₦airaland Forum

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=871307.msg10328163#msg10328163 date=1330881386]Our corners are notoriously shocking.[/quote]Shocking is an understatement.
Nani is the worst corner kick taker.

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=871307.msg10328078#msg10328078 date=1330880303]Im more shocked we scored a header direct from a corner. [/quote]I thought you were talking about headed goals . . . my bad.
Our wing play's been non existent though.

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=871307.msg10328078#msg10328078 date=1330880303]Im more shocked we scored a header direct from a corner. [/quote]We've scored 13 headers this season . . . it shouldn't be a shock

dayokanu:
Thankfully Fergie is warming up Da Silva for Jones already

Half time 1-0

Our front four have been poor.
Jones is still in the dressing room.
Is Nani on the pitch.


Adebayor is a bloody liar . . . he tried to deny the handball even though we can see the white mark on his arm. Smh

Berbatov is not even on the bench again today

afrodoc:
chicharito might be jet lagged like coogar said,if not i would hav preferred hm to start dis match.i am a fan of welbeck like my posts hv shown but i think dis would hv bin chicharito's kind of game,dts not to say welbeck cant perform o.
fergie's thinking on d berba issue is dt rooney n berba together gives u know no threat making runs in behind d center of defence.dey both like to drop deep n link up play thereby squeezing up play n limiting space for our midfielders.so in his mind its usually rooney or berba playing with welbeck or chicharito

I agree but remember in last season's CL final at Wembley . . . Berba didn't even make the squad, Owen was drafted in instead.

afrodoc:
and welbeck starts  

You expect Welbeck to be benched?
I didn't expect him to be playing this many games though.
What has Berba done to Fergie though? Is there something we don't know?
Cos even Chicharito gets ahead of him . . . I'm sure if/when Owen gets back to fitness, he'll be ahead of him again.
Starting to feel sorry for him.

No Bale. Phack!!
It's official, my lowest scoring week.
Amazingly, seems like I might still win in the H2H league though.

I don't think Citeh will drop too many points, especially at home.

I'm not too sure about this game to be honest, it depends if the REAL Manchester United turn up.
Defensively, we've been conceding some poor goals recently and we will be punished if we slip up at the back today.
Let's hope Evans and Rio woke up on the right side of the bed today.


Our away form this season has been outstanding though . . . I think we've only lost to Newcastle away from OT this season

Quote from Nateevs on June 21st

Naysayers like Debosky and Sharon will come back saying "we knew he was brilliant, we were only speculating". I am bookmarking this page as I speak.


Abramovic triggers a manager's buy-out-clause of 15m (the most expensive in living memory) and you think he will tell him, "Dude all the money for transfer went into bringing you here".

You think AVB (and I like that by the way) will leave Porto where he is adored, loved by the fans and players and take a risk with a big job without having a guarantee of certain transfer targets to help with his goal.

[size=14pt]Chamotex believes if he doesn't deliver, he will be sacked. What in your definition is "deliver"? [/size]

Dude will have poo loads of money to spend (not that I like that). And average managers like Avram Grant have proven that you may need a great deal of tactical input to finish in the top four. Let alone someone who has worked with a core of the players, worked in the league, knows the league and scouted opposition teams and managers  for several years. Plus someone who is tactically sound, young, fresh and plays good football.

Goodness, he knows the already how Wenger and Fergie play even before he signed.

Nateevs, please define 'deliver' in your own words?

StarBoard:
Gotta give it to you:you were the earliest advocate of sacking that toddler among Chelsea fans.
Now that you have your wish, the question as always remains:where does Chelsea go from here.
Surely this managerial musical chairs cannot go on much longer.
Roman has to look inward and see what he wants for the club long-term.
DiMatteo could rally the team but someone new would likely take over, bringing his own philosophy with him.
I'm thinking Roman might need a little patience with the new full-time guy and draw up some long-term program.

For someone who has been so critical of AVB , you're being rather magnanimous. . .

They said he'd won the treble with Porto the season before including the Europa League blah blah blah.
FBS, Nateevs and a few other Chelsea fans attacked me when I implied the Premier League is a different ball game.
To be honest, I didn't think he would get the sack this early but due to recent events I am not surprised by his exit.

debosky:
When outsiders can read RA's actions better than Nateevs, it shows you his opinion is not worth more than toilet paper.

