Draakon

It was an average season for us when I consider the results. We won Eredivisie by some margin (the gap was almost 20 points in the end), won the Johan Cruijff Schaal in August, but couldn’t reach the cup final and that was a disappointment, because KNVB Beker has eluded us for some seasons now. In the Champions League we had a good season - got through the group undefeated, but couldn’t beat the odds against a strong Inter side. The club finances are again increasing and after giving away more than £300m we’re nearing a £1bn balance again. One factor is definitely the crowds in Johan Cruijff Arena - we’ve set the new average attendance record for Eredivisie this season - almost 60,000 fans come to the stadium every home game. Players Our team was virtually unchanged compared to the previous season and the number of new players in the squad was also a little lower. We managed to avoid injuries, except for Amourricho van Axel Dongen who was out for almost half of the season with a cruciate ligament injury. In goal Riswana Sinaga started most of the matches and improved gradually throughout the season. He was awarded the Goalkeeper of the Year award in May and there’s more and more talk of him earning a call to the Holland national team. At least the manager Clarence Seedorf admits that he’s well aware of his form and capabilities. In defence I sometimes feel that we have room for improvement, although our main defensive line is in their prime at the moment. Rik Vos offers some height and aerial capability. Young full-backs Giorgio Jongebloet and Richard Svec could develop a little quicker in my opinion and 17 years old Frank Goossens has started to emerge as our future prospect in central defence. I basically dropped Can Tas as a centre-back and used Ognjen Rajkovic most of the season and he’s … OK in Eredivisie level, but has some flaws, too. In midfield I used mostly Kenneth Taylor with Claidel Muringen, but Can Tas played a lot of games after Christmas as a DLPd, but he could become a really versatile force in midfield - DLPd, BBMs and BWM are all positions where his tackling and work rate might excel. Mohamed Tahiri was good in both MC and AMC positions and Jaap Prinsen got less minutes than he hoped as a result. In attacking midfield our game relied a lot on Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson. The Icelander got a double-double of goals and assists this season and was the main creative force in our forward play. van Axel Dongen’s injury left us little options on wings and Anass Sarpong had to carry a lot more load this season. As a result he put in several good displays and developed nicely. John Meeuwis is our number one striker, but once again he failed to collect 20 goals in a season and got stuck at 17. He’s sometimes very inconsistent, but at the same time I like his game as a CFa and he has an ability to play that through ball to wingers that I want to see in our attacks. Koen Verlijsdonk’s development has stalled a little and although he managed to score enough goals, I fear that his position in the squad might be under threat when our younger generation comes through the youth ranks. Other Teams Jong Ajax found it extremely hard to compete in KeukenKampioen Divisie this season and they were ultimately relegated from the division. It was no narrow margin - there was a five points gap between them and the team in 19th position. It means our reserves are without an active league from now on. At the same time our U-18 team won the competition by some margin and showed that we still have the best youth team in Holland. Coaching staff are doing some excellent work with our youngsters. Competitions The Champions League was an English affair since the semi-finals - four Premier League teams in the top four and ultimately Manchester City ran out as winners. City won the treble this season and 2032-2033 was an extremely successful year for them. Eredivisie Awards We collected a lot of individual awards after the season. Kenneth Taylor won the Golden Boot. Top three in the Young Player of the Year list came from Ajax (Loet van Fessem had a very good season on loan at Excelsior) and Riswan Sinaga was named as the Goalkeeper of the Season. I was named as Manager’s Manager of the Year once again and that is always a nice award to collect.

May 2033 Fixtures and Results Two more games. Vitesse is always a tough opponent, but this time we have the home advantage. PEC Zwolle is already relegated and therefore unlikely to offer much resistance. I could rotate a little bit more against Zwolle and younger players got their chance to shine in front of home fans. At first it looked to work out well - an early penalty sent us away and Ja-Ryong Kim almost scored from a free kick five minutes later, but the ball cannoned back off the crossbar instead. We had a couple of half-chances until Zwolle winger Hamadi Kone broke our offside trap and equalised. Koen Verlijsdonk quickly restored our lead, but five more minutes later it was 2:2, as Remo de Ioris took advantage of the header that Richard Svec lost in our box. At half-time it was 2:2 and while I was happy with our attack, our defensive line lacked experience of playing together and it showed. We looked more cramped in attack after the break and struggled to create good chances, but eventually Mohamed Tahiri’s late winner in injury time proved to be the decisive moment in this match. Zwolle could say that they played really well at Johan Cruijff Arena, for a team that was about to be relegated, but ultimately fell a little short. The Vitesse match was an even battle in the first half and both teams defended well. Ja-Ryong Kim and Quenten Hose had decent chances, but it remained goalles until half-time. It was a very different game when teams returned - Hlynsson found Quenten Hose with a magnificent through ball to set up our first goal and then delivered a cross from our left that Hose headed in to make it 2:0. The winger had a chance to score a hat-trick in 66’, but this time the goalkeeper got his hand to his attempt. It’s safe to say we played excellent football in the second half and deserved to win this match. Tactically very good display and a clean sheet to go with it. Players and Tactics Not much to report over those two games. Tactically I’ve tweaked down our pressing a little bit more, while retaining our positive mentality and that has seemed to improve our defence - we’re keeping our formation better and don’t allow gaps that opposition could exploit while we move higher to press them. In games against Feyenoord and Vitesse it proved to be a really helpful change. A significant milestone was reached in May - Olivier Aertssen played his 300th league game for Ajax (he’s truly becoming a club legend for the past decade). Player of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson - outstanding creativity in the Vitesse match Goal of the Month: Mohamed Tahiri vs. PEC Zwolle - late winner from the attacking midfielder . Eredivisie That’s a little bit surprising. Feyenoord lost their momentum - they failed to find a win in their last five games and Vitesse snatched the runners-up place, with AZ Alkmaar in the third. PSV Eindhoven has also been a disappointment and their 7th position certainly doesn’t match their reputation. At the bottom of the table Almere City finished 16th, but comfortably won the relegation play-offs and retained their place in the top tier.

April 2033 Fixtures and Results Four league games in April - the first match is at home, but then three on the road and opponents get gradually more difficult with FC Utrecht and Feyenoord waiting to host us. We started with a narrow 1:0 win at home over FC Emmen. Our opponents were without a league win since Christmas and it’s a small miracle they’re still 14th in the table and not in the relegation zone. We controlled the match from start to finish, but were wasteful with our goal scoring opportunities. Both John Meeuwis and Anass Sarpong wasted a couple of chances and Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson hit the post, but at least Meeuwis played well his CFa role and found teammates with well-measured through balls to create chances, so when Prince Aning finally scored late in the first half it was well deserved goal. We couldn’t add to it in the second half, but we were really solid defensively and didn’t concede any decent chances for them, so it was OK. We secured our title before the next match with Sparta Rotterdam, because Feyenoord were against all odds beaten 0:2 by RKC Waalwijk and that clinched the trophy for us. So no pressure in the last five games and a chance to try something new if we wish to do so. The game itself offered an excellent first half when we attacked in good patterns. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson found a lot of space between Sparta lines and his runs and passes created havoc in their defence. Hlynsson scored our first goal and Quenten Hose volleyed in his free kick late in the first half - overall a very deserved lead at half-time. However, everything changed in the second half - Sparta’s Olvido Fer scored from a narrow angle in 58’ and Riswan Sinaga dropped the ball in 72’ to allow Roel Weis score the equaliser. We suddenly struggled to put Sparta under pressure and our opponent subsequently started to search for the winner, but eventually our substitute Anass Sarpong stunned them on a counter (another assist from Hlynsson) to score the late winner and take the game. We took the lead early at Galgenwaard and then switched to a balanced mentality that kept the match under control nicely. We created just a couple of good chances in the game, but at the same time kept FC Utrecht quiet too - the closest they got to our goal was a header from a corner that landed against our crossbar. At the same time we controlled possession and tempo of the match nicely. Not the most entertaining football on display, but very effective tactically and I learned a few things in the process. In 51’ their left-back was sent off after a two-footed tackle on Quenten Hose and it got easier, but we held our grip firm over proceedings and led the game to an end with a 1:0 lead. De Klassieker derby at De Kuip went even better. I retained our positive mentality, but tweaked down the pressing frequency a little bit. Both teams looked very well organised defensively in the first half, but John Meeuwis found Quenten Hose once with a through ball and the right winger finished with a placed shot. Feyenoord had to take more risks after the break and it paid off at first - David Kalokoh was unmarked at our near post and he equalised, but then Claidel Muringen found John Meeuwis on the run with a defence splitting pass and that goal secured all three points from away derby. Nicely done. So, four straight wins in April, even though we could play without pressure and confidence is high. Players Fortunately, we’ve avoided major injuries towards the end of the season and I’m happy to report that Amourricho van Axel Dongen has started the rehabilitation phase in his recovery from a cruciate ligament injury. Hopefully he’ll be fit for our pre-season camp in July. I’ve managed to placate Can Tas’ request for game time and he’s more content with his role in the squad. Claidel Muringen’s agent is still impossible to negotiate with and I’m afraid he’s about to leave Ajax when his contract runs out in June. He’s not short of suitors, I have to admit, but I’m not willing to pay over £30,000 p/w for his services. At the same time I’m constantly following how our youngsters develop. Young Serbian winger Sladan Krunic was asked to join first team training in Ajax an he made his debut against FC Emmen Player of the Month: Ja-Ryong Kim - the south Korean winger was under scrutiny at the end of March, but put in some very good performances in April Goal of the Month: Quenten Hose vs. Sparta Rotterdam - technically outstanding volley from a free kick Eredivisie Feyenoord have pushed themselves up in the table, but AZ Alkmaar have had a great form late in the season and they’ve reached into the top three. Vitesse have dropped some places and PSV are still looking for their form. However, they won the KNVB Beker final in April and got some silverware to show for this season. At the bottom of the table RKC Waalwijk and PEC Zwolle are going to be relegated. Almere City and Fortuna Sittard battle for the 15th position (I’m rooting for Almere, of course, because that would give our youngsters a chance to go on loan to an Eredivisie team).

