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Martin Jol creates the “new Ajax” ™

September 20th, 2009 | By: Jan | 43 Comments »

Luis Suarez spent 25 hours on a plane to play for his country Uruguay. Jan Vertonghen played two shit games with Belgium and injured his toe.

Urby Emanuelson had to play left back against his will. Aissati didn’t play the playmaker role but had to play left midfielder. Stekelenburg was back after his finger injury and Dario Cvitanich hoped to be transfered back to Argentina, but the deal fell through.

Almost every Ajax player had some excuse not to be able to play a good game against NAC, but instead a hungry and pressure-playing Ajax played it’s best game this season and beat NAC 6-0.

Even the players themselves seemed a tad surprised. “This is what we’re able to do when we work for eachother as a team, both with and without the ball,” said Jan Vertonghen.

Demy de Zeeuw, who had played 1,5 games with Oranje: “We started sharp and we stayed sharp. I think it was smart of Jol to play with two dynamic strikers against NAC’s static defense line. Penders and Zwaanswijk were played silly and someone like Lurling couldn’t engage because Van der Wiel made him play like a full back.”

At half time, it was 4-0 against NAC, one of Holland’s tightest teams. The last time Ajax scored so many goals in one half was in April.

Ajax led 5-0 against Willem II but was taken to the cleaners by PSV ( 6-2) the next week. The inconsistency of last season needs to be ruled out, Jol thinks.

In the first month, Jol was still searching. And against NAC, the quest hasn’t been finalized. Although there are almost six or seven names that can be called “certainties”, like Stekelenburg and Van der Wiel at the back. Vertonghen and Alderweireld seem to be the center backs of choice. Both Belgiums bring length, power and a long pass to the game. They can both defend one-to-one and are good in build up play. “I like playing with Toby,” Vertonghen – the Man of the Match – said. “I can play well with Wielaert or Oleguer as well, but when the opponents pressure me, our build up suffers a bit with them. They’re more pure defenders.

Demy de Zeeuw is the brains in midfield. He’ll know when to pressure and is a good and fearless destroyer, with an excellent pass. Enoh is the loyal destroyer, who will play 100% in service of the creative players. Aissati is one of those. If he proves he adds value on the left, he’ll be the go to guy for Jol on that position.

Up front, Jol tries to create a combination that will benefit his best player, Suarez. This means the top scorer can fully focus on attacking. He doesn’t need to put any energy in defending, like he had to do last season. Those are the jobs Jol gives to either Rommedahl, Kennedy or Emanuelson.

Jol wanted two deep strikers against NAC, which meant that Cvitanich was able to demonstrate his skills. But, Jol seems to prefer new signing Marko Pantelic on that spot.

The striker made his debut against NAC in the second half and he was immediately dangerous. When he had his first goal attempt, however, he was immediately fouled. Ajax didn’t get the penalty they deserved and Pantelic was left screaming on the pitch. Jol: “I must be honest, I my heart skipped a beat. Luckily he could finish the game, but he has a huge egg on his ankle…”

Tags: Ajax, Emanuelson, Group C, Jol, Kennedey, Oranje, Stekelenburg, Suarez, Vertonghen

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By Tjeerd | September 20th, 2009 at 4:04 pm

Feyenoord losing 3-1 to PSV at home…….not good.

By Miguel Rosado | September 20th, 2009 at 4:09 pm

Huntelaar most improve sooooo much because Ruud wants to play the WC. Great news to have Ruud back!!!.

By Michel-Olivier | September 20th, 2009 at 4:26 pm

my dutch team of the week
———-Stekelenburg———-
v.d.wiel-heitinga-loovens-pieters
kuijt—Brama—seedorf—Robben
—koevermans—v.nistelrooij—

Posted from United States

By Mario | September 20th, 2009 at 5:14 pm

It seems Koevermans wants to the WC…

By Carlos | September 20th, 2009 at 5:47 pm

Feijenoord PSV – I am a big Vlaar fan but he looked slow and overweight? If I had to judge which centre back had more control/authority yesterday it was Ooier not Vlaar. Feijenoord did not look like they wanted to win as much as PSV. In between and at the same time watched the Manchester Derby (dont like either team but like de Jong) and he did not disappoint. Commentator remarked time and again how de Jong absolutely controlled that middle in the first half. Hughes mad a mistake by pushing Ireland wide and the centre was left to de Jong alone. It was however a great Derby to watch.

