₦airaland Forum

Roland17:
To be fair, Tuchel was 20 minutes away from getting a smash and grab, which was his approach towards the game. If the game was scoreless at the 80-85th minute, I can assure you Tuchel would have pushed for that W.

At what point in this game that we watched did it look like Chelsea had a clue about what they were doing?

hensben:
You are the clown if you don’t know that lukaku is not made for big team due to the way he plays. Lukaku is a product of poor assessment in today’s football using stat only to judge players. I’ve known Benzema to be a quality striker even while Cr7 was there, I don’t need stat to tell me that.

Okay sir.

drisham:
Rest baba

Pep played us three times and he couldn't win

Lukaku is useless signing
C'est fini

I feel a lot is being made about Chelsea beating City 3 times last season that many are ignoring. City had just played Dortmund in the UCL QFs on Wednesday and had to play them again the following week on Tuesday so the manager had to rotate and rest players. He played a heavily rotated team and Chelsea being better rested and better prepared won it. Then, in the league game, City played the second team because it was clear they had won the league and only wanted to rest players for the UCL. In that game, City scored first, got another penalty that had Aguero scored, the game would have been out of reach. Granted, TT adjusted, got an equalizer and 1 or 2 more chances. But so did City and in the 88th min, Zouma fouled Raheem which should have been another penalty and a certain City win. The ref made a huge mistake and Alonso scored the flukiest winner with 20 or so seconds left in the game. That 2-1 score papered over the fact that Chelsea had barely played the City first team. The real and only significant win was in the UCL final where Chelsea played very well on the counter but were helped by Pep choosing to play without a pivot in Rodri or Fernandinho. So Chelsea fans should really stop making noise about winning 3 times against City. They deserved the UCL final but the story of City's superiority over Chelsea cannot be determined from last season at all - especially at the time they played (bar the UCL final).

I see, they are blaming Lukaku today. Clowns.

benji93:
Matchup advantage is clearly still part of this game. Get Wiseman into the lineup as soon as possible. Don't want no matchup problems Besides this is very interesting, GSW giving the same treatment team sitting atop the Eastern Conference, after getting embarrassed by the Bucks

I feel Klay not being in the line up helped tbh. Because SC did not even play well again. I don't yet know what is wrong with him. I have my suspicions though.

Hohenheim:
Lol that's not even a valid comparison, the suns are way better than the hornets. I'm not saying the suns would win the series but it's definitely not a sweep for GS.

Haba baba. He was obviously just trolling na.

Hohenheim:
and one nigga said the suns wouldn't take a game off the warriors in the playoffs lol.

Charlotte Hornets blew out the Bucks and then beat them again the other day. Do you think GSW are the same team without Draymond?

etidy:
I think it's high time steve kerr rest steph for a week or two. Something is definitely wrong with that man. This is his worse shooting stretch that I can remember

Even though SC is going through the worst shooting slump I have experienced from him in forever, SK has a role to play in it. He is rotating the player out of rhythm perhaps to help the supporting cast get into good shooting rhythms and to initiate Klay into the play. I don't think it has helped SC short term but it will definitely help the team long term to get Klay back. In addition, Draymond Green is more than essential to how we play and defend and he has been a huge miss. I personally feel SC has to stop playing offball especially when Draymond is out as nobody is quite as good in controlling the ball and seeing SC run around to look for openings to shoot is cringey. Just let the man shoot himself out of the slump. Meanwhile, I care more about the chemistry the team builds before crunch time. We never expected to be vying for top seed when the season begun and I don't want to get greedy with my expectations. No cause for alarm.

Tottenham responded well in the second half but overall Chelsea were just better when it mattered.

I read that our second team was really bad today. I'd take the L and pray that Kerr can figure out how to get the best out of Wiggins with Klay in the lineup. We must have missed Draymond Green so bad in that 4th quarter. Steph, Please we need ya! The 2021 version will be ideal. Please bra.

Havertz10:
everything about it is absurd

What is absurd about it?

airmark:
If i quoted Conte, informing everyone that he wanted Matic to stay and yet you didn't agree, i would be stupid answering any further questions from you.

