₦airaland Forum

Techu:
The only player I pity in the Barca Midfield for now is Pablo Gavi.. that is outside Casado.

Xavi used him well enough but don't know what flick is doing with him.

We ain't even considering him as a Midfield option.

I know he had an injury. I know. But now he needs to comeback ASAP and starts fighting for his place in that team.

We have alota options in Midfield, I mean a lot and he cannot afford to go the whole season without ball.

I don't know why he hasn't gotten the necessary medical clearance needed.

He is a player I love so much and his energetic style of play in this highline would help alot.

He cannot go the whole season at the sidelines,, a minute or two would do.

Gavi is too adaptable to suffer. If he's back and fully fit. Aside Casado who's already a centre back in Eric Garcia, Olmo is the one who'll suffer because Gavi brings, control, chaos, duelling etc. He can play AM, DM, CM, RM, LM. I'm pretty sure he can do a job at RB.

Normal level, a fully fit Gavi should send Dejong to Dutch league where he belongs.

abduleez1:
I think Casado spoiled his chances with Flick with his performance in the last two matches.
It's painful to see but, it's looking downhill from here.

You can't blame Casado too much. His problem is a combination of psychological and skill issues. I've explained that Dejong is the better player overall but as a DM, he beats Dejong. Ability wise, for Casado, no matter his performance, a single mistake or slight deep in form, and he'll find himself behind better players in Pedri, Dejong, Bernal, Garcia and even Olmo for the CM/DM position.

Last season when Casado was doing fine, immediately Dejong was fit, he was dropped to the bench. This happened after Barca lost to Leganes or Sociaeda last season. Dejong can drop stinker after stinker and will still start next game. Casado does not have that kind of luxury. No matter what he does, he'll never be first choice CM/DM at Barca. He knows this too deep down. He's like Sergi Roberto.

Verdict: He needs to leave!

FBS:
Really surprised no one picked me in the Starboy league. Shows you nobody sabi football
Boy is really enjoying himself so far

Lol...

Yeah, he's playing like a complete forward...

raumdeuter:
For where. He was never this good for Frankfurt at least. He don see useless division 9 league to dey shine

AdisaOwala

He's moving like Benzema right now.

Ekitike is really enjoying this league sha. Was he ever this good in Bundesliga and French lig? May be nah maturity.

patrickmuf:
Lewy makes it 4...

Pedri eh...chai...⭐ ⭐ ✨

jpmoriarti:
FdJ is injured. Please allow him to recover in peace. He's not playing today.

But I agree with you. Marc Bernal was excellent in his debut before he had the ACL. We all know the quality he can bring especially in that no 6 position. He just needs to find more consistency.

👍 👍

Kilishihunter:
Na every day you must get problem with FDJ 😂😂 But I somewhat agree with you on some things sha

Dejong no Sabi play midfield abeg.

@JP

What Bernal(19) was doing(tactical fouls, simple pass to relive pressure, duelling, staying and protecting the back 4, not crashing nonsense box) especially in the first half and what Pedri just did to Yamal is what midfield work is all about. No be by twisting and turning.

patrickmuf:
He is giving Pepe a lot of space to do his thing.

Cancelo won't survive Pepe ooo. He'll enter second half Vs Pepe and you'll see why Flick opted for Balde.

patrickmuf:
Kounde and Balde have really regressed.

Lack of competition for both especially Kounde.

Balde is doing well Vs Pepe. Because if nah Cancelo dey mark this Pepe, e for don red for Barca.

patrickmuf:
This Kounde is an idiot.

That guy under a coach like Enrique would've been sold or chop better bench by now. Man is so out of sync lol 😂 😂

Kimbeast:
You are underestimating Newcastle. They are a perfect team to punish Barca highline. That's actually a very tight game.

Look at what Villarreal is doing the highline at Nou Camp. It's not that hard to break it bruv. Even Enyimba can absolutely wreck it.

Leyqute:
Their second win of the season. And against their local rivals who are actually doing well. If you see the way they celebrated that win eh?

I reiterate their position on the log does not reflect their performance. They're far stronger than that weak Derby county team.

Greenodds:
Nonsense both the US and Iran presidents are evil people ruining the lives of millions of good people.

D e a t h to all terrorists and their sympathisers sha

D e a t h to all terrorists

seunmsg:
Why is Israel bombing Iran unprovoked? Why can’t Israel just allow peace to reign in the region? Is this what Israel intends to do forever? A chaotic region that is perpetually at war?

You think this is Nigerian politics where propaganda is the order of the day abi? Keep playing, keep crying. Iran should retaliate, I really wanna confirm something

iamoyindamola:
Cap addict

Lol 🤣🤣🤣🤣

Kimbeast:
You are underestimating Newcastle. They are a perfect team to punish Barca highline. That's actually a very tight game.

I'm not underestimating them at all. Every team is perfect to punish Barca's highline. Club Bruge did, Monaco did, Girona, Sevilla. It's not that hard. But the reality is that Barca will prefer this draw to PSG every single time.

So if Barca cannot beat Newcastle then they don't deserve to be here. That's my opinion.

Kilishihunter:
Commenters on X are literally saying arsenal is already in the final plus Newcastle and maybe tico are not pushovers either so how are they helping Barça

Arsenal is the only issue there. Check the other bracket and see how tough it is for any of Chelsea, Madrid, City, Bayern and PSG to win.

If Barca cannot beat Newcastle then they deserve to be playing in the Europa league.

Sportsweb:
Arsenal don win UCL o

Ijostwantto:
how is facing new castle easier?

