₦airaland Forum

Jodera:
There's a reason Arteta deh always celebrate goals with them anytime we score or take pix with them when he's been awarded coach with the award.
He knows these success is not only him and that these guys put in alot of work for the success of the team.

If you notice before the Pk started, Stuivenberg was already showing Raya something on the pad. I believe it's what they've worked on.

The togetherness in the team is unreal

Exactly. Especially Jover.

Evanilson is such a tactical guy. I love his press energy.

BronzeTiger:
Osimhen too should know how to time his runs well. We have been saying this for many years and even last afcon. twitter tacticos were calling him overrated just because of that poor game. Barcelona were just using the offside trap to catch him unawares not that they were anything special. A stronger team would knock them out next round.

We've arrived that Bridge where everyone of us that want to see Osimhen get better needs to start telling him to put hundreds of hours into working on this Landlord Syndrome affecting him.


He's the only one in the whole of Europe top 5 leagues with the highest Offsides this season with 30+ offsides. Haba!!!!!!

Was also highest at AFCON.

Noooooooo!!!
All it takes for smart opponents is to leave him but set the trap b2b. Kilode. Na only you waka come?

Guy abeg, it is time!! The time is NOW😥😒😒😒😒😒

Roland17:
I am thankful we pushed it to PK because to your point, in such situations, you need your best kickers.

Also, our kickers showed immense mental strength and fortitude to put away their kicks despite playing all 120 minutes. They easily could have suffered heavy/ dead legs by the time PK arrived.

If Porto scored in the 2nd or extra time then we would have needed fresh legs to even give us a chance of extending to PK.

As we are now, we should be more realistic and lower expectations. We are like Lilliputians in the midst of Gullivers.

Why?

What's our own approach to frustrating any of the plans of the other 7 clubs we may face? That's why i pray MA learns from this Porto affair.

We are at the stage that big clubs get key players injured but do all they can to scale through
We are at the stage one player brave the odds and make a big solo difference without necessarily being a big name
We are at the stage where we should not just focus on dominating, but taking chances and being clinical, home or away. Swift and instant.
Plus quality of opponents that have a vast CV of such nights back2back2back


Are The Arsenal ready to want it more?? We'll see!!

It's not that David Raya is good at PKs o. This is another backroom staff moment actually


Inaki Cana has been training Raya for PKs in last 2months. That went on silently sotey it was even hard to wonder if the guy was known for such expertise before pk started.

Truly this is a crew influence on this team.

Jover
Cuesta
Stuiverberg
Cana

All working hard and reaping results. 👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿👏🏿
He didn't even need a bottle to see where anyone will kick.

Shegzdave:
CL is truly grand stage bro cause I was expecting My team to score more goals forgetting the Porto is a tactically disciplined team(overconfidence sha ).

That Porto team with Pepe at the back line is good bro, how the hell is that old man still good and fit cause even with his yellow card, he still made clean tackles.

I trust Teta is looking for solutions for Saka but he should try to switch wings too and make things happen, those are the things that make a winger technically better than the others

I was expecting a Pepe masterclass as i learnt Nelli no ready. You can't play at Madrid for a decade and these kind of nights don't seem normal to you. It is too special to some (like us) while to others, it is home, normal, routine. E sure me say if na Marcelo or Alves, same outcome. Hopefully, we get our defenders to that stage in years to come


Overall, it's 14years since we last got here. Let's acknowledge that we are UCL babies irrespective of whatever is happening in our league. To me, Porto tactics worked except the goal scoring aspect.


You see those spaces we use to pass? They blocked it each in the zone of nearest red shirt. That left us to play a game we're not used to-aerial passes. Of which Kai and Rice are the best at. The rest are not.

Did we also stop their tactics? We did but slipped severally. That gave them ginger. Looked like they didn't plan pk sha😂

mostob:
Saliba rarely jubilate with his teammates nowadays. Baba go sharply run go meet the fans.

The guy go jump into the crowd one day🤣🤣🤣🤣

mostob:
Calm down please

Arsenal fans need to calm down abeg. 😂

We just only back. Make we garner respect again before we begin dey brag with all these fantasies. Madrid wey win 5 in last decade naim we wan face when we struggled to face Porto? Lol.


For all i care, i was glad for those moments of doubt as the clocked ticked to 120th minutes. The sensible and wise fans will realize no be by mouth. All that 5-0 nonsense that trended and bragging asif Porto will come to watch wasn't needed. We're at the stage where calibre and dexterity will make the big difference now.

We've passed a good test already. Booster.