March 2033 Fixtures and Results We’re out of the cup and the Eredivisie standings are not really interesting. We’re not under pressure in the league and can maintain our relaxed approach to domestic games. Not reaching the KNVB Beker semi final also means that our schedule in March has one less game in it. We stunned FC Twente at De Grolsch Veste with the first goal in 17 seconds - Anass Sarpong found John Meeuwis with a cut-back and we were leading before Twente players could even touch the ball. Sarpong set up Ja-Ryong Kim for our second and it looked like game over already, but then FC Twente started to get themselves into the game - our centre-backs looked suddenly very error-prone when marking their strikers and only poor finishing from them allowed us to keep our clean sheet at half-time. Can Tas was again complaining about his playing time in the previous week and received assurances that he’ll get his chances. He started in midfield today and scored an excellent header from a free kick to make it 3:0 before half-time. We had a strong lead, but FC Twente still had better chances in the second half - they eventually scored from one of those, missed a couple of headers from point blank range, but then our young defender Frank Goossens headed in from a corner to make it 4:1 in injury time - his first ever Ajax goal! That was it. FC Twente came to the match with a positive mentality and that showed - they were good with the ball, created decent chances and had a number of attempts on goal, but our finishing was so much more clinical and it seemed like an effortless 4:1 win for us. We seemed to struggle against Heracles at Johan Cruijff Arena a bit - they had a couple of good chances in the first half and several of our players looked nervous, but then Ognjen Rajkovic headed in from a free kick to score his first goal of the season and John Meeuwis hit an excellent strike just a minute later to make it 2:0 and ease our nervousness a little. The second half was much better in terms of confidence, but we allowed Heracles to score a consolation goal from a corner in injury time, so Riswan Sinaga lost his clean sheet bonus. I was a lot more happy with our display after half-time, though. We had a slight chance to overturn our 0:2 deficit against Inter at home, but it didn’t happen. After a fairly even first half where Inter held a slight initiative (but neither of the teams created any chances) they took charge of the match in the second half with two goals. Our substitute Koen Verlijsdonk reached the target and we had a couple of decent moments in the second half to level the score but our game really started to run well after we were already 0:2 down, so we didn’t put Inter under real pressure. I have to say that over two legs they were clearly the better team, especially when I compare individual skills and quality of players, so we didn’t punch above our weight this time and had to drop out in the first knockout round. Our last match in March was against Excelsior and right before the international break. I had an option to request postponement, but decided not to do so and played with the players who weren’t with international teams already. We could field a decent first eleven, although our options were limited and the bench had just a couple of players. Kenneth Taylor started as BBMs in the game and he found himself with the ball in the box just four minutes into the game and scored. Unfortunately we conceded just two minutes later - our not-so-well-practised defensive line allowed Mees Rijks to run behind and Frank Goossens was not quick enough to catch him. Calm finish with good technique and it was 1:1. The last fifteen minutes in the first half belonged to us again - Peter Misidjan restored our lead with an excellent strike and Koen Verlijsdonk scored with a fine header to send us at half-time with a solid 3:1 lead. Excelsior showed their teeth once again in the second half - their corner in 65’ led to a goal, but Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson scored just a minute later to make it 4:2 and put the result beyond doubt. I was quite happy with our excellent finishing in this match, but we were rather error-prone defensively and there’s a lot of room for improvement. Tactics and Players Tactically I didn’t experiment much in March, only tweaking a couple of things in two matches. The first was striker roles against Inter, but they didn’t seem to make much difference, because the difference in class between two teams was just too significant. The second one was a bit forced - Kenneth Taylor got to play as BBMs in the last match and was excellent, finishing with a goal and assist. Food for thought in the future. Continuing with midfield department, Can Tas has got some game time and is currently pleased with his number of games and Claidel Muringen still hasn’t signed a new contract (his agent is as relentless in negotiations as he was before and there are number of clubs interested in his services, so they don’t back down from their £30,000 p/w wage demands). At least we scored a good number of goals in March. John Meeuwis has now found the mark 16 times. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson has scored 15 goals and given 10 assists this season. Kenneth Taylor has 11 goals (most of them penalties, but still) and Koen Verlijsdonk reached 10 with his header against Excelsior. Young Frank Goossens scored his first goal for the club in March and things are looking bright for him. Player of the Month: Anass Sarpong - another difficult choice because of inconsistent performances, but Anass Sarpong was excellent in the first two matches, gave three assists in them, before missing the Inter game and being away with the international team during the Excelsior game. Goal of the Month: John Meeuwis vs. Heracles Almelo - great strike from the forward. The list of Top50 young talents was published and three Ajax players were nominated (although none of them in high position) - Anass Sarpong, Bence Kertesz and Loet van Fessem. Youth Intake 2033 I was promised a good youth intake by our HoYD and indeed it was an excellent bunch of players that came in. Three great prospects and another handful of good talented youngsters and what was the most important aspect for me - most of the boys had better than average personality traits. I’ve become more frustrated every year when our best youngsters are unambitious or with low determination, but that’s not the case this time. Alexander Kalaitzis Young and talented centre-back. Only weakness is his lack of technique and it’s unlikely he’ll become a world class ball-playing defender, but he possesses a good work rate and is brave enough for a defender to win challenges. Luis Carlos Croes Young striker with Aruban roots, but Dutch citizenship. Decent finisher and has some flair in his game. His fairly loyal personality hints that he might lack ambition. Has some qualities that need some work (dribbling, long shots and aerial ability), but looks like a good striker material. Jort van Leeuwen Right-footed left winger. Fickle personality, but that might be mentored - his determination (15) is promising enough, so I’m not overly worried. Skilled with the ball at his feet and has good acceleration, but lacks composure and finishing. Eredivisie We have a 14 point lead with just six games to go and the title looks as good as ours. Vitesse dropped some points and allowed our rivals Feyenoord to close the gap and take the runners-up position. At the bottom of the table RKC Waalwijk and PEC Zwolle are likely to be relegated.

