Spurs vs Ajax, Barcelona vs Liverpool – Is 4-3-3 the King?
Luis Suarez - Barcelona
The Spanish Champions of last year – Barcelona and last year’s Champions League finalists Liverpool were expected to the be at this stage of the competition but Ajax and Tottenham are surprise entrants to the semi-finals of the Champions League. Ajax eliminated the likes of Real Madrid and Juventus while Tottenham ousted Manchester City on away goal’s rule on their way to the semi-finals.
Tottenham vs Ajax:
Ajax are a young, ambitious side that lacks fear. The Dutch club are capable of outplaying teams with solid defence and most recently, they proved their quality against Juventus. Tottenham, despite being an attacking side, have the potential to frustrate opponents that use the width of the field when the opposition has quality. Ajax, Barcelona and Liverpool play the formation of 4-3-3 and are extremely good at making use of the width. Spurs’ best attribute on their way to the semi-final has been their clinical finishing. Against Ajax, to have any chance, Tottenham have to bring their A-game that saw them endure wave after wave of Manchester City attack but still oust them on away goal’s rule.
Here is an unpopular opinion: Ajax are arguably better on paper than Spurs without Kane. Son has the ability to score on crucial occasions and he displayed it against Man City by scoring 3 goals over the course of 2 legs but the South Korean will miss the first game of Tottenham’s semi-final clash against Ajax.
While Ajax’s attacking prowess in front of goal falls short of Man City who were eliminated by Spurs, the Dutch side have a solid defence to make up for it. Despite being only 19 years old, De Ligt is the sort of player who marshals the defence to near-perfection and Ajax have not made the sort of errors witnessed in Man City’s match against Spurs. Laporte’s two incredible errors in the second leg were game-changing with both resulting in goals.
Frankie De Jong’s form will be important as most of Ajax’s attacks go through the Dutch midfielder. There will be a few important player battles to watch with a couple of them being Ziyech vs Rose and Tadic vs Vertonghen. Domestically, Ajax are level on points with PSV in the Eredevise with just four game to go and Tottenham are in a tight race for top four in the Premier League. Ajax will enjoy a week’s rest before they travel to London for the first leg.
Our Prediction: Ajax inflict Tottenham’s first defeat at their new stadium and extend their lead in the second leg to progress.
Barcelona vs Liverpool
The English side that have the best chance of beating the Catalan giants at their own game by playing total football are already out of the competition. While Liverpool can press like no other team and cause havoc on counters with blistering pace on both wings with Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, they will still find it difficult to outscore a brilliant Barcelona side with Messi. Both teams play with 4-3-3 formation but their approach to the games are strikingly different.
Liverpool’s front three have terrorised most defences of Premier League sides but they are not even the most feared in England with Man City having scored more number of goals than the side from Merseyside. Against Barcelona, Liverpool are set to face a Spanish side that is clearly better on paper. All Liverpool stars with the exception of Van Dijk most probably won’t even make the starting eleven of Barcelona. Coutinho, Suarez and Messi can play the kind of one touch football that make jaws drop.
Busquets is an intelligent player who knows when to break up plays and slow down the tempo of the game. His vast experience and knowledge is some thing Liverpool lack. Keita and Fabinho are still miles behind the Spanish midfielder when it comes to the defensive side of the game. Henderson has shown his attacking class in the past few games but the Liverpool captain comes second best when his stats are matched with those of the Croatian world cup finalist Ivan Rakitic.
With Jordi Alba having the pace to match Salah and the defensive abilities to give the Egyptian a tough night, it remains to be seen on who Valverde prefers on the other side. Semedo and Roberto have both had a good season but Mane on the other hand has had the season of his life. While Semedo’s pace can be crucial against some one like Mane, he lacks the tackling skills that Sergi Roberto possesses.
Van Dijk has very often bailed Liverpool out of sticky situations this season. The Dutch international’s impressive form did not stop his side losing 3 important points against Man City when the Merseysiders had the chance to extend their lead to ten points. City striker Aguero targeted the other centre-back and scored.
If Suarez targets the left side of Liverpool’s attack like Aguero did, Barcelona might be able to carve open their opposition’s defence with Messi floating and swapping positions with Coutinho and Suarez with quick one-touch football that just might be able to take Van Dijk out of the game a few times. Liverpool are comparatively weaker on the left side where either Matip/Gomez plays alongside Alexander-Arnold. In the Premier League, most sides have failed to exploit that weakness with their strikers going head on against Van Dijk which resulted in just one winner.
With Liverpool going into the final few weeks of the Premier League hoping to land their first Premier League title, they can’t afford to lose any point with their destiny not in their own hands. Barcelona enjoy a big lead at the top of La Liga and can afford to rest key players before the Liverpool tie. With Barcelona’s pedigree, this is a tie they should fancy winning.
Our Prediction: Barcelona beat Liverpool at Nou Camp by a margin of more than one goal. Liverpool fail to turn around the tie at Anfield with Barcelona grabbing an away goal.
4-3-3 and Total Football has prevailed in the UEFA Champions League this season with Ajax and Barcelona having outplayed their oppositions so far this season. We expect that trend to continue in the semi-final.
LosMejor's Editorial Team includes a team of experts who cover the UEFA Champions League, Premier League, FA Cup and the Carabao Cup. The Editorial team is headed by Deepak Selvan.
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