Eredivise Preview - Can Ajax continue their resurgence?

Eredivise Preview - Can Ajax continue their resurgence?

As mentioned in our introductory blog on Monday, we don't tend to work to any strict structure at Tea & Busquets. We won't have a review blog out every Monday at 9am or a preview of the weekends action by lunchtime on a Friday. To be honest, we're too lazy for that.

What we can promise is that we will offer an at times unorthodox look at the football landscape. No subject or team will be deemed unworthy of blogging if there's a particular theme we have found interesting. If I find myself watching FC Lusitanos vs FC Santa Coloma in the Andorran Primera Divisió during the early house of a Saturday morning then you may see and hopefully read a blog about it the next day! 

This preview will take a look at the Eredivise and focus on what I see as the five major talking points surrounding the Dutch league this season. As Zenit's successful Uefa Cup season of 2007/2008 slipped off the UEFA coefficients this season, the Eredivise has leapfrogged the Russian Premier League into 7th place. The Eredivise has 1 automatic Champions League spot which goes to Ajax as champions. Feyenoord as runners up took the second spot in the third qualifying stage but unfortunately went down 1-0 at home to Dynamo Kiev last night ending their participation in this seasons competition. 

There are a further 5 Dutch clubs participating in the Europaa League for the 2012-2013 season including PSV and AZ Alkmaar. The other three, Vitesse, Twente and Heerenveen, have already 

started their campaigns and each can be considered favourites to progress through their ties this week to the final qualifying round.

Vitesse dispatched of Lokomotiv Plokdiv in the second qualifying round with relative ease winning 7-5 on aggregate but may come unstuck at home to the oil-powered millions of Anzi Machakahla whom they are trailing 1-0 going into the third round second leg.

Steve McLaren's Twente team look like safely booking their passage into the final qualifying round after racking up straight forward wins against UE Santa of Andorra (9-0 on aggregate), FC Inter of Finland (6-1 on aggregate) and currently holding a 2-0 over Czech side Mlada Boleslav FC with the away leg coming up this midweek.

Heerenveen are the third and final Dutch club to have started their European adventure at this early stage of the season and should have very little trouble closing out the 4-0 advantage gained during their first leg at home to Rapid Bucharest.

De Boers magic touch

Ajax's title winning management team

The main focus of this seasons campaign will be on Frank De Boer's Ajax after a fantastic first 18 months in the ArenA hotseat. The rookie boss, along with his assistant Dennis Bergkamp, definitely channelled their 'Inner Cruijff' and led Ajax to back to back titles (and indeed their first title since season 2003/2004) for the first time since their reknowned all conquering European Cup winning side from 1994-1996 of which Frank was a major part of.

Much like the Ajax of old, the present day team play a progressive 4-3-3. Over the last 18 months since De Boer took charge they have lost some fairly major talents. Suarez of course is now at Liverpool, their international goalkeeper Maarten Stekelenburg left for Roma and most recently, Jan Vertonghen has joined Spurs. Ajax have built up a strong reputation for developing and honing talent such as this, selling on for a profit and restarting the process again. This is proven by Ajax having an average squad age of 22.3, frightening when you consider how little game time English talents have had at this age. 

Last season was a breakthrough season for players such as Vurnon Anita and Nicolas Lodeiro who will be looking to firmly establish themselves as top international players. If they can hang onto their big names such as Christian Eriksen, Miralem Sulejmani (finally starting to live up to his potential) and Gregory Van Der Wiel then, along with a few well placed replacements they should be in with a more than decent chance of reclaiming the title for the third year running. 

Feyenoords re-emergence


The Dutch league has traditionally been won by the historic 'Big Three' of Ajax, PSV and Feyenoord. Over the last couple of seasons this has been diluted by the success of AZ Alkmaar and FC Twente however the sudden and abrupt demise of Feyenoord was painful to see. Founded in 1908, Feyenoord have been famous for developing young talent and partaking in intense rivalry most famously with Ajax. They have won 14 Eredivise titles, 11 Dutch Cups, 1 European Cup (beating Celtic 2-1 after extra time) and 2 Uefa Cups. 

Feyenoords assistant manager

In summer 2010, Feyenoord had to release top talents such as Roy Makaay and Denny Landzaat as financial problems really started to take hold of the club. This catastrophic period culminated in their worst ever defeat, 10-0 vs PSV in November 2010. Forced to compete with the majority of their players coming from the U19 team, Feyenoord were in serious danger of being relegated. It took a €20m donation from a group of fans to settle the major debts and allow the club to start the slow rebuilding process. They eventually finished in 10th place, 9 points clear of the relegation zone.

