[el3mel]

Yup. Worse tbh

Well that proves my decision to ignore him was absolutely right.

 

[Summit]

Well that proves my decision to ignore him was absolutely right.

I can't have you missing out on some of the joy.

Don't get carried away, trying to get points for style has been a vulnerability in Dutch football in the past. But if we compare the success of typical Dutch football as it has been there in the last 50 years to English football, it's obvious that the Dutch have massively overachieved and the English painfully underachieved.

Despite playing their worst match since the beginning of the season, Ajax weren't the underachievers yesterday. With spending 10 times more in transfer fees and 15 times more in wages and having to resort to defensive tactics, giving the initiative away and hoping Ajax won't suddenly start playing like they did before is not really something to boast about. It's not really a sign of strength, it something clubs like WBA do because they can't do the harder stuff. Schone might take his hat off for the way United did it, to me the cynical fouls, theatrics, and all kinds of time wasting like getting the handbags out to prevent Ajax from starting to play their game was not something to be proud of. Not if it was necessary to win and certainly not when it wasn't. It's methods like that made Mourinho successfull in the past, but I didn't expect referees to still let that happen.

 

[el3mel]

I can't have you missing out on some of the joy.

He's really a delusional. No word than this to describe him.

I'm started to understand why LvG was thinking we were playing good as long as we have possession. It seems they all think the same way in Dutch football

Basically possession = good football and anything else is defensive anti-football crap.

 

[Akshay]

He's really a delusional. No word than this to describe him.

I'm started to understand why LvG was thinking we were playing good as long as we have possession. It seems they all think the same way in Dutch football

Basically possession = good football and anything else is defensive anti-football crap.

It's truly bizarre. They also seem to equate having more possession to dominating the game and to being the better attacking team. You might think creating chances or scoring goals might be relevant there, but no, just possession.

 

[Big Ben Foster]

It's truly bizarre. They also seem to equate having more possession to dominating the game and to being the better attacking team. You might think creating chances or scoring goals might be relevant there, but no, just possession.

Absolutely. This is a common trope that needs to die. I can remember so many times last season where commentators mentioned how we were "winning the possession battle" or "dominating play".

 

[el3mel]

It's truly bizarre. They also seem to equate having more possession to dominating the game and to being the better attacking team. You might think creating chances or scoring goals might be relevant there, but no, just possession.

The problem is they didn't even create a single good chance that they can score from with all this possession they're talking about. We were comfortable from start to finish.

They probably thinking passing from side to side is an indication of dominating. Strangest domination ever

 

[Sandikan]

Don't get carried away, trying to get points for style has been a vulnerability in Dutch football in the past. But if we compare the success of typical Dutch football as it has been there in the last 50 years to English football, it's obvious that the Dutch have massively overachieved and the English painfully underachieved.

Despite playing their worst match since the beginning of the season, Ajax weren't the underachievers yesterday. With spending 10 times more in transfer fees and 15 times more in wages and having to resort to defensive tactics, giving the initiative away and hoping Ajax won't suddenly start playing like they did before is not really something to boast about. It's not really a sign of strength, it something clubs like WBA do because they can't do the harder stuff. Schone might take his hat off for the way United did it, to me the cynical fouls, theatrics, and all kinds of time wasting like getting the handbags out to prevent Ajax from starting to play their game was not something to be proud of. Not if it was necessary to win and certainly not when it wasn't. It's methods like that made Mourinho successfull in the past, but I didn't expect referees to still let that happen.

I watched the final and honestly wondered why Ajax had put their youth team out, before realising, no, this is their first team.
We watched them pass nicely, and we very comfortably got ahead, saw the game out, and never were troubled. Even against poor teams like Palace and Southampton in recent domestic cup finals we've at least been on the ropes for a bit.

Instead our half finished team, without the main striker, and still not quite sure of ourselves attacking wise put in one of our easiest performances of the season.

No one should get too carried away, but we're on the right tracks.

 

[Sandikan]

You make me sick. Are you even an United fan?

In such a big fan base you'll get these types.

There were those who had just seen us beat Bayern 2-1 in the greatest finish to a game ever, and still were moaning that we "could easily have lost" and we "didn't play well enough" etc

 

[Akshay]

In such a big fan base you'll get these types.

There were those who had just seen us beat Bayern 2-1 in the greatest finish to a game ever, and still were moaning that we "could easily have lost" and we "didn't play well enough" etc

I don't think that's the case with this fellow. I think he's more just a Dutch fan, and started supporting United because of LVG. He threatened to quit supporting us the day LVG was sacked.

Tbf there are other LVG apologists on here as well, who are eager to put the boot into anything we accomplish this season to prove we should have never fired their hero.

