On Tuesday, Liverpool welcomes Ajax to Anfield to restart their UEFA Champions League group stage campaign.
Following the weekend's postponement of Premier League games in honor of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II, Liverpool held discussions with UEFA regarding hosting the match between Ajax and Liverpool at Anfield, and they were approved.
Liverpool's match against Chelsea on Sunday has been postponed because of activities surrounding The Queen's Funeral, which will take place in London on Monday. Liverpool has announced that they will observe a minute of silence before and that players will don black armbands to show respect for Queen Elizabeth II.
After losing 4-1 against Napoli in their Group A opener, Jurgen Klopp's team will be focused on securing their first points of the Champions League group stage at Anfield on Tuesday. On the other hand, Ajax is currently playing with house money after destroying Glasgow Rangers 4-0 in their Group A debut.
Here is all the information you need to know before Liverpool vs. Ajax.
Liverpool's defensive shortcomings were exposed last week against Napoli, where they fell 4-0 and may have lost more. As Virgil van, Dijk isn't performing at his peak, and the Reds are suffering from many injuries, particularly to midfielders, their high defensive line is just not functioning. There is concern that Liverpool may become trapped in this rut given that they have only won two of their first seven games across all competitions, Mohamed Salah has only scored twice thus far, and Darwin Nunez has taken some time to adjust. When Liverpool suffered a humiliating loss against Napoli, Klopp's response was telling. He said that Liverpool might need to "reinvent themselves" to turn things around. Additionally, he has disclosed that Liverpool's coaching staff and players have spent hours analyzing the defeat to Napoli and have been upfront about how they can fix their recent errors.
Because Dusan Tadic is still the team's captain and continues to cause havoc with his deft flicks and passes, Ajax will want to capitalize on Liverpool's current slump fully. This is the kind of team Liverpool doesn't want to play right now, especially given their outstanding performance of forwarding running and strong pressing against Rangers. The current Champions League champions from the Netherlands have a history of pulling off surprising victories and making deep runs in the league. Another run is about to start despite being placed in a very difficult group.
In the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League group stage, Liverpool played Ajax and won both matches 1-0. The only other time they faced off in a European matchup occurred in this competition in 1966, when Johann Cruyff led Ajax to a 5-1 victory in Amsterdam for the first leg and a 2-2 draw for Liverpool at Anfield for the second leg, giving Ajax a 7-3 victory overall. Ajax would lose 3-2 to Dukla Prague in the 1966–1967 European Cup quarterfinals, and the eventual champions Celtic would defeat them in the semifinals.
Regarding Ajax, they have once again sold a large number of outstanding players, primarily to Manchester United. They also lost their manager, Erik ten Hag, to the Red Devils, yet they keep going. In addition to losing center-back Lisandro Martinez and his best winger, Anthony, to United this summer, new Ajax manager Alfred Schreuder also saw his team lose Ryan Gravenberch and Noussair Mazraoui to Bayern Munich, Andre Onana to Inter Milan, Nicolas Tagliafico to Lyon, and Sebastian Haller to Borussia Dortmund. And Ajax appears to have made some excellent transfers after collecting close to $220 million in player sales.
In addition to Steven Bergwijn's classy addition to the attack, the dangerous Brian Brobbey's return from Leipzig, and Lucas Ocampos' outstanding signing from Sevilla, Calvin Bassey has been a revelation on defense. With a terrific balance of youth and experience, this Ajax team will pressure Liverpool aggressively and create many mistakes. Edson Alvarez, a Mexican midfielder, might be the next big thing to depart Ajax, and Liverpool would kill for his midfield stability. In the Eredivisie, Ajax is unbeaten with six victories in a row and is in the first place.
The list of injuries Liverpool had before the postponement of their home game against Wolves is below. While it will be interesting to see who Klopp starts in attack with Salah, Nunez, and Diaz, perhaps worth a go from the start, it appears that Carvalho could return to fitness for this match. Since Andy Robertson will be out for a few weeks with a knee injury, Kostas Tsimikas will start at left-back.
OUT: Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (hamstring), Naby Keita (undisclosed), Curtis Jones (calf), Calvin Ramsay (undisclosed), Ibrahima Konate (knee), and Jordan Henderson (thigh). QUESTIONABLE: Caoimhin Kelleher (groin)
Login To Leave a Comment