Nateevs attends all Chelsea's training sessions you know. So he is an insider

Where is Nateevs? Debosky, please don't give up on Nateevs . . . . . . . . .yet

Wow!!! Shocking news. RIP Perx

U1:
And Mancini strikes!

dayokanu:
My captain Aguero benched

Silva also benched

ritchboy:
Chei, Captain and vice benched! Mancini, may the gods amputate ur Cores!

Caulker + Siggy = PROFIT, get in!!!

debosky:
Mancini should just keep Aguero on the bench for the full game before I release the wrath of Amadioha on his head.

coogar:
e no go better for mancini.

Pharoh:
Mancini should have bleeped and violated me instead of benching three of my players . . , 

How does Mancini sleep at nght? . . . knowing he's costing nuccahs valuable points
Oloshi

montelik:
To get to where Baba has gotten you need a little eccentricity, it was makes him a genius. Einstein e.t.c all had it.  

Other managers cant do what Fergie does and get away with it.
Few weeks back, Barca rested Fabregas, Iniesta and Xavi and lost to Osasuna.

If Mancini takes out Yaya, Kompany and Silva from his team - I'm sure they will struggle.

coogar:
berbatov in the defence with valencia and carrick also in the same defence unit.
how crazy can a gaffer get? i don't care the number of injuries the squad cops. if the reserves cannot produce players who can fill in for injured players then we should scrap the academy and forget producing youths.

berbatov and carrick shouldn't be playing in the defence.
js park and rafael shouldn't be playing as central midfielders.
one of these days, fergie would play his wife as a goalie.

I wont be surprised.
In recent years, Fergie has played Giggs at Left Back, Evra at Right Back, Rooney as Defensive Midfielder, Rafael as CM
Wait! Na so craze dey start o
Next it will be Mike Phelan as Attacking Midfielder

coogar:
everyone loves rotation.
the gaffer has to keep everyone happy by giving them minutes - that is no problem.
the problem i have with him is putting 7-9 players who are just recovering from injuries at the same time.
fergie can play 10 unfit strikers in a match. he can play 10 unfit midfielders or 10 unfit defenders and he would put them in awkward positions to satisfy his lust.

fair play to him for admitting he made a blunder. i hope he doesn't make such again this season.

I don't think we have any more games for him to be playing Russian Roulette anymore.
We are two points behind in the league - so unless his old age has caught up with him, every game is a cup final for us now.
I watched Bilbao last time and they will be a stiffer test for us - beat Lokomotiv with 10 men so I cant see him taking chances anymore.
But then again, this is Fergie we are talking about - nothing he does surprises me anymore. FFS this man has played Berbatov in defence before. WTF?

montelik:
Yes SAF has gotten worse than Ranieri with d constant rotation and changes even when not necessary. But I believe it is one of d reasons we tend to finish d PL season stronger than our rivals. Also comparing appearance stats with teams like Real and Barca fails to take into account d winter break all other leagues have, unlike d PL that is non-stop from August to May.

Rotation is a good model when applied in the right manner.
I'm a big fan of rotation but only when it's necessary . . . you shouldn't be taking silly gambles by rotating.
Last night Fergie thought a 2 goal lead was comfortable and he produced that team. If it was 1-0 or 0-0 in the first leg I'm certain the team would have been stronger.

To be fair his only fault was in CM position - playing Park? That was why we were so opened. One of Giggs Carrick and Scholes will most likely not be starting against Norwich - why not play that player? The only players that should be rotated in our team are the oldies (Rio, Baba Giggs, Scholesy and maybe the wingers to keep them fresh). The other players are still very much young and can cope with 3 games in a week.

Also, when rotating, there are positions that should not be tampered with, most especially CB pairings and the backbone of the CM position (Carrick)
What I prefer is to play the strongest line up possible and when you are cruising in the game comfortably, make substitutions to replace the key players.

Norwich City will be looking to put a sizable dent in Man United’s title ambitions when they host the Red Devils at Carrow Road on Saturday the 25th.
Manchester United may have won eight of their last ten matches against Norwich City, but that matters little in this context. For a start only three of these matches were played in the last ten years, and Man United hasn’t beaten Norwich City at Carrow Road once during this period, winning two home matches, while Norwich City clinched a win when they last hosted United, back in 2005.

Man United last beat Norwich City at home in the 1995 Premier League, taking a 2-0 win on that occasion.
Norwich City are in good shape coming into this fixture, with three wins, a draw and a single loss on record for their last five games. The Canaries have been the most impressive of the Championship graduates, and are currently knocking on the gates of the Premiership top seven.

