Journeyman - AAB - A new start

In our next game we host Midtjylland who are one of the bigger teams in 3F Superliga. This will be the biggest test so far to see if our league position is false. A win will secure top spot after 6 games. Iredale kicked off the scoring in the 40th minute against the run of play. He is finally hitting some impressive form. In the 44th minute though Midtjylland equalised the scoring with Adam Buksa striking from close range. 80th minute we mess up when playing out from the back and Buksa gets his second. Drama in the game though when bad boy Mathias Jorgensen equalises in the 90th minute to secure the point and ensure that AAB don’t lose from a winning position for the second time this season. This was in an unfamiliar position of ST for the youngster. MOTM was Midtjyllands Buksa

After the game the media asked about Mathias J and I informed them that the lad has shown the right attitude after his mistake. He apologised to myself and the team prior to the game and I am sure he can put this behind him going forwards.

PLAYER TO LEAVE

In other news Mads Bomholt has further destroyed his future at the club. He has submitted a transfer request due to the lack of action. I tried to persuade him the grass isn’t always greener and he will get chance in the season but he is adamant. Therefore he has now been transfer listed and will be training with the U21s for the foreseeable future.

PREMIER LEAGUE INTEREST

The club have been informed that Crystal Palace have been scouting Oliver Ross in recent weeks. This could be a potential move in January. As stated in the club policy. We prioritise developing talents and making profit on investments so if we can get the right price we may have to sell.

The up-and-down club of Denmark. I remember a time my fav team (Ajax) scouted a lot at Aalborg: we picked up Jesper Gronkjær first then Lucas Andersen, but both couldn't quite cut it even though both had a killer debut season at Ajax. Currently, a fellow compatriot of mine is manager there in real life. Menno van Dam is a successful youth trainer from the northern Netherlands whom I think also has had a history at Brøndby, the fav side of @JustinCase0110

@thomashunter2199 are you in a different timezone from @JustinCase0110 and me (Europe) ? Because the bulk of your posts arrive in the middle of the night (for us).

Thats really cool! My fave team is Arsenal who traditionally have a few players who have mixed with AJAX. For example Timber now, Overmars etc. 

Haha no. I am from England. I just usually only get chance to play around 11PM ish with work and family etc 🙂

A lot of disciplinary stuff going on there. Getting some Erik ten Hag vibes, haha (speaking of Dutch managers).

I hope you can get your house in order soon. Even though it doesn't seem to have had an effect on your results so far. 2nd place is a great position for a newly promoted side. It was a shock to see them relegated the year before, having otherwise been in the top flight constantly since 1986. This season OB is the shock absentee (Odense Boldklub), also usually being a regular top flight team. They are comfortably on the path to return again for next season though.

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@JustinCase0110 wrote:

A lot of disciplinary stuff going on there. Getting some Erik ten Hag vibes, haha (speaking of Dutch managers).

I hope you can get your house in order soon. Even though it doesn't seem to have had an effect on your results so far. 2nd place is a great position for a newly promoted side. It was a shock to see them relegated the year before, having otherwise been in the top flight constantly since 1986. This season OB is the shock absentee (Odense Boldklub), also usually being a regular top flight team. They are comfortably on the path to return again for next season though.

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Oh gosh I hope it doesn’t turn out like his time at United.

We’ve been playing really well in a 433. For some reason the team has just clicked. I am unsure if we can keep this up for long though. 

I am not that knowledgeable on the league to be honest (only knowing the bigger sides) but what I have noticed is our squad especially and many other teams in Denmark have an enormous amount of young talent. 

Red Card Madness Costs Kobenhavn

Some rotation for the game against the biggest team in Denmark…. Kobenhavn. The rain poured and drenched the pitch. Jorgensen comes back into the fold but starts in striker for this game. Skov and Said also came into the fold. Just before half time Elyounoussi for Koben suffered what can only be described as a head loss and went straight through the back of Skov. A challenge that had no right in the game. This angered our side just before half time after a really poor first half. In the 80th minute we finally had a breakthrough. A rare chance fell to the bad boy (Jorgensen) and we finally broke the deadlock. What a result! A downright terrible game that was ruined by a red card but we won 1-0 and that’s all that really matters. It may be time to start believing…..

Deadline day passed where we didnt recieve a single outgoing offer. 

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@thomashunter2199 wrote:

I am not that knowledgeable on the league to be honest (only knowing the bigger sides) but what I have noticed is our squad especially and many other teams in Denmark have an enormous amount of young talent. 

