Search the Community

Ajax DNA: Positive mentality, high press, counter press, and play from the back New players: Formation: Asymmetric Player roles and attributes: Onana: Sweeper keeper support. Great goalie, who can play this role perfect. In addition to the regular goalie attributes, he has technique, passing, etc. all the fun stuff a sweeper keeper needs. Also has player trait uses long throw to start counter attacks. Hateboer: Full back on attack. Overlapping on the left inside forward, he is our force down the right wing. Key attributes: all high physicals and mentals. And can play defense and cross Veltman and Onguera: Center backs on defend. Stick the faster center back on Hateboer's side. Onguera had a great season. Veltman just lacks some physicals for Championsleague play. Tagliafico: Full back on support. Blind: Deep lying playmaker on defend. Smart passer, and good defender. Engine of the team. Also great mentor for youngster (model citizen). And got important player traits: dictates tempo, comes deep van der Beek: Box to box midfielder. High mentals. Just put him on individual training for defensive positioning. Can also play Advanced playmaker position well. Ziyech: Inside forward support. Cuts in from the right, player traits to switch ball to other flank, plays long range passes, and plays killer balls. He often feeds it to Neres or Promes. Also great set piece taker Tadic: Advanced playmaker support. Has all the perfect attributes for this role. He doesn't play killer balls, so my future advanced playmaker would need this. Promes: Inside forward on attack. Dribbles and takes on his opponent. Also a lot of assist. Neres: Advanced forward (default attack). Love this role. Creates a lot of space for the 3 behind him. And is on the end of a lot of attacks, many times we get to send Neres behind opponents D-line. Pretty sure a player with higher finishing and composure will have a higher scoring percentage. I did had my staff teach him a new trait, beating the offside trap. Vs. some lower level opponents, that played very defensive, I used Huntelaar instead of Neres. As a Target man on attack. Played wider (attacking width) - put Promes on support, and Tagliafico on attack + overlap. Adjustments I make, particular vs. teams that are high level - Mentality to normal. Depending what mentality opponents uses. If they play cautious or normal, I mostly will still play positive. - Not running at defense - Pass into space. Only if opponent plays high line and we can keep decent possession - Drop defensive line to normal, depending on roles, quality, attributes of their forwards - Drop line of engagement to high/standard/lower. Want to make sure they won't win 2nd balls easily and/or play easily between my lines Not preventing short GK distribution anymore Sometimes also change: - Hateboer to support (but still overlap) - Promes to support: if opponents right defender keeps getting away from him - Tempo to normal (depending on how game goes) - Defensive with to wide, if opponent pretty much only uses the wide area's to attack (Zenit did it, and it was lovely) - Defensive with to narrow, if they only have one wide player on each wing - Time waste to sometimes/always: to protect a lead I watch first 15 minutes in full mode to finalize above settings, also try to figure how opponent attacks, but a lot of times I know before hand: How do they attack? How do the defend? Wide, narrow, high, deep. What roles, and do I need to worry about it? Do they play a ball winning midfielder on Blind (Feyenoord did this, and cost us...) At half time I can see their exact player roles Opponent instructions: High press their attacking full back(s) or wing backs All right or all left footer I show on weaker foot (even goalies) Winger who likes ball into feet (high press) Play maker: high press, sometimes tackle hard High level wingers? tackle hard, particular if they have low bravery. If I end up giving up to many free kicks, and they have a 16+ free kicker taker that is left footed, I won't tackle their right winger hard. And vice versa. Results: Champions league Leverkusen away we played a high line, this end up being to risky with Veltman Atalanta home was a fluke game, two cheap goals We pressed Atlanta's 532 in their own half (Opponent instructions on their wing backs) - maybe better if we would allowed them to come out a bit, to hit them on a break to create better chances. City match at home was great. We kept hitting them on the break. The away match we took an early lead, but it got way to exciting 1-3 loss.. Bayern was another thrilling match...3-0 up at home with 20 min to go... They eliminated us on two late set plays... Veltman just not tall enough Time to replace him next season Food for thought: Should of OP pressed their main passers, and used an offside trap. Instead I dropped the line and allowed them to come at me... Thought their high off the ball movement attributes would of maybe beaten our offside trap. But should off trusted my back line more! Have great positioning, anticipating. Expensive lesson with a 1/4 final defeat. Eredivisie: On fire! Didn't make to many adjustments, just in some of the away games (Feyenoord, PSV, AZ and Utrecht). And against defensive teams had to bring Huntelaar Cup loss: 10 vs 11 was easier then 10 vs 10... Missing a pk and getting a counter scored on us... Learned a lot from this match, left a gap for their runner

