₦airaland Forum

Leyqute:
If they keep winning for decades, theyll gradually win over the newer generation. The fandom will eventually come.

Ask the people who live in Manchester which team has more fans currently between United and City (in Manchester not worldover). If they're honest, the result will shock people who think going to Cotonou is going abroad.

swiz123:
I think you are downplaying Raphinha’s effort in Barca’s season. I still remember somewhere in almost middle of the season when Flick confirmed Yamal is seriously working on his shooting as his style was limited to just dribbling.

Raphinha plays a position that limits his shooting but cleverly found a way to make marauding runs and take advantage of his precise shooting ability. Raphinha’s excellent marauding stayed consistent throughout the season and the results were self evident.

Nah. I'm even surprised you fell for it. The conversation was about Palmer and his lack of winning mentality as CFC's best player vs someone like Lamine who took it upon himself to decide critical games for Barca like KdB, Zidane, Salah etc did for their respective teams at similar moments. KdB didn't need to be top scorer for City to decide that Newcastle game in 23-24, where City were down 1-2 at St. James' park and needed to win to mount pressure on AFC. He came on, equalized from nothing, and then assisted Oscar Bobb to win the game.

That dumb illogical guy was trying to define Lamine's impact by his number of goals. I was trying to show reasonable people why that just makes zero sense.

AirBere:
When comparing Hazard with Neymar and Salah we don't use goals. When talking about other players in same category we can then talk about goals.

Absolutely nothing against club legend Hazard but this place is called AgendaLand for a reason. You select the argument you love and push it through via Agenda

.....

Somebody once said; we all know what we're doing

Not everyone knows what they are doing. Some people are effortlessly dull.

VicThory:
Same Chelsea fans brag about Hazard's pure football even when he's not scoring enough but draw a line when it comes to Yamal

Trust me, I knew who I was chatting with but his one-dimensional, vapid, lacking substance and uneducated opinions get tiring after a while. Imagine someone who thought saying no Foden to blame meant England didn't win because he didn't play. LOL. How do you even respond to that type of slow person?

Zidane and Modric will be wondering how they were impactful with their 5 goals in some seasons. A head full of hot air for a reason.

Griffon:
Let’s both agree that the three teams I mentioned flunked in the seasons the league had record breaking numbers, conversely, ever wondered the upward surge the paltry numbers of last season would have received if the three teams were in top forms?

Why deal with hypotheticals when we have real data?

Using your article to encapsulate my point, the claim is that, the low numbers were mainly as a result of Liverpool winning the league in April with little or no serious title challenge. Meanwhile, Chelsea were second in December and firmly in the title race. At that stage, we all can agree that the numbers were pretty good because there was a race on, no? Remember I’m using your article against you.

The league commenced in August of 2024. Why are we using April 2025 to explain low viewership? Before the league was decided, there should have been the same record high numbers till then abi?

If Chelsea had gone on to maintain momentum and never stepped foot off the gas till say April, those low numbers would never have been possible. This ultimately validates my point that Chelsea blowing cold for the most part of the season contributed to the dip in viewership figures.

Think about your argument well. Arsenal, City can make the same arguments. We were all first or 2nd at some point. CFC were already irrelevant to the high numbers from 22-24 so you cannot make a case for your team now. City is the only consistent factor and Arsenal somewhat. The difference is, Arsenal finished where they've finished in those historic seasons. That's why City is a major factor than them. CFC don't play any role otherwise that will have factored in 22-24.

Man City was never in the title race last season, so there’s no way on God’s green earth they influenced those numbers.

LOOOOOL. Go back and review the season. At some point we were unbeaten and leading the league.

We can only say If they had been in the race, maybe they could have done better than Chelsea, but that’s still a big IF.

Non-sequitur.

WhoDeyHause:
Papa yamal scored the first goal and had a hand in the second one after sprinting past his son and owning him throughout the match infact he was the best player of the match by miles ahead of that goat without world cup and everybody. So he has a bigger claim than rodri that his Spain played 0-0 and also won on the same penalties spain lost this year.
I never even begin Spain winning euros final after rodri was subbed off you don dey redirect my agenda.

What you're saying is ALL Nuno could achieve with all his effort was a penalty shootout. Same that Rodri's efforts led to. Where is this quackery coming from that a player must score to influence a game. Remember Courtois vs Liverpool in the UCL final? If a player does the job he was supposed to do better than every body else did theirs, he usually won the MOTM awards. That's why for e.g Foden won EPL POTY even though he scored less than Erling playing for the same team.

