₦airaland Forum

I still prefer Lukaku to Ibrahimovic. But Lukaku should be doing more and scoring the typical strikers' goals.

That was what RVP did in 2012/2013. Some of the goals he scored were half chances. Some kind of ball falls on a striker, and you begin to get up hoping to shout goal. Even Rooney 2009/10, 2011/2012.

Lukaku is fast, strong, tall, can shoot and jump. So what's the problem? I

hoopLA:
So how come he's been firing this season?
What happened that the goals and assists have started appearing?
Which miracle happened that suddenly turned on the effect, since he hadn't really changed the way he plays?
How come we haven't lost a league game yet when he starts?

Since you know how to analyze better than everybody else, explain to us why he is no longer shitty.

Last season and this season are two different stories. Who was our best player last season that many fans wanted him given the arm band? How is the performance this season?

Mkhitaryan was good last season, particularly in the Europa. Where is he currently?

hoopLA:
How will he assist when our strikers led by Zlatan were squandering chances by the truckload in games?
Or have you forgotten so quickly?
Are we going to delve into the stats to find out how many chances pogba created last season?

Who blamed him for Assists? His overall game was poor
...
Manchester United: Paul Pogba 'doesn't understand the game' and Zlatan Ibrahimovic is 'past his sell-by date'

Eamon Dunphy, the Irish broadcaster and former United youth team player, also criticised Wayne Rooney, Marcos Rojo and Memphis Depay

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/premier-league/manchester-united-news-paul-pogba-wayne-rooney-zlatan-ibrahimovic-eamon-dunphy-a7432721.html

dopeJemi:
the initial work was not done by Lingard, it was Pogba that drove with ball and passed to a waiting Lingard

you no know ball

I am not sure Pogba started that build up from our deep.

CapitalCee:
Don't mind them, I talked about naysayers few days ago and some people landed on me. Some will even complain that why didn't mourinho bring back cantona?
Lukaku has score 8goals and 5 assists in 14 games, scoring further 4 in other competitions, but no he an idiot, he is a fraud, he is lazy, he is a Judas. I am regretting criticizing Lindelof earlier for his struggles, yesterday he put in the most composed defensive performance by a 21 year old I have seen in United, they made me catch the bug. People calling for zlatan, forgot how we played slowly last season, with Lukaku our attack looks more fluid and fast, in the last two games he had a hand in 4 goals, look carefully all they goals scored yesterday he contributed to them, we need goals distributed across the field not 1 player scoring 28 of about 60 goals all season. We have not played half a season, Valencia has 2, Young 3, Martial 6, Rashford 3, Felliani 3, Lingard 3, Pogba 3, smalling mikhi ,Mata and even Bailly has contributed. Let Cut Lukaku some slack abeg.

There was nothing wrong in your criticism of Lindelhof. I defended Lindelhof some weeks back when the criticism was becoming heavy, I said he would be good. But I cannot because of that try to rubbish or shame those who criticized him. He was really playing badly. After he cost us two goals, I criticize him, but the next league match when he was being butchered, I defended him.

Lukaku deserves criticism for yesterday's performance. Remember last week here, I said he contributes so much even though he doesn't score. But yesterday, I saw situations he could have done something different and help us, but he behaved like am amateur player.

PietroRico:
Neymar cost 200m and cannot outscore merefish delay in that farmers league. Mbappe has 4 or 5 goals playing for that psg side in the league.

But nobody will talk trash anywhere, because common sense will somehow be in their heads.

At some point last season, they were talking about goal drought for Pogba, a CM .

Forget this nonsense you typed here. Pogba was poor last season not because he didn't score or give Assists, but because he was playing like badly. Even Ibrahimovic had to state why he was poor.
......
Zlatan Ibrahimovic: Paul Pogba tried too hard at the start to justify £89 million Man Utd transfer

30 DECEMBER 2016 • 12:13PM
latan Ibrahimovic believes Paul Pogba struggled at Manchester United earlier in the season because he was trying too hard to justify his world record transfer fee.
But the United striker is convinced Pogba is now starting to show why the club paid Juventus £89 million in the summer to secure his services after finally settling down.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/12/30/zlatan-ibrahimovic-paul-pogba-tried-hard-start-justify-89-million/

SailorXY:
Nobody's got time for back & forth.
It may surprise you that the chances Pogba created by this time last season is very similar in number to what he has created right now, difference being the conversion rate has gone up exponentially.
Where are the lashes for Lindelof now?
Smalling & Rojo were very nervous yesterday but still managed to see out the game. Matic didn't really do his screening job yesterday perhaps due to fitness.

