₦airaland Forum

A40:
No. We said he played like one! He shot poorly throughout the series. That is the bitter truth. Every player has had bad series, even LeNomad James

Anyway no point delving deeper into the number of times he was given the ball with 2 seconds left on the clock because if we ask you to show and prove you might not be able to do so

Nope. KD shot 52% last season and shot 52% this season. His numbers were identical

Oladipo went from approx 48% shooting last season to 42% shooting. Significant difference


How is Koeman great? What was his record before going to Everton


This one is neither here nor there. The difference between Pep's scenario and that of Benitez boils down to the former dealing with more patient employers. Even Pep knows that is why he is very selective of the type of teams he moves to

Mourinho won how many trophies his first tenure at Chelsea? He had the cache to earn another season

Mourinho won the CDR in his first year at Madrid ending a 4 year trophyless run


Lol what was Napoli's investment this season? Compare to Juventus adding Cristiano Ronaldo. Bottom line they are in the same boat with Sarri's team that won nothing and didn't even make the quarterfinals of the Europa

Everyone knows Klopp's target is CL and EPL. This is the first year he has had enough significant investment to compete and you can see for yourself the impact. I can bet you're praying fervently for City to win else your boy would be stuck with a Mickey mouse double

Lmaooo. Let's run down the teams Pep has faced in this season's FA Cup shall we?

And as for CL shebi na here we dey. When you were exonerating Pep at Bayern we warned you that this man don cast. Now he can't even cross quarterfinals

You and I know that Klopp wants a trophy, period. Nothing like UCL and league. He wanted one to first announce his presence and it has eluded him thus far.

We also know that the only investment Pep made this season was Mahrez so I don't understand the blank cheque part. Klopp got everyone he wanted. He almost even got that guy in Lyon I forget his name now.

This your personal beef with Pep will have to end soon because the standard started from not winning spoon in England to now barest minimum. Going by your argument, UCL too is the barest minimum.

birdman:
This is what I was trying to say when I compared Lillards accuracy to Curry. He is not the best lights out shooter, but boy, he is dangerously consistent on those parking lot 3s.

All the curry lovers that were attacking me eruditor pointguardusa see what i mean?

If you said they had the same range I would have agreed. You said Steph and Dame were about the same shooting wise which is why I disagreed. Steph is 44% or so over the course of this career. Dame is like 38%+ or so. There are levels to this thing.

A40:
Nobody disputed Oladipo was not better than his numbers. This was the source of disappointment to start with. Remember he was a 2nd pick

Of course Oladipo thriving in Indy could also be attributed to playing in an expanded role, in a team that wasn't expected to do much.

Fast forward to this season and if you check properly, Oladipo's numbers are all down from last season prior to his unfortunate injury which makes you wonder if last year was an outlier

Nah. You guys said Oladipo was a scrub. I said Oladipo was played out of rhythm and given the ball to shoot with 2 seconds left on the clock.

KD's regular season numbers were all down from last season. Numbers deflect here and there. Indy were seeded higher and Oladipo was on course to being an all star again back to back.

Koeman? Nobody tagged Koeman the best thing since sliced bread. Were you expecting trophy from Everton??

Benitez barely spent a full season at either club. Pep finished trophyless in his first season getting knocked out to Monaco in the freaking second round!! You think he wouldn't have gotten the boot at Madrid or Chelsea?

Carlo is finishing at the same place Sarri finished with essentially same squad. Both coaches won nothing

Anywho, none of these guys enjoy the luxury of the blank cheque and unlimited stability Guardiola enjoys.

Pep is achieving the bare minimum. And the only team that rivalled them in spending thus far is matching them blow for blow

Koeman puts the money theory to bed. He was great with all the minnows he coached. He is great again with Netherlands squad but failed miserably with more money.

That Benitez spent less than a season in Inter and RM is an indictment on his coaching. That Pep would have been fired at RM or Chelsea is moot considering they did not fire Mou in his 2nd term after finishing 3rd and trophyless nor did he get the boot in RM in his first season.

Carlo is finishing maybe 23points behind Sarri. That is exactly what he is doing. I am 100% sure Klopp crashed out to Wolves and Chelsea in competitions with better squads this is an aside from not winning anything in the same EPL. So how did the bare minimum criteria change for him?

