19 Feb 2009: ACF Fiorentina - Ajax

[Ajaxfanuk]

Yeah we seem to take it for granted that we are going to win at the ArenA...hmm.

Ahh the hell with it lets enjoy our week in the SUN! WOO!!

...watch us struggle against Volendam on Sunday :P

[Philippe]

The actual stats are :
Possession 44.6% / 55.4%
Shots 6 / 14
Shots on target 3 / 3

Nothing to be too sceptical. We will just have to remain focused next week.

Fiorentina have a terrible away games record this season.

I trust MvB. Let's enjoy this one, and be confident.

[Kowalczyk]

Just returned from Florence.

What a marvellous trip and what an absolutely fantastic win. Really, really great. Hamburg all over again. The second truly stunning, memorable European away win of the season - and we did it without Cvitanich, Gabri, Vertonghen, Enoh and Wielaert. That's half a starting line-up.

Of course it was hard-fought and the first half must have been a real yawn-fest to the 'objective spectator', but I really thought Ajax started to play well in the second half. The last fifteen minutes were really sovereign, I thought, and I absolutely don't think that 3-1 to Fiorentina would have been 'fair'. Come on, they had one or two real chances, but it really struck me how powerless they were - and how little they actually created.

They looked against us like we looked against Slavia Prague and FC Copenhagen: better team, better players, but simply lacking the might and the thrust to create anything against a team that was well organized and got stuck in.

This Ajax team is weird. I don't understand them, I can hate them sometimes, but I'll always love 'em. This was a fantastic one. Respect.

Edit: Check this...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q89rPprfaMw

Fuckin A. Great, the noise from the away end. Yeah.

K.

[Manneken Pis]

Of course it was hard-fought and the first half must have been a real yawn-fest to the 'objective spectator', but I really thought Ajax started to play well in the second half. The last fifteen minutes were really sovereign, I thought, and I absolutely don't think that 3-1 to Fiorentina would have been 'fair'. Come on, they had one or two real chances, but it really struck me how powerless they were - and how little they actually created.


K.

Hehe, I thought I'd get that reaction.

Sorry, I just think we were very lucky, but hey beauty is in the eye of the beholder. As for the stats, I think we can all agree they don't always tell the whole story. Don't get me wrong, I was delighted last night, but I geniunely believe we got away with murder, in the latter stages they pushed forward and we got some chances on the counter (which is logical but doesn't mean we were "sovereign").

Anyway, let's get behind them for round two....

[Philippe]

It's just time to party.

Fantastic result that brings us back to glorious 90's memories.

[SPL]

Watching the game I was reminded that Kennedy and Anita were available
for transfer in January but no one wanted them. Schilder and Leo have not been offered new contracts and Schilder is leaving. Thus at one stage we had 4 players on the field that MVB does not really want!

[JohnyAjax]

Hey Boys, that was some job. You deserve the dear congratulations of all of us. Maybe we rode luck, maybe but there is absolutely nothing to criticize the team about. There have been times we have played better but ended up with shitty results this time fortune did us a slight favor. We have a result to remember and it contrasts sharply with the overall picture of our european performances throughout this decade.

I stand firmly behind the boys for the second leg, they really deserve it. With just a little more luck we will be celebrating a famous triumph. A hard task is ahead but I hope Marco & Co.(Not Adriansee of course ) will work it out. GO AJAX we stand behind you !!!!

[Kowalczyk]

Watching the game I was reminded that Kennedy and Anita were available for transfer in January but no one wanted them. Schilder and Leo have not been offered new contracts and Schilder is leaving. Thus at one stage we had 4 players on the field that MVB does not really want!

Correct. And yet we won.

Cvitanich, Gabri, Enoh, Vertonghen and Wielaert were missing... That's half the team. Half a starting line-up!

Fiorentina are, of course a much better football team than Ajax. They have a better, more mature player for almost every position than Ajax, they're 4th in the Italian league (we're 3rd in the Dutch league).

That's why I thought they looked like Ajax in the home leg of that traumatic CL qualifier against Slavia Prague: they pushed forward, you could see that dominating was easier for them than it was for us and they also had a few chances, but definitely not too many clear-cut ones - and as a team they just couldn't crack it against the underdog.

Lucky? Yeah. In a way. Slavia Prague and FC Copenhagen were also lucky against Ajax. As in: Ajax had more chances, so they could easily have lost. But Ajax failed to score, Slavia Prague battled, got stuck in... and won.

Ajax's Fiorentina win lucky? Yes, but only if you thought at the time that Slavia Prague were "very, very lucky" at the ArenA.

If, at the time, you thought that Ajax fucked it up, that they played a horrible game and that Slavia Prague (for those reasons) kind of deserved the win, then you should analyze this match in a similar way.

K.

[kraz11]

When we come as underdogs we can beat almost every team
but as were no underdogs no more i wont be surprised
if the viola will win 2-0 or 3-1
The players have to be even more concentrated and tough to win the tie.

Great fucking win

Lindgren was the best player , really starting to impress me

[rjf1]

When we come as underdogs we can beat almost every team
but as were no underdogs no more i wont be surprised
if the viola will win 2-0 or 3-1
The players have to be even more concentrated and tough to win the tie.me

One thing to remember is that MvB played in Italy so he knows what it is that the Italian teams do to beat the other European competition (lay back, let the other team do all the work, soak up pressure, wait for the other team to get exhausted and slow down, then turn on their own pressure, hope for an 'against the run of play' goal), so he knows how to use the same tactic against them. Worked for us once -- he'll probably do the same in the return match.