Ajax Line-up of the Decade (2000-2009)

[Kowalczyk]

Van Halst is the opposite type of player. He puts in fierce tackles and runs around with blood all over his head, but only because he makes his life difficult by not being in the right place.

He would be the first to admit that, by the way...

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Okay... Visitors of http://ajax.netwerk.to have voted for 'Ajacied of the Decade' and here's the top six!

1) Cristian Chivu - 39,1% (1270 stemmen)
2) Zlatan Ibrahimovic - 29,4% (954 stemmen)
3) Luis Suarez - 14,1% (456 stemmen)
4) Klaas Jan Huntelaar - 11,6% (375 stemmen)
5) Markus Rosenberg - 3,4% (111 stemmen)
6) Hatem Trabelsi - 2,4% (79 stemmen)

(The word stemmen means votes).

The top two are fine by me (even though Zlatan was great for only half a season), but I object against Luis Suárez finishing higher than KJH and I absolutely do not understand why Markus Rosenberg is in there, ahead of people like Maxwell, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, to name but a few. That one seriously puzzles me. I mean come on.

My top 3 would actually be:

1. Chivu
2. Sneijder
3. Van der Vaart

I think... I would have to give that some more thought (Maxwell, Trabelsi, Zlatan, KJH and a few others would be in the top 10 for sure).

The gap between #4 and #5 is truly enormous, which means that Wesley Sneijder must have gotten less than 79 votes (less than 2.4%) in total. That's bizarre, if you ask me. Okay, the guy's a bit of a wanker sometimes, but we're not voting for the Nicest Ajacied of the Decade here, are we? Sneijder was seriously fantastic for one season and very good for another two.

(Nicest Ajacied of the Decade would be KJH, followed by Thomas Vermaelen and Robbert Schilder, out of the ones I met while I worked for AT5's FC Godenzonen).

K.

[Cedric]

I absolutely do not understand why Markus Rosenberg is in there, ahead of people like Maxwell, Sneijder, Van der Vaart, to name but a few. That one seriously puzzles me. I mean come on.

Ajax Netwerk say that people had to choose between players that were 'Man of the Season' (elected by the Ajax Netwerk members ?). But it is still strange as there wasn't any player that was formed by the club (players like Sneijder, Van der Vaart or even Heitinga could have been "man of the season" too IMO)


As for myself, I think I voted Ibrahimovic (otherwise it was Chivu, I don't remember). Ok, he was inconsistent, but he was THE man of almost all the "success" (Eredivisie 2002 & 2004, CL 2003), the (crazy) figurehead of most of the few highlights of this decade. Chivu would be my #2.
Huntelaar would be, sadly, the symbol of the decade : lot of goals but win nothing (ok, 2 Dutch Cups?). Trabelsi would be the best right back but that's all. I can't understand how Rosenberg managed to get 111 votes.
Ah, and I keep Suarez for the next decade.

But overall, my Top 5 would be this one :
1) Sneijder
2) Ibrahimovic
3) Chivu
4) Van der Vaart
5) Huntelaar

[Kowalczyk]

Ajax Netwerk say that people had to choose between players that were 'Man of the Season' (elected by the Ajax Netwerk members ?).

Ah, I see.

So, why was Rosenberg 'Man of the Season' then...?

And why wasn't Sneijder, in his last season at Ajax?

Oh well.

K.

[Jeroen126]

The system's very simple: after each game, indivual members chose a top3. Now i agree Rosenberg as man of the season is a bit daft (as is chosing 06/07 Huntelaar instead of 06/07 Sneijder), but i guess this just goes to show you that we as fans now absolutely nothing about footie.

[ofey]

1. Maarten Steklenberg Vs Jeroen Verhoeven
2. Hatem Trabelsi Vs Jurgen Colin
3. Christian Chivu Vs Rob Wielaert
4. John Heitinga Vs Samuel Kuffour
5. Maxwell Vs Tom Sier
6. Wesley Sneijder Vs Olaf Lindenbergh
7. Steven Pienaar Vs Tom Soaters
8. Jari Litmanen Vs Kerlon
9. Klaas Jan Hunterlaar Vs Wesley Sonck
10. Rafael Van der Vaart Vs Daniel De Ridder
11. Luis Suarez Vs Albert Luque

Why no Ibrahimovic? He was good in his time but only really came to prominance after he left Ajax. KJH was front page news for us from day 1. 7 club captains in that line up. Says alot.

My anti-thesis of the club in the last 10 years would be the Vs lot.
Best player I've seen in the last 10 years? Chivu.
Worst player in the last decade? Jurgen Colin. C'mon, Ten Cate was probably having a laugh at our expense.

Most under-rated in the last decade? Kenneth Perez. Wrong place, wrong time.

[Jeroen126]

I thought Colin was a lot better than Robbie Wielaert..

[SPL]

Ko . You quote the nicest player as KJH and given he joined the supporters for a drink and sing song at his last game this is no surprise .

Question who would be at the bottom of the list? Mido !!!!

[Kowalczyk]

Ko . You quote the nicest player as KJH and given he joined the supporters for a drink and sing song at his last game this is no surprise

Yeah, that was nice, but I'm talking about personal experience here. I used to work for FC Godenzonen (weekly Ajax talkshow on AT5, the news network for the Amsterdam metropolitan area). I've had many Ajax players on the show, some of them more than once. Out of all those contacts KJH was my favourite. We really had a click. Very smart, low key, charming guy. Intelligent, too. He likes to read sports books, he reads the papers, he has a thing or two to say about music and he is very down to earth: very well aware of the fact that he's living in a very weird little bubble (the world of football).

Thomas Vermaelen is in the same category, as a person. But KJH really stood out for me.

I also really liked Martin van Geel, as a person. Spent a couple of hours at the pub with him and we went for a bit to eat with him (and his wife) once.

I guess these three are my favourite Ajax people from my AT5 days. In the current Ajax squad I have a very good feeling about Jan Vertonghen. He could be on the same 'wavelength', if you know what I mean.

K.

[Flipster81]

My team would be:

...............Stekelenberg..............
Trabelsi...Bergdolmo...Chivu...Maxwell
..........Galasek...van Halst...........
.................Sneijder..................
Suarez.......Huntelaar.......van der Vaart

Subs:

Lobont
Heitinga
Litmanen
Zlatan
Pienaar