₦airaland Forum

Ibime:
Loads of weeping and gnashing of teeth on here since the draw came out. This thread has advanced at the fastest rate evr recorded on a non-match day.

Thats not really due to gnashing of teeth but more with people like DK and Sauron having a wankfest over what they assume Messi and co will do to us, I don't think DK needs any viagra from now till after the match.

proudly9ja:
As an aside, rumour has it that Denilson might be off to Wolfsburg in January.
His tweets MAY suggest there's some truth in it.
When someone tweeted him about the rumour he first asked,
and then later added
emphasis mine

Wouldn't be surprising as that MF is getting crowded, with JW overtaking him the transfer bell started sounding for Denny and we've got to make space for the likes of Aneke and others already showing great promise. Soccernet says something in the range of 11m is being mooted, that is quite profitable as I was thinking in the range 6 - 8m  

proudly9ja:
Hopefully we would have won the CC by then so there should be less pressure.

Or maybe we should loan Diaby to Barca in January so he can help us cause some injuries in training?

We could try organizing a friendly match against Stoke for them, Shawcross owes us one.  

chamotex:
This is all you have to say? Just 2 lines? Compared to your 20 line average

I no get yur time today, when it calls for 20 lines I go write am. We meet Barca in 2011 and its gonna be a game.

eldee:
Now what will Wenger pull off this time . . . I suggest total anti-football.
It works for Mourinho and Chelsea.

I don't think so and to be honest, I don't want to see it, we can change the shape of the team to be tighter but I still wanna see good football. Besides, it didn't work for Mourinho recently did it?

chamotex:
Nope . . . you are not throwing in the towel

Wetin yu want make I do naa? Facing Barca on current form is a daunting prospect for anyone but the boys still have to show up on the pitch and do it abi no be so? Barca would be foolish to think they've already qualified, at the end of the day, this is soccer and its full of surprises.

You just knew it was shaping up towards this, if na here the UCL tory end for this year, the team only have themselves to blame for not being better in the group stage, yet another hard lesson learnt. We would have met them at some point anyway to win the cup. The team can only go and try their best, if we get knocked out, so be it, lets focus on winning the CC first of all.

I'm however not throwin in the white towel cos they still have to beat us on the pitch, but if you get beaten by Barca there is no shame in that abeg, go ask Mourinho's backside.

dipo2much:
^^
so are we now inflicting injuries on our own players deliberately? Alumnus now has a ankle injury? abeg,
Just tell us he has fallen down the ranks and we are talkin to spanish clubs to sell him to. Kini ni big deal,
Its good to here Mannone is doing well at hull. I havent seen much of a progress report about the italian. Congrats to Schezny. If he can put up another stellar performance,he just might be unbenchable. The guy is 2 inches shorter than Crouch,very admirable for a goalie

He has actually done well at Hull, now taken over the gloves and has improved them with some clean sheets and impressive saves during his short stay.

proudly9ja:
Good news:
Diaby and Djorou are back. Hope to see at least one of them back this weekend. I for one will rather see Diaby alongside Song instead of Denilson. Jack needs rest and against Stoke we need players who won't be bullied.

About time too, I think results will improve slightly in the long term with Diaby and I was quite worried cos some people were already saying his injury was career threatning. I hope he is available for Chelsea, I think we'll need him. Djorou wasn't away for long but he is good to have back cos we are the only ones still in all competitions.
I can't really understand why people are going overboard with a 1-0 loss to manure at OT, worrying we didn't muster much in attack and question marks over Arshavin, Clichy and Rozza but overall I think the team did reasonably well.

While DK goes gaga with his music, at least he has to break even after a lot of disappointments so far this season, maybe it also helps him find some peace with Muncshit sitll out of CL places with almost half of the season gone in the Bundesliga and a massive 17 points behind Dortumund 

My thoughts on the match is that this team has come some way but still has some to go. This match was definitely not boys v Men at all (at least it wasn't Barca v Madrid).
This team now has quality but needs to learn professionalism and a never say die attitude. Anyone could have gone ahead in today's match but the difference between us and Manure right now is that even if we went ahead, yu could never trust our boys to see out the result the way Manure went about it. It is a bit weird but it is the older heads that are now underperforming. Arsene has to find the belief to make changes as he did with Wilshere/Denilson. With Denilson on the pitch, this might have been another 3-1 rout.

Jack Wilshere was (bar Nasri) the best MF out on the pitch today, Rosicky just doesn't seem to have it in abundance any more unfortunately (its a pity injury robbed us of seeing him at his pomp) and Arshavin should be ashamed of his performance, he brought little or nothing to the match. Nani and Park gave both Sagna and Clichy a game but Arshavin could not do the same to that Da Silva boy and didn't even make up for that by giving Clichy any protection. I'm getting tired of seeing an Arsenal team where some people (like an 18 year old Wilshere) are ready to kpeme on the pitch while Arshavin couldn't seem to give a toss as to the outcome of the match.

