₦airaland Forum

For the 3rd time within a short time, we failed to make our dominance count.

Wished we had already scored two. Young miss cued that ball that should have given an Assists to DDG.

Painful. We should be 2-0 up now. Blind's goal met our player- Smalling.


Valencia is giving superb performance. Good game from the team.

Ashley Young is our new Ronaldo.

Chrisley024, did you see Toure got back to his form today after some rest?

chrisley024:
And where is Carrick?

His presence won us most games.

I think the coming of Chicha made him to up his game. That's the beauty of competition.

The ugly side of competition out weighs the good side. Ask Nani and Tevez. Even our strikers now, they are playing with fear and nervousness knowing very good alternative are in the team.

If we didnt buy Berbatov, Tevez would have settled in United. Nani usually played well when Valencia was injured. The coming of Young was the peak of pressure for Nani. He like to be free to take risks, make mistakes and try again doing the unthinkable tricks.

Chrisley023, Benzema of this season has been clinical and a good technical player with pace and dribbling skills. He sometimes lift Madrid when Ronaldo is having an off day.

weedtaker:
de united way indeed, shey rooney go miss sunday's classic showdown, u go see our performance without him.

We have already played four matches without him this season and we only won one of them- Everton. Three EPL and one FA cut- I think Cambridge at away, which was a horrible performance.

Rooney also did not play the second half of our last match.

SailorXY:
Kane is £23m @ best, any fee added is the 'English' price.

there's no way LvG will pay £45m for a rookie - that cash can get Dybala & Gundogan together.

we are in the UCL after a year's absence, its not like we are exactly desperate.
Benzema gaan won't cost that much.

Benzema is one of the best strikers in the world currently. He has improved massively.

Kemizee:
Andy Carroll too was a superstar at Newcastle b4 Loserpool signed hum.I say let's see how he fares next season but personally I am not on the Harry Kane hype train.

Carroll had one thing going or him just like Crouch. Once that was tamed, he became useless.

Same thing can be said of Bent. Physicality. Finish.

Kane can lay, but one season is too small to judge. Should he deliver above 25 goals next season, he will be priced beyond reach.

diggz:
Base on this seasons form I say nice buy. I also hope he replicates same next season too however,elampsbaba u feel say levy go sell dat boy? That man go squeeze every bit of penny he can from you guys or better still sell overseas.

40 million is already too much. The whole thing is dicey. It's a gamble, but it's another question if it's a worthy gamble.

The thing I like about him though is the fact the he can also play football, not just a scorer. When you have a scorer who can also be very good in all round play, then you have a good player. Again when one looks at the fact that he has sent Adebayo and Soldado to the bench, it goes to show how good he apparently is.

Kane 2407 minutes 20 goals 4 Assists in
Adebayo 814 minutes 2 goals 1 Assist
Soldado 792 minutes 1 goal 1 Assist.
This does not include Europa where Kane further extends his lead over the rest. He made a statement from day one of Europa.

One more advantage I see is the fact that he is taller (6.2) than all our current strikers, including RVP and Wilson (6.0 respectively). If trained to head, he might just be dreaded player in the box. He is quick, he has speed, he can dribble. But is not fully tested. Like we saw him struggle in the Italy friendly.

Sky Sports
37 mins ·
PAPER TALK: Tottenham Hotspur striker Harry Kane is on Manchester United's list of targets this summer and the club are considering a £40million bid.

Woodward is the best thing to happen to Manchester United in recent years.

SailorXY:
saw a clip of United vs City in the youth league...
when you see Januzaj play for the U-21s, he's clearly above that level & will not develop an ounce further there!

this is a very delicate stage in the boy's career, LvG should not waste his talents cuz he's got potentials to be the best in the world...

Well said. They should find a solution.

SailorXY:
the Rooney pass is 5-2 scoreline, I made the .gif myself. its the PK incident.
the Nani goal is 4-0 against Nyashnal.

I was merely making emphasis on the vision of those through balls.

Ok, now u supply us gifs until Coogar returns.

