₦airaland Forum

African Cardinal: Pressure Groups Lobbying to Change Church Teaching
Cardinal Sarah said media reports about homosexual unions are ‘an attempt to push the Church’ to change its doctrine.


by CNA/EWTN NEWS 10/17/2014

Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum.
– Sabrina Fusco/CNA
VATICAN CITY — Inaccurate media reports about Church teaching on homosexuality published after the Extraordinary Synod on the Family’s midterm relatio was released are an attempt to pressure the Church to change its perennial teaching, a cardinal who is also a synod father has said.
Cardinal Robert Sarah, president of the Pontifical Council Cor Unum, emphasized to CNA Oct. 16 that “what has been published by the media about homosexual unions is an attempt to push the Church [to change] her doctrine.”
“The Church has never judged homosexual persons, but homosexual behavior and homosexual unions are grave deviations of sexuality,” said the cardinal, who is from the west African nation of Guinea.
Among the criticisms of the synod’s midterm relatio was the absence of some important statements, a point raised especially by some of the bishops from Africa.
Cardinal Sarah added, however, that “some very important topics are reported in the relatio,” such as “the Church’s refusal to promote policies linked to gender [theory] in exchange for financial aid.”
“This has been explicitly said in Cardinal Erdo’s relatio, and it is a relevant issue for developing countries as well as for the western countries,” the cardinal stressed.
Cardinal Sarah denounced the “government and some international organizations attempting to suppress the notion of the natural family, based on the man-woman relation; and the Church cannot be silent.”
The relatio stated that it is not “acceptable that the pastor’s outlook be pressured or that international bodies make financial aid dependent on the introduction of regulations based on gender ideology.”

‘Reference to Christ Is Needed’
The lack of any Gospel references about the family has been highlighted with concern by all the small groups that discussed the midterm relatio during this week.
Cardinal Sarah said, “there is no Christian family without a glance to Jesus, who Incarnated in a family with a father and a mother.”
This is the reason why, he added, “the reference to Christ is needed, in order to avoid that the Christian vision is reduced to an ideology, and that we are obliged to take stances in contrast with the Magisterium, the history of the Church, and, above all, with the truth of the Gospel.”
The small groups also have highlighted the need to rewrite the section “Providing for homosexual persons.”
The second English small group, moderated by Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, stressed that “the Church must continue to promote the revealed nature of marriage as always between one man and one woman united in lifelong, life-giving, and faithful communion.”
Cardinal Sarah reiterated this, and explained why the Church cannot endorse same-sex unions.
“Based on the Sacred Scriptures, the Tradition of the Church has always stated that ‘the acts of homosexuality are intrinsically disordered, since they are against the natural law, and preclude the gift of life. They cannot be approved, in any case,’” Cardinal Sarah maintained, quoting the Catechism of the Catholic Church.
The cardinal then recalled Pope St. John Paul II, when he questioned whether the push for homosexual unions is “part of a new ideology of evil.”
Cardinal Sarah described the relatio as “a working document which partially mirrors the discussion.”
The public release of the working document “aroused general surprise, since the document had to be finished, polished, and [would] lead to the final draft of a text that must be approved by the synod fathers.”
“Does anyone wants to destabilize the Church and undermine its teaching?” Cardinal Sarah asked.
“Let us pray for those pastors who leave the Lord’s sheep to the wolves of decadent and secularized society, far from God and nature,” he concluded. “Sexuality is not a cultural fact, but a natural fact.”
http://m.ncregister.com/daily-news/african-cardinal-pressure-groups-lobbying-to-change-church-teaching/

Conservative Cardinal Who Clashed With Pope Francis Confirms He Has Been Ousted

The head of the Catholic Church’s highest court speaks to BuzzFeed News from the Vatican.

A top cardinal told BuzzFeed News on Friday that the worldwide meeting of church leaders coming to a close in Rome seemed to have been designed to "weaken the church's teaching and practice" with the apparent blessing of Pope Francis.

Cardinal Raymond Burke, an American who heads the Vatican's highest court of canon law, made the remarks in a phone interview from the Vatican, where a two-week Extraordinary Synod on the Family will conclude this weekend. An interim report of the discussions released on Monday, called the Relatio, produced a widespread backlash among conservative bishops who said it suggested a radical change to the church's teaching on questions like divorce and homosexuality, and Burke has been among the most publicly critical of the bishops picked by Pope Francis to lead the discussion

If Pope Francis had selected certain cardinals to steer the meeting to advance his personal views on matters like divorce and the treatment of LGBT people, Burke said, he would not be observing his mandate as the leader of the Catholic Church.