 

[Sandikan]

I don't think that's the case with this fellow. I think he's more just a Dutch fan, and started supporting United because of LVG. He threatened to quit supporting us the day LVG was sacked.

Tbf there are other LVG apologists on here as well, who are eager to put the boot into anything we accomplish this season to prove we should have never fired their hero.

Even the most deluded fan surely wouldn't go back to last season. Almost every home game 0-0 at half time, 2-3 shots on target maximum per game, amazingly scoring a few goals from such low chances!

It was a miserable experience, only better than Moyes as he tended to lose a lot.

 

[Akshay]

Even the most deluded fan surely wouldn't go back to last season. Almost every home game 0-0 at half time, 2-3 shots on target maximum per game, amazingly scoring a few goals from such low chances!

It was a miserable experience, only better than Moyes as he tended to lose a lot.

They do admit that last season wasn't ideal, but its the fault of the club and the players for not being good enough for LVG apparently. Never mind that it was LVG who brought most of those players in.

At least I learned that I never, ever want to see United play that way again. I liked LVG as a personality, but his football last season was dire.

 

[Akshay]

Absolutely. This is a common trope that needs to die. I can remember so many times last season where commentators mentioned how we were "winning the possession battle" or "dominating play".

A fallacy that was quickly exposed whenever we actually managed to take the lead, as then the other team would start to press us and our possession game fell apart. We were useless at the one aspect of possession football it is good for, which is seeing out a lead by denying the opponent the ball.

The problem is they didn't even create a single good chance that they can score from with all this possession they're talking about. We were comfortable from start to finish.

They probably thinking passing from side to side is an indication of dominating. Strangest domination ever

Yep. Celta Vigo and Anderlecht were more testing opponents. Ajax made it easy for us.

 

[Sandikan]

They do admit that last season wasn't ideal, but its the fault of the club and the players for not being good enough for LVG apparently. Never mind that it was LVG who brought most of those players in.

At least I learned that I never, ever want to see United play that way again. I liked LVG as a personality, but his football last season was dire.

It was that sinking feeling that hang on, Schneiderlin and Schweinsteiger AREN'T as good signings as we'd all hyped them to be, Rooney cannot be relied on as the main striker, and knowing De Gea and Martial were in effect keeping us going

 

[fishfingers15]

You can't really say 'Dutch football style is the best and English football suffers because of their neanderthal way of playing' and justify this by Ajax reaching the final on a limited budget and in parallel have Holland struggling to reach the Euros, with an English team winning the Europa League as well as doing brilliantly on their Euro qualifying.

 

[MichaelKorleone]

It was really hard for Ajax to get through United's defence, especially on the midfield. Teams like Lyon and Schalke gave us space, since they actually wanted to play football. United respected Ajax qualities and played anti-football as a counter measure and it worked.

You're not going to endear yourself to anyone here fella, with such kind of an attitude. Ajax is my second team (watched nearly half their games since Frank de Boer got appointed in 2010) and I even have a couple of Ajax jerseys but there are times when it's fair to accept that the other team played well. Among the Ajax forums it may be routine to agree with the managers/players complaining about other team's tactics but when you're on neutral forums (especially the rivals you played against in a final), it is better to knock down the arrogance a little bit. I still remember laughing at Frank de Boer complaining that the grass was too long when they lost to ADO Den Haag 4-5 yrs ago. Ajax fans felt it justifiable, I felt it naive but opponents (especially Ronald Koeman at Feyenoord) felt it whining. But anti-football is not the sort of phrase that'd fly around here in these parts.

I've been watching the Europa League (or UEFA Cup) finals for the last 10 yrs and I've always been a neutral (except when I wanted Benfica to win in 2013 and Sevilla in 2016) but this was the first time when both my preferred teams reached finals. I expected this to be a bit like Inter vs Bayern in 2010 CL finals (when I wanted Bayern to win) but on both the occasions Maureen came up with a perfect plan to counter the opposition tactics and guess what, he's won both the finals 2-0 keeping the opposition at an arm's length. Bayern were ridiculously dependent on Robben back then and Ajax were dependent on their young core with their attacking football in final third this time but Maureen did his homework and came up with a perfect plan and also a perfect application of the strategy by his players in both the finals. Utd allowed Ajax to pass all they want in front of their back line and there were barely any decent (let alone dangerous) shots from inside the box.

If it had been any other year (especially 2013 when EL final was in Amsterdam and depressingly Ajax lost to Steaua Bucharest in penalty shootout) I'd have wanted Ajax to win. Ajax may have had silky touches and playing front foot football but Utd played the winning game. You may feel that Ajax controlled the match based on their possession statistics but it was Utd who controlled the match by scoring two goals and keeping Ajax's attack at an arm's length not giving any decent opportunities to score. Except for 20 secs before injury time I doubt any Utd fans felt any heebie-jeebies in the final. Do you know how rare that is for Utd fans in a European final?

