₦airaland Forum

larride:
You mean Pep bought Bravo to be a backup to the keeper he bought a season later. Wonders.

Oya list the regulars let's see if you won't disgrace yourself tonight.

Gabriel Jesus 18 league appearance (29 appearance in total) Aguero has 36 appearance in total, that's just 7 games between them and Gabriel was out injured.

John Stones has 16 league appearance (26 appearance in total) second only to Otamendi as the CB with the highest appearance.

Mr Dayo, list your own regulars, let's see.

i don't know why you bother yourself so much about just the regulars. A strong bench is as much important as a strong first eleven.

Take a look at Bernardo that has been playing many matches of recent. He was not a regular during the beginning of the season, but he has slotted in perfectly without city dropping in quality.
The same thing with gundogan. The importance of a strong bench cannot be over emphasized. Quality players on the bench can come in during matches to change a game.

amodu:
Does that mean you are of the conclusion that Hazard is below per in this regard and Harry Kane is far better

sorry. you are confused. i don't have that time

amodu:
He should do that first....

Trophies always accompany such output.

maybe you should show me harry kane's trophies.

Since he has the trophies without those your stats, should we go and collect the trophies from him?

nateevs:
Alhaji, as much as you want to claim glory in this moment for highlighting negatives about Morata, you repeatedly highlighted alternative positives about Bellotti. Where is Bellotti now? But what does that make you?

Some thought we should have bought Lacazette. Imagine what that would have been? In fact, I bet some fellas on here are reaching for their old posts on Aubameyang and attempting to delete after seeing reality.

What's my point ? So far, I do not believe buying Morata was a mistake. Not as much as you like to make us think. I agree that Morata has not covered himself in glory. Especially with the Arsenal game, he was poor and really has given you ammunition to be very vocal (because for a long time you were forced to be silent), the plain truth is that none of the alternatives recommended on here would have fared any better going by what the the last 8 months have shown us - Bellotti, Lacazatte, Auba. So I will try to thread with caution. (Watch the Lukaku fan club show up at this moment).

The other truth is that since that Arsenal game, Morata has not had any meaningful impact on our season to cause any active derailment. Unless you are arguing that his absence caused this. But that will be completely contradictory to the point you are trying to make. The main cause of our derailment this season would have happened with or without Morata. The fact that you repeat it many times does not make it true. It seems true because there is no appetite for counter argument and perhaps at this moment, no justifiable resistance.



To the main point, No it is not a lie. You only think it is a lie because you don't like him. The funny thing is that you are unconsciously having the same discussions about Hazard.

Most Chelsea fans think that with better midfielders, Hazard will be better. And many of us argue this with passion. The likes of Dayo, A40, and other distinguished fellas from other teams tell us, amongst other things........ "the only difference between Hazard and Morata is that Hazard is not falling down like fido dido, he is also having horrible games, hiding in games, not turning up when he needs to, posting below-par numbers, fedding off other people's glory........look at the flipping numbers, if you had better midfielders, Hazard will still not post better performaces.....did he last year?" And just like you, they will go on to say, "so on top of the money you spent on Hazard, you still need millions more to make him shine?"


Does it make this line of argument true, the fact that it is repeated every match day? Take your pick.


So seriously you would actually trade in Morata for Benzema because Zidane did this and that? Unless you are completely crazy, no phucking way you respond with YES. But what does that make of Zidane and what does that make of Morata ?

thank you for this.

raumdeuter:
Mourinho beat Chelsea last weekend, City beat Chelsea easily this week and Mourinho said "But Chelsea is a fantastic team"

So for Guardiola to say he admires Wenger after beating him is mockery but when Mourinho said Chelsea is a fantastic team during their worst form of the past 2yrs is not mockery which includes 4 losses in their last 5 league games is not mockery.

