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Wayward Dutch eclipsed amid shower of cards
Lại là Simon
By Simon Kuper in Nuremburg
It has been clear since Euro 2004 that Portugal are a better team than Holland, but just to make sure they proved it again on Sunday night, in a slugfest in which four men were sent off.
Costinha and Deco got double-yellow cards for Portugal, and Khalid Boulahrouz and Van Bronckhorst for Holland, but more could have gone after the first bench-clearing melees of the World Cup. The Russian referee Nikolay Golubev ended up booking a majority of the players.
Two years ago this week Portugal had outclassed Holland 2-1 in the European semi-final in Lisbon. On Sunday Holland again lost at their own game, being outpassed by a team with wingers.
Once again Luis Figo excelled. Once again Miguel marked Holland''s most important forward, Arjen Robben, into invisibility. Once again the Portuguese identified Holland''s weakest defender in Gio van Bronckhorst at left-back, who seems to hate tackling, and ran their attacks through him. Once again Holland replied with an opportunistic game that has been called "total kick-and-rush-football", punting balls at the centre-forward''s head à la early Cambridge United. This time that centre-forward was Dirk Kuyt, picked ahead of Ruud van Nistelrooy. Kuyt''s main strategy was to seek penalties.
Punishment came on 23 minutes. Van Bronckhorst watched as Deco put in a clever low cross from the right, and Pauleta laid back to Maniche, who found the corner of the net amid Dutch mayhem.
Holland''s defenders Khalid Boulahrouz and Andre Ooijer fell over for the goal, and that Joris Mathijsen played a World Cup will be a source of wonder to future generations. Maniche, voted man of the match, could have had two more, but he once fired just over from long range, and later, from a pass from Figo, saw his drive caught by the Dutch keeper Edwin van der Sar, Holland''s record international probably playing his last international.
The best Dutch chance was a typically opportunistic one. Just after half-time a bad cross rebounded off Nuno Valente to Phillip Cocu, playing his 101st and last international, and from eight yards he drove at the underside of the bar. He deserved a better end, though Holland didn''t. A defence will struggle when its best passer is the goalkeeper.
Portugal''s chief weakness is a tendency to play in too low a gear, and Holland got the odd chance. On 80 minutes Kuyt, put through alone on Ricardo, pushed straight at the keeper. There followed a lengthy injury break for the clownish Ricardo, who last night managed to waste almost as much time as in the 2004 encounter despite the change of rules in between.
Van Bronckhorst, Deco and Boulahrouz finished the game sitting side by side on a bench discussing the match together. "I think the referee didn''t dignify football," said Maniche. "We dignified our country." His coach, Luiz Felipe Scolari, said: "I believe victory was normal."
Dutch coach Marco Van Basten simply said: "Portugal pulled the game over the finish-line with tricks, theatre and time-wasting."
Afterwards Holland''s players lay slumped on the pitch, while the speaker played the presumably ironic song, "Oh Netherlands, you are the champion." The demise of this unexciting side was rubbed in by German chants of "Without Holland we''re going to Berlin."
To the hosts, this practically felt like a German victory. Holland didn''t simply lose but had the pointlessness of their unimaginative campaign made undeniable.

Barca all at sea
By John Sinnott (BBC news)
Rijkaard has missed the influence of striker Samuel Eto''o
For a club that has won two successive Spanish titles and holds the European Cup, it seems barely credible that all is not well at Barcelona.
And this for a side that is once again setting the pace in the Spanish league.
It took only two games - the Champions League defeat by Chelsea on 18 October and then humiliation at Real Madrid - for the murmuring to start.

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Such is the level of expectation at Barcelona, whose motto is: "Mes que un club", which means more than a club.
" The rotation policy has been difficult for the players to accept mentally " - Radomir Antic
"For Barcelona fans it''s never enough just to win," former Barca coach Radomir Antic told BBC Sport.
"The club has to win with style. It is the same with Real Madrid. Their coach Fabio Capello is being criticised for Real''s style of play, even though they are only two points behind Barcelona. That is the pressure these coaches work under."
For Barcelona the media pressure has been ratcheted up a notch as there is a real danger the European Cup holders might not make it past the group stages.
If Barcelona fail to beat Chelsea on Tuesday and Werder Bremen beat Group A whipping boys Levski Sofia, Frank Rijkaard''s team would face a real uphill struggle to reach the knockout stages.
The concern for Barcelona is that in recent seasons the Spanish side have only beaten Chelsea and Arsenal when the opposition has had a man sent off.
The main brunt of Catalan discontent is coach Rijkaard, who, like Liverpool''s Rafael Benitez, is in thrall to the idea of rotation or, as the Dutchman puts it, "rotations".
In those two title-winning seasons Rijkaard had a pretty fixed idea of his team, but the Dutchman has switched tack.
"In fairness to Rijkaard he is looking ahead to save the team so they are fit enough for a long season," said Antic.
"But it is a policy that is difficult for the players to accept mentally.

