22 Nov 2011: Olympique Lyonnais - Ajax

[Kowalczyk]

Well done, Ajax.

Such a difficult time for the club, so many injuries - and then such a mature performance.

This was good. Very well done.

K.

[Tom_]

Good result! Lyon created a bit of danger in the last 15 but we got away with it for a change. We really should've scored when we had the 2 vs. 1 counter, but I'll definitely take a 0–0.

It may still be tight for us to get through—7 goals isn't that many when we have to play Madrid and Lyon are playing Zagreb…

Anyone familiar with the rules for separating teams level on points? From my recollection it goes:

1. Head-to-head results (0–0 and 0–0)
2. Goal difference
3. Goals scored

So if Real beat us 3–0 Lyon would need to win 4–0 or better, as I understand it.

[The Purple Cow Again]

That was a catastrophic performance against an exceptionally weak Lyon side. We needed to score to stand even the remotest chance of progressing to the knockout phase, and yet when the incompetent Lyon defence handed us opportunities on a plate, our players had a failure of nerve, to put the most positive spin on it. Or put it another way, Eriksen, Sulejmani and Ebecilio showed abject cowardice.

In the immortal words of Bunk Moreland "...it breaks my heart to see how far we done fall."

[The Purple Cow Again]

It may still be tight for us to get through—7 goals isn't that many when we have to play Madrid and Lyon are playing Zagreb…

Irrelevant.

[souras84]

OK you are right, it's still early. But Apoel is a good team, playing with a lot of passion. We all know that playing against this kind of teams is always hard. I'd prefer a team like Arsenal or Chelsea

[Van basten]

That was a catastrophic performance against an exceptionally weak Lyon side. We needed to score to stand even the remotest chance of progressing to the knockout phase.

This is just not true

[Tom_]

It may still be tight for us to get through—7 goals isn't that many when we have to play Madrid and Lyon are playing Zagreb…

Irrelevant.

Why's that?

[Kowalczyk]

That was a catastrophic performance against an exceptionally weak Lyon side. We needed to score to stand even the remotest chance of progressing to the knockout phase, and yet when the incompetent Lyon defence handed us opportunities on a plate, our players had a failure of nerve, to put the most positive spin on it. Or put it another way, Eriksen, Sulejmani and Ebecilio showed abject cowardice.

Come on - this is bollocks.

K.

[#14]

1. a result by either ajax or zagreb, and ajax goes thru.

2. any combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is less than 7 goals in aggregate, and ajax goes thru. more than 7 goals in aggregate, and lyon goes thru. a combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is 7 goals in aggregate will then take us to goals scored.

3. right now Ajax leads goals scored 6-2; if lyon scores fewer than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, ajax goes thru. if lyon scores more than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, lyon goes thru. if lyon scores exactly 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, then we go to the higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons. i would tend to think this would favor lyon. if it comes to this, we may have to invade switzerland.

also of note: madrid only managed 2 goals at lyon and somehow only 1 in zagreb. in addition, matchday 6 will be played on Dec 7. madrid have already qualified first in the group, and on Dec 11 they have a little something called the spanish derby - i have no doubt they will be looking past ajax to this much more critical match....

[ajaxusa]

That was a catastrophic performance against an exceptionally weak Lyon side. We needed to score to stand even the remotest chance of progressing to the knockout phase, and yet when the incompetent Lyon defence handed us opportunities on a plate, our players had a failure of nerve, to put the most positive spin on it. Or put it another way, Eriksen, Sulejmani and Ebecilio showed abject cowardice.

Come on - this is bollocks.

K.

What he said.

[Venezuelan Ajacied]

1. a result by either ajax or zagreb, and ajax goes thru.

2. any combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is less than 7 goals in aggregate, and ajax goes thru. more than 7 goals in aggregate, and lyon goes thru. a combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is 7 goals in aggregate will then take us to goals scored.

3. right now Ajax leads goals scored 6-2; if lyon scores fewer than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, ajax goes thru. if lyon scores more than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, lyon goes thru. if lyon scores exactly 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, then we go to the higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons. i would tend to think this would favor lyon. if it comes to this, we may have to invade switzerland.

also of note: madrid only managed 2 goals at lyon and somehow only 1 in zagreb. in addition, matchday 6 will be played on Dec 7. madrid have already qualified first in the group, and on Dec 11 they have a little something called the spanish derby - i have no doubt they will be looking past ajax to this much more critical match....

The Madrid Match has all the signs of being a dull 0-0 draw. Which would be perfect for us !

[Manneken Pis]

That was a catastrophic performance against an exceptionally weak Lyon side. We needed to score to stand even the remotest chance of progressing to the knockout phase, and yet when the incompetent Lyon defence handed us opportunities on a plate, our players had a failure of nerve, to put the most positive spin on it. Or put it another way, Eriksen, Sulejmani and Ebecilio showed abject cowardice."