Pep had also failed in the FA Cup back to back prior to this season. That one has been fixed. Every thing else that has not been fixed will be. Lucky for him, the UCL is something he has won, twice in.

A40:
Lmaooo suggesting Oladipo was a star at OKC being held back by Westbrook is tantamount to playing Monday Morning Quarterback. Nobody really predicted he will ball at Indy. Not even on this thread

My stance then was that the role players simply deserved a large chunk of the blame as well. This ongoing OKC game is a microcosm of that. Lillard is balling out of his mind but guess what? his backcourt partner is 4/14 while OKC even with Westbrook struggling but getting hot in spurts has role players shooting ultra efficiently from the floor

If we're arguing that Oladipo left OKC and became a star then we could also argue that PG came to Westbrook and became an MVP candidate, a feat he had never achieved previously.

You can't as the supposed second best player on a team be shooting 4/17 or 2/16 in elimination games and still blame others for such poverty shooting

I said that Oladipo was better than his numbers suggested. Birdman has already said it best; Victor Oladipo is a slasher. You cannot dribble a ball till 22seconds and then pass it off to him to shoot. Even the GOAT shooter Steph, me and SmooshCHN come here to rant when he is played like JJ Reddick much less Victor who is not on that wavelength shooting wise.

Lmaooo Pep don cast. If you're telling people to wait 11 years good luck with that. I've observed Pep's pattern when it comes to CL Knockout round games and you can almost predict he is getting knocked out if he's drawn away in the first leg (Lol Monaco showed it doesn't really matter) but it's not even the big teams anymore, even the smaller teams have sussed him out.

Pep's financial backing has made it impossible to fail. When you can afford to spend £200m+ just on your back line in two seasons then you should know all fingers are not equal

Ronald Koeman and co spent money won nothing. Benitez is doing wonders with Newcastle and failed miserably with RM and Inter. Carlo is looking bang average with Napoli, same club Sarri made his name with. Juve splurged on Ronaldo to crash out to Ajax. Vagaries of football.

The Pep narrative has changed from not winning a spoon in England to being local champion. It will revert to expensive squad or having world class players in a wee bit.

SIRcumalot:
That was some game
What a shot!!!!!

It truly was. Ice cold.

He carried his team today. Take a bow.

aliondo:
Please let's be honest...I watched OKC's games that season and Russ alone cannot be blamed for Oladipo's not-so-good performance. ..Oladipo is not a bad player but he didn't really play well for us...And besides nobody (including you) foresaw that he will be this great with the Pacers...

As for Harden, the same criteria that was used for Westbrook MVP's season was one of the criteria used this season for Harden winning MVP this season , in the sense that he carried the Rockets when CP3 and Capela were out.. I'm not really a fan of triple double but you can't take anything away from history that was created and a long-term record that was broken by Russ. The

I don't want to post too much on the issue. You can do your research and find me bigging Oladipo up. When I was here showing you people how Steve Adam's had become useless, I was hearing that Russell needed to rebound the ball and run up the court bla bla. The reason Harden is in MVP talks is not because of carrying the team when whoever was out. Harden had done so before. His numbers are historic and he was consistently doing those incredible numbers for a sustained period. I still want Giannis to win it BTW, but if you are referring to last season, Harden's team had 65 wins.

Khanben:
So in your words Messi was not the best player in the world during Pep's tenure in barca, That is really funny.
In 14/15 the team that won was more about the front 3 of MSN than the midfield.
So if he was not arrogant tell me why he benched KDB in the first leg. He specifically said himself that the second leg and matches against crystal palace, Tottenham in the EPL and man utd were of more importance.
Pep is a great manager but I see you adroitly ommited the 14/15 UCL games against RM where he elected to play a high line against the fastest attack line in Europe, same thing in both legs against Monaco with a speedster like Mbappe.
Every great coach has their flaws the issue who Pep is that in his barca days Messi's incredible finishing papered over those issues. Without Messi whose incredible conversion rate ensures that he can get away with making tactical mistakes

If you have any evidence that Messi was the best player in the world before Pep you can adduce it. So which one is it again? MSN won 14/15 but trinity won 08/09 and 10/11? HOW? It was Etoo, Henry, Messi in 08/09 and then Pedro, Messi, Villa in 10/11. I support Barcelona I need to re-emphasize it.

