CL semi-final 1st leg - Tottenham v Ajax

0762 · 08-05-2019, 00:44

And Liverpool beat a negligent Barca side 4-0 tonight with Alba and Terstegen highly culpable in allowing this result to actually happen and Coutinho anonymous again - a disgraceful display of concession after trying so many times to "walk the ball into the Liverpool goal net" instead of "ramming it home" with conviction! And the lack of focus and concentration to concede Liverpool's ultimate 4th goal in the "miracle on Merseyside" was nothing short of embarrassing and akin to the weakness of a lesser team at a lower amateur level of footie. I can see why Barca have already moved for Ajax's players, de Ligt and de Jong, and are in the process of other transfer activities! Also Ajax must be "licking their lips" in anticipation now that Barca are out of this final and they must eliminate Spurs at all cost as they now have a great chance of lifting the Champions League trophy v a Liverpool team that is definitely beatable away from their home ground!! I can't believe that a "cart horse" named Henderson is actually playing in another Champions League final but it will suit Ajax in that regard lol. Of course, that depends very much on what happens tomorrow night in the Amsterdam Arena - c'mon Ajax and make this fairytale happen!!

**St Charles Owl** · 08-05-2019, 06:52

Astounding result and performance from Liverpool to win that game!!! They looked better than 3-0 in the first leg in fairness but you had to think Barca would see it out, but like last season and their loss to Roma they couldn’t hold on to a commanding first leg lead!! Neither Ajax nor Spurs will be able to live with Liverpool if they maintain this form in the final!!

0762 · (This post was last modified: 08-05-2019, 13:14 by 0762.)

I disagree with that last comment! You underestimate Ajax greatly if they also hit the form that they can attain!! Also Liverpool play away from their home ground where they are given some astounding ref decisions throughout a season incl some shocking decisions on simulation with a number of serial offenders in their ranks incl Salah! Their likeable manager, Jurgen Klopp, has hardly won a cup final in so many attempts and they are actually leading into a poss "hat trick" of Euro cup final defeats!! I also recall Ajax registering one of their most notable Euro victories in Madrid (the CL final venue) this season albeit v a poor Real M team. Lastly, Barca were an absolute disgrace last night with a poor attitude and high level of negligence attached to certain players who were not fit to wear the Barca shirt! That made Liverpool look much better than they are, esp defensively and particularly on both flanks and btw they were very fortunate not to lose 2 or 3 goals last night.

hibeejim21 · 08-05-2019, 12:14

Awesome performance from Liverpool, their fitness levels were incredible and they absolutely pressed barca off the park all night.

Vidal , Rakatic and Coutinho aint no xavi and iniesta that's for sure. But I thought they would have enough to win on the night especially as Liverpool had no salah or firminho.

Strongly fancy ajax tonight though, as for the final - it will be a tough game. Lets leave it at that!

0762 · 08-05-2019, 12:57

I must add a further comment re Coutinho. He was anonymous in both legs of this important semi-final for Barca and I'll be very surprised if he holds a 1st team place in future as Barca already doing the right thing and bringing in new talent to improve what they've got. IMO Alba is another one whose "days are numbered" after that result - rank rotten with most of the goals that were lost in this match!!

0762 · (This post was last modified: 09-05-2019, 01:05 by 0762.)

(08-05-2019, 06:52)St Charles Owl Wrote: Astounding result and performance from Liverpool to win that game!!! They looked better than 3-0 in the first leg in fairness but you had to think Barca would see it out, but like last season and their loss to Roma they couldn’t hold on to a commanding first leg lead!! Neither Ajax nor Spurs will be able to live with Liverpool if they maintain this form in the final!!