SailorXY:
https://media1000.dropshots.com/photos/1271340/20150511/082818.gif
https://media1000.dropshots.com/photos/1271340/20150511/082821.gif

where can we find midfielders with this kind of vision from deep?

This gif is confusing. This is not the 5-2 match. Is it not Nani I can see score a goal in your first gif? There was no such incidence. And Carrick did not assist from open play. He won the first penalty in the 5-2 win and that was his only assist.

The second gif where Rooney gave a long rage through pass to Tevez surely is the 5-2 match. I am sure you have two separate matches there.So it's not my fault I got confused about the match.

SailorXY:
@elampiro
the .gif against Spurs up there was a 5-2 for United

okay.

SailorXY:
https://media1000.dropshots.com/photos/1271340/20150511/082818.gif
https://media1000.dropshots.com/photos/1271340/20150511/082821.gif

where can we find midfielders with this kind of vision from deep?

We had these creative guys and we lost the match at Old Trafford. Phil Jones played the return leg at White Hart Lane which was difficult to go then, and we were forced to a 1-1 draw with referee helping Spurs out. Ukwu!!!

The bottom line is that we need a right mix. The midfielder should also be able to win balls.


.................................

Defoe + movement

The second goal was not dissimilar, with Bale picking up the ball on the left before sprinting past Rio Ferdinand to score a fine goal. For both goals, the movement of Jermain Defoe played a significant part, despite him not touching the ball. For the first he’d drawn Ferdinand into the right-back position, leaving a gap in the centre of defence. For the second, he made a superb run across the pitch to drag Jonny Evans behind Ferdinand, making Bale’s path to goal much easier.

Tottenham’s directness on the ball was highly impressive, epitomised by Dembele’s second excellent performance at Old Trafford in just over a month, and replacing a passer like Luka Modric with a dribbler like Dembele has changed the way Tottenham play in that zone. For the second week running, United’s lack of a ball-winner was an obvious weakness.


Static United

United were very poor in the opening half, unable to provide reliable service to their forwards. This was partly because of Tottenham pressing limiting Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes’ passing influence, but also because United’s movement was terrible. The game bypassed Giggs on the left, while Nani remained a long way from Robin van Persie. Kagawa doesn’t yet seem comfortable in the side, and a couple of times van Persie moved out to the left, only to look up and find no-one in the box to cross to.

United are still yet to pass to Kagawa in the manner he likes – he wants more incisive balls played beyond opponents for him to run into, rather than short passes into feet when tightly marked. There was only one pass into him that fitted the bill – Carrick’s slide ball between two Tottenham players (just before Bale’s goal), met with a smart turn from Kagawa to get away from his opponents. United haven’t had a player like Kagawa for a long time (arguably, never before in Ferguson’s tenure) and they’re unaccustomed to basing their play around a direct number ten.


United changes

Ferguson rightly removed Giggs at half-time, pushing Kagawa left and bringing on Wayne Rooney in the hole. Immediately there was so much more movement from the home side, with Kagawa drifting in, Nani more central and Rooney supporting van Persie closely. The two wide players scored in the first ten minutes of the second half, which would have been unthinkable before half-time – Giggs and Nani were simply playing too far from goal.

In a frantic three-minute spell, Tottenham also scored. Again, excellent work by Defoe on the left created the chance, dragging Ferdinand out of position – this time with his work on the ball.


United pressure

Tottenham simply couldn’t keep the ball – Defoe’s performance was excellent in terms of movement, but he clearly wasn’t the man to hold the ball up. United completed ten times as many passes as Tottenham in the second half, a staggering statistic.


Conclusion

Lots to talk about here: Spurs’ pressing, their directness and their attempts to nullify Carrick and Scholes before sitting back late on. On the other hand, you can pinpoint United’s poor movement, their lack of a ball-winner and Kagawa’s struggles as reasons for the result.

The key was Spurs’ dribbling ability from deep positions, combined with Defoe’s fantastic movement to drag opponents out of position.

Source: Zonal Marking. Only an excerpt though.

chrisley024:
Guessing. We might be lucky and have an easier fixture like Arsenal that played Besiktas

I think Spain,England and Germany are not meant to meet.

chrisley024:
Next is play off. So we're likely to play against 4th place of Spain or Bundesliga, or 3rd place of Italy. No be beans

No jonsing o!

