Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14

[AZAlkmaar2]

Hi all, The Dutch league is going to start again this weekend and I would like to give you some insights in the league for now. I know the transferwindow is not closed yet, but there are some interesting changes already. Let me start with some general comments about some of the top teams. Ajax is by far the favorite for winning the league at the moment. The top players that were set to leave (Alderweireld, Eriksen, Vermeer and De Jong) all stayed until this point, and none of the players from the starting 11 left. They only gained more strenght with the signing of Bojan Krkic from Barcelona/AC Milan. Side note is that Vermeer and De Jong will most likely stay but there are some teams still interested in Eriksen and Alderweireld. For Alderweireld they've already signed talented FC Utrecht defender Van der Hoorn (already was selected for the Dutch national squad) and for Eriksen they're not going to sign any replacement as they have a couple of alternatives already. PSV made some huge changes in the squad and almost replaced the entire team. Looking at the starting line-up from last year only Toivonen, Wijnaldum, Willems and Matavz remained. Marcelo also stayed but is not going to play and Toivonen is set to leave as well. A huge loss for them will be the departure of Strootman, Van Bommel, Lens and Mertens. They are mostly replaced by youngsters as Bruma (Chelsea/HSV), Rekik (Man City), Depay (PSV youth squad) and Maher from my club AZ Alkmaar. Also Stijn Schaars joined from Sporting Portugal and is one of the few experienced signings of this year. Even though the new players are talented, a whole new squad will have to be formed, along with the adeptment of a whole new coaching staff. Dick Advocaat left and Philip Cocu is now in charge. I don't think they will be a challenge for the title, although I think they will stay closest to Ajax. FC Twente lost a couple of key players with Chadli, Fer, Douglas, and most likely Mihaylov, but haven't made any serious signings yet. They seem to have some financial issues. Nothing real treatening but they are not able to spend lots of money because they recently expanded the stadium capacity. They're aiming for youth players now. I can't see them coming any close to the title at all. I think they have to be glad when they end up in the top 5. Feyenoord was able to maintain all of the players in the starting line up and hardly lost a player at all. The only one that might leave the squad is Bruno Martins Indi, who is closely watched by AC Milan. They are a pretty decent squad but depend highly on a couple of key players, especially their striker Graziano Pelle. I see them finish in the top 3, but not as serious title contenders. Vitesse is stripped down and doesn't even have the squad ready for the coming weekend. They lost top striker Bony to Swansea and their most talented midfielder Van Ginkel to Chelsea. Kalas returned to Chelsea but they weren't able to really stengthen the squad because of the new Fifa Fairplay rules. They will have to do with free signings and the hiring of players. Up until now they didn't sign any players that make the squad stronger compared to last year and there is no replacement for Bony or Van Ginkel yet. They will not play for the title this year and will have to aim for a spot in the top 5 if they're lucky. Looking at the bottom of the table there are a couple of teams battleing for relegation, among them RKC Waalwijk, Go Ahead Eagles and Cambuur Leeuwarden. All three teams have a small budget and don't have that many players with experience on the highest level in The Netherlands. RKC Waalwijk played a good season last year but lost their entire defense, including the goalkeeper and haven't signed any replacement yet. Upfront they lost their topscorer Chevalier. Go Ahead Eagles finished 6th last year in the first division (2nd level in The Netherlands) but able to win the play-offs to earn a spot on the highest level this year. They lost a couple of key-players and replaced them mainly by inexperienced youngsters. A huge risk but they can't do anything else since they have te lowest budget in the league. Cambuur is a similar story as Go Ahead, although Cambuur were last years champioens of the first division. They also lost their key player in midfield and did not make any big transfers due to a lack of money. Out of the three teams I mentioned it's maybe the strongest but I wouldn't put any money on that yet at this point.

