₦airaland Forum

Ribery and Lahm have not being at their best so far hopefully they can pick it up

We can't keep missing these chances! One goal and Schalke are back in it. Who be that number 28 Szalai abi wetin he call himself? Uberwasteman

Definitely one of our better performances this season. Schweini doesn't look like he's missed a step

These Schalke fans are so classless! After €27million for a goalie you would expect some respect

[quote author=Bavarian_Lad]Robben misses[/quote]Pardonable

dayokanu: Still some ragamuffins comparing Alaba to Ashley Cole?

Anyone see those assists

The superiority offensively is glaring really! No sane person should be arguing

I never celebrate first goal finish before second one enter

Starting XI: Rafinha,Dante,Boateng,Alaba - Schweini,Lahm,Kroos - Ribery,Robben,Mandzukic

Looks like Schweini and Lahm are playing double pivot. Muller dropped unsuprisingly

dayokanu: Are you in Nigeria?

WHich city?

DO they show Bundesliga at viewing centers in Nigeria or how una dey manage watch am?

Cos I know most Nigerians are fans of kick and follow EPL

Maybe he get stance for there! Cos Chelsea fans lasan them ready to break bottle for anybody head. SS5 and SS7 dey show Buli anyway so na yawa!

RuuDie: If Navas is starting, that is going to be a big, big worry!

Navas?? That one na player? He's like Valencia minus the workrate

This Sturridge sef! Shebi na when I buy player dem no go gree score

Baines sef after doing zip for 4 weeks nets a brace today

debosky: I dodged a bullet there. . . .almost bought Benteke this weekend.

Haha amen to that brother

Our Bavarian brethren Nurnberg just did us a favor. We need to take advantage by beating Schalke

Ibime: I'm an Ajax fan dawg. Sneijder is a workaholic. He was at Inter but not at Real where he was said to be suffering depression.

Oga Sneijder no hardworking rara! Are you comparing Dutch league to Serie A or La Liga?

Sneijder always had at least two niggas doing the dirty work for him in midfield at all times (Cambiasso,Motta,Zanetti and even Eto'o) once Cambiasso lost form and Eto'o as well Sneijder was nowhere to be found! Even for Dutch Natl team same thing he had a free role more or less

Ibime: Ozil was not liked by JM either, yet he improved under JM physically.

Mata will never be able to drop deep and quarterback.

Mourinho never had issues with Ozil besides his final season! He signed him remember? Go and check his appearances he would not have made so many if they had issues

Also there is no empirical evidence that suggests Mata can't play that role afterall he started out wide! To be honest Mourinho has not even given the lad a fair trial so he should have probably sold him in the first place

Ibime: I've always been a fan of possession starting from the no4, not from the playmaker. Thats why I call Xavi the greatest player of his generation and greatest midfielder of all time. The central midfielders really run a team, the wingers are only there to unlock a tight game with a piece of skill as far as im concerned but some eediots at Chelsea seem to think dominating football matches starts with the wingers/AMs. There was a time we prayed for Chelsea to sign just one winger from 2006 to 2011. Now we have a whole team of them.

Chelsea's signings have really been baffling that no one can even argue. Whoever is responsible surely must be in La La land

Ibime: Deco and Sneijder are 4-3-3 players. They can control ball from deep. Mata is not a factor in the game till the final third. Big difference there. And Sneijder was a workaholic till his recent fitness problems.

Ozil as Dayo would tell you had to undergo a lot of physical work in the last two years. Mata is physically where Ozil was three years ago.

This is not a new phenomenon. RDMs UCL run, Mata does not last more than 60 mins on the pitch. Salomon Kalou was more important to victory.

Well thanks to the 1 jillion playmakers you have playing 4-3-3 is a chore

Sneijder was not a workaholic my guy! Certainly not at Madrid and neither at Inter Cambiasso,Motta were always there to destroy for him

Ability to drop deep and quarterback they might have but who says Mata isn't adaptable to that style especially when Chelsea have no player that consistently plays that role in central midfield?

To be honest the difference between Ozil and Mata in terms of workrate is quite minimal. There is a reason he is not at Madrid anymore! Even Ancellotti pointed it out

Ibime: I've got no problem with Mourinhos comment at all. Left to me, I will pick two midfield generals to guard Mata and one strong winger on his side, then make him the central focus of my team and my chief playmaker. If I don't have that, I will drop him. Simple.

