₦airaland Forum

Space no dey

We are matching them strength for strength in that midfield battle.

Something i haven't seen in a Spuds v Chelsea match in a long time now.

Luiz's poor positional awareness is creating some holes in that midfield.

Gooooooaaaaallllllllllllllllllllll

Where is David Luiz operating from?

Oh Morata!

Come on Chels!

I just dey get this feeling that Bakayoko go collect red card.

Only 2 newly-promoted sides have won their first 2 #PL matches - Hull (2016/17) & Bolton (2001/02).

Will Huddersfield become the third?

And Shelvey Jonjo 2.0 scores!

Up Huddersfield!

diggz:
True that. Brighton though na relegation sure pass except something changes for them which I can't see it happening.

To a larger extent, what determines if your team would stay up is the crop of players at your disposal. Not even managerial brilliance.

Brighton with those grade C players are destined to relegate.

Huddersfield on the other hand has got exciting talents. They are very inventive and would pose problems for many teams in the league.

otabuko:
that's how they behave when they come newly.

Maybe they'd lose this momentum at some stage, but they have started strongly and that's a good thing.

Huddersfield looking like a team that will stay up this season.

They have good organization and intense work-rate.

Oasis007:


Under your Watch, Mentorship, and Supervision I guess?!

I don't know where Yaba Left is located honestly

Oasis007:


Diggz is becoming Osinbajo of your Organization, you do not need to act like Buhari, rather return back to work NOW!

Nah. I still dey active for service. Just that I chose clients to deal with.

Diggz delivers to everything that breathes. I won't be surprised to hear that he has established a customer base in Yaba Left.

I am proud of his efforts.

diggz:
Leyqute you have a mail pls let's keep today holy

With the way you are moving, I fear for my place in my organization.

Odunharry:
Lmao
. So because I said Chelsea shouldn't lose or draw meant I bet on chekpe??
Funny guy.

I no come understand na. Your action is akin to Devil praying for the well-being of God

Leyqute:
There are many comedians on this thread and Griffon is the king of the clowns.

You must be a garlic munching bangalore riff-raff to ever think i was pushing an argument with that statement.

To cap it all, you even had the chutzpah to bring up the Schwarzer name in a discourse that points towards 'general team influence', a goalie that made no single appearance in his team title winning run.

What have you guys been chewing over that thread?

Leyqute:
Mark Schwarzer. Two EPL titles with two different teams in two seasons (Chelsea '14/15, Leicester '15/16).

Humor me some more.

SetrakusRa:
Can you list just one player that'll guarantee a team the EPL title regardless of price?

N'golo Kante. Two EPL titles with two different teams in two seasons.

bigkesh:
Our squad isn't good enough for 3-5-2.

You can't take away Pedro's goals just like that,we are not sure whether Morata will score 20 league goals...Will hazard score 20?
Fabregas? Kante?? How many goals can they get between them

Our wingbacks aren't good for 3-5-2 either, 3-5-2 means they are the only one on the wings and won't get much support from Hazard and Pedro like 3-4-3,you really think Alonso and Moses can do the job attacking and defending at top speed??

For me,Kante is a DM,anything else is being too defensive especially when you are playing 3 at the back..... He is our Casemiro

Kante is the destroyer
Fabregas is the passer
We need a Lampard to play 3-5-2 successfully

Our current squad is good enough for a 3-5-2.

Pedro was scoring freely because after the wing-backs, the wingers have more important roles to play in a 3-4-3. Shift the attention to the two forwards in a 3-5-2 and watch the goals come. On the attack it can resemble a lopsided 3-3-4. That's four men coming at you, with a solid base behind them just in case things go awry.

Yeah the wing-backs are required to put in a titanic shift each game to ensure their team don't end up playing a narrow, fruitless game. I can trust Moses with that, Alonso could be our only worry though, just like he is in the current setup.

However, the beauty of this formation is having three in the middle though. If I were in charge, I will give Fabregas the regista role - to be a deep-lying playmaker, with two prototypical central midfield destroyers (Kante and Bakayoko) playing ahead of him.

Too much sauce, too much juice.

Ibime:
Na that £75m from China still dey pain them. They have already sold Costa for that amount in their minds.

Time to move on and get rid of that fool who has caused enough tension.

Skimpledawg:
How the match take concern you?

Recognize a bet9ja student when you see one.

Singapore1:
I would love to see him using this formation too, but we can't put egg in one basket, not good for fatigue
We have like 4 competition to play and we don't have players in excess using 352 means only few players will be on bench (midfield) willian and Pedro only..

