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Great result for Ajax, winning away from home in the CL semi finals. Securing an away goal! They are in the box seat!
UEFA Champions League 2018/19
- Thread starter RossFC
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Of course there were. But comments in the media were like "look what the Dutch FA is doing for Ajax", while the Dutch FA had no option but to postpone the whole round. The only mistake the Dutch FA made was to not take into consideration in June that a Dutch club could possibly play in a CL semi final on a Tuesday following King's day. If it wasn't for King's day, the whole round would've been played on Saturday and if the game was scheduled for Wednesday, nothing would've been postponed.
- Feb 1, 2010
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So the Dutch FA did this for a Dutch semi-finalist rather than just Ajax. I don't think anyone doubts that and it's the reason why rivals PSV were happy to vote in favour of it.
kaiserchief13
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- Jul 12, 2011
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Ajax most expensive player is?
- Feb 1, 2010
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Probably Tadic at around 13m.
Not sure he can really complain about our money when our record signing is from Ajax in the first place. They're effectively receiving that English TV money via Spurs
No. Of course Ajax and Dutch football benefited from this, but the Dutch FA had no other choice.
Sunday: no option as UEFA rules state a team cannot play in the 2 days prior to a game (Tuesday)
Friday and Saturday: too risky because of King's day (Saturday) and King's night (Friday), a huge event nationally and most of all in Amsterdam, where all police forces are needed.
Nobody who criticised what the Dutch FA did was able to come up with a good alternative. PSV were very unhappy about this but realised there was no other option.
- Nov 27, 2014
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It’s a shame they can’t afford to keep their players. Would have loved to have seen them start to dominate world football again. Going to be gutted like Monaco were a few years ago and Dortmund are every year. Would be nice to see some of these sides be able to stick around for a while instead of feeding the big clubs and creating more of the same every season.
- Jun 18, 2014
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Of course it is. Spurs are to Ajax what Man City are to Spurs.
Agreed, reckon he's definitely stagnated over the past season.
If he plays the same way next season, you probably ask the question whether he's an automatic starter for them anymore.
I guess that was an option, but Thursday the 26th was probably too short notice a week after the Juve game.
- Dec 22, 2009
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Spurs still in with a good chance of progressing with Son back for the away leg. Player for player Spurs are the better side.
Having said that it almost feels like this Ajax team is destined to win the ultimate trophy in club football. A famous European club with a young team developed by the Ajax academy thats playing together for ths last time. Its the perfect narrative for UEFA.
Having said that it almost feels like this Ajax team is destined to win the ultimate trophy in club football. A famous European club with a young team developed by the Ajax academy thats playing together for ths last time. Its the perfect narrative for UEFA.
- Apr 19, 2012
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What's the wage bill difference? What about the total running costs of the two clubs?
Art Vandelay_
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Or he’s had an injury interrupted season and spent portions of it (lately) out of position. He’s fine.
The issue is we seriously have regressed at fullback, we no longer get that width that pulls defences out of shape, pulls fullbacks out wide. Kane has had his lowest shots per game average as a result and Alli is getting far less opportunities to charge into the box late, which was his bread and butter.
The problem is how we play and where we’ve regressed. Not Alli.
Disingenuous.
We don’t like playing away ‘home’ finals every year, and I suspect will ‘complain’ about it every time until we finally get what we deserve and what we earn.
kangaspurs
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- Jul 14, 2014
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Conflicted on how to feel about this morning.
On one hand, Ajax were good value for their win, and perhaps should have won by two. That definitely would have been tie over. We were terrible in the first 30 minutes, and Ajax incredible. I have a lot of respect for their manager for sending their players out in the away leg of a CL semi-final, and playing their front three as high as they did, and told them to be as aggressive in the press as they were that first 30. We just couldn't cope at all, effectively playing with a one man midfield, and had to resort to Pulis-ball. Wanyama really struggled.