Posted from Singapore

By ferenc | September 20th, 2009 at 6:41 pm

it seems that rvn got injured again:-(

By fares | September 20th, 2009 at 7:47 pm

yes ruud is injured…

By sonneveld | September 20th, 2009 at 8:16 pm

how badly is he hurt? can’t find anything on it here in canada?

maduro was on the bench but did not play for valencia which is too bad.

both babel and robben assisted game winning goals this weekend.

I think the problem with huntelaar is ac milan have no width! he gets no crosses! if man united had bought him they would be better off than with berbatov, he would have score one of those headers.

By Michel-Olivier | September 20th, 2009 at 8:38 pm

“Van Nistelrooy injured himself in scoring and may have torn a thigh muscle”
http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5ixSJqA6OycJSwSapnSd3CfIvvuzg

Posted from United States

By 3ric | September 20th, 2009 at 9:07 pm

Poor display by Feyenoord’s back four today, Vlaar and Bahia in particular. I had no idea what Vlaar was doing in the process of Koef’s first goal, atrocious defending to say the least. If there’s any consolation, I thought Vlaar’s passing was very decent. A few times he released Slory and Cisse down the flank. Well, certainly this is a wake up call for him. Thankfully there’s plenty of time to prove himself, and get right back in contention. De Jong, Van Persie, and Kuijt all had a good game, not great, but worthy enough for mentioning. And guess who left the dog house, it’s Ryan Babel. Let’s see if Van der Vaart can follow soon.

By gooranje | September 20th, 2009 at 11:27 pm

I sat still and watched the whole Milan game. I have to say Milan’s midfield is simply way too old. I got frustrated because Hunter and even Pato got no real good support and passes at all. I counted and 9.5 out of 10 passes they got were long passes from behind. Yet however Hunter did look somewhat lost in positioning, I guess that has to do with him still new at the club and that he wanted to score really bad to prove his worth… to Milan, teamates, Leonardo, fans, Oranje fans, Van Marwijk, Real Madrid… everyone. It’s too bad that he got subbed off once Milan midfield began to play better. Yet, it’s true still that Inzaghi looks much more comfortable playing with his long time teammates than Hunter. But I mean Milan really need new blood, even Pato got so frustrated

Posted from Canada

By Tiju | September 21st, 2009 at 12:59 am

I didnt expect feynoord loose ,be frankly,but now i understood that if your diffence is weak you can loose to a lesser team..MANU made some mistakes in the back(ferdinand and foster),thats why game became close.i couldnt see feynoord Vs PSV but i think feyenoord lost because of their diffencive mistakes.but MANU played like champions but they were lucky to get the fourth goal in last moment.

Posted from India

By Carlos | September 21st, 2009 at 1:52 am

Everton v Bolton – watched that to see how Heitinga fared – not bad I would give him a 6.5 to 7 – did nothing wrong, was moved to midfield when Cahill went off. However the guy who impressed me the most was Pienaar the Ajax trained South African – Boy if anyone was a mixture of deJOng and Sneijder it was this guy – He put in 120% he was EVERYWHER. If you get a chance to watch this game – watch how Pienaar gets involved in EVERYTHING.

Posted from Singapore

By Tiju | September 21st, 2009 at 2:36 am

Carlos bro you are right on pienaar.i have noticed this before..i think we could become a better scouts for barca,arsenal,Manu etc

Posted from India

By Tiju | September 21st, 2009 at 2:38 am

@Tjeerd i saw ur video and you and ur cousin ….thanks man…happy to see you at least in video.