Antic expects Argentine Messi to play against Chelsea
"Giovanni van Bronckhorst played in the game against Chelsea but was not even included in the squad against Real Madrid.
"That type of decision makes it difficult for Van Bronckhorst but also for the other players - they think that might happen to them."
It is no coincidence that the defeats by Chelsea and Real Madrid came after Barcelona lost key striker Samuel Eto''o because of a serious knee injury at the end of September.
Eto''o, who is out for five months, has hit 68 goals in 101 games for Barca and scored 26 times last season to finish as the top scorer in Spain.
Eto''o has been replaced by former Chelsea striker Eidur Gudjohnsen but the Icelandic forward has yet to replicate the understanding the Cameroonian forged with the likes of Ronaldinho, Lionel Messi and Deco.
"Gudjohnsen is not playing well," added Antic. "Most people would prefer to use Javier Saviola.
"Ronaldinho, in particular, has really felt the absence of Eto''o.
"If Rijkaard wanted to change tactics he would move Eto''o out to the left and bring Ronaldinho inside, but that hasn''t happened with Gudjohnsen."
Despite his advancing years, Henrik Larsson has been sorely missed. The Swede, who has joined hometown club Helsingborg, often came off the bench to change the shape of a game - as he did so spectacularly in the Champions League final over Arsenal in May.
Messi hurt his ankle in the defeat by Real but Antic expects Rijkaard to play the forward against Chelsea.
However, Rijkaard has been criticised for the way he has used the talented Argentine international.

Boulahrouz marked Ronaldinho out of the game at Stamford Bridge
Antic said: "Against Real, Messi was used wide on the right of midfield but with his dribbling skills you want a player like that closer to goal - where he has the chance to beat his man.
"I think in that wide-right position Ludovic Giuly is much happier to run on to passes, whereas Messi wants the ball played to his feet."
Antic also believes that Rijkaard, who it has been suggested is being lined-up to take charge of AC Milan next season, is missing the influence of his former assistant Henk ten Cate, who was appointed Ajax coach during the summer.
Ten Cate was replaced by former Barcelona midfielder Johan Neeskens.
According to many Spanish football journalists, Ten Cate was the brain of Barcelona, while Rijkaard was the club''s "face".
An advocate of fast, attacking football, Ten Cate established a superb rapport with the Barcelona players, thanks to a good sense of humour and fatherly approach.
"From what I have heard, Neeskens is not the same as Ten Cate," revealed Antic.
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Tuần này trên đấu trường C1 và C3, Barca đã có trận hoà trên sân Nou Camp đồng nghĩa với việc không trả được món nợ với Chelsea, đồng nghĩa với việc Rijkaard thua Mourinho trong 2 trận lượt đi và về của vòng bảng Champions League năm nay.
Barca năm nay có lập lại được kỷ lục vô địch Champions League thêm một mùa bóng nữa ? Lập lại thành tích thêm một lần nữa ở đấu trường Châu Âu, Frankie và Barca sẽ làm được điều thần kỳ.
Đêm nay Henk Ten Cate cùng Ajax sẽ vượt qua thử thách đầu tiên của UEFA CUP, hãy xem Barca''''s brain sẽ đưa Ajax của Frankie đi tới đâu ???

"Welcome home!" - Edgar Davids returns to Ajax
30 January: It''s official: Edgar Davids will return home. Back to the city where he was born - and to the club that made him a star. The 33 year-old midfielder, who spent the last season and a half at Tottenham Hotspur in the English Premiership, penned an 18-month contract at the Amsterdam ArenA, which will expire on 30 June 2008. According to most press reports Ajax will not have to pay Tottenham a transfer fee. Davids'' contract at White Hart Lane would have expired this summer.