Criticism should be mixed with common sense. There is a mighty gulf when a player is blasted for poor performances because of recent form & a player always blasted when he's trying to settle into a new setting even when everybody can see the effort put in. Some people just run mouth without understanding what they're even arguing about.

The message is clear enough to the blind: GIVE NEW PLAYERS A CHANCE TO FAIL.

Pogba was very poor last season from September/October to December. It was in the second half of the the season he started showing good signs.

Smalling did very well against Watford making many clearances, but many were quick to praise Lindelof just because he is picking up. Yesterday, the defence was scattered, but Smalling still tried. I cannot blame or praise one individual from yesterday's game. I am unable to tell if they were poorly shielded by midfield or whether Bailly and Jones would have given us a better stability.

But truth be told, Matic and Pogba couldn't cope with the pace and swift movement of the Arsenal midfield, that was why Herrera was brought.

You are fast to blame Matic, Smalling, Rojo but still stop short of saying Pogba offered no shield to the defense. He contributed two Assists, yes, but the first one was down to the hard work of Valencia, and even my mother could have given that return pass. The second one was a good craft, but again the initial work was by Lingard (I think).

You too try to balance your criticism, Pogba is not a sacred cow you should never be able to tell he was poor when he played poorly.

eph12:
You are asking what Lukaku did for a team that defended throughout and was starved of ball except those clearance he had to run after? Most of the balls he got were further up the pitch and not close to the box where he can cause havoc. Which striker would have performed better in that set up? Morata?

He had one or two chances to score a typical striker goal. But he reacted poorly like he were a defensive midfielder who find himself in a scoring position. His hold up play was also none existence. I doubt if he won any long ball from our defence. Yet he is tall and powerful.

SailorXY:
undiluted shame fall on those that ever mocked his purchase.

Can you tell us anyone person you know that ever mocked the purchase of Pogba?

This is the problem. A player playing poorly and being blamed doesn't amount to say "why was he bought".

One well crafted Assist, now una don start "you against us".

Leyqute:
Lukaku could've gotten a goal today but he didn't. There qas an instance when he passed the ball to Lingard in front of the 18 yard box and instead of running into the box he stood still expecting Lingard to smash it when he was marked already. Had he ran into the box he'd have gotten Lingard's return pass and scored or at least forced a penalty.

And after it all he was shouting at Lingard, asking him why he didn't take the shot. This suggests he's more eager to help the team win than to score goals himself.

That's why I said what I said.

I am now getting tired of Lukaku now.

raumdeuter:
PDP see penalty clear one

What about Arsenal that deserve a red card for last man foul on Lukaku?

chrisley024:
Having none on the bench

If we play Smalling and Rojo, Lindelof will be on the bench. Moreover, Blind can still manage that position against small teams or teams that play slowly.

Leyqute:
How many times Nigeria don qualify for world cup?

6

PietroRico:
I remember when 5 CB's at the beginning of the season, looked like too much

It is still too much. May be that is why we now play 3. And all the CBs are good.

CapitalCee:
Sir I am not who you say i am, moreover I did have u in mind while writing, I just saw a lengthy argument of someone wanting to exonerate himself of condemning pogba few days ago. Moreover if you slate him for bad performances its Ok, but just admit it that he has proven you wrong and move on finish. Nobody will kill you. Last week my previous post was excavated hyping Herrera, I accepted the L immediately without "amalanomic" like my friend funlord will say and moved on. Have I died?
Few weeks ago I was sceptical of Lindelof, but I prayed he prove me wrong and he is doing that now, I was happy but I accepted I judged him too early.
Most people here are just whinners, they only come here to complain, and blame players, but you will never see them praise any body for great performance, those are the people I have issues with not you.
Few days ago I had an argument with someone I couldn't even remember, he said spurs, pool and Chelsea will overtake us on the strength of playing "better football " this is just because we won ooo 1-0 versus Brighton( this is the first time this season apart from spurs game we are scoring 1 at home).
These are the naysayers not you, if you want to join them well na you know.

