23 Feb 2012: Manchester United FC - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

UEFA Europa League, Round of 32, 2nd Leg.

Kick-off time at Old Trafford is 21:05 (CET or U.K. time...? I'm not 100% sure).

Look: of course we will lose and of course the European safari ends here. We knew that beforehand, we were never gonna beat them anyway, were we? But I'm going to Old Trafford for this one (3,800 of us in total) and it's going to be f**king great.

K.

[aveslacker]

I just hope that we throw caution to the wind and give the fans a show. I'd rather do that than lose by playing cautiously.

[Orange14]

Ko, looks like our former captain will be at the match on Thursday! Say hello to him for us. http://www.telegraaf.nl/telesport/voetb ... sn=voetbal

[souras84]

No Boilesen for another 3 weeks??? going on?

[Philippe]

Don't think I'll watch this. If we ever get a penalty, it will be denied. UEFA competition is for fat cats only. Let's focus on the Dutch league and play our subs in Old Trafford.

[SPL]

have to agree we may as well play our subs at least no more regulars will pick up an injury .Boilesen getting injured again is a farce and should not happen at a so called pro club .
2 weeks ago we read they are taking it slowly with him so they rush him back and surprise he gets injured again .

I read that Ooijer is fit but he has not played any football since the post Christmas friendlies.I hope we continue to play V Rhijn and Koppers as full backs to give them the experience

[Orange14]

In advance of the match an interview with Kenneth Vermeer: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/columns/st ... ax?cc=5901

[Philippe]

Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick will most likely not play.

[aveslacker]

Wayne Rooney, Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Michael Carrick will most likely not play.

Other than Rooney, I'm not so sure that's a big loss.

[Philippe]

It seems that Giggs will eventually play his 900th game today.
My prediction is 1-2 for Ajax.

[Orange14]

It seems that Giggs will eventually play his 900th game today.
My prediction is 1-2 for Ajax.

I think that is why they left him behind last week; wanted his 900th to be at Old Trafford.

[Amol]

Won't get to watch the game but am going to follow it online. Starting lineup -

Vermeer
Van Rhijn
Alderweireld
Vertonghen
Koppers
Anita
De Jong
Eriksen
Ozbiliz
Lodeiro
Mickey

[SPL]

watching it on Channel 5 again on ordinary Tv . Damage limitation anything less than 3-0 will be good ,and no injuries.

[Orange14]

We get Big Screen TV here in the US for this one as it's being carried by GolTV. As with SPL, I hope for no injuries and no extra time!!

[Van basten]

and no extra time!!

[GangstaRiB]

Won't get to watch the game but am going to follow it online. Starting lineup -

Vermeer
Van Rhijn
Alderweireld
Vertonghen
Koppers
Anita
De Jong
Eriksen
Ozbiliz
Lodeiro
Mickey

Is young Ajax playing tonight?

[Van basten]

Fu*k yeah!!!!! We're gonna win 3-1!!!

[Orange14]

Very lucky to be even at 1-1 as by all rights the score ought to be 3-1 at least. We are getting into the attacking third but then run out of ideas. With no proper striker, it is no surprise that we cannot create anything. Not sure whether Lodeiro handled the ball on the Ozbiliz goal as he was pushed from behind. Anyway, glad to see the goal as Ozbiliz has been working very hard. It's clear at this level you always get punished (or should be) for mistakes. I think it was Vertonghen who made the poor pass that was intercepted leading to the Chicherito goal.

Always the optimist, I think we can get the two goals to move on to Athletic Bilbao!

EDIT: Seeing the Ajax goal again in SloMo, it was a clear hand ball by Lodeiro who pushed the ball with his upper arm.

[Van basten]

C'mon!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Tom_]

Ah well, we can be proud of the scoreline at least.

[ajaxcolombia]

So proud of the boys, the team played incredibly well in the second half!

[Orange14]

Who would have thunk it?? Down to the final seconds with a chance to pull off what would have been a huge victory (better than just winning 2-1). I think we have to be proud of this club and that FdB had them ready to play. Sure there were some ManU starters missing but this Ajax team took the fight to them rather than just going through the motions. Ko must be ecstatic in stands at Old Trafford.

Player ratings:

Vermeer (7) - came up with all the big stops and really had no chance when Chicherito broke in
Van Rhijn (7) - solid on defense and went forward well
Alderweireld (8) - just a rock in the middle and got the 2nd goal on a great header
Vertonghen (8) - it really should be a 7 because of the poor pass that set up the ManU goal but that was the only mistake that he made all match long
Koppers (6) - played well in the first half and took some punishment on a couple bad hits; hope he's OK
Anita (7) - great in the midfield and had to drop back to left back when Koppers didn't come back for the 2nd half; good ball distribution
De Jong (6) - had to spend much of the 2nd half as the holding midfielder and really didn't do much after that
Eriksen (7) - good match and I assume his coming off was pre-determined to give him some rest as it didn't look like he was injured
Ozbiliz (7) - well taken goal and some general good play but erratic on occasion trying to go through 2 men
Lodeiro (6) - really not much of a factor as a striker and it's hard for him to hold the ball up
Sulejmani (7) - best performance of the past five matches both offensively and tracking back
Klassen (6) - some poor decision making that led to turnovers when there might have been some good opportunities
Serrero (5) - really didn't make any difference in the match and was too easily dispossessed
Blind (6) - came on late and did OK pushing up to try to get the deciding goal

The lack of a striker was really evident today. We just didn't have that added ooomph to make a difference in the final third. ManU were quite disappointing overall and if I were SAF I really would be unhappy with the team's play. Maybe they were trying to play rope-a-dope and figure on getting some counterattacking goals. Well it didn't work and as a result they put the tie in jeopardy in the last five minutes.

On to Excelsior now and I hope we can continue to play like this the remainder of the season.

[bluedaddy19]

we were just a tiny bit of execution from stealing this tie

and man U were incredibly dirty pieces of shit tonight... i cannot remember the last time i saw them play that dirty of a game, the ref was fully up their ass all night, of course (two minutes of stoppage time?? of course!! why not??)

screw those cheaters, we beat them in their building with a bunch of children in the side and they deserved worse

[Orange14]

and man U were incredibly dirty pieces of shit tonight... i cannot remember the last time i saw them play that dirty of a game, the ref was fully up their ass all night, of course (two minutes of stoppage time?? of course!! why not??)

You are surprised? Typical English Premier League team and maybe this is the way they play in Slovenia (home of the match officials) as well. Scholes is one of the nastiest players I've ever seen and Nani is not far behind. What Nani did to van Rhijn near the end of the match was uncalled for. Koppers got chopped a couple of times as well and I hope he's OK>

[Van basten]

two minutes of stoppage time?? of course!! why not??

Yeah, that was a joke. Other than that, it was good game. Nice to know that we can compete in this level.

P.S. AZ. PSV and Twente all go through. It's good for us and good for Eredivisie. Dutch teams won 7 from 8 games in this round Who's talking about Eredivisie being weaker this year?!