Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 6 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kiani Inge did not need any: 7.61, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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 2‑0 win over MVV Maastricht, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Robin Dijks on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
RKC Waalwijk next, and one man in the Jong AZ dressing room knows their training ground better than his own. The reception will tell him what they thought of him.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tycho de Wit signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
A side in position 13 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
Position 20 and 17 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
Successful dribbles: 16. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout14 Feb 2028
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 0‑1 defeat, delivered by Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong AZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
7 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.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong AZ can pretend not to have heard.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robin Dijks after 1‑2, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Successful dribbles: 15. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
The dugout10 Jan 2028
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.
Position 18 and 15 points, and the table gets read bottom-up in this part of town. The calendar has stopped being a schedule and started being a countdown.
4 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.
Julian Oerip 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 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.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robin Dijks after 0‑1, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
Nothing in writing and nothing in public: a word about playing time, given face to face at Jong AZ. The team sheets over the next month will show whether it was worth having.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tycho de Wit signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
“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.
“If we are going to be beaten, let it not be because somebody in here could not be bothered.” He stood up and said it in front of everybody, which is a thing a squad remembers about a man for years.
At 16 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.
A goal on 92 minutes turned three points into one and a good afternoon into an argument about game management that will run until Saturday.
Squad6 Dec 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Julian Oerip
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Julian Oerip has come out of that comparison in the side, and Jong AZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
Something was said to Kevin Toppenberg and then it happened. In this industry that passes for remarkable, and the dressing room noticed faster than any supporter could.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Robin Dijks after the 1‑1 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Julian Oerip, 21, plays like he has been here for years — 7.90
A mark of 7.90 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Sem van Duijn 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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Sem van Duijn 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.
There is a particular helplessness in conceding 2 times before the twentieth minute. RKC Waalwijk tried to reorganise, Jong AZ did not allow it, and the result was written long before it was confirmed.
2-0, and a corner of somebody else's ground that made more noise than the rest of it put together. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them ever mentions it.
The dugout29 Nov 2027
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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 2‑0 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 Tómas Johannessen trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Jong AZ will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tycho de Wit signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Successful dribbles: 29. 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.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Robin Dijks after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
13 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Andrea Natali signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
12 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 12 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
6 goals in one match, Tycho de Wit on the scoresheet, and a scoreline that will look like a misprint. Neutrals could not have asked more of Jong AZ and De Graafschap.
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 dugout18 Oct 2027
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 1‑5 defeat, delivered by Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
A conversation in the manager’s office, and a commitment that came out of it. Promises like that are cheap to make and expensive to break, and Bohdan Budko has written the date down.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Sem van Duijn 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.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Jong AZ will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
The dugout4 Oct 2027
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 Robin Dijks left the room before anybody could ask which.
“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.
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Kiani Inge has come out of that comparison in the side, and Jong AZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
10 attempts, none of them in. He got into the right places all afternoon, which is the hard part, and did the easy part badly — and that is the version of a bad day a manager can live with.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
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.
A mark of 8.18 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 21-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 20-year-old it feels ownership of. Kiani Inge 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 2‑0 win over Helmond Sport, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Robin Dijks on a 2‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kevin Toppenberg trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Ninety specific minutes wanted a different sort of player, and the manager picked one. He is not out of form and he is not in the side, and both are true.
Every signing waits for it and every press conference asks about it until it comes. It has come, Jong AZ have their man off the mark, and the second one is always easier.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
The hardest thing about being 20 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Julian Sijbrands did not need any: 8.44, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
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.
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Sem van Duijn. 2‑1 against Jong PSV, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
At 23 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 terraces13 Sep 2027
The away end at another club goes home happy
2-1, and a corner of somebody else’s ground that outsang the rest of it. Those coaches leave before dawn and nobody outside them mentions it.
The dugout13 Sep 2027
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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
Shots: 17. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong AZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
“Some mornings you wake up and you are still a long way from everything you know.” It is not the football and it never was; Jong AZ are dealing with a man who wants a different country.
Squad6 Sep 2027
A place in the month's best eleven for Bohdan Budko
Four or five weekends of consistency, judged against everybody in the division doing his job. Bohdan Budko has come out of that comparison in the side, and Jong AZ have had the benefit of every one of those afternoons.
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.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I listened, I thought about it, and I am staying. That is the whole story.” The clubs had agreed a fee. Yoël van den Ban had not agreed to go, which turned out to be the part that mattered.
The phone has started ringing about Latrell Aken again, and this time the name on the line is De Graafschap. Jong AZ are listening politely and promising nothing.
“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.
