Over 10 apperances against Chelsea in the league and he has been more than shït all through. And I am still wondering why some Chelsea fans still want him.?
Raiola said it. So it must be true. That's your mantra here. But Raiola was saying that Juve were interested in Lukaku in summer 2014? Abi no be wetin you dey post here be dis?
Summer 2014 Lukaku was still a Chelsea player. Everton signed him on the last day in July for what .....£28m ? So what Juve could not afford £28m for one player? Is there something else you want us to know about what Raiola is saying?
Unless this is not about Lukaku.
On the subject, you are just being playful. No one is claiming to be in the know. You are the one going to the end of the world just to prove big clubs are interested in Lukaku. Except what you are telling me is no better than Guillem Balague claiming to be in the know as well. When these yeye quotes are subjected to little analysis, they fall apart.
You are cutting quotes off the internet and pasting here and I am supposed to swallow that? Showing me pictures of grown men fighting over a mic? So what? What do you want me to say? Oh! that sh1t about Lukaku must be true. Watch that fella grab the mic.
Lukaku remains at Everton despite all the pictures and no amount of bullshiting at the moment proves otherwise. If we don't see a concrete bid from a big club for Lukaku, everything you are pasting is as good as thin air and no one of them has ever been interested.
I honestly think that you don't know what is worrying you.
I never said anything that dimarzio said must be true.
In case you have forgotten, this was your original comment:
The numbers don't lie but we don't see the Bayerns, Barcelonas, Juves, Madrids trying to sign lukaku. Dem no sabi count?
Now I have given you the word of both a respected sky journalist and Lukaku's agent himself telling you that Juve , Arsenal aND Chelsea actually know who he is and are actually making bids for him.
So what else did you want to see as proof that Juve tried to sign Lukaku if the word of even own Lukaku's agent is not enough?
Are you saying the only acceptable proof that a club tried to sign a player is an actual succesful transfer?
We must not have tried to sign Pogba then, or Naingollan
We're you expecting Nihilist to get one of the Agnelli's to come and post on Nairaland?
You better try and figure out what is worrying you, and stop yarning for yarnings sake - you're not a piece of string
After this life history of DiMarzio, Can you share a link that links Lukaku with a City transfer in the past 30days?
Not saying you are lying but I would be shocked Pep wants that Jambody striker
It you tell me something about your wife, I would be stupid to ask for newspaper link as proof while ignoring your opinion.
Di Marzio is the most credible source on Pogba for example, due to his closeness to Mino Raiola, hence several 'respectable sources have been quoting DiMarzio on the issue including espn, the independent, the guardian, and of course skysports.
So if you're looking for a credible source in the intentionally opaque world of transfer dealings, especially as it pertains to Mino Raiola , it doesn't get more credible than GDM
Nihilist: It you tell me something about your wife, I would be stupid to ask for newspaper link as proof while ignoring your opinion.
Di Marzio is the most credible source on Pogba for example, due to his closeness to Mino Raiola, hence several 'respectable sources have been quoting DiMarzio on the issue including espn, the independent, the guardian, and of course skysports.
So if you're looking for a credible source in the intentionally opaque world of transfer dealings, especially as it pertains to Mino Raiola , it doesn't get more credible than GDM
I believe DiMarzio didnt come to knock on your door to tell you nor did he text you. Is there any link on the internet in the past 30days which also got this scoop on Lukaku to City through DiMarzio or Raiola.
Or you just want me to take your words for it?
I see rumours of Aubameyang to City, I see rumours of Lukaku to CHelsea
But Lukaku to City is what i am seeking because I would be surprised that Pep would consider a striker like Lukaku with the first touch of a rapistt
I honestly think that you don't know what is worrying you.
I never said anything that dimarzio said must be true.
In case you have forgotten, this was your original comment:
Now I have given you the word of both a respected sky journalist and Lukaku's agent himself telling you that Juve , Arsenal aND Chelsea actually know who he is and are actually making bids for him.
So what else did you want to see as proof that Juve tried to sign Lukaku if the word of even own Lukaku's agent is not enough?
Are you saying the only acceptable proof that a club tried to sign a player is an actual succesful transfer?
We must not have tried to sign Pogba then, or Naingollan
We're you expecting Nihilist to get one of the Agnelli's to come and post on Nairaland?
You better try and figure out what is worrying you, and stop yarning for yarnings sake - you're not a piece of string
For the simple reason of financial interest from a move, agents will say anything. That's where you need more than just mere quotes to prove this. You know how many agents have claimed their players are being wanted by XYZ just to start a bidding war?
This is our point. . . These same guys claiming Juve are interested also claim Guardiola and Wenger inquired. However, anyone who has watched Guardiola's and Wenger's football for two minutes will think naaaah! That cannot be true. So there's a question of credibility in these claims. Whether Skysports, ESPN or whatever relays the story is not the point. The point remains, that the 'source' is questionable.
