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Jozy Altidore got transferred to AZ

This one hasn't been used much... Well that will change from now on

The Dutch have one of the weirder championships in Europe b/c they have their playoff system. Only the #1 and #2 teams are safe, the rest determine their final position in a KO tourney which seemingly encompasses half of their league, i.e. the #9 club can still qualify for the Euroleague. I never really understood how that system works.

Gonna be Massimos favourite thread

Point forward wrote:The Dutch have one of the weirder championships in Europe b/c they have their playoff system. Only the #1 and #2 teams are safe, the rest determine their final position in a KO tourney which seemingly encompasses half of their league, i.e. the #9 club can still qualify for the Euroleague. I never really understood how that system works.

That only was one season. It already changed last year.

#1 and #2 play CL, #3-5 play Euroleague, #6-9 play playoffs for last Euroleague spot.
This depends a bit on who wins the cup, cause cupwinner (or finalist) also qualifies for Euroleague. So it's possible that #5-8 have to play playoffs.

Belgian system is even weirder.

Can you imagine if Burak Yilmaz plays for PSV or Ajax? Lol 50 goals

Massimo wrote:Can you imagine if Burak Yilmaz plays for PSV or Ajax? Lol 50 goals

Much better strikers than him have failed to do that

How about the worse ones who scored over 30+ goals? I really loved Alfonso Alves. Scored 35+ goals and then disappeared

It goes both ways in the Eredivisie. Some one-hit wonders like Machlas, Alfonso or Dost score 32+ and are never seen again, whereas some of the super elite strikers like Bergkamp, Romario and Zlatan struggle to break 25 and actually score more goals in much stronger leagues.

It is a league even Jozy Altidore scored 25 goals bro. Please.

Jozy Altidore was in Turkey a year and half ago in the 6th strongest team and couldn't even make the first eleven.

Defense in Eredivisie just sucks. Even a topteam like PSV had a horrible defense last season.

Players who are strong and quick like Altidore will always score here. Same with Pelle, who never scored and all of a sudden was one of the top strikers in the league for Feyenoord.

In the Netherlands it isn't accepted to play to avoid defeat. Here you have to play to win. A defender doesn't just need to defend, he needs to be the start of the build up from the back so he needs to have a good passing game as well. Strong pure defenders like you see in Italy and England aren't popular here. We prefer more complete players.

Is that the way to go...? Well in the end it's all about the results. But it is enjoyable to watch. Eredivisie can never compete with the bigger leagues money wise. The best players (and the ones just under them) will always leave for the bigger leagues. So quality of play suffers from that. I do believe the top teams here can also compete with the bigger league teams. Ajax beat Man City in CL last season and that was very well deserved. They also played very well away against Dortmund, only losing unluckily 1-0.

Saturday the season will officially start with the Super Cup match between Ajax and AZ. Regular season will start the week after.

If Ajax can keep Eriksen en Siem de Jong, I don't think there are many teams that can really challenge them. Maybe only Feyenoord, but their bench is much weaker.

Looking forward to the start

Ajax beat AZ Alkmaar 3-2 after extra time to win the Super Cup.

The fell behind 2-0 in the second half, but managed to pull it level. Siem de Jong scored the game winning goal.

Eriksen played well and showed that he is getting too good for the Eredivisie. I still hope he will stay
but I can see him going to Liverpool together with Alderweireld once they have sold Suarez.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yksyY5Ij_Q4[/youtube]

A terminally ill Feyenoord ultra getting a standing ovation at the clubs first training of the season. 3 days later he died. Sad story. RIP.

PSV annihilated Ajax with 4-0. The 1-0 was like this:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_K1NRIwzrU[/youtube]

I dunno what was worse, the blunder by the Ajax goalie or the 5-6 missed opportunities by the Ajax defense to hammer the ball out of the stadium.

That was amateur type of defending. This kind of defense would make Massimo proud.

As promising the Dutch NT is, the Dutch clubs are seriously sucking in Europe.

Ajax - 3rd in a CL group w/Barca and Milan
PSV - KO in the CL qualis vs Milan - now in the EL
Feyenoord - KO in the EL qualis vs Krasnodar (Russia)
Vitesse - KO in the EL qualis vs Petrolul (Romania)
Utrecht - KO in the EL qualis vs Differdinge of... LUXEMBURG

The 2013-14 Dutch teams combine for a measly 3.750 in the UEFA coefficient, narrowly "beating" Denmark and Scotland.

lol chelsea's reserves are leading this league