After AZ's handsome third place finish in the Eredivisie last year, the club experienced another turbulent transfer period last summer. Star holders such as Nemanja Gudelj, Steven Berghuis, Aron Jóhannsson and Simon Poulsen departed, but as their replacements become more and more settled, AZ is starting to climb the league table.
Van den Brom builds on
Where the strongmen left, coach John van den Brom stayed on as coach of AZ. The coach and his club reached a verbal agreement earlier this month on contract extension until 2017. After the outgoing transfers, Van den Brom had to almost completely rebuild his squad. In recent weeks, the result of that has been increasingly visible. AZ won 0-2 away at Vitesse, while last weekend they beat sc Heerenveen 3-1. PSV has also been warned about AZ's scoring drive. Only on a visit to FC Groningen last September 20 did AZ fail to score. That is also the last time the Alkmaarders remained without a goal in an Eredivisie context.
Janssen shoots sharp
Where PSV has a real marksman in its ranks with Luuk de Jong, AZ has Vincent Janssen. The striker had to wait until Oct. 4 of this year for his first major league goals, but has been on target ever since. The Heesch-born striker went through Feyenoord's youth training and became the Rotterdammers' top scorer in the A1 in the 2012-2013 season. In the summer of 2013, the made the switch to Almere City FC. There Janssen scored 29 times in two seasons and played his way into the spotlight at AZ. In Alkmaar, he scored seven times in the last nine games.