Even if KDB had started, Aguero was still the designated penalty taker so that should be the main concern. The games Pep prioritized, he won. Crystal P, Tottenham twice were the clogged up fixtures.

Pep did not lose to RM because of a highline. There is no need to revisit it. Google Phil Lahm and find out what actually happened when they lost to RM. RM scored the main deciders through setpieces that had nothing to do with tactics.

Speedster like Mbappe? How many goals did Mbappe score over the 2 legs? I am telling you that at 2-1 Man City are going through and Aguero is throwing chances away only for Bakayoko to score a headed winner off a freekick late in the game.

What Messi finishing that people were not seeing before? Messi still had his best ever performances under Pep and I have told you, Messi won 4 WPOTY titles under Pep. So who needs who? I am sure if Pep coaches Argentina to a world cup title, you people will turn around to say he made tactical mistakes but Messi's finishing papered over the cracks. As if Pep's coaching does not cover over his player's cracks as well.

I don tire for this Pep matter. Make we just free am.

aliondo:
Predict?? You only made a case for Harden getting the MVP, thats why maybe you made enemies and Russ might be Westbrick sometimes but he sure had a strong case for MVP that season..

LOL, Brother Aliondo, I said that with more stars your team will be no different that Victor was not as bad as his numbers suggested and that Russell should be playing more to facilitate and not heroball his way into an MVP.

I stated repeatedly that Harden's 55 win season was more significant than Russell's 47 or 46. I stated repeatedly that Harden finishing as a 3rd seed was more noteworthy and that Harden even had close to a triple double so I could not understand how the extra rebound Russell had all of a sudden made his feat more laudable. The second best player in the rockets (E Gordons at the time) is not a franchise player, but Victor Oladipo today is the reason the Pacers got swept.

Khanben:
Pep won cause he had arguably the best player in the world at the time. Messi was not fit against Bayern and in 13/14 xavi and Iniesta were no longer in their prime and it was evident in Spain's performance in the world cup later in the year.
As for Aguero's missed chances, you have chosen to forget the lopsided referring decisions that got them into his second UCL final against Chelsea. So that does not hold water.
Pep has consistently lost knockout games due to the arrogance of his tactics, he has never learnt how to respect his opposition believing always that his tactics will always be superior. Imagine projecting a draw against Tottenham in the first leg where standing tradition is to try to get an away goal especially when the second leg is at your own home.

Messi was never the best player in the world until Pep and in fact, Messi won 4 of his 5 WPOTY awards under Pep. So your best player in the world theory na pure zobo. Messi was fit first leg when they lost 3-0. I am a barcelona fan, I will tell you about my club. If Xavi and Ini were past their prime in 2013/14 why did they win it 2014/15 which is a year after?

What refereeing decisions again? Chelsea led by 1 goal, Barca had a player WRONGFULLY red carded and played a man down till the last second of the game. The winning goal was by sheer luck, surely if the ref wanted to help Barca, he would not give them a red card when they were a goal down abi?

Pep did not lose because of any arrogance. Aguero missed a penalty. Llorente's goal should have been disallowed besides, he beat Tottenham 3 times this season losing 1. He knows how to beat Tottenham his own way. In the last 6 meetings, Pep has won 5 to Tottenham's 1. He will be the one to teach you or any other manager how to beat Tottenham.

Khanben:
The Bayern team in 13/14 just came out from a treble season and added a Lewandoski, against a novice Monaco in 16/17, in both instances any other bayern and man city coach would have been favourite against those opposition. As for missing penalties and what might have been, that is all part of the game. He has grossly underachieved with the teams he has had in the UCL for 5 out of 6 years and his tactics has been his downfall.

PS: The reason only one coach has won a UCL since he has left is because the Trinity was never the same after he left barca. Xavi was past his prime and the Iniesta was on the decline.

Lewa joined Bayern 14/15 not 13/14. That Monaco team is like this Ajax team; Mendy, Fabinho, Bernardo Silva, Mbappe are all solid players today and the tie was 6-6 courtesy missed chances on Aguero. The same tactics that won 2 UCLs cannot be a downfall or else other managers who have coached longer should win more. Zizou is the only person that has more UCLs in a shorter time yet Pep still won more overall than Zizou then in 3 years.

