Dutch Eredivisie 2009/10 Season Preview : Championship Contenters

Posted on 2009-07-30

My two cents for the Dutch Eredivisie next season.

Ajax Amsterdam

Ajax finished third place last season failing to grab a ticket for the Champions League qualifiers being one point away from the second place after a very poor finish of the season leading to the dismissal of Marco Van Basten.

The team welcomed a new team manager in the likes of Martin Jol coming over from Hamburger SV and much is expected from the former Spurs coach. Ajax saw one of their best defenders leave with Vermaelen (def) moving to Arsenal but Jol took along Atoube (def) from Hamburger SV to strengthen the defense with Ajax still looking for a central defender.

Ajax played two friendly games in their England campaign last week booking victories over Southampton (1-4) and Bristol City (0-4) with the team performing above expectations and Suarez (att) being given the role of captain for the new season.

With two more serious tests before the new season – competing in the Amsterdam Tournament against Sunderland, Athletico Madrid and Benfica - Ajax will be looking to secure their first title in six years after their last success in the season 2003/2004 and to grab their 30th national title allowing them to wear that much desired third star on their jerseys.

Ajax will have a difficult start of the season playing on the road to FC Groningen and PSV in their first games, but if the team will be able to start the season with some good results and get in the winning mood early on, I feel this might just be year for Ajax to finish on top of the table.

Prediction: Champions

PSV Eindhoven

PSV finished on the fourth place last season finishing quite strongly after a very disappointing start of the season. Team manager Stevens was dismissed during the winter break and with Lodeweges taking over as interim manager, PSV booked some more than decent results and even competed for a place in the Champions League play-offs.

The team welcomed some important new players with Ooijer (def) being signed from Blackburn Rovers and Engelaar (mid) from Schalke 04. Team captain Culina (mid) decided to continue his carreer in his homeland Australia and apart from the midfielder PSV has managed to keep almost their entire first eleven together for the next season.

During their friendly matches during the summer PSV was not severely tested but managed to book seven wins and a draw with the team grabbing three wins agains more serious opponents in their last three games against Brondby IF (1-2), RC Genk (0-1) and Sivasspor (3-0).

PSV will be starting the season with a home game against VVV Venlo and it seems there is no better way to start the season with a relatively easy home game. I think that the championship will be decided between PSV and Ajax this season, and I rate PSV to come in second this year.

Prediction: 2nd place

AZ Alkmaar

The champions of last year AZ will again be looking for a good result this season with Ronald Koeman being assigned as new team manager after the departure of Louis Van Gaal to Bayern München.

The team grabbed the first championship in over thirty years with El Hamdaoui (att) being crowned Eredivisie top goal scorer with 23 goals. A lot of rumours have been going round about the future of El Hamdoui (att) and Dembele (att) with both players being desired by many clubs during the last part of the season but things have been quiet on the transfer market lately.

Midfielder Wernbloom was signed from Goteburg IK which is basicly the only reinforcement for the starting eleven so far. Former team captain De Zeeuw (mid) will most likely leave the club over the summer trying to force his way into a transfer to Ajax.

During the friendly games AZ hardly managed to impress so far being able to book some good results against amateur teams, but in their last two games against Hamburger SV (0-1) and Club Brugge (1-0) AZ did not manage to find the net.

Being the defending champion may put some pressure on the team and with Van Gaal leaving to Germany, it will be hard to see AZ repeat their trick from last season.

Prediction: 3rd place

FC Twente

Finishing on the second place in the ranking team manager McLaren knew an excellent debute in his carreer as a Dutch coach with FC Twente grabbing a ticket for the Champions League play-offs at the expense of Ajax.

FC Twente will be aiming to ge back on track where they left of last season and the first test of the new season will be against Sporting Lisbon trying to secure a place in the final round of the Champions League.

Unfortunately for FC Twente the club saw two of their best players leave to Germany with Braafheid (def) signing a contract with Bayern München and Elia (att) leaving to Hamburger SV. The third player that will most likely not wear the red jersey next year is Arnautovic (att), being desired by Internazionale and a transfer to Italy will be the most likely option over the summer.

FC Twente signed some new players as well with Parker (att) coming over from Thanda Royal Zulu (SAf) after playing an impressive tournament with South Africa for the Confederations Cup.

Four other forwards were added to the selection but failed to impress yet with FC Twente managing to score only five goals in their last five games against AA Gent, Schalke 04, FC Zwolle, Bor. Mönchengladbach and Swansea City suffering two defeats and booking one draw.

After a terrific season last year I can not see them repeat this trick as opponents will be warned this season and the fact that Elia, Braafheid and Arnautovic won’t be playing for FC Twente anymore will make a huge difference and I foresee them competing for the fourth place with Feyenoord next season.

Prediction: 4th place

 

Sourced From : Erik's Dutch Football Blog