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Jol: Let’s turn this Ajax into team!

June 2nd, 2009 | By: Jan | 15 Comments »

Rik van den Boog, general manager at Ajax, presented Martin Jol as their new coach last week. “Most people are positive and enthusiastic about Jol. Some are even surprised…”.

These statements summarize the situation at Holland’s biggest football club. Marco van Basten is the last “real Ajaxied” who got the opportunity to bring the institution back where it belongs (according to Ajax of course). Now, Ajax has picked a non-Ajax man as their prime architect for the future.

In that future, Ajax will guard the old values that made the club huge. The youth development division will be made even more important. All Ajax teams, from the F-juniors to the first team, needs to be able to dominate games.

But, in that future other elements will be put to rest. Van Basten already broke with Ajax icon Johan Cruyff, today the club wants to further distance itself from historical power-lobbies within the club. And also from the dogma’s about the game play which always limited Ajax in it’s development.

During his presentation, Jol said that it’s still possible to play attractive and attacking with only two strikers and a diamond midfield. “The most important thing is not the system, but the team. We have good players, now we need to turn them into a good team. The latter will get most of my attention. We still want to score the most goals, but we need to concede less. It might take one or two seasons to achieve that. There’s more than enough talent here. That’s not the problem. The issue is: the development of that talent. That’s the magic word here.”

Jol has a prominent role in mind for former Ajax skipper Danny Blind. Jol: “Danny will be my left and righthand man. He’ll be the linking pin, if you want. He’s the man who knows every player, from the F-juniors to the seniors.”

Blind can be called the rennaissance man in Ajax’ renovation process. In the coming years, mental and physical strength will be made more important. In his current role as technical manager, he’s already focused on adapting the systems and processes to achieve this. Blind is expected to keep on doing this in the future, but he will also act as assistant manager and coach for Ajax 1. Cock Jol, Martin’s brother, will act as Blind’s assistant.

“I’ll be busy alright, but that’s not how I see it,” Blind responded to his new job. “Martin immediately asked me to assist him on the pitch. I actually enjoy that and it might even be so that I will succeed him in three years, but I’d rather not talk about that now. You can’t plan things in football. If Ajax wins the title three times on the trot, I don’t think I would be in favor of Jol leaving…”

Jol didn’t go into his transfer plans. He’ll take a short break in his holiday home in Spain with a bunch of dvd’s of his current selection. “I just packed the dvd’s in my suitcase so I won’t get bored during my holidays…”

Ajax will most definitely not spend another 35 million euros on new players. Jol speculated that he might consider one or two new players (Elia, Braafheid) but he’ll only do that if he can sell a number of players.

One player the club management would like to see move to Arsenal is Thomas Vermaelen. If that deal is on, Vermaelen will make his club a lot of euros.

Tags: Ajax, Blind, Cruyff, Group C, Jol, Van Basten, Vermaelen

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Comments

By finnster01 | June 2nd, 2009 at 4:56 pm

At least hold up the famous red and white shirt. What the feck is that?

By alaa | June 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm

I agree with finnster!! where is the red and white shirt????? what the hell is that picture?? or is it an old picture?

By Jan | June 3rd, 2009 at 12:54 am

I think it’s Jol’s tracksuit actually… Players get the red and white, dodgy overweight coaches get the boring tracksuit

By Tiju | June 3rd, 2009 at 4:30 am

@jan i think you forgot about your condition.i know it was a joke from you.Anyways my body is like mourihnos body i will not get too fatty and dodgy.
B/w i am slightly fed up with my current profession.looking into a career into Coaching.but i have n’t even played district level.Comparing to you peoples my football knowledge is so poor.but i think i could get a student visa(Visa in another profession) to UK, for that i have to rely on bank.after that i could register with EngilshFA and hopfully from that point i will move on.hoping for your valuable advices.Do you think a strange forigner(no background as a player) can succeed in England as a coach?

Posted from India

By Lights | June 3rd, 2009 at 5:10 am

Off-Topic

The latest update of FIFA/Coca-Cola World Ranking,The Netherlands is in second spot from the Top-Ten now.Congratulations to Oranje n fans

Hup Hup Oranje…Hup Hup Fans…Hup Hup Jan…:P

Jan,i will be away 4 weeks for my vacation in Singapore.Anyway,i don’ t wanna miss ur writing u know.So i m asking someone to apply the Mobile Internet Plan.hehe…..