[AZAlkmaar2]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 And now for the coming weekend, a couple of interesting bets. Even though it's the first game of the season, and anything can happen, I would like to share some info with you. Ajax-Roda JC (1 @1.13 on Unibet) Ajax is by far the favorite. Roda JC lost a couple of key players and Ajax is in top form at the moment. Odds are backing me with only 1.13 for a Ajax win on Unibet. ADO Den Haag-PSV Eindhoven (2 @1.42 on Unibet) PSV is the favorite in this game. As mentioned in my previous post, they had to replace almost the entire squad but the have a surplus of quality when you compare them to ADO Den Haag, who lost a couple of key players themselves. Last weekend PSV had pretty convincing win over Fenerbahce so they are in decent shape. FC Twente-RKC Waalwijk: (FC Twente -1 @2.06 at Unibet) FC Twente are the clear favorites. Last year this game ended in a draw if i'm correct but the current RKC squad is so poor that I don't see them have a chance at all. Lost their entire defense without any replacement and lost their topscorer as well. NEC Nijmegen-FC Groningen No info from my side. I know a couple of transfers took place on both sides but haven't seen them play at all in pre-season and don't know where they stand at this point. SC Heerenveen-AZ Alkmaar (AZ Alkmaar @2.52 on unibet) AZ Alkmaar are the favorites for this one, lost Altidore to Sunderland and Maher to PSV but they were able to strengthen their sqaud with a couple of talented players. Especially the defense gained some real quality, which was the weakest area of the team last year. Upfront Altidore is replaced by Johannsson, who is a different type of striker but a real goal scorer. Played 100 minutes as a substitute last year and scored 3 goals already, and had missed a couple of big chances as well. Also AZ Alkmaar's display in the supercup last weekend against title favorites Ajax was really hopeful. Came 2-0 up but lost in an unfortunate way. Heerenveen lost talented defender Gouweleeuw to AZ and star player Djuricic to Benfica. Topscorer Finbogasson is still there but i read today that there are a couple of clubs that want to sign him on a short notice. Other than that they hardly strenghten their defensive line which conceded 2 goals on average last year already. Cambuur Leeuwarden-NAC Breda (NAC Breda @3.00 on Unibet) NAC are the favorites in my opinion. Cambuur are new in the league with a few players who have experience on the highest level. NAC had a high number of changes in the squad, but they have a lot of experienced players now that should be able to win in Leeuwarden. Only side note is that Cambuur is playing on artificial grass. FC Utrecht-Go Ahead Eagles (Go Ahead Eagles DNB @3.75 on unibet) This is a risky one. I mentioned already that Go Ahead has little experience but FC Utrecht is completely stripped down of their top players. Asare (AA Gent), Van der Hoorn (Ajax), Wuytens (AZ) and Kali (Roda JC) all left. You could notice that during the emberrasing result last week in the Europa League. They lost to a team from Luxembourg, which is a real shame. If you can't even beat them, I don't see them win easily this weekend. Also, two players (Eduard Duplan and Cedric van der Gun) gained serious injuries on FC Utrecht side the last two days and are out for 3 months at least. So looking at the morale and lack of quality players, Go Ahead Eagles could be a reasonable gamble. Vitesse-Heracles Almelo Tough game and I won't burn my fingers on that one. Vitesse lost some key-players and got their ass whooped by Bayer Leverkusen at home over the weekend (0-4). On the other hand Heracles also lost a lot of players. I don't know enought about Heracles' shape and form at the moment to give a clear opinion. PEC Zwolle-Feyenoord (Feyenoord @1.80 on unibet)??? Feyenoord are the favorites but I'm not really 100% sure. Feyenoord has shown some terrible form during the pre-season and playing in Zwolle is never easy. Zwolle is also playing on artificial grass which is not Feyenoords favorite. I'm also not really sure about FC Zwolle current state so personally I am not betting on Feyenoord to be honest.