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You are not wrong. It is also a "development league", where the best players are always signed by clubs in bigger leagues, such as the Bundesliga or the Premier League. There are also some rebound effect though, with Danish internationals returning to where it all began after having played abroad for years. Thomas Delaney finding his way back to FC København is an example of this. 

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@JustinCase0110 wrote:

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@thomashunter2199 wrote:

I am not that knowledgeable on the league to be honest (only knowing the bigger sides) but what I have noticed is our squad especially and many other teams in Denmark have an enormous amount of young talent. 

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You are not wrong. It is also a "development league", where the best players are always signed by clubs in bigger leagues, such as the Bundesliga or the Premier League. There are also some rebound effect though, with Danish internationals returning to where it all began after having played abroad for years. Thomas Delaney finding his way back to FC København is an example of this. 

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I was looking at some players who fit the bill. Eg eriksen but I felt it was a little too early for that to be a realistic opportunity yet 

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@thomashunter2199 wrote:

I was looking at some players who fit the bill. Eg eriksen but I felt it was a little too early for that to be a realistic opportunity yet 

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I could actually see him return to Denmark soon. With everything that happened to him, I could see him return home and priotize family and stuff rather than making some downhill move abroad. However, if or when he returns home, it will 100% be to his boyhood club OB - Odense Boldklub - who are currently in a rare stint in the 2nd tier. They are leading it though and should return to the Superliga for the 2025/26 season. But I can't see him sign for any other Danish club. Well, maybe FC København, who have a bigger international reputation than anyone else. They have previously lured other top players like Brian Laudrup and Jesper Grønkjær, when they returned after a great career abroad.

Rumours are swelling about Eriksen returning at Ajax.

In general, if Dutch teams are in time they tend to seize a lot of Scandinavian players before they can make a jump to the big leagues. In that sense, the Dutch Eredivisie has a unique position as best of the smaller leagues, plus there are a lot of simularities between us and Scandinavian countries: linguistically, culturally and bike-friendliness.

But overall the Dutch league, much like the Danish one, struggle in that we cannot have the good players in their prime: they play at our clubs when they haven't reached full potential yet, or when they're well over their peak - never in between.

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

Rumours are swelling about Eriksen returning at Ajax.

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Yes, that is probably the most likely scenario.

AAB leave it late

AaB went into the game against Sonderjyske as strong favorties but the game was much harder than that. Sonderjyske were extremely good defensively and didn't let up until we found a breakthrough in the 85 minute. Haas made a run from midfield and buried a shot in the bottom right corner. This saw the three points come our way. After the game we were asked if we believed in the title charge as we sit 3rd but joint top of the table on 29 points from 8.

We stated 'It is early in the season. We are only 8 games in. At the start of the season we did not anticipate where we find ourselves now and I am not going to get carried away. Let's continue doing what we do correctly and see where we come in the end'. 

The fans may be starting to believe but I really think it's important to stay grounded. When you look at the individual stats this season across the league we do not have a true goalscorer with Widell being our highest ranked scorer with 2 in 7 games. Assists however we thrive with John leading the league with 5. That shows our right side bias but also the fact that Ross is ranked in 12 also shows we favour wing play. Defensively is really where we shine though. Muller has 6 clean sheets in 8 games ranking first.

SKOV SCORES HIS FIRST SENIOR GOAL!

We made a few changes in the lineup for this one due to fatigue. Skov got trusted from the start. Adedeji had a rare start. Haas had to stay out due to a knock meaning he couldn't complete a full 90 mins. That did not seem to matter though. We were defensively superb. (admin note changed the difficulty to Ultimate).

1-0 to the AAB is becoming a familiar scoreline for AAB this season. What a time for Skovs first senior goal. Skov scored his first goal against giants Brondby in an early title decider to break the deadlock just before half time. In the 70th Min Widell made a superb tackle from their defender and played Jorgensen through who hit the ball straight at the keeper 1v1. That did not matter though because we won despite only having 32% of the ball.

Consecutive 1-0 wins making it a habit to win with that scoreline. Quite similar to my own career with Viborg. Of 11 home games in the regular season, I won 1-0 six times. Seems you're on a path to something similar, though you're doing it both home and away.

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@JustinCase0110 wrote:

Consecutive 1-0 wins making it a habit to win with that scoreline. Quite similar to my own career with Viborg. Of 11 home games in the regular season, I won 1-0 six times. Seems you're on a path to something similar, though you're doing it both home and away.