C'est la vie.

 

[Ban]

In such a big fan base you'll get these types.

There were those who had just seen us beat Bayern 2-1 in the greatest finish to a game ever, and still were moaning that we "could easily have lost" and we "didn't play well enough" etc

"We didn't deserve it."

 

[ChaddyP]

You're not going to endear yourself to anyone here fella, with such kind of an attitude. Ajax is my second team (watched nearly half their games since Frank de Boer got appointed in 2010) and I even have a couple of Ajax jerseys but there are times when it's fair to accept that the other team played well. Among the Ajax forums it may be routine to agree with the managers/players complaining about other team's tactics but when you're on neutral forums (especially the rivals you played against in a final), it is better to knock down the arrogance a little bit. I still remember laughing at Frank de Boer complaining that the grass was too long when they lost to ADO Den Haag 4-5 yrs ago. Ajax fans felt it justifiable, I felt it naive but opponents (especially Ronald Koeman at Feyenoord) felt it whining. But anti-football is not the sort of phrase that'd fly around here in these parts.

I've been watching the Europa League (or UEFA Cup) finals for the last 10 yrs and I've always been a neutral (except when I wanted Benfica to win in 2013 and Sevilla in 2016) but this was the first time when both my preferred teams reached finals. I expected this to be a bit like Inter vs Bayern in 2010 CL finals (when I wanted Bayern to win) but on both the occasions Maureen came up with a perfect plan to counter the opposition tactics and guess what, he's won both the finals 2-0 keeping the opposition at an arm's length. Bayern were ridiculously dependent on Robben back then and Ajax were dependent on their young core with their attacking football in final third this time but Maureen did his homework and came up with a perfect plan and also a perfect application of the strategy by his players in both the finals. Utd allowed Ajax to pass all they want in front of their back line and there were barely any decent (let alone dangerous) shots from inside the box.

If it had been any other year (especially 2013 when EL final was in Amsterdam and depressingly Ajax lost to Steaua Bucharest in penalty shootout) I'd have wanted Ajax to win. Ajax may have had silky touches and playing front foot football but Utd played the winning game. You may feel that Ajax controlled the match based on their possession statistics but it was Utd who controlled the match by scoring two goals and keeping Ajax's attack at an arm's length not giving any decent opportunities to score. Except for 20 secs before injury time I doubt any Utd fans felt any heebie-jeebies in the final. Do you know how rare that is for Utd fans in a European final?

C'est la vie.

good post

 

[Kicker Conspiracy]

We watched them pass nicely, and we very comfortably got ahead, saw the game out, and never were troubled.

That's a very good summary of the match. We (Ajax) we're never a thread, it was boys to men, Man Utd was in control the whole 90 minutes, and there is no doubt which was the stronger side.
But i can't believe as supporter, especially from such a big club like United, you are proud in the way Man Utd played.
Before the match i thought the only chance Ajax had to win the match was when Mourinho would let United play in his usual dreadful defensive way.
I was afraid that he would change tactics against us and play offensive with early pressing on the ball.
My biggest frustration is Man Utd played in the normal Mourinho way, and we couldn't punish them. It was our inexperience that we couldn't handle the pressure and we seemed to be paralyzed. The aggression and determination we showed in our previous games against Schalke and Lyon was never there. We weren't ready to play already a final, this came too soon. Probably we won't get a chance to reach a European final for a while. This team will get stronger but will be plundered before we can harvest. This was the moment, because this Man Utd could be defeated. I think there are plenty of teams who would have beaten this Manchester United. Don't take me for a sour looser, Man Utd won absolutely deserved. But it was far from impressive and again can't believe you guys want to see this kind of football.
Off course results and winning are important, but not against all costs. But maybe i'm too romantic.

Congrats to Manchester United.

 

[breakout67]

Before the match i thought the only chance Ajax had to win the match was when Mourinho would let United play in his usual dreadful defensive way.
I was afraid that he would change tactics against us and play offensive with early pressing on the ball.
My biggest frustration is Man Utd played in the normal Mourinho way, and we couldn't punish them. It was our inexperience that we couldn't handle the pressure and we seemed to be paralyzed. .

Moruinho did this type of performance against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and Louis Van Gaal's Bayern Munich. You were paralyzed because the Manager exposed your naive tactics, and then you did not have world class players to change the game by themselves.

If you did not know, Mourinho was a coach at Barcelona and was taught by Van Gaal. He is the only person to stop peak Barcelona because he knew the philosophy like the back of his hand.

