The AZ Gazette
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
33 goals on loan for Matěj Šín
32 appearances at ADO Den Haag and the goals keep coming. AZ are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
A brace, and Calvin Stengs takes the afternoon — 8.35
There is a particular kind of quiet from an away end watching one man score twice. Calvin Stengs provided it, and the 8.35 beside his name is if anything generous to everybody else.
Player ratings12 Apr 2027
No sign of nerves from Kees Smit at 21 — 8.38
The hardest thing about being 21 in a senior side is that nobody makes allowances. Kees Smit did not need any: 8.38, and he looked the most comfortable man on the pitch.
Squad12 Apr 2027
A falling-out at AZ
Patati and a teammate went at it, and not about football. Training grounds are small places and a long season makes them smaller.
Match10 Apr 2027
Whatever happens, AZ do not lose
6 games unbeaten now. Some were earned and some were survived, but a habit is forming — and habits are the hardest thing in football to play against.
Match10 Apr 2027
AZ get the job done against Twente
A 3‑1 win over Twente, earned rather than given, and the sort of afternoon that sends everyone home talking about next week instead of this one.
The terraces12 Apr 2027
AZ supporters have found a favourite in Kees Smit
There is a particular warmth a ground reserves for a 21-year-old it feels ownership of. Kees Smit 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.
Loan watch12 Apr 2027
13 goals on loan for Donny van der Lijcke
31 appearances at Helmond Sport and the goals keep coming. AZ are watching this more closely than the borrowing club would like.
Squad12 Apr 2027
AZ count the cost of losing Daley Promes
26 days, the scan says, and scans are kinder than reality. The fixtures in that window have just become somebody else’s job.
In brief
- Squad Patati is in the form of his life
- The dugout No place for Wouter Goes on the big day
- The dugout Patati gets picked when it counts