"According to my understanding of the church's teaching and discipline, no, it wouldn't be correct," Burke said, saying the pope had "done a lot of harm" by not stating "openly what his position is." Burke said the Pope had given the impression that he endorses some of the most controversial parts of the Relatio, especially on questions of divorce, because of a German cardinal who gave an important speech suggesting a path to allowing people who had divorced and remarried to receive communion, Cardinal Walter Kasper, to open the synod's discussion.

"The pope, more than anyone else as the pastor of the universal church, is bound to serve the truth," Burke said. "The pope is not free to change the church's teachings with regard to the immorality of homosexual acts or the insolubility of marriage or any other doctrine of the faith."

Burke has publicly clashed with the pope since Francis took office in 2013, and he has come to represent the sidelining of culture warriors elevated by Joseph Ratzinger as Pope Benedict and as the top doctrinal official under Pope John Paul II. Burke, who caused controversy while bishop of St. Louis by saying Catholics who voted for politicians supportive of abortion rights should not receive communion, went on Catholic television in 2013 to rebut remarks Pope Francis made to an interviewer that the church had become "obsessed" with abortion and sexuality to the exclusion of other issues, saying, "We can never talk enough about that as long as in our society innocent and defenseless human life is being attacked in the most savage way," Burke said. While Francis famously responded to a question about homosexuality in 2013 by asking, "Who am I to judge?" Burke described homosexual "acts" as "alwa

In the interview with BuzzFeed News, Burke confirmed publicly for the first time the rumors that he had been told Francis intended to demote him from the church's chief guardian of canon law to a minor post as patron to the Sovereign Military Order of Malta.

"I very much have enjoyed and have been happy to give this service, so it is a disappointment to leave it," Burke said, explaining that he hadn't yet received a formal notice of transfer. "On the other hand, in the church as priests, we always have to be ready to accept whatever assignment we're given. And so I trust, by accepting this assignment, I trust that God will bless me, and that's what's in the end most important."
http://www.buzzfeed.com/lesterfeder/conservative-cardinal-who-clashed-with-pope-francis-confirms?s=mobile

Bishops revolt against Synod manipulation: Only 3 in 10 support Kasper proposal, says Cardinal Pell

Fri Oct 17, 2014
Cardinal George Pell, a leading voice for orthodoxy in the ongoing Synod of Bishops on the family in Rome, has said that  small group of “radicals” has failed in their attempt to push the Synod to accept homosexuality, cohabitation, and other changes of Catholic moral teaching.

Cardinal Pell said, “We’re not giving in to the secular agenda. We’re not collapsing in a heap. We’ve got no intention of following those radical elements in all the Christian churches including some of the Catholic Churches in one or two countries and going out of business.”

“If people are heading in the wrong direction, it’s no virtue for the Church to say that’s good. A lot of people that are outside and don’t accept our views will welcome it,” he said. “But certainly not the people in the pews, the good people.”

Today’s news in the Italian press is full of the story of the general revolt of the Synod bishops against what they argue are the attempts made by the Synod’s own administration to control the message and promote the views of this small “radical” cadre.

In his interview with Catholic News Service, Cardinal Pell, a member of Pope Francis’ inner council and the prefect of the newly formed Secretariat of the Economy, all but identified a cabal working to control the Synod.

Cardinal Pell said the issue of giving Communion to divorced and remarried couples is supported by “very few, certainly not the majority of the synod fathers.” But he added that “it’s only at the tip of the iceberg. It’s a stalking horse. They want wider changes: recognition of civil unions, recognition of homosexual unions.”

“The Church cannot go in that direction,” because “it would be a capitulation from the beauties and strengths of the Catholic tradition.”

Despite the attempts by the Synod’s Secretary General, Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, to restrict the message of the bishops' working groups this week to summaries, written by himself, the bishops are reported to have risen up as a body and demanded that a full report of their deliberations be released to the public. After a series of speeches against Baldisseri’s proposal, an announcement by Father Federico Lombardi that the bishops’ full documents were to be published was met with a standing ovation while Pope Francis is said to have remained silent and impassive.

“The Synod fathers decided unanimously this morning to publish the summaries, the ‘relationes’ from the different working groups,” Cardinal Pell said, "because we wanted the Catholic people to know actually what was going on in talking about marriage and the family. And by and large, I think people will be immensely reassured.”