Just read that and listen to yourself

mou is not mocking anybody. Is Chelsea not the the champions? are they not fantastic? Did United beat Chelsea home, neutral and away with 3-0, 3-1, and 3-0?

raumdeuter:
Is this not the same thing Guardiola said about Wenger that you criticized him for or what's the difference this time

no. It is not the same thing. Mou did not beat roy 3 - 0 everywhere this season and go to say that he has admiration for him. That is mockery.
Mourinho did not say he has admiration for roy, but that roy got everything right for the night.

How can someone say he has admiration for he beat mercilessly three times in a season.

amodu:
I didn't read it previously, just a glanced at the URL.

However, I had to read the prescribe paragraph which is a narration of the team's achievement while Hazard is with us.

Impact in goals (numbering over twenty) and assists (in the range of fifteen above) in resemblance to what is gotten from high profile wingers.

If he does all that and it does not help in getting a trophy in any way, will you say he has made an impact to the team?

nateevs:
I think you are just looking for anything except Conte. Why do you think Simeone wants to leave Atletico Madrid for mid-table ambition?
The problem was not having having money to spend, the problem was spending it unwisely and making stupid decisions with loan players.

Buying Bakayoko and Drinkwater was just plain stupid. I am sure this topic has been over discussed.
Selling Matic was even worse. Loaning RLC may turn out to be a good decision for the future but considering the shambles we now have in midfield, it is looking to be a very bad decision. Those stupid decisions in a row, in one single season, has led to the over-working of Kante, which has in turn shot our season to bits.

The shocking revelation is that the net spend of all these decisions is only £35m. So it's not a money problem. It's a management one.



In another world, we sell Fabregas, spend £35m on a player like Tolisso. We keep Matic, Kante, RLC and Pasalic and spend £50m on Mahrez.
Only two players in but functional and different players. We would have spent only £10m more (assuming we get £30m for Fab) than what we spent on midfield this season but I bet you, we would have a completely different season, standing toe-toe with the best in the league.



It's not a money problem.

i know that the problem is not only a money problem, but there is a money problem. Take tolisso for instance. The guy preferred bayern over Chelsea in terms of football, but you cannot bet against him accept Chelsea if more money is promised. It is this money reason that made sanchez to be in United now instead of city. If money was not a problem, we would have signed mahrez even with all the ones that we have currently. Man City are signing quality that are on the bench. As much as we will say that money is not the only problem, we can deny the fact that there is a money problem. It is in our bid to get it cheap that we ended up signing some rubbish, coupled with the bid to complete the home grown quota.

And no, I don't want anything but conte, I want someone who will stay to see us through that period. Conte does not look like he wants to stay through that period and he is doing everything to take some money away to go and use for the summer flexing in Russia.

Meanwhile, me mentioning Simeone does not mean that it will be Simeone, but some one that can give us what he is giving atletico.

‘I tried to wait because the substitution was with
Hazard and you hope, until the end, that a player like Hazard can invent something but we were unlucky in this aspect. I decided to make the substitution, I don’t know, a bit late. Against United I did it a bit earlier.’

Look at this man trying so hard to disgrace his village people. Is this how people try so hard to sound stupid?



Invent something? Invent something without the ball at his feet?

I give up. This man has gone nuts. Kai!!
Instead of this man to say that the cold entered his brain, and apologise, he is busy disgracing himself and village people.

http://www.chelseafc.com/news/latest-news/2018/03/conference-call--difficult-day.html

"Maybe he [Conte] felt against Barcelona they did well in that system, he felt it could work against City. It didn't.
Wise feels Conte's handling of his subs was completely wrong against City
"When you know it's not working you expect a change around 50 minutes to change the way your team is playing and that was the disappointing this about it, in the manner the substitution came on.
"You've got two strikers sitting on the bench ready to come on and all of a sudden you put one on in 80 minutes and another on in close to 90 minutes to affect the game. You can't do that.
"I think it was wrong in the way they set their stall out and the way they played. It was against a great team and you might as well go down and go down at least having a go.
The 1-0 defeat, a fourth in their last five games, has seen Chelsea slip outside the top four and now face the prospect of missing out on the Champions League for the season time in three seasons.
Newly-signed Olivier Giroud and Alvaro Morata were not introduced until the latter stages

Exactly what i have been saying.

