₦airaland Forum

elrony:
What else describes a sterile AM than this scenario?

Actually it is only Rogerio Ceni who has more career goals than Iniesta. If that is all you need to label him sterile it is crucial to know that the list of midfielders with less career goals than Ceni include other "sterile, visionless mugus" like Manuel Rui Costa, Zvonomir Boban, Robert Prosinecki, Thomas Hassler, Paul Gascoigne even the sainted Xavi Hernande and an all time great Zidane.

Just saying you can use stats in any direction you choose and saying Rogerio Ceni has more goals than an outfield player isn't saying much.

dopeJemi:
And pogba hasn't? Does anybody just pop in the world's best 11? And to think he's only 23, by the time pogba is done with his career, it will be an abomination to mention fabregas in the same sentence with pogba

Correct me if i'm wrong but i dont think fabregas has ever been compared with the best midfielders in the world and even labelled as one of the best midfielders in the world

Nihilist is reasonable about all things NOT RELATED TO MAN UTD. You can't convince on this topic.
Having said that one has to be cautious about making projections about footballers potential. Fab was probably the most intelligent and mature teenage midfielder I ever saw and because of that many would say he underachieved despite all his success.

Evra my all time United left back.
We don't really need him and he was shot by the time he left the EPL. He still has more pace than Blind though ,it's the stamina and recovery ability that has dissipated.

ChristineC:
haha I hope you know the baggages that come with a 3rd wife?

Dear you don't worry about that.
You will all be in different continents. Kawa sa ma goal, kiwo sa ma keep o.

dopeJemi:
E dey pain me say this Christine don marry, see brain and face

You are late to the party young one.
I hate polygamy but if she gree I go make am my 3rd wife.

Personally I have liked Pogba ever since he,Ravel and Tunnicliffe were running things in the youth team.I have nothing against him personally and I am happy he is now playing better.
Having said I still maintain that had that money been spent more intelligently we would be better off this season in terms of performance, points and position and better off in the future as well.

Despite spending all that money on midfield we are still severely handicapped when a geriatric Carrick does not play. There are more effective ways to strengthen your midfield IMO and I have touched on this before.

In terms of Pogba's performance specifically using the "system" as an excuse is a very easy route to take.
This was an expected top class midfielder making the conscious effort to deny overlapping team mates the ball repeatedly while he indulged in his latest fancy step over trick. This was a guy looking to shoot almost every time he got within 40 meters of the opponents goal and passing the ball only after that route had been blocked by which time his passing opportunities would have been limited.

raumdeuter:
There can only be a few best of all time, While Buffon will go down as one of the best of all time, a VDS or Cech will go as one of the best of his time. Yet you can compare them within the time frame they played

Terry the best of No time.

Lol i don hear una. I no dey involved in your John Terry debate cos i am not sure where to really rate the guy, your Boateng on the other hand is a pretender and dive/flop artist

A-40 has a point, maybe its cos i rate Kahn highly and Barthez not so much hence i believe there is a definite difference in class between the 2 of them.

A40:
This is such a Captain Obvious statement to make. Is it beans for a rookie goalie to keep a clean sheet in a CL Final against the best team in Europe? He was faultless and was a key cog in that lineup.

Secondly. What are my theories of greatness? Which one did Barthez not meet? The list of people wey don try and fail to rope me for corner is quite long.

The Kahn and Barthez argument is moot. But was Barthez amongst the finest keepers of his generation. Hell yeah. The awards and trophies highlight this lucidly

Barthez was one of the best in his time, Kahn was one of the best of all time. Big difference.
Not a big deal sha just here to defend the reputation of Der Titan

A40:
The same Barthez that shut out il grande Milan as a youngie when he won the CL at Marseille?

A Milan team with Van Basten, Massaro and even their best player Papin that Milan took from same Marseille

Chic2pimp you better apologize.

That clean sheet had a lot to do also with the Marseille defence of big head Basile Boli and Marcel Desailly with Deschamps shielding them, not mainly Barthez.
Barthez was a talented shot stopper yes, but he was not Oliver Khan's mate.
Don't let your previous arguments and theories of greatness rope you into a corner

Ass-anal fans too are talking? LMAO.
Everybody on this forum should just pause and go back in time to May 2004 and try and recall what stage in life they were at that point THE LAST TIME ARSENAL WON THE LEAGUE.

A40:
[b]Ronda went Hollywood. [/b]The calibre of female fighters went up several notches but it seems she was the last to know. She needs to come out of her Queen Bee cocoon join an MMA gym and spar with hungry and upcoming girls who would push her to her limit. Her conditioning and prep for that fight was laughable. Who is her striking coach? He should be shot for turning her or perhaps leaving her to be a one-trick pony

I think that is the koko. Not that she never had the quality but that she somehow lost the aggression, drive and hunger that led her to the top.
But something i have noticed over the last year especially in the big fights is that striking seems to be having a greater impact in the fights now and submission seems to be slowly taking a back seat.

raumdeuter:
If all teams start at zero today I will still believe Chelsea with rake in more points than the others ad win the league

Conte has a formula many EPL coaches cant figure out for now, How many teams will have the talent of SPurs and expertize of Pochetinno to counter them before May? With Costa also pulling out nuts from the fire.