February 2033 Fixtures and Results We should beat Almere City on a canter, but the next four games look very tough and close in calendar. As expected, we had no troubles beating Almere City in the first match of the month - Quenten Hose opened it up with a volley, Anass Sarpong scored twice to secure our lead and Peter Misidjan completed the rout with a penalty in the second half. I had the luxury to rotate some defensive and midfield players ahead of more difficult matches. We still have to keep in mind that we’re very thin in wingers’ department at the moment and a few of our key players (namely Ognjen Rajkovic) do not have the best natural fitness, so 3-4 tough games in a row might pose a challenge for them, so they’re not perhaps fresh enough unless rested beforehand. The cup quarter final started well for us - the first half as a whole was an even battle between two teams, but Quenten Hose found a goal with his powerful strike in 15’ and despite not creating any good chances we went to the half-time with a 1:0 lead. Unfortunately AZ improved a lot after the break. Their centre-back Petko Hristov equalised in 53’ with a header from a corner and we couldn’t find our rhythm. Luis Diaz then made it 1:2 late in 84’ and we were staring at defeat, but Peter Misidjan headed in in the last minute of normal time to score a late equaliser and keep us in the game. We had the initiative in extra time and a couple of good chances (where we probably should have scored the winner), but it went all the way to a thrilling penalty shoot-out. Both teams’ fourth players missed their spot kick and eventually Rik Vos couldn’t score in the ninth round of penalties. AZ won the shoot-out and we were out of the KNVB Beker. Playing 120 minutes in the cup affected our preparation for the Topper Derby - Kristian Nökkvi Hlnysson was too tired to start, Ognjen Rajkovic and Anass Sarpong weren’t at 100% either. Tactically I opted for a balanced mentality and that seemed to work out well in the first half - John Meeuwis had one decent chance in 12’ that he missed, but in 20’ PSV’s goalkeeper Ivo Grbic couldn’t hold onto Sarpong’s cross from our left and the ball bounced to Meeuwis who slotted it in from close range. I was pleased with our first half performance - defence looked okay, we didn’t concede real chances to PSV and had the lead, but in the second half I found that PSV were more attacking and they started to gain initiative. Unfortunately, Hose’s foul gave them a penalty (a pretty harsh one in my opinion) and that made it 1:1. Quenten Hose was forced off with a knee injury in 80’ and because I had made all my substitutions at that point, we battled 10 vs. 11 for the last 10-15 minutes. That was the period when PSV really had momentum and a great chance to score a late winner, but their striker Noor Kassim headed against the crossbar from point blank range. Eventually, we held onto a 1:1 draw and I was happy to return with a point. A draw from a difficult away match looked good enough and we were in a real sticky situation after Hose’s injury, so that’s good enough. Unfortunately Quenten Hose will be out for at least 5-6 weeks with sprained knee ligaments. He will miss our Champions League matches against Inter and most of March fixtures as well. The second match against AZ Alkmaar was as difficult as the first one. Teams were worthy opponents to each other in the first half. Defence was on exceptionally high level and there were no real chances, although Peter Misidjan saw his powerful header rattle the crossbar in 32’. We were awarded the penalty in the beginning of the second half, although I couldn’t see where the foul really was. AZ Alkmaar players certainly felt it was harsh, but referee Joey Kooij’s decision stood after VAR had checked it and Kenneth Taylor scored from the spot which ultimately proved to be the winner. AZ had one good chance in 58’ when their winger Loek Verbeek got through, but his attempt hit the post. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson played on the right wing, because we missed Quenten Hose due to injury and he was relentlessly hacked by AZ players. After he needed medical care for the third time he ultimately came off at the end of the match, but his gashed leg needs more time to recover and he will miss at least a few games in the next two weeks. That’s a real loss ahead of the Champions League games. The away match against Inter was really tough, as expected. We conceded an early penalty (again, a harsh decision from the referee Michael Oliver), but Riswan Sinaga made a brilliant save to deny Lautaro Martinez. Inter (and Martinez) got their goal, however, in 32’ and Nicolo Barella made it 2:0 for them in 82’. We had a couple of half-decent moments, but no real chances, and the closest we got to scoring was Mohamed Tahiris attempt in 84’ that curled against the crossbar, but we didn’t have enough luck to find a goal from those attempts. So, on one hand a fairly disappointing performance, but at the same time I have to say that the Inter players were head and shoulders above us individually, and with some key players (van Axel Dongen, Hlynsson) missing, it’s no wonder we couldn’t find anything in attack. Returning with 0:2 is not the worst result either - at least it leaves us something to play for in Amsterdam. The last match against Fortuna Sittard was again one of those easy home games against a struggling smaller team. In the first half we didn’t look very good, though - Olivier Aertssen gave us the lead from a set piece, but Fortuna’s midfielder Chris Lokesa seemed to be in some sort of free role and occasionally found himself alone behind our defensive line. He had a great chance to equalise in 40’, but the shot went wide and we kept our lead at half-time, only to start our second half very strong - John Meeuwis scored after Aertssen sent an accurate long ball forward for him. Kenneth Taylor scored his 10th goal of the season after Peter Misidjan was pushed in the box and although Chris Lokesa did get the goal eventually in 67’, Misidjan made it 4:1 and that was it. We didn’t take too many attempts, but had 3 clear cut chances in the game and executed those quality opportunities well. In summary, there were a lot of difficult battles against stronger teams, but at least we look fairly good against smaller opponents in the league. Tactics and Players Dropping out from the KNVB Beker was a disappointment for the board, but also for players who expected to win a domestic cup this season. I personally couldn’t understand the importance of it - we’ve been crowned champions 10 seasons in a row and it’s important to continue to win the league and we’re leading the table by some margin this season. The cup is always a bit tricky - from the quarter finals you could go out if just one game doesn’t go well or you play stronger opponents on away stadium, so it’s not guaranteed. However, the issue forced me to organise a team meeting where I tried to explain that the blame for defeat in that match was not only on my shoulders, but we’re in this situation together with players and have to improve together. I carefully avoided promises about strengthening our squad or changing tactics, and eventually most of the disgruntled players agreed that we should just buckle up and improve together. Tactically I opted to play with a balanced mentality against AZ and PSV in away games and the result was… well, balanced. Less entertaining football, but certainly more responsible at the back and perhaps not the worst option in away games against stronger Eredivisie teams. However, the biggest tactical challenge was approaching the Inter match at Giuseppe Meazza. In the end I left both Claidel Muringen and Mohamed Tahiri on the bench and paired Kenneth Taylor with Can Tas in deep midfield, with Can Tas in BWMd role - definitely a bit new for him but his tackling and work rate should allow him to excel in that specific position. The idea solidified our defence, but our attack wasn’t sharp enough and I wasn’t sure if it was because I should tweak roles and instructions for players at AMC and ST or because we didn’t have our best players available for the match and our attacking midfield was just overpowered (and outsmarted) by the Inter defence. Ja-Ryong Kim was finally fit and returned to selection in the AZ Alkmaar league match, but Quenten Hose’s injury means that our problems in the wingers department continue. It’s fair to say I have no options, because I need to play whoever is fit and for ninety minutes straight, even if they perform poorly. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson is one option I could switch to our right flank (and we did that in the KNVB Beker match), but on the left I have no better alternative than unambitious Tomas Koikkalainen who is nowhere near Eredivisie level. But our problems didn’t stop here in February and as Kim was getting ready to return Hlynsson was injured in the league match against AZ and now he has to sit out for a few games. Some new contracts were signed in February - Kenneth Taylor and Amourricho van Axel Dongen extended their deals for a few years on fairly similar terms as their current contracts. Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - very difficult choice again this month, because most of the players have been extremely inconsistent with their performances, but Taylor has been more-less solid even against stronger opponents and wrapped up higher than 7.50 average rating in six games, also scoring two penalties Goal of the Month: Quenten Hose vs. AZ Alkmaar - a powerful strike from winger Eredivisie We retained our ten point lead in the table and at the bottom, the battle against relegation continues between four small teams. PSV Eindhoven lost their manager Kim Bergrstrand in February, because he decided to take on a new challenge, switched to international management and took over Switzerland. PSV interviewed a number of familiar faces (including Mark van Bommel) for the position, but ultimately brought in Bo Hendriksen from FC Kaiserslautern, who is a new face in Eredivisie, having never managed in Holland.

January 2033 Fixtures and Results We have just one away game in January that is followed by four in a row at Johan Cruijff Arena. That should be a huge advantage, including the fact that MVV Maastricht is not the strongest opponent in the KNVB Beker. We started with a trip to a brand new ADO Den Haag Stadion. ADO switched their old Cars Jean Stadion for the new one that has more than 8,000 increased capacity - but sold it out for our match anyway, so perhaps should have built it even bigger. It was our first visit to the new grounds and it looked awesome. Despite the new crib our opponents succumbed to a 0:4 defeat and I suspect it was partly because of Patrick Kluivert’s departure from their manager position. The caretaker switched to 4-4-2 from their usual 4-3-3 DM and it was clear that there’s a bit of confusion with roles and expectations on how to play. We took the lead from a penalty in the first half (a very doubtful foul on Jermoumi that was surprisingly held by VAR) and I encouraged the players at half time. It brought instant results in a goal right after the kick-off. Another penalty by Taylor made it 3:0 and substitute Koen Verlijsdonk completed the rout with a simple tap-in. Two penalties didn’t make things easier for ADO, but I expected a sharper attack from them, but their pressure wasn’t really good enough to cause us any real problems defensively. I rotated the team for our KNVB Beker match against lower league side MVV Maastricht and the result was a narrow 1:0 win. We wasted three moments during one attack at the end of the first half, but ultimately had to rely on the second half penalty to score the winner. Our opponents defended deep and our attacking players lacked familiarity with each other, so for that reason it wasn’t our best performance (but it wasn’t our best eleven either, so everything’s fine). sc Heerenveen was another club that lost their manager right before our match and their 4-4-1-1- formation was not what I expected, but that didn’t help them at all. We took the lead in the first half after Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson cut in from the left flank and scored with a near post finish. Things got worse for Heerenveen right after the second half kick-off - their left-back received his second yellow card and was sent off and soon after that we were cruising - our attack ran smoothly, chances and goals were flowing. Birthday boy Hlynsson (he turned 29 on the match day) completed his hat-trick with a curling strike from 15 metres and finished with a 10.0 rating. Anass Sarpong hit the sixth nail to sc Heerenveen’s coffin with his injury time goal. It was a complete destruction in the second half. Heerenveen couldn’t make a single attempt in the game and nothing seemed to work for them tactically. Poor start to their new manager Anthony Knockaert. After such a good performance we failed to beat ADO Den Haag at home. Things started poorly for us when Ja-Ryong Kim had to come off with a muscle strain after just two minutes of football. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson gave us the lead, but Michal Dobosz equalised for ADO from a free kick. We had plenty of chances in the second half, including a penalty, but Kenneth Taylor (who had looked nervous throughout the match) sent his spot kick wide and his teammates failed to find the net too. It remained 1:1 in the end, despite our dominance in midfield and 17 corners. On the other hand the result marked our 50th game in a row without a defeat at Johan Cruijff Arena and that’s a huge achievement. The last game in January was a more routine win over small RKC Waalwijk. We failed to score again in the first half, and missed a penalty (again!) - this time John Meeuwis - but the second half goals from Anass Sarpong and Peter Misidjan brought us all three points. Our xG was 3.25 so we should have scored a lot more goals, but the result itself was OK, because I rested some key players and that contributed a little to our finishing efficiency. Tactics and Players Easier schedule has allowed us to rotate without pressure, but losing Amourricho van Axel Dongen and Ja-Ryong Kim to injuries will certainly affect us in February. Anass Sarpong can expect more playing time on the left wing and Quenten Hose needs to carry the load on the right. Can Tas has got more playing time and he’s satisfied with his minutes, although still unsure about his new role. What’s more important to me is that he’s been able to perform fairly well as a DLPd and that’s the reason I rejected some half-decent bids for him in the January transfer window. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson has taken his goal scoring tally to 14 in all competitions. John Meeuwis has 12, but what is more important is that he’s starting to excel as CFa and, although not scoring as many, has assisted a number of goals in January and his through balls have cut Eredivisie level defences apart. My biggest complaint about our goal scoring is that we’ve been poor from set pieces - we missed two penalties in January and although we had a lot of corners we’ve rarely got any decent shots on target from those set pieces. And when Kenneth Taylor is not on the pitch our free kicks don't seem that dangerous either. Player of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson - played in three games, but scored five goals in those and a brilliant hat-trick against sc Heerenveen Goal of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson vs. sc Heerenveen - curled into the top corner from the edge of the area. Eredivisie Healthy lead in the table. That allows us to focus on the Champions League and cup games in February. We had a quiet transfer window, but both Feyenoord and PSV Eindhoven strengthened their squad and spent around £20m in January, adding some good signings. I need to scout their teams and attacking line-ups more thoroughly before our next derby matches to be prepared.

