₦airaland Forum

@ Akola
Thank u very much for admitting the millions helped Jose.
I guess this should now end the discussion.

U r free to officially close this thread.

@ Lordimpaq,
May God BLESS u for your comments.
The 2 factors go together no doubt but Chelsea fans wont agree to the fact that money has played a bigger role than Jose's brilliance.

@ Akola,
Your quotes have not disproved my theory. I am not saying Roman's money was the ultimate and only factor to Chelsea's success.
Ferguson meant: Money is not the total reason for success but it is the catalyst.
Jose is brilliant but he is not that "special". Managers like Rafa Benitez and Arsene Wenger would have achieved the same results if not more than Mourinho if they find 'emselves in that kind of luxury.
Rafa won the UCL in his debut season @ England and there was no noise about him being special.

@lalaboi,
I use ma players in the PS2's master league to play other peops on the net.
Dont get it twisted-there are loads of brilliant players on the net especially in Japan and China. These lads are good but my team always win through penalty shoot-outs or golden goal rule.

How can SWP ever justify his worth without consistent appearances? The bench knocks out players' confidence and everyone knows that.
Louis Saha is a classic example. He wasn't that good when he was warming the bench but things changed a bit better when he was starting games. There's no way SWP can ever justify his worth in that star-studded Chelsea team. SWP has to start from the scratch again. His best bet will be Chelsea loaning him to either Wigan or Everton where he can get enough appearances to boost back his confidence.

Did u say Chelsea tries to bring the best in players? I am yet to see that happen in Drogba and Crespo. They were better players in their previous clubs but they seem to have deteriorated since joining Chelsea. I didn't see any best in Kezman,Thiago and Gudjonsen so what are u talking about here?
Chelsea has devalued more players than it has valued. Kezman a.k.a "The Bat" was the most painful in the whole lot. He was a goal-scoring machine at PSV but Mourinho's dud formation of a lone striker made Mateja useless.

I appreciate the fact that Sheva wants his kid to learn English Language but there are other 19 clubs he could have moved to apart from Chelsea.
Why can't he follow Diego Maradona's steps who stayed at Napoli(Serie B team) even after winning the world cup in 1986.
Other clubs wanted him but he stayed with Napoli and virtually dragged 'em himself from Serie B to Serie A and won the scudetto(twice) Italian cup(once) UEFA cup(once) Italian super cup(once).
Its weird but i just feel anyone(players and fans) that has joined Chelsea in the last 3 years did so because of the money involved and the immediate success.
Only Akola is an exception here because record books say he has been with Chelsea since 1955.

@ lalaboi.
I have never lost as a football manager on any PS2 game.
With the money available i have been able to assemble the best team in the world on Pro-Evolution 5's master league.
I have Pele,Zico,Beckenbauer,Socrates,Careca and Maradona etc in ma team.

I don't think u really know what it means to have an infinite financial resources in football of these modern days.
The fact is majority of these players want to win something for 'emselves. The only people that are still passionate about football these days are U & I(the fans).
These players are like War Mercenaries and will stop at nothing to play for any team as long as good money is involved.
Mourinho is keeping everyone happy at Chelsea because these players are getting paid very well. There's a fierce competition in the team so it aint a stigma if any of these players gets to sit on the bench every matchday. It is only in Chelsea a player worth £21m will start in just 10 matches out of 38 games in a season.

Shaun Wright-Phillips knows he will not get many appearances he got at Man City before he joined Chelsea but that was not his objectives.
The main priority is money and medals the team gets collectively. These medals are what Wright-Phillips will show his grand-children in some years to come. He cannot get these medals at Man City or Arsenal so he decided to sacrifice his match appearances for medals and good pay packet.
To be fair, it is the medals that count. No one will ask u how many games u started while at Chelsea compared to Man City in years to come.
This is why i dont blame Mikel Obi. He wants a good CV for himself.
Shevchenko claims he moved to England because he wants his kid to learn English language. Why didn't he go to Liverpool or Everton where real cockney is spoken. Why Chelsea?
Its all about money and the medals u can show for it in the near future. 

@ Babwilms,
The subject reads: Who is more skillful?
It simply means who is more skillfull overall?
The answer is Ronaldinho.
I have been following Okocha since 1993 when he represented Nigeria in Mauritius till date.
He is very talented but don't dare compare him with Ronaldinho.
It beats me how humans forget so easily.
Have u forgotten what he did to Ashley Cole 4 years ago at the last World Cup?
Ashley Cole nearly had a disloctaion of the ankle.
What about his free-kick against David Seaman? That was subliminal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Don't be surprised i will even mention Denilson and Abedi Pele before Okocha.