You want me to say I am wrong when I was right? You don't know much about the history of arguments here and why, so don't rely on what majority say or few screenshots from the past because there are many other things said in the past which could make a few screenshots biased in isolation.

Did you not get it wrong when you sided with those who argued about the intention of Herrera when he told Mkhitaryan to go join attack while he withdraw into defensive zone against Ajax?

Learn to judge maturely.

CapitalCee:
I dey laff people wey de say make them bench am. Na so them slam pogba last season, just last week someone required about 10 pages to deny his slating of Him, without success. The 2 of the fisrt 3 goals he has a hand in it. We complained last season of not getting goals from all parts of the pitch, Now we are getting it, it's now a problem. Nawao

Whether you agree you are Coogar or not, I always see you as Coogar.. You may pretend by changing your writing style, but the ideas can be sensed.....

You always get things very wrong. The first time you posted with this moniker, you attacked for stating that Herrera asking Mkhitaryan to go into the box for his goal against Ajax in Europa final was a defensive move at first - to protect Mkhitaryan who was on yellow card already. The argument went on for days, I was alone against a crowd, then you came out from the blues to say I was wrong. But Mourinho himself (through his statement on the issue) vindicated me some weeks later.

Now you are judging wrongly again with your poor sense of judgement. May be you just want to be against me. I was right 100% last week on the Pogba argument as facts revealed. Did I not show where I said Pogba was money well spent? When he became poor, we criticize him - just like Scholes, Neville, etc did. Abe you know ball pass Scholes and Neville?

raumdeuter:
There was no experience Man City had that was missing in Man Utd when you had DDG, Blind Rojo who were key players and more experienced

Martial scored 11 goals before Mourinho came in his debut season with better management, Martial could have been a 20goal a season player now that he is older and more experienced in the league same with Rashford who were some of the best young players in Europe them definitely better than Sane and Sterling

Mata was a regular before Mourinho and that he was dropped isnt anyones fault, He was part of the team inherited by Mourinho. Mata is younger than Silva and if properly managed and not expected to run several miles per game he can deliver almost as much as Silva.

If Mourinho had taken over Man City maybe he will be telling Silva to support defence and Aguero to help the left back.now Silva is almost relieved of all defensive duties and he is able to play well into his old age and not burn out. Thats the coach management

Martial just wasnt a young player he was the most expensive teenager, the equivalent of Mbappe now, No team in the world wont play him on current form

Before Mourinho and Pep touched both teams I would have picked Martial and Rashford over Sterling and Sane. Right now Sterling alone has 8 league goals while Rashford plus Martial have 8 in the league

The team Guardiola took over had Sagna Kolarov, Mangala, Kompany, Fernando, Navas Zabaleta, Clichy Yaya, all these were core players

For example this was the City lineup vs Madrid one of their biggest games of the season

Hart, Sagna, Kompany, Otamendi, Clichy, Fernando, Fernandinho, Toure, Navas, De Bruyne, Aguero.
Subs: Caballero, Mangala, Kolarov, Delph, Sterling, Bony, Iheanacho

7 of the 11 starters are not main players anymore. Meaning only 4 of the 11 are useful in any capacity 18months later. Of the 5 subs only Deplh and Sterling are useful in any capacity

So out of 18 players named to face Madrid only 6 are still playing important roles.

You just want to push this argument.

Number of starts for key City players 2015/2016

Otamendi (30) matches
De Bruyne 22 (3)
Aguero 29 (1)
Silva 22 (2)
Kompany 13 (1)
Fernadinho 31 (2)
Sterling 23 (

Kompany had few starts due to injury, not poor form. The above players were the key players for City. Navas only started because some of the the above players were injured for a long time. The above were City key players. All seven still around.

All above players are more experienced than Martial, Rashford, Lingard, Herrera, Smalling and Blind.

Remember to stick to the fact that we are taking about the experience of the best players from each team. The players who were retained. If you start talking about dropped players like Navas, Clinchy, you should remember Mourinho also inherited such players like Schweinsteiger, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Januzaj, Carrick ,

I sometimes even forget to add that Guardiola inherited De Bruyne.

