₦airaland Forum

BlueDiva: On Twitter several footballers agreed. Reading's Noel Hunt wrote: 'I kick the ball from under my niece like that and she starts laughing she's only 2!'.

Southampton's Luke Shaw added: 'He never kicked him! He went to get the ball as I'm sure any other person in that situation would do the same thing.'

Stoke's Robert Huth chipped in with: 'Ballboys staying down injured... They'll be elbowing players off the ball next.'

And Michael Owen commented: 'Not having Hazard tried to hurt him though. He just tried to toe poke it out of his grip.'


Apparently Hazard gets support.
Trust the FA to sanction him for not being a Brit.

RuuDie: Ok. Fernando Torres didn't play, MAZACARBA did...so who are we blaming tonight!?

nitlad: I think the phrase home grown is too loosely and lazily thrown around in footballing parlance these days.

Of all the players you listed here, none of them fits the adjective 'home grown' in the true sense of it (I stand to be corrected!)
I think rose through the ranks describes this lot better, no


Football today is about the big clubs with the big bucks.
Everybody operates the same cycle!
You spot a gem or potential gem, you snap them up. Simples.
Clubs like Bayern do theirs early, while clubs like Chelsea do theirs late.


Except you show me a club with 6 players in their starting 11 as you postulated that were taken in when they were as young as 4,5,6,7,8 and whatever years old, or their footballing career began with, including youth career is with the said club.
Only such have legitimate claims to having 'home grown talent'.

ortopazz: We won o! hAPPY NEW YEAR O!
I hope y'al are watching Madrid Rise, so that when Man.u is flogged mercilessly, , i go just comot myself!

Wats up to MY MADRID FANS(only)

Ibime: http://soccernet.espn.go.com/blog/_/name/espnfcunited/id/2651?cc=5739


Universal appreciation for Lampard long overdue


There has always been something about Frank Lampard. Few footballers can divide opinion like him. For all his medals, goals and achievements, he has still spent a career being compared unfavourably to others.

Few could have predicted when Frank Lampard arrived at Chelsea that he would establish himself as one of their greatest ever players

The 1996 video that ESPNFC podcast presenter Dan Mason released to the world last week revealed that for one night only, he was considered not as good as Scott Canham, the learned opinion of one well-lubricated West Ham punter. Back then, it was Rio Ferdinand who was the "new Bobby Moore". Lampard meanwhile had 'Junior' added to his name.

His place in West Ham's team was seen as nepotism on the part of his uncle, Harry Redknapp, whose assistant happened to be brother-in-law Frank Lampard Sr, an Upton Park legend with 660 appearances for the club. The floppy-fringed attacking midfielder could do little right in the eyes of some Hammers fans, even when showing off an ability to score goals from midfield, and running his chubby legs off for the cause.

"Right to the very top," is what Uncle Harry predicted while a clearly embarrassed Lampard Jr looked on and an unconvinced audience murmured. After all, Joe Cole, three years younger, was always going to be better than him. And cousin Jamie, of Liverpool fame, had been and done it already.

Uncle Harry was nearly bang on too. In 2005, Frank Lampard, with Dad now having to put with being called "Senior", was voted the second-best player in both the Ballon d'Or and FIFA World Player of the Year. Only a high-peak Ronaldinho could talk down to him.

However, back in third in the Ballon d'Or, there was someone else. Steven Gerrard embodied everything that an English midfielder should be. He made driving runs, scored vital goals, led by example, exerted boundless energy, and had the majesty of winning in Istanbul to his name. Lampard could not match that flourish. He never scored goals quite like Stevie did.

Steven Gerrard and Frank Lampard provoked a decade of debate about their ability to play together for England

Someone at Chelsea seemed to agree, even if Jose Mourinho always spoke of Frank in the highest terms. They spent two summers trying to sign Gerrard. He was but a last-minute change of heart away from making the King's Road his footballing home. Had he done so, Lampard would surely have been the player forced to make adjustments to accommodate the new star.

By that time, one of English football's longest running and most ultimately futile debates had begun in earnest. Could Gerrard and Lampard play together for England? And if not, why not and then who must be dropped? The answer to that almost always leaned towards Lampard. Gerrard was the special one, the passion player who would drive England to glory.

Lampard's presence had already offended another camp. At Euro 2004, Sven Goran Eriksson had decided that to shoe-horn the Gerrard/Lampard axis he would play Paul Scholes on the left wing.

Even nine years ago, Scholes was no-one's idea of a fleet-footed runner of channels. Lampard the arriviste had supplanted the most singular English midfield talent of the last 20 years. Scholes took his leave of international football with Lampard handed blame, even though it was Eriksson's cowardice of selection that caused the problem.

What is it about Lampard that invited such suspicion? Why was he not cherished by those outside Stamford Bridge? Well, Lampard is a curiosity in English football. He is not the street footballer that Gerrard, Scholes, Cole or Wayne Rooney all represent, reason being that he has probably rarely played street football. Frank Sr sent him to an Essex public school, an educational world away from most of his footballing peers; none of his team-mates are likely to have an A* GCSE in Latin. Lampard is also blessed with a 150-plus IQ, in the top 0.1% of anyone, let alone footballers, which may rule out his being on the wavelength of Ashley Cole, though John Terry was said to be in the top three of the Chelsea players measured when they were tested in 2009.