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11095/11277187/antonio-contes-use-of-substitutions-disappointing-says-dennis-wise

Eden Hazard has criticised Chelsea's tactics in their 1-0 defeat at Manchester City on Sunday .
The 27-year-old lined-up as a false nine at the Etihad, but cut an isolated figure as Chelsea recorded no shots on target and just 29 per cent possession.
Hazard was replaced after 89 minutes to cap a frustrating day, and told Belgian outlet HLN : "When you leave the pitch you have the impression that you've ran, but that you haven't played a game of football - that's a pity.
"We could have played on for three hours and I wouldn't touch a ball. Only at the end it went better. In the last 10-15 minutes we had more possession but we should have tried to do that all game."
Eden Hazard claimed he only touched the ball 'three times' while playing up front in Chelsea's defeat against Manchester City
When asked whether he felt Conte would use him in that position again, Hazard replied: "I don't know. When the manager plays me up front I try to give everything.
"But we haven't played a good game and for me personally it's difficult to play a good game when you only touch the ball three times.
Highlights of Man City 1-0 Chelsea
"I think that when we had the ball we should have done better. We made some bad decisions too. There weren't a lot of opportunities.
"We had a few situations where we could possibly create something but we didn't. If we'd taken these opportunities, we could maybe have scored a goal.
"But we played against Man City. It's difficult."


I can't even wish Chelsea for a top player now.
My suggestion is simple. Sell hazard and kante, allow those who wish to leave to leave. Give conte what he is asking for, sack. Invest the money gotten from the sales of this players until the stadium project is finished.

Turn to our loan army and academy. Get a simione type coach to see us through that period, while we the fan reduce our expectations and become like the arsenal fans until at least after the stadium project. Maybe, by then, roman must have gain back his ground financially from the investment made with the players sell money.

http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/mourinho-comes-to-conte-and-chelseas-defence-after/sokz28rlwmly1mjlqsv5f9y1b

Oga raumdeuter, who be this man defending fellow manager?

http://www.skysports.com/football/news/29326/11277872/gary-neville-responds-to-antonio-contes-criticism-after-chelsea-loss-to-man-city


How will players not walk on the pitch when they have seen that a manager's tactics is not working, yet the manager has refused to change it.

Mourinho also paid tribute to Palace's performance, saying opposite number Roy Hodgson "did everything right" even though his side had nothing to show for their efforts.
"I have to say Roy had a fantastic gameplan, really aggressive, two big strong strikers to play direct to them and cause us problems with crosses and direct football and second balls, also counter-attacking with [Andros] Townsend and Patrick [Van Aanholt].
"So sometimes the winner is the one that deserves congratulations but I have been many times on the losing side and sometimes I felt I did many things right and I think Roy did everything right."


Oga raumdeuter, I know that you will not post this one for us to see.

amodu:
We should rather ask about the impact of his stay with us.

did you read the article very well?

Try read the last 2 paragraph of the article and then you answer this question.

Which impact are you talking about?

http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/chelseas-decline-is-pathetic-but-man-city-are-in-a-league-of/410h7b2osrns1hv19uz407sdk


http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/im-not-stupid-conte-responds-to-crime-against-football-jibe/qjkbjfmwd6ex1x63v01jkmrm7

Look at this man trying everything he can to make Chelsea look very very inferior to city.