AFC Ajax is more than a club, it's a philosophy. In this series, I will look to develop as much homegrown talent as I can, whilst reclaiming the Eredivise and UEFA Champions League! Can Ajax become a European powerhouse once again? In the first episode of Amsterdam Wonderkids, Ajax take on PSV to try to reclaim the Johan Cruyff Schaal for the first time since 2013.

UPDATE TO INCLUDE ALL AJAX STAFF INTO FM18. This file is based on the editor file from sortitoutsi (thank you guys for that) but also included all the staff history, additional relationships and many other updates (see below the full list). UPDATES INCLUDED: - Added all relevant staff for first, Jong Ajax and U19 squad - including Guillaume Elmont (fitness coach U19), Co Meijer (scout), Guido Friedrich (scout) - Including playing, non-playing history and achievements for all staff - This DB excludes Abdelhak Nouri from the Ajax squad - Added relevant relationships to several players to improve squad dynamics to be as close as real life - Improved finances based on 2016 Annual Report - Added relevant injuries (Van Leer, Cerny, Gorzski, Sinkgraven, Alblas) - Improved wages in Jong and U19 to be more realistic - Updated Responsibilities for Board / Management to reflect current real-life situation - Removed Jong Ajax shirt colours - so they are similar to first squad - Updated Supporter profile (less patience / more critical) - Facepack included In the zip file there are two things included: 1) Editor file with updates on staff and additional club info --> this needs to be placed in editor folder 2) Face pack including all staff faces --> this needs to be placed in the graphics folder (note: make sure to 'clear cache' and 'reload skin' to make it work) FM18 - Ajax update Nov17.zip

During my Ajax career I want to get a replacement for Frenkie de jong! But I want to be a kind of equal player! Who is better of the 2 players in the poll? I'm curious about your answer !!!

When you, as a club-manager in Football Manager, decide that you want to develop your next first-team players through your youth academy, you only have little influence on the type of players your youth academy will actually 'produce'. Of course, you can hire a certain head of youth development with a certain character, so that your club's newgens will be influenced by his character. And through money-investments in the youth academy you can make sure that the quality of your newgens increases. But what I really miss in Football Manager is the possibility to have influence as a club(manager) on the type of newgens you produce in terms of existing football qualities. I'll take a real life example to explain this a bit further: in real life football, the development of a youth-academy player begins very early. And in his years at the club until the moment a talent joins the u19's, a player's football qualities have been 'shaped' by the football philosophy of a club. Take for example a youth player of Ajax or Barcelona. Both clubs pay great attention to the type of football the first team plays. And both clubs want to produce youth players which fit perfectly in that type of football. Both clubs demand their youth to play dominant, possession based, intelligent football. Taking this Ajax and Barcelona philosophies back to Football Manager, it would be very realistic that both clubs would produce quality newgens who fit the type of football the club wants to play. Newgens who are technically very gifted, intelligent en quick. But at the moment in my savegame in 2021/2022, it only takes a quick peek at the respective youth players of barcelona and ajax to notice that their is nothing like a philosophy at both clubs that influences the type of youthplayers they produce. Even worse: Barcelona and Ajax, clubs who play possession football no mather what and also teach their youthplayers this, produce newgens with a technique of 5 and 6! In real life, this would be impossible because players with 5 or 6 for technique just don't fit the ajax/barcelona playing style and therefor they would be dropped out of the youth academy far before they would reach the u-19's squad. In short: at the moment, I think it is absolutely unrealistic in Football Manager that a club (and the manager/hoyd of the club) has zero influence on the type of newgens that come through their youth academy. In real life, every club that takes their youth academy REALLY SERIOUS and invests big amounts of money in their youngest players will have a type of player that will be produced by the club. I think it would be fantastic to be able in Football Manager to have more influence on the player qualities of a club's newgens, because only when this happens you will be able to really produce a clubphilosophy through the whole club, like for example Ajax and Barcelona in real life do. I think it would be fantastic if you can opt in a boardroommeeting/staffroommeeting for youthplayers who are good at possession football, or youthplayers who have great phisique, or name a other quality that you want your newgens to be good at in the first place. This would really improve the way you can influence a club's philosophy when the boards demands you to play 'attacking football', yet nowadays you just have to pray that there will be newgens who fit that kind of play. (English isn't my normal language, so I hope I'm not confusing you guys with my vague descriptions. I hope my suggestion is clear for all of you who are interested)

