Official Football Thread

Cheers! I guess that as a Feyenoord fan, you aren't devastated by Ajax losing (although I guess you rooted for the Dutch team) :)

It strikes me that I am doing right now what we did a lot of during last year's meet-up ... watching football and drinking beer :ninja: see you on Friday!
 
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:D
 
Night Prowler said:
Ajax did very well for such a young team.
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They also had the youngest player ever playing in a final of Champions League, Europacup 1, Europacup 2, UEFA Cup or Europa League:
Matthijs de Ligt: 17 years and 285 days.

Previous record: Alberto Malusci, who played two minutes in the Fiorentina - Juve final from 1990: 17 years and 313 days 'old'.

Youngest winner of UEFA Cup/Europa League: Robin van Persie: 18 years and 275 days.

Youngest player in a European Super Cup match: Ronald de Boer: 17 years and 193 days.
 
Ajax play some really nice football but they don't know how to break down a well organized defence, probably because they haven't played against one this season. Mourinho knew what was required to stop Ajax and Man U executed the game plan perfectly. It was a professional performance from Man U, and very much a case of experience vs. youth. Perhaps Arsense Wenger should take note that 4th place is not a trophy, but the UEFA Cup is.
 
Black Wizard said:
Ajax play some really nice football but they don't know how to break down a well organized defence, probably because they haven't played against one this season.
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What a load of bull. They didn't have a very good day. Better football was needed to break this. They have played some. Not today. Not taking any credit away from Man U. But Ajax did not have a good day either.
 
I've only watched a small amount of Ajax in the UEFA Cup this season, so I can't comment on what they're usually like. I'll defer to your expertise on Dutch football.
 
In terms of ability to put up a collective defensive display, I doubt any Eredivisie team is capable of what United did tonight. Attacking-wise, the best Eredivisie teams could certainly do better than this. Regardless, I do not doubt Ajax are capable of a better performance than tonight. The thing is, Mourinho is very good at making a gameplan that makes the opposition look like they're underperforming. I used to hate him for it. He's good at spotting the strong points of the opposition and finding a way to stop that.

Man Utd's problem this season has been to come up with creative stuff themselves - and to take advantage of dominating games. Defensively, the season has been very good with the odd exception.
 
Black Wizard said:
Perhaps Arsense Wenger should take note that 4th place is not a trophy, but the UEFA Cup is.
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Huh? Arsenal never failed to get out of the Group Stage of the Champions League the last 16 years. What makes you think they wouldn't have won it if they ever competed in it? The last time they were in the UEFA Cup, they reached the Final.

Black Wizard said:
All Mourinho needs to do is improve the goalscoring and you've basically got Juventus II in the Champions League next season.
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Nah. There's a cliff between Giorgio Chiellini, Leonardo Bonucci, Andrea Barzagli and the likes of Chris Smalling, Eric Bailly, Phil Jones. You can't reach the level of defense Juve has with just the manager's defensive expertise.
 
Man Utd conceded just 3 goals more than Juve in the league and Juve has one more game to play + Utd had way more erratic defensive combinations.
 
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