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The first reports claiming that the transfer was a done deal appeared in Dutch and English media on Friday, but they were very premature. Ajax and Davids did not need much time to agree on the terms of the player''s contract, but Ajax and Spurs were still talking yesterday, while Davids was in Amsterdam to undergo his medical at the V.U. Hospital. Today, the deal was finalized, so that Davids could be officially presented during a press conference at the ArenA, at 14:30 CET today. Technical director Martin van Geel gave the player his Ajax shirt with jersey number 13. Why 13? "March 13, 1973. Does that ring a bell?" said the midfielder, whose birthday is March 13th.
Edgar Davids (born Amsterdam, 13 March 1973) is an Amsterdam ''street kid'' and a product of the Ajax youth system. He played for Ajax youth teams in all age categories before making his first team début on 08 September 1991, in an Eredivisie home game against RKC, under head-coach Leo Beenhakker. Beenhakker would resign later that month. His successor was Louis van Gaal, the man who would make Ajax the best football team in the world - and Edgar Davids a superstar. Davids, originally a left winger, would develop into an aggressive, hard-working left-footed midfielder, a ''pitbull'', a fighter, with tremendous work ethic and ''bite''.
Between September 1991 and May 1996 Edgar Davids played 106 Eredivisie games, 6 domestic cup games and 33 matches in UEFA competition for Ajax. He scored 33 goals in total and won an amazing array of silverware with the club, including three Dutch league titles (1994, 1995, 1996), one Dutch cup (1993), three Dutch Super Cups (1993, 1994, 1995), the UEFA Cup (1992), the Champions League (1995), the European Super Cup (1995) and the World Cup for club teams (1995).
Davids left Ajax in May 1996. His very last game for Ajax was the Champions League final against Juventus, at Rome''s Olympic Stadium, and his very last ball contact a penalty kick, which he failed to convert. Davids'' miss (and that of Sonny Silooy) sealed Ajax''s fate in the shoot-out. With his new club, AC Milan, he played against Ajax in the opening game of the brand-new Amsterdam ArenA in August of that year. Davids spent a season and half at AC Milan (1996-1997), followed by more than six seasons at Juventus (1997-2003), one at FC Barcelona (2003-2004), one at Internazionale (2004-2005) and one and a half at Tottenham Hotspur (2005-2007). In total, Edgar Davids played 350 top flight league games (30 goals) in The Netherlands, Italy, Spain and England. Meanwhile, he collected 74 caps (6 goals) for Oranje. At FC Barcelona, Davids worked under his former Ajax team-mate Frank Rijkaard and... his new Ajax boss, Henk ten Cate.
Davids'' first year at Spurs was succesful, but in the current season he saw action in only nine games (one of which was, unfortunately for Ajax, a UEFA Cup fixture, which means that Davids will not be eligible for Ajax''s ''European'' matches in the second half of the current season). Davids got into a conflict with Spurs'' Dutch manager, Martin Jol, and was soon out of favour. It wasn''t the only conflict of his career. During Euro 1996 in England, Holland boss Guus Hiddink sent Davids home when the midfielder told a Swiss journalist that Hiddink "should not stick his head in white players'' a**es". The biggest crisis in Davids'' career, however, was not his conflict with Guus Hiddink, but the ban handed to him by the FIFA in 2001, when he tested positive for nandrolone, a banned anabolic steroid.
But all that belongs to the past. Edgar Davids, the man with the distinctive protective goggles (necessary as Davids suffers from glaucoma), has returned to where it all started. Just before his press presentation the prodigal son had his first training session on the training pitch in front of the Amsterdam ArenA. Edgar Davids is expected to be fit for Sunday''s ''Classic'' against Feijnoord. Indeed, not a bad ''début game''... (MP)

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Source: MP
Được aja_bar sửa chữa / chuyển vào 13:55 ngày 31/01/2007

The battle that undermines Ajaxõ?Ts search for beautiful game
From: The Times - February 06, 2007
The Rivals: In the second of a series on footballõ?Ts most explosive matches, our correspondent visits Amsterdam
The greatest rivalries are built on differences. So you had Muhammad Ali, all swaggering verbosity, taking on Joe Frazierõ?Ts prosaic brawler and Bjảrn Borgõ?Ts mute Viking trading blows with John McEnroeõ?Ts prep-school brat.
In football, you will struggle to find a more vivid contrast than the one between Ajax, the self-styled aesthetes and liberal champions of totaal voetbal, and that õ?obunch of antiSemitic dockersõ? from Rotterdam. The subtext to this enmity between Ajax and Feyenoord, two clubs separated by 43 miles, is one of the more bizarre in world football.