Euros? LOL. Seems you've not been reading my posts on this matter. Rodri has not played for Spain since that game. The players who replaced him are yet to replicate his achievements in the same squad. They just lost to Portugal for the first time in 20+ years and everybody else was there except. . . Rodri.

airmark:
How was Lamine deciding games when he only scored in 2 games in their last 9 games, counting from that Espanyol game (none was even a winning goal)? Raphinha in the same games scored 5 goals and his goals gave them 9 points including an equalizer and a winner against Celta Vigo. Against Madrid, Raphinha scored 2 and was the Man of the match.

How would Lamine even decide games when instead of Lewandowski, he has Jakujaku Jackson on 12 games without a goal? How would they be topping the league without Raphinha with 18 goals from the wing?

You pile up a lot of gibberish that can easily be knocked off in one breath. Stop capping.

When Barca were losing 0-2 to RM in el classico. It was Lamine's individual spark that forced the corner that Eric Garcia scored from. Then he equalized from his ball-manipulation and curl. Before Raphinha capitalized on a defensive error to put Barca ahead. An undiscerning buffoon will focus on Raphinha scoring 2 goals though.

Espanyol are frustrating Barca 0-0 with the latter being 4 points ahead of RM with 3 games to spare. Winning that game put them 7 ahead, sealing the title. Lamine's individual curler broke the deadlock before his assist set Fermin up to make it 2-0 late in the game. The goal that decided the game was the goal that ended the DEADLOCK. Sensible people saw that.

I've told you players can be impactful without scoring. The 2nd leg against Inter, he was the player all the Inter players talked about even though Raphinha scored and he didn't.

Stop forcing things. If it didn't dey. It didn't dey. We all have our strengths. I don't think being logical works with yours. And TBH, I feel I lose IQ points each time I read your posts.

I'll ignore all your posts on this issue going forward.

airmark:
Let Lamine have a jakujaku Jackson as striker instead of Lewandowski with 27 league goals, tell us where Lamine's 9 goals in 35 matches would have taken them.

That's how you opined that Foden didn't play that's why England lost yesterday, as if Palmer played too. You cap alot like many on this thread.

Let me break it down for you like you're 3 years old. City have won the league with the top scorer having 15 league goals. KdB willed us to the title by scoring crucial goals when the team was deadlocked with Liverpool and needed separation. An example is the Wolves game that he scored 4. That's how the best players do it.

Same with Lamine. For all Lewa's efforts, RM had caught up and where on the cusp of upending Barca. Then Lamine started deciding games. Again, that's the standard. The best players will rise to the occasion. Palmer did it in the conference league. Foden did it in 23/24.

That's why it is not sensible to splash numbers willy-nilly without providing reasonable contexts behind them. The player with the most goals is not always the most impactful. The most impactful will rise to the occasion where impact needs to be decided. Palmer's team was second smelling blood. That's the moment he was supposed to show his winning mentality and technical chops. Instead, he regressed as did CFC.

Speaking of Foden, (and I'm only doing this because I've been warned by another CFC fan infinitely more intelligent than the most of you here), I didn't say England lost because Foden didn't play. I know comprehension is a scarce commodity here but even for you, this is really concerning.

I was pointing out that Foden cannot be used as a scapegoat for England's woes since he didn't play. If he did, you guys would've blamed him for the poor showing against Andorra and Senegal.

I take God beg you, stop misleading some of these 🔔- ends who look up to you.

Whizlight:
Capaldi with the capping 🧢🧢

He's right. Why do you guys like to give your players crowns they don't yet deserve?

Shouldn't Palmer have helped your team challenge for the league last season? Isn't that what Lamine did for Barca?

Do you know Matt Le Tissier? Michu? Both players were strong individual contributors for their respective teams but nobody ever called them the best player because their teams didn't win much or finish in the top positions.

Why do CFC fans claim Palmer is on that level but then excuse him from winning major titles?

Rule of Thumb - ROT.

Griffon:
Chelsea were blowing cold for the most part of the season, that even most of us switched to siddon-dey-look mode. Many of us stopped tuning into our games.

Think of what you're posting. Does this help your argument? If you stopped watching 22-24 seasons because your team was poor, then your team isn't responsible for the record breaking numbers.

Manyoo and Spuds were total pants, many of their fans got disgruntled and vowed not to follow respective teams season.

If that explains this season, then what about the previous seasons that were record numbers and both teams were still poor?