Where did I disagree that Conté said so? Did I also not quote Conte explaining why Matic did not travel with the team?

Havertz10:
fake story.

Why do you think the story is fake?

airmark:
As usual let your Ogbomosho brother, read and tell you the difference between getting info directly from person involved and speculating from rumours from unknown sources.

Conte: “But, for sure, the truth, we know the truth. The player, his agent, the club and I. We know how many times he asked to go away to Atletico Madrid at the start of the season, during the season to go to China, and at the end of the season to join, again, Atletico Madrid.
“This is the truth and, honestly, in my career I want to have players who are concentrated on my team and not to consider my team a second choice. My team must be the first choice.

Every intelligent reader would understand Conte in both Costa and Matic's situations and would never equate them. Conte was clear.

Why did Conté refuse to travel with Matic in the preseason tour of 2017-18?

Trevor012:
Android22 you are spot on. The only issue conte had with the matic transfer was him moving to a direct rival.

Like, the issue is clear even from the article the Chelsea fan posted. Conte's exact words even contained the wordings "direct rival" but people want to conveniently ignore it.

BikeMan:
Reddit bot, Matic and Kante was the midfield that won us the league. I don't understand why we will suddenly want him out the next season.

Conte did not suddenly want him out. It is actually easy to see what transpired if people just turn off their inferiority complex about their club's running. Conte (a very sly man by the way) wanted Bakayoko pretending like he wanted Matic to mentor Bakayoko. Problem is, behind the scenes he told the board they could sell Matic if they got a healthy offer for the then 29 year old. Matic probably got wind of this and fell out with the manager so Conte had to drop him prior to the preseason tour, knowing he did not want to compromise on Matic being sold. Conte only preferred that Matic be sold to Juventus or to any other suitors outside of the English Premier League so he was unhappy to find out that Matic was sold to Mourinho, a manager he had just had problems with the previous season and to United that were shaping to improve on their Carabao cup/Europa league winning season.

timbros:
Sources sauces sauces sources... No direct quote. Make una rest na.

Airmark gave a direct quote from Conte. Is sauces now more reliable than direct quote?

haha . No direct quote from Conte showing why he refused to take Matic to Chelsea's preseason tour?

Trevor012:
Take a look

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2727317-inside-the-deal-how-man-united-landed-nemanja-matic


One interesting extract from the article

Simon Johnson, Chelsea correspondent for the Evening Standard, believes Matic was also struggling to convince the supporters of his place in the team. "Unlike with other players at Chelsea who had suffered at the end of the Jose Mourinho era, Matic never really regained the support of people at the games. He was one of the players
you'd see targeted for criticism by the fanbase." Chelsea believed they could move on without Matic and, at the age of 29, he could still
command a good fee. Conte was not against the idea either, sources have assured me. Though the manager
perhaps did not expect him to join a direct rival.

I don't know why some people here think they can bamboozle everyone like they bamboozle the other compliant Shekpites.

Ibime:
As of the tour, the transfer was 95% completed, that's why he didn't go on tour. You continue to foolishly use not going on tour as reason Conte wanted to kick him out when every Chelsea fan knows he wasn't taken on tour because he was on the cusp of finalising his move to Manure.

There is no need for the drivel. What was Conte's response?

The journalists only asked him about Matic because they knew the transfer was almost done and his absence was a telltale sign of the impending transfer.

So why did Conte not tell them that if it was obvious to everyone?

You started your argument with Airmark with a post from a foolish journalist from Daily Express of all tabloids claiming Conte wanted to sell Matic to Man Utd.

You are the one who should be advised not to jump into a conversation, if you do not know where it began from.

When shown Contes own words, you changed your argument to "Conte wanted to sell him, just not to Man Utd".

Someone accused you of making things up as you go, and I thought they were being harsh but this above is proof that the person was right.

You can see how you have no knowledge of the topic at hand, and now just arguing for argument sake and running your mouth like tap water, contradicting yourself.

