₦airaland Forum

Leyqute:
Afrodoc are you following Garner at Watford? He’s played a couple of games this season already. Saw his performance in one of those and he seems to be on the right track.

He doesn’t shy from responsibility and isn’t afraid to pass the ball forward. There’s still room for improvement through. Hope he gets more games.

Yeah i have been following him. He has not done too badly but i am not seeing anything special from him yet. He does not shy from responsibility but he still seems to lack confidence in his abilities. Playing in the Championship he should be able to dominate and express himself more if he intends to make it at United. He needs game time and gym time.

TrebleChamp:
abi make me sef transfer to our youth team section, seem the lad dey try give us joy

Membership don nearly full o. You have to apply while there is space.

Nezzjnr:
This is for the under 23 fans na

What about my under 18

To be fair. 8 of the starters were 18 or below and the average age was about 18.

For youth team fans our under-23s played a 3-3 draw with Assanals under-23 but our team was on average 2 yrs younger than theirs.

TalabiAudu:
Omo

Ziyech Pulisic Havertz will run riots

Riot ko, protest ni.

nihilistjnr:
This Godfrey guy wey no sabi.

What a debut.

I thought he was a CB sef

He is a CB. Mane fit use am shine.

Panther7:
I think Guardiola system is making people believe that you have to be left footed on play on the left side of the defence.
That's a myth and not totally true, although left footed players have a slight advantage the difference isn't that significant.
VVD plays on the left side of the defence and he isn't left footed, Koulibaly also, Vidic, Pique the list goes on. We have more right footed players in the world than left footed.
The case with Maguire is that he is too slow even at Leicester he played on the left. The truth is Maguire's ball playing abilities are overrated just like John stone's.

You don't have to be left footed but it helps, and a right footed player like Maguire who is struggling on the left would most likely do better on the right. In Maguire's case it is even made more obvious by his refusal to use his left foot while playing LCB. Pique, VVD, Vidic even John Terry were willing to use their left foot to pass or launch the ball when necessary.
Having said that i agree that Maguire's ball playing abilities are overrated.

DontBullshitMe:
I wholeheartedly agree with your submission but we should be very careful of what we wish for in our various commentaries for the betterment of this country.

Firstly, I want to point out the fact that the liberty to even protest in the first place was guaranteed by strong democratic reforms and institutions we have in this country. It is then unfair to use the same platform that permits public demonstrations to destroy the core institutions that guarantees it.

I don't know what revolution means to you so I don't know how to carefully respond to your post.

There are 2 major definitions for Revolution ;

revo·lu·tion AW [revolution revolutions] BrE [ˌrevəˈlu:ʃn] NAmE [ˌrevəˈlu:ʃn] noun
1. countable, uncountable an attempt, by a large number of people, to change the government of a country, especially by violent action

If this is what you opine that the average Nigerian is scared to effect, then I'm afraid they are taking the right decision. Why should the change of government of a country be through violent action when there are democratic and legitimate means to make that happen? Even at that, it is a very huge gamble as you can end up creating another revolution elitist cabal who will be worse off.

Nigeria is an African country that is still evidently divided along ethnic lines. Before you know it, war and conflict profiteers are already here supplying arms to an ethnic group to overcome the others and see to it that they are the majority in the future political ruling class.

2). countable a great change in conditions, ways of working, beliefs, etc. that affects large numbers of people

This second definition of revolution is what I wholeheartedly subscribe to. Nigerians, as a group of people need to effect a revolutionary change of thought process and pattern. At this point in Nigeria history, it is evident that a change in our beliefs and values are the necessary changes and revolution we need.

Occupying major roads can get the attention of the leaders but after that what next ?

2019 was just a year ago, People queued behind APC and PDP and dismissed other parties because they are not popular enough and cannot win elections. How laughable!? Now you are occupying major roads and highway demanding for good governance. There is a periodic 4 year accountability check for every political post through elections. Take that route.

Finally, I have always supported ASUU, NMA and NLC when they go on strike. They are fighting a good cause.