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Kiani Inge trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
Add another name to the list: Pumas UNAM have asked the question everybody in the game has been asking about Andrea Natali. The answer from Jong AZ has not changed — yet.
“I did not come here to warm up in front of people.” He is out of contract eventually, he is old enough to count the weeks, and Jong AZ will have to give him a reason to stay or an exit.
5 signings in three months. Every one of them may be an upgrade and the team can still be worse for a while, which is the part of a rebuild that never appears in the transfer-window verdicts.
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.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around Jong AZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
“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.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.05, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
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 offer from VVV-Venlo for Peer Koopmeiners was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
The clubs have settled the fee and he has settled his wages. What remains is a medical and a photograph, and around AZ people have started saying his name in the past tense.
Not now, not at any price the club was prepared to say out loud. Go Ahead Eagles have kept their man, and AZ go back to a list with one name crossed off it.
Peer Koopmeiners 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.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Kees Smit was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
The training ground goes quiet for a fortnight. 4 men have gone off to be somebody else’s players, and the manager is left with the ones nobody has called.
Nobody at AZ will say this on the record and the team sheets have been saying it for weeks. There is a small group in every squad who get picked when the fixture is difficult, and he has joined it.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong AZ can pretend not to have heard.
A season average of 7.09 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Jong AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
In brief
SquadLatrell Aken makes the division’s eleven — 6.49
Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.31
A mark of 8.31 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.
At 20 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.
“We earned that. I asked them for a reaction and I got one, and now I want the same again on Saturday.” Robin Dijks on a 1‑0 afternoon that pleased him more than he was prepared to show.
“I have done everything asked of me in training and it has not changed a thing on a Saturday.” The most familiar complaint in football, and one Jong AZ will have to answer with minutes or with a transfer.
Asked to play a role that is not his, or taken off before the hour once too often — Jasper Hartog has let it be known that he does not like the way Jong AZ are using him. Managers hear this long before the press does.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The team at the top of the table next, and the honest measure of where this side actually is. Anybody can beat the club below them; the question is what happens against Cambuur.
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. Latrell Aken has moved up it.
Another week, another link, another denial nobody quite believes. Jong AZ know the market decides these things, not the back pages — but the back pages are louder.
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Jong AZ can pretend not to have heard.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.07, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
“I have given this everything, but my family is not here and neither am I, not really.” A footballer can be coached out of bad form. Nobody has ever been coached out of this, and Jong AZ know it.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 0‑2, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
“It had gone on long enough. I would rather have it out than leave it sitting there.” Ten minutes behind a closed door at Jong AZ, and both men came out saying it was fine.
Jong Utrecht will want this one forgotten quickly: 3‑0, every duel lost, and a long ride home. Jong AZ were ruthless in the way good sides are ruthless.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
A brace, and Tycho de Wit takes the afternoon — 9.16
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Tycho de Wit provided it, and the 9.16 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings19 Apr 2027
Julian Sijbrands, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.19
A mark of 8.19 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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.
At 21 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 20 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
0‑7 to MVV Maastricht, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
5 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.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
The ground has had enough
“We travel everywhere and we get this.” 3 of the 13 senior players heard it walking off, and the ones who did not hear it were not playing.
4 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.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Jong AZ and MVV Maastricht, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
At 18 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.
A season average of 7.04 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Jong AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
Kevin Toppenberg has done the arithmetic and does not like the answer. Nothing corrodes a squad faster, and no club has ever solved it by explaining the wage structure to a footballer.
A side in position 13 visits next. The result will not make anybody’s season and it could quietly break the shape of one, which is why the manager has been watching the video since Sunday.
At 18 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.
Marked 7.08 on 11 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“A point is a point and I will take it, but we should have had all three.” Robin Dijks after the 0‑0 draw, and the sentence every manager in the country said at some stage this weekend.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against Vitesse? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Tycho de Wit signs something — a contract at Jong AZ or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
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.
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.
Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 8.10
A mark of 8.10 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.
Jasper Hartog 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
The dugout8 Mar 2027
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 1‑3 defeat, delivered by Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Jasper Hartog is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
He is 20, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Andrea Natali 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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Jong AZ and Jong Ajax, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
He is 23 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.
The terraces1 Mar 2027
Jong AZ's travelling support get something back at another club
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 9-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 6 goals between Jong AZ and FC Eindhoven, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Somebody said out loud what several people thought about how hard another man trains, and Rion Ichihara was in the middle of it. The one dressing-room argument that is genuinely about football.
Goalkeepers do not get to make mistakes; they get to make goals. He made one, he knew it instantly, and there was nobody behind him to make it anything else.
