₦airaland Forum

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Di Maria in starting eleven early in the season.

Kagawa10:
He was given enough playing time because he, Ozil and Khedira were all signed by Mourinho however, Ancelotti was ready to bin him but fortunately for him, Khedira got injured at the time and Di Maria was brought in to replace him.

He and Ozil have always been inconsistent and it was rumoured he would leave for Psg around Jan but to his luck, Khedira's injury put an end to it. His performance was only consistent for that period which was nothing less than 6nmonths! You saying otherwise is nothing short of revisionism

Lies upon lies from the pit of hell.

Madrid's first big game. Di Maria was a first team choice early in the season. He was a starter.

Kagawa10:
It's not as easy as you think. If it was, why did you think Psg chairman supported Unai emery decision to relegate Di Maria to the bench and even helped in the signing of Draxler with the intention to replace Di Maria?

When the whole team are playing well and are afforded plenty of space, Di Maria is likely to shine but without that, he's totally abysmal. Just because he was able to show some consistency for 6months in a Madrid team that had Modric and Alonso in the best form of their life, doesn't negate the fact that he's always been an inconsistent player. In fact, Madrid sold him off because they weren't willing to bump up his wage after 6 months of consistency.

I've discussed all these to death with you but you're always hell-bent on believing in your own myth about Di Maria. Even all has not been rosy for him in the french league except when the team are having a blast as well as Verratti being in his lovely element yet you still have the delusion he would have done well with us in the EPL? Pray tell, why did he still look pathetic on his return to the England when he played against Man City in the CL last season?

It was not six months Di Maria had a great time at Madrid. You always say this. How did he manage to have one of the highest playing time if he was not consistent throughout? Di Maria was good for at least two seasons in Madrid. Although he was less consistent with his final balls in 2012/2013 season.

My last response to you.

Kagawa10:
You implied that by asking me to go and sit down!

Anyway, it's true that playmakers tend to elevate the performance of the players in the team due to their ability to easily find space and constantly find/release their forwards in acres of space thereby making it easy for them to do the damage in the final third but that doesn't mean the said forwards should be totally useless without a playmaker like Di Maria often tends to do.

This is a player who finds it difficult to even do the basic such as play simple few yard passes accurately and often look totally shite on the ball when Verratti isn't in the team. Did you watch Psg match last group match against Ludogaret- not sure if I got the name correct but the gist is Di Maria was awful in that said match despite the goal scored by him. He lost several possession cheaply due to his awful passes and touches on the ball and it was one of his cheap give away that led to one of Ludo's goals. He was awful and pathetic throughout the match and it isn't a coincidence that all this happened without Verratti in the team. Can you imagine such pathetic performance against an average team such as Ludogaret team?

My problem with you is you wouldn't show up when Di Maria is having poor performances which has often been the case this season due to Verratti's constant injury spell. In fact, Moura and the new signing, Draxler were preferred to him many times this season but one good performance from him has you always running up here to tell us how he's a worldclass player and we would have been better off with him. Even Psg fans would disagree with you on that.

Players are different. Di Maria is not one to measure his pass for accuracy. A coach has to take him for who he is and harness his qualities with the rest of the team for the benefit of the team.

Take for example, when we had Nani, he didn't have the pass, no tackling skills, tried many tricks unnecessarily thereby delaying the ball, but SAF utilised him such that at a time Nani was been said to have replaced Ronaldo.

When Ramires (although one or two seasons wonder) helped Chelsea to win the UCL, he didn't have the pass, but just pace to burst forward 40 yards.

FACT: Sergio Romero has kept 6 consecutive clean sheets for Manchester United.

Pogba and bars. That was a clear cut chance but he still hit the bar.
Our poor conversion is a big problem.

Kagawa10:
Stop crying, he goat. You lost all credibility when you told me to shut up.

As for your Q, Nope, Messi and Verratti weren't in the team but surely you must have heard about certain playmakers called Modric and Alonso?