@ Spikelord,
There should be no controversy here.
Ronaldinho stands taller than Okocha in all departments of football skills on the pitch + off-pitch.
I have seen loadz of documentaries on the 2 players and Ronaldinho has a big edge over Jay-Jay.
Dinho is very skillful and he is Barcelona.
Try and watch Barcelona without Dinho and u will be surprised how flat and non-creative the team is.
Put Dinho in the team and all u see is breath-taking moves and "off-the-chain" ball delivery.
How much in value was Dinho's pass to Guily against AC Milan? Priceless!
How much in collateral damage was Dinho's pass to Etoo cost Arsenal? Lehmann's red card.
Lets give RESPECT  to whom its due.
Dinho is a god.

@ goodguy,
I must assume your problem is the Use of English Language. Go to your dictionary and check the meaning of skill.
How can u utter a statement that Ronaldinho is better than Okocha in all areas but skills? U seem to forget that the all areas u have mentioned are skills as well.

Heading,Powerful Shots,Free-kicks,Goal-sense,Ball control,Stealth,Tackles and etc are all skills.
The more skillful player amongst these 2 will be the player that has more of these attributes than the other and that makes it Ronaldinho.

As regards the Nike commercial ad, When i saw it at first, i argued blatantly it was staged/computer-enhanced because the move was too good to be true until i saw Ronaldinho did the same move against Nesta(the best central defender in the world).
Go n watch Barcelona V AC Milan @ Nou camp in 2004/05 season and tell me if that was acting.
U wldn't have noticed it cos that move is too fast for the eyes + brain to catch.
Ronaldinho did the same thang to Nesta to score a very fantastic goal.

@ Babwilms,
U have shot yourself in the leg. Did u say Turkey?
How can u compare Turkish league to La Liga or even the French legaue?
Who will reckon with what Okocha was doing among mediocres in the mid 90s.

@ Spikelord,
"Ronaldinho is better than Okocha in everything but not in skills".
Can u please explain what u meant by everything?
I can bet, those "everything" are SKILLS as well.

@ lalaboi,
I didn't say that.
I gave Jose 15% and that means he has got brains.

Madrid's scenario is quite different from Chelsea's
All the Managers in the premiership working together could not have changed Madrid's situation around.
The club is so complex and they believe in the "so called" big stars and until they start re-building, they will plunge the way Barcelona did some years back when they cld not even qualify for UEFA champions league.
Zidane stated he is retiring from club football to allow some young talents to play in Real Madrid cos he knows the club will continue to parade old and tired legs if he doesn't pave way.

Real Madrid is a club where the management influence the player selection to boost their market. All the galacticos must play whether fit or unfit unless they r practically injured. No manager can cope with the way Madrid is handling their team so its a different scenario to Chelsea's.

Abrahamovic is an ardent football fan but he never interferes with who plays and who warms the bench. He has given Mourinho the best of support and Jose has no excuse than to deliver.

I wld have achieved lots better than Mourinho in this kind of scenario. Lotz of money to buy any player i want to make them play and gel as a team
is the easiest of task. I sometimes do that on PS2's football manager.

@ Akola,
This wont degenerate into any chaos.
We r both matured and non-objective like the entities of the other thread.
Pls bring it on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


@shashxxl,

I totally disagree with u and ur comments.
Claudio Ranieri was a tinker-man but his sweats were the foundation Jose built his empire on.
Ranieri came 2nd in a season(2003/04) Arsenal were in a blistering form. I doubt if Jose could have won the Premiership in that season cos Arsenal played some brilliant football.

The same Ranieri kicked out Arsenal at Highbury in the Champions league. Ranieri could have steered Chelsea to the title if he had stayed a season longer. Mourinho came in when the team started to gel. Terry's confidence had been restored and Lampard was beginning to show his amazing talents.
All the balderdash about pre-match analysis is watery. Do u know any manager that does not give detailed pre-match analyis? Fans even do that!
Where was his pre-match analysis against Middlesboro and Barcelona at Stamford Bridge?

A manager will only make do of the materials at his disposal. Mourinho has these materials in excess and he is making advantage of it.
The question is: Wld he have achieved this success at Sunderland FC or Wigan Athletic? Hell Nah.
Pick ur palm-top and calculate the amount of millions that warms the bench week in-week out at Chelsea?
I can manage Chelsea to achieve lots more than Mourinho with the kind of financial backing and resources he has got.
Lets keep our fingers crossed and see how many titles he will clinch next season with the array of stars he has acquired.

Conclusion:
Roman's billions has helped Mourinho more than his managerial capabilities has done.
PERIOD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Is that what u think?

Go and watch Nike's "ole" commercial ad and tell me if Okocha cld have dribbled the way Ronaldinho went past a defender.
The move was so fassssssssssst Nike had to do it in a slow motion so ur eyes can see.