Pep left Barca 2011/12. Barca won UCL again 2014/15 which means for 3 more years after Pep left they should have still been in their primes yet they lost 7-0 to Bayern and 2-1 to ATM in between. They even went trophyless in 13/14. So that decline theory no add up.

ReysonDrabek:
I posted this a year ago...

You were not active on this thread during the triple-double euphoria. You showed up during the playoffs if I am not mistaken. Back then, I was arguing that James Harden should be the MVP.

Khanben:
Pep is a great coach but we should stop with the hype. Pep has not made a UCL final without Messi in his team. Of the last 6 knockout defeats his team was favorite 5 times out of 6.
Any other coach with this type of record coupled with
the obvious tactical mistakes would have been labeled choker in Europe.

Those teams are favourite simply because he is there for the most part. Only ATM 15/16 and 17/18 18/19 was his team truly the favourite in the ties they lost. Funny thing is, nobody will remember how many chances Bayern wasted including a penalty in 15/16 after they led 1-0 or how that VAR would have made Liverpool get a goal removed whlist City would have gotten 2 goals more over both ties. Football is funny like that.

BTW, other coaches have used the same Messi and only 1 person won 1 UCL with Messi. Pep won Twice in 3 years.

A40:
If you @ me you no go die yunno.

Vs the Jazz. "Playoff P" the supposed help. 40% from the field

Vs the Blazers. "Playoff P" shooting 37% from the field.

It's possible to blame Westbrick for his historically bad play and also hold the others accountable for not doing their jobs. Which has been the stance ab initio

I agree time does fly and since we are gloating about clairvoyant powers. What happened to your man Pep? He can't even get past the quarterfinals anymore, not even against bare teams like Tottenham and Monaco since leaving Bayern.

From semifinals at Bayern to being unable to get City past the quarterfinals with a younger squad and significantly richer owners. Last week we saw another predictable CL fail. Against a team without their best player

You were not the only one on the Westbrook hype train. In fact, only Birdman and SmooshCHN shared the same sentiment as me. My argument then as it is now is that his style was not letting other potential players do diddly squat but you guys said he needed to play that way for OKC to have a chance. Victor Oladipo has now gone on to be the star I contended that he was yet OKC are barely winning any games beyond what they did during the triple double euphoria which implies that the triple double was glossing over the fact that I was stressing then.

As per Pep, he is still shaking the ketchup bottle. It will soon Pop. It is a matter of time. I know how long RM sought the La Decima since 2002 and only found success in 2013. Good thing is the UCL is a competition he has already won twice so it is not like he does not know how to win it. The Benitez and co that someone else was mentioning have all gone to bigger clubs who had just previously won and failed miserably. Pep is only failing by winning everything else but it.

I made enemies on this thread because of Westbrook. When Houston beat them 4-1 2 seasons back, people said Westbrook did not have any help. Then Utah beat them 4-1 with PG, almost same excuse. Now they are most likely going to lose 4-1 to Portland and guess what? Russell is still averaging a triple double or close to it, yet no one is talking about it anymore or complaining about lack of help.

He is not entirely to blame but it is funny how what I predicted then has come full circle.

Time does fly.

This just made the United fixture all the more difficult because now they will definitely play for the draw just so they won't have back to back losses.

But resurrection power shall work for City. Amen.

benji93:
you don't have to claim to be a warriors fan to express an opinion. I guess you are pained that your king is just not able to surmount the team. Until KD leaves we will enjoy this partnership while it lasts. We have now confirmed that the East was definitly weak. Your king could not even make the playoffs once he moved west. And KD is not so much better than Curry, maybe a little better(his height comes to mind). The golden state needed him as much as he needed the golden state. And i don't understand why you would make a fuss about this. It's stale,thus far stephen curry has been as effective as KD. I guess your case is just that of a frustrated lebrick fan.

Wonderful post but please don't take the bait.

Notice how KD is a b!tch but Kawhi, PG, AD should play with Bron and somehow Bron is still the goat.

People hate KD because he made the best possible move for his own career. They are going to hate him again after this season as he won't go anywhere.

hensben:
Pep wasted three years of Bayern players who were at their peak then.

