01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

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Orange14
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01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » zo nov 29, 2020 6:14 pm

Ajax journey to fabled Anfield for a meeting with Liverpool. The game may not be meaningful, assuming Atalanta dispatch Midtijyland in Begamo, but Ajax are always out to win which is the correct mentality. Ajax can also move to the top of the group with a win which could set them up for a better draw in the knockout round if they end up winning it. Liverpool drew with Brighton and Hove Albion yesterday and will still be playing with a patchwork back four on Tuesday.

There is the mystique of Anfield but it will be far less with no supporters.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

Ayman
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Ayman » ma nov 30, 2020 2:49 pm

It's going to be difficult and frustrating, Ajax never do well against English sides, I am calling it now, a draw.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door souras84 » ma nov 30, 2020 6:11 pm

A win could get us half way to the first place of the group. Now that I'm thinking about it, we are the masters of our fate. It all comes down to the final game vs Atalanta. So, tomorrow's game is more like a harmless test! Let's do it
May the Force be with you

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Amol
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » di dec 01, 2020 6:34 am

Team is starting to gel more than it was a few weeks ago.

I'll be honest - I won't be shocked if we win tomorrow. There - I said it.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Dubbel » di dec 01, 2020 2:22 pm

I agree Amol. we were better than them in the first leg in spite of the loss. Since then our stock has gone up and from what I read they are missing some key players. If our guys do their job we will be top of the table tonight.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » di dec 01, 2020 2:29 pm

I hope Schuurs and the other defenders can continue their good run of form. The Liverpool front line are all healthy and will pose a good challenge!
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

Ayman
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Ayman » di dec 01, 2020 2:45 pm

Dubbel schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 2:22 pm
I agree Amol. we were better than them in the first leg in spite of the loss. Since then our stock has gone up and from what I read they are missing some key players. If our guys do their job we will be top of the table tonight.
But did you see how Henderson did well in midfield, the guy in someways picked up from where Steven Gerard left, bar the long range scoring.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Dubbel » di dec 01, 2020 2:55 pm

Orange14 schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 2:29 pm
I hope Schuurs and the other defenders can continue their good run of form. The Liverpool front line are all healthy and will pose a good challenge!
Today is actually a crunch match for Per Schuurs I think. He is on a bit of a crossroads right now. He does well in the Eredivisie but he still has a lot of people to convince because he did OK but not great against Atalanta and Jutland. If he does well tonight he will be a clear candidate for the Euro Championship team next summer and likely on his way to a solid international career. However if he fails then he will be labeled unfit for Champions League and no star performance in Eredivisie will help him shed that label.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Dubbel » di dec 01, 2020 3:14 pm

Ayman schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 2:45 pm
But did you see how Henderson did well in midfield, the guy in someways picked up from where Steven Gerard left, bar the long range scoring.
Don't know him and I don't think he played in the first leg. Problem when you play these foreign owned billionaire clubs is that even their number 19 and 20 in squad could be hugely talented players. Do they have more good players coming in that weren't present in the home match?

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » di dec 01, 2020 5:10 pm

Dubbel schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 3:14 pm
Ayman schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 2:45 pm
But did you see how Henderson did well in midfield, the guy in someways picked up from where Steven Gerard left, bar the long range scoring.
Don't know him and I don't think he played in the first leg. Problem when you play these foreign owned billionaire clubs is that even their number 19 and 20 in squad could be hugely talented players. Do they have more good players coming in that weren't present in the home match?
Henderson is the club captain and a decent midfielder but I don't rate him as a top class talent. He is a hard worker and well suited for the English league. He doesn't have the handling ability that Dutch players have. I don't think they have any other players of note that did not play in Amsterdam. Two of there back four are new to me and I think up from the youth ranks. A third, Fabinho is really a MF. Only Robertson at LB is a regular starter. I don't know whether Matip is healthy or not. Ajax should be able to score goals against this lineup.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » di dec 01, 2020 5:25 pm

We need to go in to score goals and assume that Liverpool will score some as well. I'm not suggesting we go all out attack - but we should definitely not try the 4-4-2 stifling approach from the first half in the home game.

In the home game, ETH was still trying to find the best midfield and we were missing Antony and lost Kudus very early. We were playing with 5 defenders that day with Blind at CDM,

Ayman
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Ayman » di dec 01, 2020 6:05 pm

Orange14 schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 5:10 pm
Dubbel schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 3:14 pm
Ayman schreef:
di dec 01, 2020 2:45 pm
But did you see how Henderson did well in midfield, the guy in someways picked up from where Steven Gerard left, bar the long range scoring.
Don't know him and I don't think he played in the first leg. Problem when you play these foreign owned billionaire clubs is that even their number 19 and 20 in squad could be hugely talented players. Do they have more good players coming in that weren't present in the home match?
Henderson is the club captain and a decent midfielder but I don't rate him as a top class talent. He is a hard worker and well suited for the English league. He doesn't have the handling ability that Dutch players have. I don't think they have any other players of note that did not play in Amsterdam. Two of there back four are new to me and I think up from the youth ranks. A third, Fabinho is really a MF. Only Robertson at LB is a regular starter. I don't know whether Matip is healthy or not. Ajax should be able to score goals against this lineup.
Are you kidding? Henderson is the linchpin of the team. He makes a huge difference. It's going to be difficult for Klaassen and Gravenberch if Ten Hag plays the double pivot. Matip and Fabinho are fit to start.

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Amol
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » di dec 01, 2020 6:25 pm

Big rumours of Alvarez in the starting 11 today. Lord save us.

