sorry but spurs are out. ajax will win 2:1 in amsterdam
injuries and a total collapse in the league
injuries and a total collapse in the league
Champions League Semi Finals (30th April - 8th May)
- Thread starter Samid
- Start date
Is Klopp just determined to piss off everyone in Barca?
They were good for 35 minutes. After that, nothing special. Spurs disrupted their play with route one stuff. Tie is still alive.
Wanyama was all over the place, though not helped by Dele and Eriksen not stepping up as we'd have wanted. Trippier poor as he has been all season.
It is difficult to assess Llorente properly. The thing is, on paper, as a 3rd choice striker, he's a good choice. Especially once he starts a few games in a row. He may score.
The issue is that he, by default, utterly changes how we play. We end up going long ball, which he isn't necessarily that adept at. Even if he is ok at it, the performance as a whole suffers vs what we get with Son and Kane imo. He may even end up scoring (like he did vs City) but the performance dropped off a cliff as soon as he came on (and Sissoko came off in fairness).
With Son back for the 2nd leg, I'd like to see Llorente back on the bench, at the very least to actually give us an attacking option off the bench. And I guess hope Lamela manages to actually get out of the treatment room for once in his life.
spurs were ok up until a certain point, they've crumbled since failing to keep up with city and liverpool in the league.
only thing they've done since then is knock city out of the cl. but they've gone downhill
only thing they've done since then is knock city out of the cl. but they've gone downhill
Liverpool need a right good smashing tonight. 4-0 would be lovely.
What'd he do now? Dutch report on yesterday's interview made him appear quite respectful to all teams, including Tottenham and Ajax.
Tbh, your chances increased when playing the long ball to Llorente as it avoided being pressured on midfield and gave some Tottenham possession just outside the box allowing your midfield and backs to move up. I don't think Son is more capable of that kind of game.
If you want to use combinations to reach Son, you're going to get the same thing that happened with Costa. He may get a chance, but he'll likely be interrupted and pressed off the ball most the time, resulting in frequent Ajax counter attacks.
Son might be more dangerous if he can pick up a loose ball outside of the box though. A combination with Llorente might thus actually be fruitful.
Let's not forget Ajax didn't play well either after the Vertonghen injury. Yes, Spurs will get Son back and i'm sure that will help. But if Ajax are having a better game than last night, Spurs will have a very hard time beating them.
as a neutral you'd want the tie to be over after 1 game. personally i think liverpol will be in the game alot and unlike man united they will take them.
Auditioning for Madrid when Zidane gets bored again?
Verts has said he hasn’t got consussion. Chelsea’s revenue is a lot higher than ours and yet lately you have been finishing below us. Ajax have done amazingly well on their budget yes but they do well at developing players, their scouting network, especially youth scouting is clearly the best in the world.
They do have an advantage in that I doubt any kid would turn them down if they came calling. Their record is just so good.
They increased because form and injuries meant a big chunk of our normal attacking play was compromised. Sanchez is not as good on the ball as Toby or Vertonghen (and Ajax knew it), Trippier was a bit useless, Wanyama looks like his legs have gone and both Dele and Eriksen are off form. A midfield of Winks and Sissoko, Son, Dele and Eriksen behind a fit Kane....alas, what could have been.
There were a couple of times early on for instance where Llorente was 'released' in an attacking position quite deep in the Ajax half and Ajax had pushed up massively precisely because there was no worry about him running through. He did the best he could within his capabilities but situations like that Son (or even Kane) would have done a lot better and generally the threat of pace in behind would force Ajax back a little bit, or at least provide us with a lot more chance on the counter.
I've had nightmares. Barcelona losing 0-2. Waking up to reality sure felt good 
No matter what happens, but Pool 'hammering' Barca is not going to happen.
I heard that, doctor needs to make the diagnosis pretty obviously..., can't self diagnose concussion!, could be very dangerous. Let us see what the Spurs medical team say today. If they do let him play I seriously hope nothing bad happens, putting money above players safety could end very badly for the whole sport. From the TV pictures it looked like absolutely textbook concussion symptoms.
I said in the *concussion thread*, the only way to guarantee safety is for ANY head injury to result in immediate substitution. Consussion isn’t something you can diagnose from a sideline. In boxing for example you see many occasions where a fighter take a clean hit and for a few seconds he looks totally out of it but soon recovers.
What? A neutral wouldn’t want the tie to be over after the first leg at all.
Yap, he's been 0 squared for the whole season now.