The way to beat Mourinho is to force him to attack, if you allow Mourinho to defend then you are falling right into his trap. There are very few managers in the history of the game that are as good as Mourinho at playing reactive football.

 

[Siorac]

Moruinho did this type of performance against Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and Louis Van Gaal's Bayern Munich. You were paralyzed because the Manager exposed your naive tactics, and then you did not have world class players to change the game by themselves.

If you did not know, Mourinho was a coach at Barcelona and was taught by Van Gaal. He is the only person to stop peak Barcelona because he knew the philosophy like the back of his hand.

The way to beat Mourinho is to force him to attack, if you allow Mourinho to defend then you are falling right into his trap. There are very few managers in the history of the game that are as good as Mourinho at playing reactive football.

And yet his reactive football cost us several times this season when we let teams back into games. Arsenal at home was probably the most frustrating example; but I could also cite both games against Anderlecht or the home game against Celta where being on the backfoot for most of the second half almost cost us a place in the EL final.

Ajax couldn't punish us, thankfully, but had they been as lively and confident as Celta, it could have been a very different final. Throughout the season we had a worrying tendency of not killing teams off, instead allowing them to come at us once we had a lead. I'm happy it wasn't the case in the final but labelling it a tactical masterclass is a bit over the top, considering how often the very same tactics cost or nearly cost us dearly.

 

[ChaddyP]

That's a very good summary of the match. We (Ajax) we're never a thread, it was boys to men, Man Utd was in control the whole 90 minutes, and there is no doubt which was the stronger side.
But i can't believe as supporter, especially from such a big club like United, you are proud in the way Man Utd played.
Before the match i thought the only chance Ajax had to win the match was when Mourinho would let United play in his usual dreadful defensive way.
I was afraid that he would change tactics against us and play offensive with early pressing on the ball.
My biggest frustration is Man Utd played in the normal Mourinho way, and we couldn't punish them. It was our inexperience that we couldn't handle the pressure and we seemed to be paralyzed. The aggression and determination we showed in our previous games against Schalke and Lyon was never there. We weren't ready to play already a final, this came too soon. Probably we won't get a chance to reach a European final for a while. This team will get stronger but will be plundered before we can harvest. This was the moment, because this Man Utd could be defeated. I think there are plenty of teams who would have beaten this Manchester United. Don't take me for a sour looser, Man Utd won absolutely deserved. But it was far from impressive and again can't believe you guys want to see this kind of football.
Off course results and winning are important, but not against all costs. But maybe i'm too romantic.

Congrats to Manchester United.

Im proud that we won the match. In the context of the whole season it was about getting the result. Its not about the means, its about getting the result. Liverpool for all thier "champaign football" in the EL won feck all and had to sit out an entire year with Swansea away as thier only "european tie" . We have played some great football when the tactics called for it and the players we had were available and on form. When we were tired , injred, patched up and out of form we adjusted. We played to win the final the easiest and safest way possible. We respected our opponent and matched our tactics to contain and exploit. I am proud of that. I am proud that we have a manager that can humble himself and know where he will be beat and know where he can win. In the first 20 mins we were more aggresive and went for the goal. After we scored we sat back and tried to hit on the counter and use set pieces to score as we had a massive hieght advantage. I am proud of the manager to know what it took to win and completely out tactic an opponent. When Juve did it to Monaco and Barca no one fecking complained. I surely am happy and proud of my team

 

[blys]

I'm so so so happy we won this cup!

I do freelance work at the Friends Arena for a TV company partly owned by the Swedish FA and has been doing so for a bit more than two years.

I'm there for every international match Sweden plays, and many events, concerts and for AIK club games as well.

So when I was walking to work (Though I were still just an intern then) sometime during the summer of 2015 I saw a poster on the construction site wall. Which at the time was just dirt and steel but now is the giant SEB office you probably saw when you off the train in Solna.
Anyway, the poster said something like 2012: Friends Arena opens, Zlatan scores 4 goals etc and then 2017: Europa League Final!

I thought this was massive and was very excited to have a chance to work at the final.
I called my dad and told him about the stadium hosting the final, and we (He is the reason I support United, like him) joked about our two clubs meeting in the final, them being IFK Göteborg and Man United.

So when everybody was bummed out because we missed out on CL last may, I was actually starting to get a slight bit of hope that this (not the Göteborg part obviously) could come true!
And yes I was dissapointed we missed out on CL too but I thought if we were ever gonna win the EL we should bloody do it this year!

So for me these past two months have been squeeky bum time every day.
Firstly applying for tickets, and that wait was nervewrecking, but got neutral tickets and got lucky! Tier one, just a couple of seats to the left of United allocation!
Then as you all know two absolutely nightmare experiences of games at home v. Anderlecht and Celta! Thank the lord for that Guidetti miss!

