Successful dribbles: 28. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
6 without a win now, and the ground has developed the special quiet of a crowd that expects the worst. One scrappy 1-0 would cure most of it; that is the maddening part.
6 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jong AZ can tell you which week it ends in.
Terms are settled between the clubs and the rest is paperwork and a photograph. Around Jong AZ they have already started talking about him in the past tense.
0‑1 to De Graafschap, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad22 Feb 2027
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Hessel de Wit 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑1, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“I have tried. I have really tried, and every day I wake up in the wrong place.” Nobody at Jong AZ can coach that out of a man, and nobody there is pretending to.
“I respect the manager and I am not going to sit here and pretend I am happy.” It is the most common sentence in football and it has never once been the end of a story.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Wesley Wijnaldum after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
The dugout1 Feb 2027
Mathijs Menu is still being punished for one mistake
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
He trains hard, says the right things and goes home to an empty flat. Nobody at Jong AZ has done anything wrong, which is exactly what makes it so difficult to fix.
A brace, and Tycho de Wit takes the afternoon — 8.47
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tycho de Wit provided it, and the 8.47 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Successful dribbles: 22. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
He is 21 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
A new face in his position and a shirt he thought he owned suddenly up for discussion. Jong AZ have promised nothing, which is what clubs promise at this stage.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room and never have. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and at Jong AZ that is a harder question to answer.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Jong AZ was different afterwards.
The terraces18 Jan 2027
The crowd chose kindness
5 of the 10 senior players came off to applause the result had not earned. A ground makes its own mind up about a team, and this week it made it up generously.
The bid was some way short and Jong AZ did not need long over it. Nobody in the game reads a first refusal as the end of anything.
Player ratings11 Jan 2027
Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.76
A mark of 7.76 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.
Not a run of form — an actual step up, held for months. At 18 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wesley Wijnaldum after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 8 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saviola Simons is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Jur Schipper 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Wesley Wijnaldum after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
It will be explained as a change for the team and it may even be one. Nobody who has worn one believes that, and neither does the man who has just had it taken away.
He used to be one of the options. He is now one of the men the options are picked around, and the change happened quietly enough that only the dressing room noticed on the day.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Tómas Johannessen is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
At 19 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.
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
The dugout21 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Wesley Wijnaldum was not hiding it after 1‑1, and nobody in the Jong AZ dressing room was either.
Rion Ichihara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
He is 19 and the ground already sings his name, which is a thing that happens to local boys and almost never to signings. Everything from here is measured against an affection he did nothing to earn except be from here.
Emmen made Jong AZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
The dugout14 Dec 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am not going to get carried away and I will not let them either. It was a good day. There will be harder ones.” Wesley Wijnaldum kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Rion Ichihara trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I was told straight, and I would rather have it straight.” The manager at Jong AZ has been clear about where Mathijs Menu stands, which is more than many ever get.
Numbers do not stay secret in a dressing room. He is not asking for more than he is worth; he is asking why somebody beside him is worth more, and Jong AZ have no good answer.
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Jong AZ this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
The door stayed shut a long time after the final whistle. What was said in there is between them; whether it worked is between them and Saturday.
The dugout23 Nov 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 0‑4 defeat, delivered by Wesley Wijnaldum to a room that had heard them before.
Every touch is being weighed now, in print and everywhere else. Some players grow into that and some are quietly ruined by it, and nobody knows which in advance.
Nobody will confirm it and the team sheets confirm it every week. One error has bought him a spell as second choice that is already longer than the error deserved.
The list is a quiet document with a loud meaning. Tómas Johannessen may talk to anybody who asks, and everybody at the club understands what that means.
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.
“Nobody outside is coming to save us.” It was short, it was not comfortable, and by all accounts the Jong AZ squad were quieter afterwards than they had been all season.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tómas Johannessen signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
In brief
Player ratingsThe afternoon ran through Kiani Inge
SquadTycho de Wit makes the division’s eleven — 6.64
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 16 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
Not a new contract, not a new number: a new place in the manager’s thinking, which is the only promotion in football that actually matters. Kiani Inge has moved up it.
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Saviola Simons provided it, and the 8.36 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A brace, and Rion Ichihara takes the afternoon — 8.07
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Rion Ichihara provided it, and the 8.07 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Rion Ichihara 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.
18 goals in one match, Tómas Johannessen on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jong AZ and Jong Ajax.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Bram van Driel 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.
0‑4 against De Graafschap, and no complaints that would survive the replay. The manager spoke about character afterwards; the terraces used shorter words.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Saviola Simons is 19, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
3 matches, no goals, and a training ground that has tried everything. It will end — droughts always do — but nobody at Jong AZ can tell you which week it ends in.
A defender's mistake gets tidied up by somebody else; a goalkeeper's ends up in the net. He knew before the ball crossed the line, and so did everybody in the ground.
The dugout19 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑4 Wesley Wijnaldum left the room before anybody could ask which.
Nobody will confirm this and nothing else explains the last month of selections. A costly error buys a player a period of being second choice that is always longer than the error was.
At 21 he is doing things this season that he could not do last season, and doing them every week. Form comes and goes; this has stayed long enough to be called something else.
Andrea Natali 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.
0‑1 to FC Eindhoven, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
The dugout5 Oct 2026
The manager’s verdict
“That is on me. I pick the team and I picked wrong.” Managers say that when they mean it and when they need to be seen to, and after 0‑1 Wesley Wijnaldum left the room before anybody could ask which.
Rion Ichihara and a teammate said things this week that will take longer than a week to unsay. It was not about football, and both of them play on Saturday.
The board was up, the win was priced in, and then Helmond Sport scored. There is no worse minute to concede in and the ground emptied in the silence that follows one.
It needed Chaverello Hellings to find the net to bring anything home at all: 1‑1 against Helmond Sport, and half the dressing room will call it a point won.
“It is not the end of the world and it is not good enough. Both of those are true.” The manager, after a 1‑1 draw, said the honest thing and then went to say it again inside.
At 21 he has taken a place rather than been given one, and somebody else has to find something to say about it. Jong AZ have a decision that made itself.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.
“I am not asking anybody to be better than they are. I am asking everybody to be as good as they are, every week.” Said out loud, in front of everybody, and the room at Jong AZ was different afterwards.
Successful dribbles: 23. He went past people as if he had been told there was a prize for it, and by the end the full-back had stopped pretending to try.
Marked 7.03 on 16 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Tycho de Wit scored, and precious little else went right: 1‑2 to Roda, and a quiet walk to the dressing room.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The view from the dugout
“We will look at it, we will learn from it, and we go again.” The three sentences every manager keeps for a 1‑2 defeat, delivered by Wesley Wijnaldum to a room that had heard them before.
1 error, one goal, and a night in front of the same three seconds. He will see it tonight, tomorrow and probably in February, and everybody who has played knows exactly which frame he keeps stopping on.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Hessel de Wit 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.
The dugout31 Aug 2026
The manager has not finished forgetting Kiani Inge's mistake
Publicly it is behind everybody. It is not behind the man who picks the team, and the only place that shows is a team sheet. He will get another chance; he will get it in a match that matters less.
“It was not right for me. I am not going to explain why to anybody except the people I owe an explanation to.” A deal agreed between two clubs, and a player who declined to be part of it.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 18-year-old it feels ownership of. Latrell Aken 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Wesley Wijnaldum after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Squad24 Aug 2026
Hessel de Wit 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.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. VVV-Venlo defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
The manager wanted a different profile for this opponent, which is a real football reason and no consolation. He did nothing wrong and he did not play.