With the debts stabilised, Feyenoord could focus on rebuilding. In came Ronald Koeman as manager with ex-captain Giovanni Van Bronckhorst as his assistant. Together they overseen a huge transformation, from the lows of that 10-0 loss to PSV 18 months earlier to finishing 2nd in the Eredivise last season and qualifying for the Champions League qualifiers. 

The loss of Ron Vlaar and Karim El Ahmadi to Aston Villa this season will be a blow, but as with Ajax, there are already a number of talented youngsters looking to make the step up. This season will be all about trying to maintain a level of consistency and stability that has sadly been lacking over the last couple of years. Talents such as 21 year old midfielder Jordie Clasie and 20 year old central defender Stefan De Vrij will be asked again to perform under a weight of expectation which belies their tender years. They, along with the majority of the enthusiastic young squad have shown that this will be treated as a fantastic opportunity rather than a financial necessity.

International underachievement (again)

For as long as I can remember the Netherlands national team has had a fantastic amount of talent, a ridiculous amount in fact when you consider just how small a country it is (a population of 16m compared to Germanys 82m). The majority of players have came through Ajax's much vaunted youth academy, the names trip off the tongue. Players such as Van Der Sar, Stam, Blind, Davids, Seedorf, Kluivert, Bergkamp & Overmars. In the current national set up Stekelenburg, Heitinga, Van Der Wiel, Nigel De Jong, Sneijder and Klaas-Jan Huntelaar amongst others have all plied their trade in Amsterdam. These players have tended to leave the country very early and move to major European leagues. With the latest under achievement, and the emergence of a whole host of home-grown talent playing regularly in the Eredivise, now could be the time to unleash them on the world. The future of the national team should be focused around players such as Vurnon Anita, Jordie Clasie and Adam Maher. Young and hungry players who see playing for the national team as a great privilege rather than a distraction from club matters.

Dutch Wonderkids

Below I will take a look at 3 young talents within the Eredivisie capable of becoming household names in the coming years.


Vurnon Anita

An extremely versatile midfielder capable of playing anywhere across the back four but most at home in defensive midfield, Anita shot to prominence last season in Ajax's championship winning side. Given his chance by Frank De Boer as a defensive midfielder, he was able to perform this role to perfection for Ajax. Also capable of covering at centre half for Vertonghen's forward runs, he creates the base upon which players such as Eriksen and Theo Janssen can perform. Increasingly linked with a move to Newcastle, Anita is a young, hungry and as expected, technically excellent midfielder.


Luc Castaignos


Hyped from an early age, its hard to believe Castaignos is still only 19 years of age. Luc started his career at Feyenoord notching an impressive 16 goals from 29 starts in his 2 seasons at De Kuip. He sealed a dream move to Italian giants Inter Milan in 2011 for €4m - due to Feyenoords financial difficulties - but seen limited game time making only 6 appearances (5 from the bench) and scoring 1 goal. Now back in Holland with Steve McLaren's FC Twente, Castaignos will be looking to fulfil his undoubted potential as the player most capable of taking on the mantle of Dennis Bergkamp.


Luciano Narsingh

Narsingh was included in the Netherlands 36 man preliminary squad for Euro 2012 but failed to make the cut. Of Indian descent, Narsingh learned his trade at Heerenveen and was linked with Fulham earlier in the summer before securing a move to PSV. Capable of playing on both wings - but most potent on the right - the 21 year old will be keen to show this move hasn't came too early for him. 

Steve McLaren

Returned to Twente in January this year after wildly unsuccessful spells in charge of then German champs Wolfsburg and perennial English under-achievers Notts Forest. It was a surprise when McLaren left Twente for Wolfsburg in the first place, especially after taking them to an extremely unlikely 1st Eredivise title in their history in 2010. It will be interesting to see how he fares in his first full season back in the Twente hotseat.

Dutch football seems to suit Steve McLaren's style of management, especially the structure which allows him to be a first team coach with a technical director above him as opposed to the all in one style of management widely seen in England. McLaren will be hoping experienced players such as Denny Landzaat and the evergreen Sander Boschker can lead Twente's younger stars to a higher finish than the 6th place they achieved last year.