Meanwhile, if you are not saying what DiMarzio said must be true, what are you saying then?
For the simple reason of financial interest from a move, agents will say anything. That's where you need more than just mere quotes to prove this. You know how many agents have claimed their players are being wanted by XYZ just to start a bidding war?
This is our point. . . These same guys claiming Juve are interested also claim Guardiola and Wenger inquired. However, anyone who has watched Guardiola's and Wenger's football for two minutes will think naaaah! That cannot be true. So there's a question of credibility in these claims. Whether Skysports, ESPN or whatever relays the story is not the point. The point remains, that the 'source' is questionable.
Meanwhile, if you are not saying what DiMarzio said must be true, what are you saying then?
I said Di Marzio is a credible source.
Credibility is does not imply that something is definitely true. It is a measure of how likely a thing is to be true.
There's a reason why some of us read the guardian and not the sun, and the punch instead of Linda ikejji..and that is credibility.
If you know you can't trust even what the agents say, then why were you asking to see the Bayerns and Juves of this world try to sign Lukaku?
Where you hoping to see letterheaded paper?
You're yarning for the sake of yarning. That much is pretty clear.
I worry about that as well. Although, I will like to see what the final set-up can do when the likes of Hazard and Kante join.
A few positives to take from this.
1. If this is anything to go by, we will be super solid at the back. Great organization. 2. Everyone looked fit and committed. New Manager factor or Conte factor? 3. We will definitely play 2 strikers.
One interesting thing to note is that until Fabregas' red card, Conte kept RLC on, in striker position, from the first minute. Traore was taken off and Bat went in but not RLC. RLC only had to go off when Fab got a red card. This might suggest, RLC is closer to the first team than last season.
I worry about that as well. Although, I will like to see what the final set-up can do when the likes of Hazard and Kante join.
A few positives to take from this.
1. If this is anything to go by, we will be super solid at the back. Great organization. 2. Everyone looked fit and committed. New Manager factor or Conte factor? 3. We will definitely play 2 strikers.
One interesting thing to note is that until Fabregas' red card, Conte kept RLC on, in striker position, from the first minute. Traore was taken off and Bat went in but not RLC. RLC only had to go off when Fab got a red card. This might suggest, RLC is closer to the first team than last season.
Is Fab going to miss next match with that red card?
I believe DiMarzio didnt come to knock on your door to tell you nor did he text you. Is there any link on the internet in the past 30days which also got this scoop on Lukaku to City through DiMarzio or Raiola.
Or you just want me to take your words for it?
I see rumours of Aubameyang to City, I see rumours of Lukaku to CHelsea
But Lukaku to City is what i am seeking because I would be surprised that Pep would consider a striker like Lukaku with the first touch of a rapistt
I see Conte going for the pl title this season, from what i saw from the match with loserpool. Very compact set up in defense same as from his juve days.
I worry about that as well. Although, I will like to see what the final set-up can do when the likes of Hazard and Kante join.
A few positives to take from this.
1. If this is anything to go by, we will be super solid at the back. Great organization. 2. Everyone looked fit and committed. New Manager factor or Conte factor? 3. We will definitely play 2 strikers.
One interesting thing to note is that until Fabregas' red card, Conte kept RLC on, in striker position, from the first minute. Traore was taken off and Bat went in but not RLC. RLC only had to go off when Fab got a red card. This might suggest, RLC is closer to the first team than last season.
These are the very words of Conte:
‘There are many players with a good prospect for Chelsea. I don’t know why in the past a few players have played with the first team,’
‘It’s important. Because Chelsea has a fantastic academy. I think that the academy is a great source for the manager of the first team,’ he added.
‘It’s important, also, that the young players must show to play in the first team.
‘But I love to play with the young players and to improve them. It’s important to have good quality to improve and to show that a young player can play with the first team.
‘I haven’t any problem with the choice to take a young player in the starting 11.
‘For example, Pogba. Pogba arrived at Juventus and he was only 18 years old and after three months he played in the starting 11.’
Pre-season matches are supposed to be 'friendly'… right? That I saw couple of hours ago wasn't just a friendly game.
Damn feisty contest.
Meanwhile, below is a well-constructed, well thought-out article that you all would love to read. It dissects the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the new Manchester United manager and questions whether the man with the aura about him is actually Not So Special. It was written by a manyoo fan. Quite a long read I must say, but hell yeah, it's worth the time.
The following article was sent to me by Guy Bennett, it provides a few sobering thoughts for us Manchester United supporters with the author asking whether we have the right man for the job
Is there any evidence - beyond his own self-assessment - that Jose Mourinho is special?