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Indeed. Recently it seems we are relying on the GK to much though and we may be riding our luck a little too much to keep this up. Will remain to be seen but I am hoping we continue our surprise challenge. 

It's how I always try to play the game - I try to keep it locked at the back, so that I have 0:0 in the bag most of the times. From there, I start looking for ways to find goals easier: when I'm playing Ajax I'm a little restricted (they'll always apply wing play and a single central striker), but with other teams I have more of a free hand.

It's the only thing I don't like about the modern game: in the older FIFA versions you could also do free-form tactics, uneven line-ups (a left back but not on the right; a right attacker but not on the left). This way I once developed a system without defenders at all: my backs were halves and my central defenders were controlling midfielders. But the effect was that you could truly force an opponent onto their own halves, playing with 50 metres of space in your back (did make you vulnerable for speedy counter attacks, though...)

We go in to the next game with three 1-0 wins in the row. So podds for another 1-0 win would be high prior to kick off. Jorgensen starts at striker after his impressive impacts there of late. Two mins into the game he thundered a strike off the bar and in from just inside the box in the top right corner. What a start. And guess what...... four 1-0 wins in a row. Who would have guessed. Randers FC did not threaten a dominant AAB. Ideally I am starting to worry about the constant underperformance of XG. This could really cost us down the line. I have asked all our coaches to work with the attackers on shooting for the next month. Them doing so will hinder the performance of the rest of the side but I believe this is an important area to improve 'in house' now if we want any serious success this season. In Other positive news I have just been announced as the manager of the month! 

The next game we had Lyngby away. In true AAB fashion we broke the deadlock early when we utalised our high press and took the ball from their hesitant CB Gregor. Opoku ran 1v1 and smashed the ball home near post. The trend continued. We were impressive defensively only limiting the opposition to one shot but we failed to be actively clinical to reflect the domination. We really cant afford to play down a 1-0 victory and three points though. That result sees us climb 8 points clear with one game played more. We also have only conceded and impressive 4 goals. I want to give a massive shoutout to not only the defense but Jimenez. He rarely gets spoken about but the 21 year old Dutch midfiielder really has locked down the structure of the team.

It's fun to see how one game can reflect itself in such opposite directions, whether you focus on possession or shots/xG. Possession-wise it looks like Lyngby dominated that game with 65%. But with 10-1 in shots and 2.0 xG against 0.2 this was truly your game. Your 1-0 preference continues, and I get this Juventus vibe from a Champions League season 20 years ago or something. I believe they won every group stage game with 1-0. Or was it just the first five? I don't recall, but one may suspect that AaB have got an Italian head coach...

In real life at Ajax, we refer to Davy Klaassen as Mr. 1-0, as he's often our player to open the score for us (no matter if he plays well or not, he's often there to pick that opening goal).

Maybe we should start calling your Aab Team 1-0...

Haha yes. Usually I try to play a more attacking style which enables us to have more possession. With the 433 we are currently working with it seems like efficiancy is key. We just seemingly keep plodding along and teams are really struggling to get past our midfield to create any proper chances which is fun. The players do not necessarily reflect my usual setup but it is a refreshing change. 

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@Danimal5981 wrote:

In real life at Ajax, we refer to Davy Klaassen as Mr. 1-0, as he's often our player to open the score for us (no matter if he plays well or not, he's often there to pick that opening goal).

Maybe we should start calling your Aab Team 1-0...

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As this is the start of a Journeyman that is not necessarily a tag I want to be associated with lol. Larger sides may not wish to hire a manager known for 1-0 wins and low entertainment. That said if its just for the season and gets us to overachive it is a great style short term 🙂.

We lack the clinical edge. That was shown in the game against AGF where we failed to score. That said if you can’t score don’t concede and once again our defense was impenetrable. That result keeps us 6 points top.

Leicester city have contacted us to warn us regarding Opoku apperances. We replied with a swift response infoming them we would love to play him but he doesn’t ever stay fit. They have sent us a training plan to which we have stated we will try.

THAT WAS COMING!

The next game we take on Silkeborg at home in an attempt to get back to winning ways. Disastee struck as in the 70th minute we went behind 1-0 with a great strike from adamsen. This was totally against the run of play. And that’s how it ended. We lost finally.

I went to the media seething and reiterated that our performance was no where near what was expected from the team. Captain Jorgensen lead by example reiterating his disappointment in the dressing room to the players.