Maybe You should tell us why Di Maria always look pathetic without a playmaker in a team. Don't even go that far, explain to us why he was shite for Psg against City in the 2 legs matches without Verratti in it?

Show me where I told you I to shut up.

If you attribute the performance and quality of Di Maria to a play make, then it means the performance of Pele, Maradona, Messi, Ronaldo, Di Lima, Suarez, Ronaldinho, Robben, etc were due to certain playmakers in their teams.

We are not playing well. We are only lucky they are poor at shooting at our goalkeeper. Our defence should be more organized in the second half, Eric Bailly making mistakes.

Fellaini and Mata were not in the first half.

Kagawa10:
It's you who should shut it up, lame ass!

Eediot who admitted that he never watched Di maria during his poor spell this season, yet always come up with his stupidity everytime Di maria had a good performance.

Maybe your poor brain wasn't functioning enough to know Messi was Argentina's playmaker at the worldcup and was the one who kept supplying most of Di Maria passes, for example, his goal against the Swiss was fashioned out by Messi

Di Maria doesn't need anyone to shine yet he always look pathetic for Psg during Verratti injury lay-off? Go and have something else for your stupid brain to think about because I'm sure it isn't good for football.

Foolish He goat who knows nothing yet thinks he's wise.

The way you resorted to insults here, it's very clear you are bereft of ideas.

Di want the player who created for Argentina with his dangerous runs, Messi benefited from these.

Was Messi or Verratti in Di Maria team when Di Maria helped Madrid to beat Bayern Munich with great counter attacking football, and he helped Madrid to beat Athletic Madrid in the final of the UCL?

You no know ball

afrodoc2:
Since you insist on insulting me i will withdraw from this argument.

I was just joking na.

afrodoc2:
You wey no know ball from time nko?

We bought Bebe for 7million pounds in August 2010 when just 5 WEEKS EARLIER WE COULD HAVE GOTTEN HIM FOR FREE!
And he then played a grand total of 7 matches and scored 2 goals, that is 1m pounds per match.....or 3.5 million pounds per goal. Martial has already played 10 times the number of matches Bebe played and scored 12 times the number of goals Bebe scored.........The Bebe deal was WORSE

Don't analyse like an olodo na, Bebe went on loan. If he stayed he would have scored more goals.

How much weekly wage did we pay Bebe? He was soon taken off our books. I don dey see say I be overrate you.

The Martial deal was very bad jor. How much did Chelsea pay for Hazard or Costa? Did you see unnecessary add ons?

afrodoc2:
That Bebenlo was not worth cartons of beer. It is not about being a forward or defender, it is about being a player at all. Bebe is barely up to professional standards and that money was a complete waste. My point is the Martial money at this early stage in his United career is already money well spent compared to the Bebe money....so don't go saying Fergie won't have agreed to such deals.

You be know ball before o, but this your logic kon be like say you no dey know ball as before again.

SAF for no agree that kind deal. What is the target in that deal? So even if it took Martial 4 seasons to score those number of goals, Monaco would still have earned that money.

Kagawa10:
With Verratti of course, take Verratti out of the equation and Di Maria is back to being shite like he always does.

Go and sit down.

Did Maria doesnt need anyone to shine. Di Maria was shortlisted for the best player award last world cup. He was great for Madrid, particularly in the last season. Was Verrati there?

sinizia:
Maria na baller but he's too quick to fall out of form which is what I don't like about him.

I am yet to see that though. He is not a great scorer but he brings something special almost every time.

PietroRico:
and because of that, we missed out on hazard because of agent fees
I wonder why this is generating this reaction now.
Details of the deal were made known from the go

Agent fee and add ons tied to goals are not the same. Agent fees have become a norm for some time now. But here we have add ons tied to goals. Goals without targets. If you said score 20 goals a season for two consecutive years, then it makes sense.

afrodoc2:
You can't compare the power and influence managers like SAF and Wenger have in their clubs compared to almost any other manager. Fergie and Wenger because of their longevity and power of incumbency have powers and influence beyond the average manager.
Also i can't state for certain that SAF wouldn't have allowed it (after all SAF signed Bebe for 7m pounds AND THAT DEAL IS WORSE IMO), all i know is an ordinary manager does not get involved in such contractual clauses....You can't blame LVG for this one.