[jkapuestas]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Hard to find Eredivisie preview

[jkapuestas]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Hard to find Eredivisie preview

[stressina87]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Great job Az! I hope you will do it for all season! Thnx

[HastGill1]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 I'm not sure how PSV will do this year, they have lost so many of their better players it is difficult to know if the younger players they now have will be able to keep consistency for a full league season, if Toivanen goes - and that appears likely - they will certainly be relying on Narsingh to come back as good as he was before, otherwise you are really lacking experienced players. When you add into the equation a probable campaign in the EL or CL group stages I think they will suffer some bad patches along the way. Eriksen is obviously Ajax's best player and probably the best player in the league, if he goes and I think he probably will, it concerns me that you don't think they will replace him. Even if it goes to the wire I can see an English club putting in the money required as he is ready to make the step up. It will be good to see how well Sigþórsson does with a full pre-season behind him, when he has played he has averaged 1 in 2. Bojan is the signing that will play a key part for Ajax in the final third, he should do very well in this league and will play on the left (?) side of the front three I think where he can cut in - he needs to have a good season goals wise as he has been on loan to a few clubs now and probably not made the desired progress, he should find Eredivisie easier than Serie A though and will certainly get more goalscoring chances. Feyenoord look to be the only other realistic challengers and while they have signed Pelle they haven't really got anyone else in to improve the team, they will need him to score just as often as last season to stay in the hunt, again I can see them dropping too many points away from home to force a title challenge. Depending on if/how Eriksen is replaced Ajax look the play to me at 2.25. Can anyone Dutch based say if they are planning for life without him? I know the transfer rumours have been going on all summer but do you think they have anyone lined up to replace him? Probably not the same quality but someone else in his position.

[jepserdinho]

They will not replace Eriksen. If he goes Schone, Klaassen or Serero will take that position. Another option is Fischer to attacking midfield and Andersen as a left winger. Bojan will be playing right wing.

[AZAlkmaar2]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 @Stressina87: Sure, if people are interested i will be more than happy to give a heads up every week. I follow the league very closely and watch almost every game over the weekend but I have to proof that my predictions are reliable. :hope

[stressina87]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Be sure:if u will write every round people will follow your infos for sure! Hope u will have wish to post here usefull news! Bye

[jepserdinho]

Utrecht - Go ahead Eagles Utrecht with a different team this season opposite the team that made Europe. Vd Hoorn to Ajax, Kali to Roda, Asare to Gent, Wuytens to AZ. On top of that vd Gun and Duplan are injured for today's match. Utrecht couldn't win over two matches against Differdange. Eagles promoted and is a typically home team, that defeated Feyenoord in cup last year. They have Foeke Booy as coach, former player, coach and director of Utrecht. Eagles can do something extra today. Prediction: Eagles X2 Over 1,5 first half

[Yucatan]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Nice prediction on Utrecht - Go Ahead Jepserdinho. Picked it up too late, would hvae been a nice bet ;) Any thoughts on the upcoming matches ? Especially Groningen, Vitesse, Heerenveen and PEC Zwolle really surprised me this weekend with the way they played fresh and good football. PSV reminded me a lot of last year, score a lot but weak in the defensive line (Bruma made many awful mistakes). Guarantuee for a lot of goals, the overs may be interesting. Ajax may lose Alderweireld this week, interesting to see the impact it will have on the team. FC Groning - FC Utrecht : 1 @ 1.9 NAC Breda - Heerenveen : 2 @ 2.45 RKC - Vitesse : 2 @ 2.05 Thoughts on these bets?

[Yucatan]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Oh and I forgot Heracles - Zwolle : 2 @ 3.95

[stressina87]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Feyenoord - Twente HW 5/10 1.90 As we know Twente lost their best defender, midfielder and attacker. (Douglas, Fer and Chadli)also Tadic could leave the club.Last weak they played vs RKC (who is weaker than last season) and they were not able to win at home.Feyenoord began whit a lost against Zwolle away but they are not big travellers usually,at home usually Feyenoord has great results,they hasn't changed much since last season and even preseason wasn't great i think Feyenoord can win upfront their supporters!