The likes of Koscielny and Squillaci gave their all to keep Rooney in check but all Clichy needed to do (that he has failed to learn after many matches against Nani) is to defend outside his box and show the winger towards the line and not towards his box. Taken in isolation, this defeat is not a disaster, infact, one would like to see the team play with some of the same grit when we meet the lesser sides but in the context of recent matchups against the so called big clubs, the usual suspects will want to paint it as a disaster. I was encouraged by what I saw, even though we lost, a lot of the players could leave OT with their heads held high and of particular mention are Szczesny, Wilshere and Nasri, it gives me hope that there is a generation which doesn't seem burdened by the underachievement of our fallow years (perhaps its because they've won things as youth and still have the belief that they are good).

Did I also remember to say that Fabianski is just a tenant at present, Arsenal's number 1 in the long term is that man who manned the sticks today, surely all doubters must be convinced now (Debo, are yu finally convinced?) what talent, confidence and composure at OT of all places.

I still believe the best hope for this team is to win the CC at all costs and then build on from there, at least lets get rid of this trophy drought and the accompanying anchor the media have tied round our necks to keep on dragging us down and then move on from there.

Anyone heard the rumors Fabianski is sick/injured and Szczesny might be starting?
seems most people think this will be a draw but Arsenal don't seem to be drawing these days.
As my main man Slim would say, Tenhutt lads, its the Arsenal, bring it on you Binshes

eldee:
Did we play negative football or not?? Yes we did.

Yup, after going 1 man down, we played with a negative mindset. Yu're right about that but that was forced and yu can't go against that Barca team a man down and not go defensive naa, haba yu wan pack goals back go sell for emirates?

eldee:
And I also brought up the Porto game that no one wants to answer for.
I hate watching Arsenal fans lie, it rubs off on me.

Which Porto game? abeg jog my memory I can't recall us playing Porto and not attacking.

eldee:
Go watch the UCL Final.

Playing 10 v 11 for a very long time, surely yu can't be as expansive as you normally would.

dayokanu:
This is where we have to agree that either you are ignorant, deliberately lying or just totally clueless.

Did you watch Villareal vs Arsenal in 2006?

Tell us how Arsenal fared in the 2006 knockout games? If thats not anti football then what nomenclature can describe it

What do yu mean? you no dey watch football? abi yur memory circuits don rust? in the 2006 games we never played anti-football, we played 5 in midfield true  but we always looked to attack. How can a squad that consistently played with Cesc, Hleb, Reyes, RVP, Ljungberg, Pires and co up front play anti-football? do any of those guys know how to defend for their lives?

The only player who sat in MF was Gilberto, you can never accuse that 2006 campaign team of playing anti-football except yur DKmeter is ultraactive.

debosky:
^^ I heard it was the 'initial' application that failed, I'm sure we'll be able to get him in as an 'exceptional talent'.

Debo, its not looking likely o, I'm totally gutted was so looking forward to that boy coming under Arshavin's tutelage and adding an extremely good work ethic to his bag of tricks. Now I think Arsene has to go buy a wide forward in January. Eden Hazard anyone?

eldee:
Best players in the world, best managers in the world, biggest match in world football, the fact that every team comes to the Nou Camp to play football and not camp, the fact that people don't dedicate players to fight kungfu on the pitch, the fact that they stole everything that made the EPL best of the mid 2000s, the fact that when EPLs best play against them, we play anti-football. . . do you want me to go on??

Erm Eldee, we didn't?  we could be accused of many things at Arsenal but playing anti-football? NEVER we leave that for those in the win at all cost school of soccer exemplified by Mourinho's chelsea team.

Honestly Na anoda level Semiu dey at present, that boy don step am up big time shey na prayer mat him dey take leg spread abi na the route to mecca he dey draw on top pitch?

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvQTaCMXpLc?fs=1&hl=en_GB[/flash]

Hope una neva forget dis one too?

[flash=400,400]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2tx-R5jxpr4?fs=1&hl=en_GB[/flash]

The commentator shout Allah so tey he forget say him be muslim come dey speak in tongues again.

Everything Mankind has ever created usually serves a purpose, religion has come forth out of the total history of our species and serves a good social purpose, like everything created by man it is also subject to abuse and has both good and bad parts. God and satan are just conceptualisations of the two sides of man's nature, it is interesting to note that Man has failed in making God totally good and the devil totally bad because inherently there is nothing of man, infact I can't really think of anything in nature which is totally good or totally bad.
Even the oxygen in the air we breathe and some people thank God for fuels fires which can destroy (e.g forest fires).
There is good in evil and also evil in good. It is the way of the world.