£7m for Bebe, nothing wrong with that. SAF admitted he never saw him play but was told he had to hurry not miss out on him.

We bought defenders that period for £12 to £16m. So £7m was not too bad for a forward player.

The rest things you said, I say okay. May be we could say SAF had powers.

ProfDumbledor:
I'm totally disappointed in you Mr Vice President. Based on this statement, it is glaringly evident that Osinbajo is unfit to pilot the economic team and probably the reason our economy is on a free fall. Now let me educate him. Forex availability is purely policy-driven and has nothing to do with the stupid reasons he adduced. When your monetary policy becomes pro-market, the Forex will take care of itself. Being pro-market means "a social and economic system in which prices are fixed by the law of supply and demand rather than by a government or other body. In its pure form, a market economy is an economy absent of government subsidies, incentives, or regulations". This purely has been the economic direction of our dear country since 1999 until Buhari came in and changed everything.

The amount of foreign reserve held by a country plays a big role in the FX rate of that country. Read the link below


7 Ways Central Banks Use Foreign Exchange Reserves

https://www.thebalance.com/foreign-exchange-reserves-3306258


If the previous administration did not spend the foreign reserve kept by Obasanjo, may be we wouldn't be in this mess. According to Soludo, based on the high oil price during that time, Jonathan should have left at least $120m in the reserve.

Kagawa10:
Van gaal or Woodward? Smh!

You think Van gaal signed those contractual fees? He was at Monaco to sign those contractual clause fees?

As far as I'm concerned, his signing fees which was 38mil, was the only thing Van Gaal knew about, not the pay per goal/app clauses. That one is on Woodward.

His job was to identify Martial as the player he wants, it was Woodward who went ahead to sign the ridiculous pay per goal/app. The same Van gaal refused to sign Mane because Southampton were demanding for 30-35 mil pounds for Mane. He eventually signed Depay in his place. I doubt if Van gaal would sign a prodigy for that contractual fees.

{€10m (£7.7m) more if the player is ever nominated for the Ballon d'Or award.}

The only sensible clause.

afrodoc2:
Let us not give a dog a bad name in order to hang him. Wetin concern Van Gaal with the contractual clauses in an agreement between the 2 clubs?
The money men deal with such things, Van Gaal's responsibility was to OK a player transfer or to go to the board with a list of players he wants IN or OUT of the club.

I don't want to blame Gaal, but Ferguson wouldn't have allowed such a contract.

afrodoc2:
I say the CB is settled because it doesn't really matter who we field at CB, we usually get good to excellent performances. I might still rate Rojo the worst (because of his 2 footed lunges and his occasional potential red card attracting tackles) but even he has been quite good. In other words it does not really matter the combination we usually get a settled performance. The only combo i would be hesitant to promote is Rojo and Bailly because they are both rash, however even if i see that combo i wouldn't be unduly worried.
Right back is setlled with Anthony Valencia and there are other players who can give a decent performance in that position.

The 2 positions where we have the greatest uncertainty are 1) LB where Shaw can't stay fit, Blind is too slow and too weak, Rojo is an attacking liability and Darmian is a 2 way liability AND 2) LW where Mourinho refuses to trust Martial on a regular basis and Lingard, Rashford are not really up to his quality in that position.
Mourinho's 1st choice at CF, RWF, CAM, 2CMs, GK are all obvious. It took him close to a season but he appears to be getting there.

Ok, now I understand. But in my opinion we are settled with Martial on the left. The problem is the right if we are to play Mkhitaryan or Mata as proper number 10. I prefer Mkhitaryan. We need a right wing player who can attack straight like Martial does on the left. Not one drafting in always.

Oasis007:
United will PAY Monaco £8.5M if Martial scores one more GOAL!