Alvarez has truly made me a believer in miracles

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » di dec 01, 2020 8:11 pm

Starting 11 - Onana, Mazraoui, Schuurs, Blind, Tagliafico, Klaassen, Álvarez, Gravenberch, Antony, Tadic, Neres

Alvarez on for Labyad and Neres/Antony for Traore. I believe we will miss Traore's strength and ball holding abilities today. Hopefully I'm proved wrong and ETH has it all figured out.
Laatst gewijzigd door Amol op di dec 01, 2020 8:15 pm, 1 keer totaal gewijzigd.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door SPL » di dec 01, 2020 8:15 pm

Labyad benched for Alvarez. Neres and Antony both start Tadic at striker so Traore is sub.

I would have Blind as DM with Martinez as Cd .Dont rate Alvarez at all has never once impressed me.Maybe tonight's the night!!

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » di dec 01, 2020 8:18 pm

Interesting choice by ETH. Let's hope Alvarez has the game of his life.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » di dec 01, 2020 8:22 pm

Liverpool are without their first choice keeper as Allison came up with a muscle injury in warm up. Klopp selected third choice keeper Keleher to start. Matip is in the lineup after missing the weekend game and will partner Fabinho in the middle. Robertson and Neco are the FBs. Henderson, Wijnaldum and Jones in the MF with Mane, Salah and Jota up front.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door SPL » di dec 01, 2020 9:54 pm

Decent enough 45 mins by Ajax but no clear chances.Alvarez doing ok but Blind was caught way up field and Schuurs had to take a yellow.

A draw would be fine but being a negative person my money is still on liverpool to nick it 1-0.Hope I am wrong.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » di dec 01, 2020 10:26 pm

Onana's brainfart allows Liverpool to score a cheeky goal. Liverpool was always going to score.

We needed to be set up offensively. I would drop Alvarez for Traore right now. Tadic/Neres can go to AM and Klaassen to drop into CDM.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door SPL » di dec 01, 2020 11:00 pm

Well like the 1st leg this should have been 0-0 but again we gave away a dreadful goal with a howler by Onana.

We could have played another 60 mins and I dont think we would have scored.They had their 3rd choice goalie and 3 main defenders injured!! KJH header was about our only chance with zero creativity from Mf and in my opinion nothing much from our Brazilians.

We will have to play better than this next week as we will have to win .

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » di dec 01, 2020 11:06 pm

Another 1-0 loss to Liverpool on a keeper blunder by Onana (it's rare to say that). Liverpool closed down the Ajax midfield for most of the match and maybe the tactic of not having a striker on from the get go was not the right move. i thought Liverpool had the better of the play and Ajax had to make a lot of last ditch saves on defense to help out Onana. The young Liverpool keeper had one really difficult save to make on Mazraoui's shot and parried Huntelaar's late shot away though it was right at him. All to play for next week against Atalanta and a draw is not good enough.

Player Ratings:

Onana (5) - really poor keeping on the goal bud did make a couple of good saves and was alert to the danger of men breaking in on goal
Tagliafico (6.5) - decent enough at both ends of the pitch
Blind (6.5) - strong enough though he had a couple of bad passing blunders
Schuurs (7) - good game and had some very nice interventions against top talent attackers
Mazraoui (7.5) - had the best shot of the game for Ajax and made some great runs and defended well; he was the best player on the pitch for Ajax IMO
Alvarez (6.5) - played a hybrid role adding another deep lying defender and did enough before coming out for an attacker
Gravenberch (6) - he was really taken out of the game by the Liverpool MF though when he was on the ball he handled it well
Klaassen (6) - moved up to the attacking MF and put in a good shift but his passing was weak
Neres (6.5) - had a lot of the ball but did not create any danger; came off with a leg injury that I hope is not serious
Tadic (6.5) - the magic of two years ago was not there today
Antony (6.5) - had a couple of weak shots but did track back well
Labyad (5) - had no impact as a sub
Traore (5) - had little impact
Huntelaar (5.5) - had a late header that was saved.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Amol
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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Amol » wo dec 02, 2020 12:04 am

I don't know the stats, but have we won games when Alvarez starts at DM? Why do we keep continuing this ridiculous experiment? He played well in shielding the CBs, but that's about it.

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door souras84 » wo dec 02, 2020 1:43 pm

Do we have any information about Neres' injury? Was it the already injured knee?
May the Force be with you

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Orange14 » wo dec 02, 2020 2:21 pm

souras84 schreef:
wo dec 02, 2020 1:43 pm
Do we have any information about Neres' injury? Was it the already injured knee?
I have not seen anything on this yet. There is a good analysis of the match over on Ajax Showtime (use a translator if you don't read Dutch): https://www.ajaxshowtime.com/article/bi ... n-valencia I pretty much agree with what is said there. Ajax don't face the kind of relentless pressure in the Eredivisie as Liverpool put on them last night. I think if Ajax had a match against PSV, Feyenoord or AZ early on they would have benefited. Putting 13 past VVV and 5 past some of the other teams leads to a false sense that the club can score against any team. Two matches against Liverpool and zero goals.

ETH said that Alvarez played well and I think that is fair but whether that was the correct tactic is still uncertain to me. I see what he was getting at if Blind or Schuurs were to push up as they often do in league games. It's all water under the bridge and Ajax need to win next week in the return match against Atalanta. I don't want to see a repeat of last season's group ending game against Valencia.
Appie Nouri will forever be remembered for his grace and humanity on and off the pitch!

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Re: 01 DEC 2020; Liverpool - Ajax; CL Group 5

Bericht door Tom_ » wo dec 02, 2020 7:13 pm

Yes, in hindsight having the extra defensive player pushed both Klaassen and Gravenberch further forward and we didn’t get the ball through the midfield very much, from memory. I can see why ten Hag chose an extra defender though.

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