The Warm-Up: Spurs & Ajax argue over who is the most puny
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Updated 30/04/2019 at 07:41 GMT
Plus technology is taking over and will end us all, Denis Suarez turns out to be worse than Kim Kallstrom and more...
Mauricio Pochettino, Manager of Tottenham Hotspur looks on through a pair of binoculars during a training session ahead of their UEFA Champions League Semi Final first leg match against Ajax on April 29, 2019 in Enfield, England.
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
A pair of underdogs meet in the Champions League semi-final
If you can look the Warm-Up square in the eye and claim with a straight face that you predicted one of the Champions League semi-finals would see Tottenham face Ajax, then you’re either a terrific liar or a genuine genius.
But it’s here, the biggest game either of the two sides will play in years, and one interesting dynamic between the two teams is that both have got to this stage by essentially being underdogs. Tottenham got through a group that included Barcelona and Inter then beat Borussia Dortmund and Manchester City in the knockout rounds, while Ajax have faced Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Juventus to get this far.
And in the run-up to this game, both managers seemed to be competing to see who could truly claim to have the universe against them the most.
Mauricio Pochettino kicked things off by pointing out that the Dutch FA cleared the Eredivisie schedule in order for Ajax to get a weekend of rest ahead of the game, while they had to face (and lose to) West Ham.
I know the Premier League and FA have tried to help…The reality is they are going to have more time to prepare and avoid risk. When you play Saturday and Tuesday, and the game on Saturday is a derby, playing for big things, the concentration and effort is massive. You can have some problems. The fact is I think it’s not fair. If it was the opposite where we had one week to prepare for the semi-final and Ajax play Saturday, I would think the same, that it’s not fair for them. I don’t want to create a debate. The fact is, playing a Champions League semi-final, both teams must have the same time to prepare.
…but then Ajax top man Erik ten Hag responded:
We get €10 million for playing in Eredivisie and they get many more millions for being in the Premier League. Is that not unfair on us? There are always differing circumstances. Everybody has different circumstances. You just have to deal with them. That’s what we do.
You can understand why both men are keen to paint their own sides as David, but trying to convince everyone that the other lot are Goliath is a bit more tricky. Still, it promises to be a belting game.
Pogba HITS BACK at Roy Keane
…well, sort of. Paul Pogba technically responded to Roy Keane’s rather stinging criticism of him after the Manchester derby this week, in which Keane declared his successor in the United midfield to be “a problem” and questioned whether an apology after a previous poor performance was genuine, among other things.
Pogba told French TV:
There’s no problem. They’re paid to say things in front of the camera. I’m just focused on what happens on the pitch. They can say what they want, they’re paid for that. I’m not paid to speak. I’m paid to be on the pitch and to fight for my team. That’s all.
Stinging stuff.
West Ham fans to pick players through an app…
…well, again, sort of.
The Hammers have announced that they will be the first Premier League team, following the likes of Juventus and PSG, to operate an app which will allow fans to make ‘soft’ decisions like man of the match.
However, this feels like a step towards complete fan control: next is surely supporters voting on line-ups, substitutions, tactics and set piece plans, all of which will have to be implemented by whichever poor rube is technically the manager at the time.
This is technology taking over. The machines have won. Everything is now controlled by computers. Save yourselves.
Sort of.
IN OTHER NEWS
Those former Southampton stars from the Channel Islands can be confusing.
…and also…
The Twitter thread you never knew you needed, but you definitely, absolutely, 100% do: it’s David Bowie as League One football teams.
HEROES AND ZEROS
Hero: Nedum Onuoha
Sometimes Zlatan Ibrahimovic is an entertaining cartoon of a footballer. Sometimes he’s just a tedious bully. Hats off to Nedum Onuoha for highlighting the latter.
Zero: Whoever signed Denis Suarez at Arsenal
Kim Kallstrom is often referred to as the ultimate in pointless Arsenal signings, a player who showed up with three cracked vertebrae and made four appearances in four months. But at least he scored a penalty in an FA Cup semi-final, which is some sort of contribution.
Denis Suarez played 67 minutes across four substitute appearances, scored no goals, made no assists, created no chances and now departs after suffering a groin injury. Not his fault, obviously, but whoever thought it would be a good idea to sign an ultimately superfluous winger when they had much, much bigger problems should probably be sitting in a corner having a long hard think about what they’ve done this morning.
HAT TIP
That all changed with De Boer, and that night in Milan. “Frank had been working in the youth academy, he knew Christian as a player. And he was more positive, the Ajax way. This man can play football so put him in. Don’t be afraid of him being out-muscled, because he is smarter. Everything will come alright. So it was the first thing at the first meeting when De Boer explained how we would play against Milan: if you don’t know any solutions, just give the ball to Christian.”
Jack Pitt-Brooke takes a look at three of Tottenham’s ex-Ajax contingent, and how Christian Eriksen, Jan Vertonghen and Toby Alderweireld were made in Amsterdam.
RETRO CORNER
Spurs and Ajax have played each other in one European tie before, in the 1981/82 Cup Winners’ Cup. Spurs wiped the floor with Ajax (geddit!?!?!??!!??!), but this clip is worth it just for the Dutch commentator’s pronunciation of ‘Glenn Hoddle’ and ‘Mark Falco’.
COMING UP
The big one. Of course if you don’t fancy Spurs v Ajax then there are some spicy meatballs in the Football League too.
Ben Snowball will be hear tomorrow with a gentle hand to guide you through whatever goes down at Tottenham tonight.
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