Ajax - Man Utd | EL Final Build-up Thread

[Parry Gallister]

Well done on making the final. You guys don't have make hard work of it but you'll win it now. Can't see Ajax beating you, no way they'll keep you guys out for 90 minutes.

Solid jynxing


Shame in a way it has to be Ajax we're playing, under other conditions I'd want them to win. Still, good to see two of the old classic clubs play in a European final and get a solid chance of ticking off the UEFA/Europa/Intertoto/whatever cup.

 

[Heista]

You can guys can look at Ajax style a little bit alike of Barcelona, but just with their B-team.
Passing game, starting from the back. Fluid in attack, quick passes.

Leftback - Riedewald or Sinkgraven, Sinkgraven was out with injury and is a made leftback, as he is a LM. Riedewald is makeshift LB as he is a LCB. Both young. Sinkgraven has been our first option for LB.
LCB - De Ligt, 17 years of age, can be naive cause he is young, was a bit unlucky to concede penalty. Is not very fast on first meters. Will go into midfield like Vertonghen.
RCB - Sanchez, our Colombian rock at the back. Bit like Bailly. Agressive, athletic, aerial threat. Not the best of passer, but like Bailly.
RB - Veltman, who gets easy cards, was substituted today to net get a red card. Otherwise Tete will play, who is fast and is a very good tackler.

CDM - Schone, has a wonderful freekick, able to score from 30 meters. Not a standard CDM as he is more creative and thinks more forward. Can be a bit nonchalant.
LCM - Ziyech, has a great free kick. Is very good a tthrough passes. If he is in his element, than he is a joy to watch.
RCM - Klaassen, our captain, engine and leader of the squad. Work his ass off. Will arrive in the box alot. Has a good finishing shot and eye for where to be.

LW - Younes, tricky little fellow. Will cut inside alot. Tracking back not his strong points and can get stuck in dribbling. But a threat constantly nonetheless.
ST - Dolberg, a bit Zlatan junior and already known here on the caf. Has a menacing shot. Can hold up play and is tricky. Young lad.
RW - Traore, bit hit and miss on RW. Pacey, nonchalant. Weak shot. Good at aerial duels. Tricky, but in a bad game he makes wrong choices alot.

 

[Raw]

He is a nothing player that nobody rates and one of those players even the fans groan everytime he gets into the starting eleven.

So he's their Lingard then?

 

[Heista]

He is a nothing player that nobody rates and one of those players even the fans groan everytime he gets into the starting eleven.

Actually he has been surprisingly good today. Has a good engine and is usually solid. Upped his game this year. Solid at LB and even better at LCB.
Riedewlad will be his replacement at LB, who is young and prone to make mistakes. Our first option Sinkgraven is a made LB, but out with injury.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

Win for Zlatan. (Please don't wear the stupid training shirts anymore).

 

[YouOnlyLiveTwice]

I'm so fecking nervous for this game. The outcome of one game decides if this has been a successful season or a bad one.

 

[whatwha]

I hate when we play the final in away colors

Oh god damnit, didn't know about that. O hate that too.

 

[pseudo_canadian]

Don't care if our performance is the ugliest in the history of football.

Just win the damn game please.

 

[Infra-red]

Don't care if our performance is the ugliest in the history of football.

Just win the damn game please.

This will probably be Mourinho's teamtalk.

 

[EvilIrwin]

Not too confident about this, I can see Ajax winning unfortunately. Utd have played poorly in the last 2 finals and I expect that to continue. With Bailly out, struggling to score a 2nd goal, Lingard to start, no Zlatan and who knows who else is up next to be injured. Ajax have 12 days rest to prepare and will be firing on all cylinders where Utd are already looking tired with 3 games left to throw away not to mention the immense pressure Mourinho and the players will be under as the season hinges on this one game.

One plus is Ajax don't have a great defence but Utd don't bother to take their chances so doesn't matter.
If Utd still had Bailly, Rojo and Zlatan then I would be confident but its a step too far.
Ofcourse it's a final and anything can happen, hope to be proven wrong.

 

[NotoriousISSY]

Given the ending to this season, of the remaining fixtures, please just win this one, in any way possible and let's put this season under the carpet.

The last 10 minutes of today's game just summed up the last three months.

 

[Liver_bird]

You'll win easily. They're too naive to win a game against a Mourinho side. Fabulous talent but will prove futile againt Fellaini and co

 

[Denis79]

Freaking awesome! It's not the CL but man I'm looking forward to it!

 

[Nytram Shakes]

smalling and blind played well together last season, im not too worried about our defence, its weather our players are even allowed to attack in numbers that worries me.

 

[Bojan11]

Forget this. Jose'll never do this. Smalling or Jones will be starting, possibly Smalling.

Which sane manager would? Pep started Yaya Toure in a champions league final as CB. Fergie would rather play Carrick.