The warning signs were there before kick-off. The presence of N'Golo Kante for Chelsea in a game like this is non-negotiable.
Although he travelled with the squad – and was seen coming through the bowels of the Etihad Stadium with the rest of his team-mates afterwards – the France midfielder was unavailable to face Manchester City on Sunday through illness.
With him in the side Chelsea can play both ways. Antonio Conte can ask his side to get on the ball and he can rely on the simple but tempo-setting passes of Kante in midfield.
RELATED
If they decide to surrender the ball and play on the counter, well, Kante can be the ideal man for that too.
Conte prepared a game plan for Barcelona in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 and assumed that he could deploy a similar set up against Pep Guardiola’s side.
That would make sense if Kante was available. He wasn’t.
Danny Drinkwater and Cesc Fabregas are an inadequate pair for a side of Chelsea’s profile in a game of this circumstance. The ex-Leicester captain appears to be a forgotten Chelsea Sporcle quiz answer-in-waiting such has been his lack of impact at Stamford Bridge.
His signing, and that of Ross Barkley and Olivier Giroud in January, as well as Antonio Rudiger, Alvaro Morata and Davide Zappacosta in summer, hint at a much deeper problem. Transfers have not been on the required level.
Chelsea were crying out for improvements last summer when Nemanja Matic, Diego Costa and John Terry were leaving. To that trio you can add David Luiz who has become persona non grata around West London under Conte. That is the heart and soul of a Premier League title-winning team.
Chelsea’s recruitment department did not step it up and give their first-teamers something to think about. The Blues have regressed and regressed badly. Alarm bells should have been ringing as early as the Community Shield in August.
Kante can do plenty to paper over the cracks as he is a one-man midfield. Without him this plan was doomed to fail.
In it Eden Hazard is expected to work selflessly as a false centre forward. His role in an attacking sense is limited to instigating counter-attacks whenever possession-heavy opponents lose the ball.
That might be fine if Chelsea had a little more ambition. But they were routinely coming forward with only three men – Hazard, Pedro and Willian – while a fourth in an off-key Victor Moses got forward only intermittently.
Hazard’s best qualities are sacrificed in a team like this. He does not work well with his back to goal. Fans prefer to see him take possession somewhere high on the left, cut in and take shots or provide through balls.
To willingly nullify your best attacking player requires the ultimate payoff of the result. It came against neither Barca – albeit unluckily – nor City.
"I think the target was to be solid until the end and then try to put one in at the end,” Olivier Giroud said of the tactic. “Obviously, when you concede just after half-time, it is a kick in the leg a little bit but we still thought we could come back at the end. It was not enough but City deserved to win.
"It is always easy to say that after the game but if Eden had an opportunity to score, we could have said it was the best choice. Obviously it was difficult today. I am not the coach and the coach makes the team. We have to respect that and give our best no matter who is on the pitch.”
If the Barca draw convinced Conte that the system could be tried again then this disgrace of a showing should see it consigned to the dustbin unless they are playing Barca again. Even then it will come with no guarantees.
This was a performance of such limited quality and ambition that Chelsea found themselves on the bad end of a couple of Premier League records. No team has ever completed more passes than the 902 City managed here. No player has managed more touches than the 174 by Ilkay Gundogan. How jealous Hazard must have been of those figures; he hit 20 passes on the day. Courtois, his goalkeeper, made 45.
Some of those City passes and touches were delivered too easily. One unforgivable passage of play in the 75th minute saw Chelsea filter back into their defensive shape slowly, allow passes to be interchanged at will in front of them, before finally approaching their adversaries in possession at walking pace.
Sky commentator Gary Neville raged against Arsenal in the Carabao Cup final last week for their walking football. He won’t be the only one unimpressed by Chelsea’s efforts on Sunday.
Maybe that’s just how good Guardiola is. He reduces otherwise decent teams to the role of jobbers. No team has a good plan for City other than to dig in, soak it up and hope for the best. You’ll get lucky every now and again as Wigan proved recently. But it’s not enough. It’s certainly not enough for a team like Chelsea and a player like Hazard.
He is 27 now and has a few more seasons at his peak. There remains significant disquiet at the Bridge over their playmaker’s new contract. What he was asked to do at the Etihad - and the standard of his team-mates at present - should have him think twice about his next move. Indeed he did not shake the hand of his coach Conte when finally replaced late on.
There is clearly more upheaval and more new arrivals imminent at Chelsea this summer. It would be amazing if Conte lasted through to August at this rate while a clear-out on the playing side can be expected. Hazard might well look at that mess coming down the line and think his interests are better served elsewhere.
Although he’s got a couple of league titles to his name, he has not been part of a dominant Chelsea team – an era-defining team like Jose Mourinho’s back-to-back title winners or the 2012 team that won the Champions League.
He has played his part in their big recent successes but there is a lack of a plan, a lack of identity and a lack of promise at present. If Hazard decides to leave he will not be short of suitors. One thing is for sure, he would be forgiven for thinking that he deserves better.