The story of the bishops’ revolt is the talk of Rome, with a report by Matteo Matzuzzi in the Italian newspaper Il Foglio, saying that the offer of yet another summary of their discussions was the last straw for the bishops. Cardinal Pell spoke first, but was followed by a long line of others, including the Archbishop of Brussels, Andre-Joseph Léonard; Cardinal Wilfrid Napier of Durban, South Africa; and the Cardinal Secretary of State, Pietro Parolin.

Cardinal Christoph Schönborn told the press, “The decision to render public the relationes of the circuli was taken by large majority.” Il Foglio noted that the texts “are clear, and go in an opposite direction as the one upheld by Cardinal Walter Kasper.”

Contrary to Cardinal Kasper’s persistent claims that a majority approve his plans, Cardinal Pell told Catholic News Service that only three out of ten of the Synod working groups have been supportive of Cardinal Kasper’s proposal.

The first document from the Synod to be published, called the “Relatio,” issued on Monday, suggested, among other troubling passages, that the bishops wanted the Church to learn to “value and accept” the homosexual “orientation.” Cardinal Pell called this document “tendentious,” and “skewed.”

“It didn’t represent accurately the feelings of the Synod fathers, because in the immediate reaction to it…three quarters of those who spoke had some problems with the document,” the cardinal said.

Pell criticized the Relatio again, saying, “A major absence was scriptural teaching. A major absence was the treatment of the Church tradition. It was as though there was an idealized vision of every imperfect [marital] situation.”

“One father said to me about the earlier document, that he wouldn’t want his young adult children to read it because they’d be confused. And that was said in some of the working groups,” the cardinal added.

“Christ’s teaching on marriage,” he said, “is not put there as a burden, it works in the long run. It’s there to protect us. And the secret for all Catholic vitality is fidelity to the teachings of Christ and to the tradition of the Church.”

He said that Pope Francis emphasis on these teachings being “lived out in mercy, and love,” have been “a wonderful emphasis.”

“Our task now is to ask people to pause, to pray, to catch their breath. To realize there’s going to be no abandonment of Catholic doctrine and to work to diminish the divisions and to prevent any radicalization of the factions or points of view,” Cardinal Pell said.
https://www.lifesitenews.com/news/bishops-revolt-against-synod-manipulation-only-3-in-ten-support-kasper-prop

Archbishop Chaput blasts Vatican debate on family, says 'confusion is of the devil'

Oct. 21, 2014 

New York -- ⁠ Philadelphia Archbishop Charles Chaput says he was "very disturbed" by the debate over church teachings on gays and remarried Catholics at this month's Vatican summit, saying it sent a confusing message, and "confusion is of the devil."

In a lecture delivered Monday evening in Manhattan, Chaput also suggested that in the wake of the rapid series of court decisions legalizing same-sex marriage in more than 30 states, Catholic priests might consider opting out of certifying civil marriages as a sign of "principled resistance."

Chaput is expected to host Pope Francis in Philadelphia in September 2015 for a global World Meeting of Families, and his criticisms tracked complaints by other conservatives who were upset with Francis for encouraging a freewheeling discussion among the 190 cardinals and bishops at the Vatican's two-week Synod of Bishops on the family.

The 70-year-old archbishop, who was not part of the Rome summit, made his remarks in response to a question after a lecture event sponsored by the conservative journal First Things.

"I was very disturbed by what happened" at the synod, Chaput said. "I think confusion is of the devil, and I think the public image that came across was one of confusion."

Francis convened the synod as part of a two-year discussion on the Catholic church's response to rapid changes in modern family dynamics. Media attention focused on proposals that would push the church to be more welcoming to gay Catholics, and to cohabiting couples and the divorced and remarried, who are currently barred from receiving Communion.

An interim report on the closed-door discussions included calls for the church to reject an all-or-nothing approach to families in "irregular" situations, such as those who are divorced or living together without being married.

The midpoint report also said there were "positive elements" in those relationships, as well as in the love between gay couples, and it said gay Catholics have "gifts and qualities" to offer the church and should be welcomed.

Such language, even if not final or official, was unprecedented for church leaders, and it prompted a media tsunami. It also upset conservative churchmen at the synod, and they spent the second week engaged in a concerted effort to water down that language for the final report.

They largely succeeded, though Francis said the church's approach to gays and lesbians, and to divorced and remarried Catholics, should continue to be debated.

In his remarks Monday, Chaput said the (amended) final synod report was an improvement. But he was still concerned that it did not go far enough in clearing up the confusion and clearly restating church teachings on marriage and homosexuality.

