09 MAR 2017 FC Copenhagen - Ajax Europa League

[Orange14]

Ajax travel to lovely Copenhagen this Thursday for the away tie in the Europa League Round of 16. Veltman and Sanchez are both suspended for the match. We don't know whether Riedewald or Viergever will be healthy by Thursday. If neither is fit, Ajax will have a makeshift back line. Westermann is a possibility or perhaps Bosz goes with three in the back: Tete, de Ligt, & Sinkgraven. that would be a gutsy move. Of more concern is the dysfunctional MF and lack of scoring from the front line. It would be nice if Ajax can snatch an away goal but this doesn't' seem likely.

[SPL]

Kluivert not there he is with the U19 v Real Madrid. de Ligt not in Madrid thankfully .

Dont see any change to our non scoring attack or underperforming midfield. Tete and Sinkgraven full backs ,hope either Riedewald or Viergever will be fit for CD but if Westermann plays instead of de Ligt I give up !!

[Ayman]

I'm so confident that FC Copenhagen will win, that I'm going to place a bet on it. If Ajax do get an away goal, it will be at the expense of conceding 3 or 4 goals. Peter Bosz is a stubborn guy, I can't see him making the necessary changes he needs to make.

[King Litti]

Yes, we're in a bit of a slump, but an important game like this just might be the spark that brings out the quality in Ziyech and co. Fc Copenhagen is a serious ball club, but I would still rank the Danish league below the eredivisie though the difference has gotten smaller in recent years. Sanchez and Veltman will be misssed, but I can't see why we couldn't get a decent enough result from this away game and then finnish the job in the Arena.

[SPL]

Viergever and Riedewald look to be fit both travelling in a squad of 20. Alblas Jong goalie is going as a spare so one other to drop out !

[Orange14]

I imagine that de Ligt will start at the right center of the defense.

[SPL]

Bosz has said Tete and de Ligt will play

[King Litti]

It seems it's going To be van de beek in place of ziech

[Orange14]

Boilesen on the substitutes bench!!!

[Orange14]

This could get ugly really fast now.

[Tom_]

Just switched on. What happened?

[SPL]

Just got in ,got a stream showed 8 mins gone and 1 down!!! Hoe it wasn't de LIgt's fault

[Tom_]

This is every bit as stupid tactically as that red bull game a couple of years ago. It's so obvious what Kobenhavn are doing and Ajax has no backup plan

[Tom_]

Nice finish! Pretty sure he was offside

[SPL]

Another Danish goal ,lucky it was our own Dane .Lovely goal by Dolberg

[Orange14]

van de Beek missed marking his man when Sinkgraven and Viergever were on the double team and it resulted in the goal. Ajax are lucky that they didn't concede again as Copenhagen had some decent shots on goal. Really nice passing from Traore to Klaassen and onto Dolberg who really showed his ability as a true center forward and slotted the ball home. Ajax seemed to start playing a lot better after the goal.

[Tom_]

Well that was awful. Good for about 4–0 I reckon. Somehow we got away with it and even scored an (offside?) goal on our only real attack

[Orange14]

My feed shows endless replays of the goals. I think Tom is correct and Dolberg ran past the last defender and tried to get back on sides but I don't think he quite made it.

[SPL]

de Ligt should have done better.

[Amol]

Ugh down 2-1.

Fairly weak cross from the right, Cornelius beats De Ligt to the header and scores.

[Orange14]

de Ligt just not strong enough on the challenge. Sanchez probably would have done better.

[Tom_]

What'd we say about weird EL refs ;)

[Amol]

Can someone please tell me why Dolberg's goal was disallowed?

[Tom_]

That was a foul by Dolberg IMO.

Anyway we're somehow still in the tie, it could've been over at half time.

@Orange guess we'll see what the MF is like without Klaassen, the ref agrees and dropped him for you!

[SPL]

Klaassen very clever gets booked for arguing and misses the next game. No idea why Viergever got booked he barely touched the big Hulk who went down play acting.

Think we could easily have gone home 3 or 4-1 down but we have a chance next week but my gut feeling it will be a draw.