmani) and progressed to next Champions Cup round with aggregate 5-0 victory against Gent. Next opponent is French AJ Auxerre (probably the best draw from all possible options).

Playing my regular 4-5-1 attacking formation:

GK: Stekelenburg, Vermeer

DR: van der Wiel, Silva

DRC: Alderweireld, Oleguer

DLC: Vertonghen, Ooijer

DL: Anita, Boilesen, Blind

DMC: Enoh, Bonevacia

MCL: De Zeeuw, Lindgren, Tainio

MCR: Lodeiro, de Jong, Eriksen

AMR: Josefszoon, Ebecilio, Özbiliz

AML: Sulejmani, Cvitanich

ST: El Hamdaoui, Suk

[...Eternal Sin...]

dangerpuss can you uplad ypur tactic?

[dangerpuss]

It's fairly easy just to tell you. I created it using the tactics creator with some slight changes

The mentality I use is Attacking with short passing, cautious tackling, zonal marking, quick tempo, deep defensive line. The full backs are set to attack. The centre-backs are just on centre-back defend. The left DM is a deeplying playmaker on support, the right is an anchor man. The AMC is an advanced playmaker on support. The AMR and AML are inside forwards on attack. The striker is a deep-lying forward on attack. I have everyone set to long shots rarely and crossing rarely. I usually use the retain possession and hassle opponents shout. I don't tend to change tactics home and away as I think tactical consistency counts for a lot in FM. Sometimes if I'm up against an excellent team away, I'll set the fullbacks to defend but that's about the only change I make. This tactic requires pacy and skillful wingers, a very consistent AMC and good attacking full-backs. Players with high technique, passing, first touch, anticipation and off the ball are also very useful.

I'll check my game later on and add anything I've forgotten. You can easily push the two DMs forward into centre-midfield and get similar result. My best midfielders were natural at DM so I pushed them back.

[Draakon]

Wow... in my 11.2 save Suarez pulled out 2 incredible games in a row. At first he scored a goal from some 70 meters out... well within our own half, in counter attack, seeing that opponent GK is out of position and scoring incredible strike.

Then, in next league game, scoring hat-trick in first 13 minutes. 5 goals in 2 games.

[Koma]

Gonna start a new save with Ajax, the old one is corrupted, luckily I was only on the half of the 1. season. I hope I'll get some talented players in academy, that's the main reason I play with this great club.

[Draakon]

September 2012

End of transfer window. I got £3m offer for Cvitanich from Werder Bremen which I decided to accept. 28 yo striker who is solid backup, but not probably couldn't get more money from him and he would have been too old to extend his contract when it's about to run out. Davy Klaassen and Daan van den Berg will get their chances to prove themselves in first team.

And then, just when I thought that was it, Sampdoria walked in with pile of cash and offered £10m + clauses for Alderweireld. I've told myself before that I will accept when bid over £10m is made, but I certainly didn't expect it to come in at 29th of August. I accepted though, so I lost my key defender. His replacement would be regen 20 yo Aziz Boukhari that I brought in last January.

Full squad then for this season:

GK: Stekelenburg, Vermeer

DR: Vanden Borre, Janmaat, Blind

DL: Emanuelson

DC: Boilesen

DC: Boukhari, Denswil

DMC: Enoh, Bonevacia

MC: De Zeeuw, Lindgren, Bouy

MC: Lodeiro, de Jong, Eriksen

AMR: Suarez, Josefszoon

AML: Sulejmani, Aissati

ST: El Hamdaoui, Klaassen, van den Berg

Still played 2 more games in August:

Heerenveen - Ajax 1:3 (Suarez 3) - this hat-trick shows a players importance for the club. Heerenveen played well but as in previous seasons, were poor in defense. Their attacking game is good though, I'd recommend Djuricic to anyone searching for good AMC.

Ajax - NAC Breda 3:0 (Sulejmani pen, Suarez, Alderweireld) - at first I got doubtful penalty and in 2nd half Alderweireld scored in his final game for me. Well done. I can't have any complaints about referees. In Heerenveen game they didn't give clear penalty to opponents, now I got a doubtful one. I'm clearly preferred side, lets mark it down here when I feel otherwise afterwards in this season.