"None of us are welcomed on our own terms in the church. We are welcomed on Jesus' terms," he said. "That's what it means to be a Christian. You submit yourself to Jesus and his teaching. You don't recreate your own body of spirituality."
..........
Chaput also raised eyebrows when he urged the nation's Catholic bishops to consider stopping the signing of civil marriage licenses for all couples in response to what he called the "new marriage regime" of same-sex civil marriage. Pennsylvania, along with more than 30 other states, now allows same-sex marriage.

By long-standing U.S. practice, a Catholic priest, like any licensed clergy, acts as an agent of the state when signing a couple's marriage certificate.

"It's hard to see how a priest or bishop could, in good conscience, sign a marriage certificate that merely identifies 'Spouse A' and 'Spouse B,' " Chaput said in his prepared remarks.

"Refusing to conduct civil marriages now, as a matter of principled resistance, has vastly more witness value than being kicked out of the marriage business later by the government, which is a likely bet," he said.

Chaput said he wasn't necessarily endorsing that move yet, but "in the spirit of candor encouraged by Pope Francis," he said the American bishops should "discuss and consider it as a real course of action."

The idea of separating civil and sacramental marriage services has been floated by religious conservatives and some liberals, who saw denying civil marriage to same-sex couples as an injustice. But Chaput appears to be the most high-profile Catholic leader to raise the issue.

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops meets for the fall meeting next month in Baltimore, and it was unclear whether Chaput will bring it up then or whether the idea -- which is a major break from tradition -- would garner any support if he did.

Chaput's lecture, titled "Strangers in a Strange Land," focused on the theme that traditional believers are experiencing an internal exile akin to that of the ancient Israelites in Babylon.

Chaput said that the U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this month not to review state appeals against gay marriage was a "tipping point" that confirmed that traditional believers are now a minority in society and on the defensive. He blasted gay activists for their "dishonesty" and "hatred" of gay marriage foes and said the portrayals of traditional believers as homophobic is "dishonest and evil."

"We also need to thank God for the gift of this present, difficult moment," Chaput said. "Because conflict always does two things: It purifies the church, and it clarifies the character of the enemies who hate her."
http://ncronline.org/news/faith-parish/archbishop-chaput-blasts-vatican-debate-family-says-confusion-devil

Catholic Bishop: ‘Pope Francis is Fond of Creating a Mess. Mission Accomplished.’

October 22, 2014

(CNSNews.com) – Thomas J. Tobin, the Catholic bishop for the Diocese of Providence, R.I., commented on the recent Synod of Bishops on the Family held at the Vatican as “being rather Protestant” in having bishops vote on “doctrinal applications,” and added that in terms of Pope Francis’s fondness for a “creating a mess,” you can say, “mission accomplished.”

“Pope Francis is fond of ‘creating a mess.’ Mission accomplished,” said Bishop Tobin in his Oct. 21 blog post at the Diocese of Providence website.

Pope Francis has sometimes said he wants to create “a mess” in the Church, meaning he wants to stir things up, and challenge people to do things they may not have considered.

During the World Youth Day in Rio de Janerio in July 2013, Pope Francis said, “What is it that I expect as a consequence of World Youth Day? I want a mess. We knew that in Rio there would be great disorder, but I want trouble in the dioceses! … I want to see the Church get closer to the people. I want to get rid of clericalism, the mundane, this closing ourselves off within ourselves, in our parishes, schools or structures. Because these need to get out!”

Commenting further on the Synod, Bishop Tobin said, “The concept of having a representative body of the Church voting on doctrinal applications and pastoral solutions strikes me as being rather Protestant.”  At the close of the Synod, the bishops voted on all 62 paragraphs in the final document, the Relatio Synodi.

The Synod of bishops will meet again in one year to review the document, make more changes, and then Pope Francis will review that material and write a public letter on the family and marriage issues examined.

As for more of his “Random Thoughts about the Synod on the Family,” Bishop Tobin said:

-- “Have we learned that it’s probably not a good idea to publish half-baked minutes of candid discussions about sensitive topics, especially when we know that the secular media will hijack the preliminary discussions for their own agendas?

-- “Wherever he serves, Cardinal Burke will be a principled, articulate and fearless spokesman for the teachings of the Church.”

--  “Relax. God’s still in charge.”

Pope Francis removed Cardinal Raymond Burke, 66, from his position as head of the highest court at the Vatican, the Apostolic Signatura, and reassigned him to be the Patron of the Knights of Malta, a largely ceremonial post and viewed as a demotion by Vatican observers.

Cardinal Burke, an American, is a top expert on Canon Law, the law of the Catholic Church, and has been a staunch defender of the Church’s teaching, particularly on moral issues. He has explained in detail that the Church does not have the authority to change its teaching on such hot button topics as abortion, homosexuality, contraception, marriage and divorce.