Shock of shocks! Jammy Spurs "steal" a Champions League final place with an away goal in the dying secs of a match that Ajax should've had "in the bag" in a game of "fine margins". 2-0 at HT and a pivotal moment centred on a crazy goal incident where Schone impeded his own goalie from grabbing the ball after a great save + a great shot that hit Spurs post and bounced out into Spurs' pen box!! Fine margins!! So it is an unfortunate all English footie club final and I actually hope Liverpool absolutely "pump" Spurs, not just beat them, mainly because they are one of the jammiest finalists in years to get to Madrid at all and should've been eliminated by Barca in their quali group but the Barca manager chose to field a C team that Spurs full team couldn't even beat but still managed to gain a precious point to qualify for the last 16!! I hope they get "humped" in Madrid as they shouldn't be anywhere near such a final! Something has definitely changed in the general standard of Euro footie across the leagues IMO and that is the end result and looks the same way in the Europa League too for some reason!! The biggest joke is that neither of these teams are actually champions of their own footie league, a comment that has been made many times down the years by lotsa critics re the Champions League "title" and the provision of "conveyor belt Euro footie" by UEFA.

**St Charles Owl** · 09-05-2019, 01:27

A very good week for English teams in Europe and tomorrow it could well get even better!!!! As you say 0762, Ajax had the chance to stitch this one up but like Barca were unable to do it and at this level you get punished if you don’t take your chances!!

Now the stripping of the Ajax squad will start in earnest and they will likely drop back to the pack in European football for a couple of years.

hibeejim21 · (This post was last modified: 09-05-2019, 07:05 by hibeejim21.)

Got to hand it to spurs, they were excellent last night and although they rode their luck at times Ajax definitely 'choked' in that 2nd half. They really struggled to handle Llorente up top.

It is a very young Ajax side though, it remains to be seen how this effects them. A few of them certainly look bound for Spain and England in the summer.

What a campaign though! They had to go through qualifying. Unbeaten in the group, draw at Allianz. Cuff Madrid with class in Bernabeu. Beat Juventus in Turin. Not lose away the full campaign and then lose your bottle 2-0 up to the perennial bottlers of spurs.

Its a funny auld game!

0762 · 09-05-2019, 11:04

Yep! Ajax were the "flagship" for mid Euro footie clubs who are battling against the "big money footie clubs" of Europe and that loss last night was a huge disappointment. They were the better side over the two lgs and Christian Eriksen admitted that in his post match comments and concluded on a huge "luck factor" that they were given whereas Ajax would've finished Spurs off on another night. I can't believe that Trippier's position was not exposed to great success? How does this player get England caps??? He is "mince"!! Also I wonder if there is an additional Champs League place available now as Liverpool and Spurs already have attained CL places?

WBA-Josh · (This post was last modified: 09-05-2019, 22:11 by WBA-Josh.)

Hindsight is a wonderful thing but I think Erik ten Hag made a mistake last night with his first substitution. He brought Veltman, a centre half turned into a right back by Peter Bosz, on for Schöne and Veltman went to right back with Mazraoui going into Schöne’s position alongside Frenkie de Jong (Mazraoui is a natural central midfielder turned into a right back). In my opinion he should have brought off Dolberg who was ineffective with Veltman coming on at right back, Mazraoui moving forward to right midfield and Ziyech moving to a false 9 position where his natural defensive laziness wouldn’t cause an issue. I think that would have made them more secure down the right side against Son and Rose and that would have kept the Schöne, de Jong base in midfield. Veltman coming on at right back with Mazraoui moving into centre midfield worked in an offensive sense because Mazraoui likes to get forward and did so well but they were having to defend a lead, not score more goals and the change left them more open centrally because Mazraoui was pushing higher up leaving Frenkie de Jong to cover the back 4 on his own.

I think overall Ajax were naïve in the second half. They had to defend a lead yet de Ligt and Blind were still playing a dangerous game and the Spurs first goal came from de Ligt pressing Danny Rose (why?) and Blind stepping forward towards midfield leaving Mazraoui and de Jong having to cover them. It’s a young side so naïveté is to be expected but you expect better than that.

It’s going to be a shame when this squad gets ripped apart. Ziyech, de Jong, de Ligt maybe even van der Beek could all end up going.