₦airaland Forum

izzou:
[color=royalblue]Stats will always always matter.

If you are an attacker, you must have goal contributions. That is your duty, and you have to show it.

Dancing Amapiano and Zanku won't change it.

Messi is good, and his stats are there to show it
Ronaldo is good, and his stats are there to show it.

So telling us that some are good because you watch them, yet their primary duty has poor records, has to be the new yahoo format for 2022.

Xavi who is behind Iniesta has more goal contributions than him, but you want to tell us Iniesta is better because you watched him baa?

Blasphemy should not only be attributed to religious statements, walahi[/color]

Stats will never show you that Lewandoski had a 2x balon d’or seasons and won 0. The next generation of football fans don’t care about that since anybody can pull out stats from fifa. Hell, I can tell you that’s he’s not one of the greatest strikers the game has ever seen based on that argument alone.

Messi and Ronaldo with all their balon d’ors have 0 world cups. Based on that, they’re not the GOATS. You’re not a GOAT in this game if you don’t win the ultimate price.

We can easily go down this road of stats and start pulling out stats of all the greats in the game

izzou:
[color=royalblue]You can praise any player because of their attributes. There is nothing wrong with that.

Kante can be anybody's legend. But when you want to compare him to anybody, be sure to have proof, which most likely rest on his personal efforts (stats)

Iniesta is a good player. But the moment you put him next to Xavi, and say he is better, he becomes a Fraud; Scamdres Fraudniesta[/color]

Stats don’t mean shiit. That’s why De Bruyne won MOTM for the game against Canada while being one of the worst players on the pitch. Always using Sofascore to rate football players instead of actually sitting down and watching football games. That’s why Ibime will come here and say Iniesta played as a CAM

I can’t watch Kante winning 90% of the ball for some kid in the next 10 yrs to hop on the internet and tell me Kante was not good by going to Wikipedia to pull some stupid statistics of the number of goals and assists he got in his career.

TLona1:
If Messi doesn't win the World Cup, he'll be criticized heavily and won't get all these sympathy Ronaldo has been getting.

That's absolutely fine by me because he's the GOAT.

If Messi wins this World Cup, it’s absolutely over. Ronaldo fans knows it, his teammates knows it that’s why they’re making noise about the whole Argentina referee thing.

popizaino:
Yes Keita did is job perfectly but not against inter milan.


Thank you.

Inter were the better team on the night. What has that got to do with Keita? Abi Barca didn’t lose any game both Xavi and Iniesta started together?

popizaino:
The focal point of any tiki taka system will always be the base of the midfield. This is a common knowledge. Deco will do Xavi's job perfectly, Xabi Alonso will do it,Andrea pirlo will do better,no one would do iniesta's job and that's why we see xavi could use Seydou Keita to win 10 men inter milan.

Keita was doing Iniesta’s job perfectly well when he was not available. Iniesta’s obviously more dynamic but games where Iniesta played as LW or where he was not available , Keita held down that role very well. He was very good cause not only he offered more as a kind of b2b midfielder but was very compact when he wasn’t going forward

It be like say many of una drink come out this night abi wetin?

popizaino:
He wants to turn iniesta into Frank lampard who stat pad at the group stage level of every competition only to go missing when it mattered most.

Wtf am I reading? Lampard is one of the most efficient midfielders you’ll ever get in football. Saying that Lampard goes missing when it mattered most is so mind boggling

Ibime:
Affidavit polling both awards

Never in my life will I see a left winger go into tournament with zero goals and assists and win POTT like Iniesta did in Euro 2012

Media went into shakushaku madness and overdrive, trying to pay Iniesta back for not winning individual accolade after scoring 2010 WC final goal, which again was his only GA contribution to that tournament

When Xavi assisted the solitary winning goals in the Word Cup second round, quarterfinal and semifinal back to back, Iniesta was dancing shakushaku, until Fabregas gave him a clean 1v1 with the keeper in the final

A case of a horse being dragged to the stream everyday until he drinks

Xavi made Iniestas career. Even the one thing Iniesta is known for, that midfield tikitaka control, he was never good at it. It was Xavi work

Xavi assisted twice in Euro 2012 final, they chose a nigga with zero GA as POTT based on Kovacic style dribbles

Xavi assisted the only goal in Euro 2008 final

Studious people know who the real driver was

When Xavi started having Achilles tendonitis in 2013, everything disappeared.