õ?oHamas, Hamas õ?" Jews to the gas,õ? the Rotterdam contingent chant at their counterparts. õ?oWe are Super Jews,õ? comes the reply. Stars of David bedeck the Amsterdam ArenA. õ?oWeõ?Tre not a Jewish club at all,õ? one disgruntled season-ticket holder and son of a Holocaust survivor said. õ?oItõ?Ts just these bloody kids. They just want some sort of identity, but itõ?Ts insulting.õ?
This adopted Jewishness is one quirk of a unique club. Another is the devotion to beautifying the game, underscored by the boardõ?Ts policy statement committing Ajax to õ?ocreative, attacking and dominant footballõ?, then there is the ugliness of its F-Side ultras.
It takes two to tango, three to form a crowd and ten mounted policeman to cause chaos via a prematch cavalry charge. This was on Sunday, 90 minutes before the start of the most febrile fixture in the Netherlands and the Ajax fans waited beneath the railway station and the contempt of the police.
As the huge yellow train containing all the Feyenoord supporters pulled in, bottles and firecrackers flew. Police dogs barked, the mob bayed, truncheons thudded. Eleven fans were arrested, three officers were wounded and one fan dressed in a white boiler suit and gas mask, and with a Feyenoord ****roach painted on his back, failed to merge into the background.
It will be ten years ago next month when fans met in a field 20 miles from Amsterdam.
One Ajax supporter, Carlo Picornie, was beaten to death in the so-called Battle of Beverwijk. That led to a nation-wide campaign õ?" õ?oFootball: donõ?Tt mess it upõ? õ?" and flowers were laid on Picornieõ?Ts seat. It made little difference, just as death and self-destruction in Italy are now seen as someone elseõ?Ts problem.
Three years ago, Jorge Acuña, the Feyenoord midfield player, ended up in hospital with head injuries after being attacked by Ajax hooligans at a reserve-team match. Robin van Persie, now at Arsenal, was narrowly saved from having to make the same trip.
This classic rivalry is one that goes beyond football. õ?oAmsterdam is the historic and cultural centre [of the Netherlands],õ? Ian Mackay, a resident for 30 years, said. õ?oBut Rotterdam is an industrial working city and not pleasing on the eye. It extends to politics, too. Until the last vote, Amsterdam was liberal to socialist, whereas Rotterdam has become more right wing, with Pim Fortuyn setting up his anti-immigration party in the city.õ?
And then there is the football. Ajax have the history õ?" four European Cups to Feyenoordõ?Ts one õ?" the fabled system, a high defensive line and interchanging roles versus a decent work ethic and widespread sympathy; Ruud Krolõ?Ts father hiding 17 Jews in the flat above his cafâ against Feyenoord being expelled from the Uefa Cup for hooliganism.
Ajax are also peculiar for a big club in promoting so many local players. õ?oIn the old days you could go down to training and talk to Dennis Bergkamp through the netting,õ? Mackay said. That was when they were still at the old De Meer stadium, where Johan Cruyffõ?Ts mother washed the shirts.
Now they have players such as Ryan Babel, who comes from Bijlmer, a rough area with a large immigrant community, by the ArenA. õ?oThis is where most players come from,õ? Jordy van Dort, the e***or of the Football Derbies website, said. The merging of the parochial with a global appeal is a further string to the Ajax paradox.
Another local, Edgar Davids, was back on Sunday and the fans loved it. One supporter said that Davids would have been in prison had it not been for football. Born in Surinam, he grew up in the insalubrious Amsterdam Noordt, where he later built a football pitch for local children.
His presence, some 16 years after his debut, added to the vibrancy and he played well enough. Wesley Sneijder, the playmaker in a 4-2-1-3 system, scored a hat-trick as Ajax won 4-1.
The clubsõ?T rivalry is born of jarring contrasts, jealousy, suspicion and prejudice, real and imagined. Sometimes its nuances sound like double Dutch, but the confused should refer to a 4-1 scoreline and the defining saying of the divide: õ?oWhile Amsterdam dreams, Rotterdam works.õ?
Rivals rating
Atmosphere Fireworks, smoke, noise and colour, but the volume dropped a little when Ajax cantered into a 3-0 lead 7
History Honours galore, including five European Cups, the furore caused by Ajax legend Johan Cruyffõ?Ts move to Feyenoord in 1983, and decades of mutual antipathy 8
Ugliness Feyenoord fans were taken from the station into the ground via a covered walkway, but a mounted police charge caused panic beforehand 7
Status It is eight years since Feyenoord won the title, but Ajaxõ?Ts 4-1 win keeps them in contention for a first triumph since 2004. Still hard for Ajax to keep their best players 7
Fanõ?Ts view Ranked higher than any English match on the Football Derbies website 8
Total 37 (out of 50)