The Catholic diocese of Providence, R.I. was established in 1872. There are about 675,000 Catholics in the diocese and there are 143 parishes.
http://m.cnsnews.com/news/article/michael-w-chapman/catholic-bishop-pope-francis-fond-creating-mess-mission-accomplished

Odunharry, Ruddie and co there are a thousand articles calling for RVP to be dropped. You guys don't see them? When you see even one of such about Rooney, you paste it here even before it is published by the writer.

This is what I meant when I said you guys were biased towards Rooney. Even when you pretend to be neutral, it is obvious to a blind man your hate for Rooney. Your side taking is appalling.

Even Yahoo home page has one of such articles.

Fellaini, though, is not exactly my kind of physical player. It's good Di Maria has the pace and dribbling. Falcao promises some dribllings.

"I had more or less decided to bring him on after 30 minutes," revealed the Reds boss. "I said to him to look at what Herrera was doing because I want you to play. He scored at once [after coming on] and made some very good play I think.

"We have to look for physical balance and maybe that’s part of our problem. I am a coach who always looks for creative players but in England you also need physical bodies in your team – Fellaini is one of these.

"I am looking for balance and maybe with this formation, but with the same philosophy, we could do better.

"With training sessions players now understand the philosophy more and I have seen it also tonight which is why it’s such a pity we couldn’t get the result we deserved."

The boss was asked whether he might utilise the same 4-2-3-1 formation in the forthcoming crunch matches with traditional rivals Chelsea and Manchester City. "You never know but I have a lot of confidence as I liked the match," he teased in response.

Finally, on United's points tally in sixth place: "It's not good because when you see our games we have normally been the better team. But when you have 12 points from eight games, it’s eight points too few."

http://www.manutd.com/en/News-And-Features/Football-News/2014/Oct/louis-van-gaal-post-match-quotes-after-west-brom-vs-man-united.aspx?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=post&utm_campaign=ManUtd&pageNo=2

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

Guys initially didn't get me when I always called for a balance of pace, power and dribbling in a team.

elampiro:
2 Thessalonians 2:11-12[b]They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.[/b]

May be this is what is happening now. Why the church wants to change it's teachings about homosexuality, cohabitation and divorce beats my imagination. Thank God for the Cardinals who defended the gospel. Why would the church even think of changing her teachings by calling a Synod? It's unimaginable to think this is happening.

Even CCC can be prophetic:

CCC 675, Before Christ's second coming the Church must pass through a final trial that will shake the faith of many believers.574 The persecution that accompanies her pilgrimage on earth575 will unveil the "mystery of iniquity" in the form of a religious deception offering men an apparent solution to their problems at the price of apostasy from the truth. The supreme religious deception is that of the Antichrist, a pseudo-messianism by which man glorifies himself in place of God and of his Messiah come in the flesh.576
....................
cf 576:2 Thess 2:4-12


2 Thessalonians 2:4-12

4 He will oppose and will exalt himself over everything that is called God or is worshiped, so that he sets himself up in God’s temple, proclaiming himself to be God.

5 Don’t you remember that when I was with you I used to tell you these things? 6 And now you know what is holding him back, so that he may be revealed at the proper time. 7 For the secret power of lawlessness is already at work; but the one who now holds it back will continue to do so till he is taken out of the way. 8 And then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord Jesus will overthrow with the breath of his mouth and destroy by the splendor of his coming. 9 The coming of the lawless one will be in accordance with how Satan works. He will use all sorts of displays of power through signs and wonders that serve the lie, 10 and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved. 11 For this reason God sends them a powerful delusion so that they will believe the lie 12 and so that all will be condemned who have not believed the truth but have delighted in wickedness.




* Fr, Gobi's prophecies and Maria Divine Mercy said this same thing. The False Prophet and The Antichrist will cause the abomination of desolation. They will both sit in God's house. They will rule from the Church.

* Mathew 24:15 “So when you see standing in the holy place ‘the abomination that causes desolation,’[a] spoken of through the prophet Daniel—let the reader understand.

Ubenedictus:
i hope you are aware that the vatican cannot affirm or deny what was or wasn't said in a private discussion.

I repeat, if you don't have a tape of the discussion then you are imprudent in your jugdement

So the woman lied to the whole world against the Pope? CNN, Yahoo news, etc carried same story. And the divorced woman has been receiving Communion on the order of the Pope. The Pope and Vatican refused to stop her or clarify things or the Pope outrightly coming to affirm the faith.