Clearly, Manchester United Vice-chairman Ed Woodward thinks so. On May 27, 2016 he hired Mourinho, declaring:
'His track record of success is ideal to take the club forward.'
That track record includes 21 trophies over a 15 year period. An impressive haul. But you don`t need to be a master chef to make a delicious salad from expensive ingredients.
If the job of football manager is to get the maximum number of wins from the available players, then you can judge his effectiveness by comparing the quality of his squad against the table position on his last day of coaching.
For the purposes of this discussion, we will use the collective wisdom of the market (team wages) to value the quality of the squad. No, this metric isn`t perfect. But 49 times out of 50, having Chelsea`s Eden Hazard (£185,000 per week) on the pitch gives you a better chance of winning a football game than fielding West Bromwich Albion`s Gareth McAuley (£8,462 per week).
A manager`s skill must be judged in the context of player quality. No-one could reasonably expect Bournemouth`s manager Eddie How (team wages £25 million) to get the same number of wins as Manchester City`s manager, Manuel Pellegrini (team wages £203 million).
My Manager`s Effectiveness Rating (MER) is the statistical gap between the team wages ranking, and the final table position. If you manage a team with the 10th highest wages, and you finish 8th, that gives you and MER of +2. If you finish 20th with the same team, you get a -10.
Ten times out of the last 13 years, (with Porto, Chelsea, Interazionale, Real Madrid and Chelsea again) - Mourinho`s team had the highest wages in the league. In these years, he can reasonably be expected to win the league - which he did 79% of the time (giving him an MER of zero for those trophy seasons). The other 21% of the time, his teams under-performed and finished with an MER of -1, -1 and -15.
In 2011 with Real Madrid he had the 2nd highest team wages, and finished 2nd. In 2014 with Chelsea he had the 3rd highest team wages and finished 3rd. Just once in 13 years, Mourinho had positive MER: in 2015 Chelsea won the league with the 3rd highest wages (an MER of + 2). Over the last 13 years, his cumulative MER is -15.
History suggests that club owners must spend heavily to get results under Mourinho. Clearly he is no Claudio Ranieri (2016 MER +17). Mourinho lacks the skill-set to lead a group of infantrymen into battle against a better equipped army. To get good results, the preening Portuguese boss requires big, expensive weapons.
In 2016-2017, Manchester United is projected to have the 2nd highest wage bill in the English Premier League (EPL). So the team will probably avoid relegation. But fans anticipating aesthetically pleasing football or a league trophy are likely to be disappointed.
By all accounts, Mourinho is a manipulator - not an innovator. 'His methods are exhausting," stated former Chelsea striker Demba Ba. "He convinces you that if you do what he tells you to do, it will bring results," stated former Porto player Deco. 'He squeezes out what he doesn't like," recalled Xabi Alonso.
"We build very well from the back," confirms Mourinho, "We have a very good ball possession we don`t play counter-attack." This low-risk mechanical style requires followers, not leaders. That`s why Mourinho sells imaginative players like Kevin de Bruyne, Juan Mata and Arjen Robben, and hangs onto diligent proletarians like Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard and John Terry.
Manchester United fans should now be asking themselves two questions:
1. To what extent is Mourinho`s effectiveness based on his 'winning mystique`?
2. Is this mystique still intact?
To remember the power of Mourinho`s mystique, let`s go back to 2004 when the new Chelsea manager confronted Chelsea mid-fielder Frank Lampard after a training session.
"I was standing in the shower cleaning my balls," recalled Lampard, "he tells me, 'you`re the best player in the world, but you need to win titles.` He has that air of arrogance, that confidence, and it rubs off. Not that I thought I was the best player in the world."
Eleven years ago, Mourinho inspired Lampard to be a better player by telling him a lie so transparent that Lampard himself knew he was being gamed.
Fast forward 11 years to August 2015: while the other 19 EPL teams were training, Mourinho gave his players a month's holiday. Chelsea subsequently lost all of their pre-season games, including a 4-2 defeat to the New York Red Bulls - a social-athletic club for retired international footballers.
Last year, Chelsea began its title defense with a home game against Swansea City. With Chelsea reduced to 10 men, Eden Hazard was fouled by the Swansea captain. Hazard fell to the ground and stayed there. The team doctor, Eva Carneiro, ran onto the pitch to treat him. Fifa rules state that Hazard then had to leave the field, temporarily reducing Chelsea to nine men.
After the match Mourinho had nothing critical to say about his own game tactics. Instead he told the assembled media, "My medical staff were impulsive and naïve. I was sure Eden did not have a serious problem. He had a knock. He was tired.'