http://www.goal.com/en-ng/news/hazard-entitled-to-ask-himself-what-am-i-doing-here/1b8nkzta16knw1rudfgrzdhvt6

Ibime:
Pace all through Liverpool side. From Salah to Sane, Wijnaldum, Can, Henderson, Oxlade - they can all press high and recover.

Go and try that one with Fab and Drinkwater, they will get hammered 4-0.

Please let's use sense when making comparison.

Conte knows his team limitation. He is not interested in being the subject of an embarassing hammering that will dent his reputation. He is looking for job this summer.

so this one is not embarrassing? A coach conceding defeat even before kick off. This is one of reasons Rodgers got the sack.

What is wrong if he brings in our 2 strikers at 60 minutes and have Courtois or one of the defenders playing only long balls to the strikers to knock down for the rushing hazard.

What the Bleep happened to long balls. Mou uses it often. It is not difficult.

PlainJAY:
when a motorcycle tries to go head to head with a train...you know there will surely be a problem....

Trust me....the match could have easily ended 3-0 or 4-0

the match could have easily ended 1-1.

It is not much of a problem that he started with the tactics he used. The crime against football is how he decided not to make changes to either personnel or tactics just after conceding that goal, until the last minutes.
That is the worst i have seen from any top manager.
I just resent that man now.

eph12:
He didn't look to LFC for inspiration, he is using Arsenal to learn lesson

exactly. He is a stupid man. Because he is afraid of being criticized like wenger, Chelsea should now play with fear and concede defeat even before kick off.

PlainJAY:
Conte said: “The pundit has to use the head to understand when you speak about tactics.

"I think you must have knowledge to speak about tactics and not only to speak in a stupid way.You have to accept every criticism but I am not so stupid to play against Manchester City open and to lose 3-0 or 4-0.

“If I remember well, Arsenal played twice against them and then you [media] criticise a lot [Arsène] Wenger because they concede three goals in only 30 minutes.”

so conte is saying that he has already conceded to defeat even before kick off and he just wants to keep the score line respectable?

This must be the worst thing i have read as a defense from a Chelsea manager.

Mourinho was never this bad. Mourinho would have made changes immediately he started losing playing like that.

Conte should get of chelsea now. I don't want to see his ugly face again.

Manchester City broke a number of passing records in their 1-0 win over Chelsea on Sunday. Pep Guardiola’s men dominated the reigning champions and became the first team since Opta began collecting records in 2003 to complete 900 passes in a Premier League match.
Guardiola's side had set the previous record at the Hawthorns back in October when they made 843 successful passes in the win over West Brom. That total was smashed as they completed no fewer than 902 passes in beating Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium.
With Guardiola's City also finding themselves fifth on that list having registered 825 successful passes in the 4-0 win over Bournemouth in December, the runaway Premier League leaders account for three of the competition's top five passing performances.
Highlights of Manchester City's 1-0 Premier League win over Chelsea
While it was a team effort from City, there was also an individual record for Ilkay Gundogan who was deputising for Fernandinho in the holding role. Gundogan broke the records for touches, passes and successful passes in a Premier League game.
The Germany international found a team-mate with 174 of his passes against Chelsea. That broke the previous best of 164 that was set by his fellow Manchester City midfielder Yaya Toure in a 3-0 home win over Stoke City in December 2011.
Remarkably, young left-back Oleksandr Zinchenko also makes the top five on the list for his 147 successful passes against Chelsea. Zinchenko had 163 touches of the ball in total - sixth on a list that is also now topped by Gundogan with 181.
With the Premier League now all but secured could Manchester City even better these numbers? When unsuccessful passes are included, they managed 975 against Chelsea. The improbable target of attempting 1000 passes in a single Premier League game isn't far away.