Ubenedictus:
i didn't "blindly" accept anything. Every human being in this world have gift and talent that they can offer, whether or not they are homosexuals, if you do not know that then i may associate you with bigotry. Acceptance of gay people with sensitivity and without unjust discrimination is part and parcel of the catholic faith and clearly appears in the catechism, i hope you are not rejecting catholic teachings too?

Simple question: Why did the Cardinals kick against it? Mr. CCC and Canon Law, you know not a percentage of the Cardinals who fought with everything against it last week.

Ubenedictus:
you clearly do not know me, it is silly you think i am jumping blindly becos i can accuse you of the same thing. You are like a "maria's puppet". Even though Jesus has clearly told you that the church will not fall into error, you still prefer to believe in maria instead od Jesus.

The church will not fall into error doesn't mean you cannot have a bad Pope or a heretic Pope. Even the Popes have said it is very possible to have a heretic Pope. When you have a heretic Pope, he and his followers become the Schismatic church while those who hold on to scripture and tradition become the true church until a genuine Pope comes on board.

* Jesus through Maria Divine Mercy has told us the truth and the messages are being fulfilled already.

Ubenedictus:
so canon law encourages you to call the pope a false prophet?

Are you aware that you just claimed that the pope is a heretic and is excommunicated? That mean you should recieve in any mass where the eucharistic prayer mentions "francis our pope".

are you aware what happen in vat 2, the popes also kept quite and allow the council debate the issues, this is no different, that the pope is silient during a debate doesn't make him a heretic, if it did then john 23 and paul 6 will be called heretics too. Secondly those writter simply sampled their oppinion, none of them said the pope is a heretic, a false prophet and is ecommunicated.

Lastly pope francis is the supreme pastor of the church, he isn't answerable to pope emeritus. That said, where did you hear that he was disobedient?



i have read them all and none of them claimed the pope is a heretic.

* I want to believe now you have accepted we can criticize the Pope. May be you are forced to accept that because you have seen Cardinals, Bishops and Priests criticizing him now.

So next time just leave me alone when I am critical of the Pope.

* In Vatican II, were they proposing and debating changing doctrines?

* Your logic about 'welcoming gays and their gifts' is flawed by the very reason that Cardinals rejected the idea. If it weren't wrong the Cardinals wouldn't kick against it. Remember, Cardinal Burke is the custodian of Canon Laws for the church, and you cannot know better. Burke said the Pope is not allowed to change doctrines, that it's no possible.

* Hazard is a 'murderer'. A delight to watch any day. Any one who said Hazard dribbles aimlessly is a sadist. Even Fabrigas assists was Hazard's handwork.

* Good from Nani.

* David Luiz made 50m worth defensive play to save PSG twice.

coogar:
obasi just equalised for schalke!

why don't we see these players perform so well with super eagles. musa was good today & obasi is not bad at all.

Obasi doesnt even get invited. This is one area Keshi ruined his team. He drops or shuts out players from the team because of little issues. Victor Moses was not invited in our first two matches and I thought we greatly missed him. There was nobody to take on our opponents as we became very ineffective passing the ball around aimlessly in Calabar and South Africa. It was only Ahmed Musa who as trying to penetrate. If Musa doesn't play well, we are clueless. Keshi scattered his own team that won the Nation's cup by dropping Mba, Ideye and recently, Moses. Such players like Uche Ikechukwu were not even considered. Keshi thought he was Alex Ferguson.

Fact remain that Emenike has not been able to do anything since Ideye left, except the goal he bulldozed his way to score in the world cup. Ideye's goal's return is bad but he was a trouble to defence. When he plays we have many clear cut chances. Mba's ability to carry the ball forward is missed. Keshi said he is not in form. Yet he did not use him in any of the pre-world cup friendlies..

The big boss spoilt his own good work.

Luis Nani had an excellent weekend for his loan club Sporting Lisbon. The winger scored the winning goal as Sporting beat their rivals FC Porto. It was a cracker too, reinforcing the claims that Nani is playing well in Portugal and showing some of his best form.
Portuguese newspaper O Jogo claim on Monday that Sporting are enjoying 'The best ever Nani!' seeing the footballer get consistent games and put in match winning performances.
Nani has now scored 4 goals in 7 games for Sporting.
Watch Nani's goal here:

coogar:
someone who looks like owen in south africa?