These trio teams’ fan base were the BIGGEST reason low interest were recorded in the EPL. Then PL fans who weren’t affiliated to any of these trio teams stopped following too, they could not just stand watching mid-teams like Forest, Newcastle and Villa being the ones vying for Champions league places.

Then explain the record breaking seasons. Your team, United, Tottenham were still bad in 22-24. Yet those were the record breaking years.

Which fan base City get to dey talk? It’s just funny reading that.

ROT, you have to be able to explain both sides of the data. If your analysis cannot account for the years of the record-breaking views, it cannot be used for the subpar year. I'm surprised this needs to be explained to people.

Godx:
Chelsea have spent 700million plus more than City over the last 5 seasons yet can't finish above Pep. They can't even finish above Arsenal talkless of Pep.

They think this is 2004. I expect some of the OGs to set the lemmings straight. I mean the untraveled unreasearched ones. They should know tides have changed and City are the biggest boys around. They're basically trying to purchase City's academy (players who didn't make it to the first team).

From Gittens, Delap, Palmer, Sancho, Tosin, Lavia etc. The list is endless. Significantly inferior to the Cityzens. Facts don't care about people's feelings.

Emaprince:
A lot of the big teams apart from Liverpool dipped in form.

Who be city fans? Where them dey?

At least you made an attempt. Problem is, what you're saying isn't aligned with the facts on ground. Look at the article again. Then make another pass at it. One way to do so is to first extract the common factors between those record-breaking years and juxtapose it with the most recent season that didn't hit the mark.

- City finished 1st. Arsenal 2nd. Liverpool 3rd. Villa 4th. That's 23-24 season.
- City 1st. Arsenal 2nd. ManU 3rd. Newcastle 4th. 22-23 season.

If you noticed, your club didn't make top 4 in both seasons. So nobody cares that hard about CFC. This isn't 2004 anymore. Viewers watched.

Liverpool, were irrelevant as well. Viewers still watched. Compared to this season that they won yet the viewers dipped in numbers.

United same story.

Arsenal were consistently 2nd in the last 3 seasons, if they mattered as much as City, the numbers would have stayed the same.

City is the only team whose shift in position from 1st, 1st to 3rd correlates with this dip in viewers.

Men lie, women too. Numbers don't.

MorataFC:
People lost interest in EPL because of man city form?
Keep deceiving yourself?

Provide the counter-narrative.

I was made to believe everybody is better than Foden. He's not in the squad, why are the better players not doing anything?

People lost interest in the EPL last season because Manchester City dipped in form.

We are all that matters.

AirBere:
City are buying but when it comes to selling they're operating at a first class level as well. They've sold players who were never gonna play for good money. Players like Trafford, Couto, Taylor Haywood etc. It's a well run club to be honest but don't forget 115

I don't know why you're a CFC fan tbh. Your brain has too much juice and sauce.

Seems the players we are signing don't care about 115 charges. Maybe they know the inevitable is loading.

Enzo5:
the jobe that went for 30m? is cheaper than 42m ?

With Cherki, you add his add-on fees. With Jobe, you reduce the fixed fee and ignore the add-on fees. Yet Jobe is 19 and Cherki 21. Good job.

Jobe was €33m fixed aged 19.
Rayan was €36m fixed (actually €30m but the €6m will be easily met). The other €6m add-ons are slightly difficult including winning the Champions league.

So yes, given their ages, Jobe is the more expensive asset. City even sold Couto to Dortmund for €25m to finance the Cherki deal. Dirt cheap.

Android17:
Last time Spain played in the Nations League final. One player was the MOTM of the final and player of the tournament. Spain's midfield was chaotic without him this time around. There's absolutely nobody like him in world football.

The one and only Colossus, Rodrigo Hernandez.

The number of children now named Rodri or Rodrigo has gone up significantly since this colossus graced English football.

Godri for a reason.

swiz123:
The way he turned on Poch tells us all we need to know. Wouldn’t want to have him as a fan.

Hmmm.

TemporaryHansel:
Popi, you're a man without principles. Always swinging along with the pendulum.

Hmmm.

raumdeuter:
Peps worst season, he still finished above Chelsea. What do we now say about Chelsea? 8 straight years that Pep has been finishing above Chelsea

You should save your saliva for your club

Maresca won the conference league. David Moyes will be impressed. Westham levels and tingz.

Enzo5:
Manchester City and Olympique Lyon have signed all documents for Rayan Cherki deal.

€36m fixed fee, €6m add-ons, 15% sell-on.