All this and then finally getting to take my dad to a european final which Manchester United wins! at my workplace!

It's like the planets aligned to make this happen! And it's definitely the highlight of my United supporting life!

Edit: Was there today and bloody hell, the Ajax end was trashed Easily at least 150 seats ripped off!

 

[bucky]

I couldn't give less of a feck what neutrals or rival fans think about how we won the damn thing. I'm almost hoping we play like that in every big game, if it pisses them off as much. We can play the pretty football against the lesser teams.

 

[Kicker Conspiracy]

Moruinho did this type of performance agains inst Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and Louis Van Gaal's Bayern Munich. You were paralyzed because the Manager exposed your naive tactics, and then you did not have world class players to change the game by themselves.

If you did not know, Mourinho was a coach at Barcelona and was taught by Van Gaal. He is the only person to stop peak Barcelona because he knew the philosophy like the back of his hand.

The way to beat Mourinho is to force him to attack, if you allow Mourinho to defend then you are falling right into his trap. There are very few managers in the history of the game that are as good as Mourinho at playing reactive football.

But do you enjoy watching football like that?
Aren't you a bit ashamed that Man Utd plays in this manner? Come on, you ain't Shrewsbury Town 7, you are Manchester United, goddammit, one of the truly big clubs in the world

Don't know if you have seen City against Monaco or Ajax versus Lyon. Both matches are maybe not good from a tactical point of view. But they were great games to watch , entertainment pur sang. I know Mourinho is a pupil of van Gaal, but LvG changed his style of football during the World Cup in 2014, because the poor quality of the dutch team, he played with 5 defenders, and maybe the result was a great achievement (3d place). But i was ashamed for our terribly ugly football, normally at tournaments, Holland always has the sympathy of everyone but at this occasion the rest of the world was shocked by our negative and ugly way of playing. Maybe its a typical dutch way of approaching the game, but rather loose in a pretty style then winning ugly. Thats for germans. And its true they have won many times and Holland lost 3 finals. But the dutch team from 1974 in spite they ended 2nd will always be reminded and beloved. And who winner was is forgotten in the collective memory of the people. ( Hungary 1954, Brasil 1982 or France 1986 f.e also will be remembered forever ).
But you can call it naive

 

[caid]

That's a very good summary of the match. We (Ajax) we're never a thread, it was boys to men, Man Utd was in control the whole 90 minutes, and there is no doubt which was the stronger side.
But i can't believe as supporter, especially from such a big club like United, you are proud in the way Man Utd played.
Before the match i thought the only chance Ajax had to win the match was when Mourinho would let United play in his usual dreadful defensive way.
I was afraid that he would change tactics against us and play offensive with early pressing on the ball.
My biggest frustration is Man Utd played in the normal Mourinho way, and we couldn't punish them. It was our inexperience that we couldn't handle the pressure and we seemed to be paralyzed. The aggression and determination we showed in our previous games against Schalke and Lyon was never there. We weren't ready to play already a final, this came too soon. Probably we won't get a chance to reach a European final for a while. This team will get stronger but will be plundered before we can harvest. This was the moment, because this Man Utd could be defeated. I think there are plenty of teams who would have beaten this Manchester United. Don't take me for a sour looser, Man Utd won absolutely deserved. But it was far from impressive and again can't believe you guys want to see this kind of football.
Off course results and winning are important, but not against all costs. But maybe i'm too romantic.

Congrats to Manchester United.

It was a long season and absolutely everyone expected it at this point *shrug*, we've been using the same tactic against everyone for a couple of months now.
I'd normally agree with you but the tactics were just way, way too appropriate against you. It worked too well to have any complaints really.
I think pulling Mikhitaryan and Mata back to the edge of our box was a mistake and we could have punished you more if we pushed them out a bit. Or at least one of them anyway
I'd still expect him to set us up that way even if they didn't work as well as it did mind you

I think its a mistake personally. I think when managers set up that defensively they give themselvies very little room for error. As soon as results start going against you the fans turn fast.
Give them good football and they'll be more inclined to cut you some slack when the inevitable dips comes along.

Im not personally against the tactic in theory anyway, I can enjoy a good defensive performance and i kind of love the fast counters that dropping deep like that provide.
Mourinho takes it to an extreme at times and just doesn't give his attackers enough freedom to push forward and really punish teams when we do break
but as i say, nothing against the tactic in theory

Its kind of the same with Van Gaal really,
I dont hate possession football but he takes it to an extreme where theres just no ambition or risks with the passing

I dont think you played badly anyway, i think we defended brilliantly and no matter how well you performed you would have struggled to make any chances playing the way you did.

