ACCORDING to Frank de Boer, Ajax head coach and football philosopher, PSV Eindhoven’s win over Manchester United on Tuesday night in the Champions League was nothing to celebrate.

Apparently the way PSV sit deep in such matches, happy allow the opponent to dominate possession and hit on the counter-attack is the worst thing you can do to their own country where there are certain high standards.

“But then they have un-Dutch in the way they have played football for a number of years now,” said De Boer through gritted teeth in that deadpan way of his.

Not only does the club from Eindhoven refuse to play total football the way God, or Rinus Michels to give him full credit, invented over 40 years ago, they do terrible things such as fill their squad full of foreigners, and as for their youth policy, well it’s not worth mentioning really.

Welcome to Ajax Football Club in 2015. It’s the same as it was in 1965, 1973 (when they won their third European Cup in a row) and 1995 (when a fourth was added). De Boer played in that side along with twin brother Ronald.

No matter where they stand in the Dutch league or on a European stage, Ajax have always and will always play football a certain way, they pass, pass again, pass some more and then score, and over half of their squad will have been brought through the ranks.

Nothing will ever stop that. Even if Celtic thrash Ajax tonight and by the end of this Europa League group the champions from the Netherlands are bottom and there is a change of coach, the road this club is on will remain the same.

“This team is even younger than the one I played in,” said De Boer. “The philosophy at the club has never changed. Our goal is always to get 60 or possibly 70 per cent of our youth players in the first-team. It is also our goal for the future so we can survive and be a rich club, I think.

“The problem right now is that we have to sell our players when they are 22-years-old, maybe 24 at the oldest. In our day it was 29 when you moved on from Ajax. Today is different. At 22, you are not fully developed yet, you don’t have the growth and experience that you do six years later.

“But the Ajax philosophy is still the same. We try to dominate every game, we try to play good football. I am used to that and, for me, it is a top priority.”

The Amsterdam Arena is just about the coolest place in the world to watch a football match.

And yet it does seem odd to be inside such a stadium, built for the biggest nights football can provide, when this evening it will at least from some feel like the after- party. The real events, where the cool kids hang out, took place right across Europe on Tuesday and Wednesday.

In these very pages over the past few days, the similarities between Celtic and Ajax have been debated. The names remain big as are the expectations but, alas, the money available, plus some poor decisions it must be said, has meant that it’s the Europa League for them this season and perhaps for the foreseeable future.

“The history of both clubs we know is fantastic,” said De Boer who was briefly a Rangers player eleven years ago. “But that doesn’t count any more. I think Celtic are a team who always have to win the league and we are in the same situation. We both always have to play offensive football. I think there are similarities between the two clubs.

“Celtic are a little bit in the same situation as ourselves and Dutch football. They cannot compete with the big leagues around Europe, England, Spain, Germany and some more, and of course the league in Scotland is still quite small and Celtic are always the big favourites for the title, especially as Rangers are not there and some divisions down.

“Still, it’s a great club and there is a great atmosphere at Celtic Park, and also away because they have great supporters who always travel.

"Celtic have enough quality in the team to make it difficult for every opponent. We are aware of this so I am looking forward to playing them here in Amsterdam and also away because it is a great experience, not just myself, but also our young players. I am confident we can beat them but it should be a difficult game. I am convinced by that.”

A worry for Celtic and their manager Ronny Deila is that Ajax have a decent record against British opposition. Over recent years – five third place finishes in the Champions League group stage in a row by the way – they have beaten Manchester United and Celtic

“I think that has to do with the fact British teams like to play offensively and we love playing against teams who play football, rather then the ones that park two buses in front of their goal,” said De Boer.

“Then it becomes more of a football match. Celtic, for example, play with their hearts and it becomes more of a football match. How you win from that point depends on how you have prepares and how lucky you are.

“Of course, first of all we want to beat Celtic, but our crowd expects attractive football. It is how we always try to play.”

So if Deila is after a point, then perhaps it is best he instructs his team to sit deep, defend and frustrate. Even if De Boer believes that tactic is everything that is wrong with football. I mean, imagine not wanting to play the Dutch way? It's almost as big a crime as not singing the national anthem.