Jump to content
talkfootball365
  • Welcome to talkfootball365!

    The better place to talk football.

Juventus (2) 1-2 (3) Ajax - Tuesday 16th April, 2019 (QF 2nd Leg)


Recommended Posts

  • Replies 89
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • The topic was unpinned
2 hours ago, Panna King said:

Marc Overmars after the game last night  xD

 

 

Love it. In all honesty, it's a huge deal to be able to do what they did. Juve have only dropped 2 matches in Turn, both were draws....and yet Ajax were able to do the impossible and defeat the Italian Champions in their own stadium. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

5 hours ago, The Artful Dodger said:

It is the right word when you have imbecile pundits acting as if Ajax are some minnow in comparison to Juventus, I get they're not able to compete as much now but respect should be given for what they are. They're a greater club than Juventus are and one of the greatest clubs in history.

I'm not sure you can definitively say Ajax is a greater club than Juventus. They're both pretty historically significant sides, Juve are probably the biggest side in Italy. And as @Eco said, Turin is not an easy place to come play Juventus and get a result - let alone a win.

Ajax aren't some nothing club, they've got a proud history. And the way they're playing in the competition is a sign that any side playing them needs to take them seriously, because they play fearless football and they're looking quite fucking good at it. But I can understand why the pundits acted like it was a completely shock victory. Compare the costs of the players at the 2 clubs and compare their wage budgets.

But Ajax should be proud, they've knocked out the club that beat them in '96 final while doping... so it's kind of a moral victory. And they did it when Juventus are a much more expensive team with a really impressive home record and had a 5 time CL winner scoring on them in both legs. It's a massive achievement given the wealth disparity between the two clubs.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Saw the complete replay yesterday and i dont get the stick Juve got for their performance here in this thread. They were superb for the whole of first half and pressed hard and had majority of the ball. Sure, they didnt do much with the ball but after reading this thread I thought maybe they just sat back and did nothing but thats not the case. They basically had no answers for the Ajax backline who were terrific in every aspect. Ajax grew very slowly into the game and at around 50-55 minute mark when Scezney had to make 2-3 quick super saves and there was no stopping them from that point, they completely toyed Juve from then until the final whistle. 

Overall I dont think Juve played bad but just Ajax were way too superb for them. Dont see them wining the cup as one of City/Barca/Liverpool would be too much to handle for them but would be very happy to proved wrong. 

Ajax should shoot more and pass a little lesser in the box, reminds me of Wenger's Arsenal where they used to continuously pass the ball in the opponents box and final lose it. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

 

21 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Ajax are also the first club ever in the history of the CL to make the semi-finals after going through 3 rounds of CL qualification prior to the group stages.

Only Real Madrid(13), AC Milan(7), Bayern(5), Barcelona(5) and Liverpool(5) have won more more than them, so I'm not sure why people(not yourself, but in general) are more surprised at them reaching a semi than they would if City reached a semi. If history has told us anything, this competition is more than just about money and heritage seems to go a long way. If Ajax, Porto or Benfica reach a final, then I don't see it as surprising myself as heritage and prestige seems to go a long way in this tournament. I mean even look at Liverpool, you haven't been the club you were in the 80s for years(well, you're slowly getting back there now I believe) but even then, you have won European trophies during this time and reached finals, while clubs like City and PSG spend more than anyone in the world and embarrass themselves every time. They lack heritage.

Chelsea have broken that duck now and recently won a Champs League and Europa league, but it even took them years to achieve that, despite them winning everything domestically multiple times and having the funds available to compete with anyone. City will win it eventually, but as it stands, I don't even see them as being scary opposition in this tournament, they are laughing stock like PSG. I'd far rather play against them than Liverpool in the semis, as the latter are far more fearsome. They scare the shit out of me anyway.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, The Rebel CRS said:

 

Only Real Madrid(13), AC Milan(7), Bayern(5), Barcelona(5) and Liverpool(5) have won more more than them, so I'm not sure why people(not yourself, but in general) are more surprised at them reaching a semi than they would if City reached a semi. If history has told us anything, this competition is more than just about money and heritage seems to go a long way. If Ajax, Porto or Benfica reach a final, then I don't see it as surprising myself as heritage and prestige seems to go a long way in this tournament. I mean even look at Liverpool, you haven't been the club you were in the 80s for years(well, you're slowly getting back there now I believe) but even then, you have won European trophies during this time and reached finals, while clubs like City and PSG spend more than anyone in the world and embarrass themselves every time. They lack heritage.

Chelsea have broken that duck now and recently won a Champs League and Europa league, but it even took them years to achieve that, despite them winning everything domestically multiple times and having the funds available to compete with anyone. City will win it eventually, but as it stands, I don't even see them as being scary opposition in this tournament. I'd far rather play against them than Liverpool in the semis, as the latter are far more fearsome. They scare the shit out of me anyway.

Oh yeah there’s definitely something about some clubs in Europe that brings out something in certain clubs. Especially us - we were shit all throughout the 90s and we went on a great UEFA Cup run to win it. Rafa came in and in 3 years we’d been to 2 CL finals. We were dogshit when he left and once we were back in the first time we had a manager that didn’t take the competition seriously so we weren’t great. But on our first season in the CL with Klopp European nights have that same magical feel... and that’s now a final and a semi-final in 2 years being back in Europe.