 

[Jonnymufc]

But do you enjoy watching football like that?
Aren't you a bit ashamed that Man Utd plays in this manner? Come on, you ain't Shrewsbury Town 7, you are Manchester United, goddammit, one of the truly big clubs in the world

Don't know if you have seen City against Monaco or Ajax versus Lyon. Both matches are maybe not good from a tactical point of view. But they were great games to watch , entertainment pur sang. I know Mourinho is a pupil of van Gaal, but LvG changed his style of football during the World Cup in 2014, because the poor quality of the dutch team, he played with 5 defenders, and maybe the result was a great achievement (3d place). But i was ashamed for our terribly ugly football, normally at tournaments, Holland always has the sympathy of everyone but at this occasion the rest of the world was shocked by our negative and ugly way of playing. Maybe its a typical dutch way of approaching the game, but rather loose in a pretty style then winning ugly. Thats for germans. And its true they have won many times and Holland lost 3 finals. But the dutch team from 1974 in spite they ended 2nd will always be reminded and beloved. And who winner was is forgotten in the collective memory of the people. ( Hungary 1954, Brasil 1982 or France 1986 f.e also will be remembered forever ).
But you can call it naive

A few things:

1. You're talking like we didn't cross the halfway line and just camped on the edge of the box. That is total nonsense, we were aggressive from the first whistle because, guess what, if we'd have given you time on the ball you probably would have done something with it! Watch the first 5 mins, Ajax didn't get into our half. We hassled and made it very difficult to play with a rhythm. Sorry about that.

2. Do I want to play like that every game? No, because a good team can play in various ways and win against different styles. We played perfectly against Ajax. They had no answers. How many times every season do you hear 'the mark of champions is grinding out results'? Do you think Chelsea played beautiful football for 38 games this season? Did they hell. They did what they needed to do in a particular situation.

3. Ajax play very pretty passes but obviously not with any dynamism or creativity because you created barely a decent chance in the game. Breaking down defences that leave you space is all very nice but good teams do it against any defence.

4. We HAD to win this game and Jose was absolutely doing his job in setting us up to do so.

5. Don't come on here (or anywhere) and lecture United fans about how they should be 'ashamed' for winning. I'm bloody proud of my team, they fought like lions and wanted it more. Ajax blinked, we didn't.

 

[caid]

Oh and as for 'being ashamed of playing like that'
- no, not in the least

We aren't snobby feckers who think theres some inherent superiority with hogging the ball.
We have a long history of playing fast incisive football rather than passing the ball between our defenders waiting for the opposition to feck up and hand us a chance on a silver platter.
The only people who seemed to have any issue with van gaals tactics in the world cup seemed to be dutch.
The rest of us enjoyed watching Robben doing his thing, watching RVP banging in some pretty great goals. Depay looked pretty exciting at times too

 

[breakout67]

But do you enjoy watching football like that?
Aren't you a bit ashamed that Man Utd plays in this manner?

I have no inclination to feel shame for the way the team i support plays because there are far more important things in life to base my pride on. I am a fan, I am not part of the coaching staff so i have no input into the way the team plays. Why should i feel shame for something I am not responsible for?

I am not a purist like you with a holier than thou attitude. I enjoy watching all styles of play so long as they are effective. I can understand different systems and appreciate their qualities. It may seem unfathomable to you, but I have taken joy in both watching Pep Guardiola's Barcelona and Jose Mourinho's Inter Milan.

If anything it is the Ajax supporters that should feel shame for the way they played in the final. For all the talk of playing good football they misplaced so many passes and were so slow in their thinking. Fellaini looked world class in this game and he usually cannot pass more than 5 yards.

 

[ChaddyP]

Oh and as for 'being ashamed of playing like that'
- no, not in the least

We aren't snobby feckers who think theres some inherent superiority with hogging the ball.
We have a long history of playing fast incisive football rather than passing the ball between our defenders waiting for the opposition to feck up and hand us a chance on a silver platter.
The only people who seemed to have any issue with van gaals tactics in the world cup seemed to be dutch.
The rest of us enjoyed watching Robben doing his thing, watching RVP banging in some pretty great goals. Depay looked pretty exciting at times too

I watched all the dutch games and thought they were fantastic. As you said it seems like it was the Dutch alone that were ashamed

 

[Kicker Conspiracy]

5. Don't come on here (or anywhere) and lecture United fans about how they should be 'ashamed' for winning. I'm bloody proud of my team, they fought like lions and wanted it more. Ajax blinked, we didn't.