Lampard's intelligence, both learned and innate, is reflected in his play, and therein lay more reasons for his not being taken to purists' hearts. English football trusts natural ability above all else. Self-made players who worked on their game to reach the top like Kevin Keegan were always regarded as lesser mortals to George Best, even if the latter's gifts were drained in the same manner he regularly demolished goblets of white wine.

When Chelsea won the Champions League, they did so through a grit and tactical intelligence that was embodied by none other than Lampard. As his previous triathlete energy levels were diminishing, he redrew his play. He retained an effectiveness to so far escape Gerrard, who until recently looked rather lost amid Brendan Rodgers' philosophies. When England exited Euro 2012 in their usual manner, passed to death by Andrea Pirlo, it was apparent that the new Lampard - missing through injury - might have been the player they missed most.

davida222: In what way??

dopeJemi: Even if man city or PSG gives Messi a cheque of 300milLion dolLars, He won't Go cuz He knows where He wilL shine(La Liga)


AlL dose mumu La Liga defenders wen dey do ajebutter 4 fieLd


Make Messi Meet peopLe Like Barton,Richards,Parker,shawcross,coLoccini etc

He go know say epL no be bread n butter

Alaba_Slim: This is not my utd i use to know...our STANDARD has fallen so BAD that we play a weak team lyk newcastle & concede 3 goals? That is not COMPETITIVENESS,our standard has simply fallen. ASK BRAZIL or CAMEROUN, wen an oga becomes poor, his maid will not mistake him 4 an orange seller
#FACTS

dopeJemi: Dayo stop dis ArguMent aLready


RonaLdo pLayed in d epL, he was d best

He went 2 d La Liga, he stilL d best der

Messi Has bin pLaying 4 barca since God knows wen unLike RonaLdo hu won d balLon D'or 4rm d epL and shud av won dis 1 2, untiL Messi pLays in d epL or in d serie A or even in d BundesLiga and he wins it again, den I'lL be convinced he deserves dis award, its Just Like studying in a schooL where deir teaching system is easy n u come first in d schooL every year and der r oda schooLs which deir teaching system is hard dat u''ve not tried 2 know if u r realLy good, Let Messi pLay in d epL or serie A and score 86 goaLs in a caLendar Year. La Liga is just 2 easy, wen madrid pLay dortmund, body telL dem na, wen barca pLay ceLtic, dem know say d scottish league n spanish League no be d same

Truth be toLd, ronaLdo deserves dis award

#1 hez dominant 4 both cLub and country

#2 he won d League

Isint dat hau dey've bin doing it

coogar: you are a fool!
how did united eliminate barcelona in 2 legs in 2008? you speak absent common sense.....all you dstv fans with popcorn for brains should shut up and let people who know football discuss.

coogar: they didn't play hard to be anywhere - they just accepted the results that came with half-hearted efforts and took it in their strides. man utd did not field their strongest team against bilbao. carrick, nani and rio did not start the first leg in old trafford - it tells you how unimportant fergie took the tie.



i knew la liga was a shyte league when carlos queiroz(fergie's assistant) became madrid's manager. that just sums la liga up!

logica: Simple answer: it will be hard for a player going from Spain to England to win the top scorer award because you are likely a reject. But the vice versa is not true. Most players from England move to bigger clubs in Spain and therefore are not rejects. But let's see how Michu does this season; he could prove me wrong.

SimonAndal: NO!!! I don't even believe in marriage, so the age, or lack thereof, shouldn't even come into question. SAY NO TO MARRIAGE! SAVE YOUR DAUGHTERS' VIRGINITY!!

this message is brought to you by the federal ministry of islamic affairs.

usbcable: My Guess?

Age bracket 18 - 23, with all te abbreviations as if its a text message.
Not every thing is religion bro.So I dont know where you DOWNFALL analogy comes from.

And by the way, what is Mou 3rd season syndrome?

if by being tired, that has nothing to do with Only One or Special one.

dayokanu: 2008 Champions league agggregate Liverpool 5 Madrid 0

2006 Arsenal even eliminated you

Johnpaul88: I couldn't see the match. . It 's a shame DSTV are not showing it.

dayokanu: Debo, Duduspace why you dey cry na?

If you seee Ar-se-na Hosanahhh Tell dem say ooo Hossanahh

I dey for Munich Ho sanah I no get problem Hosana

Arsenal tay for Emirate, Hosanah!!! for good 7yrs Ho sanah Dem no gettti trophy, Dem no Get trophy Hosanahh

Barca come for Emirate, Come carry Fabregas Hosanahh. Cesc packi your load Hosanah, I say Packi your load

City come for Emirate, Come carry Nasri, Hosanah Nasri packi your load, I say packi your load

ManU come for Emirate Hosanah, Come carry Persie, Persie carry your load I say Carry your load


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xiwo6f1ZJ0Y

Pataki: Falcao coming to Chelsea in January? I laugh!

Has he learnt the art of diving and being a drama queen on the field like the legendary Drogba?

Hope he would learn a lesson or two from Torres. He would kill his career if he ever dares think of joining Chelsea.

Total misfit he would be.