1. The best challenger, Liverpool, that team is too fragile and like we know its all one thing attack till opponent give up. Chelsea has proven they can handle bizniz on both end of the field unlike Liverpool. Also Liverpool without Mane and a fully fit Coutinho in attack for the next few games looks like Sturridge might be back to his main job(Hospital patient) Do you really trust Origi, Lallana, Firmino and Wijnadum to carry the attack by themselves and those Klavan Matip and co to shut out?

The other contenders all have this not so small matter of European games which will be starting soon. City, Arsenal, Spurs and Manure start European campaign very soon. Play weekend, travel midweek, come weekend to play again. When Mourinho/Pep/Poch/Wenger and co are travelling from Hull to Europe then back to Leicester. Conte is having 7 days to book spa, olosho and sir kay kpolli for his players

Also looking at Chelsea this season, they steamrolled everyone not in top 4. Aside the freak Swansea result, they have only dropped points to Arsenal, Pool and Spurs all season which are understandably hard games

Their rivals have a tendency to drop point to lesser teams which Chelsea seemed to have found a solution for

If I have money, After February 4(played Arsenal and Liverpool) and Chelsea still have 2-3 points lead. I will put on Chelsea winning it with at least 2 games to spare

Money is on Chelsea to win it of course but it is not settled yet. Arsenal lost the league in 02/03 I think despite leading with 8 points in March and you can remember the famous Newcastle collapse in 95/96 when they were 10 points ahead at Christmas.
City and United are the teams best equipped to challenge Chelsea but United are too far back and Pep is under performing and underutilizing his squad.
Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs are renowned choke specialists.

raumdeuter:
No knee jerk reactions needed this team is still solid and Conte is doing great

Forget this loss, you were never going to go the whole season winning and Spurs is a great side also. So really there is nothing to see from this loss no need to over analyze and apportion unnecesary blame

Every team in the league will take a 13 game unbeaten run

At this point, Its still Chelsea league to lose, If after the Arsenal and Liverpool game by February 4, If Chelsea is still top of the table even with 1 point, I think you should go order Aso ebi for league winning celebration

For this league wey I dey see so, No team will go on 10 game streak in a row

Even when things werent going his way Conte was still shaking things around, If it wasnt Spurs you will have gotten something from the game.

No need to over analyze, just move on

The points gap is a factor in Chelsea's favour, however 7 points gap can evaporate in a month.
You don't need another team going on 10 match unbeaten run to catch up, all you need is Chelsea copping a few draws here and there and losing to the big teams.
Having said that I agree the best thing for Conte to do is keep the same formation and line up AND hope lightning does not strike twice.

Nihilist:
Nice observation doc, but you are looking at the end point. My main concern has been the origin of the chance in the first place. Afterall, if you don't concede the chance, you don't concede the goal right?

See below a chart of defensive stats for the last 13 weeks. You will notice that we are conceding more chances and crosses from the left. I'm not looking at Moses and asking why he didn't step up to nod the ball. No, I'm asking why both goals were conceded from crosess on Alonso's wing.

I'm asking why Diouf was able to cross for a Crouch tap in from that left wing last year. I'm asking why Man City very clearly targeted that left flank, and how Adama Traore was able to complete a league high of 12 successful take ons on that wing last season.

See an analysis of the second goal from F365 below


http://www.football365.com/news/tottenham-2-0-chelsea-16-conclusions


The bolded is actually what scares me. We still have to play Liverpool, City, you guys and the gooners before the season is up. Is this going to be a trend for the future?

You were here a few weeks/months ago when we were saying Alonso is a mediocre player who was being shielded by the formation.
Some fans here intoxicated by the team's successful run were defending him forgetting that a successful run by a team does not mean that ALL the players are performing. The only formation in which Alonso can function is this one but he has been found out now.

Having said that it is not all on Alonso. You cant cut out ALL crosses. For that first cross there was a miscommunication leaving your RWB keeping the opposition forwards onside. As a FB/WB you never stray behind your CB, he should be able to see your jersey number all the time. This is straight from Don Franco Baresi's rule book.

The structural problems with your line up which have been exposed are twofold.

1) Your formation is easily neutralized by an opposition with the players and quality to play a similar formation e.g 3-4-3 or 3-5-2 . Liverpool, Spurs, even United come to mind. This is why I wanted us to go with a similar formation against you guys with Valencia and Shaw as WBs.
2) You are susceptible to that right wing cross-left wing header combo cos on your left side you have your slowest player triangle of Matic-Alonso-Cahill who are too slow to cut out crosses and on your right side you have your shortest player triangle of Kante-Moses-Azpi who are too short to compete in the air.