1) No, it wasn't catastrophic, that would have been a 3-0 defeat.
2) No, we didn't need to score, Lyon needed to. Why?
- They were at home,
- we have the better goal difference (ahead in the group),
- our defence has been awful all season, and
- all our recognised strikers were injured.
3) Yes Lyon were far poorer than expected, up front they were without ideas, and as they pushed higher and higher they left room for counters, and I agree we were extremely profligate in the counter-attacks (slow, lacking incisive passing, in fact a real lack of killer instinct ... "naivety" if you will) .... and if by "cowardice" you mean lack of mental robustness I think that's harsh, given the mental robustness they showed overall in the full 90 minutes against a team that plays regularly in the CL and has a far higher level of experience in these types of matches.

Just my 2 cents...

[GangstaRiB]

1. a result by either ajax or zagreb, and ajax goes thru.

2. any combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is less than 7 goals in aggregate, and ajax goes thru. more than 7 goals in aggregate, and lyon goes thru. a combination of ajax loss and lyon win which is 7 goals in aggregate will then take us to goals scored.

3. right now Ajax leads goals scored 6-2; if lyon scores fewer than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, ajax goes thru. if lyon scores more than 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, lyon goes thru. if lyon scores exactly 4 goals more than ajax on matchday 6, then we go to the higher number of coefficient points accumulated by the club in question, as well as its association, over the previous five seasons. i would tend to think this would favor lyon. if it comes to this, we may have to invade switzerland.

also of note: madrid only managed 2 goals at lyon and somehow only 1 in zagreb. in addition, matchday 6 will be played on Dec 7. madrid have already qualified first in the group, and on Dec 11 they have a little something called the spanish derby - i have no doubt they will be looking past ajax to this much more critical match....

4: I don't see Lyon winning in Zagreb. Lyon was very weak yesterday and Zagreb must (pride, fans, etc etc..) recover from their defeat against Real. So Zagreb will do anything not to end with zero points in this group.


Ow by the way: excellent performance of Ajax yesterday. A 0-0 score with us on top... I didn't expect it.

[SPL]

Looking at the tables I think we have a better chance of qualifying than the Man clubs . Lyon are a very ordinary looking team but we were handicapped by going into the game without a striker and a struggling defence plus a goalie lacking confidence .The defence and goalie were superb and it really was a fine performance when you consider our recent league form.

[ajaxcolombia]

Real madrid has about three to four strong formations. They thrashed Zagreb today without Ronaldo, kakaor Ozil on the pitch so they could definitely put some goals past us in the ArenA. We can't be to confident, the Kaiserweireld and Vertonghen looked very sttrong today, I hope they can carry this to the Eredivise, that would a the bets gift for the holidays they can give us.

[Orange14]

Real madrid has about three to four strong formations. They thrashed Zagreb today without Ronaldo, kakaor Ozil on the pitch so they could definitely put some goals past us in the ArenA.

Ozil played the first half when Madrid put four in the back of the net. Kaka has been out injured for several weeks now. There is very little drop off in their attack with all the players they have stockpiled over the last two years.

[Philippe]

Given the circumstances, some pessimistic comments really seem unreal.
We played a good game, and fought until the end, this time. Vermeer saved us at the end, this time. At the end of the day, we're almost in the CL 1/8 finals. Vertonghen and Enoh did well too.
Bear in mind OL's budget is about twice ours (130 M€ vs 65 M€). And they have reached the CL 1/8 (at least) every season since 2004.
Too bad french riot policemen decided to throw tear gas at us at half-time.

[Manneken Pis]

Real madrid has about three to four strong formations. They thrashed Zagreb today without Ronaldo, kakaor Ozil on the pitch so they could definitely put some goals past us in the ArenA. We can't be to confident, the Kaiserweireld and Vertonghen looked very sttrong today, I hope they can carry this to the Eredivise, that would a the bets gift for the holidays they can give us.

Despite being very positive about our performance last night there is one thing that continues to frustrate me, and which be punished mercilessly by Real. That is our poor passing out of defence (both Alderwereld and Vertoghen are guilty of this) and losing posession too easily in midfield (all the midfield is guilty). This is a part of the game that we really need to improve on ...

[Orange14]

Despite being very positive about our performance last night there is one thing that continues to frustrate me, and which be punished mercilessly by Real. That is our poor passing out of defence (both Alderwereld and Vertoghen are guilty of this) and losing posession too easily in midfield (all the midfield is guilty). This is a part of the game that we really need to improve on ...

Unfortunately this is not likely to change until Anita is able to move back to the midfield in place of Enoh. Enoh is simply not an option for outlets from the back line. Your general thesis is quite correct. If you look at the goals we have conceded this season I would think the majority are the result of turnovers and quick counter attacks from our opponents.

[Tom_]

Unfortunately this is not likely to change until Anita is able to move back to the midfield in place of Enoh. Enoh is simply not an option for outlets from the back line. Your general thesis is quite correct. If you look at the goals we have conceded this season I would think the majority are the result of turnovers and quick counter attacks from our opponents.

Yep... those and set pieces would have to make up almost all of the goals we concede.

The really frustrating thing is how often this happens (not just when we concede, I mean): we'll be pressing an opponent back, setting up chances, have all the momentum, and a couple of giveaways in quick succession by Janssen or Enoh (for example), which lead to half-chances at our end, and all of a sudden the pressure is off the other team and the momentum swings.