Posted from Netherlands

By Tiju | June 3rd, 2009 at 5:28 am

Kaka headed to Madrid.perez started his games

Posted from India

By Carlos | June 3rd, 2009 at 6:01 am

Tiju, when you put your mind to it. You can do anything…..dont let anything/anyone stop you.There are plenty of coaching schools in England and I believe being Indian is anything but strange in England. Have you noticed the amount of “Indians” in the English Cricket team now ? Have you been to England ? Its full of Indians/Pakistani/West Indians and the occasional Dutchman too .

Posted from Singapore

By Alex | June 3rd, 2009 at 6:23 am

BTW, there’s a very good long interview with Khalid Boulahrouz in VI this week. He talks about his problems in the beginning of the season and in his early career. He said he was still struggling heavily with the loss of his child and other things the first half of the season which affected his play for the worse, and now finally feels completely fit and concentrated again. He also said he has put all of it behind him(Chelsea, Sevilla)and is fed up with the fact that he hasn’t played for so long for oranje. According to him he is ready to start the climb back up to the top from now.
If a man like him says something like that, i believe him, and i’ve always been a big fan of Boulah since he left RKC Waalwijk for HSV so I hope he can really succeed. I’d love to see his old self again, the Boulahrouz I know from HSV and that excelled when marking Ronaldinho for Chelsea. Í would always line him up in my team if I were a coach.
Anyway I thought it would be nice to share that with you guys.

About the ranking, although it’s not a real good representation, nice to see. I think we are indeed better than Germany, France, Portugal, I doubt we are better than Argentina or Brasil though.

BTW I think Jol can turn things around or Ajax, with a few reinforcements, he has the ability to form a real team, and with the current attackers, i’d say he has to focus on organising the back, and central midfield.

Posted from Netherlands

By Jan | June 3rd, 2009 at 6:52 am

@Tiju, there are more weird foreign coaches in England… Sir Alex, Arsene, Benitez, Zola…so why not you! I agree with Carlos: go for it!!!

Thanks Alex, for that Boulah piece. I like the guy too. I’d love to see him back on form.

And yes, Jol is a coach who could do it at Ajax, but only if Ajax allows him. There’s a huge undercurrent of influential people there and Jol is like Adriaanse: he doesn’t care. He’s the boss. But Co got sacked in Amsterdam, so we’ll have to wait and see.

Still, give Marco eleven players and Jol the exact same eleven players and I think Jol is able to make a better team… Although I do believe HSV with Jol lost out against Marco’s Ajax in the UEFA Cup, didn’t they ?

By Alex | June 3rd, 2009 at 7:41 am

They did, but it was a lucky win nevertheless.

Posted from Netherlands

By Alex | June 3rd, 2009 at 8:05 am

BTW I came across some info about Bruno Alves being pursued by a few clubs and I suddenly realized there’s still hope for Ryan Donk, so I thought i’d spread some positive views.
Now highly rated Bruno Alves, was loaned out by FC Porto for 3 or 4 successive seasons before getting him back at the club, then turned 24 in that november, where he struggled in competition and only managed to play in 7 games. His real breakthrough didn’t come until he was a good 25/26, now at 27, getting close to 28, he’s being linked to a number of very big clubs. Donk is only 23 now, so if you look at it in that way, he hss got a few more years to get the slip-ups and the nonchalance out of his play.

I know it might sound optimistic, but it does keep me asleep at night.
Just kidding.

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | June 3rd, 2009 at 8:17 am

@Alex, you are totally right my friend about Boulahrouz although I think he is a great CENTRAL defender. Mourinho started playing Boulah as right back and he did OK for some games but then he started making some mistakes but that happened because it’s not his natural position. I remember watching him play against England (friendly) and Argentina (WC) and he did an excellent job but in both of those games he was a central defender.

What happened to Kromkamp? I liked his style.

By Jan | June 3rd, 2009 at 8:53 am

Many injuries for Kromkamp…

By Alex | June 3rd, 2009 at 9:23 am

I saw Kromkamp as our absolute best RB when he played for AZ, but now i have found out he could only excell because of the way Adriaanse made his team play, there were always one or 2 players covering for Kromkamp, so he had all the possibilities of going forward without having to really worry, but at Villareal and Liverpool, it showed that although a very good plae when attacking, he really lacks some skills as a defender. Same at PSV where they were regularly caught off guard as Kromkamp was out of position, meaning he was still upfront. He can function magnificently though, but then you have to adjust your team quite a bit to cover for him. Also, he copes with quite a lot of injuries.

Posted from Netherlands

By Tiju | June 3rd, 2009 at 10:54 pm

Thnaks jan and carlos.i will go for it.hopeflly within eight months i will reach there.
B/w kromcamp was vulnerable at that time,but he is too good in offencive aspect,ultimatly we dont need him now.let him develop and come back when at the age of 32???

Posted from India

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