Team list is out:

That attack line looks wicked, but everytime I see Denny, counter attack keeps ringing in my head.    but no shaking, counter or no counter we will outscore partizan cos RVP and Chamakh will keep the ball in the final third where it matters.

Arsenal team: Fabianski, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Gibbs, Song, Denilson, Nasri, Van Persie, Chamakh, Arshavin. Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Vela, Walcott, Wilshere, Eboue, Bendtner

Abeg, keep us posted o, I dey work so I no go catch dis one live.

debosky:
As for the Brazillians, I dey ready for them. . . there are only two possible outcomes - Durex go finish or dem go tire.

No forget yur stash of red bull o, brazillian babes fit wella.

coded guy:
@ Debo

Expired burukutu is good 4 the mind, u never hear say it inspires one to see how your Arses would be spanked today .

Europa (Hopefully) here the Arses come

You know say na we dey dish am out in multiples of 2, dis one wey iya nasiru tonic don dey potent pass Burantashi and chinese capsule so yu go dey risk yur life to bet against the one and only Prince Nasiru playing one man army against Partizan today.
Bring am on abeg, talk dey cheap. Na OT be de koko on monday, this is as good as won already.

debosky:
Dudu I still dey go oh. . . .you want me to deliver a message to your uncle?

Na yu be the wrongest guy to send Debo, I go prefer to use chinese whispers. 
But I dey look that pic again o, RVP na my special persin, him still get time to dey gauge the pressure of him babe bootie even for camera front. 
I too like that guy.

@Debo still dey go watch Partizan? every time I see that tribute link on the starting page I no just dey feel like writing anything. You just had to know that Bawo was brilliant, I wasn't too surprised at what his school did and it just makes it all the more sad. Come give us report when you return abeg.

It was saddening to hear of bawomolo's death, "dammit, its bawomolo, bloody hell" that was my jumbled response when I realized he was the 21 year old Nairalander who had been shot.

As I told a dear one to me, I'm humbled to have known someone so young yet more peaceable and level headed than I considered myself to be despite my being a few good years older. He was a like minded soul as I, liberal yet cool as a cucumber, he was the very definition of live and let live, funny and somehow able to rise above the vitriol that is bound to flow in such a crucible of ideas, beliefs and emotions as Nairaland is. He loved his country and yearned for it to be better in such a way as I could relate to, looking at your country from a different land and some distance, wanting, nay longing to retain that connection with the land of your birth and desperately hoping you could wish its problems away.

The Awomolo family should be proud to have produced such a model of sensibility, respect and love for humanity. I will miss you Bawomolo and so will many. You are in our hearts in your time of grief and I can only hope that something good can come out of all this that would be of some tribute to the person he was.

Thanks so much Samir for giving a fellow gooner a great send-off with 2 well taken goals. Now go on and win it lads while we take our time to heal.

I'll have to vote Slim,

1. never loses his sense of humor.
2. for being Switzerland on the gooner forum when Debo goes on the rampage with false accusations against Arsene and I have to unwillingly engage him  
3. Always puts DK the scourge of the gooner thread in his place.

[quote author=mama-gee link=topic=560180.msg7268214#msg7268214 date=1291419778][color=deeppink]May his soul rest in peace[b] but is it Bawomolo, the nairalander?[/b] [/color][/quote]Unfortunately it seems so,  all the details match and he hasn't logged on since that day. Thats why we're all hurting.

I won't get involved in all these messed up people and their rantings, Bawomolo is dead and unfortunately we can't bring him back, someone suggested NL remembering their own for good. There is a grieving family somewhere out there mourning a promising child snatched away too soon in such a cruel manner, is there a way we can collaborate with those who are closer to him to pass our condolences on to his family so that they know that their son touched others in his own unique way and is sadly missed by a good number of people on here?

Quite unfortunate one of the most sensible and cultured people on here has been taken away just like that by some goons, one would never know he was that young. Don't know if there is an after life or a parallel universe anywhere but if there is would like to meet you there someday, I do hope the family finds some strength to get through this, all I can say is that time heals all things or at the least dulls the pain. RIP bawomolo, you did your bit.

debosky:
You should know me by now slimshady. . . .I have no appetite for long winded epistle exchanges.

Who cares how many of the 2005 era players remain? Did the ones on the Arsenal side die in a plane crash? Didn't the manager decide to sell them off?

Selling them off and bringing in youth was a strategic decision to keep the wage bill down (we've always been at least 19m lower than Manure annually) and to give youth chance (If those older players were around, the youth players would never get the opportunity to play). That is why we are where we are today in terms of finances, true enough we've suffered in terms of silverware but in the grand scheme of things its a nice trade off, when we start winning all that will be in the past.

debosky:
He made his bed and will lie on it - I make bold to say it again, Utd's youth team is better than ours by a country mile. We might have a few better players in certain positions (e.g Gibbs and Wilshere) but in terms of overall quality, there is no credible debate to be had here.