BT sports own michael owen & scholes. they can only be on TV in games beamed by BT(mostly 12.45pm games on saturday)

skysports own jamie redknapp, carragher & neville. they show monday night games. the stations treat their games exclusively. the other station cannot even show football highlights of the game they don't have the rights to - they only show still-pictures.

so my friend, it wasn't owen you saw

* This tells me it's Owen. This is because I have never seen Scholes or Neville or Carragher on Supersports. I have seen Owen countless times. Same with Barnes.

* Moreover the arrangement you mentioned above only applies to England. See link below:
......

This is a list of television broadcasters which provide coverage of the Premier League, English football's top level competition, which is the most watched league in the world,.[1] The main broadcaster in the United Kingdom is Sky Sports, who broadcast 116 of the 154 televised games in the UK, and BT Sport.[2] The BBC shows weekly highlights of the Premier League on its Match of the Day and Match of the Day 2 programmes on Saturdays and Sundays.[3]

The 154 UK televised games are also broadcast across the world, with some using the coverage provided by Sky and BT, while other use their own commentary teams. 3:00pm Saturday kick-offs, which are not allowed to be broadcast live on UK television, are also shown on international channels mainly using the commentary from Sky Sports. In Ireland, a different situation applies; a package of only one Saturday 3:00pm kick off each week (along with one game on the final Sunday) is sold as an addition to the UK live rights packages, this package is currently held by Setanta Sports. While there is no rule prohibiting the screening of the other 3:00pm games in Ireland, the Premier League does not make the rights to these games available to Irish broadcasters, effectively preventing their screening live in Ireland.

Broadcasters

These are the countries and channels that broadcast the Premier League:
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Premier_League_broadcasters
http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Premier_League_broadcasters

PietroRico:
that was michael Owen

Expatriate pls. Coogar is making me to doubt what I saw last night and a caller even mentioned his name.

coogar:
someone who looks like owen in south africa?

Lol.

Not South Africa. DSTV Super sports usually use ex EPL stars to analyze their games, like John Barnes. I have not paid attention if they join Skysports or whether they have a studio in England. In the UCL, they use such players as Kuffor, Gullit.

The thing is I don't usually pay attention to their analysis.

May be SailorXY can bail us out here. I was convinced it was Owen until you raised an objection now. However, if it is not Owen, it is an ex pro EPL player.

coogar:
owen now works for DSTV?

www.nairaland.com/attachments/1800645_image_jpeg9f360c5ab7736510df54c882e9dbf188

those are owen's last tweets - i am struggling to find where he put the blame on rafael in any of those tweets.

owen works for BT sports. yesterday's game was exclusively owned by skysports. there's no way owen would comment on a game that was not shown by his employers/tv network.

elampawa, did you see owen in your calabash?

Na you know o. Last night, minutes after the game, I returned to the TV and I saw someone who looks like Owen blaming Rafael for the goal. A caller from South Africa called him Michael Owen. Now you make me doubt.

coogar:
where's the owen link, brother elampawa?

Mr Coolie-guy, except if you tell me the person I saw on DSTV post match reaction yesterday was Owen look alike.

coogar:
we had herrera against swansea. if a £300k striker cannot impose his brilliance against swansea then he's useless. what was Rooney's contribution against burnley? zero!!!



controversial decision at 3-2!
what did rooney do after 3-2? made a stüpid clearance that got the opponents back to 3-3 and then shouted at a young defender when rooney himself was the culprit.

since rooney got sent off, we had not lost a game & i am 100% sure we will keep it that way until the fat boy gets back. he will walk straight back into the team & united will lose against city. it's been written in the stars.



sky showed that match. owen isn't on their panel so i don't even know where you saw owen blaming rafael. can you find us a link? or is this one of those things you exclusively saw like hargreaves clipping messi's left foot?

united fans slaughtered jones on a global scale.

http://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/2jthil/berahino_goal_vs_man_utd/

http://www.redcafe.net/threads/phil-jones-2014-15-performances.394004/page-12

* Scores was at 2-1 when Mata left the match. Mata actually lost us that match. Thank God for Falcao who came to add bite.

* RVP missed 3 clear chances lost us the match against Leicester.


Mata is making Di Maria and Herrera look ordinary. Your 'Waste of Money' is clueless.

coogar:
what does michael owen know about football? he didn't even pass his o'levels. phil jones was absolutely slaughtered by united fans last night for defending like an ape.

what did he charge out for like that? he was the only defender that broke out of the defence line. he wasn't setting any offside trap....after the goal, you could see rafael shouting at him that he's a fool!

Coogar, a self acclaimed football analyst who learnt football from video games and online studies, is asking Michael Owen, a man who played football to the highest and for the best clubs in the world what he knows about football. Ukwu!!!