Having attended couple of Ajax games in their fantastic stadium this year, I'd say it is an uphill task for Spurs to overcome them in Johan Cryuijff arena. This Ajax team is young and quite naive in their play. They'll definitely score but at the same time they do give chances and if Spurs dont take advantage of it then tie is over. Spurs were unlucky that their main players are either injured or suspended but that was expected considering they decided not to buy anyone in last 2 windows so can't really use that as an excuse. The way I see, tie is 60/40 in Ajax favour now.
As for tonight's match, really difficult to predict which Liverpool will turn up. The only hope that I have is that we are finding form at right time and if we manage to keep Messi quiet then we have great chance of getting an away goal(and possibly win?). Return of Ox is positive news. His cameo in last match was good and he will be a good option from bench to come in second half and run at tired barca defenders.
As for tonight's match, really difficult to predict which Liverpool will turn up. The only hope that I have is that we are finding form at right time and if we manage to keep Messi quiet then we have great chance of getting an away goal(and possibly win?). Return of Ox is positive news. His cameo in last match was good and he will be a good option from bench to come in second half and run at tired barca defenders.
Excited for the match today and should be a great game. Very hard to predict, on one hand i feel as if Liverpools front 3 will cause Barcelona many problems, but on the other hand Barcelona has Messi so i wouldnt be shocked if he pulls off a great performance. I genuinely think Liverpool has a shot though as i seriously was not impressed at all by Barcelona against us.
Liverpool are gonna win the whole thing
Ajax lost their way a bit in the second half, but I expect them to have Spurs figured out in Amsterdam. I believe Spurs-fans expect too much of Son. He's going to be liability in his defensive work agains Ajax and they'll need an extra midfielder to cover Mazraoui on the left. To score goals, you need to be more creative and I haven't seen any glimpse of that. Almost couldn't believe they started with that 5-man at the back... That's basically killing your most creative man like Eriksen who was up against 2-3 Ajax players all the time...
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I have nothing against Tottenham at all, and have enjoyed their rise under Pochettino. However it would be pretty cool if Ajax knocked out a Tottenham team with 4 ex-Ajax players (with 3 signing directly from Ajax to Spurs), like how it was awesome when Southampton did the double over Liverpool in the league in 2015-2016, and in the league cup semi-finals in 2016-2017, after losing so many players to them.
Hopefully Ajax can finish the job off next week. I am enjoying this brilliant football romance story.
Liverpool could potentially do it tonight, but with Ajax's win yesterday I think this is the third time (since 2003/2004 when for the last 16 the 2nd group stage was replaced with a knockout round) that a team has won all 3 of their away knockout matches in the competition, after Bayern in 2013 and Real Madrid last year. Obviously those clubs' budgets dwarf Ajax's, so Ajax's achievement is by far the most impressive.
Hopefully Ajax can finish the job off next week. I am enjoying this brilliant football romance story.
Liverpool could potentially do it tonight, but with Ajax's win yesterday I think this is the third time (since 2003/2004 when for the last 16 the 2nd group stage was replaced with a knockout round) that a team has won all 3 of their away knockout matches in the competition, after Bayern in 2013 and Real Madrid last year. Obviously those clubs' budgets dwarf Ajax's, so Ajax's achievement is by far the most impressive.
sorry i meant to format it as a question.
barca 3-0 liverpool
Spurs should be happy with that scoreline, they did well to stifle ajax given they were outplayed in the first 20 minutes and it looked as though it couldve been a lot worse
Son a liability for his defensive work? Hi jose
Son's pressing game is world class, he busts a gut for the team. Obviously he's a striker so you know .. you want him to be high up the pitch most of the time, but he's far from lazy or a passenger. Don't know what has given you the impression that he's a defensive liability.
Agree with the 5 at the back problem. Pochettino should now abandon it entirely, clearly the system does not work for us. It's fine to experiment but when you've failed multiple times you need to accept that it isn't for us.
Betis have an even more aggressive press than Liverpool in all parts of the field, but especially in the first line. Whereas Liverpool press just outside the box, Betis press the team inside their own box. If you want an example of how Valverde approaches this, the video below is a good indication. It usually involves a deep run from one of the forward three to the central area where that person is usually not covered, and Ter Stegen hits him with the pass. It works more often than it doesn't.
That all depends where they go after Ajax. De Ligt will succeed everywhere, no doubt. De Jong also, although he might need some time to adjust ad Barcelona. I think Ziyech would do great just below the real top teams in Italy or Spain, like Napoli, Valencia or Sevilla. Van de Beek should stay one more year at Ajax. I think he can be a sensation in the Bundesliga or at some PL clubs. Tagliafico will leave this summer to Spain, he will do fine there. Only one I have serious doubts about is Neres.
