22 Oct 2013: Celtic FC - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

UEFA Champions League 2013-2014. Group H. Matchday 3.

Kick-off time at Glasgow's Celtic Park is 20:45 CET.

2,600 Ajax fans in attandance and I'll be one of them!

Some daft people on Dutch TV agreed after Ajax vs Milan that Ajax had wasted their chance to finish second in this group by allowing Milan the equalizer. No-one ever said it will be easy in this group, but that is a big load of bollocks. Total nonsense. How can a journalist ever say that? Ajax are the pot 3 team in this group, which means that we normally perform a bit better in Europe than Celtic, who were in pot 4. It's not totally unthinkable that Ajax will actually manage a win against Celtic. Or two. Not saying that they will beat Celtic.

Milan, meanwhile, have two games against Barcelona ahead. Milan are good, but they're a totally different caliber than Barça. Not unthinkable that Barça will win both games.

Four points for Ajax against Celtic, zero points for Milan against Barça - now that wouldn't be a complete miracle, would it?

If that happens Ajax will have five points, Milan four. In game 5 Ajax will lose to Barça and Milan might beat Celtic, but even then the gap between Milan and Ajax would be two points, so it's not at all unthinkable that Milan vs Ajax (at San Siro, the last matchday) will turn out to be a direct battle for the second spot.

Not counting on anything, but it really is nonsense to say that Ajax are no longer competing for second place.

So let's go!

K.

[Kowalczyk]

Derk Boerrigter injured, by the way. Won't see action for Celtic.

K.

[Cruijff]

I'll be there on the Lisbons Lions Stand!

Article from the Daily Record how we crushed Celtic in July 2012:
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/sport/foot ... ic-1167370

[Ayman]

Celtic have two other key players missing, their captain Stone, and welshman Matthews

[Cruijff]

Their captain, Scott Brown made a ridiculous foul against Barcelona, they should suspend him for more than one match. UEFA says he's not allowed to play the next 3 Champions League matches, but Celtic did not accept this decision. So the story continues...

...This match can go wrong when we concede a goal and then get overwhelmed by Celtics opportunistic attacks in front of their really loud crowd. But in my opinion we should crush them badly, if we play our passing game as good as we're able to do we can humiliate them on their own ground.

Check this out, a bit more than a year ago. Celtic on full strength, Ajax with a lot of sub players, but we should have kicked Celtic their asses with 8-0 instead of 4-0:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4YOZ5exGPA

[Tom_]

Although Ajax is the better football team I'm pretty worried about this one. Two main reasons: firstly, Celtic will play physically, and this has caused us problems for as long as I can remember; secondly, Lennon will know very well how we play and they will be happy to sit back and break quickly. Basically how they beat Barça. I expect lots of possession for Ajax but a 2 or 3–1 win for Celtic. Hope I'm wrong...

[Orange14]

Best result will be a 0-0 draw; I cannot see us scoring away. We are just too easy to defend against. Hope to be proven wrong.

[Van basten]

We can have a lot of problems in second floor, coz our two central defenders Denswil (185cm) and Veltman (181cm) will face taller opponents.

[SPL]

Moisander is back in the squad ,they are taking him plus the 18 from Twente. Would imagine Blind will play LB as Boilesen wont play 2 games in a week and Poulsen back in DM. Will be glad to get a draw.

[Ayman]

It remains a mystery where goals from Ajax will come from! Im sure Frank de Boer has spotted the problem in midfield, but he doesnt have the players that can fix it, unless some start to become consistent! My faith is in Davy Klaassen and Daley Blind

[Tom_]

I saw today that Moisander is out after all. I expect we'll see Poulsen at DMF to try to break up Celtic's counter-attacks, and our full backs might set out a bit more defensively. This is going to be a really tough game, Celtic rarely lose at home in Europe.

P.S. I hope the guys from Ajax Talk who made the trip have fun, everyone says Parkhead is a fantastic atmosphere. I think at least Menno and Cruijff will be there.

[SPL]

A must win game although it will be a struggle I think.Spoilt tonight as its on Sky

[Orange14]

they are not carrying it live in the US so I'm watching on a Russian SopCast link. These match announcers get really excited!

[Ajax Rules]

Do you have a link orange?r

[Orange14]

What a F*****G travesty. That was never a penalty and the Croatian match official really lost his nerve on that one.

[Orange14]

Do you have a link orange?r

channel 147839

[Tom_]

He certainly played for it, but that was not a good place to lunge in. Everything according to plan for Celtic in the first half.