So their peak finished after he left? What did they do with the remainder of the peak?

hensben:
Pep actually destroyed Bayern Munich. That intensity in which Bayern is known for was/is no longer there.Remember the Germans play differently from the Spaniards.

How many of the intensity and what have they done with it since he left?

hensben:
Wnrique won with Barcelona, same Enrique that was sacked in As Roma.

See how you count numbers: after 1 there is 2.

Now read that question again and revert. Thanks.

airmark:
When he wasted 3 years of Bayern stars, who were at their peaks when he took over.

Don't let me call a40 for you to come and explain Fraudiola's uselessness at bayern o.

If you think the likes of Juventus, Real Madrid, Psg, etc will be looking like lookman for Fraudiola to win without Messi, you must be kidding.

Bayern got to a final 2009/10, 2011/12, 2012/13. If anything 2012/13 was their peak. Pep sustained that peak for 3 years running and should have won 2015/16 with how they played ATM.

They have had 3 seasons afterwards, how well have they faired? Surely if Pep's team was at its peak only Kovac should be excused, no?

Juve and RM are done for the next 2 or 3 years. Only PSG will make a case next season if fit.

airmark:
They are not as good as those Fraudiola succeeded at Bayern and City, and failed to attain their ucl feats.

How many have Bayern now won with the "UCL squad" since he left?

His reign in City has not ended so jury is still out on that abi?

That is me paraphrasing Mou who is not my favourite person in the world.

Memory, that is all it takes. MENSA members are expected to test in the top percentiles of that but then Ghanaians who could be clumsy mofos are also called Mensa so...

airmark:
Where was your God during the week?

Your God na weekend God?

There is something Mourinho said in his last season in RM. I dislike the man, but darn, was he right. He said: I know this group of players will win the UCL. When, I don't know, but I am sure this group of players will win the UCL.

The core of that group eventually won 4.

I have seen the same with this City group so my God did not fail me during the week. He only showed me the reality was not going to be this season.

airmark:
They didn't coach Barcelona, with Messi as the anchor.

How many others have been coaching the same Messi? Why did they not win 2?

Ibime:
I can't suck another man dïck so much to know all these permutations, or study what he said in press conferences. Is he my club manager?

Take your award.

It bothers me when the gods get to acting like they're broads.

airmark:
He should do those first, rather than always performing below what his predecessors did.

He's a Fraudiola.

Those predecessors have they won 2 UCL titles before?

Ibime:
Maybe Wednesdays match sobered them to reality hence they did not make rash prediction this time

Not at all. Ask me to predict CFC vs City Carling/Carabao Final I would have asked for an eked out 1-0 as well. Pep already said it: in the moment you are happy you played well and scored many goals but afterwards you realize the next fixture will get harder. I expected a tough game.

What I however did say is, City prioritised Crystal Palace and the other 2 Tottenham fixtures.

Guess which of the games City won? Your guess is as good as mine.

Olamyyde:
That's why barca has only conceded 6 goals in ucl and Liverpool has conceded 9 in the ucl.

I have said it before; attacking teams are always "viewed" or perceived as defensively frail.

If we don't get past Liverpool, it will not be because of our defence for sure.

Leyqute:
Nope. Watch the game with an unbiased mind and make the right deductions- a simple act you just aren’t capable of.

You can have 80% possession and not create a single chance. Having the ball is useless if you’re not going to do anything tangible with it.

You can also have 5 shots on target but they could be lame half-chances. Doesn’t mean you dominated the game.

The only true way to dominate a game is to have a significantly larger possession, create numerous chances, score a good number of goals WHILE your opponent watch helplessly.

But that’s lost on you.

City dominated Tottenham today. End of.

So what game are you describing? Today's or Wednesday's?

If Today's game, point out where anyone predicted a ripping apart and thrashing?

If you have no evidence of that, does that mean you posted off point?

Greatihex:
did you just say wrong use of VAR?




Stop smoking that. It is not good for your health

Yes, wrong use. The ref got only one view and that view was skewed to mislead him.

It is a hard ask but please, attempt to think sometimes.

SkimpleD:
So shall it be

False prophets.

My God will continue to shame you.

airmark:
I want it to end in a draw. City will beat that useless united, while Spurs will still drop subsequently.

Awww.