Abeg, even if na me inherited those players (Aguero, Silva, Sterling, Fernadinho, Kompany, De Bruyne), I for fit coach them contest for league title.

raumdeuter:
Most of the players in Man Utd were young and agile. Unlike those in City.

Rojo already had world cup experience. Rojo played a world cup final before he met Mourinho so how was Mourinho the one who developed him, Mata won a world cup and was in good age, Blind performed well in the world cup better than any City player and he was already a key player before Mourinho arrived

The fact still remained that Guardiola inherited the 2nd oldest team in the league and Mourinho inherited the 2nd youngest team in the league

You don't get it. We are talking about the experience of the best players from both teams. Experience now in terms of world cup, Champions League and Euro nations cup.

The best players in Manchester United were Rashford, Martial and Lingard.

City had Aguero, Silva and Sterling. We could add Fernadinho to City and Carrick to United.

We cannot begin to count Mata who is substitute for Spain and was even dropped from the team when Mourinho arrived. Rojo also was a substitute in Gaal's team when Mourinho arrived.


We are looking at the players who were the best for their teams. United players clearly lacked the experience. Rashford was just from feeder's team and till now still exhibits characteristics of an inexperienced player. Same with Martial. On the other hand, Aguero is a world class forward. Silva is arguably the best hole player in the world. Sterling had far more experience both in club and country than Rashford, Martial and Lingard.

In the midfield, Carrick was over due for retirement just like Toure. But Fernadinho is far more experienced than Herrera and Schneiderlin.

United always finished below City after 2012/2013. City won the league recently with those players Guardiola inherited.

So Guardiola walked into a far better team.

The young age of our players when Mourinho came in was a minus, not a plus. If Martial and Rashford were around 23-25 years, we could say it was a plus.

raumdeuter:
If thats the angle you choose to approach it then Schweinsteiger Carrick Mata and Rooney have CL winners medal Only Yaya has in that Cty lineup.

Schweinsteiger world cup winner, Mata world cup winner, Rojo world cup finalist, Blind world cup 3rd place,
Mata

Why its wrong is that football depends a lot on fitness and age comes with it, whats the point of your CL and world cup experience if you are too old to move around and run.?

If I bring players who won the CL and world cup 8yrs ago as evidence of experience players like Dvid Villa, Pirlo, or Puyol
The team you listed for City would have been a solid squad if this was 6yrs ago, Not at a time when they were one of the oldest teams in the entire league

Guardiola inherited the 2nd oldest team in the entire league and Mourinho inherited the 4th youngest team in the league




That was 2yrs ago.

You don't get it. Those with world cup and UCL experience in United were not our best players when Mourinho arrived. Rooney, Schweinsteiger, Carrick, were ready to retire. Rojo was developed by Mourinho to be the player he is today. Rashford, Martial and Lingard had no experience, and were our best.

Compare to Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling, Fenadinho Silva who were City best players when Guardiola arrived, you can see a huge difference in quality.

Mourinho inherited a far weaker and an unstable team.

laPULGA:
so,none of mata,rooney,blind,carrick,schweini,valencia, de gea,rojo etc had any ucl,world cup or euro experience

ISSORAIT KONTINIU
we just dey observe you from the high places

Those with world cup experience in United had past their best football years when Mourinho arrived.

Look at the list of players for both clubs again

Datapoboi:
^^^ makes no difference. He has ghosted in the last 8 matches already

Without Lukaku, we will be a mid table team. His presence in that front line is very important.

raumdeuter:
No I disagree its the mentality o the coaches. Guardiola looks to win by outscoring the opponent, Mourinho looks to win by conceding less or not conceding at all

Mourinho inherited a better team that Guardiola

Mourinho inherited a younger team while Guardiola inherited a much older team tht he has had to change a lot

I disagree.

Rashford, Martial, Lingard, Schneiderlin, Rooney, Schweinsteiger, Smalling, Blind, Carrick, Valencia, Darmian, Herrera

Vs

Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne, Sterling, Fernadinho, Fernando, Kompany, Otamendi, Toure, Zabeleta,


Just check and tell me which team had more quality players. Our best players had no UCL, world cup and Euro experience compared to Aguero, Silva, Sterling, etc

mpowa:
It's great to meet a Trump fan who's excited about every sales pitch he throws around, yea is doing great over China...On paper (or better still ON TWEETER).

