12 DEC 2018; Ajax - Bayern; CL Group Match 6

[Orange14]

All to play for this Wednesday night. Ajax are through to the Round of 16 but a win will see them to the top of the table and perhaps a lessor foe in the knockout stage. Bayern appear to be getting back to form and had an easy victory over the weekend. Their Dutch talisman Arjen Robben is doubtful for the match but they have enough attacking power without him. Ajax may be without first choice keeper Onana who went off injured on Saturday along with van de Beek. Ziyech who has been out did not see any action on Saturday.

Ajax will be the underdog but I remember back to the day when Barcelona came to the Arena and a 10 man Ajax defeated the Catalan team behind goals from Sererro and Hoesen.

[Ayman]

Interesting before the line up was announced. I had posted for this exact line up that I was hoping for on Reddit today_i_am_not_nervous_just_very_excited

[Amol]

Lineups for today -
Onana, Mazraoui, De Ligt, Wober, Tagliafico, Blind, Van de Beek, De Jong, Ziyech, Tadic, Neres

Onana and Donny are back from injuries picked up over the weekend. Blind moves to DM, Wober slots in at LCB and both Huntelaar and Dolberg on the bench.

[Ayman]

No need for two strikers. Schuurs should be on the bench, if it goes well, he can get minutes on the pitch

[Amol]

Good luck boys. For folks in the US - game is being shown for free online on B/R Live.

[Orange14]

Good luck boys. For folks in the US - game is being shown for free online on B/R Live.

Just tuned in!!! Great video feed!!!

[SPL]

Anyone know of a decent stream .cricfree does not seem to be showing at present.

[Amol]

We need a striker in here - take off Neres/Ziyech or even Tadic.

Sule and Boateng have Tadic in their pocket for now.

[Orange14]

Very fortunate to only be down 0-1. Bayern are playing a high 4-4-2 and if there is the slightest mistake by Ajax they are prepared to come forward in numbers. Ajax cannot afford to continue with slow passes as they will be intercepted. The back four has been poor so far both in some passing and defending. Lewandoski was undefended as both Wöber and Blind were upfield of him and de Ligt could not get over fast enough. The criticism aside, it's good to see ten Hag going for the victory with lots of pressing on the ball. Ajax have created a number of turnovers but the shots have all been right at Neurer who made all the easy saves.

Part of the problem is that there are too many weak teams in the Dutch league and Ajax seldom see the kind of pressure that Bayern are offering tonight.

It's great to hear Martin Tyler and Clive Owen who are our match announcers on the US feed!!!!

[Orange14]

Anyone know of a decent stream .cricfree does not seem to be showing at present.

We have English match announcers, isn't there a station carrying the match?

[SPL]

Got a stream on firstrow and its the same as you are watching in USA.Not much to add about the first half.

[Amol]

Agree that there have been a few missed passes from De Jong, Wober & Blind. Also, Bayern's pressing and shape are much better than the kids see week in/week out.

Wober missed his marker twice (one led to a goal) but made up for it a little by a well timed tackle in the middle of the half.

[Amol]

GOOOOOOOAAAAAAALLLLLLL!!!!!

[Amol]

God damn it Wober. Red card.

[Amol]

Hoping that Nico didn't get hurt too bad. To be fair - I don't think Muller was trying to flying-kick Nico to the head.

[Amol]

TADIC!!!!!!!!!!!

Making me look like a total fool. I had suggested Huntelaar/Dolberg for one of Neres/Ziyech/Tadic.

[Amol]

How did we end up at 2-3 in the 90th after being up 2-1 in the 83rd?

Missed the foul on their penalty and De Jong makes another critical error.

[Amol]

This was an insane 2nd half. I'm tired.

[Ayman]

Who else thought that Frenkie would score the winner and redeem himself?

[Amol]

Who else thought that Frenkie would score the winner and redeem himself?

I genuinely didn't. He needs at least another year at Ajax.

[SPL]

A magnificent game of football, at 2-1 thought we would hold on but Frenkie misses a pass. Have to say even before the game I dont understand why Wober was playing such an important game.Give him 90 mins at de Graafschap but not Bayern he was the weak link in our defence and his red was stupid.

Thought KJH should have come on before Dolberg although he got us the penalty but KJH passed for the 3rd .

We are through ok and we have to be proud of our side and club tonight.

[Orange14]

A match for the ages with both teams playing for the win. Penalty kicks, Red Cards, poor defending, bad passing, good passing, tackles going in all over the pitch. What more could a supporter ask for (well for one thing neither team got the win). Ajax conceded a poor first half goal but were relentless coming back pressing all over the pitch in the 2nd half. Down to 10 men because of a reckless Wöber tackle things looked down but then Muller goes off with a high boot to Tagliafico's head. Dolberg with a great touch gets in on goal and taken down and Tadich sends Ajax up 2-1. Taglifico bowls Tiago over shortly after and then Lewandoski ties it for Bayern. It looked like that was how it would end but Frenkie de Jong who had not missed a pass all night long (according to the match announcers) gives it up and Bayern go up. But it still wasn't over with Ajax throwing everything forward and an own goal by Sule ends the scoring.

Props to ten Hag for getting this team ready to play!!!

Player Ratings:

Onana (8) - two outstanding saves with the one hander on Lewandoski being world class
Tagliafico (7) - all over the pitch tonight and put the pressure on forcing the own goal
Wöber (3) - proper Red Card and a couple of early problems defending resulting in disappointment (though ten Hag should have been rotating him much more during the league season)
de Ligt (6.5) - had some slip ups but in this kind of match it's expected
Mazraoui (5.5) - beaten too many times but fortunate nothing came of it
Blind (6) - pretty steady match in the MF and then had to drop back into the back line
de Jong (6) - have to take a point off for the disastrous pass that set up the final Bayern goal and he really didn't get untracked until the 2nd half when Ajax figured out how to solve the 4-4-2
van de Beek (7) - wow was that a whipped cross to Tadic for the first goal
Neres (5.5) - too many dives and was fortunate not to be booked
Tadic (8.5) - nerves of steel from the spot and a wonderful game as a shadow #9
Ziyech (8) - second only to Tadic among the field players
Dolberg (7) - drew the penalty with a good take down and control of the ball in the box
Huntelaar (6) - kept the ball alive in the box that led to the tie

Ajax finish a deserved 2nd in the group and are still UNDEFEATED IN EUROPE
So we wait for next week's draw and any team that draws Ajax will have to work hard or go home!!!!

[Orange14]

No easy teams in the next round; here are the group winners that Ajax may play:
Dortmund
Barcelona
Paris St. Germain
Porto
Man City
Madrid
Juventus

[souras84]

That red card for Wober means he ain't playing for the next 2 games. That's an issue if Ten Hag wants to use the same tactics in the Round of 16. No Wober, leaves us with Blind or Schuurs??

[Cruijff]

Ajax finish a deserved 2nd in the group and are still UNDEFEATED IN EUROPE

And even better Bayern still has never won an European cup match in Amsterdam until now!

Despite the fact that they managed to score 16 points in their group stage I prefer Porto for the next round. I would like to make another journey to Portugal.