[paladinby]

Why are we never given pennos like this? They go only against us. Celtic dude never looked to play the ball but was looking for some minor contact and dive.

[Orange14]

Well we had the better play in the half and defended pretty well until the crap penalty call. When the team decided to move the ball forward rather than backward they created some dangerous opportunities. I wish they had some courage and quit the back passing game. Celtic are defending exactly the same way we are defended against in the league and it shouldn't come as any surprise.

I really don't know if we can come back as Celtic will really pack things in now. Really feel sorry for Denswil.

[paladinby]

We missed way too many chances for a CL game... May be Schone and Hoesen should be the starters after all? I don't see much contribution from Sigthorsson to justify his playing time.

[Tom_]

Poor Denswil, two rotten pieces of luck, although the penalty was probably just a lack of experience. The attacker is always going to go down in that situation.

Overall I though we played OK, the game went pretty much as expected although Celtic were weaker than I thought. With better finishing or a bit of luck it could've gone our way. Nevertheless, that goal at the end could be very handy if we beat them in the ArenA and they don't get a win against Milan.

[Ayman]

Serero missed two great chances, he needs to be replaced by Klaassen, Denswil is young, but still he needs a little break and make way for Moisander. I agree re: Sigthorsson, he needs to be replaced by Hoesen. As for the wingers, Im ok with Andersen on the flank, but not happy with either de Sa or Fischer

[Orange14]

Disappointing evening in Glasgow. This team is really snake bit and can't get a break. It sure didn't look like a penalty on Denswil to me and was worse than the call in the Milan match; such are the ways of football. van Rhijn defended poorly, letting Samaras go right past him and then a ricochet for the second goal. I was pleased to finally see the team begin to attack after the first half hour of lots of back passes. This is proper Ajax football and they need to do more of it. In general, I thought Ajax had the better of the play but just cannot convert chances. Don't know why Fischer was subbed off, he may be a bit selfish but he was the only one who could beat a defender. Milan and Barca draw so we are left to battle it out for third place yet again.

Player Ratings:

Cillessen (6.5) - didn't have many tough chances and was strong in the box other than one cross that he flapped at.
Blind (6.5) - got beat a couple of times when he was at fullback and was decent moving up when Poulsen came out
Denswil (6.5) - really tough for him on the deflection; Cillessen had it saved
Veltman (7) - calm in the back and made a couple of really nice defensive plays
van Rhijn (4) - lost Samaras just prior to the second goal and could deliver a decent cross
Poulsen (6.5) - pretty good match
Serero (3.5) - can't pass, can't shoot, and is weak on the ball but otherwise what is he doing on the pitch?
de Jong (5) - average play no better, no worse
Fischer (5.5) - should have stayed out on the field
Sigthorsson (5.5) - better holding the ball but had a chance and missed the shot
Andersen (5.5) - still dribbles into trouble but he sees the field better than anyone else
de Sa (4.5) - could not figure out that they always knew he was going to the end line and try to cross; one trick pony tonight
Schöne (6.5) - good coming on for van Rhijn, two solid shots on goal one of which went in
Boilsesen (5.5) - decent enough coming on for Blind, at least kept trying to drive forward

FdB better figure things out pretty soon in terms of who can play and who cannot. Those that cannot should play for Jong Ajax.

[King Litti]

a flattering score line for celtic. They didn't really create much, a penalty (the unexperience of deswil showed as he got lured to make the contact) and a lucky bounce (but what did denwil try to do there. Get youself infront of the ball proper. Would have gone straight at the keeper without contact). Serero and de jong a sorry duo. When we got the ball there was not enouh movement forward eventhough when there was movement de jong and co haven't got enough skill to play the ball forward. Shcöne looked good and not just because he scored. Bottom line we created more chances. Should have gotten something out of this game. A must win when we meet them again in amsterdam.

[Tom_]

What you say about proper football is right, Orange. In Europe, we're playing against teams that are not only better but physically stronger than us, but we are still trying to dominate possession and play attacking football. We know, and de Boer knows, that this is not the most efficient type of football to play against better teams, but that's the tradeoff we get if we want to see 'Ajax' football.

Personally, I'm OK with it—it's not like we're going to win the CL no matter what tactics we use, so even though the losses hurt I'd rather see us take Barça on and lose 4–0 than pack in and lose 1–0... and even though the game tonight went exactly like we suspected it would, I though we played fine and gave ourselves chances to score goals.