It can be forgiven if all this records were set against us and we got the three points or if we had lost it in the dieing minutes. But, we started losing at 46 minutes and this disgrace of a coach refused to make a change until after city have been assured of the points.
I woke up this morning rushing to see the news of this foolish man sack, yet they have refused to sack the fool! Okay.

Antonio Conte's decision to not start a recognised striker backfired as Chelsea, missing midfield lynchpin N'Golo Kante, failed to register a single effort on target and enjoyed just 29 per cent possession.
Redknapp was left deflated with what he saw from the current champions, who are now five points off fourth-placed Tottenham with nine Premier League games remaining.
"That was anti-football, it was a crime against football what they did today," he told Sky Sports .
Man City 1-0 Chelsea
"I really feel really strongly about it. I was looking forward to watching this game today. I understand not playing with a striker and being difficult to beat, but you must have some intent. They've got good players - it was like they didn't want to go forward at all.
"Manchester City didn't even have to be that good, Chelsea didn't really want to play. The manager must have put it in their minds to sit back. They are better than that. Although Pep Guardiola was celebrating - he must have thought that was a waste of time.
Chelsea boss Antonio Conte defended his defensive tactics believing them to be necessary to restrict space for Manchester City, but concedes they were not good enough in attack.
"Chelsea should have given them the three points before the game started."
The result leaves Guardiola needing just four more victories to dethrone Chelsea and claim a maiden title in English football.
They have lost just one game this season in the Premier League, which came at Liverpool , and Redknapp was dumbfounded that Chelsea didn't follow Jurgen Klopp's blueprint.
Bernardo Silva scored Manchester City's winner against Chelsea in the 46th minute
"City have lost one game this season against Liverpool, who played with energy, they got after them, they pressed them high and won the ball in the final third," he said.
"Don't tell me the front three of Chelsea isn't as good as Liverpool's? There's not too much to choose between the two.
"The Chelsea front three will be thinking 'I'm better than that' - players will then start talking about the tactics. Why didn't Chelsea try and follow Liverpool's template rather than sitting back?"

Chelsea played like a team from league 2.
Conte!!!!! Thunder fire you there!!!!
This bastard waited till 80!!!!!!!!!!!! Minutes before making just one sub. Why should thunder not fire this man.

At some point, man City players just stood, passing the ball, while Chelsea players looked on.

diggz:
Na so....who your forgiveness epp? Meanwhile I saw your decent striker jogging in on 89th minutes....

was Aguero not a decent striker when Pep was benching him last season to play kdb as false 9?

Leyqute:
It's as if Bournemouth disvirgined Chelsea. Since then they have become the EpL slut, hawking the pvssy upandan like a hor.ny nymph.

this got me cracking.

ToyinDipo:
Conte should probably by-pass the midfield, with Fabregas playing much deeper lunging the ball forward to a target man

the idiot has lost it. No ideas anymore.

I think it is not out of place to say that Chris should be given some rest. For the past few games now, he has been joining forces in attack for our opponents.



But, the question now is, who will replace him.



Seems like history wants to repeat itself. Conte should sacked now let rdm come and repeat the thing he did in 2012. That is our only hope now.

If chelsea no sack conte today, to God, I will never forgive abramovic

If Conte is hell bent on playing a false 9 why don't he play Pedro there?

Conte will be foolish if he does not bring in a striker for the second half.

It has been an eye sore. I am speechless.