What''''s the difference between Sneijder and Beckham?
One wears the No23 shirt, scores free-kicks, delivers 45-yard assists, is adored by fans and speaks perfect English. The other is David Beckham.​

September 3, 2007 5:33 PM
When Real Madrid presented Wesley Sneijder alongside fellow Dutchman Royston Drenthe this summer, most people in Spain were not entirely convinced - even if the media cheerleaders did don pom-poms and ra-ra skirts. He was, after all, fourth choice after Madrid had missed out on Kaká, Cesc Fábregas and Michael Ballack; he had cost ,27m - three days, and one humiliating defeat, after Madrid had told Ajax that they had "three hours, not a minute more" to accept a "final, final" offer of ,24m; and, let''''s face it, he was just never going to be as good as David Beckham.
Those who knew Sneijder knew better. Asked whether Drenthe and Sneijder were any good, the text message from one Holland international said it all: "Drenthe, definitely not. Sneijder, definitely yes. The best player in Holland by miles - well worth the money!" Meanwhile, Real Zaragoza full-back Juanfran, who played alongside Sneijder at Ajax, described him as "the best player Madrid have signed since Zinedine Zidane." Which is going some when that list includes Ronaldo and Beckham as well over ,500m worth of assorted misfits and lunatics, like Walter Samuel, Tommy Gravesen and dermatologists'''' dream Antonio Cassano.
They were right too. While Beckham has been stillborn in the USA, Sneijder has been sensational in Spain: the La Liga season may only be two weeks old but already he has revealed himself to have a whore for a mother. Round here that''''s no cuss, either, because for some reason in Spain de puta madre actually means bloody brilliant.
And, boy, is Sneijder bloody brilliant! Worth the ,27m transfer fee and well worth annoying Ajax so much that their sporting director calls you "a bunch of backstreet pimps". First, he scored the winner on the opening day of the season in the Madrid derby against Atlético and then he turned in another fantastic performance as Bernd Schuster''''s team turned on the style last night.
It was a big night in Villarreal. Which might not be saying much for a town where people sit out on the streets in plastic chairs waiting for the world to go by without ever quite realising that it''''s not going to, but it was a big night alright. A top-of-the-table clash between the best two teams in world football, presided over by a cuddly mascot that''''s supposed to be a submarine but looks more like a sub-normal Moomin, attended by more than half the town''''s population and broadcast by two different channels as the telly war rages on. Villarreal, boasting nine successive wins and unbeaten since April, against Real Madrid, the league champions and unbeaten in 16 competitive matches.
It was, they said, a real test for Madrid and they passed with flying colours, winning at El Madrigal for the first time ever, inflicting the Yellow Submarine''''s worst ever defeat as they ran out 5-0 winners with goals from Raúl, Sneijder (2), Guti and Ruud van Nistelrooy. Not because Villarreal were bad, either (they had more possession, more attacks and more shots than Madrid) but because Madrid were excellent. Marca called it "total football", which is pushing it, but with Guti pulling the strings in the middle Madrid kept the ball well and used it neatly, while they were unstoppable on the break. It was, screamed AS, "a white hurricane" and they had a point: once they had scored the second, just after half-time, Madrid blew Villarreal away. Drenthe might have proven to be just as out of control on the pitch as he is on Madrid''''s mean streets, where at 4.30am on Wednesday morning he cleverly took a left turn that didn''''t exist and ploughed straight into a police car, but otherwise Schuster''''s side were impressive, boasting pace, precision and devastating accuracy.
Most of all, though, they boasted Sneijder. The midfielder, said Van Nistelrooy, revealing rather too much as the players emerged from their post-match shower, "is enormous". In fact he''''s got the big-eyed smiley face of a five-year-old and the height of one, too. But while Sneijder stands at barely 5ft 7in, his performance was certainly immense: "Maradonian", said Marca, while even coach Bernd Schuster was raving about him. "Sneijder reminds me of another blond midfielder who played for Real Madrid once - he wasn''''t bad either," said the blond former Madrid midfielder with characteristic modesty.
Unable to fill Beckham''''s shoes? Pah! On the evidence so far, anything Becks can do, Sneijder can do better. Curling free-kicks? Check. Raking 45-yard balls? Check (and Sneijder''''s ones actually get you somewhere). Hard work? Check. Then there''''s the pace, the short passing, the flicks, the vision, the intelligence, and the goals. Oh, and the ability to shake off an opponent without turning his backside to them, waiting for the contact and shooting 300 feet into the air.
Last night, Sneijder provided a wonderful long assist, swinging a 40-yard ball over the defence for Raúl to open the scoring. He then curled an unstoppable free-kick in-off the post for the second, killing off Villarreal''''s resistance, and later hit a classy finish with the outside of his boot to make him La Liga''''s top scorer with three in two matches, thus earning him the nickname Pichichi and Real Madrid a deserved top spot on a perfect night.
Well, almost perfect. Because, as usual, a Spanish referee did his best to ruin things. No, not Mejía Dávila, who gave Barça a debatable penalty after Gorka assaulted Thierry''''s Henry''''s foot with his face and awarded a goal for a Yaya Touré shot that never went over the line, but chest-puffing, strutting disciplinarian Luis Medina Cantalejo. On a weekend marked by tributes to Antonio Puerta, this particularly pathetic individual booked Sergio Ramos, a former team-mate and close friend of Puerta, for removing his shirt to reveal a vest with the slogan: "Antonio, rest in peace. We will never forget you." And they wonder why people hate them.
Được aja_bar sửa chữa / chuyển vào 19:16 ngày 05/09/2007

Chelsea lines up Van Basten
September 26, 2007
CHELSEA has reportedly offered Netherlands coach Marco Van Basten the chance to become the long-term successor to Jose Mourinho.
Director of Football Avram Grant was put in charge of the first team last week after Mourinho''''s shock''''s departure.
But the club have refused to clarify the terms on which the Israeli has stepped into the manager''''s chair, fuelling speculation that he is only a stop-gap appointment until Roman Abramovich can find a big-name replacement for Mourinho.
A report in The Sun claimed Chelsea''''s Russian owner had already offered the job to Van Basten, who sat behind Abramovich in the VIP seats as Chelsea were beaten 2-0 by Manchester United at Old Trafford on Sunday.
The paper claimed contact between the two had been established through Frank Arnesen, the Dutch head of Chelsea''''s youth and scouting operation, and cited former Juventus, AC Milan and Real Madrid boss Fabio Capello as their source.
Capello, himself seen as another potential replacement for Mourinho, reportedly said: "Arnesen wants Van Basten to take over and has already recommended Marco to Abramovich.
"Frank and Marco know each other well from their time in Dutch football."
On paper at least, Van Basten, 40, would be an ideal appointment for Chelsea. His status as one of the world''''s greatest players would appease fans angered by Mourinho''''s exit while his record as the Dutch national coach suggests he could deliver the entertaining, attacking football that Abramovich is said to crave.
Van Basten is bound to be tempted by the offer but there must be a doubt as to whether he would be willing to quit his country just as they are coming to the end of their qualifying campaign for Euro 2008.
The reports linking Chelsea with Van Basten can however only serve to further undermine the position of Grant, whose cause has not been helped by Sunday''''s defeat and rumours that some of the club''''s biggest names want to follow Mourinho out of Stamford Bridge.
Grant''''s appointment was made so hastily last week that the 52-year-old has not even had time to replace the backroom staff who left with Mourinho, a task he hopes to have completed inside three weeks.
"We are looking in England and abroad," he revealed ahead of the League Cup trip to Hull City.
"We need a fitness and a goalkeeping coach. We are using people from the academy at the moment and they are doing a very good job."
Grant also insisted that he had the backing of the Chelsea dressing room.
"They speak with me very well," he said. "The injured players are trying to get back sooner than expected. If I can judge through their actions, everything is okay."
Grant added: "Coaches come and go. Not all of them stay like Sir Alex Ferguson. I respect Jose very much. But I don''''t have any doubt about their loyalty to the club."
Despite insisting that he had enjoyed a good relationship with Mourinho, Grant could not resist a veiled swipe at his predecessor by claiming he had inherited a team with problems.
"This season we didn''''t play so well except one game that was fantastic against Birmingham and twenty minutes against Reading," Grant said.
"We didn''''t play well, we didn''''t score enough goals. We need many things to improve and in a short time."
(Source:foxsports.com)
Được aja_bar sửa chữa / chuyển vào 09:37 ngày 27/09/2007