Just so I don't have to read through another incoherent nonsense from you, I am the one who told airmark that Conte did not want Matic sold to United even though he knew Matic was going to be sold. He asked me to prove that he knew and then I brought that article showing it. I never at any point said or presented any evidence alluding to Conte wanting to sell Matic to United. The journo in question did not either. Every major article use clickbaits as the headline which is why I also posted snippets of the actual article where Jason Burt said what he was told. Then I presented Conte alluding to dropping Matic because the player refused to recognize his authority.

Ibime:
Are you a Chelsea fan? No. Don't talk what you don't know. We will not rehash the numerous Conte interviews and press conferences on the matter here for your benefit. I did not speculate anything. It is known that Matic was forcing the move. The only thing I don't know definitively is what he did to force it. If you want to talk about the finer details of your club, Ed Woodward, Sandro Rosell or whatever, go ahead no one will argue with you. But you won't come here and start telling us about the finer details of what we all witnessed four years later. Conte said definitely he did not want Matic sold, he wanted him as first choice (did not trust Bakayoko as a starter), you started adding your own Maggi about direct rival. He did not want him sold, full stop and he said it, not a journalist or a gossip column but Conte himself korokoro live on camera.

And to highlight the inanity of your argument, not wanting a player to be sold is not mutually exclusive to not wanting to strengthen a rival. If you value a player not to sell him, it's just adding insult to injury if he goes to a rival, but the injury is already there. If Barca don't want to sell Messi, will you come and argue that Barca would love to sell him, they just don't want him to go to Madrid? They want neither, and one does not invalidate the other.

It is as simple as bringing the evidence to justify your position. That, "You are not a Chelsea fan" argument is not very robust in holding up for your claims. He wanted him as first choice yet did not take that first choice to the preseason tour? The article that your fellow Chelsea fan presented here showed that my own position is abundantly corroborated. I brought Conte's own quotes as well. By the way, wanting a player sold is mutually exclusive to not wanting to strengthen a rival and the latter is the only thing the article emphasized. Reports said Levy was willing to sell Kane (as he did Modric) to RM or any team outside of the UK but was very unwilling to sell to a direct rival. It has been happening before now.

Ibime:
When people don't follow your club in-depth, they will be arguing what they are just piecing together, something you already knew as it happened. The club already agreed to sell Matic against Contes wishes. At the last minute, Chelsea threw some extra demands in the agreement after Matic had already agreed good money with United. Whether Matic misbehaved to get the transfer over the line, nobody knows, but we can infer so from Conte comments. None of that means Conte disciplined him and sold him for misbehaving like Android22 is piecing together. Man is putting the cart before the horse and piecing together what he doesn't know. All that Summer, it was clear Conte was keen on keeping Matic. Nigga literally said Bakayoko was not ready for Chelsea before Bakayoko kicked a ball. They then made it worse by adding Drinkbleach to his options, as well as Barkley he never gave a fück about.

You cannot prove Matic was sold without Conte's wishes. You will have to speculate with only Conte's quotes saying he wanted Matic to mentor Bakayoko and that he was not happy he was sold to a direct rival as your evidence. But when I throw in the fact that Conte did not travel with the player he did not want to sell, you will easily speculate without any shred of evidence. And when you have Conte's reason for not traveling with said player, you now accept that Matic "may have done something to get his deal over the line". Yet in all of these, you do not see how it proves the point I had been making all along which is that Conte was expressing his dislike for the fact that Matic was sold to a rival, not that Matic was sold in its entirety.

airmark:
Conte wanted Matic to remain at Chelsea until Bakayoko mastered the league. Conte was quoted, but you wanted me to jettison that and accept diverging information brewed by speculations from commentators and unknown journalists. Bro, rest.

You are not following the argument. Conte has said different things and your defense for him is untenable. Yes you rightly quoted him say he wanted Matic to help usher Bakayoko in (proving that he wanted Bakayoko by the way) but Conte is also quoted saying he did not want Matic sold to a direct rival. In addition, you are also ignoring the fact that Conte refused to go on a preseason tour with Matic but when he was asked about it, he related it to Matic supposedly being unruly. So how do you reconcile all these without seeing that only Conte's testimonies have changed all through the story? If Matic is supposed to help Bakayoko, how will he start helping him by not traveling for the preseason training? If Conte had fallen out with Matic, then what makes you think he was going to be starting him, considering he did not even travel with him for training? And if he won't start Matic, then how was he going to use Matic to mentor Bakayoko? And if you want to claim Matic could have mentored him from the bench, then why would Matic prefer to stay on the bench to play for a coach he had fallen out with when he could go to United for more money and playing time? You are the one to give it a rest. The matter is clear as day.

airmark:
None of what you posted indicates this. It is your assumption, which is not written in stone.