There's no rule that says he must even use Mata but the lack of workrate is not a valid excuse IMO. Deco,Sneijder and Ozil are hardly workaholics on the pitch

afrodoc: when the attacking players are pele,rivelino,jairzinho,tostao,gerson and the defending players are in your own words "not exceptional" does that seem like balance to you?
that team like so many other great teams won because they had exceptional players in some departments of d game not because they were balanced.dont go believing that all great teams had balance,supreme quality in one department can make up for deficiencies in some other departments

You don't need exceptional all the time! But they were competent maybe underrated sef! Its balance because balance is not always about talent which is what I'm trying very hard to explain to you, its about fitting into a system and a team's style of play

Not all great teams had balance but I'm telling you Barca did! You need more than just supreme quality to dominate that long

afrodoc: I meant a gulf in class between Barca's attacking players and its defensive players.as has been repeated ad nauseam here when u talk abt balance u r comparing the different departments of the SAME team

This is usually the case in 95% of teams out there! Compare the defence to other defences across Europe that makes more sense than comparing a defence of one team to its attack

That perceived gulf in class is always going to be there

afrodoc: Thuram? really? are u talking abt the 34yr old over the hill guy that played in 41 la liga matches in 2years? hope u r aware that thuram's 2yrs in barca were the seasons btw their 2nd and 3rd chaps league titles.they didnt win anything in europe with thuram.strike him off that list he was past it by then.Alves is a mediocre defender better going forward than defending.that leaves puyol and pique, marquez i liked but injuries curtailed his career. now compare that to messi,zlatan,ronaldinho,etoo,henry,iniesta,deco etc

But you said they didn't have defenders I'm telling you they did have defenders and good ones too

Alves is a right back most celebrated full backs are usually average defensively. Maicon,Carlos,Cafu etc

Stop comparing a team's attack and defence they have different characteristics! A more "balanced" comparison would be Barca's defence vs other defences in Europe hence my Madrid example

Afterall I can also say Madrid have Ronaldo,Bale,Isco,Di Maria,Benzema but they lack balance because they have Pepe,Arbeloa,Marcelo etc

afrodoc: no need to over flog the issue. like i said earlier there is a difference between balance and quality.
barca dominated because of their quality not cos of balance.they were an attack heavy team with one of the greatest attacking talents ever ably supported by artists like iniesta,xavi etc and u can throw in etoo and ronaldinho.
they had less talent at the back in terms of numbers and quality and their defenders were not the topnotch performances their attackers were,there was a gulf in class. thats not balance

This is actually ironic because Madrid at least recently actually have more quality overall but less balance
Iniesta and Xavi played in a system that allowed their abilities to be highlighted and flourished look at Iniesta for example who by all standards is goal shy if he were in another club odds are he would have been offloaded

Abidal,Thuram,Puyol,Alves,Marquez,Pique? Who said Barcelona didn't have good defenders? List Madrid defenders and tell us about this so-called "gulf in class"? Are you talking about Madrid that could not sniff UCL semis before Mourinho came along and were routinely r@ped by Lyon and Liverpool?

afrodoc: pele's team of 1970 wasnt very balanced but it had quality and was successful and regarded as one of the greatest ever.
there have been several great teams that had balance and several great teams that did not.balance is not a sine qua non to success

They might not have been exceptional or household names but they were competent and did the job else they woulda been exploited! Simple

[quote author=Bavarian_Lad]This is my domain.
I hope we fry Schalke in front of their fans and serve them goals as quarter year gift.




I'll die a Bavarian![/quote]You're officially welcome comrade to the thread dedicated to the best and greatest team on the planet FC Bayern Munchen

@Afrodoc
How do you dominate Europe for 5 years without sufficient balance? That is a very significant sample size so its hard to believe they did so without being even more balanced than Madrid. Forget the names being paraded by Madrid

System and Coaching >>> Individuals

Barcelona had a system with a coach and core of players that understood the system and executed to a T. It doesn't get more balanced than that

afrodoc: Barca has no balance, United has no balance, Juve went the whole season unbeaten with mediocre strikers.
the loss to basle was because of poor play from players and the manager could not correct it. hazard dribbling 2 to 3 opponents on the half way line rather than passing to a free team mate and getting the ball later near the box is POOR INDIVIDUAL PLAY not POOR TEAM BALANCE.
the team has 3 strikers struggling for form.

One more point.Chelsea lost to Basle not because they were outmuscled or overrun in midfield,it was cos the Swiss side kept coming forward for d equalizer and winner.they did not feel threatened by your team's attack.........off form strikers and AMs can do that.

Barca had balance when Pique was still good and Puyol was still a warrior. Your playing style combined with your personnel is the biggest determinant of balance

Balance is not static and often times lines are blurry on its definition. Team tactics can sometimes require you to rely on "mediocre" strikers because they bring other things to the table that is essential for balance

Bayern had Mario Gomez the 3rd top scorer in Europe only behind Messi and Ronaldo between the 10-11 and 11-12 season but ended up relying on Mario Mandzukic who had a respectable strike rate but would never outscore Gomez ultimately his ability to press and gegenpress was what eventually led to Mario Gomez's exit

Let's remember that even if there are 100 balanced teams only one can win anyway

Super Neuer returns home!

