₦airaland Forum

Skimpledawg:
You know good things Doc.

I had doubts about his ability to withstand the physicality of the EPL but his left foot na one in town.

Ziyech crossing na fire.

So this is what Chelshit fans go through day in day out? Omo, kudos to them.

Oasis007:


Mikel before Chelsea and Mou happened.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UJUlZwJ0J34

Mikel is the player whose destiny was most affected by Mourinho. When you compare Under-17 and Under-21 Mikel to the risk averse version that Mourinho molded it is a travesty.

schurley:
I think Donaruma too is from Italy

Donnarumma is just starting. If he retires today nobody will rate him above Sebastian Frey dem.

He should check back in 5 yrs.

melodyogonna:
They're shielding him from people like you here that would trash the kid as if he's a 25 year old footballer at his peak flopping. I'd suggest they even loan him out.

Very good answer. Some people’s understanding of how football works is amazing.

18yr old boy coming from different continent and they are already lamenting over his playing time 2 months into the season. Someone that might not see senior playing time for 2 yrs or more, if at all.

Skimpledawg:
I rebuke you

The camera angle be like say na binoculars with zoom lens dem take film am.

The commentator sound like pastor for church wey dey make alter call.

Roland17:
You are absolutely right about it.
The more difficult aspect of it was that they had such a long career in their prime, even the best Italian heads from Sacchi to Zoff to Trapattoni to Lippi.. None of them had it easy making goalkeeping decisions.

Toldo was criminally cannibalized by a young Buffon whose reflexes was out of this world at that time. Don’t forget Abbiati was also in that mix and both goalies were dominant for their clubs.

Abbiati dey unstable so i won't place him on that level. Great one week, awful the next. He and Dida were exchanging no1 shirt like baton. Not that Dida was stable himself o.

Roland17:
Toldo was so underrated during his time. His era had the best hands for Italy and the competition was tough.

I was just saying it. Zoff and Albertosi were cannibalizing each other. The same way Clements and Shilton did for England.

The ultimate cannibalization was Pagliuca cannibalizing Zenga only to be cannibalized by Peruzzi whose career was now cannibalized by a combination of Buffon and Toldo. The person that suffered the most was Marchegianni who was at best no 4 in Italy when he would have been no1 in most other countries and he was the only one who was never a starter in a tournament.

sleekdot:
Who are the great keepers from Spain you can recall?

Let's not lie or steal i no too rate Zubizarreta like that.

Historically one has to put Zamora and Ramallets but i never watched them. Arconada and Zubizarreta were okay. Casillas is the only one.

Spain produces one good keeper at a time while Italy and Germany produce multiple good keepers at the same time which means the keepers end up cannibalizing each other's international career.

Unlimited22:
Boss aside Zoff and Buffon, who else?

Please humor me, na only one I watch. The other one, na read I read about am.

Zoff, Albertosi, Zenga, Pagliuca, Peruzzi, Buffon, Toldo, Marchegiani.

SyIvalord:
Yeah, I was conflicted on which to choose between Spain and Germany.

Germany and Italy before Spain.

LostMyZeal:
Ok for the Pele and Maradona crooners on this thread


Rumour has it that a bulk of Pele's one thousand goals that stood in those days would be regarded as offside goals in the kinda footy that is being played in this age

Pele and Maradona were both strong and energetic ....no doubt ...but the plenty offside goals wey one use pad him stats nkor


We need to set up a Committee headed by Oga Afrodoc to review this

This does not make sense.

TrebleChamp:
The bolded got me cracking. Nice analysis here, this debate btw Pele and Maradona may no go away anything soon though...

If you delve deep into it and source as many Pele tapes as you can you will find that he was as skillful as these other guys.
If you factor in his goals at club and national team level plus his World Cup dominance he is the greatest.

And to the guy who said they were taking about Messi as GOAT at 23, Pele was in GOAT conversation at 21 and had sealed it at 25.

randomperson:
Your argument is valid although I don't agree completely.

Pele played at a time when football was not that competitive. Players were not as physically fit as they are now, and it's easy to distinguish yourself when you're surrounded by mediocre or average athletes.

Besides, Pele played for very good teams. Brazil was so far ahead of others that they were able to win the world cup with Pele injured all through the tournament.

That's why I think Maradona is superior to Pele because he played in a competitive era.