I personally think Xavi is really underrated and he was my favorite of the two. Extremely visionary that measured passes as if he was playing with a rule tape. Unfortunately in football, flair is what people see especially in a world where YouTube comps is a driving force of perception. Just put together a clip of a player scoring or doing fancy dribbles, every other player is rubbish. That’s why attackers will always get more recognition than defenders.

That being said, slandering Iniesta to make Xavi good is still silly. Both are perfect in what they did and did their jobs excellently.

For many people here that didn’t really watch La Liga games back then and just saw Champions league games, If you want to really know what prime Barca looked like and various roles of each players in that team, go and rewatch that 2011 champions leagaue final. It’s a perfect set up of how that team played week in week out for those years of dominance.

Cause it’s very clear many people here have zero idea of what they’re talking about

hensben:
Iniesta was CAM on paper but on the field he can roam to any position upfront and centrally. With this freedom he got Ibime and co expected more goal involvement from him. Personally, I admired and loved how iniesta played so I don’t have anything against him, I only talked against him when Lampard is not regarded just because he played CAM differently in different formation, tactics and league.

Iniesta was a very versatile and gifted midfielder but slandering him on the basis of what was not his job on the pitch is just crazy.

andrewbaba44:
Person wey Dey watch pele for video cassette daily to find agenda ,na that person wan watch game ?

The guy dey shock me

Kilishihunter:
I think he meant xavi was the deep lying playmaker mostly receiving the ball from busquets or the defence to set the tempo or use long balls to catch out defences or covering up for busquets as the last man in front of the defense when busi pushed forward while ini would be the one to break opponents defensive lines or provide the final ball reason why he's being dragged as an AM

He needs to know the real role of Iniesta in that team before he starts dragging him as an imaginary AM he never was.

As I already mentioned Barca played mostly a flat 4-3-3 formation with a switch to 4-4-2 diamond when Villa and Pedro came in to play as the two supporting strikers as Messi dropped in to play behind them as AM. This made Iniesta drop in to play as a LM/LW. That’s why you’ll see so many clips of Iniesta dribbling on the touch line.

When playing as a flat 4-3-3 formation, Iniesta played slightly higher because again he can break up defensive lines with dribbling and final 3rd passing but even at that Messi was still playing that false 9 role eliminating the need of an AM since Messi can also do all that better. So Iniesta didn’t need to push further in those instances.

Iniesta was mostly played as a CM that’s why Barca were so good at tiki taka in terms of forming those triangles and ball recoveries

I’m reading a lot of nonsense here. From calling Xavi a defensive midfielder to calling Iniesta an attacking midfielder. Iniesta never played for Barca as an AM. He played more as a LCM/LW with his job most times as a progressive carrier of the ball since he was very good at dribbling and Xavi being very good with controlling the tempo of the game.

2 completely different profiles that highly complemented each other.

Watch football games, una go dey rely on pulling stats from the internet

Ibime:
The deeplying of the two. You know the one who comes to receive the ball from defence while shakushaku master will be up the pitch and cannot score or assist?

Xavi was never a defensive midfielder. Busquet has always been a lone DM. Barca played practically a flat 4-3-3 often switching to a kind of 4-4-2 diamond most times with Messi playing mostly as a false 9. What are you talking about?

Ibime:
How can I be your defensive midfielder and still outassist and outscore you handsomely

That's like Kovacic affecting games more than Mount.

I make 100 passes per game, you make 60 passes per game, they attachè you to my work saying XaviEsta control midfield. After I pack up, you fail to control games anymore



I defend for you, control midfield for you, cook for you, score for you, assist for you, on both club and international level, while your job is to shakushaku like Spanish Kovacic

Ini-fraud!