Posted from India

By Tiju | September 21st, 2009 at 2:39 am

i think hunter is in danger…there is no feeder for him in Ac milan..Oldie zeadorf is not sufficient…rony too

Posted from India

By ferenc | September 21st, 2009 at 5:56 am

no one noticed that clarence seedorf was the mom at ac milan-bologna? apparently not,only huntelaar,sneijder,vdv and co exist… bad news guys: they will never ever be as good as clarence is even in his old days. you write that hunter should have choosen manu instead of milan. of course. even barca because he’s better than zlatan and eto’o together (hahaha). the reality is that he is only good in a mickey mouse league but fails in bigger competitions (la liga for ex,and he has not yet scored for milan). rvn only needs 10 minutes to score and give 1 assist. clarence gave 2 assists and scored once in 2 games. should milan sell everyone and buy players for building a team around huntelaar? don’t think so. what i think is that rvn,clarence,robben and kuijt are our best and top class players and the others are not capable of long-lasting consistently good performance.

By sonneveld | September 21st, 2009 at 7:15 am

just read van nistelrooy out for 6 weeks

By Sol | September 21st, 2009 at 10:48 am

@Carlos: I’d give Heitinga a 4. Just watched the entire match, he’s lucky he didn’t get punished for his mistakes. Not to mention the chances he wasted with his terrible shots. 1 good pass over the top, I’ll give him that, other than that he was pretty useless and perhaps the worst player on Everton’s side. Oh yeah, he had some good earial duels early on, but that’s it.

My choice for primary WC formation would probably be:

——–RvN——–
Robben-vPersie-Kuyt
—Elia–De Jong—
Braafh-Matt-Loov-vdWiel

First subs to bring are Hunter, Sneijder, vdVaart when there are no problems defensively. Isn’t Elia almost playing that position already at Hamburg? He isn’t all the way on the wing but still on the left side. He’s playing left-mid in a 4-4-2, but sometimes also a 4-3-3 I think.

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | September 21st, 2009 at 10:56 am

With that formation you’ll have plenty of height and aerial strenght as well, very useful (and sometimes even neccesary) against teams like England, Germany, well, basicly any nation that attacks a lot through high crosses from the backs or wingers (so possibly less useful against Spain, who attacks more through the middle and over the ground).

Useful in standard situations as well (corners, free-kicks, etc.). Players like de Zeeuw, Sneijder and vdVaart are lacking in that area and with the short guys de Jong and Robben already on the field you don’t want too many short guys at corners and such. Elia is quite strong in the air as well I’ve noticed. At least in receiving and holding up the ball.

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | September 21st, 2009 at 11:00 am

However, with Sneijder and Hunter of the field, you don’t have a good right footed free-kick taker. How is Elia’s?

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | September 21st, 2009 at 11:12 am

Oh, I forgot vd Sar of course

mmm, putting that in terms of clubs that doesn’t look that bad:

——–R.Madrid——–
B.München-Arsenal-Liverpool
—Hamburg–Manch.C.—
B.München-Hamburg-Celtic-Ajax
—–Manch.U.——-

That looks like a team you can quite respectfully win a WC with. Not an outsider.

Posted from Netherlands

By Sol | September 21st, 2009 at 11:15 am

Especially if B.München and Hamburg end up 1 and 2 in the Bundesliga this season, which is almost what it is starting to look like (way too early to tell of course, but their main competitors are not doing so well, Stuttgart and Wolfsburg in particular).

Posted from Netherlands

By Miguel Rosado | September 21st, 2009 at 11:24 pm

————-Stekelenburg———-

——Maduro–Heitinga–Mathijsen–

—-Nigel——Bommel——-Emanuelson–

——Robben—–Sneijder——Elia—-

—————V.Persie———-

*Nigel and Emanuelson helping sometimes as left and right backs but mainly making it hard for our enemies.

By Miguel Rosado | September 22nd, 2009 at 12:07 am

Although perhaps I’d play Kuyt because Elia has to prove himself and Kuyt has been the most reliable player we’ve had at least at club level.

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