If you are offended by my post, i apologize, i didn't mean to be disrespectful towards Man Utd or their supporters. Actually i consider Man Utd to be a great club with a lot of tradition and real football history.
In spite of f.e City or Chelsea who in my eyes are just vultures spending unlimited money without a real vision or own identity.
Man Utd has a own and unique identity, it was never the tikki-takki way of playing like Ajax or Barcelona. But Man Utd always played in a attacking style. They always tried to win the match, instead of trying not to lose.
Maybe you don't agree with me, but in humble opion, Mourinho's way of play is in contradiction with the DNA of Manchester United.

But its no problem that we disagree, as long as you believe me when i say that i have deep respect for your club

And no i am not ashamed how Ajax was playing.
i was disappointed by our performance, and felt sorry that with all our big words about how football should be played, we didn't deliver. We played poorly but our intentions were good . The simple truth is, we are still not good enough to perform on this level. Don't forget average age 21.

 

[ChaddyP]

If you are offended by my post, i apologize, i didn't mean to be disrespectful towards Man Utd or their supporters. Actually i consider Man Utd to be a great club with a lot of tradition and real football history.
In spite of f.e City or Chelsea who in my eyes are just vultures spending unlimited money without a real vision or own identity.
Man Utd has a own and unique identity, it was never the tikki-takki way of playing like Ajax or Barcelona. But Man Utd always played in a attacking style. They always tried to win the match, instead of trying not to lose.
Maybe you don't agree with me, but in humble opion, Mourinho's way of play is in contradiction with the DNA of Manchester United.

But its no problem that we disagree, as long as you believe me when i say that i have deep respect for your club

Our DNA is winning. Thats what we did.

 

[criticalanalysis]

I'm so so so happy we won this cup!

I do freelance work at the Friends Arena for a TV company partly owned by the Swedish FA and has been doing so for a bit more than two years.

I'm there for every international match Sweden plays, and many events, concerts and for AIK club games as well.

So when I was walking to work (Though I were still just an intern then) sometime during the summer of 2015 I saw a poster on the construction site wall. Which at the time was just dirt and steel but now is the giant SEB office you probably saw when you off the train in Solna.
Anyway, the poster said something like 2012: Friends Arena opens, Zlatan scores 4 goals etc and then 2017: Europa League Final!

I thought this was massive and was very excited to have a chance to work at the final.
I called my dad and told him about the stadium hosting the final, and we (He is the reason I support United, like him) joked about our two clubs meeting in the final, them being IFK Göteborg and Man United.

So when everybody was bummed out because we missed out on CL last may, I was actually starting to get a slight bit of hope that this (not the Göteborg part obviously) could come true!
And yes I was dissapointed we missed out on CL too but I thought if we were ever gonna win the EL we should bloody do it this year!

So for me these past two months have been squeeky bum time every day.
Firstly applying for tickets, and that wait was nervewrecking, but got neutral tickets and got lucky! Tier one, just a couple of seats to the left of United allocation!
Then as you all know two absolutely nightmare experiences of games at home v. Anderlecht and Celta! Thank the lord for that Guidetti miss!

All this and then finally getting to take my dad to a european final which Manchester United wins! at my workplace!

It's like the planets aligned to make this happen! And it's definitely the highlight of my United supporting life!

Edit: Was there today and bloody hell, the Ajax end was trashed Easily at least 150 seats ripped off!

Loved reading this. Glad you and your dad had a great time!

 

[Jonnymufc]

If you are offended by my post, i apologize, i didn't mean to be disrespectful towards Man Utd or their supporters. Actually i consider Man Utd to be a great club with a lot of tradition and real football history.
In spite of f.e City or Chelsea who in my eyes are just vultures spending unlimited money without a real vision or own identity.
Man Utd has a own and unique identity, it was never the tikki-takki way of playing like Ajax or Barcelona. But Man Utd always played in a attacking style. They always tried to win the match, instead of trying not to lose.
Maybe you don't agree with me, but in humble opion, Mourinho's way of play is in contradiction with the DNA of Manchester United.

But its no problem that we disagree, as long as you believe me when i say that i have deep respect for your club

And no i am not ashamed how Ajax was playing.
i was disappointed by our performance, and felt sorry that with all our big words about how football should be played, we didn't deliver. We played poorly but our intentions were good . The simple truth is, we are still not good enough to perform on this level. Don't forget average age 21.

I'm not offended, I just feel that to say we should be ashamed when we won, and won comfortably, is a bit ridiculous. I also don't take anything away from Ajax reaching the final. They have lots of talent but if they don't learn how to beat different types of opponents then it won't matter what their age is.

What makes me proud is how every player absolutely knew what this game meant and every single one gave everything to it.

Of course I want to see expansive football but if you think we have just one tactic that we've played all season then that's simply incorrect. We have adapted to different opponents and sometimes it hasn't been pretty, but there are times where we have played exciting football this season and I think plenty have been quick to forget that as we have played more pragmatically towards the end of the season.