It's just ridiculous. One good performance as right back doesn't mean you should get a final spot. What if the pressure gets to him or whatever. This is not the time to play young kids. Not sure what people smoking. Jones and Smalling aren't as bad as people making them out to be. Smalling was our best defender last season. Jones had a period this season where he looked pretty good. Obviously one of them should go in the summer due to injuries. But it would be madness for Tuanzebe to start a final over them based on a display as right back.

 

[el3mel]

Which sane manager would? Pep started Yaya Toure in a champions league final as CB. Fergie would rather play Carrick.

It's just ridiculous. One good performance as right back doesn't mean you should get a final spot. What if the pressure gets to him or whatever. This is not the time to play young kids. Not sure what people smoking. Jones and Smalling aren't as bad as people making them out to be. Smalling was our best defender last season. Jones had a period this season where he looked pretty good. Obviously one of them should go in the summer due to injuries. But it would be madness for Tuanzebe to start a final over them based on a display as right back.

Agree, you can't put much pressure on a kid in such a game it's just unfair to him and the team.

 

[The Stain]

Do people think it is wise to use the southampton game as a practice for the final? (i.e. start the same players)

Was thinking this meself actually. Mourinho should tell them to see that game as a rehearsal of the EL Final. Soton and Ajax are about the same level these days, Soton perhaps slightly worse. Whether they play the same type of football, i've no idea.

 

[VanHaal'sRedArmy]

Thank feck it's an away match.

 

[Android1974]

Ajax are good at attacking but terrible at the back. We can win this

If only we get to attack…

 

[Android1974]

Nick Viergever(Defender) will be missing for them.
Not sure how important he is for them ?

Perhaps he's their Darmian, a more defensive leftback, since he didn't play the first leg, apparently Riedewald did.

 

[Kag]

Pep and Klopp rolled into one can't get this team to play with some zest and flair. They just don't have it in them.

I'll be fine with any bus parking method as long as we win this EL and then, we should embark on a massive clear out. We need some decent footballers in this team.

Bollocks. We've got Herrera, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Mata and Martial to take up our front six spots. We've got Carrick, who is still a canny hand. Lingard isn't a mug either, in spite of generally not being good enough. There's multi millions of pounds of talent littered all over this team and it's up to the manager to get the best out of them in an attacking sense. That we've scored less league goals than Bournemouth gives credence to this, unless you think Josh King and Marc Pugh are the "decent" footballers we don't get the luxury of having in our squad.

We've had clear outs. We just need our managers to start doing their jobs.

Like I said, score two goals and we win this tie.

 

[Zii]

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This game is going to mean SO much to Jose, SO much.

 

[Cal?]

Yeah because that's how it works with a final on a neutral ground.

Both teams are away from home, no?

 

[Offside]

I can see a game similar to so many in Europe for us this season. Similar to the League Cup final in fact. They outplay us at times and we survive some really hairy moments, but we scrape it 2-1 or something.

 

[padr81]

Solid jynxing


Shame in a way it has to be Ajax we're playing, under other conditions I'd want them to win. Still, good to see two of the old classic clubs play in a European final and get a solid chance of ticking off the UEFA/Europa/Intertoto/whatever cup.

No really, I'd like to see Ajax win if I'm honest thought I wouldn't mind you guys beating anyone else. Its good to see two huge clubs indeed, might put a bit of hype and reputation back in the competition. I watched the Ajax game tonight and as poor and all as Lyon were Ajax were at times hopeless. My heart says Ajax, my head says ye'll carve them apart and miss a bunch of chances but take one or two eventually. You do need to find a bit of form heading into it though

 

[vivaronaldo]

great that romero has gotten us here , but da gea must start ......

 

[Ramshock]

Not too confident about this, I can see Ajax winning unfortunately. Utd have played poorly in the last 2 finals and I expect that to continue. With Bailly out, struggling to score a 2nd goal, Lingard to start, no Zlatan and who knows who else is up next to be injured. Ajax have 12 days rest to prepare and will be firing on all cylinders where Utd are already looking tired with 3 games left to throw away not to mention the immense pressure Mourinho and the players will be under as the season hinges on this one game.

One plus is Ajax don't have a great defence but Utd don't bother to take their chances so doesn't matter.
If Utd still had Bailly, Rojo and Zlatan then I would be confident but its a step too far.
Ofcourse it's a final and anything can happen, hope to be proven wrong.

We won the FA Cup and EFL cup in our last 2 finals wtf are you on about? Unless you mean our last 2 CL finals v Barca with completely different players and coach????

 

[el3mel]

Not too confident about this, I can see Ajax winning unfortunately. Utd have played poorly in the last 2 finals and I expect that to continue. With Bailly out, struggling to score a 2nd goal, Lingard to start, no Zlatan and who knows who else is up next to be injured. Ajax have 12 days rest to prepare and will be firing on all cylinders where Utd are already looking tired with 3 games left to throw away not to mention the immense pressure Mourinho and the players will be under as the season hinges on this one game.