The economic, job and stocks reports speak for themselves. Businesses are reporting far better profits too

Leyqute

Clear cut chances highest creator from August 2016 to March 2017, according to whoscored report

L. Messi - 19
K. De Bruyne - 18
Á. Di María - 16 )




We can praise Di Maria because he didn't have high minutes on the field.

To make you understand more the how hard it is to create a clear cut chance, the highest in this Calendar year from January - October first week, is Messi with 21 CCC. That is even less than 1 CCC per match for Messi.

mpowa:
so leave CNN alone, don't watch it, just ignore...If all Trump supporters can do that, there will be peace, but they can't because they no CNN matters, CNN has the largest followership both locally and globally, that's why the Orange man can't ignore them, what CNN report is the same thing other smaller stations report but he's on CNN's case because he knowns they matter too much, but guess what, he can't wipe out CNN, they will outlive him...his best bet is to change his style of governance and the reporting will change, if it doesn't change, it would be too obvious to the moderates that CNN is bad, for now, he's the fake guy.

CNN is fake. Trump is the real thing, the Messiah turning the economy around and returning jobs back to the country with good foreign policies that protect America against such countries like China

Leyqute:
Yes sir! You are right Sir Elampiro The Great III!!

DOUBLE TUALE BABA EDO!!!

Ángel di María, Paris Saint-Germain
Neymar’s arrival may leave Di María or Julian Draxler without a starting place at Paris Saint-Germain. Di María is perhaps better on the right wing but he is a capable performer on either flank. Di Maria’s adaptability means he can excel in either a 4-2-3-1 formation or a 4-3-3, meaning Valverde wouldn’t have to alter Barcelona’s system too much.

He created more clear-cut goalscoring chances (21) than any other player in Ligue 1 last season, while placing third for key passes (77), which would undoubtedly benefit Suárez. Di Maria and Messi combined well for Argentina at the World Cup in 2014 and he would be a cost effective replacement for Neymar, albeit a short-term solution. The move would also have the bonus of annoying Real Madrid fans.

https://www.google.com.ng/amp/s/amp.theguardian.com/football/who-scored-blog/2017/aug/04/barcelona-sign-replace-neymar-prg-coutinho-mbappe-hazard

.....


Read the above for you to understand how scanty clear cut chances are. I will show you more examples

Leyqute:
You don't know what you are saying, Elampiro. You no know ball.

E.O.D

Argue with verifiable facts and stats. Go to stats and show me the teams that create many clear cut chances in a match. What you call CCC might not be what is really CCC.

Back to the argument. During when Rashford and Martial were on the pitch, Brighton park bus and relied on counter thereby giving no room for our forwards to operate. Even when we scored, we still played them half field.

But as soon as the two guys left, they pushed forward leaving wide gaps behind and in between them for our forwards to utilize. Yet all we saw was Zlatan, Mkhitaryan, Lukaku losing the ball as soon as they got it, making wrong passes and refusal to press for the ball. No single threats again, and every ball was immediately returned to our half by Brighton. Our defence came under undue pressure.

mpowa:
What do you watch? Faux news, Breitbart, infowars and all the alternative media? Those are not news channels, they soap operas...tell you something, Trump is seeking every means to get rid of CNN, but he can't do it legally, if they've lied on him, he would've sued them for libel in such a way that they'll go bankrupt. Is CNN Bias? Very true, but they have so much material on Trump that their job is made too easy... Everyday, he does something terrible... Like lying against an established institution like Times magazine... It's not CNN's fault if you're making a lot of mess, they're only reporting it, and they got the largest voice,deal with it if you're a fan.

I don't watch infowars or Fox News. CNN was my primary news outlet until their biased and lies became too obvious in the campaign to the last election. I stopped watching them having seen the worst twisting and lies since the history of mankind. I prefer to read Yahoo News (although also liberal outlet), and a few of others including CNN. Buy in terms of politics, CNN is the worst ever. Their ability to twist news cannot be rivalled.

CNN (Clinton News Network) can portray water to be poison as long as it helps promote gay agenda and every liberal view.