Shegzdave:
See Saliba

So Despite Liba running out first, na Odegaard and White fes reach Raya?? So they get pace? Esp that White😥🌚

Shegzdave:
I don’t think our wingers will always change wings when they’re man-marked( Jesus is an exception to this though), if only Teta will tell them to do that.

Our Match against sheffield, I think Saka played centrally at a point while Ordegarrd drifted to the wings and this gave Saka more space to operate.

Trossard scored a nice goal but man didn’t play well sha

Dem dey learn work anyway. Cos say i be fan no mean say i no go admit say this ucl no be beans. There's a reason it's called the grand stage of all. Also noticed they didn't want to cross as well as no one was there. There was one sweet ball Kai crossed, but the newly introduced Jesus was far from the box 18 to start with. These are the things that make big difference on nights like this.

Like I've said before on this man marking, Arteta needs to work something out or else it becomes the norm in the KO stages.

Meanwhile....😆😆😆

Space of 5 days, our two Goalkeepers made up for their error(s) with top performance

Rams vs Brentford
Raya vs Porto(1st leg goal)

Roland17:
This angu makes logical sense.

None of Nelson, ESR or FV sabi. Even Nketiah dey learn work for that aspect too.

Sarsaproko:
That boy is tired.

At least he has 19days to relazz, sleep for 20hrs and recoup. No excuses going forward.

Shegzdave:
I also noticed this, boy didn’t perform so well, losses possession easily

Guy is dipping in Endurance gauge while Odegaard is climbing in same gauge. Why didn't he switch wing? Infact I'm tired of both our wingers in this competition. We won sha.

Roland17:
Why didn’t we use more subs? I mean we had options for fresher legs to come in.. They made 5 and we made 3. That was how they could maintain their stamina

He didn't want to remove Pk specialists for amateurs even of they're fresh legs. That's why Saka and Rice remained in particular.

mine3112:
8 corner kicks and none resulted in goal. Unbelievable!

Na nights like this we need a high riser to dey connect these kicks. It's nervy sha.

iamoyindamola:
Are you kidding me
No var?

See that last offside. That's truly nonsensical to delay that call. Smh

Wassup with Saka tonight though?

How is this sigh of relief? Smh

Joebie:
E reach to laugh. When they show their love for SM. Na there e always dey end o. Even Tammy still dey show love.

Someone suppose write book on this situo. Clowns of Rep's End: a Football comedy.

yinkeys:
Disagree
Halaand’s first touch is smoother

1st touch wey no pass the total touches salah had despite Salah playing 79mins less than him? Who 1st touch epp if it's not decisive or threatening?

lbrichman2:
As Man City were outplayed yesterday, we didn't read any posts to eulogize Pep or Foden or Oscar Bobb, Bernado, etc
Lol

We go again next week

Osimhen>>>>Haaland

Joebie:
Olise says he want to go to the WC with Nigeria

Abeg drop link i wan read am😂

Jodera:
Lol, I think the loss will fall more on Diaz than Nunez. Diaz missed clear cut chances twice that if he'd scored like one, they would have won.

The reason why I'm partly confident we can win Man City Is that our Midfield and defence. If our defence and Midfield are complete then I'm confident we can hold our own against them and it'll be more better if Alvarez Is even put in midfield too.
Another thing like you said is quick transition. I'm glad we're finally doing that quick transition once there's space instead of that tippy tappy we were doing first half of season. If we can do this also, I believe we can eke out something.
The only problem is just that it's Etihad which will tilt it to their favour but I'm not fully worried.

Then finally Haaland. I see you've finally seen what I'm saying about him. If you notice he's highly short 1 anytime they're pressing Man city and this is a whole Man City that have a system in place for over 5yrs, how much more we that is just starting to get a grip of our own.
I'll prefer a Victor Osimhen for us than a Haaland. Yeah, Osimhen might miss goals but he'll surely score more than misses especially as we create chances more and he won't really hamper our system. But Haaland? Omorr

Klopp's approach is sweet. City Midfielders got tired of running back to assist their suspect attack minded defense.


Klopp: Play a long ball to Salah, the city defenders rush back in droves to cover up space and the Midfielders also slot into pockets to stop any shot at goal. Do this 10times and the man city midfield collapses cos they are being bypassed over and over, therefore making the game more of defense vs attack than midfield vs defense. Plus all that running.

Also the overconfidence of Walker. Diaz was there yet you still dey high upfield. Rodri therefore has to try cover the RB zone. Rodri is not a pacy guy so that activity alone tired him already. Pep didn't even bother telling Walker to sit back. That one don dey feel like winger.

