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Final's just started. Rather tepid so far.

Pogba!!!!

Unlucky for Ajax with the massive deflection

Big goal for Pogba

2-0, Mkhitaryan

C'mon Ajax!!!

Ajax with no ideas...

Cactus Jack wrote:C'mon Ajax!!!

Not happening. Mourinho is too good in finals.

United have been tactically outstanding today.

Because of the change that the EL-Winner can take part in the CL next year, this final game is now more interesting for the clubs.

Mou is the luckiest manager in the world.
MU play awful football for basically all season and, despite that, they win 3 titles.

That was one of the most uninspiring finals in quite some time.

United, despite being on another planet financially, just sat back, played 4-5-1 and were hoping for counter attacks.
Ajax on the other hand just didn't have a clue how to break that down.

And that first goal was just fitting for this game. First Ajax gave away possession on their own throw in and then an easy save turned into a goal thanks to that deflection.

I guess Mourinho just knows how to deal with european football while it's just a bland style of the game.

What we witnessed this season in the europa league was a significant drop in quality from previous seasons. Terrible players, terrible sides.

Take the semi finalists for example. Both celta and ajax were in my team's (panathinaikos) group. We played celta away from home early on in the group and absolutely played them off the park. We could've easily won the game 3-0 had we had more proficiency up front and legs to last the whole game. Playing ajax at home, their kids were scared **** in the first 20 or so minutes before eventually gaining confidence and finishing the stronger side. Although we lost both these games, i saw significant weaknesses in both ajax and celta. I didn't watch much of lyon, but from what i saw they are a shadow of the team they once were. Shame.

Now on to united. Celta gave united a lot of trouble especially in the second leg which is a strong indicator of the current state of this united team. Mourinho admitted that ajax were stronger in certain areas and although he didn't elaborate, I'm certain he was referring to technical ability and ball retention. Thing is this ajax side will destroy you if you give them space but implode if you deny them space. Mourinho knew this, denied them space and won the game in typical mourinho fashion, not to mention defense prevailed over attack once again. Being an english side, they obviously have fit players that can close down for long periods so this approach was always going to be successful and especially against a side that proved to be rather overrated. The ajax kids from what i saw have a lot to work on if they are going to make that next step. For instance they are no where near the levels of say some of the monaco youngsters.

Back to united, they need signings this summer. Mourinho is their best asset and can win games he doesn't deserve to win but you can only do so much with a flawed roster. Guardiola has started a mass exodus and mourinho should do the same starting with rooney and fellaini.

Baphomet wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:C'mon Ajax!!!

Not happening. Mourinho is too good in finals.

United have been tactically outstanding today.

I don't know if you can call parking two busses in front of your goal with a billion dollar squad tactically outstanding.... I would be ashamed if my team would play like that, especially a big club like United.

Too bad Ajax didn't have the experience to really counter this. In Dutch league we always have problem with physical and heavy defensive play. But I'm still proud that we managed to reach the finals in the first place. That was very unexpected and very big for Dutch soccer and the style of play Dutch soccer used to stand for.

Coach Carter wrote:Playing ajax at home, their kids were scared **** in the first 20 or so minutes before eventually gaining confidence and finishing the stronger side. Although we lost both these games, i saw significant weaknesses in both ajax and celta. I didn't watch much of lyon, but from what i saw they are a shadow of the team they once were. Shame.

With all respect but at home we played with our B squad and we destroyed Panathinaikos.

In Greece we started poorly and we conceded a goal due to a defensive error. After that Panathinaikos constantly played with 11 men on their own half. After we made 1-1 we were the better team until Ziyech was send off.

That game was in the period we were struggling, Bosz just had just started as coach and was still searching for the correct line-up. We had Gudelj and Riedewald in the midfield back then and that didn't work at all. We started playing better when they were out of the line-up and replaced by Schone and Ziyech.

mas1977 wrote:

Baphomet wrote:

Cactus Jack wrote:C'mon Ajax!!!

Not happening. Mourinho is too good in finals.

United have been tactically outstanding today.

I don't know if you can call parking two busses in front of your goal with a billion dollar squad tactically outstanding.... I would be ashamed if my team would play like that, especially a big club like United.

Too bad Ajax didn't have the experience to really counter this. In Dutch league we always have problem with physical and heavy defensive play. But I'm still proud that we managed to reach the finals in the first place. That was very unexpected and very big for Dutch soccer and the style of play Dutch soccer used to stand for.

No way, this was a win by any means necessary game. The implications on missing out on the Champions League were massive, not just financially but also for the reputation of the club.

Shaazzam wrote:

mas1977 wrote:

Baphomet wrote:
Not happening. Mourinho is too good in finals.

United have been tactically outstanding today.

I don't know if you can call parking two busses in front of your goal with a billion dollar squad tactically outstanding.... I would be ashamed if my team would play like that, especially a big club like United.

Too bad Ajax didn't have the experience to really counter this. In Dutch league we always have problem with physical and heavy defensive play. But I'm still proud that we managed to reach the finals in the first place. That was very unexpected and very big for Dutch soccer and the style of play Dutch soccer used to stand for.

No way, this was a win by any means necessary game. The implications on missing out on the Champions League were massive, not just financially but also for the reputation of the club.

I was under the impression that Man United under Mourinho always plays like this.

mas1977 wrote:

Coach Carter wrote:Playing ajax at home, their kids were scared **** in the first 20 or so minutes before eventually gaining confidence and finishing the stronger side. Although we lost both these games, i saw significant weaknesses in both ajax and celta. I didn't watch much of lyon, but from what i saw they are a shadow of the team they once were. Shame.

With all respect but at home we played with our B squad and we destroyed Panathinaikos.

In Greece we started poorly and we conceded a goal due to a defensive error. After that Panathinaikos constantly played with 11 men on their own half. After we made 1-1 we were the better team until Ziyech was send off.

That game was in the period we were struggling, Bosz just had just started as coach and was still searching for the correct line-up. We had Gudelj and Riedewald in the midfield back then and that didn't work at all. We started playing better when they were out of the line-up and replaced by Schone and Ziyech.

There were guys that played in the final that also played in athens.

1) Defending
We didn't have to push hard to score and similarly in the final, man u had no issues either.

2) Attacking
In the final, you guys had the ball, but were clueless how to create chances. The man u players covered every blade of grass and are physically better conditioned than players of greek teams.