Amsterdamned with Ajax Yes, here we go. 'Tis the time, and while I had very different plans just a few days ago, I am starting this Football Manager with AFC Ajax. It's the club I support, but I haven't managed them since FM14 or 15 or so. They appealed to me a lot because of the transfer business that has been done recently and because I want to get going really. Can't be waiting for some inspiration to hit me! Now, just a few things. while Ajax have spent quite a bit of money, I am super excited about the players at the club at the start of the game so won't be spending much. Probably just a loan here or there. Also, these are my tactics for now. I might be going into more detail later, but let's just say I was inspired by some other FMCU regulars for that last one. Generally that should be the main home-tactic, while the wing play one might be used more for away games. The Wingback one is mostly just there to get a third tactic in there if the first two don't work!

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax History Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax was formed in 1900 (the Ajax name was taken after a figure in Greek mythology). The distinguished white shirt with a broad red stripe was designed in 1911. It didn't take too long to assert some early success, which coincide with the arrival of Jack Reynolds at the club; save for two short breaks, the legendary Englishman managed the club from 1915 to 1947. During this time Ajax slowly grew into the role of the best club in the country, a process that culminated with their first golden era in the 30s. With Reynolds at the helm, Ajax claimed eight League titles and two KNVB Cups. After a slight slump, Ajax returned to the football scene at around the same time professionalism was introduced to the Netherlands (1955). Michels, Cruyff and "Total Football" While they won two Eredivisie titles in 1957 in 1960, as well as their third KNVB Cup in 1961, it wasn't until the appointment of Rinus Michels as manager that Ajax truly became something special. With Michels instilling his famous "Total Football" philosophy and Johan Cruyff serving as its conductor, Ajax cruised to six Eredivisie titles and four KNVB Cups. They also made the history books by claiming three consecutive European Cups from 1971 to 1973, thus becoming one of only five clubs to successfully defend the trophy. (And also one of the few clubs that have the trophy permanently in their collection, the rule is that a club that win the competition five times in total or three times in a row keep the throphy.) The Total Football Ajax practiced meant that each player (except the goalkeeper of course) contributed to the field and could take over each other roles. In other words a defender could for a while serve as an offender and vice versa. This was not the same thing as a complete abandoning of positions, but the positions would not limit the players, instead overlaps were an option and the back line would be compressed with the midfield which resulted in faster ball deliverance from defenders to attackers. Total Football was however not a Dutch invention from scratch. As usual, there were forerunners and here can Hungary's national team be mentioned as an inspiration for Michels. For some years Ajax would be the dominating force in European club football. This era, later referred to as "Gloria Ajax", reached its end with Cruyff's and Neesken's departure for Barcelona in 1973 and 1974. A new generation Towards the end of the 70s, Ajax would be in the spotlight again after the return of Cruyff, this time as the coach, and with a new generation of talented youngsters led by Wim Kieft, Frank Rijkaard and Marco van Basten. Their attractive brand of offensive football made them fan favorites wherever they went, and the results were as good as ever. Between 1977 and 1987, Ajax won six Eredivisie titles, four KNVB Cups and their first and only UEFA Cup. The emergence of PSV in the later half of the 80s and the departures of Rijkaard and Van Basten saw the club decline a bit, but they still managed to top off the decade by clinching an Eredivisie title in 1990. With Louis Van Gaal taking over as manager in 1991 and instilling his own unique philosophy at the club, further success was sure to follow – although his pragmatic approach to football wasn't appreciated by the fans who wanted see their team play offensive. He quickly formed an entirely new team, from Edwin van der Sar between the sticks to Dennis Bergkamp as a striker. Between 1991 and 1999, this ensemble of talented youngsters won four Eredivisie titles, three KNVB Cups, an UEFA Cup and a Champions League. The high point was the Champions League victory in 1995 after beating AC Milan in the final. In August 1996 the team moved from De Meer Stadion, that had served as home field since 1934, to the Amsterdam ArenA that had more than twice the capacity (53,502 seats). Compared to their previous golden eras, the 00s proved to be slightly disappointing for the club's fans. With the most important pieces of Van Gaal's team departing from the club and the meteoric rise of PSV, Ajax had to settle for two Eredivisie titles and four KNVB Cups. Still, the appointment of Frank De Boer as manager in 2010 changed things for the better in all aspects, as evidenced by the four consecutive Eredivisie titles that followed.