I think the rest of the season will be tough though. Absence of Alderweireld will clearly show weakness in my defense and especially Champions League ambitions have to wait another season. I got drawn to one group with Sporting CP, Arsenal and Dinamo. 3rd place would be good enough.

Long time has passed since my last update. My save crashed, so I had to start 2012/2013 season all over again, but while these forums were shut down I managed to reach to February 2013. What has happened:

1) Played fairly good first half of the season, currently leading by 5 points in front of PSV and Twente (although lost to both of these teams in our first encounter of the season). Gained 41 points from first 17 games. Best goalscorers - Suarez, El Hamdaoui and Cvitanich all have scored 11-15 goals.

2) Reached to knockout round of Champions Cup, winning Arsenal at home 3-1 in and winning my group. Then got drawn against Palermo (currently 3rd in Serie A) and drew 2-2 in first leg away.

3) Sold Suarez to Fulham for hefty £17m. Chairman intervented to transfers and sold my 2 best regens - Daan van den Berg and Ad Rijsdik to Liverpool and AC Milan respectively. Received £1,4m + clauses for each.

4) Reached to semi finals of Dutch Cup where I'll play against Ajax2

So, first team:

GK: Stekelenburg, Vermeer

DR: Vanden Borre, Janmaat, Blind

DC: Boilesen, Schenk

DC: Boukhari (regen), Denswil

DL: Emanuelson

DMC: Enoh, Bonevacia

MC: De Zeeuw, Lindgren, Bouy (on loan)

MC: Lodeiro, Eriksen, de Jong

AMR: Josefszoon, Ondaan

AML: Sulejmani, Aissati

ST: El Hamdaoui, Cvitanich, Klaassen

Josefszoon isn't too bad at AMR, but of course, he's no Suarez. And I should've listened my assman who warned that he's fairly suspectible to injuries. Currently he's out for 5 weeks with broken arm and Ondaan is not yet first team material. So I'll probably have to find someone for AMR position in Summer, perhaps Leandro Bacuna. Until then it's de Jong who's fairly capable in this role.

Otherwise, I've got very good regens coming to ST, AML and DC positions. Also signed regen DC from Ajax CT for £55k. My transfer budget is enormous £40m, but I have no intention to spend it.

[john1]

After reading this thread, I'm going to give Ajax a go But will spend few millions if needed. Will also promote youth instead of forking out 20M+ on others players.

[john1]

Not good at all. Stupid enough, I decided to accept the offer to play our reserves a day after playing Friendly Cup Final, Which I won 2-0. Played the reserves, Lost 2-1. Was playing half fit players.

Also gone for 4-2-3-1.

[Gundam]

Im in season 2 now, the first season I was league champion early march already. Got owned by Bayern munich in the quarter final of the championsleague.

My current season 2 lineup

Vd Wiel Alderweireld Vertonghen Aanholt

De Jong Chalas(Usa regen) Erikson Lodeiro

Cvitanitch(Victor moses) Sulejmani (Ebecilio retrained as striker)

I managed to keep a lot of my players, dispite lots of interests in almost my entire squad.

Tottenham has been on a major manhunt for my youth, especially bouy who did amazing in pre-season. They wont leave lukoki alone either.

[john1]

Okay-ish pre season, the red box is when I took over Ajax. was embarrassed about our lost to our reserves, ****ed off with Den Bosch lost, We took 24 shots at the goal, They took 6 shots, 1 landed on target which was the only goal.

Currently in talks with Kadlec from Sparta Prague.

Sacked most of coaches/ scouts. Kept Bergkamp, Jonk and Claus. Brought in Bonini, Couto, Edorta Murua, Willy Sangol, De Cozar and Hoekstra.

Now frigging bring on FC Twente.

EDIT: Kadlec joined Standard. Will go for Bakambu from Sochaux.