Chelsea line up Ajax coach in Stamford Bridge shake-up
Henk ten Cate has been asked to work in tandem with Avram Grant, reports Stuart James in Valencia
Thursday October 4, 2007
The Guardian
It comes as little surprise that Chelsea are again preparing to make changes to their coaching staff but Avram Grant, who oversaw a remarkable victory in Valencia last night, has no cause to fear for his own position as the Premier League club court the Dutchman Henk ten Cate to work in tandem with the Israeli. Reports in the Netherlands suggest that Ten Cate, who is the current Ajax coach, has held talks with Frank Arnesen with a view to working at Stamford Bridge
The latest development behind the scenes at Stamford Bridge came on a night when Grant spectacularly debunked the theory that Chelsea''s indomitable spirit under Jose Mourinho had departed along with the Portuguese.
Having repeated the feat of his predecessor by inspiring a victory at Valencia''s intimidating Mestalla Stadium, Grant hailed the start of a new era. "We want to finish one way and want to play a new way of football that will be very good for the club," he said.
That evolution is likely to see Ten Cate join the club, possibly as an assistant, with the 52-year-old expected to be offered around Ê1m a year after his meeting with the Dane Arnesen in London last week. His arrival, which is likely to lead to a hands-on role working under Grant, will almost inevitably lead to speculation that Chelsea might seek to extend the Dutch influence at the club by recruiting the former Holland manager and current Russia coach Guus Hiddink.
Chelsea responded to rumours about Ten Cate joining by issuing a statement on the eve of last night''s Champions League match. "Avram Grant, as first-team coach, has made it publicly clear several times that he intends to strengthen his back-room team in ad***ion to his assistant coach Steve Clarke. One of the scenarios Avram is considering is a team containing a British assistant coach in Steve and a foreign assistant coach, a system the first team are already familiar with."
Ajax would not comment last night but sources in the Netherlands indicate that Ten Cate, who did not deny there had been an approach from Chelsea, is receptive to the idea of joining the Premier League club. Ten Cate, who previously worked alongside Frank Rijkaard at Barcelona, helping the Spanish club to win the European Cup in 2006, joined Ajax at the start of last season but indicated then that he did not intend to stay beyond the end of the current campaign.
He may not stay even so long, however, because Grant suggested on Tuesday evening that the international break would be used to recruit coaching staff. The Israeli also said he would not be seeking a replacement for Clarke, Chelsea''s long-serving assistant manager, although reports have suggested the Scot is considering ending his relationship with the club. He might be tempted to rethink in the wake of last night''s superb result which ought to galvanise personnel.
Ten Cate''s managerial and coaching experience is largely confined to the Netherlands, although it was with Barcelona, in his role as assistant to Rijkaard, that he came to prominence. That period included several volatile meetings with Chelsea, notably the last-16 tie at Camp Nou in February 2005 which prompted Ten Cate to brand the Premier League club "pathetic" for their attempts to pursue a complaint with Uefa after Mourinho had accused Rijkaard of entering the referee''s dressing room.

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That unsavoury episode could not have been further from Chelsea minds here, however, as Grant and his players basked in the afterglow of a victory that lifted the London club above Valencia to the top of Group B. The Israeli, whose only previous victory had come in the Carling Cup against Hull City, hopes the three points will strengthen his standing with Chelsea''s supporters.
"I understand I''m new to them but [the club] chose me to lead another way of football," he said. "I think this is the right thing to do."
BỏƠt ngỏằ thỏưt có lỏẵ HTC sỏẵ sang Chelsea trặỏằ>c lỏằi mỏằi gỏằi cỏằĐa chỏằĐ tỏằi giỏÊi Anh miỏằn 'ỏƠt màu mỏằĂ cỏằĐa bóng 'Ă thỏ giỏằ>i, Ajax mỏƠt luôn HLV khi mạa giỏÊi bỏt 'ỏĐu. Ai sỏẵ là HLV mỏằ>i cỏằĐa chúng ta ...

Hy vọng Frank De Boer, tuy trẻ nhưng mà xuất thân từ cầu thủ đá có đầu óc, tuân thủ chiến thuật ==> hy vọng sẽ áp dụng vào được cho Ajax.