Norwich City have put away 7 goals in their last five matches, failing to score in two of these. Their defence has been on and off, letting in 6 goals in five games, but maintaining 2 clean sheets in the process.
Manchester United also have three wins, a draw and a defeat to show for their last five matches, but have endured a torrid couple of weeks, meeting Liverpool twice, Arsenal once, and Chelsea once in the course of these matches. United will also have to navigate a Europa League match against Ajax before clashing with Stoke City.

United have scored 10 goals in their last five matches, but have been let down by uncharacteristically poor defence, with an unprecedented 7 goals conceded in this period.



Match

Chelsea has a sound opportunity to bounce back into the Premiership top four this weekend when they host Bolton at Stamford Bridge. A win is crucial for the Blues, who haven’t won in five games.


Chelsea have totally dominated Bolton in recent seasons, winning nine of their last ten matches against Bolton, and drawing a single fixture at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea won their last home game against Bolton 1-0, but thrashed Bolton 5-1 when they travelled to the Reebok Stadium earlier this season.
Chelsea has had an unhappy couple of weeks having failed to win one of their last five matches, losing two of these, and hitting rock bottom with a 3-1 trashing at Napoli in the Champions League this week – following on a dismal draw against Birmingham in the FA Cup.
The Chelsea forwards aren’t performing, with just 6 goals scored in five matches. The club’s defence has been atrocious too, letting in 10 goals during the same period.

Bolton have at least won two of their last five games, with their most recent victory coming against Millwall in the FA Cup 5th Round. Bolton also pulled off a good draw against Arsenal, but lost to Norwich and Wigan during this time.
Bolton hasn’t be sparking up front, with a workmanlike 5 goals scored in five matches. Defence has been letting them in at the same rate, with 5 goals conceded during this time.



Match

coogar:
he's a disgrace and for people who slate carrick - tonight is a testament to the dirty job carrick does in that team.
js park does not have the intelligence to dominate the midfield. we were too open in the centre of the pitch, ajax had no problem attacking n counter-attacking.

4th defeat at OT already this season.
Maybe we should move our home games to Altrincham.

coogar:
fergie never learns - he's fast becoming arsene wenger with his stubbornness.

The man will never take cup games at OT serious . . . rubbish!
I think this is the worst games we've played this season in terms of tempo and urgency.
It was disappointing to watch.

Rubbish performance, shyte game.
Just not good enough.
Complacency at its best.
We would have been knocked out if the game went on for a further 10 minutes.

So you mean you can't beat Basel without Schweinsteiger?

ritchboy:
You sure? Remember they didn't score an away goal so if Basel manage to score(especially if they score first) then Bayern would need to score three unanswered goals!

And this Basel team definitely look like they got goals in em!

You are right but I can't see them losing or drawing against Basel at the Allianz . . . they could go out on 'away goals' though.

Where is DK by the way?
Maybe he's still checking whether the goal was offside

Defensively . . . Bayern is not better than Bolton
Boateng and Basturber?

Bayern will still go through though but I can't see them winning it.

^^^ Nice one. We thank God

P.S - make sure u turn up for footy on Saturday o

Tevez finally issued an apology . . . seems like a desperate move to me. Arrow!

coogar:
we have berbatov and hernandez!
anderson and cleverley are training!

Good sturvs!

Ando took part in full training
Owen (forgot he still plays for this club) did some light training.

Smalling, Jones, Young, Nani and Cleverley will start.

It seems everyone is available now minus Antonio and the long-term absentees (Vidic & Fletcher)

[quote author=Mr_TA link=topic=871307.msg10249565#msg10249565 date=1329917090]Apparently Rooney missed training today. Hope nothing serious[/quote]Throat infection

So many Football Manager players on here.

afrodoc:
and i guess d portuguese league does?
if any of us here goes to manage Porto (and am including coogar n bluediva who r diametrically opposed in terms of tactics  ) Porto would still have a 40 to 50 percent chance of winning their league! Porto will come top 3 in Portugal with a mannequin as manager,dts how poor d Portuguese league is.so AVB having one season of success doesnt mean he is d real deal.

I won the Portuguese league twice with Boavista in FM

montelik:
This why you don't jettison older players at your club once age starts to affect them. They have value not just on d pitch, but even more off d pitch.

Pogba temporarily stayed with Evra also when he arrived from France . . . don't know if he still stays with him though.