The other option was PSG so yeah JP is correct.

For two seasons in a row, UEFA is doing everything in their power to get Barca in the UCL final.

jpmoriarti:
You can't really be serious now bro. We need our best players in crucial time of the season and FdJ is one of our best players this season. I don't see the advantage of losing a crucial player at this period where we have so many important run of games.

Brother man you know very well that I'm definitely serious lol. Barca will huddle past the last 16 without him. He'll be back in the quarter finals to knock Barca out. Bookmark this!!!

Awesome01:
His absence may just bring a better cohesion and solidity to that midfield. Gavi is coming back stronger than before ( I hope) to partner Pedri.
And we have the Marc's (Bernal & Casado) to back them up.

The injury may just work in Barca's favour.

Statistics have shown that in big games where Dejong was available to play, Barca were either knocked out or thrashed. Nobody wants any player to be injured but I can put it to you that his injury is simply ADVANTAGE BARCA!

I'm not talking about games Vs Levante and co. I mean games that matter like in UCL.

Which friend lol

Just telling us you want a 500k biz idea and we'll pour them in...

Only viable biz is POS or if you're in Akwaibom, invest in ogoggoro(Kai Kai)

Debroslink:
But what really concerns Chelsea fans with our DM?

Air.mark was here criticising Busquets for years but I stood my ground and proved to him that our DM's role is not gidigbo style but intelligence from the deep.

But you see this FDJ ehn, I cannot defend him in any way.

jpmoriarti:
So, it is now a crime for a midfielder to make a late run into the box and score a goal? If it were another player or your Moise Caicedo, you would have been praising them to the high heavens. But once it is the the Dutch man, you'd say he lacked positional discipline.

No matter how you want to spin it, I won't berate a midfielder for venturing forward into the box, when he spotted an opportunity and scored a goal for the team and the team didn't lack in the areas he should be contributing.

Twisting my word will not help though. Crashing the box as a defensive midfielder in this system is a recipe for disaster. Whether you like believe but when it matters, Barca will be knocked out and I'll be here to remind you like I always do.

....and yes, Dejong shouldn't be crashing the box. Why didn't he crash Vs Chelsea, PSG and Madrid and even Tico? There were enough players in the box to score vs Levante. His job is to stay one place and sweep up danger like Thiago, Busquet and even Eric Garcia did. Make I no talk again . PSG or Newcastle awaits. Make e go crash box against PSG I want check something lol 😂😂

jpmoriarti:
De Jong was more of a CM in that game, same role Pedri plays. Marc Bernal was more of the DM in the formation. And yes, both of these players scored in that game and we kept a clean sheet.

If we can't try this out against a lowly Levante, where do you think we can try it?

All I am saying is that I accept the risk and the consequences of playing the Hansi Flick's way. Most times it works a treat and some others, not so much. Finding the balance is the key here, I guess.

I watched only first half before switching to the Arsenal game. We saw different things then because when I watched especially in the first half, Dejong was playing the deepest (DLP, DM) with Bernal playing the Pedri role.


That aside, Dejong lacks discipline as a defensive midfielder. Almost comical!

jpmoriarti:
This is Hansi Flick system. High risk. High reward. See how many players we have inside the opponent's box against Levante including our two defensive midfielders.

We scored from here after Cancelo's excellently crossed the ball to Frenkie de Jong to score.

Assuming the cross was poor and the opponent regained possession, they'd launch a fierce counter attack and we've been very exposed to stop it.

This is why I don't go bunkers when things go wrong because I know the system the team is implementing. It is easy to praise when it goes well and easy to criticise when things don't go well.

That image is why no UCL for Barca. Was it not the same system Thiago disciplined himself and won UCL for Flick? What is Dejong doing inside the box as a DM at this minute/sequence of the game? You think that's the instructions? When Eric was DM, how many clean sheets did Barca keep and did you see him crashing the box in this kind of situation?

Will Busquet under Flick be doing that and leaving his team exposed for counter as a DM? Go and check what Flick said when Eric was playing DM and Dejong on the bench. That'll give you a better picture on what I've been telling you about how/why he's uncoachable.

Flick clearly said that Eric provided more security, he'll never say that with Dejong. A DM must be disciplined and most of his goals should be from set piece, penalties and goals from outside the box not crashing the box in sequence like this and leaving his team exposed for a counter....

patrickmuf:
Van Der Vaart and not my legend.

Chai....my bad 🤦🤦

Make I no lie, I was skeptical when I saw it because Van Der Sar isn't known for saying controversial things but I don't know why my mind went to him. May be because he's more popular and achieved more. I no look well sha.

Mtweww so nah this clown that goes about saying things just to trigger reactions.

Called Saka overrated, said Rice isn't worth 100m, had issues with the way Yamal wears his shorts, said EPL isn't all that, said Haaland isn't a world class player and recently had a spat with Ronaldo and that one tell am say...."Who's that guy, I don't know him"

Now he's calling this absolute bum the best midfielder in the world lol...😂

jpmoriarti:
It is a blatant low level refereeing we're witnessing this season in Laliga. Spanish referees were supposed to get better, just like other league's like EPL, but they just got worse. They get all big decisions wrong and only one team seem to get favor after favor.

I read yesterday that after the Real Madrid TV hounded referees since last season, calls went 15% up in their favor while the rest of Europe remained at 7-9%, which was the norm.

They've admitted mistake in the game Barca lost Vs Girona. But the damage has already been done. They'll make another error and still apologize. If Barca opens up a 5 points gap, it'll be closed immediately by errors in which they'll still apologize lol...