One plus is Ajax don't have a great defence but Utd don't bother to take their chances so doesn't matter.
If Utd still had Bailly, Rojo and Zlatan then I would be confident but its a step too far.
Ofcourse it's a final and anything can happen, hope to be proven wrong.

That's the spirit ! Keep the optimism going on.

 

[Sb_16]

Didn't know VDS is Ajax's CEO.

 

[11101]

It's up to us. Ajax look shocking under pressure. They're full of little mistakes and don't have standout threats anywhere on the pitch. If we play to anywhere near our max level we should win comfortably. If we play anywhere near our bottom level they will pass us off the pitch.

 

[prath92]

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[Womp]

Bollocks. We've got Herrera, Pogba, Mkhitaryan, Rashford, Mata and Martial to take up our front six spots. We've got Carrick, who is still a canny hand. Lingard isn't a mug either, in spite of generally not being good enough. There's multi millions of pounds of talent littered all over this team and it's up to the manager to get the best out of them in an attacking sense. That we've scored less league goals than Bournemouth gives credence to this, unless you think Josh King and Marc Pugh are the "decent" footballers we don't get the luxury of having in our squad.

We've had clear outs. We just need our managers to start doing their jobs.

Like I said, score two goals and we win this tie.

Comparing our goals scored to Bournemouth is questionable, not only have we missed a plethora of chances all season long but teams don't approach the games the same way they do Bournemouth.

Whether or not money has been glittered doesn't mean shite, these aren't Jose's players. It's really no coincidence that our best defender, best midfielder and best striker were all players Jose brought in this summer.

Compare our squads to teams like Bayern etc, why is it that those teams never seem to struggle no matter who they hire manager? It's because their squads are world class, our squad is full of mediocrity. Darmian, Fellaini, Lingard, Jones, Smalling Etc. can all do a job, but aren't of the required standard.

What other top team has an 18 year old kid with no experience leading the line? Don't get me wrong, I love Rashford and think he's destined for greatness but he's still a kid and his lack of experience is telling in games like today.

There's a reason we sell these players and they move to mediocre teams, because they're mediocre players. Depay at Lyon, Morgan to Everton etc. when you have a squad with a very small few quality players (let's be honest, 3? Maybe 4 at a stretch) it'll reflect in the performances.

Barcelona hire managers that are shite and they win champions league, Bayern continue to dominate no matter who comes in, Real Madrid the same. Meanwhile we've had 3 different managers who have all struggled, starting to see a pattern yet? The squad is always much more important than the manager, Jose is a world class manager, one of the best around, but he can't turn shit into wine. He's no SAF.

Its the end of the season, we have injuries to key players, players are fatigued and aren't going to get any sharper. We have no space for mistakes, Jose is doing what he has to which is win these games at all costs, even at the expense of expansive football. He's capable of it, as he showed earlier on in the season, but we're at the business end of the season now, we can't be risking playing that brand of football, squandering a billion chances like we have been infamous for this season and losing the game.

Given all that we are still on track to end the season with 3 trophies, albeit small ones and champions league qualification, that's the signs of a top manager.

That's why I'm going to excuse these dire performances at this stage, all we need is the wins. I'll judge him more harshly next season but as long as we see further progress I'm happy. This squad is still far away from being amongst the elite again imo.

That's just how I see it anyway, people are going over the top with this doom and gloom shite. We haven't played good football in years, our football was pretty shit towards the end of SAF too, was down to individual brilliance by RVP etc. shit football isn't new to us, at least now we are winning trophies with it, unlike under LVG and Moyes. Things will
Hopefully improve.

 

[Kopral Jono]

Jose will make sure we'll turn up. Easy win if everyone is fit.

 

[K2K]

Well done on making the final. You guys don't have make hard work of it but you'll win it now. Can't see Ajax beating you, no way they'll keep you guys out for 90 minutes.

You are trying to jinx us.

It's a cup final. Ask Liverpool. Anything can happen.

 

[IRELANDUNITED]

Just win it somehow. I don't care.

this

 

[K2K]

Solid jynxing


Shame in a way it has to be Ajax we're playing, under other conditions I'd want them to win. Still, good to see two of the old classic clubs play in a European final and get a solid chance of ticking off the UEFA/Europa/Intertoto/whatever cup.

Ajax have already won this tournament.

 

[esmufc07]

Bollocks to the performance. This is such a big fecking game. Just get the win.

 

[surf]

Bollocks to the performance. This is such a big fecking game. Just get the win.

Totally. Win this game and we are holders of the Europa league, FA cup, league cup and community shield simultaneously, for 3 days anyway. Not bad for a so-called poor team.

 

[Sammyjunn]

He is a nothing player that nobody rates and one of those players even the fans groan everytime he gets into the starting eleven.

You are talking out of your arse here, or you are living in 2015.

 

[manunited1919]

Beautiful! We are in the final. It doesn't matter how, just that we are in it. It will be a legendary night in Stockholm!