Bayern has won 6 straight against Schalke 04 in the league hopefully the streak continues

Gotze is also close to a return! Its hightime we get him back and see what he brings to the table! Muller seems to be the least in form player in our front 4 ATM

www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/chelseas-jose-mourinho-hints-style-2285920

Mourinho's diagnosis of Chelsea's malaise

http://www.goal.com/en-gb/news/2914/champions-league/2013/09/20/4275413/chelseas-attacking-ambitions-frustrating-mourinho

RA's wishes and Mourinho's style of play are strange bedfellows in my eyes. If results don't change soon Mourinho might actually drop the expansive attacking football act afterall we all know he would not play that way against superior opposition anyway.
You don't change your game in the 9th inning

Hahahaha this is some UFC shyte! Who is Jon Jones and who is Chael Sonnen?

Its quite evident that Chelsea's issues are multi-layered whether it is squad balance or trying to forge a team where the parts simply don't fit or coaches simply not given the time to forge an identity for the team only Ifa can give us answers

The outrage over the loss to Basle in itself is a bit awkward especially since Chelsea lost to even lower ranked teams at home last season (QPR,Swansea) the standards have clearly fallen at Chelsea its either that or yall just need to accept that the team is in transition and take the odd bad result on the chin and move on

Perhaps what I find most confusing about una matter be say even with the glut of attacking talents una get the creativity is still lacking. At 1-0 up against Basel rather than them shutting up shop and going home with a narrow defeat they bombed forward confidently as if they knew they could equalize and win the damn thing

If you ask me though the transfer policy at Chelsea these last couple of seasons has been reckless!! Either that or you guys simply hired managers that couldn't adapt to the player's strengths honestly its hard to tell which is which

As for the Balance argument well all I would say is balance is essential however the definition of balance varies from team to team and it all boils down to the style of play you deploy! Simply put what is balance for Barcelona may not be balance for Bayern and vice versa! And no you don't need an all-star lineup to have a balanced squad you only need individuals that fit in perfectly to the style you choose to play at any point in time

No team is perfect! Perfection is a myth! Balance is not

Johnpaul88: Isco is still displaying early season form. Soon, the goals will dry up and you'll wish you had Ozil to support Penaldo. Hahahahahahaha

Forget that Ozil matter! He was a good player for Madrid no doubt but the fact is they have a lot of other options now! Di Maria,Isco and even Bale and to an extent Ronaldo can provide creativity not forgetting Luka Modric as well so long as they emphasize on Team and not the goal proliferation war Messi and Ronaldo have been embarking on for quite sometime now

A visit to the Ruhr this weekend for an interesting match ahead vs Schalke 04. KPB seems to have breathed in new life to that team

dayokanu: Subotic went out to get stitches to his head.

He was ready to come in before the corner kick but the linesman or ref didnt give him the go ahead. It was the corner that resulted in the goal

Klopp always does that in Germany but gets away with it. The German press say its passion I guess he might be getting almost 4 games suspension given that he touched the linesman

Tough times ahead for BvB in the CL

I dont want them to crash out early because that means they would concentrate on the League

I think Klopp overreacted there! It was just one goal and there was plenty of time to recover I really couldn't understand why he was hyperventilating like a Silverback in heat

BVB should bounce back as their next opponent is the weakest team in the group it all boils down to what they can get out of Arsenal in the 3rd and 4th set of games

BTW is it just me or does Lewandowski look a shadow of himself compared to last season?

dayokanu: Klopp wanted to eat the linesman alive

https://d3j5vwomefv46c.cloudfront.net/photos/large/809703657.gif?1379532479

I have never seen him so animated in all my life! And Jurgen Klopp on a normal day is as animated as anyone can get. I hope this loss slows them down in the league too

El Guapo: A close source disclosed to me that you flirted with Arsenal just to decamp when Debosky needed u most.

Are you that chicken-hearted?

Where did this ret@rd escape from? Aro I guess! And where do you get off asking these dumbass questions? You are foamin in the mouth! Phuck outta here

Metrosexual,fagg0t a$s El Guapo being consoled by his g@y lover

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]You were better off as a prescient gooner - foreseeing ur heartbreaks.

How could u have jumped ship?

Wetin Dayokanu offer u?[/color]

What is this dangbana talking about? Chatting dothraki as always I guess

My Ibo brothers ye na Ladipo,Iweka rd and Pound rd Aba I no forget una! Onweghi ife neme


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm4gvFJAqtA

Bu lie oto
Bu lie oto
Nwannem nwokem
Bu lie oto
Bu lie oto
Bu lie oto
Nwannem nwanyim
Bu lie oto

debosky: Abeg I know it's from last season's playlist but I need some Arabanko vibes here.

Asuegbe!!!!


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BLj6l6wRo0U

When we sippin that sepe ooh
With rizzla with dogo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-B9EOFxQ61o

Dem dey call us Spartacus
See the things Bayern don cause


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LKn5KfMTlI

E o je aje yo e o tun di lo le


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYL1eFBHmUA