Shaky backline? Ajax played RM, Juventus and you and only conceded 5. You lot played Dortmund, City and Ajax and also conceded 5 goals. In the group stages you conceded 10 goals while they conceded half of that, 5. You even let PSV score 2 against you. If Ajax have a shaky backline then so do you.
Not the first time some of your players were below par and there's a very real chance they will again in the return. Son is not going to magically solve all your problems.
You always came across as a decent oppo fan but this defeat has made you really bitter mate.
I have a feeling Liverpool might actually destroy Barcelona. I just think their energy will be too much. Even we caused Barcelona to lose possession a lot when we pressed them, which is bad considering how poor we are at it.
I am not convinced by Barcelona this year. I feel like they are relying more heavily than ever on Messi.
I am not convinced by Barcelona this year. I feel like they are relying more heavily than ever on Messi.
I also have the feeling Liverpool will kick Barca's ass tonight, and we'll see an Ajax-Liverpool final in the end. Now that would be quite something.
Fecking hell, Liverpool will win this, won't they?
We can also be shaky, when did I say otherwise? The City game at the Etihad clearly showed that. My point is that Ajax can be vulnerable, we can go to their arena and score goals if everyone plays to their ability and we have a few players back.
Of course that's always a possibility, but you'd expect a player like Eriksen to step it up a bit. Son doesn't solve all our problems but having him start instead of Llorente, Sissoko in from the start and going with 4 at the back will certainly help make it far more of a contest. We lost the game vs Ajax in the first 30 where we were overrun with no midfield (wanyama is broken) but otherwise competed and with a better forward I think we would have scored.
Son has been our best player in the CL and scored 3 crucial goals against City against the run of play. The difference between having him and Llorente is pretty significant. People praised Llorente last night but personally I think the game summed him up, even when he's doing 'well' he's zero threat in the box. He's far too easy to defend against.
Maybe it has made me bitter, more than anything I'm frustrated at the players we're missing for this tie. To go in to a CL semi without your best player this season and your best player outright is more than a little bit annoying, especially considering we lack the depth to properly back them up. I think overall though I just don't think this Ajax side is as good as some on here make out, that doesn't mean I think they're a bad side (clearly they're very good) but overrated compared to some of the hype. I think if Liverpool or Barca play to their level in the final it would be a comfortable win, but obviously you could say that for either of them against us.
Last night they played excellent, intense football for 30 minutes and we were all at sea, for me it was as much to do with our own failings as it was Ajax's strengths. We were set up incorrectly and got overrun. From then on it was a very even contest (i think we shaded the second half) but a lack of quality from our end persisted, with Trippier & Rose failing to deliver a single decent ball, wasteful finishing from set pieces and generally a lack of quality in the box.
Don't get me wrong, this tie is now very much in Ajax's favour - I'd say about 70/30. But if Eriksen can step up to what he's actually capable of and Son can play like he did at the Etihad then we're in with a shot.
We're not neutral here when it comes to Liverpool.
Liverpool will win 4:1. Barcelona have no chance.
Going to be very interesting to see how Barcelona play tonight, their only home loss in La Liga was against Betis who are also very good pressers. What are the chances of them sitting much deeper than usual, playing Roberto in midfield and playing on the counter attack?
Most backs would look somewhat poor against Neres and Ziyech with the excellent supply they get from Tadic, de Jong and van de Beek. They’re quite hard to defend against without getting physical. IMO Trippier did his job, Rose as well. That they were outclassed a bit doesn’t mean they didn’t do what was expected of them as well as they could tbh. Bit surprised both backs got substituted in that sense as disrupting the supply from midfield and Tadic seemed more logical.
Meh. Ajax would push up anyway regardless of the attackers as long as midfield allows it: as long as you have possession of the ball, those attackers are harmless. Ajax defenders have plenty of pace to keep up with attackers too. More distance to your own goal then simply gives more time to intercept.
Not good, they’re going for the win today and I think Liverpool will be the ones sitting deep and hitting them on the counter. Barca will sit deeper (and start with Rakitic, Busquets and Vidal) in the second left if they have a lead in the first leg
I think roberto starts at RB today and Semedo in the away leg
the last time Van Dijk played on Camp Nou his team conceded 6 goals. let's hope we're going to see something similar tonight.