Then Liverpool lone ranger. That workaholic MacAllister.
So operation bypass and quick thinking. That way, everyone watching will forget how good the city Midfield ever is. Plus they're so alien to sitting back and defending overall.

Rodri-Silva-Kdb
Lol

As for Osimhen, anyday man. Anyday!! Imagine he and Odegaard pressing together. Osssh.

Leyqute:
You guys don’t really play high octane transitional football like that. Arsenal is more similar to Pep’s Man City in their style of play. Patient and careful with few risks.

That i already know. Just that we need to do whatever is needful to best them. That's the angle I'm coming from.

In simpler terms, anything that will create running and quick decisions before they recover, that is welcome. We are in the final stages of this title race. Unless of course, MA has something up his sleeves that will make us come out tops. That's where klopp is genius. Using players without big profile to make this team look ordinary and lose structure and calm....

Amigoss:
You sha have agenda against Nunez,his chance was more of a great save than a miss compared to Diaz who missed 3 one on one

Pls tell me you didn't see chances he fluffed. Which agenda? I wanted someone to score and you're saying agenda?!! 😂😂😂😂

mostob:
Liverpool fans dey pray make Liverpool win City.
City fans were praying make City win Liverpool.
Arsenal fans were praying make both of them draw.
And there is this fan base praying for Nottingham Forest to win (abi na lose sef) so they can move Fromm 11th to 10th. Na to come yearn rubbish in another club's thread Dem Sabi.

Fact is right now, the next games favour Liverpool more just as theirs favored us tonight. If we draw, Liverpool wins and tops. If city win and Liverpool win, same top for Liverpool. Only difference is Arsenal winning.

Lush100:
Hopefully Arsenal can show guts and strong mentality when we play Mancity

I know we have tricks up our sleeves, but we need to apply Klopp's approach. We are not as wasteful as his attackers. Total destabilization of City structure

Pass-Move-Run at their lazy backline

Works always.

Jodera:
I'll say yes but it is arguable tho

If push comes to shove(like on a bad day), someone like Salah, Diaz, Jota and even Nunez can just score a goal even if Liverpool are not playing well.

Do we have players like that who you think can score even if we're playing badly? Realistically, I doubt.

What you said played out today. Generating 19 shots on target and back to back attack chances that turned to unlucky moments.

For examples, what Diaz did to Walker and Rodri 3ice in the game, Nelli can't. Then the kind of space Red shirts held in city box and they fluffed them. Their buildup was direct and fast and so that alone is an Achilles of City(they have to decide to up the ante and abandon their possession game and show they're equal and that's where things began to break down)

I saw MacAllister singlehandedly bossing a midfield with Rodri, Kova/Kdb and Silva. Rodri turn ghost with Kova having more tackles since he came on.

Simple-No time to waste. Quick transition. If Nunez had sense, Liverpool ought to win this one.

I finally accept that Haaland is useless. I'll take Osimhen any day going forward. Don't berate me for this choice.

Salah played less than 25mins and had more touches and chances than you that played all 98mins? A half fit salah o.

Deltamani:
I didn’t really judged her with the Call up of the rest goalies to the SuperFalcons because almost all the goalkeepers called up to the SuperFalcons as 3rd choice have always been those who ain’t even regular in their Clubs. More like NFF or someone in position just picking any of their favorite and putting them there..!
Look at Obia Christiana, Monle Oyono, Linda Juwuaku etc, non of them are even starting goalies in their various NWPL clubsides.

You've unlocked a nff pattern already. More like they want to reward without showing. Plus they feel scouts will be eager to hop on. But no evidence to show it is ever working. So why waste a spot?

Roland17:
How we wan take do their 2 now because they each have troubling weaknesses. To be honest any goalie will be happy to Saliba/ Gabu in front of them.

The truth is Raya is Arteta's beloved. Did you see his comment after the game? "Mistakes are part of goalkeepers. 😂😂😂

Meaning he is aware too of what Raya did vs Porto. You're absolutely right. If those 2 dey Infront of Onana, dem go dey top 3 as well.

iamoyindamola:
He didn't dive there was contact but not enough

Just used that to describe the incident actually. The way those guys surrounded Kiwior and Trossard everytime. They were ready for anyone on that RW. Zinny changed the flow there. But Kiwior had a good game.

BlueRayDick:
I told someone here too same thing . Raya would've made the Toney shot look like a beautiful goal . Ramsdale height saved us o

Also notice the way Rams moved backwards to cause precise leap to punch that ball away. Raya for still dey one spot😂