You have made some good points, however i have to make a number of clarifications.

1) I am not advocating violent action. Protests can be organized and change can be effected without resorting to violence. Also as you have noted revolutions are not inherently violent by nature. It just depends on the actions and reactions of the principal actors on both sides.

2) I was not even debating the merits or demerits of the protests. All i am saying is that the tendency of Nigerians to think of self rather than group and to think short term rather than long term means that civil actions like this are often not fully supported by the masses after the initial stage of excitement. Once it starts to bite each person in the pocket or people start to individually suffer the repercussions in terms of inconvenience, arrests, or suffering our fervor invariable fizzles out.

Now to address your point about elections. The people have tried that route every 4 years for the last 20yrs and things keep getting worse. The political class has established a syndicate which scams the people no matter who you vote in and most people are now disillusioned with the process.

Also the existence of democracy does not in any way negate the need for a revolution or reform. It is good governance that does that. Good governance is not the same as democracy. The people have chosen democracy only because it is the most reliable tool of achieving good governance (Even though Socrates disagreed with this). Democracy is only the vehicle. Good governance is the destination.

As long as good governance remains a dream and not reality the people's aspirations will always draw them towards reform (and revolution if need be). The people have been forced to take the recent actions because of the failure of our democracy in providing good governance, and if our democracy continues to fail us a day will come in which a critical mass of the people will be moved to remove those who have made themselves masters of their fellow citizens.

DeadPresidents:
Make I do like say I no see wetin you do there

You just ghost the ladyboy

No loud it.

weedtaker:
Even if he plays RCB I don’t think it would improve, he just knows how to carry the ball, I’ll give him that, but his passing is just there.

Blind was the best passer we have had at CB since Rio, makes you wonder what Jose was thinking when he sold blind and bought Lindelöf as his replacement. Lol.. I know our board are useless but our managers seff the mad.

Blind was definitely an excellent passer but at times he struggled with the physicality of the EPL and i understand JM letting him go because he is just so different from the typical JM CB.

In all fairness though Lindelof that was touted as this hard man Scandinavian defender has turned out to be as weak as Blind ever was, so maybe the scouts misled JM.

weedtaker:
he’s not a numbers man though, and if that report is true then he’s mad. Bruno will always be the AM cuz he’s the definition of what a “numbers man” should be.

Put Bruno and Pogba in a 4 3 3 and use Main man as a LCM, Bruno as a RCM.

Bruno will still out score and out assist him. Pogba might be the better player, but Bruno will be the more effective and productive midfielder.

This is the simple solution to playing both Pogba and Bruno. Switch to 4-3-3 and use one holding midfielder behind them. It will even help our pressing game as 4-3-3 is better suited to pressing than 4-2-3-1.

At least this formation should be tested before people conclude that they can't function well together.

weedtaker:
Lindelöf and Bailly are even better on the ball than Maguire.

Waste of funds, I always knew he was not as good as the media portrayed him, even before and after the World Cup, I knew he was never that good.

I can't really disagree with this. Last season when i was criticizing his use of the ball many people here were defending him. I believe his passing and general use of the ball would be better if he was playing RCB though cos like the rest of them he is not left footed even though he deceived people into believing he was comfortable playing LCB.

SirAce:
Doctors in the house, I’ve been experiencing cold every morning for 2 weeks now. I’ve gone for test, They said Typhoid, I’ve treated it but I still get cold every morning Any ideas?

You should go to a proper doctor who applies current guidelines and best practices. Most likely you do not have Typhoid fever which is often over-diagnosed in Nigeria because of the misleading testing method most labs/hospitals use.

elrony:
I do earnestly hope it gets sustained and not sabotaged. It's been commendable so far.

If the protests are sustained then the demands must be upgraded. Mere police reform is not enough. It might take 50 more years before people can come together like this again. The people must seize the day and strike while the iron is hot.

This is possibly a singular opportunity to effect positive change, but unfortunately i don't think we as a people have it in us to do the needful.