[jepserdinho]

Today's match Roda JC - Cambuur. For me Roda JC is dark horse to finish top 8 and go in play offs for Europe. Malki leaving is a big miss but i think they got better teamwise and in their depth. Demouge returns from injury and captain Fledderus is back from suspension. Both very important. Roda is typical home team. Lost last season only 3 times.(vs Utrecht 0-1, vs Ajax 1-2 with a late winner and vs Feyenoord 0-1) Cambuur will be battling for relegation and lost last season 6 of their 15 games in first division. Home win @ 1.85

[jepserdinho]

Heracles - Zwolle Heracles got a very different team this year. Everton, Gouriye, Vejinovic left the club. Armenteros already left in january. That's the whole attacking department. Heracles isn't gonna be a tough place to go for the away teams as much as last seasons. Zwolle got a good game and result last week against Feyenoord but in my opinion they are solid since they came back in Eredivisie. In home games Heracles has advantage of artificial grass, but not tomorrow. Zwolle also plays artificial. For me Zwolle is the better team. Zwolle double chance (X2) @1,80 local bookie

[disposal bag]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Agree took the same bet! Zwolle played a good game against Feyenoord. Up front they have some good speed and skill with mohktar and Fernandez. Also ADO looking a little underrated, they will play from the counter attack and have some good players for this and v duinen is scoring easiliy. Gae first home match after their promotion. Not sure if they should be favorite here against a more experienced ADO team. zwolle x2 ado x2

[jepserdinho]

Took Eagles X2 last week because Utrecht is much weaker this year. It showed, Eagles was the far better team in the second half. Makes me go against Utrecht, especially away from home. Groningen got great season opener at NEC taking first spot. Groningen to win @1,75 (local bookie)

[neilovan]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Was looking with some interest at the Feyenoord v twente matchup today. Feyenoord are priced at 1.75 for the home win. This is a team that went undefeated at home last season winning 14 of 17 games. Only Barcelona, Real Madrid and Porto managed that in Europe last year. Man United lost 3 times at home. So why the 1.75 price. Are they weaker than last year ? Injuries and suspensions ? Are twente much better than last year ? Neil.

[neilovan]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Got this one right, for 35 minutes. Feyenoord self implode and finish with 9 men. :wall

[AZAlkmaar2]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Wasn't able to update you last week because of a busy schedule but for this week I have some insights again: SC Cambuur - FC Groningen (FC Groningen @2.25 on unibet) FC Groningen started the season well with two wins, one away at NEC and one at home to FC Utrecht. Newly promoted Cambuur picked up one point in the first game but should lose this one if you look at the quality of both sides. Also FC Groningen is able to use last years top goalscorer Michael de Leeuw again. He was injured the first game and on the bench the last game as a result of that injury. PSV - Go Ahead Eagles (PSV -1 @1.42 on unibet) Don't think I'll have to explain this one. PSV is on fire at the moment and specially in Eindhoven, Go Ahead Eagles shouldn't have a chance at all. RKC Waalwijk - AZ Alkmaar (AZ Alkmaar @2.05) After an offday in round 1, AZ Alkmaar beat Ajax at home last week which should be a mayor boost for the team. AZ Alkmaar is completely unpredictable but I RKC has so little quality that the away side absolutely has to win this one. NEC - PEC Zwolle (PEC Zwolle @ 2.60 on unibet) I would go for PEC Zwolle for this one. NEC haven't won a game since febraury and is completely out of shape. Also the coach is under pressure and there is some trouble at the club. PEC Zwolle started the season pretty well with a home victory against Feyenoord and an away victory at Heracles. Looking at the shape of both teams, and the quality on the pitch, I would go for PEC Zwolle of maybe pick X2. Roda JC - Vitesse (Vitesse X2 @1.44 on unibet) Difficult one this. Vitesse is out of shape and looking for the right formation with a new coach. Roda JC has some new players but is missing a striker. Normally Vitesse should be the better team but it's never easy at Kerkrade, especially looking at the current form. I think i'll let this game go, but if you want to place a bet I would go for Vitesse X2. Vitesse also signed Lucas Piazon this week from Chelsea on a one year loan. Not sure if he is able to play. Ajax - Feyenoord (Ajax -1 @1.90 on unibet) Defenitely Ajax. Both teams are missing their captains, De Vrij is suspened on Feyenoords side while De Jong is injured for Ajax. Both are important players but Ajax' sqaud should be able to cope with this loss. Last week Ajax lost but that was mainly because of a red card they received. As a result from that Ricardo van Rhijn is also not playing on Ajax side, while Janmaat is also injured on Feyenoord side. Feyenoord is in terrible shape and is low on convidence. Although Ajax-Feyenoord is always a special game, I can't see them get any points from this one. NAC Breda - ADO Den Haag ?? Difficult game, don't want to touch this and I know to little details about both squads at the moment to give any predictions. SC Heerenveen - Heracles Almelo (SC Heerenveen @1.50 on unibet) Defenitely Heerenveen for this one. They're playing at home and look pretty decent this season so far. Heracles is struggelin and looking for their form. Should be an easy win for the home side, especially with topscorer Finbogasson still in their squad. FC Twente - FC Utrecht (FC Twente @1.40 on unibet) FC Twente for this one. Both teams are still a little bit struggelin but FC Twente got a huge boost in morale after the 1-4 victory in Rotterdam against Feyenoord last week. Also star player Dusan Tadic can play again after he made a wonderful comback against Feyenoord last week, scoring twice from the spot and giving two assists as well. FC Utrecht are in terrible shape and missing a couple of players. I think they lack the quality to really hurt FC Twente at home. My prediction is a match with little goals but FC Twente will probably win by 1-0 or 2-0.

