I think people’s match reports will differ after some time.
If you look at our team, injury and suspension depleted, they held on against a vibrant young team which has blown big teams away previously in the tournament.
I think most people will agree the first half was not acceptable and we were by far second best. But the introduction of Sissoko provided us with a bit more threat in the second half, but we just did not have enough with the players on the night.
Ajax can be got at, with Son back, we are well and truly in this.
My gut says 2-1 away win - Son two goals - COYS!
Sincere apologies...thanks for telling me....duly amended. Not a clue how that happened...fat fingers I guess. That's the trouble using a mobile phone... sorry Goldman.@Krule why would you spam this. Fucking weird man.
If you said we just need to beat axax 1-2 in Amsterdam to reach the final we would all have taken that. We need to go there with the mentality to score 2 goals.
Clearly the back three didn't work and Pochettino admitted as much. He got the tactics spot on against City but got them wrong today. Having said that I still think they would have started with Sissoko if they were sure he was 100%. We started this season with 11 players in the WC semi's, it was never going to look too rosy by this stage and we are literally the walking wounded. Trippier was poor, but he has been suffering from a chronic groin issue since the WC. Fully fit and he is quality. Dele Alli was poor, but having to play in a position which doesn't really suit him, plus he is playing with a broken hand. I though Llorente put in a good shift, and in the second half he had some great moments. If Trippier or Rose had been better with their final delivery you play to Llorente's strengths and bring Moura into the game.
Agree his tactics and formations this year have been shit and he takes so long to ever change anything.And this goes back to my problem with Poch and his tactics. I first brought it up in his 2nd year and posted in the tactics thread. Perhaps Dier wasn't fit for tonight but his value has always been proclaimed to be his versatility yet Poch doens't utilize a pendulating DM. If Dier started we could have begun with any formation and changed between them. If he is going to keep playing units instead of actual footballing MFers then why not utilize the flexibility? And by now our players should be able to flexibly switch on the fly without having to wait for fucking HT changes. It is ridiculous with such a settled squad. The fact we went a whole half getting murderlized by poor starting tactics is criminal.
Im annoyed too because apart from the 20 minutes they were there for the taking. They are a slick slick team going forward no doubt but we got through them on a number of occasions but just didnt have the attack without Son and Kane. Crossing aint going to work, their defence and keeper were lapping these up.
Second leg i think we will be a more attacking threat with Son... Ajax will score make no mistake about that but I think we will score a couple if not three.
This aint over by any means and if someone offered me 0-1 at HT to take back to Ajax I would have done it in a heart beat. We will have a fully fit Sissoko (who was magnificent tonight), Verts back, id play Foyth right back and have Son up front with Lucas Dele and Eriksen.
Just such a shame we didnt have Kane, Son, Winks, Lamela and Aurier tonight and available.
Stop defending Alli, the kid is a waster, he thinks he's made it when he's done fuck all!! I played Sunday football with a broken hand and still managed to deck someone, so don't give me that ' he's playing with a broken hand bollocks', he's actually playing with a broken attitude!!
Probably mate the team was poor yet again I never thought we would score they look bereft of ideas that includes poch and totally flat they are shit through.How many here think that if it hadn't been for poor Jan's injury and the need for his substitution we'd now be staring down the barrel of a 0-3 or 0-4 scoreline ?. Me for one.....
Let's be honest if we somehow got through to the final I doubt it now the form we are in but if so can you imagine the embarrassment pitching ourselves against a Barcelona with the shit tactics and formations it doesn't bear thinking about.What I really do not understand is ajax are a watered down version of man city, yet tonight we changed our shape and formation . We also didn’t defend anywhere near as well In the opening stages
Positives are for me is that ajax isn’t an away day like Barcelona or Liverpool where it feels impossible.
We Should be going there an winning and at least scoring a couple , epscially If we get some firepower back.
As pep said against us he knew what his side needed to do and they were very close to doing it . This champions league is all about 2nd legs this year , utd won away at psg from a worse position
Oh and to further add ajax had a huge rest, they have a game on Sunday and there’s neck and neck with PSV
I didn’t like your post and rated it thus.
That's my one main criticism...it takes far too long for the alarm bells to ring with Poch. He seems oblivious at times when the game is clearly going against him and the team is getting battered.Agree his tactics and formations this year have been shit and he takes so long to ever change anything.
That 5-3-2 once again killed us, been saying it all season we don't have the midfield to withstand pressure to play it although injuries probably forced our hand this time so I'll give Poch the benefit of the doubt this time.
Sissoko coming on totally transformed the match so I'm hoping he starts next week, just a shame that we had key players missing because we would have won that match quite easily but it is what it is - still in the tie at least Son is back next week.