December 2032 Fixtures and Results November was good for us, and partly because the most difficult games were at Johan Cruijff Arena and home advantage helped us a lot in those matches. December seems to be a bit different - we have a trip to San Siro coming up and the Klassieker Derby coming up right after that and before Christmas we’ll go to Arnhem to meet Vitesse in what could be one of the toughest games of our Eredivisie season. But at least the draw in KNVB Beker has been favourable and we got amateurs Spakenburg in the second round. In most seasons we had to play at least Keuken Kampioen Divisie level clubs in the second round, so this should be a lot easier and at least one game where we could relax a little and rotate a lot. Our trip to Sittard offered little to be happy about. It was a drab match from us and we struggled to create chances and (almost like from a movie scenario) Fortuna scored from 24 metres in 88’. For a moment it looked like we would return with a very unfair defeat, but Quenten Hose stepped up - his header hit the crossbar, but in the next attack he found an equaliser to rescue us a point. It was a bit unlucky for us to concede that goal, because Fortuna didn’t get any real chances in the match and our defence looked solid enough, but that’s football and I have to be happy with our come-back, at least. The battle at San Siro was just as difficult as expected. AC Milan controlled the first half almost completely. Diyae-Eddine Jermoumi struggled to contain Rafael Leao on our right flank and indeed he scored in 25’ to make it 0:1. We got our first good opportunity of the match no earlier than 54’, but generally had to defend against AC Milan attacks and when Hamed Traore hit the post in 70’ I felt we were lucky not to be 0:2 or 0:3 behind. But this time the football gods smiled on us - Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson produced a moment of magic, got away from his defender and sent the ball into the far post from a fairly narrow angle - an excellent goal and that left AC Milan too little time to respond. In fact, we had a promising free kick in injury time, but Kenneth Taylor couldn’t get it over the wall. Our shooting was just 6/4 in this game, but we got the goal and the result we needed to win the group. Feyenoord came to Johan Cruijff Arena with a very defensive game plan and 5-2-3 WB formation that packed their third with players, so it was really difficult to find space in attack. Neither of the two teams could create anything in the first half, although a couple of our attempts landed against woodwork. Feyenoord, in turn, were happy to defend and didn’t record any attempts in the first half. However, after the break their striker Simon Roger Nlandu headed against our crossbar to remind us that they, too, can attack. The breakthrough finally came in 73’ - Mohamed Tahiri came on for Peter Misidjan a couple of minutes later and while he has mostly featured in midfield, this time he was higher in AMCa position. It took just a few minutes until Prince Aning passed him the ball and Tahiri, with just some space around him in the box, curled it nicely into the top corner. An excellent strike, and a moment of individual skill just like that was needed to get us a valuable 1:0 win. Not the most exciting match in statistics - Feyenoord didn’t create any opportunities for themselves and we had just one half-chance in the whole game, and just 0.79 xG - but it’s so important to win those rival derbies. Also, three points to the table doesn’t hurt either. The Feyenoord manager Radhi Jaidi later admitted that I got under his skin with my pre-match comments. There seems to develop some sort of mutual dislike between me and Jaidi that will spice future press conferences, because he’s not happy to lose to us and I don’t think his conduct after those losses has been good enough. Just a few days later Jaidi left Feyenoord to take the new position at West Ham United, so I got rid of him in Eredivisie. Small amateur side Spakenburg were unfortunate to play their KNVB Beker match at Johan Cruijff Arena in front of 45,000 spectators, and they were mercilessly beaten 8:0 by my youngsters and rotation players. Mohamed Tahiri shone in the first half, scoring a hat-trick and looking excellent from set pieces (also scored one goal from a free kick). Koen Verlijsdonk also finished the match with three goals. Spakenburg finished the match with 9 men and that didn’t make the task easier for them. From our side Anass Sarpong received a red card after a careless tackle in the second half, but his dismissal didn’t affect us much. We had over 40 attempts in this game with 6 clear cut chances (16 chances in total) and xG over 7.00 - Spakenburg players couldn’t wait for this one to get over. FC Groningen could be a tough team to break - they proved as much at Euroborg and showed really good defence in the first half against us at Johan Cruijff Arena, but after the break cracks began to appear. Anass Sarpong played on the left wing for us and Groningen struggled to contain him. At first Jermoumi found Sarpong in front of the goal with a cross and although the attempt was blocked by the arriving defender, the loose ball fell to John Meeuwis who scored into the empty goal. Then Sarpong was fouled twice in three minutes inside the FC Groningen box. Kenneth Taylor bottled the first penalty, but scored from the second and at 2:0 it looked like a sure deal. Anass Sarpong later found John Meeuwis in the box with a nice cross and our striker doubled his tally to wrap things up at 3:0. Excellent second half performance and with 4 clear cut chances that we created, FC Groningen had to accept that their defence didn’t hold for a full ninety minutes in this match. Then it was time to travel to Arnhem and meet Vitesse. Our closest competitors had dropped some more points and were five points behind us before the match, so it was a chance for us to take the gap to eight before Christmas if we played at our best level. It was a tough game and at half time we were trailing 0:1. Both teams had one good chance in the first half; Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson saw his attempt being tipped over by the goalkeeper, but Vitesse’s Prince Lomboto stunned us on the counter-attack and our opponents looked fairly confident after that goal. I thought to myself that we might need to take more risks in the second half and maybe snatch a draw, but turning the game around didn’t seem possible, until Vitesse’s midfielder Luka Bleick received his second yellow card in 59’ and was sent off - the first event that changed things for us. The second was Quenten Hose who came on and found an equaliser and for the remaining 20-30 minutes we kept Vitesse under pressure in their third, until we finally played their defence apart in injury time. Hose was again in the middle of things - he had a decent look on goal, but played the ball unselfishly to Anass Sarpong who was in even better position and could score into the empty net. Great comeback win for us, crucial points to the table and a big lead going into the Winter break. Vitesse could rue their red card, but I remember that things played out almost in exactly the same way one year ago when we also met Vitesse at Gelredome in the last match before Christmas. They took the lead back then as well, but were left with 10 men in 59’ exactly like it happened now and eventually we ran out as 3:2 winners. History repeated itself a lot in this match. Vitesse’s manager John van den Brom probably wonders why they couldn’t finish the game without a red card against us and how to keep that hard-fought 1:0 lead at GelreDome next time. Tactics and Players It’s been a difficult month in the winger's department. We already miss Amourricho van Axel Dongen, but Ja-Ryong Kim was also sidelined for those weeks with a training injury and it means we missed two of our best left wingers. Without proper substitutions Quenten Hose and Anass Sarpong look fatigued. I tried Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson on the left flank in De Klassieker Derby, but he had a really poor match in an unfamiliar role, so it’s been a struggle. I don’t have any good options from Jong Ajax either (Bence Kertesz is away on loan), so we’ve left to struggle until Kim returns after Christmas. Can Tas finally settled down and let me know that he’ll be content to stay at Ajax for the time being. I still believe he has potential as a midfielder, although he’s unhappy with his new position training. Claidel Muringen, however, has failed to sign a new contract with us, although there have been two rounds of negotiations in December. It looks like the player himself is expecting a new deal and wants to stay in Amsterdam, but his agent is one of the most stubborn ones I’ve met in recent seasons, demanding now pretty much £30,000 p/w for an average squad player and every time I try to push it down for two thousand pounds, he cuts the negotiations and pretends to be butthurt. My next advice will be for Muringen to sack his agent, because I’m not sure he has the player’s best interests in mind. On a more positive note - our 16 years old defender Frank Goossens started to train with our first team and he was handed his debut in the game against Spakenburg from a substitution. He almost found the goal there as well, heading against the post from a corner, but that fairy tale didn’t happen. Nevertheless he’s an exceptional talent and I expect him to make his breakthrough soon. Player of the Month: Mohamed Tahiri - the midfielder didn’t start in all games (and his average rating was intact because he didn’t feature in the difficult match in Milan), but he was solid when he played, scored a crucial goal for us in the Klassieker Derby and added a hat-trick in the cup game. Goal of the Month: Mohamed Tahiri vs. Feyenoord Rotterdam - really well taken strike from the substitute in a crucial moment of the derby Youth Intake Preview Looks incredibly promising. A striker, centre-back and attacking midfielder. We don’t really need a talented striker (after last season’s intake), but I’ll take a talented midfielder with a determined personality, thankyouverymuch. Eredivisie Strong results in December have given us an eight points lead in the table and that’s a pretty huge gap around Christmas. We’ve gathered 40 points from the first 17 games and that’s enough to mount a solid title challenge. The other clubs are struggling with inconsistency a little and nobody has been able to put together a really strong first half of the season. Surprise package ADO Den Haag find themselves in European places in December - they’ve been in really good form so far and clear overachievers this season, but after Christmas their manager Patrick Kluivert left for new challenges and I suspect it will affect their performances after New Year. There are four clubs distinctly at the bottom of the table, but Almere City have turned things around a little in December and look very optimistic - five games without a defeat, including victories over their nearest rivals have raised them above relegation zone, while Fortuna Sittard have dropped lower and lower in the table, eventually costing their manager and club legend Mark van Bommel his position as a manager. Fortuna lured Almere City’s Maurice Steijn away (and I’m wondering whether Almere’s good form stopped there). There have been a lot of manager movements in December. As I already mentioned, Rahdi Jaidi left Feyenoord Rotterdam and our rivals hired Andreas Heraf as his successor. David De Gea was sacked by FC Utrecht right before Christmas - Utrecht are aiming for European places at least and De Gea hasn’t been able to give them enough points to do that, so their board probably felt it was time for a change. And last (but not least) FC Emmen’s Steve Mandanda left his post to take on a new adventure at Lille Champions League One point at San Siro helped us to win the group, but the group stage offered little surprises and all the teams who progressed looked fairly strong. I could have hoped to get Lyon or Borussia Dortmund in the first knockout round, but instead we will go against Inter. So, back to San Siro we go. That’s a tough match-up and we’d do really well to reach the quarter finals. Other clubs from Holland failed to surprise - FC Utrecht picked up just one point in group A and finished fourth. PSV managed to surprise PSG 2:1 at Eindhoven, but couldn’t capitalise on that win, and a draw and defeat to Panathinaikos kept them also in fourth place with four points. Certainly a disappointment for them. In the Europa League Feyenoord finished in second place in their group and moved forward to the first knockout round.

