1‑0 against Viking, and a performance that will be described to people who were not there for the rest of the season. Anthony Smits was at the centre of the description.
Position 2 and 36 points on the board. Nobody at the ground will say the word out loud yet, and everybody at the ground is thinking it.
Player ratings14 Dec 2026
A brace, and Ayoub Oufkir takes the afternoon — 8.44
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Ayoub Oufkir provided it, and the 8.44 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
3 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees Smit is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
9 home matches unbeaten. Visiting sides arrive already talking about the atmosphere, which is usually the sign that they have half-lost before kickoff.
Successful dribbles: 31. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings30 Nov 2026
Ayoub Oufkir, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.80
A mark of 7.80 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 20-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Troy Parrott was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peer Koopmeiners is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 22-year-old it feels ownership of. Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Successful dribbles: 32. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings9 Nov 2026
A brace, and Troy Parrott takes the afternoon — 9.09
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Troy Parrott provided it, and the 9.09 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
5 wins on the spin now, and the question has changed from whether the run ends to who ends it. Confidence like this cannot be bought; it has to be earned exactly this way.
“Things were said to me before I signed. I am not going to repeat them, but I remember all of them.” AZ have not answered, which is an answer of sorts.
5 straight away victories. Sides that win away are usually sides that can defend and can counter, and the table has begun to reflect what those journeys have earned.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Kees Smit falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I want to win things, and I would like to do it here.” Nothing has been demanded and nothing has been threatened — but a boardroom at AZ hears a sentence like that exactly as it was built.
Kees Smit was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Seiya Maikuma falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Ayoub Oufkir has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
The award is a small thing with a heavy meaning: for four weeks nobody in this division did his job better. AZ have the trophy on a shelf and the player in the side.
2‑1 against Guria, under lights, against people who do not speak the same language as the crowd. These are the evenings a club measures its decade in, and there are never as many of them as anybody expects.
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match24 Oct 2026
Troy Parrott wins it after the whistle should have gone
90 minutes played. Troy Parrott found the finish in time that only existed because of earlier delays, and Roda went from a point to nothing inside one movement.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
He found out with everybody else, an hour before kick-off, from a sheet of paper on a wall. Nobody at AZ pretended it was anything other than a decision about him.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 22 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees Smit is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Patati has it now, and everything he does for the rest of his time here will be measured against the goodwill he was handed for free.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Troy Parrott. 1‑0 against Heracles, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 20 he is doing things at this level he could not do at the start of the season, and the coaching staff will tell you exactly which of them.
Kees Smit was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Peer Koopmeiners is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
The goal that put IFK Goteborg ahead was still being replayed on the concourse when AZ equalised, 3 minutes later. Leads are only worth what you do with them.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZ can pretend not to have heard.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Kees Smit falls out with a teammate over standards
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZ, and 0 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
It is never announced and it is entirely visible: the biggest afternoons of the season keep containing him. A press box works this out long before anybody at the club confirms a word of it.
The deal that would have taken Rome-Jayden Owusu-Oduro to Bayer Leverkusen has collapsed at the last stage, and he reports back to AZ with a summer to forget and a season still to play. Nobody is saying which side walked away.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
At 22 he is being sung about by people twice his age, which is an affection a signing has to earn over years and a local kid gets for turning up. It is also the hardest thing in football to live up to.
The oldest argument in any dressing room and the only one that is genuinely about football: one man thinks another is not putting enough in. It is also the row a manager privately does not mind having happened.
“I am grateful for the games, but I did not become a footballer to be somebody else's spare part.” He wants to be at AZ, and 1 appearances in 5 say he has earned the hearing.
The shape wanted a different profile against this opponent, which is a real football answer and no comfort at all to the man it is about. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what AZ can pretend not to have heard.
Troy Parrott was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Kees Smit is at the centre of it, and the squad will now find out whether the standard rises or the pair of them simply stop speaking.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Seiya Maikuma is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.