All the guys last night were ex professionals.

coogar:
where was that hustle against leicester & swansea? we aren't missing rooney at all. yes, mata hasn't lit up the stage but it's not his fault that LVG changed the formation completely last night. we played 4-1-4-1. mata isn't a CM, he's an AM. rooney too would struggle in a 4-man midfield.

* Did we have Di Maria, Herrera, Blind, Rojo, RVP, Falcao against Swansea?

* Against Leicester, controversial decisions were the turning point. There were also countless missed chances that should have long buried the game.

coogar:
stop watching football with your nose.
the 4 defenders were in line. the line only moves forward when they sense a through-pass is about to be made. in this situation, jones broke ranks when the ball was passed backwards by west brom, thus leaving a big space behind him. berahino occupied the space jones had left & the rest is history......

jones was 100% culpable for that goal - he was the only one that charged forward & he wasn't trying to set offside trap. he was just being morönic of getting too attracted to the ball he couldn't even get to.



why did jones move out? he only needed to move out if he could reach the ball. he couldn't - he didn't even get near & the player he charged towards was backing our goal. a smart defender should have known it was a decoy to lure him out of position.

phil jones is a möron.

I have always told you you don't know ball. Stop relying on gif to make judgment. The centre back played him offside from the start. Michael Owen and the other guys played it over and over again last night. Michael Owen put it on Rafael.

The. Chelsea game is 50/50. Same with Man City.

This idea of playing one striker appeals to me. It enables us to have more men in the midfield. But we cannot afford to have two big strikers on the bench. Two strikers won't be bad if the formation is 4-4-2.

coogar:
phil jones is a morön...

he was our best defender before his injury but his decision to break the lines to go looking for a ball he wasn't close to was the reason for the 2nd goal.

if he had stood his ground, that pass wouldn't have been made by west brom. better still, he would be goal side of berahino & jones' pace would have recovered the ball if there was a foot race between him & berahino.


https://giant.gfycat.com/FreeClassicEmperorshrimp.gif

Jones and Rojo played Berahino offside even before Jones went for the tackle. Looking at this this gif, I think Michael Owen was right when he put the blame squarely on Rafael.

Another thing your gif did not show was that Berahino was marked by Rojo before Jones moved out. Rojo ought to have kept an eye on him and keep close.

SailorXY:
last season didn't happen for any United fan. this season, we are on the right path to recovery wether you believe it or not. the team work is returning, the threat upfront is fierce & could've been better IMO without the persistent use of van Persie every 90'. there is a good enough bench to turn to; and yes, Fellaini is doing what we knew him for @ Everton again.

if you see no good performance proliferation, that's your own slice of fish-cake

O boy we spent almost 200 million. Make the result dey happen already. Time is ticking na. After our matches with Chelsea and City, hmmm. .......May be Arsenal and Liverpool will take 6 points. We need at least three points from the next two matches to remain 'relevant'.

Odunharry:
[b]West Brom were playing more narrow in
midfield and our wide defenders
were pushing up and giving
away too much space."

Is this not what ought to have been corrected during the match?

Anyway, this is somewhat my opinion earlier. We have too many men pushing into attacking positions. If Rafael pushes forward, then Blind and Shaw should stay back. We have enough fire power upfront to win matches. If the forward cannot score, that is their headache jor. In a nutshell, we should be prudent in getting back men into attacking area.

I think our defenders should defend and leave the business of attack for the forwards. They should play closely together.

If we are to defend high up the pitch, then we need guys with quick legs- Jones and Smalling pairing. High defence help us to press the opponents, but we need to be able to recover to prevent one vs one situations with the goalkeeper. In the past when we played high defence, we had two men in front of our defence (mostly two of Anderson, Fletcher, Cleverley). The mobility of the back six restricted the opponents to no chance of coming one vs one with our goalkeeper, or even having a chance to have a clear chance to shoot.

When we played Vidic and Ferdinand, they defended very deep. Any crossing into our box was a bonus/'dash' for Van Der Sar if it went any where close the 6-8 yard. Anything else have to be headed away by Vidic or Brown. On the ground battle, there was great understanding.

This time we have to decide which way to defend. Against big teams, we shouldn't make the mistake of playing high. My opinion.

SailorXY, why are you bringing Rooney into this match?

Rooney scored 17 goals and assisted 10 last season. That was decent. This season with all the stars and world class coach, what have we achieved?

Mata didn't want RVP or Di Maria to take the free kick. So he didn't settle down. I think it was a good position for RVP. Although any one of the three could do justice from there.