November 2032 Fixtures and Results November doesn’t surprise us with much - first the trip to Austria, followed by three home games (that get gradually more difficult when we host PSV Eindhoven and AS Monaco in one week) and we close the month with a trip to small town of Waalwijk and play against outsiders RKC. We started our match against Sturm Graz with some confidence and I felt that we could rotate a little bit, so Jermoumi and van Axel Dongen were rested, along with Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson. Perhaps because of that we found the first half more difficult than it should have been. Ja-Ryong Kim was the most active player from our team, creating chances and moving well with the ball and in 30’ we had the best chance of the first half when Kim found Quenten Hose with a cross, but Hose headed it over from just a few metres. Peter Misidjan tried his luck from just outside of the area, but his attempt struck the post and went out, so it remained goalless at half-time. Kim continued to cause problems for Graz defenders and in one set piece situation he was brought down in the box, so Kenneth Taylor gave us the lead from the spot and substitute Koen Verlijsdonk scored his first goal of the season to make sure we return with all three points. Ja-Ryong Kim earned a lot of praise for his performance (and attention from the South Korean manager who was on the stands) - he made 6 key passes, 9 dribbles and earned us a penalty - but the player of the match was Ognjen Rajkovic who had an excellent game defensively - winning most of the duels and two key headers. AC Milan and AS Monaco made a 1:1 draw in the other game and so this win made sure that we qualify from the group, although there’s two more games to go. I expected to record a comfortable win over Sparta Rotterdam, but it wasn’t the case as we battled for a difficult 2:1 victory at Johan Cruijff Arena. Sparta’s game plan seemed to be working better at first and we had to make an early change as van Axel Dongen came off with injury after just four minutes. Sparta got the first half-chance of the match, but Olivier Aertssen got back to make an important block. We struggled to create decent chances in the first half, but a penalty gave us the lead late in the first half and John Meeuwis wasted a great chance in injury time, so we were leading 1:0 at half-time and the end of the period offered some encouragement. We had looked error-prone in defence (perhaps because Olivier Aertssen and Rik Vos were untested partnership in our central defence), so in 53’ Rody Hoegee equalised for Sparta with a simple finish. Prince Aning took blame for the goal, as his missed interception contributed heavily to this conceded chance. We tried to find the winner and I had to make the changes I didn’t really want to make - sending out Kenneth Taylor and Claidel Muringen - but it didn’t seem to work out. Taylor wasted a free kick from a a promising position and chances were still rare . Sparta’s game plan looked simple enough - their Finnish goalkeeper Kimmo Leskinen delivered a long kick and saw what happened. What happened in 83’ was that Rik Vos missed his header and Toni Dangelmayr managed to turn away from him and was one-on-one against Riswan Sinaga. His attempt went well wide, but I witnessed another moment exactly like this two minutes later and this time our goalkeeper made a great save to keep things level. I was furious with Vos at this point, because as a centre-back you can’t make such simple mistakes in defence. In the end it worked out well for us - Ja-Ryong Kim delivered a cross to the six yard box and Quenten Hose was there to score with a tap-in. A late winner and three points to the table, but our performance had a lot to desire in both attack and defence. We created four clear cut chances in the game and our xG was 3.07, but we struggled to get the second goal. At the same time our defence looked way too error-prone through those ninety minutes, so little to praise after the match. Quenten Hose earned the plaudits - a foul against him got us the penalty in the first half, his late winner secured us three points and in between he managed to spread out six key passes and be the best player in our attack. We were favourites for the Topper derby, but the international break during the past 12 days had left the team a bit tired and I had some difficult squad selection decisions to make, because we had a difficult AS Monaco match coming up in midweek. Kenneth Taylor featured for Holland and looked tired. Ja-Ryong Kim too (and for him I need always consider that long travel to South Korea and back takes an extra toll and adds fatigue). Can Tas’ morale didn’t look good enough to start him in a derby match and we were without van Axel Dongen, so I decided to go all in against PSV and rotate players against AS Monaco (hoping that Frenchmen will come with fairly defensive tactics anyway). The first half was an even battle, but we got lucky in 16’ when Kim crossed the ball and PSV’s centre-back Valeriy Bondar got his foot to it, but directed it into his own goal - a lucky break for us. We seemed to take initiative around 30’ and Quenten Hose doubled our lead with a placed shot after John Meeuwis found him with a lovely through ball (that’s why he should be playing as a CFa!). PSV had an opportunity to score from a penalty late in the first half after Rajkovic fouled their midfielder in a set piece situation, but Riswan Sinaga showed good reactions to save it and we went to half-time with a 2:0 lead. I have to say that we were a bit fortunate in this first half and a lot of things went our way - an own goal, a missed penalty - so PSV could say that they played well enough as an away team, but were unlucky not to get a goal. They tried harder in the second half and I needed to make changes. Ja-Ryong Kim came off at half-time, because he looked now already too tired and Anass Sarpong came on. Quenten Hose pulled something in 52’ and I took him off as a precaution, because I didn’t want to lose another winger. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson came on to the AMR position and he really changed the game, scoring a beautiful goal on a counter (a lovely daisy cutter from 21 metres) and added another one later (another through ball from John Meeuwis). That destroyed PSV Eindhoven. Our opponents could say that according to xG it was a fairly even match, but the scoreboard says otherwise and our fans went home delighted. That win sent us back to the top of the table and it adds to our confidence after positive results in the past two weeks. Riswan Sinaga was voted for the player of the match because of his crucial penalty save and our clean sheet. Our home game against AS Monaco offered one of the most forgettable first half ever (at least according to TV commentators), because not a lot happened, but we managed to score from a set piece (Meeuwis on target) and had a narrow lead at half time. In the second half we managed to get a slightly better control over the match and when Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson and Koen Verlijsdonk came on, they quickly combined for our second goal. It looked like the game was decided, but AS Monaco scored from a corner and tried to initiate their come-back. However Hlynsson’s second through ball to Verlijsdonk in injury time decided the matter - a pretty good 3:1 win at home. Newly-promoted RKC Waalwijk should have been easy prey for us, but they had a new manager for that match, new formation as well (that our scouts couldn’t predict) and at first they offered fierce resistance to us at Mandemakers Stadion. Our defence in turn looked rather error prone and so we allowed them to build too many dangerous attacks, until from 30’ we had more control in midfield and finished the first half with two goals from Quenten Hose, who stepped up and looked like the composure player in attack. Koen Verlijsdonk added our third goal in the second half and it looked like game over, but RKC continued to create good chances from counter-attacks and Riswan Sinaga had to make several brilliant saves to keep his clean sheet. It remained 3:0 and looked like a comfortable win, but RKC’s xG was above 1.00 and they probably felt that they should have scored at least once in the second half. I wasn’t at all happy with our defence and the second half was full of complacency from some players, so despite the result not too much to praise. Tactics and Players I had no reason to change our tactics, because at home we’ll start with our usual positive 4-2-3-1 against anyone. It means my preparation for those games has been quite easy. At the same time I’ve turned more attention to players’ training ratings (and offered some constructive criticism, even making my squad selection decisions based on player ratings). We’ve been relatively injury free in the last 1-2 seasons, but that lucky streak came to an end in the match against Sparta Rotterdam - one hard tackle was all that it took and Amourricho van Axel Dongen had to come off on a stretcher. My medical staff later confirmed it’s the dreaded cruciate ligament injury that will keep him out for 6-9 months. It’s safe to say van Axel Dongen’s season is over and we could expect him back around next August. That’s a big loss not only because of his quality, but also because he could play in both right and left flank in different roles and his versatility is difficult to replace. All the players were really compassionate and tried to make him feel better, but I could notice Quenten Hose and Anass Sarpong working hard in training and being more alert, because they probably know it’s the best chance for them to impress this season. Can Tas voiced his unhappiness with his lack of starts. At the moment it’s pretty much an isolated issue, but I hope to involve him more in the DLPd role so hopefully he’ll get over it. For now, I’m afraid that I have to accept that his morale is affected by that disappointment. That row escalated even further in November when some of the clubs from Ukraine and Portugal made bids for him - I would be prepared to let him go, but to get around £15m for a young player who is worth £20-25m seems like a giveaway. On the other hand it looks quite difficult to rebuild that relationship that was damaged after some poor conversations between me and the player, so in the long term he’s perhaps not willing to play for Ajax and I need to move him forward anyway. November international break went well, although I received news from some minor knocks and traumas that our players suffered in training while with their international squads. At least everybody returned fully fit to our next match against PSV Eindhoven and Richard Svec looked especially happy because he made his debut for Slovakia in this window. A great moment for our 18 years old left-back. Estonian right-back Mark Mõttus scored his first goal for his country in a 2:2 draw with Bosnia & Herzegovina. When I look at our team stats it seems goals and assists have been distributed nicely between players. John Meeuwis has scored nine goals so far, Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson and van Axel Dongen have seven to their name, but van Axel Dongen is injured, so there will be no additional stats coming for him. Kenneth Taylor carried us a lot at the start of the season, but now Quenten Hose has taken over and also Koen Verlijsdonk scored his first goals of the season in November - the fact that all those players step up in turn and perform well gives a lot of confidence, actually. Player of the Month: Quenten Hose - the right winger has really taken over after van Axel Dongen injury. He scored four goals in November and has one assist to his name from those five games, but his average rating is 7.90 in the last five matches, showing incredible form. Goal of the Month: Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson vs. PSV Eindhoven - a lovely daisy cutter into the bottom corner, taken from 21 metres News item in my inbox confirms we’re still the best developing club in Europe and no less than 89 of our former players are currently playing in the top five leagues of Europe. Eredivisie Good results in November have brought us back to the table and we have a three point lead at the moment. The rest of contenders seem to struggle a bit - Feyenoord is without a win in three games, PSV lost three in a row in November and FC Utrecht has collected a lot of draws. Vitesse look the most dangerous from this bunch. The PEC Zwolle board made the decision and appointed former RKC Waalwijk manager Ron Elsen as their new head coach. Interesting decision from him, because Zwolle is clearly more struggling this season and are currently 17th, so it’s a bit unclear why he wanted to make that switch, although I agree that Zwolle is a bigger club with a slightly higher reputation at this point. RKC Waalwijk in turn hired Hasan Kilic as their new manager. Champions League We’re leading our group, but to finish first and get the first seed for the knockout round we need a point against AC Milan in the last round. The match in Amsterdam finished 3:2 and because games between two clubs are the first tie-breakers, a 0:1 defeat at San Siro wouldn’t be good enough for us.