15% that's crazy

Cheaper than Jobe Bellingham but Pep is a chequebook manager and what not.

WhoDeyHause:
Spain won on penalties in this match. Same penalties they lost on yesterday.

Interesting. So why was Nuno Mendes getting plaudits and even MOTM of the final since Portugal only won via PK's?

My agenda get bulletproof. Look elsewhere

Last time Spain played in the Nations League final. One player was the MOTM of the final and player of the tournament. Spain's midfield was chaotic without him this time around. There's absolutely nobody like him in world football.

The one and only Colossus, Rodrigo Hernandez.

raumdeuter:
The type of winger I prefer is a shooter who tries to score. Like a Gnabry of 4yrs back. Like a Mahrez. We dont have enough goals in that attack outside of Kane

Creativity from Musiala and Olise is enough, we need another shoot at sight winger. Football now needs sharp wingers who are goalscoring outlets
Coman was not, Sane didnt develop to be one
Simmons is not that, Wirtz is not that,

Xavi Simons is a 10. A pass first 10. I'm saying to keep Musiala roaming between LW and 10 since he can invert. But he's not as creative as Xavi Simons.

raumdeuter:
For you to be worth 130m in this climate, you need to be explosive in dribbling and near perfect decision making like Vinicius Salah or Yamal
Or a high volume scorer like Mbappe Haaland or Kane

Even though Bayern were after Wirtz and he would have elevated us, he is just not a 130m player. The pressure of the price tag would be too much

That 100m move by Joao Felix was what killed him too, he is not a bad player just not 100m and people will evaluate you based on the price

The ideal thing is to have waited for Wirtz price to crash by half by next season and buy for 70m

For 130m, he wont be the carrier of Liverpool attack, he wont be their attacking talisman that will still be Salah, now what will you use to justify the 130m

Also opponents driven media like the Man Utd, Arsenal Chelsea media will be willing to pounce on every wrong pass, every missed shot

Haaland didnt score in his debut game at charity shield and everyone was already up in arms, Can Wirtz handle that

Instead of going for Leao, don't you think you guy's should go for Xavi Simons? Musiala is a very good player but he doesn't have that final ball to make your team click like Muller. He still plays football looking down and thinking like Dokú that he must dribble the player in front of him to give a pass or see the whole game. And Wirtz wouldn't have provided that skill as I've not seen him show it consistently.

I agree with everything you've said here about Wirtz. Borderline worldclass player but that price tag might weigh heavy on him in a team that I currently don't expect to outperform this last season.

raumdeuter:
Wirtz is quite talented, I would have loved Bayern to get him but not for 130m though. That price tag is a huge drag an there is n way he can justify it except to score hat tricks every weekend

The positive for Wirtz is that he is joining a settle club like Liverpool, you will see the difference when a player joins settle clubs like Liverpool/City vs when they join crisis Man Utd or Chelsea

I was asking Man Utd fans to mention 5 successful transfers in the last 10yrs, they couldn't. Its not because all their transfers were bad players but the environment they were entering is bad

Circling back to this.

Wirtz is Joa Felix 2.0. Good dribbler. Good close control and ball manipulation. Fleet-footed. Dynamic in spurts. Good at shot passes and making combination plays.

Significantly inferior to KdB in game visions, exploiting spaces, long range passing, incisive passing, long range shooting. Decisiveness. The list is endless.

Definitely not worth £130m.

Also, I smell Salah & VVD will regress palpably next season. They won't win the league.

I just received this from the mountain ⛰.

Sportsweb:
Foden career don de get K-leg. He is no longer important for Man City, all these Cherki and co signing will root him permanently on the bench

Just like with England, Foden's dip in form wasn't the issue with City as well. Both were subpar without him as well. However, compare his terrible season with some of the others that they pit him with and you'd see they're vastly inferior. Hopefully, he will use this hiatus to work on his mental health and come back the phenom we know he is. The most talented English player of his generation. . .by FAR

seankafor:
Upon all the sanctions

Russia needs to be studied up till the PhD levels

Putin is the most intelligent world leader I've ever experienced in my life time. A modern day Ahitophel.

I Stan, Re-Stan and Over-Stan.

Foden didn't play & England still had one of their worst performances in recent history against lowly Andorra.

AbokiWam:
Na only me see how Donnaruma take swallow goals?

Are you sure? They told me that it didn't matter if a keeper was ball-playing as long as he could stop shots. Seems even good shot-stoppers won't matter when the team isn't playing well.

Chai. We learn every day.