“We were not good enough today and I am not going to dress it up.” Robin Dijks after 0‑6, in the tone of a man who knows the next question and does not intend to answer it.
The dugout15 Feb 2027
Latrell Aken 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.
Market15 Feb 2027
Nick Homan returns from a loan that taught him nothing
0 appearances and 0 clean sheets. A goalkeeper learns his job by playing it, and a season that gave him neither the games nor the shut-outs is a year taken off the front of a career.
0 appearances, 0 clean sheets, and a goalkeeper no further forward than the day he left. Whether that belongs to him, to the club that borrowed him or to the people who arranged it is the argument Jong AZ will have this month.
0‑7 to Den Bosch, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
Player ratings8 Feb 2027
Tycho de Wit, 20, plays like he has been here for years — 7.96
A mark of 7.96 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.
He is 19, he is averaging 7.02, and older professionals have started passing to him in the difficult minutes. That last part is the real scouting report.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 7 goals between Jong AZ and Den Bosch, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
A point taken on 91 minutes is worth exactly one point and considerably more than that to a dressing room. This side does not stop, which is a reputation worth more than the result.
Marked 7.69 at 19, in a side that makes no allowances for age. He did not need any, and he looked the least nervous man on the pitch.
Player ratings1 Feb 2027
Up for the corner, and Rion Ichihara delivers — 7.49
Centre-halves are allowed forward twice a season and are judged on what they do when they get there. Rion Ichihara scored, was marked 7.49, and got back before anybody noticed he had gone.
6 without a win is the sort of run that changes how a town talks about its club, and Jong PSV were the afternoon it stopped. Nothing is fixed by one result and everything feels different by one.
“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.
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.
Squad1 Feb 2027
Rion Ichihara 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 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.
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the whole of the defence. 9 saves, several of them the kind nobody expects to see made, and ten outfield players who owe him a drink.
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.
Match23 Jan 2027
Nobody could stop scoring
10 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Roda in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
Squad25 Jan 2027
Rion Ichihara 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 offer from Qarabag for Calvin Carrilho was heard out and sent back the same day. First bids are rarely meant to succeed; they are meant to find out how loudly the door closes.
Two or more conceded in each of the last 5 matches. It is not one mistake repeating itself, which would be the easier thing to fix; it is a different one every week.
Marked 7.09 on 10 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
“The supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 1‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
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.
0‑9 to ADO Den Haag, and it was every bit as bad as the number suggests. There are defeats you argue about and defeats you apologise for; this was the second kind.
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.
Defending was optional and nobody took up the option. 9 goals between Jong AZ and ADO Den Haag, and not one of the people who paid to be there will ask for the money back.
Squad4 Jan 2027
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
Position 11, 27 points, and every result so far reduced to one line. The second half of the season starts with the same squad and a different set of expectations.
A goalkeeper’s error has no defender behind it to tidy it away. He knew before the ball crossed the line, the crowd knew a second later, and there is nothing anybody can say tonight.
2 in front and in complete control, and it finished with Dordrecht the happier side. There is no version of this afternoon that Jong AZ will enjoy reviewing.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
Saviola Simons, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 7.77
A mark of 7.77 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
Form comes and goes; this has not gone. Andrea Natali is 18, and the version of him training now would not have got into the side he was in a year ago.
A season average of 7.03 at an age when most of his year group are still in the youth team. Jong AZ know what they have, and so, by now, does everybody else.
The name of Kevin Toppenberg has come up in conversations Jong AZ were not part of. Nothing formal, nothing signed — but nothing about it accidental either.
Dordrecht left with the points after a 2‑3 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Rion Ichihara 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 supporters are entitled to be angry. So am I. We will put it right.” 2‑3, a manager saying the necessary things, and a dressing room that heard a different version of them.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tycho de Wit did not need any: 8.14, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
At 18 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.
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.
Three points for Jong AZ, 1‑0 the final word against Emmen in a contest settled by the finer margins.
Squad14 Dec 2026
Latrell Aken 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 dugout14 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Robin Dijks, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
11 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
Latrell Aken, 18, plays like he has been here for years — 7.91
A mark of 7.91 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 18-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
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 month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Andrea Natali is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
The dugout7 Dec 2026
The view from the dugout
“We controlled it. There were spells I did not like and we will look at them, but the group showed me something.” Robin Dijks, on a 1‑0 win that he was already picking apart on the walk to the press room.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kiani Inge did not need any: 7.84, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
“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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Toppenberg 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.
RKC Waalwijk made Jong AZ work for it, but the scoreboard read 1‑0 at the end and the table does not ask how.