I don't have much experience in all FM-s (I've skipped some versions) but in FM22 it's evident that positive mentality tends to lead to goals and wins games. And at least in FM22 it usually is that AI teams play with more attacking mentality at home and are cautious/defensive in away games, sometimes WAY too defensive. It's shows especially in Champions League where I can beat almost any team at home. I play as Ajax and have nowehere the quality of the teams like Real Madrid or Bayern, but when they come to Amsterdam with their cautious/balanced mentality, I usually beat them with my positive 4-2-3-1. However, at home they're positive too (sometimes even attacking mentality) and I have to change my whole setup to get something out of the game and not to be destroyed 0:5 or something similar. Going positive vs. positive against the team with a better quality is just suicidal. In conclusion, the change might be easily in how AI approaches games against you (especially home vs. away games)

That's the way I always play my Ajax save! But I've made a promise that if a big club comes with a good bid I always let the star players go as well. Definitely follow how things turn out for you.

October 2032 Fixtures and Results The Eredivisie fixture list offers some tricky away games in Alkmaar and Groningen, but overall it’s not too difficult - five games in October and only one Champions League fixture - a must win game at home with Sturm Graz. A defeat in the Noord-Hollandse derby finished our 22 match unbeaten run. We took the lead in 18’ - Ja Ryong Kim worked well to win the ball back, found Meeuwis with a quick pass and the forward scored with an excellent finish to make it 1:0. AZ reacted quickly and equalised three minutes later when Prince Aning let their Romanian right winger Andrei Preda to get away and finished their chance. Preda had a great game, unfortunately for us, because his header in 41’ gave AZ the lead. It didn’t improve in the second half, because it looked like AZ controlled things completely and grew more confident with their lead, so we struggled in attack, but all attempts to find the equaliser were fruitless. We finished the match with 0.88 xG and although we had 10 corners in the game, we couldn’t get any of them on target. Poor performance and a poor result. The AZ defeat had shaken our confidence a little and perhaps our fans’ too, because there were just over 54,000 spectators present for our next home game against FC Twente, in a stadium with more than 62,000 capacity. Our confidence clearly was shaken, because FC Twente scored an early goal with a header from point blank range and almost added another before ten minutes were played. Fortunately, Anass Sarpong (who started on the right wing) looked composed and his equaliser in 30’ brought us back into the game. van Axel Dongen headed in right before half-time to make it 2:1 before the break. FC Twente’s Bryan de Kaster scored his second goal of the night from a counter in 62’ - completely against the run of play - but at least then we reacted well and started to put our opponents under pressure. John Meeuwis wasted a couple of half-chances, but he finally scored in 82’ to restore our lead and after Quenten Hose’s volley in 88’ it was game over. Hose was our player of the game - he came on in 72’, assisted our third goal, scored himself and turned the game around. Not the best performance from us, but at least things are looking better in attack and the fighting spirit is still there. Defensive mistakes should be avoided, though. The home game with Sturm Graz should have been the easiest in our Champions League group, but somehow we struggled with finishing during the entire game. We missed some half-chances in the first half already, but in 42’ John Meeuwis showed his mojo - Peter Misidjan found him on a counter with a long ball and Meeuwis scored with an excellent finish to break the deadlock, but then missed a 100% chance in injury time, so we had just a narrow 1:0 lead at half-time. And it got worse in the second half - two more misses from Meeuwis and then he hit the crossbar from a completely open position. I finally took him off and sent out Koen Verlijsdonk, who continued the work that Meeuwis had started - it means: missing chances. another decent opportunity went wide and then from a clear cut chance he only managed to hit the post. It finished 1:0 and we had the win, but we should have scored four or five goals easily - we had 4 clear cut chances in this game and had 3.67 xG, but just one goal to show from all those opportunities. At least our poor finishing didn’t cost us points in the table. We started against FC Groningen without our best striker John Meeuwis who had a minor problem with his knee and I thought it would be wiser to keep him on the bench as a precaution. Koen Verlijsdonk started in attack. It didn’t begin well for us, as FC Groningen took the lead in 15’ and at half-time we had just one half-chance to show for our efforts. A lot of things didn’t go our way on the pitch and players looked anxious, so that added to the pressure. In 69’ I finally took the risk and sent Meeuwis out and eventually that paid off - he missed one good chance in 84’, but was alert enough in the final minute when FC Groningen’s goalkeeper Jens Craenmehr dropped the ball, and scored a late equaliser for us. A disappointing game from us (just 9/4 shooting - Groningen defender quite well against us), but at least we rescued a point and who knows how important that could be at the end of the season. The last match with FC Emmen finally offered some good football and a convincing 3:0 win. FC Emmen were promoted to Eredivisie this Summer, but they surprised everybody with their strong start in August. However, that good run started to fade away in September and October, and we didn’t have too many problems against them. Kenneth Taylor scored from the spot in the first half to give us a 1:0 lead after the first period. We played well enough and created ourselves a few chances, but I was rather upset with referee Dennis Higler, who had shown our players three yellow cards for four fouls before half-time. A bit biassed? We didn’t allow it to become a problem and started the second half really strong - Olivier Aertssen scored a beautiful goal in 47’ - a bit unorthodox one for a centre-back. He was in the box for a corner, started to run back to defence, but we regained possession and Hlynsson found him with a pass just outside of the area. Unmarked and unopposed, he took the ball into the box and fired it into the top corner - a striker’s goal from a centre-back! van Axel Dongen scored our third with a nice volley and Kenneth Taylor was unlucky just to hit the post with a free kick from a promising position. Really good win to give some confidence back after a few poor results, but at the same time I have to admit we couldn’t prevent complacency from creeping in after our third goal. Tactics and Players I haven’t changed much tactically, just tweaked some minor personal instructions - mainly switching John Meeuwis’ role between PFa and CFa to change our shape a little in attack. The players have been fit and we haven’t had serious injury problems so far, some precautions with rotation certainly helps. We haven’t had problems tactically, but we have struggled to find confidence - especially in away games and that has cost us some points in recent weeks. Several players are looking anxious and nervous on the pitch and my sideline shouts are not always improving things. It looks like our leaders lack the ability to handle pressure and that affects our football, but I hope that the last win over FC Emmen will help to get things back on track. I have been able to distribute playing time evenly, but there are just a few unhappy faces in the squad. The first one is Can Tas who has not played too many games in central defence and after seeing him struggling (again) against tall strikers in the FC Twente game I decided that it was enough. I’ll start to retrain him as a DLPd, because he will always be a liability with just 9 for a jumping reach, but his passing is good and vision is decent enough and with 16 for tackling he could become a good defensive midfielder/playmaker. The second worried player is Claidel Muringen - the young midfielder is still waiting for a new contract, but we haven’t been able to reach an agreement with his agent who expects no less than £26,000 p/w for a 22 years old squad player. A little bit too much for my liking, but the parties are not willing to compromise and back down, so talks have broken up several times now. Hopefully we’ll sign a new deal before Christmas, because Muringen is a talented player and I’d like to keep him in Ajax. Player of the Month: John Meeuwis - our striker has found his goalscoring boots this season. He scored four goals in October, including the winner against Sturm Graz and late equaliser against FC Groningen. At the moment he’s leading the Eredivisie goal scoring table with seven league goals to his name. Goal of the Month: John Meeuwis vs. Sturm Graz - Meeuwis has scored a few technical goals in October, but the winner against Sturm Graz will be the pick of the fans. Eredivisie We have dropped some points in October, but so has FC Utrecht. The top of the table is really tight and Vitesse have climbed their way up to the top after ten match days, but us, FC Utrecht and others are really close. At the bottom of the table it looks like Almere City and PEC Zwolle are the weakest of the bunch. The Zwolle board reacted promptly and sacked Colin Balkenstein before the end of October in an attempt to turn things around. Champions League Half of the games have been played and we look in a really good place at the moment, five points above AS Monaco and we should qualify from the group without problems