On the other, once Pochettino added the extra man on midfield, despite Neres hitting the post, I think we shaved it as the better team for the rest of the game, we were just toothless up front with no Son and no Kane. Eriksen was just ok, and Dele has really struggled since he broke his hand/wrist/arm after being excellent in a deeper midfield role for most of the season when not injured. Llorente wasn't too bad with his link up play, but didn't look like scoring, and Lucas ran his socks off but often had very little room. With Son, and if the rumours are true, maybe Kane back next week, with Sissoko playing the full 90, then I think we can absolutely beat them 2-1 at their place next week. We're not out of the tie by any means.
I have sympathy for Pochettino. Our bench was a joke. Under the circumstances, he pretty much did the best he could with the tools available. It's remarkable that we're this far tbh. He adjusted well to the poor start, and had the team playing ok for the rest of the match. Difficult one to analyse.
On one hand, Ajax were good value for their win, and perhaps should have won by two. That definitely would have been tie over. We were terrible in the first 30 minutes, and Ajax incredible. I have a lot of respect for their manager for sending their players out in the away leg of a CL semi-final, and playing their front three as high as they did, and told them to be as aggressive in the press as they were that first 30. We just couldn't cope at all, effectively playing with a one man midfield, and had to resort to Pulis-ball. Wanyama really struggled.
On the other, once Pochettino added the extra man on midfield, despite Neres hitting the post, I think we shaved it as the better team for the rest of the game, we were just toothless up front with no Son and no Kane. Eriksen was just ok, and Dele has really struggled since he broke his hand/wrist/arm after being excellent in a deeper midfield role for most of the season when not injured. Llorente wasn't too bad with his link up play, but didn't look like scoring, and Lucas ran his socks off but often had very little room. With Son, and if the rumours are true, maybe Kane back next week, with Sissoko playing the full 90, then I think we can absolutely beat them 2-1 at their place next week. We're not out of the tie by any means.
I have sympathy for Pochettino. Our bench was a joke. Under the circumstances, he pretty much did the best he could with the tools available. It's remarkable that we're this far tbh. He adjusted well to the poor start, and had the team playing ok for the rest of the match. Difficult one to analyse.
- Jun 18, 2014
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No one is criticising Tottenham or how they operate, just that Ajax having a few days extra rest before the game is a minor advantage in comparison to the huge financial disadvantage Ajax has compared to everyone else - Spurs included.
Spurs' wage bill is about double of Ajax's. A big difference between the two is that Spurs don't need to rely on income from transfers to keep going.
Pochettino is doing an excellent job. Even without this semi final and maybe a final next month, his achievements with Spurs are remarkable. But that's not the point here. Financially Spurs are a class above Ajax, similarly to how City is a class above Spurs. Who didn't outspend Spurs last summer? Running a club is about more than not spending money on transfers. Clearly Spurs can afford players Ajax can't, which is shown by Vertonghen, Eriksen, Sanchez (and Alderweireld via a detour) ending up at Spurs after having started their careers at Ajax. We're pretty far from a world where Kane and Dele Alli will leave Spurs to give their best years to Ajax.
- Feb 1, 2010
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I didn't realise they had a midweek game already last week. It really only was a couple of days extra, I thought they had the whole week off. Think Poch was just playing some mind games and trying to temper expectations of our squad rather than actually complain about 2 extra days. Didn't want to use the injury/suspension as an excuse in the lead up.
Nah turns out they already played last Wednesday.
- Feb 1, 2010
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Yeah he has had 3 seperate breaks from injuries this season and is now playing with a broken hand in a position that he hasn't really played since joining us. Whilst I'm annoyed with his form I'm far from concerned about his development. 1st leg of the City tie he was probably our best player behind Son playing in this position.
ossie_21
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Wasn't expecting that result, but it's going to make me want to get up to watch the 2nd leg. I reckon the atmosphere in Amsterdam would be incredible following that result!
- Feb 24, 2013
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Spurs still a good chance to turn it around I reckon....They just have to go over there with a gung-ho attitude of nothing to lose & all out attack at will.
The amount of teams chocking at home this year, in the CL finals, has been unprecedented.
The amount of teams chocking at home this year, in the CL finals, has been unprecedented.
peternorth
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In Poch’s defence this might just be mind games for Ajax.
Because they don’t get a rest this week and he has just planted the idea the only reason they won was because of the rest
yep i can see that.
not sure. perhaps.