For me, Messi is not only the best ever but the greatest ever because he has delivered outstanding performances consistently for almost 15 years and counting. He has the highest number of individual honors and his statistics are superior to any player.

No player combines all the facets of attacking- scoring, passing and dribbling like him. He was already getting GOAT shouts as far back as 2011 at 23 years old. By the time he is done with his career he will probably have the highest profile ever in football

Messi played for a dominant team at club level as well. He succeeded there so kudos to him but every time his country needed him to step up he failed.

Can you tell us how many goals or assists he has in finals for Argentina?

How many goals he has in the knockout stages of the World Cup?

If you are knocking Pele for playing for dominant national teams then we can also knock Messi for playing for dominant club teams.

Difference is Pele scored goals and won titles playing for both club and country. Whether it be Champions League or World Cup it didn’t matter. He was serving everybody thick fat Ls.

Let Messi try those his dribbles playing the Olumo rock they called ball in the 60s, on the rice farm they called pitch in the 60s, against the hired killers they called defenders in the 60s.

You yourself said Pele was kicked out of 2 world cups due to injuries. Those injuries didn’t happen due to prayers.

If we have only tape of Messi’s national career without his club career nobody will put him in GOAT category in 20 yrs time.

That is exactly what you lot are doing. Using mainly national team highlights to judge Pele because most of his club film has been lost.

TrebleChamp:
Doc i rate Maradona over Pele, maybe because i didn't watch the latter play...

It is mainly because of that. Those who never watched Pele but grew up in the 80s usually say Maradona is the greatest. Those who watched neither but grew up in the 2000s and 2010s say Messi (or CR7) is the greatest.

I didn't watch Pele but after much research and consulting Otem i would say Pele is the greatest because he dominated at all levels both with individual honors and team titles.

There is a difference between greatest and best. Messi with his serial failures at international level and impotence in crucial international finals can't be greater than Pele. He might be better skilled but he is definitely not greater than a serial winner like O Rei.

But how did Ibrahimovic enter this debate? O wrong nau.

TrebleChamp:
Pele is not even a one club man, he also played football in the United State of American.

Nah. That was Pele's ghost playing in a monkey post league. It does not add to or take away from his claim to being the G.O.A.T.

Messi has not retired by the way. He might still go and play in the Korean or Chinese league one day which is the equivalent of Pele's soujorn in the U.S

Jodera:
It's Amazing how pele is called a great even tho he didn't jump from one league to another, but messi isn't a great.

And someone even called Ibrahimovic as a great sef... Like ibra

Well to play devil's advocate Pele did dominate a super league called the World Cup, winning 3 times and scoring 3 goals and 3 assists in 2 finals.

Not taking anything away from Messi's achievements, but it is what it is.

randomperson:
Messi would have survived the tackles. Messi started his football in South America where they play football like thugs... he has also faced Ramos, Pepe and the entire Atletico Madrid defence multiple times

Besides, one of Messi's greatest abilities is the ability to ride tackles

Btw, Maradona played in the 80s and 90s when football rules were already somewhat developed. I can as well say that Maradona would not have survived what Pele survived in the 70s, therefore Pele is greater

Defending was it its best in the 80s and early 90s. I am a Pele fan and appreciate his achievements but prior to the mid to late 60s teams did not really pay much attention to defending in numbers or setting low blocks or organizational defending.

The defending in the 50s and early to mid 60s was mainly individual and physical rather than systemic and tactical. There is a reason why we have several all time great forwards and midfielders from the 30s, 40, 50s like Meazza, Matthews, Leonidas, Ademir, the Magic Magyars e.t.c but no/few all time great defenders.

From the 70s to the 80s to the early 90s we had a combination of the physicality of the era of Pele and the tactical discipline of the modern era. Defenders will mark with intelligence and excellent organization and still kick you senseless in the process. Also that was the last time defenders were chosen purely because of their ability to lockdown and prevent goals and not partly for their footballing ability.

The most difficult time to be an attacking player in football was in the 80s and early 90s.

odizeey:
Well, I did not say so. I was only bringing out the point of context and media narrative. I never sided with daily mail.

Cool. No shaking.

odizeey:
Sometimes you just look these things and let it pass.

If you talk they say you are a Pogba fan.

Media put it out there recently that Rashford bought two luxury houses yet he claims to feed the poor. If you don't put things into context you follow their narrative.