September 2032 Fixtures and Results September offers two difficult Champions League matches. In Eredivisie we host FC Utrecht (who has been superb at the start of the season) and also have two potentially tricky away games with PEC Zwolle and Heracles Almelo, so it’s not so easy to pick correct starting line-ups for those matches - they could be easy canters, but we can drop cheap points there if we’re not careful. We resumed our Eredivisie campaign with a trip to Zwolle. Fortunately players had no injuries after the international break, so I could plan ahead and select the ones that play in league matches and who are battling the Champions League fixtures. We had a fairly easy time against PEC Zwolle - a penalty and another goal from a free kick gave us a strong 2:0 lead at half-time and although we were caught napping by Zwolle in 53’ and they made it 1:2, Zwolle’s Marius Dieterle received his second yellow card four minutes later and John Meeuwis quickly reinstated our two-goal lead. The second half after the red card looked very comfortable for us. Zwolle made 30 fouls in this match and it was their undoing - our first half goals came from set pieces and the red card took away their hopes for a come-back. Kenneth Taylor was again our best player with a goal and assist. We were bold enough to go against AC Milan with our standard positive 4-2-3-1 setup at Johan Cruijff Arena and it paid a lot of dividends in our Champions League opener. We created some good chances in the first half and when van Axel Dongen gave us the lead with a simple tap-in after Aning found him in front of the goal with a cross, I felt that it was no less than we deserved after our first half performance. van Axel Dongen scored his second goal just a few minutes into the second half and three minutes later Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson showed his class by turning away from his defender and finding the net with a lovely finish. In 55’ it was 3:0 ,but then I made substitutions and our rhythm disappeared - Rafael Leao got a goal back for AC Milan with a thunderous strike in 86’ and Liel Nahmias scored their second in injury time with a swerving shot from 22 metres. It got really nervous for a moment, but it was too late for AC Milan - we held onto our 3:2 lead despite conceding two late goals. I was obviously delighted with the result and our performance against the big team. Before the fifth matchday both us and FC Utrecht had won the first four games, so the game between two leaders at Johan Cruijff Arena should have been a treat, but it ended with a goalless draw. We had the best opportunities in the first half - Amourricho van Axel Dongen missed from a near post and then saw his penalty being saved by the FC Utrecht goalkeeper (who was later named the best player of the game). Our opponents had better moments after the break - they hit the woodwork twice and Ansgar Knauff had a one-on-one moment with Riswan Sinaga in 85’ just to send his shot well over the bar. In the end it was a more-less fair result that retained the status quo in the table, but I was still a little bit frustrated, because I felt that if we had taken our chances in the first half and got better control in the match we could have won this. And if we couldn’t win at home, the away game will be a bit tougher to get three points from. Away game against Heracles was a potentially tricky one, because we were against a solid top-half team at Erve Asito. For the second game in a row we couldn’t score and it ended with a goalless draw. We had a couple of good chances in the first half - most notably Quenten Hose’s chance after Rajkovic found him with a long ball forward - but our finishing wasn’t up to task and Heracles looked disciplined enough. Peter Misidjan had a poor game as AMCa and our full-backs couldn’t find teammates with their crosses. Disappointing. We finished September with a trip to Monaco. Mediterranean weather welcomed us with 26C degrees and Delio Onnis Stadium was packed with 27,151 fans, so there wasn’t a single empty seat on the stands. I used our balanced 4-2-3-1 edition that we tested in pre-season and honestly, the first half couldn’t have been better. Amourricho van Axel Dongen scored with a beautiful volley and Hlynsson doubled our lead after the AS Monaco goalkeeper pushed Ja-Ryong Kim’s cross right at his feet. At half-time I had every reason to praise the team, because tactically we were spot on, defence looked solid and we were clinical with our chances. However, the second half didn’t go our way - Scott McTominay produced an outstanding screamer from 24 metres to get AS Monaco back into the game and in 80’ their centre-back headed in from a free kick to equalise. John Meeuwis had a decent look in 89’ to win the match for us, but his close range header went over. Really harsh second half - I was disappointed with the draw after leading 2:0 at half-time, but I have to say that Monaco got really lucky in the second half - they didn’t get a proper chance in the game and to score two goals from almost out of nowhere had nothing to do with our performance. Just individual brilliance and some luck on their side. But on the larger scale of things I think that this draw from the away game is not a bad result in our Champions League group. Tactics and Players Tactically the main question for me was how to approach the Monaco game. The balanced Champions League setup seemed to work well, at least until the attacking players used their chances well - we are not creating much with those instructions and our number of shots could be well below ten, but at least in defence we look well organised and at the same time didn’t look under real pressure from Monaco. So, the next test with that setup will be at San Siro against AC Milan. Attacking players will get some stick from me for their poor performances in September. After the AC Milan match we weren’t good enough in attack. Actually, it seemed that right when we had to rotate the line-up the problems appeared. Peter Misidjan has been really poor in three of the games, Ja-Ryong Kim was below-par against FC Utrecht and even van Axel Dongen had an off day at Almelo and Quenten Hose also lacks match sharpness, so as soon as I needed to rest Hlynsson, van Axel Dongen and Kenneth Taylor our attack ran into the wall. I can’t criticise John Meeuwis too much, because if he doesn’t get any decent passes it’s unreasonable to demand goals from him. And while we are good in possession and get a number of set pieces we haven’t been able to use them well enough. No goals from corners and the missed penalty against FC Utrecht really summed this up. At least we scored two goals at Monaco and hopefully it gives some confidence to our attacking four. Despite all of our problems we’re still 22 games unbeaten at the end of September. Player of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen - despite having some not so good performances, scored four goals in September Goal of the Month: Amourricho van Axel Dongen vs. AS Monaco - extremely technical volley, but placed right next to the post. Eredivisie We’re two points behind FC Utrecht after that goalless draw with Heracles. Both Vitesse and PSV are breathing down our neck. At the bottom it looks like Almere City are way out of their depth and RKC Waalwijk is another club with not enough quality to stay up. Champions League Not a bad start at all. A win over AC Milan and an away draw with AS Monaco gives us more points than expected from the first two rounds. AS Monaco couldn’t get more than a point against Sturm Graz in the first round, so it makes our position even stronger compared to them.