Moses was the main culprit for the first goal.
1) He failed to react to his CBs movement thereby keeping both Alli and Kane onside.
2) After keeping them onside he was the only one that could see across the line and recognize the danger Alli posed coming from Azpi's blind side, yet he failed to react to that as well.

elrony:
Hope him go fit dey tune in to Championship by August /September?

That is why i am concerned about him. As an ex-United fan he is still in our thoughts

elrony:

You dey mind the Sunderland fan a.k.a Lee Cattermole's no 1 admirer? Mourinho is past it but Moyes is not past it?

BUT...BUT...BUT HECTOR "THE TROJAN HORSE" BELLERIN IS THE BEST RIGHT BACK IN THE LEAGUE NAH

bigkesh:
Is Baba Rahman still better than Ake

Lol who was the Chelsea fan that was claiming Rahman was better than Ake again?
Right from last season Ake was better but as Rahman cost so much he had to get priority. This is one reason why it does not pay to be a big club youth product. If Ake was from a small club he would have been bought by Chelsea for 20m and gotten the kid gloves treatment given to Rahman.

But..but Bellerin is the best right back in the league and Xhaka "the Zulu" is a midfield general.

I am just concerned about how Ruudie will cope watching Championship football when his club Sunderland gets relegated.

raumdeuter:
https://d19lga30codh7.cloudfront.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/DEALERS.jpg

LAGOS—Emotions ran high, Tuesday, at Lagos State Police Command, Ikeja, following startling revelations by suspected members of three syndicates, who specialised in selling human parts to herbalists and persons suspected to be clerics. The suspects told a bewildered crowd that human heads were sold for N8,000; hands, N4,000 and private parts N10,000.

Read more at: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2013/05/human-parts-available-live-human-n40000-hands-n4000-head-n8000/

Why are Chelsea fans this desperate nitori oloun?

UniqueGem:
Mkhi that has barely played?
Abeg we need any trophy within our reach including finishing in the top 4. We must shiit on Arsenal especially. They need a reminder of our calibre, they're forgetting too soon.

He looked tired today. Rest him for our FA Cup 3rd round match, same with Ibra. I am not interested in shiting on Arsenal, same way i am not interested in spitting on Madrid's face. The big picture is we must make top 4 this season and qualify for the champs league. FA Cup and League Cup are secondary.

We don't need FA Cup or League Cup this season, what we desperately need is to make the top 4. Ibra, Herrera and Mikki need a rest in the next game.

Nice one Riley and company. The money don reach una account surely

Nihilist:
When he comes short, he opens space behind for runners...but Lingard is a gbolo and Mkhitaryan cant control simple passes, though it doesn't help that some of the passes are under or over cooked.

Whats really annoyed me was seeing Ibra at the back stick shouting for the the cross from Darmian that never came on several occasions. Creswell is like 5'6 and Ibra is a giant...yet instead of floating the ball in for an easy nodding, Darmian elects to check in for a short pass.

Ibra is my FPL captain FFS

Na that one dey pain you. I understand about the runners but Ibra overdoes it at times. Not all situations call for runners, especially when the opponents are sitting deep in their box 18.
He called for ball and worked it to right wing, instead of heading in to the box he still stayed near that wing forcing Valencia to pass to him. He then worked the ball to left wing and proceeded to demand for the ball from Darmian again!

chrisley024:
Young for Darmian and Martial for Lingard.

Team playing like they're 3 nil up

Yeah that is a good idea, especially with Darmian on a yellow card. This Mike Dean after seeing his error at half time will want to balance things out in the 2nd half so we better yank Drmain off.
Start 2nd half with Martial and Young instead of Lingard and Darmian, and by 60mins if we have no breakthrough bring on Rashford.
AND PLEASE MOVE THE BALL FASTER AND SPREAD THE PLAY TO THE FLANKS.

Nihilist:
Ibra is just too clever for his teammates. Lingard, Darmian Valencia and to an extent Mkhitaryan are quite dull and are spoiling this game

Ibra because of his style limits his team mates sometimes. Always demanding the ball, running towards the ball instead of sprinting into the box.
This is an all round poor performance from everyone though.

So Valencia could not finish that simple tap in? This is why we are where we are, poor finishing all around!
Meanwhile everybody is playing rubbish in this game.

This Mike Dean na real olodo

T

MRTA7:
I understand it even though I would prefer Martial to start. In an away game like this. I'll expect a lot more defensive running which Lingard in more capable of and Martial can come on later in the match. West Ham away is always a very tough match for us.

Of course. And you can't expect all the players that played 2 days ago to play again today. I knew Mourinho was going to drop 1 of the wingers and i suspected it would be Martial rather than Mikki who has a higher work rate and whose performances have been more consistent of late. Anyway we have a good starting line up and have Mata, Martail and Rashford on the bench. We need these 3 points badly to keep pace with the other top teams who just keep winning.