MRTA7:
He also suffered the John Stones hype effect. Him being an English CB that's a little comfortable on the ball immediately means he's hyped beyond reason. Not all his fault, they have seen Smalling trying to progress with the ball at his feet.

Kai. Smalling that kicks the ball as if he is kicking car tire. I was waiting to see Maguire's much lauded passing range only to see basic passes that continental CBs make on the regular, and he spends 7 days and 7 nights on the ball before making the pass.

BlueRayDick:
Funny enough, when I was growing up that was how our parents, uncles and aunts complain once any Oshiomole-led NLC's protests stretches more than 3 to 4 days......Then these aforementioned relatives later come out to complain how the same Oshiomole compromised and join the political elite.

Shebi na when people appreciate wetin u dey do for them u go think of standing Ur ground against the powers that be..

These people complaining of how the protesters block the road will still be the one to try and taunt the protesters that they never achieved anything. Honestly Nigerians deserve the leaders they have.

That is the Nigerian spirit. We are by nature a selfish and shortsighted lot. I am a student of history and i have seen so many governments and oppressive political systems toppled by the masses but i have never once thought that such was possible in Nigeria.

It is in Nigeria that teachers or doctors will go on strike and the majority of the people will be attacking them both online and offline without establishing what the root cause of the matter is.. It was one such event almost a decade ago that made me give up on the country and find my square root.

TrebleChamp:
Agree it's from a troll but is the statement wrong? Maguire was one of Leicester City best player and also did well at the world cup, so when could have gone wrong in just a little over one year?

Maguire was always suspect.

The mental pressure of playing at United is different from the mental pressure of playing at Leicester. And going by his response to his court case he is mentally fragile.

The difficulty level for a slow and fat CB to play with a low block like in Leicester is different from playing in a much higher block like at United.

The exposure level when playing with an energetic and quick DM like Ndidi as your screen is different to when playing with slow Matic as your screen.

He is not a crap defender but he is definitely not as good as advertised to us. Definitely not worth 80m.

The pushback against the protests is the reason why the Nigerian people will continue to suffer at the hands of our heartless leaders.

We are not united enough, courageous enough, or indeed selfless enough to see a grassroots/popular revolution to its logical conclusion.

People have started complaining about how their individual lives are being affected and are taking a short term view rather than thinking long term and putting the objectives of the group ahead of their individual goals.

Most grass-root revolutions develop organically and often spontaneously so it does not really matter what the initial aims and demands were, the people have a right to demand more and more from their leaders (who are meant to be servants of the people not masters).

Eminently notable examples of this are the French and American Revolutions in which the initial demands were minor but the ultimate changes were seismic.

Even more recent popular protests/uprisings globally have often started from what initially seemed to be a trivial matter. A good example is the Arab Spring’s origin in Tunisia. What makes it even more ironic is that many of these regimes and governments committed far less crimes against their people than the Nigerian political class before their people united to kick them out.

This is in no way castigatory about any specific person. Everyone has a right to support or oppose the protesters. Rather it is a commentary on the Nigerian psyche and why it is almost impossible to effect real and permanent change based on civilian protests alone.

iamoyindamola:
Bros forget that thing, she's not bold enough

The bold and the beautiful.

The SARS that people promised us only sniffed fear and would kowtow when you are bold, is it the same SARS that the same people have been lamenting and shedding crocodile tears about?

This life na mystery.

weedtaker:
, I just realized we are playing PSG next week, Ole go lose Newcastle, only to batter PSG 3-0.

What will be will be. If you have a tactically deficient manager it is either sack him or you support him to max in the transfer market. This sitting on the fence attitude by the board will only end in tears for the fans.

GloryIsaac:
Doc, this is about to turn into a merry-go-round of arguments, and that’s very stressful.

Football comes first. All I care about is a good on-pitch performance, everything else is secondary.

Exactement. Moi aussi.

Let us criticize on field performances and leave social activism alone.

GloryIsaac:
Where in my post did I insinuate that?