So because he feeds the poor he should live in face me i face you? Or you want him to use all his money to feed the poor so he can join the poor?

Abeg let us kill this Messi won't score 30 goals rubbish. Someone who at his peak was scoring 43, 46, 50 goals in Liga somehow won't score the 30 goals that them Kane, Salah and co dey score.

The problem is people here like to buttress their points with ridiculous exaggerations. You can defend your point that Messi is not the G.O.A.T without entering the realm of comedy.

Ibime:
Be that as it may, there were many players around during 2004-2006 that were highly respected but he floored them all like Maradona floored all from 86-88.

Not even R9 was that dominant cos Del Piero was keeping up with R9 on domestic stage while Zidane managed to steal his glory on International stage.

Nobody considered Del Piero R9’s mate.

96-98. R9 came 1st, 1st, 2nd in WPOTY including a World Cup final and Golden ball.

2004 -2006 Ronaldinho came 1st, 1st, 3rd including a World Cup flop.

R9 was more dominant in my opinion. A true force of nature.

Ibime:
Sacrilege to put Ronaldinho in the same sentence with the other three when talking of prime.

2004-2006, Ronaldinho was the most dominant generational talent since Maradona in 86-88. No one was competing with him.

This is not really indicative of their quality in comparison to other all time greats though. It is all about time and chance.

If Ronaldinho played in the Messi/CR7 era he might not have any ballon d’Or.

pamcode:
There is a question I would like to ask, it has been coming up on Twitter a lot this days. Based on their prime and overall careeer between Kaka and Muller, Ronaldinho and Neymar who is the better player.

Cc Ibime Nihilistjnr Pkasso Roland17 Raumdeuter Unlimited22 Popizaino. And others I didn't mention pls comment.

Which Muller?

E better be Gerd Muller o cos e no fit be Thomas Muller you dey compare with Ronaldinho.

Edit: I have seen your explanation.

Ronaldinho’s peak over Neymar’s. Neymar had the potential to surpass him but combination of playing in the Messi/CR7 era and also going to play in a monkey post league like French league has wrecked his chances.

Kaka is a better footballer than Muller and is more likely to singlehandedly decide a match but injuries wrecked him in his prime. Muller had had the better career overall.

melodyogonna:
Be like this guy has a weird fetish, dribbling goalkeepers.

It is easier to score with an empty net. Getting the net empty is the hard part.

Ibime:
Is it the GGG fight or the stabbing that slowed him down?

Golovkin did. He was undefeated before he moved up 2 weight classes to fight prime Golovkin who mashed him up and broke his right eye socket and almost blinded him.
Next fight prime Errol Spence broke his left eye socket.

It all started from Golovkin. That fight made no sense.

KingAlabi:
Can Pogba play as our holding midfielder(not defensive oh), he did well playing that position for France against Portugal, then Fred plays as the box to box, we sure will need he sweet passes.

1) International football is slower than EPL. Nobody closed him down with the speed and consistency you will find in the EPL.

2) He had 2 capable men in Kante and Rabiot (who was excellent by the way) beside him.

3) Pogba has always played differently for France. He rarely holds on to the ball unduly or dribble in dangerous areas. I believe this is because with Mbappe and Griezmann he knows he is not the main player and can be discarded if he messes up. It is the main man craze of fans like weedtaker that has contributed to his struggles with us.
Play him in a high quality team where he is not the leader or best player and he will flourish.

Oasis007:


....... And the top Guns in the Military are from which Region?! Like I said Yesterday, apparently nothing is possible in Nigeria.

You don't have to be the top gun to successfully execute it.

Oasis007:
If we can use same #EndSARS Zeal, Commitment in 2023, I am a bit sure we can retire the Oldies without Rawlings Protocol.

I wish you all the best. Me don log out.

Oasis007:


Doc.... It can't work in Nigeria, coz Corruption ain't limited to People in Power only.

You think it was different in Ghana? Why do many Nigerians go abroad and work for 20-30 yrs in private and public sector with clean records but come home and become corrupt? Lack of accountability. No repercussion or consequences for their crimes when they are back home.

Corruption started from the top in Nigeria and if it will be cured it should also be cured from the top. If a group of young detribalized officers can delete the last 2 or 3 generations of politicians and generals that ruined the country it will start the long road back.