As I said previously, Chelsea this season and many great teams of the past do/did not play beautiful football 100% of the time but what marks those teams out is being able to play pretty or play ugly, but nonetheless win.

 

[Akshay]

But do you enjoy watching football like that?
Aren't you a bit ashamed that Man Utd plays in this manner? Come on, you ain't Shrewsbury Town 7, you are Manchester United, goddammit, one of the truly big clubs in the world

Don't know if you have seen City against Monaco or Ajax versus Lyon. Both matches are maybe not good from a tactical point of view. But they were great games to watch , entertainment pur sang. I know Mourinho is a pupil of van Gaal, but LvG changed his style of football during the World Cup in 2014, because the poor quality of the dutch team, he played with 5 defenders, and maybe the result was a great achievement (3d place). But i was ashamed for our terribly ugly football, normally at tournaments, Holland always has the sympathy of everyone but at this occasion the rest of the world was shocked by our negative and ugly way of playing. Maybe its a typical dutch way of approaching the game, but rather loose in a pretty style then winning ugly. Thats for germans. And its true they have won many times and Holland lost 3 finals. But the dutch team from 1974 in spite they ended 2nd will always be reminded and beloved. And who winner was is forgotten in the collective memory of the people. ( Hungary 1954, Brasil 1982 or France 1986 f.e also will be remembered forever ).
But you can call it naive

It's important to me that I enjoy watching my team play. I've enjoyed the matches a lot more this season under Mourinho than under Louis Van Gaal last season. I think this is something Ajax fans don't realize. We watched our team play like yours did on Wednesday for a whole year, and most of us loathed it. I don't consider all that passing and possession with no penetration to be pretty at all, in fact I find it boring and soul-crushing. If I were an Ajax fan I'd have been frustrated that the team even when losing with few minutes to go, continued to play with no more urgency or tempo than they started the match with. That they expected United's defense to give them gaps to make their plays, and when those didn't materialize, they had no plan of how to score goals. That's how I felt last season with United as well.

 

[Keeps It tidy]

http://spielverlagerung.com/2017/05...fensive-performance-wins-europa-league-final/

 

[berbatrick]

In such a big fan base you'll get these types.

There were those who had just seen us beat Bayern 2-1 in the greatest finish to a game ever, and still were moaning that we "could easily have lost" and we "didn't play well enough" etc

Not that I think the Bayern game warranted it, but:

 

[Jaxdan]

Our DNA is winning. Thats what we did.

Exactly. Juve does it and it's "great defensive, counterattacking" type play. Pure genius. We do it, get a 2-0 result, win a huge trophy and CL spot and we're supposed to be ashamed or something? Ridiculous.

 

[Sandikan]

That's a very good summary of the match. We (Ajax) we're never a thread, it was boys to men, Man Utd was in control the whole 90 minutes, and there is no doubt which was the stronger side.
But i can't believe as supporter, especially from such a big club like United, you are proud in the way Man Utd played.
Before the match i thought the only chance Ajax had to win the match was when Mourinho would let United play in his usual dreadful defensive way.
I was afraid that he would change tactics against us and play offensive with early pressing on the ball.
My biggest frustration is Man Utd played in the normal Mourinho way, and we couldn't punish them. It was our inexperience that we couldn't handle the pressure and we seemed to be paralyzed. The aggression and determination we showed in our previous games against Schalke and Lyon was never there. We weren't ready to play already a final, this came too soon. Probably we won't get a chance to reach a European final for a while. This team will get stronger but will be plundered before we can harvest. This was the moment, because this Man Utd could be defeated. I think there are plenty of teams who would have beaten this Manchester United. Don't take me for a sour looser, Man Utd won absolutely deserved. But it was far from impressive and again can't believe you guys want to see this kind of football.
Off course results and winning are important, but not against all costs. But maybe i'm too romantic.

Congrats to Manchester United.

We're still a work in progress, and it's been a 60 game season we've just about fallen over the line in.

In the big away games we've been a bit disappointing, defensive and barely troubling the opponent, but at home, results aside, we've been pretty good.

 

[Jetrooooo]

Come on man, embarresed at the way we played. It was a make or break game for us. Had the second best season behind Chelsea or be the laughing stock and have a tough time recruiting players.


We had one objective: Win. Ajax has a decent attack when given the chance. But we played them perfectly. And we Will get better. Dont you worry about that. With a decent attacker(Griezmann(L)) this mightve finished 5-0.

You saw how much this game meant to Mourinho. Mightve been the most nervous hes been in het career.

 

[Siorac]

Not that I think the Bayern game warranted it, but:

To be fair, he admitted he had got carried away that time and apologised to his players afterwards.