Squad30 Nov 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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 dugout30 Nov 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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 1‑0 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
14 times he got in the way of something. Centre-halves get written about when they make mistakes and ignored when they do not, so an afternoon like this needs saying out loud: he is the reason the scoreline reads as it does.
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.
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.
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.
Headers, blocks, tackles, interceptions — 20 of them, and not one goal behind him. The sort of performance that never makes a highlight reel and wins football matches.
Squad23 Nov 2026
Rion Ichihara 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 dugout23 Nov 2026
The manager’s verdict
“I am frustrated, honestly. We did enough to win and we did not win.” Robin Dijks was not hiding it after 0‑0, and nobody in the Jong AZ dressing room was either.
Ninety minutes, no goals, and the argument started before the car park emptied: a point gained, or two thrown away against TOP Oss? Both sides of it will still be going on Thursday.
9 shots, and a count that reads like a good afternoon until you check the other column. Strikers survive weeks like this on the understanding that the chances keep arriving; the day they stop is the day it becomes a problem.
Chances created: 7. Nothing on the scoresheet and everything in the match: the pass before the pass, over and over, until the defence stopped guessing right.
Marked 6.92 on 12 actions at both ends of the pitch. Midfielders like this get described as unspectacular by people who have never tried to play against one.
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Squad9 Nov 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
Calvin Carrilho 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.
Nobody at Jong AZ is suggesting he is out of form. The manager simply wanted somebody with a different set of qualities for ninety specific minutes, and there is nothing a player can train to fix that.
Almere City left with the points after a 0‑1 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
Squad2 Nov 2026
Rion Ichihara 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.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Mathijs Menu is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
Nothing is announced when this happens and everybody knows. He is a bigger part of the plan at Jong AZ than he was a month ago, and the training ground worked that out before the team sheet said so.
In brief
SquadA Jong AZ teenager takes the young player award
Two goals and a mark of 8.98 to go with them. Strikers are judged on afternoons like this one and remembered for far fewer of them than people imagine.
11 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Jong Ajax in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
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.
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.
0‑1 to De Graafschap, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
Successful dribbles: 18. 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.
“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.
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.
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.
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.
FC Eindhoven left with the points after a 0‑2 defeat that will take some explaining on the terraces.
The dugout5 Oct 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 0‑2 defeat, delivered by Robin Dijks to a room that had heard them before.
A month is long enough that nobody gets in by accident. Rion Ichihara is in the division's best eleven for it, which is a quieter compliment than an award and a more reliable one.
There were 89 minutes on the clock and Den Bosch had all but banked the point. Football rarely reads the room, and Jong AZ did not stop to explain themselves.
Player ratings28 Sep 2026
Saviola Simons, 19, plays like he has been here for years — 8.32
A mark of 8.32 means one thing beside a twenty-nine-year-old's name and something else entirely beside a 19-year-old's. Nobody at the ground needed telling which this was.
“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.
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 23-year-old it feels ownership of. Kevin Toppenberg 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.
Squad28 Sep 2026
Words at Jong AZ training over how hard people work
Somebody said out loud what several people had been thinking. Rion Ichihara 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.
Successful dribbles: 15. 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.
The dugout28 Sep 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.” Robin Dijks kept it short after the 2‑1 win, which is what managers do when they are happy.
At 18 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.
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.
15 defensive actions and a clean sheet at the end of them. A defender's afternoon can only be told by what did not happen, which is why nobody makes a highlights package out of one and every manager in the division would take it.
“There are things I liked and things we will be doing on Tuesday until they are right.” 0‑0, and a manager who had already decided what Tuesday looked like.
The crowd waited for a goal that never came. Helmond Sport defended in numbers and left with what they came for, and the two sides could be playing still without troubling a scorer.
At 19 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.
2 goals, and the second was the one that settled it. Marked 8.26, and he could have had a third with better luck at the near post.
Player ratings14 Sep 2026
A brace, and Kiani Inge takes the afternoon — 8.21
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Kiani Inge provided it, and the 8.21 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
The hardest thing about being 19 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Tycho de Wit did not need any: 8.03, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
7.35, 1 on the scoresheet, and the specific comedy of a back-four player celebrating like somebody who does this every week. He does not, and that is exactly why the ground reacted the way it did.
9 goals. Both benches spent the second half looking at each other rather than at the pitch. Purists will complain about Jong AZ and Jong PSV in equal measure; everybody else had a wonderful time.
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.
The terraces14 Sep 2026
Jong AZ's travelling support get something back at another club
They paid twice — for the ticket and for the journey — and got a 9-0 win for it. Away support is the truest kind precisely because nothing about it is convenient.