So why do you care about it?

GloryIsaac:
I don’t care what these guys do online as long as it does not tarnish the club’s image.

What matters is that this club gave them the platform to do whatever they’re currently doing, so it’s logically right that they perform well for the club.

So is his social activism tarnishing the club's image? LOL

weedtaker:
you’re still wrong for criticizing Black Ronaldo’s off field activities for his loss of form.

Dis was dsame thing with Pogba where people think instagram is making him to play rubbish.

Lol you had to bring your main man into the convo.

At least Pogba didn’t break his back.

Leaving the back issue to blame social activism na him strange to me.

GloryIsaac:
Hope you don’t see this question as an attack of sorts.

If your child is not performing well in school, how will you react when you see him on his phone heavily involved in a social justice war?

Will you clap for him (while your money goes down the drain in fees) for his fight against the evils of the society?

Or will you reprimand him?

Apples and oranges. Wrong analogy.

The schools I went to most of your study time is after school hours. You spend several hours a day reading books and studying for tests so there is a direct correlation between not studying hard I.e spending time on social media and failing your exams.

Football is different. They don’t have hundreds of pages to study after hours or dozens of assignments and projects to submit. Unless you can prove that Rashford is missing training and team meetings because of his social activism you have no point here.

Because you and i know that the time Rashford is spending on his social projects (which is not team time by the way) other players are spending it chasing slay queens on instagram.

GloryIsaac:
It is not the same.

If you don’t blame his poor form on his activism what is the point of bringing up his social activism then?

Cos if you agree that his activism is not the cause of his problems then that means you agree that stopping his activism won’t cure his problems as well.

So what is the point of him stopping his activism if his problem of poor form will continue?

GloryIsaac:
And before the agenda begins, I wish to make it clear that no one is absolving OGS of any blame here. He also has a huge part to play in this mess that we find ourselves in.

OGS is tactically poor. Haters and fans agree on this i believe.

GloryIsaac:
Exactly.

It was his excellence in his primary place of responsibility that gave him this platform he is currently riding on.

No one has a problem with that. We just want to see that excellence continue.

At least when we scream “Black Ronaldo”, we can back it up with facts, not sentiments.

So you mean if he becomes less socially conscious his form would miraculously return?

I really want to know why there is so much emphasis on it?

Do you think he lost form because of his social activism?
Or do you think he lost form because of a bad injury that can be difficult to recover from?

GloryIsaac:
Nobody blamed social activism. Also, no one will blink at his social activity if he was doing well on the field.

He is not being paid £200,000/wk for social brouhaha. He’s being paid that much to play football and actually deliver.

No matter how passionate anybody is about social justice, underperformance in the place of work will attract a sanction, and possibly, a dismissal.

Then criticize his game without bringing his social activism into it. Mentioning it the way you and others keep doing is the same as blaming his struggles on his activism.

Is he that you want him to help the less privileged when he is playing well and stop helping them every time he loses form or what?

Wan Bissaka, Maguire, Lindelof, Pogba and the baba of them all De Gea (who lost form for 2 yrs plus) have all struggled for form without being social activists.
The 2 should not be connected.

And your statement about what he is being paid to do is strange. Did Ole or United board DM you that Rashford was on strike or refusing to train?

Or is it that you expect him to go home and lock himself up in a box after games since that is all he is paid to do?

Meanwhile I would like to ask of all those people protesting in Nigeria now if that is their main job that they are being paid for.

He has a right to be socially and political conscious like every one of us, and whether he is good or bad at his job should not come into play.

If you can prove that he lost form because he is helping poor kids rather than because he broke his spine then you would have a point.

DeadPresidents:
Oasis, die it

Even if Rashford closes his Twitter and stops activism, nothing will change. His problems are physical not mental detachment from his duties.

P.S: His media and brand is managed by a Roc Nation appointed manager so it is not even a time-intensive vocation.

Please tell them. A player "coincidentally" loses form after returning from a broken bone in his back but they are blaming social activism (which he was also doing when on form though).