August 2032 Fixtures and Results Four games in August. We start with the Johan Cruijff Schaal against our arch-rivals Feyenoord, but the Eredivisie season kicks off with a fairly easy schedule for us - home games against Almere City and Excelsior look like must wins and should give us good morale and confidence going forward. We had home advantage for the Johan Cruijff Schaal final and we used it to full effect - controlled possession in the first half and in right before half-time Taylor’s defence-splitting pass found Peter Misidjan who placed his attempt next to the post. Feyenoord got inspired at half-time and they looked much more threatening right after the break and ex-Ajax player David Kalokoh equalised in 47’. I sent out Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson who had an instant impact by scoring a goal and assisting another - Prince Aning scored the best one of the game by sending a fierce shot into the top corner. The final score 3:1 was a very good win for us and gave a lot of confidence for the coming season. The first Eredivisie game against Almere City (at home) was probably the easiest match of the season (at least on paper). Almere finished 7th in Keuken Kampioen Divisie, but somehow got promoted through play-offs and now find themselves well out of their depth. Three players from Jong Ajax bolster their ranks, but nobody predicts them higher than 18th. I rotated the squad and pretty much sent out our second eleven against them, so despite our possession we couldn’t create good chances in the first half and always seemed to miss the final pass or breakthrough in their box. Penalty helped us in the second half - van Axel Dongen was brought down in the box and Taylor slotted in from the spot. Ten minutes later the Almere goalkeeper was unable to save Muringen’s strong attempt. It remained 2:0 - not the most impressive result, but we had no problems in defence, so it was a fairly one-sided fixture anyway. sc Heerenveen away seemed like a tricky fixture and indeed they were. They had a good start and in the first 10-15 minutes it looked like momentum was theirs. Heerenveen had a number of corners in that period and one of them led to a close range header from their centre-back that should have been a goal, but Sinaga was in the right position and catched it comfortably. We then started to get better control over the midfield and John Meeuwis sent a beautiful volley into the bottom corner to make it 1:0 in the first half. The second half was much more under our control and van Axel Dongen’s tap-in made it 2:0. In the end we enjoyed 70% possession, so Heerenveen’s game plan probably didn’t work as well as they hoped and we came away with a good win. We wrapped up August with a confident win over Excelsior - Kenneth Taylor opened things up with a beautiful free kick, John Meeuwis scored a brace (both goals were really easy tap-ins from just two metres out. Hlynsson added our fourth at the start of the second half and then Excelsior’s Apostolis Konstantopoulos was sent off for his two-footed lunge on Meeuwis - no contest from there on. The final score was 4:0, but we also hit the woodwork three times in this game, so it could have been worse for Excelsior. In summary - a really strong start to our season and good results in August. Tactics and Players No news tactically - our positive 4-2-3-1 wide seems to work fine. I’ve added some individual instructions for specific players in certain positions (mainly whether to take more risks with passing or not). Also, playing with Ognjen Rajkovic in centre-back has allowed us to add variety to our corner routines, so both centre-backs are involved in attacking set pieces (Can Tas was useless in those situations because of his short height). Player performances have been good in general, but Kenneth Taylor has stood out with his skillful passing and creativity - he’s been our best performer in August by far and the team has relied heavily on him in those games. Key assist in the derby, beautiful free kick and a number of key passes. He’s been above 8.00 rating in all of his games so far. We have no injury problems so far and in August we’ve had plenty of time to prepare for fixtures, so it’s been a relatively easy period for us, with good pre-season training. Player of the Month: Kenneth Taylor - just outstanding; two goals, three assists and 8.6 rating in August Goal of the Month: John Meeuwis vs. sc Heerenveen - Taylor scored a beautiful free kick against Excelsior, but Meeuwis’ goal was really important to break the deadlock in away match at Heerenveen - a technically skillful volley from outside of the area that landed in the bottom corner - classy goal. Eredivisie Both PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord have dropped a lot of points in their first match days. PSV is rebuilding - they let go a number of veteran players in Summer and also sold their key striker Jason van Duiven. Feyenoord have struggles of their own, so both giants seem struggling. That allowed FC Utrecht to emerge as the main challenger for the title - they had an excellent August, starting with successful Champions League play-offs where they secured their place in the group stage and also started their Eredivisie campaign with three straight wins. They’ve finished third two seasons in a row now and there’s no reason to believe they want to win the title now. At the bottom of the table we find Almere City (as predicted). Another newly-promoted team RKC Waalwijk seems to be weaker than their competitors, too. Champions League Groups were drawn and we landed in Group G with AS Monaco, AC Milan and Sturm Graz. AC Milan looks like the strongest team in the group. AS Monaco should be on a similar level with us and Austrians are clear outsiders. We have a chance to go through if we perform well against AC Milan at home and manage to beat AS Monaco over two games. FC Utrecht is in group A with Manchester City, Atalanta and Atletico Madrid - I can’t see them higher than 4th against those clubs. PSV Eindhoven are in group C with PSG, Inter and Panathinaikos. While they should be able to beat Greeks, the other two opponents are European giants and so third place and Europa League knockout stages is a realistic target for PSV.

Squad Update 2032 The core of the team has remained the same and except Stanis Idumbo Muzambo we didn’t have any departures this Summer. Few of the talented youngsters (Calvin Francis, Loet van Fessem, Joel van de Sande) are out on loan, but we have a good squad size (22 players) to start the season with, knowing that one or two youngsters from U-18 can climb their way up towards Spring. Our oldest player is Kenneth Taylor who turned 30 in Spring, but the average age is between 22-23, so we’re still extremely young even at Eredivisie level and that inexperience is expected to show in more difficult Champions League games. We have less international players than earlier - some of them have grown out of U-21 level, but haven’t been able to get the call-up to the main squad. Kenneth Taylor, Prince Aning and Peter Misidjan are on the verge of the national team at the moment. Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson is a regular for Iceland and Ja-Ryong Kim has collected more than 50 caps for South Korea. Estonia relies heavily on youngsters who come up from our youth system. Goalkeepers Riswan Sinaga has improved a lot in the last season, but because Calvin Francis is away on loan, we’re rather thin in the goalkeeping department. If something would happen to Sinaga, our next best option is young Bulgarian Metodi Borisov from Jong Ajax. Defenders My preferred four would be Jermoumi-Aertssen-Rajkovic-Aning. Compared to the last season we have a lot more depth, because we have Rik Vos back in the team and four centre-backs should allow us to distribute game time between players. Can Tas is our second best centre-back on paper, but his short height and inability to deal with headers has caused us problems in the past and I have found that I prefer Rajkovic over him in the second part of the last season. It’s possible that I need to retrain Can Tas as a midfielder to keep him happy at Ajax (or allow him to move on). There is experience in this defensive line - a lot of players between 25-30 years of age. Young full-backs Richard Svec and Giorgio Jongebloet have improved nicely, but their technical ability is still a lot behind Aning and Jermoumi, so that’s the main focus in training for them from now on. Midfielders Not a lot of changes here. In controlling midfield I rely on the trio Taylor-Muringen-Tahiri. Both Claidel Muringen and Mohamed Tahiri have developed really well in training. I lack good cover for Taylor, but if necessary Kristian Nökkvi Hlynsson can drop deeper to the DLPd role. The AMCa position is usually shared between Hlynsson and Peter Misidjan, who can expect much more game time this season after Stanis Idumbo Muzambo’s departure. Wingers Here we had to change things a little bit because Nikita Tamm left in the last Winter and Ja-Ryong Kim had to carry the main load on the left. Kim and van Axel Dongen are in my first eleven at the start of this season, with Quenten Hose as the third option. If I need to replace Kim, my preferred solution is to switch van Axel Dongen to the left as IWs and send Hose to the right as IWa. The new face in the team is Anass Sarpong - a young and talented lad who played for Jong Ajax last Autumn and spent six months on loan at Almere City. He did fairly well in KeukenKampioen Divisie and now tries to get minutes here in Ajax. He’s capable of playing on both wings, but his agility and speed suit better for the AMR IWa position. Strikers No changes here. I expect John Meeuwis to produce more goals and better performances than last season (20 goals should be a reasonable expectation for him) and Koen Verlijsdonk provides cover and minutes from the bench. Both play as PFa usually, but Meeuwis looks fairly versatile and even able to play as CFa. We have talented youngsters coming up from U-18, but it takes a couple of seasons for them to get on the brink of the first team.

Summer 2032 July started with the usual pre-season analysis, but to my surprise it was the first Summer when pundits picked Vitesse Arnhem as the most likely winner of the Eredivisie. Surprising, because they finished just 5th in May and although they have a very strong first eleven, we became champions by an astonishing 18 points margin and our young team looks better and more experienced than it was a year ago, so I wonder if analysts thought clearly if they predicted us the runners-up position. We’ll see how it unfolds in reality. Transfer Window Several youngsters went on loan in Summer and it was convenient for us that our feeder club Almere City were promoted to Eredivisie, so our loan manager jumped at the chance and sent Joel van de Sande, Joel Comvalius and Kevin Otto there right away. Goalkeeper Calvin Francis went to relegated Willem II for the season and young winger Bence Kertesz tries to make an impact in AFC. At the same time some loan players returned to bolster our first team ranks - Rik Vos and Loet van Fessem provide more options in defence and Anass Sarpong hopes to get some game time on the wing. Van Fessem trained with the first team and played in August, but on transfer deadline day he went on loan to Excelsior. One departure in this transfer window was Stanis Idumbo Muzambo - an ambitious attacking midfielder who is skilled and technical, but his contract ran out and his expectations about his new deal were higher than I was willing to meet - around £40-50k p/w seemed over the top for a squad player who is also fairly injury prone. In the end I allowed him to leave for free (something that fans disliked, but at least the board understood his impact on our wage budget and was more content with the decision). I also sold young centre-back Ben Zimmerman to AZ Alkmaar for £100k + 40% next transfer fee clause - Zimmerman is a decent talent, who’s unlikely to be good enough for our first team, so that’s always a good solution - average fee + high future fee clauses and if he makes himself a name in the other clubs we will financially benefit from it as well. It happened that Manchester City made an offer to our coach Ashley Rogers. As the Briton he had obviously enough temptation to accept the offer and return to England, so I was prepared to let him go, and the compensation that City was willing to pay for his services (£1,8m) was good enough for almost any backroom staff. Fortunately I had prepared for such events and had an extensive shortlist of potential staff. I quickly approached AZ Alkmaar’s Dijar Kasim who took over our technical attacking coaching (and immediately raised it to 5* level).