Maybe this is what Ajax planned. Make things a little easier for the second leg. They want to qualify for the finals, and that is evidenced by their superiority which even happened in the 15th minute when they visited Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. Quite rarely, Ajax stepped on the gas, and it was the right strategy for Ajax to start everything steadily in the second meeting later.
Frenkie De Jong seems to want their steps towards the final not to be filled with a lot of drama *. They want to excel, not just offset the game of the host in the first leg (1/5). As for Spurs, this looks less good, because they have to face tough resistance from the visitors earlier this morning.
It can be seen in the statistics that Ajax is able to master 48% of ball positions, 10 trials with 2 of them on target. A little better than the host who did 12 trials but only 1 was on target. That is, the Spurs are very difficult to dismantle the opponent’s defense, despite superior possession. Unfortunately, they conceded first.
The concentration of Spurs in the end cannot be 100% attacked, because Ajax’s counterattack is also very dangerous. So, mastering the game is the only way even though in the end it is ineffective and produces no results. It’s a difficult job, but it can be done heroically when they have to leave for Amsterdam next week.
As for Ajax, this is good capital to start the second leg by trying to immediately lock their chances of qualifying for the top party.
Ajax’s best strategy is to get back ahead and this can make Spurs distraught. Because, on the one hand they want to come out attacking in total. On the other hand, they don’t want to be embarrassingly defeated — slaughtered.
The interesting side is that both teams are actually two teams that are equally not very effective in taking advantage of opportunities. Evidently, both of them were able to create many opportunities, but only a handful could reach the opponent’s defense (low shots on target). However, Ajax benefited from their endless determination when playing away, and this became a distinguishing value.
They know when to wait for an opponent’s attack and when to strike back. They are actually the same as Spurs who are not too dizzy with ball possession. They want to play pragmatic as long as they can trouble your opponent’s defense. These are other similarities from the two teams.
From here then the difference is momentum. Ajax, who has experienced good appearances in away games during the Champions League this season, is back to determining the final result by utilizing the momentum they have. When they are left behind, they will look for momentum to play attack. Similarly, when they excel. They know when to survive and still try to create a quick counterattack.
This is where the technical factors that distinguish Spurs from Ajax.
The game of Spurs is not entirely bad. However, as the home team, they failed to repeat their best way when they won narrowly over Manchester City in the previous quarter-final 1 leg. There is something different in the Spurs game, and one of them can be seen from the absence of Harry Kane and Son Heung-min. It was seen that Spurs began to not be able to escape the dependence on these two players.
It is unfortunate for the Spurs in this match to be the absence of another As ** card, Son Heung-min. Maybe when there is no Kane, Spurs can still do a lot, and it can’t be separated from Son’s rising performance. However, what about when Spurs are without Son?
Indeed, Spurs still have Lucas Moura. However, Moura is not a player who has a stable performance, so he cannot be relied on. In contrast to Son who has since given the start of the season signs if he is already very tuned in with the Spurs game.
This is what later became a barrier for Spurs to appear optimally. They did not manage to deal with internal problems — the absence of several pillar players, making it difficult to perform optimally. From here then we can see that Pochettino has no choice but to maximize the existing players. Lucas Moura and Fernando Llorente are indeed not ordinary players, however, when they rarely come down together, this also determines the difficulties in terms of cooperation.
In addition, the Ajax defense is also not bad, because they are always able to withstand the chances of the opposing team when they know that the opposing team is building an attack. This can be seen by playing Ajax players who are not reluctant to do pressing and tackling when the situation is precarious. This is where we can see that Ajax has calculated many aspects that must be done when facing Tottenham Hotspur in the first meeting.
ASL