A few eyebrows were raised. Was that smart to publically accuse the club`s most expensive player of malingering? Hazard never scored another goal under Mourinho. Dr. Carneiro was demoted. She resigned and launched a sexual discrimination suit against Chelsea, claiming that Mourinho called her the 'daughter of a LovePeddler'.
Given the power differential between the two parties, it was an unsightly squabble - as though Richard Branson had scheduled a press conference to castigate a drowsy parking attendant.
FA chairman Greg Dyke said Chelsea's manager had 'made a mistake' and should apologise. Mourinho disagreed.
From this low point, the 2015-2016 season continued downhill.
After getting crushed 3-0 by Manchester City, Mourinho claimed the result was 'fake'. After losing 3-1 at Everton in September, he stated that 'the game was completely under control' even though they were losing 2-0 within 25 minutes.
In early October, Mourinho was given a £50,000 FA fine for saying that referees were afraid to award Chelsea penalties. A few weeks later he was given a one-match stadium ban and a £40,000 fine for swearing at a referee.
Normally reliable players like Diego Costa, Branislav Ivanovic, Nemanja Matic and John Terry, all had sub-par seasons. By December 5, 2015 Chelsea had won only 26% of its games.
After a 2-1 defeat by Leicester City, Mourinho said that he felt 'betrayed' by his players. Again, he could locate no flaw in his own game tactics. "Sometimes I find myself thinking last season I did an amazing job," mused Mourinho, "brought players to a level not their level."
On December 17, 2016, with Chelsea one point above relegation, Mourinho was fired.
Sports heroes with mystique are vulnerable to catastrophic and irreversible implosions.
Mike Tyson, 'the baddest man on the planet` was 37-0 when he lost to Buster Douglas in 1990. After that loss, he won only 68% of his remaining fights.
Tiger Woods was the world`s best golfer in 2009 when he was revealed to be a sexual deviant. Since then, he has not won a single major tournament.
Over the last half decade Mourinho`s MER is better than Mark Hughes (-18), but worse than Alan Pardew (-12), Sam Allardyce (+1), Arsene Wenger (+6) and Tony Pulis (+9).
Has Mourinho learned anything from last season`s epic failure? Can he recover? Will the players be inspired if this insecure, self-aggrandising little man flatters them shamelessly while they are washing their testicles?
Manchester United fans are about to find out.
Writer - director Guy Bennett authored the best-selling book, Guy`s Guide to the Flipside and has twice been named British Columbia`s best weekly newspaper columnist for his work in The Westender.
I disagree with picking wage ranking as arbitary determinant of team strength because it does not allow for the consideration of the following factors:
1. Opposition Talent could be underpaid. I believe that Xavi at his maximum wage was earning less than Toni Kroos. And we know who the better player is. If you compare the wage packets of the likes of Malouda, Wright Phillips,or Fernando Torres to their counterparts in other teams who were actually better than them, then the flaw becomes immediately apparent.
2. Paying over the odds to attract talent. Imagine a player like Raheem Sterling going for 50m and earning 250k a week. Imagine Pogba signing for 120m and 300k a week. Imagine freaking Torress, Falcao,Cuadrado, etc. Those guys aren't earning their astronimacal wages because they are that good - sometimes football clubs are forced to pay world class sums to get average players. Falcao, Torres,Pato would have all massively increased the wage bill without a comensurate increase in talent.
So I cant agree with that bogus metric.
I agree with many other things he said though. I definitely hold Mourinho personally responsible for our dismal showing last season - However, like I've always said, it takes a lot more than money to buy success. Mourinho is a fantastic manager regardless of his spending, and I'm sure that he will do well at United.
Griffon: Pre-season matches are supposed to be 'friendly'… right? That I saw couple of hours ago wasn't just a friendly game.
Damn feisty contest.
Meanwhile, below is a well-constructed, well thought-out article that you all would love to read. It dissects the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the new Manchester United manager and questions whether the man with the aura about him is actually Not So Special. It was written by a manyoo fan. Quite a long read I must say, but hell yeah, it's worth the time.
Who is this Guy Bennet that is supposed to be a United fan? Any proof of that?
@griffon
this is nothing new,
you could say the same for any big time manager
And if their is any merit to this article we've deep pockets so no worries.
All these mysterious geniuses sef. They should check the MER of SAF, Hittzfeld and Guardiola. Tony Pulis has a better MER than Wenger, but who is the better manager?
Griffon: Pre-season matches are supposed to be 'friendly'… right? That I saw couple of hours ago wasn't just a friendly game.
Damn feisty contest.
Meanwhile, below is a well-constructed, well thought-out article that you all would love to read. It dissects the appointment of Jose Mourinho as the new Manchester United manager and questions whether the man with the aura about him is actually Not So Special. It was written by a manyoo fan. Quite a long read I must say, but hell yeah, it's worth the time.
