Season two in D2.. Rise of youth…
Season two with Ajax began with three exhibition matches against tough challengers. Because Ajax has a good relationship with Barcelona, they were willing to play against Ajax in Off-season. Feyenoord their all-time rivals wanted to measure there strength in off-season as well as AS-Roma from Italy.
Amazingly all the matches were won by Ajax, in which the match against Barcelona was a stunner. Ajax dominated the field. But it looked as if Barcelona didn’t put any effort in the match or maybe they were just tired from training. The match ended in a 4 – 1 victory for Ajax. Matches against Feyenoord and AS-Roma were already played by then. Ajax felt very confident for the upcoming season.
What really was important was the fact that Tom de Mul, Maarten Stekelenburg and Thomas Vermaelen really stood there man against all opponents. During training they are showing great potential. I decided to move two off them up and from the start of the new season; they would be members of the starting Line-up.
Line-up beginning of season:
Stekelenburg
Grygera Heitinga* Vermaelen Maxwell
Sneijder Galasek van der Vaart
De Ridder Ibrahimovic Mitea
Heitinga was given the opportunity to become a great leader, so he was given the Captains belt for this season and on. His team playing skills are very good and during the off season it seemed this had a good overall effect on the team.
The season went very well right from the start, 5 wins in a row and one draw. The first cup match to be played was against FC Utrecht. Ajax got rid off their CUP-syndrome en won their first match easily with 3 – 0. Ibrahimovic got his engine warmed up and scored 2 of the goals. In previous matches he already scored 4 goals and was leading the goal scoring charts in both competitions. Would he be able to keep on this track?
As the season went by it became clear Vermaelen en Stekelenburg had problems playing a lot of games after each other. So I decided to switch them more often during matches. I thought that their development would be lesser. But because I now had fitter players, they performed better on the pitch. Which eventually gave them better ratings after the match and a lot of development points? Mean while Tom de Mul started to become a more useful player then Mitea which gave him more playing time.
As expected Sneijder, Maxwell and van der Vaart were developing according to plan. Sneijder was tremendous effective with his long through balls and free kicks. Maxwell showed his long dribbling skills although they cost him a lot of energy. Van der Vaart controlled the offensive midfield and sprayed his team-mates with nice cheeky passes and often picked a goal. Grygera and Galasek weren’t developing that great. Therefore Obodai and de Jong got a few chances to show what they’ve got. They managed alright but still have a long way to go.
The end of the season was nearing. Ajax topped the league sheet with a margin of 7 points to second place. Ibrahimovic was leading the goal scoring rank with 17 goals. So he was able to keep on track concerning that point. Unfortunately he got 2 red cards during season. He was the only player of Ajax with a red card.
Promotion to D1 was just a question of time. D2 cup was again a different story. Ajax managed to reach the semi finals but was again knocked out on Penalties against AZ Alkmaar. Reason for this defeat is uncertain. Although the cause might be promotion to D1. A lot of players dreamt of showing what they are capable of on the highest podium, D1.
At the end of the season on which Ajax promoted, the team looked as follows.
Stekelenburg
Grygera Heitinga* Vermaelen Maxwell
Sneijder Galasek van der Vaart
De Ridder Ibrahimovic de Mul
Eventually Ajax got promoted with a 10 point margin. Ibrahimovic became leading goal scorer in D2 and runner up in D2 CUP, although Ajax stranded in de semi’s. All goals set at the beginning of the season were achieved. A young talents got a place in the starting line up or had tasted it. Most players developed as expected. Vermaelen, Heitinga, de Mul and van der Vaart managed to develop above expectations.
For the next season Ajax had to prove why they deserve a spot in D1. And finally have to get rid of there weak cup performances. A spot with the first 10 teams should be a reasonable target for Ajax….
To be continued………….
Season two with Ajax began with three exhibition matches against tough challengers. Because Ajax has a good relationship with Barcelona, they were willing to play against Ajax in Off-season. Feyenoord their all-time rivals wanted to measure there strength in off-season as well as AS-Roma from Italy.
Amazingly all the matches were won by Ajax, in which the match against Barcelona was a stunner. Ajax dominated the field. But it looked as if Barcelona didn’t put any effort in the match or maybe they were just tired from training. The match ended in a 4 – 1 victory for Ajax. Matches against Feyenoord and AS-Roma were already played by then. Ajax felt very confident for the upcoming season.
What really was important was the fact that Tom de Mul, Maarten Stekelenburg and Thomas Vermaelen really stood there man against all opponents. During training they are showing great potential. I decided to move two off them up and from the start of the new season; they would be members of the starting Line-up.
Line-up beginning of season:
Stekelenburg
Grygera Heitinga* Vermaelen Maxwell
Sneijder Galasek van der Vaart
De Ridder Ibrahimovic Mitea
Heitinga was given the opportunity to become a great leader, so he was given the Captains belt for this season and on. His team playing skills are very good and during the off season it seemed this had a good overall effect on the team.
The season went very well right from the start, 5 wins in a row and one draw. The first cup match to be played was against FC Utrecht. Ajax got rid off their CUP-syndrome en won their first match easily with 3 – 0. Ibrahimovic got his engine warmed up and scored 2 of the goals. In previous matches he already scored 4 goals and was leading the goal scoring charts in both competitions. Would he be able to keep on this track?
As the season went by it became clear Vermaelen en Stekelenburg had problems playing a lot of games after each other. So I decided to switch them more often during matches. I thought that their development would be lesser. But because I now had fitter players, they performed better on the pitch. Which eventually gave them better ratings after the match and a lot of development points? Mean while Tom de Mul started to become a more useful player then Mitea which gave him more playing time.
As expected Sneijder, Maxwell and van der Vaart were developing according to plan. Sneijder was tremendous effective with his long through balls and free kicks. Maxwell showed his long dribbling skills although they cost him a lot of energy. Van der Vaart controlled the offensive midfield and sprayed his team-mates with nice cheeky passes and often picked a goal. Grygera and Galasek weren’t developing that great. Therefore Obodai and de Jong got a few chances to show what they’ve got. They managed alright but still have a long way to go.
The end of the season was nearing. Ajax topped the league sheet with a margin of 7 points to second place. Ibrahimovic was leading the goal scoring rank with 17 goals. So he was able to keep on track concerning that point. Unfortunately he got 2 red cards during season. He was the only player of Ajax with a red card.
Promotion to D1 was just a question of time. D2 cup was again a different story. Ajax managed to reach the semi finals but was again knocked out on Penalties against AZ Alkmaar. Reason for this defeat is uncertain. Although the cause might be promotion to D1. A lot of players dreamt of showing what they are capable of on the highest podium, D1.
At the end of the season on which Ajax promoted, the team looked as follows.
Stekelenburg
Grygera Heitinga* Vermaelen Maxwell
Sneijder Galasek van der Vaart
De Ridder Ibrahimovic de Mul
Eventually Ajax got promoted with a 10 point margin. Ibrahimovic became leading goal scorer in D2 and runner up in D2 CUP, although Ajax stranded in de semi’s. All goals set at the beginning of the season were achieved. A young talents got a place in the starting line up or had tasted it. Most players developed as expected. Vermaelen, Heitinga, de Mul and van der Vaart managed to develop above expectations.
For the next season Ajax had to prove why they deserve a spot in D1. And finally have to get rid of there weak cup performances. A spot with the first 10 teams should be a reasonable target for Ajax….
To be continued………….
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