I don't understand such a contract. So goal will make him EPL top scorer in a season or win us a trophy?

afrodoc2:
Great performance from the team and a much needed victory. The only negative was the regular evidence of Blind's inability to play LB against any body with pace and/or power....we need a fit LB urgently.
JM should also start giving Zlatan a few minutes off at the end of games, even if it's 5 or 10 minutes. This will make him fresher toward the end of the season and also allow us have Rashford play a few minutes at CF preferably with Mikki beneath and Martial out wide.
It seems JM has finally decided on his formation I.e 4-2-3-1 and the team is settled apart from LB and LWF.

I dont believe the back Partnership between Smalling and Bailly is stronger than that of Jones and Rojo. We just played two weak teams. Leicester is battling delegation while Watford is trying to climb up from down down.

On the other hand we have seen Jones and Rojo held their own against Arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham and many top teams. They did not give Spurs a single chance while Arsenal only eqaulized from Rashford's error.

We have to wait and see how that back settles after next set of big fixtures

* Manchester United are now 16 games unbeaten in the League.

* The first club to win 2000 points in the Premier League era.

* Discounting own goals and penalties, they have conceded 4 goals in last 17 games.

The central defence is where we are mostly covered.

Bailly and Smalling are stronger in the air, but they are slow in getting the ball forward. Bailly is over confident with the ball and unnecessarily keep it for long by turning around. Their concentration was a problem in the last 25 minutes of the match.

Jones and Rojo get the ball out faster, play higher on the pitch and tend to drive the ball forward. But they haven't the height of Smallling and Bailly. Despite this they have not been caught napping in area duels.

Jones and Smalling are comfortable playing from both sides of the central defence. Jones has actually been used out of position mostly. On the other hand Baily and Rojo play one side.


It is a good thing the club has four of them, but it is bad for the players. Four players for two positions.

I like the way Martial plays his football.

Ibrahimovic was poor today.

At the end it was a good team performance.

The way we miss chances or fail to make a quality final ball is a problem. Mkhtaryan was the major culprit. Had a glorious chance to make it 2-0 before half time. In the second half his final balls were lacking the perfection to give our forwards the scoring advantage. One time he needed to just put it in the air in the far post for Ibrahimovic to head in freely, he played a grounder which was easily intercepted.

SIRcumalot:
IBRA miss plenty goal today but him link up play today was alright.
and he get hand for our 2nd goal so make una ease up.

His link up play was the major problem today. He couldn't pass.

TheNonce:
We can't say for sure because jones has always been injury prone because of the way he enters into challenges as well as his lack of natural fitness....he is even injured right now! Van gaal has _fucked off let us move on from blaming him....

But Jones was the most fit among the young defenders under SAF. That is Smalling, Rafael, Fabio. I am sure Jones also had more time than the others under Moyes.

TheNonce:
"For whatever reason Van Gaal thought I needed to be fitter, I had no problem with that, I just played the games. I did what I could do to get back in the team and unfortunately it didn't really work out under him. No question there were thoughts about my future. It was in the back of my mind. If you are not playing games, that speaks volumes."



"I feel there have been only three managers who have every truly believed in me and understood me as a player, That's not being critical of other managers but the only three were Sam Allardyce, Sir Alex Ferguson and now Jose Mourinho. They have all given me belief and confidence. I am not one who needs to be patted on the back every single day and told I am brilliant. Some players need that, I don't. But those three certainly gave me confidence."





Phil Jones........www.skysports.com

So that time Gaal told us Jones was injured, he was truly fit? My neighborhood friend was convinced that Jones was fit to play but Gaal gave him unnecessary extended time off just to keep playing Blind in central defence. And I argued with him that Jones was injured.

I actually think Blind cost us the 4th place finish last season with his lack of aerial ability, particularly when Gaal decided to play him in that decisive fixture against West Ham when he could have gone for Funso Mensah to help clear aerial balls. At the end West scored two from aerial balls with Blind directly responsible for not even jumping to cause an instruction to West Ham players. We missed the opportunity to overtake City that week with about two matches to go.