Compare all you posted to what was gathered from the horse's mouth. You should be fined for wasting my time engaging you.

Post a statement from Conte that can be used in a law court to backs your claim that Conte effected Matic's sale. Something like this below. If you can't, please continue to feast on speculations.

Let us see if you are following your own argument. In my screenshot to you what was Conté's reason for not taking Matic to the PRESEASON TOUR that players who are to feature in the coming season for a coach, have to attend? Maybe we can decide who is wasting whose time.

airmark:
All you've been doing is, speculate just like unknown sources you have been quoting.

I used news from Express and Metro and showed cutouts from them. You did same from another tabloid but somehow mine is speculation and yours is legit, how na? Did the article I posted not quote Conte? Or Conte's own words are not good enough?

airmark:
We should believe a journalist that didn't name his sources but not Conte that was quoted below.

Ogbeni, this is 2022, be smart.

As you can see, Conte did not travel with Matic because he knew the player was going to be sold. But when he was asked why (the journalists were expecting him to confirm the rumors that Matic was being offloaded) he was giving quotes about disciplining senior players to pass a lesson to the younger ones. He added that the coach should be in charge of the dressing room or it would lead to anarchy. Anarchy is a special word. I am sure you can put the pieces to the puzzle.

airmark:
We should believe a journalist that didn't name his sources but not Conte that was quoted below.

Ogbeni, this is 2022, be smart.

There's more:

airmark:
We should believe a journalist that didn't name his sources but not Conte that was quoted below.

Ogbeni, this is 2022, be smart.

I don't feel your "be smart" comment was necessary and I will prove it. Just take note of the snippets below.

airmark:


Jason Burt must be Marina's BF, to be trusted as an authority.

Did you read the article atleast from the snippets? It said he spoke to alot of people in and around Chelsea - including the higher-ups. Then when he asked them straight-up if Conte was misinforming the press to pass the blame to them, they said yes. Burt was not giving an opinion, he was reporting what he heard people in the know say.

Ibime:
Everyone has been chasing Koulibaly for four years, the price has always been £90m and nobody took the bait. Going back to Napoli to see whether De Laurentis has finally got sense to cut his price drastically given the player is 30 and with the economic reality of the pandemic does not make him your first choice over a 22 year old who is also coveted by all the top clubs. If their price match, you will prefer the younger version. Koulibaly will have to be at a significant discount to make sense and he wasn't, so back to preferred choice.

You are right that everyone chased Koulibaly which supports my point that he was better rated than Diaz and City went for him as their priority as a result. It is like if City signs Vlahovic and he ends up being their greatest scorer in history. Someone can claim in hindsight that he was always their first choice but we all know they want Haaland, Kane and then Vlahovic in that order.

airmark:
Thank you.

You are welcome bro

raumdeuter:
Imagine if a coach say Zidane inherits Madrid already loaded with top players and he wins without buying anyone else,
While a coach(Eddie Howe) takes over Newcastle who have old players, spends 600M to get players up to the level of Madrid
The narrative will be See Zidane won trophies without spending a dime. While Eddie Howe had to spend 600M to win the same

Another thing, A club say PSG or Madrid can assemble Salah Dybala Donaruma Mbappe Pogba, Coman Alaba, Sule Rudiger, Brozovic, all for free in 2 seasons and we can now say See Poch won this and that without spending anything while Naggelsman spent 300M to win the same thing

Too much truth too much sense.

airmark:
Where in that article did you deduce the highlighted from?

I employed a back inference method of deducing it even though the excerpt you showed did not expressly state it. Since the article only said Conté did not want the player sold to a direct rival, it meant the emphasis was on direct rival and not on selling the player.