I’m not surprised that Ajax are in the semis in the sense that I think they’re a club that shouldn’t be progressing this far. But I am surprised with how they’ve looked so much better than two clubs with resources way beyond Ajax in the knockouts.

The insane money in football now is so much higher than the insane money of 10-15, or 20, or 30 years ago. Considering Madrid & Juve’s financial positions compared to Ajax’s, I think it’s got to be considered a massive achievement. Regardless of the fact Ajax are indeed European royalty

Link to comment
Share on other sites

21 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

I'm not sure you can definitively say Ajax is a greater club than Juventus. They're both pretty historically significant sides, Juve are probably the biggest side in Italy. And as @Eco said, Turin is not an easy place to come play Juventus and get a result - let alone a win.

Ajax aren't some nothing club, they've got a proud history. And the way they're playing in the competition is a sign that any side playing them needs to take them seriously, because they play fearless football and they're looking quite fucking good at it. But I can understand why the pundits acted like it was a completely shock victory. Compare the costs of the players at the 2 clubs and compare their wage budgets.

But Ajax should be proud, they've knocked out the club that beat them in '96 final while doping... so it's kind of a moral victory. And they did it when Juventus are a much more expensive team with a really impressive home record and had a 5 time CL winner scoring on them in both legs. It's a massive achievement given the wealth disparity between the two clubs. 

Juventus are a humongous club, definitely. Certainly as a commercial entity they are leagues above Ajax, but I think Ajax's golden period in the 1970s was the thing that has shaped football the most. Football after that has been in that side's shadow most of all, either in homage to them (Cruyff and Guardiola's Barcelona) or in opposition to it (Sacchi's Mian or Mourinho's Chelsea/Inter), it all stems from that Ajax side for me. Barcelona are shameless in their pushing it as their idea and outright theft of the Ajax identity for commercial purposes, but they'll never the be the origin of it as they profess to be. Barcelona are the Oasis to Ajax as the Beatles, just a cheap imitation to the real genius. Yet again today we hear about the slimey Barcelona getting their claws into the young products of Ajax Amsterdam.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

35 minutes ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Oh yeah there’s definitely something about some clubs in Europe that brings out something in certain clubs. Especially us - we were shit all throughout the 90s and we went on a great UEFA Cup run to win it. Rafa came in and in 3 years we’d been to 2 CL finals. We were dogshit when he left and once we were back in the first time we had a manager that didn’t take the competition seriously so we weren’t great. But on our first season in the CL with Klopp European nights have that same magical feel... and that’s now a final and a semi-final in 2 years being back in Europe.

I’m not surprised that Ajax are in the semis in the sense that I think they’re a club that shouldn’t be progressing this far. But I am surprised with how they’ve looked so much better than two clubs with resources way beyond Ajax in the knockouts.

The insane money in football now is so much higher than the insane money of 10-15, or 20, or 30 years ago. Considering Madrid & Juve’s financial positions compared to Ajax’s, I think it’s got to be considered a massive achievement. Regardless of the fact Ajax are indeed European royalty

Yeah it's a shame how football has gone in that regard. Any star now is just going to go to the same handful of clubs in England or Spain, if not them then Bayern or PSG. Everyone else are always going to be playing catch up. One positive for Ajax though is that they are the biggest club in the Netherlands, so if Dutch football ends up having a change of fortunes in future years, then they will benefit the most. It would be great to see both Dutch and Portuguese football rise again and be able to keep up with the modern game. Both small countries, but they have as much passion and football heritage as any big nation in Europe. PSV are also a big club themselves, who are looking in good shape recently. They are actually on the same points as Ajax currently, meaning that Ajax could well end up winning the Champs league, yet losing out to PSV in the league.

 

 

 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 hours ago, Dr. Gonzo said:

Oh yeah there’s definitely something about some clubs in Europe that brings out something in certain clubs. Especially us - we were shit all throughout the 90s and we went on a great UEFA Cup run to win it. Rafa came in and in 3 years we’d been to 2 CL finals. We were dogshit when he left and once we were back in the first time we had a manager that didn’t take the competition seriously so we weren’t great. But on our first season in the CL with Klopp European nights have that same magical feel... and that’s now a final and a semi-final in 2 years being back in Europe.

I’m not surprised that Ajax are in the semis in the sense that I think they’re a club that shouldn’t be progressing this far. But I am surprised with how they’ve looked so much better than two clubs with resources way beyond Ajax in the knockouts.

The insane money in football now is so much higher than the insane money of 10-15, or 20, or 30 years ago. Considering Madrid & Juve’s financial positions compared to Ajax’s, I think it’s got to be considered a massive achievement. Regardless of the fact Ajax are indeed European royalty

The funny thing is Ajax have got huge resources now these days. There was actually a comparison from Man utd  to Ajax since the 2017 Europa league final. Man Utd have spent 258 million since while Ajax have made nearly 200 million in profit since that time and even before then they had a few hundred million sitting in reserves.  Difference is Ajax are a production line, their scouting is one of the best in the world, its a Dutch thing in general to be patient with a system instead of throwing millions at something like Italians and English, that is what Cruyff managed to convince Barcelona to do, to invest in youth instead of wasting millions.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    No registered users viewing this page.


Sign up or subscribe to remove this ad.


×
×
  • Create New...