Having been a long time browser of the forum, I thought it was time I uploaded my current FM save. Ajax. A club renowned for producing young talent and competing (sometimes winning) on the European Stage. I have always enjoyed saves with Ajax on FM as they were an opportunity to start a game with a club that focused on playing good football and recognised the importance of youth development. I am currently in my 4th season of this save and the screenshots have been taken looking back. I hope you enjoy it and all comments are welcome! Season 1 2017/2018 In my first season, my aim was to only sign Dutch players, or promote players from within and play a possession based style of football. This is how I set my team up; From looking at the prospects at the club, I decided not to buy any players - Schurrs was previously purchased by the club and arrived in January, Chong was loaned on deadline day to help with the Jong team and their push to win the league. As always with Ajax, there is a battle to keep the best players. I was happy to survive the first transfer window and kept the players I wanted. Unfortunately January was another matter - Ziyech openly wanted a move and in the end he was sold to Arsenal. In this save, I have not kept players at the club against their will. I have spoken to them to try and get them to stay, but if the offer is too good or the the player becomes unhappy, then I will and have allowed them to go. Domestically, my first season was a success - across all teams. I won the Dutch Double, beating PSV in the cup final. De Jong and U19s won their leagues too. I found this particularly pleasing as I had promoted players to the senior team, and by the other teams winning, it showed there was great depth at the club. I was happy to have won the Domestic Double without having bought any players, however the team did struggle in Europe. I was lucky to qualify for the group stage (which was the boards minimum requirement) with scares away to Basaksehir and Club Brugge. The reward for scraping through was a group with Barcelona and Manchester United. As soon as the draw was made, and in light of my unconvincing results in the qualifiers, I was happy with finishing in third place which would have allowed me to compete in the Europa League. By playing in the Europa League I thought it would give me a better insight into where the team, players and tactics where, in relation to moving forward. Despite a good start against Hoffenheim, the remaining results were not spectacular. Ultimately, conceding two goals at home to Napoli was not good enough and resulted in us being put out of the Europa League. The positive that I took from the first season was that, despite not buying any players, I was more than able to compete domestically. Going into my second season, I felt that to compete in Europe, I would need to alter my tactics, or possibly improve the squad.