That statement is false, I've supplied my data explaining why I think so, can you kindly supply yours?

debosky:
Only a joker will claim ONE RESULT shows Arsenal's youth team is better. . . .when the same 'youths' won the CC two years in a row and Arsenal couldn't. Nuff said - if you want to continue believing your delusion, then continue doing so. My position is clear.

if I mentioned only ONE RESULT, that would make me a joker, history shows I've said this even before the said result. And stop that lie about Manure winning the CC with youths. It is a blatant LIE I would only expect from die hard manure supporters like Sauron not from an Arsenal fan.

debosky:
One more thing, even for all the insults Bebe has received, he has made more of an impact this season than the 'potential Messi' (not my words) Carlos Vela. Go figure.

There you go again, not much to say, this is laughable.

slimshay:
Chei, now it is unstoppable. Debo will now come with his own 'epistle'. *smh*

Abeg no vex Slim, na Debo dey always start am. He don too like Fergie to see when the old baba dey miss am. No coach is perfect and Fergie's record speaks for itself but the minute that baba started going for Bebe and co I saw the light Debo has chosen to remain in the shade of a fading history.

debosky:
That's what I keep trying to drum into Dudu's head, but he won't accept. Manure might have dropped off, but we've dropped off arguably more. Even in their 'lowly' state, they can still pull results out regularly while we are up and down like a sine curve, oscillating around a 'better than average' level but not really pushing for the top.

The reason why they are still pulling out results is easy to see if you take a closer look and has nothing to do with their youngsters but more to do with their quality older players. I checked out something recently and found out that 8 of the manure matchday squad we narrowly beat on penalties in 2005 (Scholes, Giggs, Brown, O'Shea, Rio, Rooney, Fletcher, Neville) until recently this season still regularly lined up for Manure while the 3 who still remain for Arsenal are (Almunia, RVP and Cesc).

That is a whole lot of quality for us to have leaked and shows the herculean task Arsene has had to face when you consider that we haven't even invested as much into getting newer players within that same time frame (with a difference in player expenditure anywhere from 70m to 130m). What we've done is to give opportunity to youth and invested heavily into our academy and we stand on the threshold of reaping the fruit of our labours.

debosky:
4 kongba is not a small matter alright, and we can hear people like Giggs telling the young boys it's unacceptable. When Arsenal got thrashed 4-1 by Chelski I don't remember anyone opening their mouths to say it's unacceptable, we just hear the same old recycled bullshite blaming someone else or saying we 'lacked sharpness' 'played with the handbrake on' 'lacked focus and maturity' and so on.

Make I no vex myself abeg. . . .enough of hype and talk - till I see consistent action on the pitch, all the talk is recycled bollocks.

Chelsea when they beat us were front runners in the league and better than we were, West Ham is a club fighting relegation, surely that is a huge difference? The same Burnley team that beat us 2-0, gained promotion into the PL, beat Manure in the PL and looked on course to maintain PL status until they lost Owen Coyle. Also consider the small matter that B52 missed 3 1v1 against their keeper on the day despite playing with such a young team.

BinghiNya:
Arsenal youth team indeed is miles ahead of United. Soccer facts do tell lies. Dipo2much is a genius in footie. He gets 99.25% of his United's predictions wrong. Mention 5 of your team players that ever made it big time. I will mention more than 25 for United. United's youth players have made  a bigger difference anywhere thay go compared to your so called muppets.
Lets compare:

The Da Silva twins to your reserve full backs.
Darron Gibson to your boys.
macheda to your JET. Macheda has scored life saving goals compared to your magicians. United youngsters have beaten bigger teams yet we never boast about them . I will come back for you guys.

When will people understand that there is a difference between history and the present? at present in youth football Arsenal is ahead of Manure and have been for the past 3 years or thereabouts and still continues. We have won the U18 Academy PL back to back and have won a double in that time (Jack Wilshere, JET, Lansbury and Frimpong) were all in that team and that was even a team Ramsey was eligible for but never played. Last season the set of Afobe and Aneke trashed Manure enroute to lifting the Academy league trophy back to back (Wilshere still qualified to play in that team but never did cos he was already on loan at Bolton).

When I state my facts, I know what I'm saying to come to those conclusions, if anything some people accuse me of following youth football too much.
At present, Arsenal's academy is the best in England and rivals the best European academies out there and very much ahead of Manure's that is a fact supported by the current statistics. Our Academy is now getting invitations from all over the world because of this, the young boys trashed a team of Manure reserves (featuring the likes of Gary Neville and Cleverley) in the platinum one challenge

You can sit down with Debo and be talking poopycock about history while the landscape changes before your eyes na una know.