Dinho is a god of soccer.
Okocha cannot match him at all in all departments.
He edges Okocha out cos he's got a better goal sense and goal sense is the most important skill in football.

@ Akola,


Why do u have to open your own can of worms?
Anyway,let me address your reply one by one.


* Portugese title or whatever is called is as crappy as the country itself.
I have always known Benfica and Porto to emerge Champions in that league since i started watching Eurosport as a kid.
Anyone can steer Porto and Benfica to win the Portugese league as this has become birth-rights to these 2 clubs. Its just like Celtic and Rangers in Scottish League. Mourinho did not do anything extra-ordinary @ Porto. Porto have always been a good team by the Portugese league's standards.
The likes of Mario Jardel et al were all living legends way back so it wan't Jose that brought glory to the club.

Spur's goal at Old Trafford was still a bit debatable. Why? Spur's goal did not hit the back of the net. The ball crossed the goal-line by yards but it did not hit the net. Paul Scholes goal smashed the net and a visually-impaired ref assistant disallowed it for his own stupid reasons.
Besides,isn't the Champions League a bigger competition than the English League? Uefa Champions League is just a bit behind the World Cup in class and quality so one should expect better officiating than the Premiership.


**
I can authoritatively say Mourinho signed Mateja Kezman for £5m from PSV in July 2004. It wasn't Ranieri that signed him.
It beats me u don't even know so much about your "darling team".
How can u say Carvalho is better than Ferdinand? I wont be surprised if u say Etim Esin is better than Ronaldinho.
Rio Ferdinand is the best central defender in the Premiership by miles. Terry and Carvalho gets mentioned because Makelele does an exemplary job in covering Chelsea's back four. Makelele breaks opposition's attacks for Terry and Carvallho to pick up the scraps hence making their jobs easy.

Carvallho's goal against Man Utd is a simple case of counter-attack where 5 Chelsea players were against 2 Man Utd defenders.
My Grandma would have scored a better goal than Carvallho's in the same position and scenario.
As far as i am concerned, Ferdinand + Kolo Toure + Jamie Carragher + John Terry and Gallas are all better than Carvallho as central defenders.
Go n check the stats: Terry + Gallas Vs Terry + Carvallho and tell me which combination had let in more goals in Chelsea's defence.
Why did Mourinho axe Carvallho and even said Carvallho suffers from IQ problems?


***
Are u asking me what Crespo did at Chelsea?
U should have asked me what Crespo did at AC Milan? He was a better player at Milan than a defensive team like Chelsea that plays a lone striker. Everyone knows Crespo is a good striker. Jose's formation should be blamed for Crespo's inadequacies.
Robben and Duff are one of the most hard-working players in Chelsea's ranks. Have u forgotten how Robben blew up the English League apart in the 2004/05 season before his injury at Blackburn? Robben gave Chelsea an edge and he single-handedly prised defences apart.
He is one of the most important players in Chelsea.
Mourinho signed Shaun Wright Phillips because he did not want any of his rivals to make use of him. We all knew Shaun Wright Phillips had no business in Chelsea's overcrowded midfield players. Arsenal was Shawn's best choice but the love of money clawed into him and his dad.

Is your SWP not more useless than the Robben and Duff u think are stupid?
At least a player bought for £21m to solve a problem should be better than his predecessors. SWP is a disappointing player who just runs up and down on the pitch like a headless chicken.
Joe Cole had always been a good player. He was young in Ranieri's days and u have to allow some degree of inconsistencies so u should expect him to develop as years go by.
Its like saying Ferguson made Rooney a first teamer. Rooney had always been exceptional. These Managers don't train players like u think.
Managers only ensure these young players develop in the right manner to be the best they can be.

@ Bami,
You r absolutely spot-on!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
It was the Man Utd V Porto match(2003/04) at Old Trafford that made Mourinho what he is today.
Paul Scholes scored a valid goal but a visually-impaired line assistant disallowed a very good goal.
Had that goal stood, Porto would have been eliminated early in the competiton and Mourinho would never have won the Champions league, let alone being noticed by Roman Abrahamovic.

Back to the issue,
Roman's wealth is a major factor to Chelsea's success and maybe a lil' bit of Jose's managerial capabilities.

Analysis.
Majority of Mourinho's buys(excluding Michael Essien) before now have been very disappointing. Del Horno,Carvallho,Drogba, Kezman and Wright-Phillips have not really justified their value at Chelsea. They r simply bunch of mediocres.