Few weeks ago I have started a new save with Ajax, trying to replicate the style that Peter Bosz has brought to the young team. I have been playing two seasons now with quite some game fun and success (2 x league champions, 1 x semi-final UEL and in the 2nd season winners of the UEL), however until the recent european matches of Ajax I wasn't quite sure if that high pressing style would also work in real life - but we have seen it can work Total Football in a new realistic way. Therefore I wanted to share my attempt that worked quite well for me. Formation: On paper the typical Ajax formation is a 4-3-3, with a defensive midfielder/controller (a number 6) in front of the back-four and strong focus on wing-play. In ball-posession this quickly becomes a 1-2-3-2-3 (including the goalkeeper), given you 5 lines of players with lots 'diamond' options to pass the ball around. Tactics: The tactics below i am using gets me closest to the Ajax way of playing a setup. Even though Ajax is playing with an Advanced Playmaker (Ziyech) and BtB midfielder (Klaassen), it did not work well for me as these specialist roles were defensively not working out in the transition from ball possession to ball loss. But in the player descriptions below i will try to explain the work arounds i have found for this. More info on this specialist role in combination with Very Fluid mentality can be found here: https://community.sigames.com/topic/295001-how-to-play-fm-a-twelve-step-guide/ Team Instructions I let my team train on these 2 different team instructions: Mentality - Standard / Contain: here im using a less attacking mentality than expected and go for Standard in 'easy' matches, and even tone it down to 'Contain' in tough away games. This does not mean the team is playing defensive football! In contrary i must say, because the player roles are attacking minded the players have a natural tendency to think attacking - having a contain mentality just makes them think more realistic on how to attack, which is where the 'realistic total football' comes out and play! Whats very important to add is that I increase the tempo when i bring the mentality back from Standard to Contain. The reason was mentioned by Johan Cruyff itself, as he found that the best way to come out of pressure from your opponent is to increase the tempo of playing the ball around. Shape - Very Fluid: To make sure the 5 lines play as closes as possible together its obvious that a Very Fluid team shape is the best way to go. Also this shape gets you closest to the concept of total football when pressure has to be put on the opposite players by 4-5 players together. Width - Fairly Narrow: A narrow width makes it easier for the players to return to their defensive position and help each other in hunting the opposition down, making sure they get pressured. It will make the closing down more effective, but also give you better pass completion - especially with the higher tempo very useful. Push Higher up + Offside trap: On max to make the closing down work best Closing down much more: Again on the fullest, only in matches where im already ahead or can see the players are extremely tired i'll scale back Prevent short GK distr.: To put more pressure on the opposition Marking: I leave this off as man-marking makes the defensive vulrenable, but its crucial the defenders and midfield players have decent positioning stats to make it work Get stuck in: Only applied against much stronger opponents (but important to ease of tackling in player instructions once a player gets yellow) Play out of defence: Experienced this works better as it avoids stupid passes from defenders into space. Important though that the defenders have a good composure and passing skills to avoid them getting harassed and loose ball. Pass into space: With inside forwards or wingers luring at the back of the defenders this is a very useful instruction. Only in case the opposition has placed the bus in front of the goal i sometimes remove it to avoid loosing ball too much. Short passing: On short because of the high tempo. Retain possession: When start the match I have this ticked to get the control, when the match is still 0-0 at 60 mins and im having the overhand i'll tick this off to increase tempo and take some more risks Be more expressive: This makes your matches great to watch, as it give your players the ability to use their flair and instinct. I feel that when playing with Ajax this is a must and it helps them to do some unexpected things (and i havent experienced negative sides of this instruction) Work ball into box: In this tactic you will already get a vast amount of chances, therefore i found that it decreases the amount of wasted chances significant by having this ticked. Occasionally i will also use Look for Overlap if im the better team and it helps to overload the opposition defence. Whipped crosses: With the striker and two attacking midfielders often making forward runs it works well with whipped crosses where the ball comes in with more power and curl. Roam from positions: Making the attacks more unpredictable, and again didnt see any negatives occuring when having this on. Players and Positions / Instructions For my first team I have set some requirements on the attribute i think are crucial to make this tactic work best. Im therefore selection the first squad members on the following 14 (whats in a number) key attributes: Technique, Passing, First Touch, Composure, Anticipation, Decisions, Vision, Off The Ball, Positioning, Work Rate, Teamwork, Agility, Acceleration and Determination. I have therefore setup a squad view to help getting a good view on the strengths and weaknesses of the team, and im working with some minimums I require from the players to have. On the player positions I found the following to work best and coherent with each other: SK (S): With the high defensive line a Sweeper Keeper is a must to pick up some dangerous through balls. WB (S): The wingback is best role to make sure the backs push higher up, support the midfield and make sure the wingers are covered. I don't have them overlapping or on attack duty as it becomes very vulnerable and also i want the wingers / inside forwards to dribble and attack as they are more equipped. Additional PI: Cross from the deep BPD (D): Ball-playing as they dare to play directly to wingers, who can then come easily in a one-2-one situation against the opposite back. Additional PI: Dribble more, only if the stats are allowing, but it can help pushing the team further up when the BPD dribbles forward with the ball. DLP (S): The only 'specialist' role, but after testing all roles this one gives the best balance. Only thing im not satisfied with is that he still drops in between the two central defenders from time to time. Im learning each DLP to have 'Gets into opposition area' as preferred move, to give them a push forward. CM (A) (right): On the right sided CM I'm applying a more box-2-box midfielder approach, meaning i take a player with high work rate, teamwork, stamina and positioning. CM (A) (left): After trying the Advanced Playmaker i found that CM (A) actually works better in this setup with very fluid and more expressive team instructions. However to replicate some of the playmaker traits I have 'Dribble more' and 'More risky passes' ticked. W / IF (S): Wingers or inside forwards are crucial in this system (i prefer wingers to avoid cluttering the penalty box). I always choose players with high stats on Dribbling, Acceleration and Crossing. But very important also that they have decent Teamwork and Work Rate stats as the pressure push starts often with them. The Support duty is on as I experienced that this makes them less go into stupid dribbling attempts, trying to pass 3 or 4 players. I have ticked 'Get Further Forward' to get them in more advanced positions (which they lack a bit when they are not on attack duty) DLF (S): I found this role give the best balance of the striker spearheading the attack and dropping slightly deeper, dragging out defenders and making gaps for wingers or the midfielders coming in. Opposition Instructions: Maybe not the first thing to think of when making a winning tactic, but during the first season I found that tweaking did might be the missing link. Currently i have closing down on 'always' for all opposition defenders and defensive midfielders, as this puts the immediate pressure on them when my team looses the ball. When doing this on the whole opposition team I found that it caused some unwanted gaps due to defenders running out of position and through balls where too easy. With Closing Down More ticked in the Team Instruction your team already hassles opponents when they come on your half - therefore adding it to do so on opposite midfielders and attackers becomes too much. This is where the 'realistic' part kicks in, in the total football Training: In pre-season on max 50% match-training focussed on Match Tactics, to get the team familiar with this tactic as fast as possible. After that I switch between Attacking movement or Defensive positioning depending on the advice of the AM. General training I rotate during the season between Attacking (40%), Tactical (30%), Fitness (20%) and Ball-Control (10%). Results with Ajax: 1st season: 1 x Dutch Premier Division, Semi-Final UEL 2nd season: 1 x Dutch Premier Division, Winners UEL Highlights: UEL final against Arsenal, they did not stand a chance.. a great victory in the UEL away against Napoli (1-5!) Another great away win, as this tactic works very well in away games when getting some more space Last league standing, played the last 2 games with youth and lost unfortunately. Download links: Standard: http://www.mediafire.com/file/5ddp025ij77bh14/4-3-3_VM_Narrow_B9A19FDB-0129-459A-8D81-48DCA16E51B4.fmf Contain: http://www.mediafire.com/file/k8phgsqyn172i84/4-3-3_VM_Narrow_-_Contain_57E953EA-FB0A-40E9-8348-8831E7957EE0.fmf