[blueberry099]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Groningen is good in last 2 matches, and no important players were injuered this week.how do you think on jepserdinho?

[jepserdinho]

Groningen won twice but against teams that aren't in the biggest form. Two other things that makes me suspicious are the artificial grass, Groningen's possession game is not quite there yet and long ball is in favour of Cambuur. The other thing is that the two teams share their youth department. It's a derby For me a no bet. If i should play it anyway under 2,5 would be the bet

[winnerwinner]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 What do you guys think about Ajax vs Feyenoord today? I am thinking of putting on -1.5 for Ajax? What are your thoughts on this game?

[Merc]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 As Feyenoord fan, I see Ajax as clear favorite. At home with full support and they are playing some good football. However, this is the biggest derby of the year and Feyenoord should be motivated. I think Koeman will adjust the gameplay to a more defensive style with fast counterattacks. Ajax were outplayed by Roda fo 15 minutes so Feyenoord should be able to create some chances. -1.5 @ 2.20+ is raising, De Jong is not playing but Feyenoord has more absences. As fan, I will leave this game as I hope Feyenoord could do some damage. -1.5 should be the play but I will try a yellow card for Mathijssen and Martins Indi.

[jepserdinho]

Ajax should win this -1 (EH) but the odds doesn't suit me. I'm an Ajax fan so little biast but history and teamnews are in favour of Ajax Feyenoord is playing an unusual 442 for them. That means Poulsen is gonna come from defensive midfield to between the centre backs a lot to overnumber against the two strikers. Blind and Ligeon are in that situation more forward like midfielders even. Ajax is than playing 343 so the midfield is busy area. Ajax usually struggles in that situation because ball circulation is too low. Small teams can hold that for an hour and then break. Feyenoord can hold much longer. For that reason 1.70 on EH is way too low for me.

[winnerwinner]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Nice feedback guys. Sorry I am a newbie to the terminology. What is EH? And why does the odd does not suit you? Is it too low @ 2.1? What is your prediction for the game?

[AZAlkmaar2]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Ajax with handicap for me. Looking at the history, Feyenoord haven't won there in 8 years (only 1 draw). Looking at the absences on Feyenoords side, as well as the weak form I don't think they'll have a chance at all.

[jepserdinho]

EH is European Handicap. In this game Feyenoord gets a 0-1 lead so Ajax needs a minumim win margin of 2. I can get only 1,70 @ local. 2,10 can make me go for the handicap. Prediction 1-0 or 2-1 Ajax will break them eventually. But this time not with 2 goal margin

[winnerwinner]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14 Cheers guys. Game starting in an hour. Looking forward to it. Hoping for an early goal from Ajax.

[winnerwinner]

Re: Netherlands > Eredivisie > 2013/14

Prediction 1-0 or 2-1 Ajax will break them eventually. But this time not with 2 goal margin

Good Call :)