Who is the defensive midfielder?

patrickmuf:
Ramos missed a header which should have found the net and Pepe too in the dying minutes of the game. If Giroud is presented with any of such chances, he will score...Morocco have performed reasonably well but they're up against France, it will be their biggest test to date...

Portugal had all their attackers on the pitch and were able to just create one chance from crossing in the second half. Morocco has conceded only one goal throughout the tournament and that’s an own goal.

France only aerial threat is Giroud and are not like Portugal that have players that can attack the ball from the air. Those runs in behind from Mbappe and Dembele will be very limited cause just like yesterday, Morocco will always have 3 players on a player when the ball goes wide.

This match is pretty much a 50/50 game

Debroslink:
Iniesta gave Xavi a career. If it's a lie, then they should tell us what Xavi's career was from 1998 - 2008 before prime Iniesta saved his career.

Trophyless 2003 season, Euro 2004, bench warmer. WC 2006, passenger as usual.
Barca 2006 La liga, UCL champions, Xavi had 0 goal and 1 assist the whole season.

Prime Iniesta transformed his career from 2008. Xavi should be eternally grateful to Iniesta for his career.

I’m what sense did Iniesta give Xavi a career??

andrewbaba44:
Van gaal bawo

England should retain southgate

He is doing a wonderful job

Portugal should be smart unless these their new golden generation will be wasted

The only good thing for me is Ronaldo won’t play with them

SouthGate has done a fantastic job but removing Saka who was the best player on the pitch yesterday for Sterling epitomizes SouthGate’s England career so far. He’s decision making in key moments is very questionable. He’s lost all the big games he’s played against decent oppositions and to me he may not just have enough to cross that crucial line.

As for Portugal, to me, they should move on from Santos. He too has not been bad, has dealt with Ronaldo situation pretty well and has trophies to show for it but at times things needs to be freshened up and new ideas are needed.

PDPGuy:
Coach Regragui would be best served if he sets up Morocco to defend in zones to contain the wide threats of Mbappe and Dembele. If he details 2-3 players to follow Mbappe, space will open for Griezman and Giroud to do damage.

Morocco should just maintain the same shape and formation and keep to what have gotten them here so far. They’re very disciplined off the ball and rarely have a man running behind the defensive line. This will completely take out Mbappe and Dembele.

The crosses to Giroud will be very well dealt with cause their defenders and keeper come for every ball. France midfield is not existent and if France play the way they played this night, Morocco is winning that game

They have started

andrewbaba44:
My only Morocco fear is siass missing out

Huge loss for them. Marshals out that defense very well and he’s a great leader too.

Morocco will lock up meaning Mbappe won’t see space to operate. Forget crossing to Giroud cause those Moroccans are tall and they clear everything.With Upemacano and Hernandez being walking defensive errors ready to be exploited by Boufal and Ziyech, Morocco really stands a chance

England same old story. Play nobodies and when they get a decent team, they’re shown their place

Leyqute:
Was never a penalty.

Good they lost it.

That’s a red card. Last man

That’s a stupid pen to concede

Imagine suggesting to remove Giroud, lmao.

Roland17:
GET GIROUD OUT OF THIS GAME DESCHAMPS!

Are you normal?

Deschamps is being stubborn not changing the shape of this team and that’s what will boot France out of this competition

afrodoc2:
Rabiot as LW and Griezman at LCM?

That is suicide. You are weakening the attack and weakening the midfield at the same time.

England are pushing their attack through that side and they need to double the man around there

Kilishihunter:
Giroud is slow so peradventure of a cross if mbappe/dembele can't get their needed space, he might not reach most of the balls when he arrives late from deep, I think they should switch to 3-5-2 or something to choke the spaces around their own final third because griezmann is instinctively going to join his fellow forwards since he's not a natural midfielder of course

Or they could remove Griezmann and bring in an extra midfielder into the game and just play off Giroud as false 9