The need to work on squad depth.

This is the craziest tweet I've seen the whole year:

"See how the ref is explaining to Pogba that if he was a Chelsea player he would have gotten a second yellow" — FOLLOW BACK (@iam_zuby)

Honestly, I expected Conte to switch to a highly structured 3-5-2 formation this season, with Kante, Matic and Fabregas having their roles distributed evenly among a destroyer, a supporting passer, and a creator.

This configuration could have seen us address lingering issues like being at numerical disadvantage when up against a well drilled side, lacking creativity from deep and being dominate.

A shot at that with Kante, Bakayoko and Fabregas, with Hazard and Morata up front won't be bad either.

spartacus11:
If u where give an option to sell one and keep the other in the current Chelsea squard between KANTE & MATIC who will you sell?

I would only be faced with these options if both players had similar style of play.

They are different players, so I'll keep both.

Ibime:
Atleti ready to bid £41m plus £9m add-ons for Costa but Chelsea asking for £60m. Nna, let's not get too greedy here, that amount is enough.

What are the club looking to achieve with all this shemozzle?

Make them sell the tout and focus on other pressing issues na.

Chelseafan1:
I thought at some point last season, based on the way Matic was playing, we all agreed we needed another player who isn't either Matic or Fabregas?

I want to believe we are not back to singing Matic's praises just cos of his sudden revival in a Man utd shirt abi u want the archeologists of this great thread to start their job?

We all agreed we needed to replace Matic as we wouldn't want him to face the likes of Barca, Madrid and Bayern.

We all wanted an upgrade, not because Matic wasn't good but because just like Oliver Twist, we wanted more.

I have never looked down on Nemanja, I know the stuff he is made of. Even when you all were on his neck, I knew dude still had that A-game in him.

There is no 'going back to praising him' for me. I have always maintained that the Serb is good and must not be shipped to a direct rival.

Nihilist:
Tell me about it bro.

That's why he had to go. We only needed one DM - Kunta Kante.

You mean like the FA cup final? or Against Manyoo at Old Trafford? or Against Spurs home and away?

Like I said then, Matic had very little defensive responsibility last season. His 1.5 tackle per game average last season compared to his 3 tackles per game this season tells the whole story. Kante and the CentreBacks should have freed Matic up, in exactly the same way he is now freeing Pogba up...but Matic only knows what to do when the other side have the ball. Give him the ball and watch bag of beans lumber around in confusion.

This is why he had to go. His skillset was no longer required. At least Fabregas still managed double Matic's assists and scored 5 league goals for us last season. And that's why Fabregas is still here.

This is a sweeping claim fam. If we needed one DM, then it's certainly Matic. Kante is a box-to-box destroyer, not a traditional DM.

There was no need fixing what never got spoilt, both players complemented each other.

Kanté and Matic weren't faced with the task of bridging the chasm of space I see each time it's Kante-Fab in our midfield.

Two man midfield isn't fantasy football where you have to stockpile your midfield with attacking midfielders.

Matic's skillset was no longer required yet Conte is still ruefully talking about his departure? Abeg talk another thing brother.

Nihilist:
You see what Pogba is doing now at Manyoo? That's what I was expecting from Matic last season.

When I was pointing out how Kante was our DM based on his tackles and interceptions numbers, I was hearing yarns like temple run, and big men don't tackle.

Now Matic is averaging 3 tackles a game, similar to Kante last year. It just goes to emphasize why Matic had to go - The only thing he's really good at is winning the ball back in midfield. When Kante took over that duty, Matic lost his purpose.

I am quietly confident that Bakayoko can play that Pogba role for us when fully integrated into the team. Looking forward to his debut.

Except that Matic is no Pogba.

The Serb is a DM and it ends there. Pogba blurs the boundaries by being more mobile and efficient in passing, he is a playmaker. Matic isn't that.

Kante might have overshadowed Matic with his overall defensive play but it doesnt mean Matic was entirely useless, this is the one point Ibime and I were trying to make when you all were calling for the Serb's head.

You see how vulnerable we look when it's Kante-Fab right there? That's the difference.

Bakayoko has my blessings to deliver, he does. My main qualms is selling a working engine to manyoo.

bigkesh:
I don't play with Imbeciles

This would go down as the shortest savage return mail Cobham Express would be delivering.

Hello OritseJemiNoyo sir, a.k.a Dopejemi as you are fondly called in this neighbourhood.

Cobham Express Services, these mail has got your name plastered all over it.

Sign here abeg ........

Don't hate the mail man, hate the sender.