Board to resign; Cruijff to re-design Ajax​

Coronel Committee report: Everything Must Change
20 February:
In November 2007, the board and Membersõ?T Council of AFC Ajax decided to appoint an independent inquiry comittee for a thorough and critical analyses of the clubõ?Ts policy of the past ten seasons. The committee, presided by former board member Uri Coronel, observed the club for three months, studied ten seasons of documentation and conducted 42 interviews with prominent club people. They presented their report, entitled Ajax, The Road To Victory on Friday 17 February. A one sentence summary: itõ?Ts time for major, major changes.
The committee delivers its report in the Ajax ArenA press room. [Photo: Ajax.nl]
The Coronel committee had eight members, including former Ajax players Stanley Menzo and Theo van Duivenbode, Daniôl Dekker (chairman of the official Ajax Fanclub) and Roger van Boxtel, a former member of the Dutch parliament, minister and member of AFC Ajax. They presented their report at the press room of the Amsterdam ArenA.
A number of the most noteworthy conclusions and recommendations...
The Board of Directors of Ajax NV must be in charge of Ajax as a professional football club, not the board of AFC Ajax
The general director of Ajax NV must be the visible main man, not the chairman of AFC Ajax. He must be a man with a football background, a people''s manager and a warm personality who also has the support of sponsors, fans and other stakeholders.
The Board of Commissioners (allowed to dismiss and appoint directors) must observe the Board of Directors from a distance. That is their only job. They must stay out of daily affairs.
There is no real reason for Ajax to still be quoted on the Stock Exchange. It would be best if Ajax bought back all of its stock and withdrew their Stock Exchange quotation. Ajax must investigate this option.
On a number of occasions in the past ten years, the technical director was only in theory the direct executive of a strong head-coach, who was allowed to bring his own coaching staff. The technical director must always be appointed before the head-coach. In practice Ajax must choose one of the following models:
A model in which the positions of technical director and head-coach are combined in one powerful persoon with undisputed managerial qualities, who is in charge of the entire technical policy of the professional football club and directly above a head of scouting in the technical hierarchy. In this model the general director must be a ''football man'' (this is, essentially, the ''Van Gaal model'' of 1991-1997).
A model with a powerful technical director, who is õ?" in the hierarchy õ?" placed directly above the head-coach. In this model, the executive boss of Ajax''s technical policy is the technical director. In this model, the general director does not necessarily have to be a ''football man''.
The quality of the youth system as such is high enough and the structure does not need to change, but a number of youth coaches are sub-standard and must be replaced.
There is insufficient ''inspirational leadership'' from the current Board of Directors. The Board of Directors does not operate as a ''team'' and the level of collegiality is too low.
There must be a clearly defined responsibility for the relationship between club and supporters. This relationship must be given a higher priority. The supporters deserve clear communication: yes is yes, no is no and promises must be kept õ?" or not be made in the first place.
The large part of the players on the first team must have come through the ranks of the youth system. Ajax should only buy players who are either young and talented, or of such quality that they can lift the team to the next level.
Member of the board, or the Board of Commissioners, must stay out of transfer procedures.
The role of ''technical advisor'' for the first team must be abolished.
The board of AFC Ajax discussed the report with the club''s Members'' Council and members of honour on Tuesday evening. Much to everybody''s surprise, member of honour Johan Cruijff showed up at De Toekomst.
The outcome of the meeting was surprisingly spectacular: the club''s executive structure will be changed in accordance with the report. The board of AFC Ajax (chairman John Jaakke, board member of technical affairs Hennie Henrichs and board member of finance Joop Saan) will step down at the end of the current season.
The Members'' Council asked Johan Cruijff to effectively re-design the club''s technical policy and appoint people for the key positions. Much to everybody''s surprise, Cruijff said ''yes'': 27 years after he returned to the club as a player, and 20 years after he left the club as a head-coach, Johan Cruijff will do official executive work for Ajax. He will not be the new chairman or technical director, but he will totally re-design the club''s technical structure on a ''project basis''. In other words: Johan Cruijff will be the architect of the ''new Ajax''.
The future of the current Board of Directors is highly uncertain. Remarkably, general director Maarten Fontein was not there when Uri Coronel presented his report. According to his lawyer, Fontein was "not invited" for the presentation. Chairman John Jaakke denied that Fontein will be fired, but on the same day football magazine Voetbal International published a draft for Fontein''s notice, which was ''leaked'' by an unknown employee of the club.
Johan Cruijff can fire technical director Martin van Geel, but refused to comment on the positions of Fontein and Martin van Geel. "They''re not in my way," he said. (MP)