How did you arrive at this?

I will take the Bundesliga team.

Welcome back to Champions League football.

Original
Ce sont les meilleures équipes
Sie sind die allerbesten Mannschaften
The main event
Die Meister'
Die Besten
Les Grandes Équipes
The Champions
Une grande réunion
Eine große sportliche Veranstaltung
The main event
Ils sont les meilleurs
Sie sind die Besten
These are the champions
Chorus (2x):

Die Meister
Die Besten
Les Grandes Équipes
The Champions

............

English
These are the best teams
They are the very best
teams
The main event
The Masters
The best
The great teams
The champions
A large gathering
A great sporting
event
The main event
They are the best
They are the best
These are the champions
Chorus (2x):

The masters
The best
The great teams
The champions

Matic is solid sha. Look out how he brought stability to the back when he came on. I still think a DM first duty is to shield the defence.

chrisley024:
All thanks to their attack. Their defence has conceded more than all the teams in the Laliga top 4.

That's a huge concern.

Wao! I just saw this. This says it all. I wonder if this guys watch Madrid games. Their defence brought them down, and their worst part came when I think Pepe (or Ramos) was injured and Verane was asked to step in. Then Barca had the opportunity to close the gap and overtake.

Kemizee:
Bear in mind also that this calamity is also the reason Madrid are 2nd and in the Champs league semi-finals.I see how good our own defenders are hanging on for fourth place against Crystal Palace yesterday.Calamity indeed!

Do you think Madrid are what they are because of their defence? Their defence is their weak point. If not for their weak defence they would have won the league with 4 matches to spare. And Verane is the principal failure. They went behind when he was asked to step into the shoes of the injured defenders.

diggz:
Bros oscar and young dont play same position so why compare dem? Even willian hardly plays on the left flank either as a winger or a left wing back so i do not understand the need for comparing them.
If you ask me sha i will take willian over young all day everyday. I careless about all those una starts wey una dey bring up. Except you say Nani is better dan willain as a winger dat i wont bother to disagree but young? Naaaaaaah.....

It would have been better if you went to the genesis of the argument. Position played was not the basis that guy used in putting all Chelsea first 11 above Young. So is immaterial if Oscar or William are defenders or strikers. Young is far better. I am not even talking statistics.

Even my Chelsea friends are telling me they are tired of Williams, that he always slow their attack whenever the ball gets to him. Compare that to Young who is ever forward marching and tearing defenders apart.

Kemizee:
If Varane is a calamity,then I wonder what you think of Rojo,Jones,Evans,Mc Nair,Blackett and Smalling who are nowhere as rated as Varane and by the way I would like to have this calamity too in my team.At least he can stay fit and also defend well

Smalling and Jones are better than Verane at the moment.

Everyone is thought to be better than Jones and Smalling, that was why Arsenal wanted to play a smart one on us when we went for Thomas Vermaelen.

I am yet to see any special Verane does for Madrid this season. He is a negative addition. Jones and Smalling would have fared better there.

eghos12:
which club blackbun who are in division 2.

They were in division one then and Jones was a teenager.

eghos12:
hahaha which wininy ways win one lose three. Yes he is good but in other clubs defence he may not start

He will always start. He was starting for his old club even before we bought him.

Kemizee:
In all fairness,I wud like to admit to myself that you have gotta be kidding me..right?

He is a calamity. He and Casilas are responsible for half of the goals Madrid concede. Although he is still young and will mature.

diggz:
Elamsbaba y u dey compare oscar n ashley young la shey dem dey play same position ni ?

Shebi na dis thread we hear say blind better pass matic? Now u wan start young is better dan willian abi?

The thunder wey go punish una for this thread still dey do press up. Yeye dey smell for una body.

Young is far better than Williams this season. He is also better than Oscar. Young can single handedly win matches, something the other two cannot do.

eghos12:
not philjones of these season

He has done well jor. He was in the thick of the defensive action when we won 6/6.

He is back now and we are back to winning ways.