I have played the game now for more then 10 years I think. And I always start with Ajax. The last couple of years i have started with other clubs, but I always follow ajax. And one think i don't understand. Ajax is famous for their talents en scouting. But the problem is when I don't manage Ajax. The clubs is always buying players about 30 years old and after 3 seasons the average age is 31 of Ajax. Always South American players. And the youth has no more change with Ajax. Thats one thing I like too see changed. people with the same experience ?

Hi Guys and girls Tonight I made my first ever youtube video (real) Im doing a ajax save where I cant make transfers and its all about bringing the kids thru. I have a rubbish-ish laptop and no editing software and with fatherhood I cant start paying for stuff. I just used the windows 10 game function to record me play and put it straight up on youtube. If anyone can recommend cheap easy software that will run on my potato Im open to ideas. Live comming all wont be easy. if you have some spare time please watch and leave a comment as the real reason Im doing this is to help with my speech as it was effected by fibre mist from fibromyalgia and Im trying to get that instant speaeh back that I lost. Here is the link to the first Video. Thanks for your time Dan

Any tips to make my Ajax tactic more a potent goalscoring threat? Here's the tactic:

Goodmorning, I've noticed that when I start a new game picking the leagues in the following order: Holland, England, Spain and Germany, that I miss Bertrand Traore at Ajax. He's currently at loan from Chelsea, but the lad played already in The Netherlands for Vitesse. But he isn't included when I select the leagues in that order. But he will only show when I put England first. Which is odd, since he already played for a Dutch club and currently playing for a Dutch club - Ajax. It is odd that he ain't included in the Dutch database and that Ajax is missing a player who is of good use in the game. I hope this minor thing can be adjusted. Kind regards, Postduif