Total football? Total shambles
''Ajax, the road to victory''. It sounds like a DVD about entertaining football or a successful youth academy, but no. It is the title of a downloadable report on 10 years of mismanagement at one of Europe''s most admired clubs.
After the noisy exit of trainer Henk ten Cate to Chelsea last October, and the publication of another severe set of financial losses, the club''s board appointed a commission of wise men. Their task was to research whether the structure of the club had been able to cope with the flotation on the stock market and the downward spiral on the pitch since reaching the semi-final of the Champions League in 1997.
The report is very critical in every department. Even the highly praised youth academy turns out to be struggling.
So, is Ajax badly run? To make an honest judgement, we have to go back ten years in time to 1997.
On the back of the Bosman ruling the club suffers an exodus of home-grown talent who are out of contract. The club leave their tra***ional stamping ground for a futuristic stadium on the outskirts of town which triples the attendances but also demands a much greater front office administration.
From being a simple football club with just a couple of part-time board members, Ajax transformed into a big company with affiliate clubs abroad and a notation on the local stock exchange.
Furthermore Louis van Gaal, who determined everything from signing the next striker to selecting the new notepads for assistant coaches of the Under-9''s, also left the club.
All that remained from the glorious past were their pedigree of titles won, the shirt, the supporters who crave for even more success and a bunch of sidelined seniors, who kept referring to the good ol''days.
Considering this, what chance did Ajax have to transform into a footballing powerhouse at the start of the new century? Actually, none.
It would have been difficult enough to recover from only one of these major changes, yet they all happened at once. In hindsight, and the commission report acknowledge this and suggest to reverse it, it was unwise to float.
More than fifty million euros was made, but much of it has evaporated through the investment in foreign affiliate club. Current Everton midfielder Steven Pienaar is the most famous name to have come out of these projects. He left Ajax on a free transfer to Borussia Dortmund some time ago. And with millions at hand there was little patience with the home-grown talents as the coaches rather invested in the ready-made products from elsewhere, hoping for instant success.
With the money came the task to inform the investors. Every move of the club had to be publicised directly. In the shady world of football with its obscure wheeling and dealing Ajax suddenly had to conform to broker''s regulations.
Even this new report had to be publicised, giving an insight which is quite unique for a football club. Great for the interested follower, but it makes the club a laughing stock in the media.
Being a listed company Ajax had to compose a transparent management structure. There are economic handbooks to built efficient organisations in many branches, but football is not one of them. After ten years in operation the report concludes that employees on various levels don''t have a clue who is responsible for what. There is no designated boss.
And what is the goal of the club? In the brochure of 1997 Ajax lured investors with the promise that they would play in the Champions League each year. In 2004 technical director Louis van Gaal still aimed to reach the second round each and one semi-final every five years.
In fact Ajax has won three titles and entered the Champions League only five times over the reported period. So what is lacking is a clear grasp of reality. As miracles are expected coaches never last long in Amsterdam nor do technical directors. They tend to panic and throw money at overvalued players.
The report states that over the last five years they have not bought anyone that made the team play better. Some of them were signed without a recent scouting report as the management trusted on their reputation. They frequently disappointed. Others could not reach the expected level and bubbled under, not helped by the critical punters in the stands.
Unwise as well, was to appoint former Ajax players as head coach or even as youth trainers without checking if they had the competence. Jan Wouters and Danny Blind started at Ajax as club trainers. Their Ajax background would suffice, according to the board. It did not. Both were fired after a torrid time and their reputations are scarred for life.
Interestingly, Ajax is now negotiating with Marco van Basten to become the next manager. Van Basten has never coached a club either.
With a turnaround of so many managers and technical directors there was free play for all kinds of murky agents, circling around the club, some of them even part of the network of the newly appointed. They were helped by frequent power struggles between technical directors and coaches. Adriaanse and Beenhakker, Koeman and Van Gaal, Ten Cate and Van Geel, none of them could get along with one another.
The commission now suggests two options. The first is to appoint a warm personality with a large football background who can run the club in a sort of Uli Hoeness-role. The second calls for a strong coach, Van Gaal-like, with managing abilities and to forget about the technical directors. These are great suggestions, but where will they find these people? Surely once he has glanced over the report, someone with those superb qualifications will think twice before he sets foot in the offices of the Amsterdam Arena.
Supporters and sponsors are unhappy as well, but that is a side issue, which hardly affects results on the pitch. The remaining interesting departments in the report are the scouting and the youth academy. It bluntly states that the level of their trainers is not good enough.
One of the recommendations in the report is to make up files on every youth player because parents have complained that there is hardly any follow-up on the meetings they have every six months with the coaches. Someone could have thought of that before, surely?
Finally, Ajax have appointed many former players as scouts, who have complained to the commission that they are not taken seriously and little is done with their advice. That may be so, but it is well known that there is a poisonous atmosphere around the club with lots of these ex-players, former board members and other hangers-on lurking in the background, feeding the media with their opinions.
Johan Cruyff: The Ajax legend often divides the club with his various opinionsThis ''Fifth column'' changes personnel all the time which makes it difficult to contain. It means that there is always some influential group pressuring for anything, making management of the team a living hell, especially when results are not that prosperous.
And finally, but not mentioned in the report, there is the ''Oracle from Barcelona'', Johan Cruyff, whose opinions frequently divide the club.
Cruyff said in his weekly column in newspaper De Telegraaf, that he was ready now to help the club out of trouble. At the same time in another paper he recommended Marco van Basten as the successor of Frank Rijkaard at Nou Camp. The same Van Basten that Ajax are about to hire as their new coach.
Some of the problems at Ajax remain uncovered by the commission, but it seems that this is only the tip of the iceberg.