Technically, the major performers at Chelsea today have always been Claudio Ranieri's properties.
Petr Cech, Arjen Robben, Damien Duff, Joe Cole, Frank Lampard,Claude Makelele and Hernan Crespo were all bought by the tinker-man which proves Mourinho's success was hugely built on the sweats of Ranieri.

Ranieri laid a good foundation for Jose to build a solid team on so i cannot really say Jose is excellent managerially.
Without a doubt, He is a good motivator but money has helped Jose's cause as well.
I don't think Jose Mourinho would have led  a team like Sunderland FC or West Brom to win the Premiership.

My Verdict
Abrahamovic's Millions             80%
Mourinho's Management          15%
LUCK                                     5%

Unbeaten run for Chelsea?
Don't put ur money on it.

Other teams are waiting for the outcome of the World Cup before rushing to the market.
No doubt, good players will be discovered by the end of the 9th of July so letz keep our fingers crossed.
Liverpool and Man Utd will give Roman a scare next season.

@ Lordimpaq,
Portugal has a better chance than Holland?
Where did u get ur stats from?
Holland qualified easily for the world cup without losing a matchin 12 matches.
They won 10 and drew 2. Can u beat that?

An European team is always favoured to win whenever the world cup is played on an European soil but Brazil might nick it again.
Teams to watch out for in Europe are Italy, Holland,Ukraine and Czech Republic.
Brazil and Argentina are also hot favourites.

@ Blue2,
I don't understand what u mean by Ferguson not gelling with big players.
Ferguson virtually made Beckham,Keane,Giggs,Scholes,Nicky Butt and the Neville brothers what they were today and they have all served the club well.
Sir Alex sold the so-called big players when it was becoming obvious they are not making a tangible output to the club.
Jaap Stam erred in his biography when he said he was acquired by Man Utd "illegally". I would have given him the sack too if i was in Ferguson's shoes. How can a player make such a malicious statement against a club that pays his wages.

Moreover, Ferguson believes no player is greater than the football club.
A lotta teams dont share this view as they tend to godify players and make 'em think they are special in the clubs they play for.
Juventus will likely go down and many of their players will transfer which is why rumours are flying around that Ferguson might likely buy Vieira.

Ronaldinho is unarguably more skillful than Okocha.
Who the hell is Okocha?
Have u guys forgotten the way Dinho danced to score a goal at Stamford Bridge in 2004/05 season?
Didn't u guys watch the El-Classico at the Bernabeu?
Y'all guys should not even compare Dinho to Jay-Jay. Its like comparing Henry to Femi Opabunmi.

Ruud Van Nistelrooy
Luiz Ronaldo/Adriano
Didier Drogba
Andriy Shevchenko
Emmanuel Adebayor

Chelsea does not scare me at all.
At the end of the day, Jose can only field 11 players.
It is not possible to have Sheva + Drogba + Crespo+Gudjohnsen at the same time on the pitch.
My team(Man Utd) can neutralise Chelski's assault but i am worried about other teams in the Premiership.
If other teams can fight it out and battle hard then Chelsea might be heading for a shock next season.

United needs to sign at least 4 players.
One defender, 2 midfielders and one striker will do.
Sir Alex Ferguson should choose from the list below.

RIGHT BACK
Pascal Chimbonda or Goran Gavrancic([/b]A member of Serbia & Montenegro's "famous four"

[b]MIDFIELD
Juan Riquelme, Pernambucano Juninho, Gennaro Gattusso, Mahmadou Diarra, Patrick Vieira, Franck Ribery and Esteban Cambiasso.

ATTACK
Fernando Torres, Kerlon or Klaas-Jan Huntelaar

@ Akola,

49 unbeaten run is as useless as a piece of trash bag if u cannot win titles with that kind of form.
Arsenal played 49 premiership games unbeaten and they only had the Premiership title to show for it.
Ironically, English clubs were more responsible for Arsenal's downfall in the season they cld have claimed all the titles available.
I think Wenger had been obsessed by the unbeaten run for a long while. I remember Wayne Rooney(Everton) stopped the 30th unbeaten run in October 2002 before Professor Wenger rallied anutha long run which Rooney(Man Utd) stopped again in Oct 2004(The Old Trafford Battle).


Chelsea was the major culprit as they sank Arsenal in the Champions League @ Highbury.
May God bless Wayne Bridge for scoring that late goal that eventually eliminated the gooners from UEFA in 03/04 season.


Man Utd delivered a killer-punch that sent the Gunners to a bottomless pit at the FA cup in the same season and Middlesboro eliminated Arsenal at the Carling cup. Honestly,how do u start to justify the unbeaten run season when the same clubs in the league demolished the Gunners at one point or the other in the same season?


Man Utd did not need to go unbeaten in 1998/99 season when they won the treble.
Chelsea didn't need an unbeaten run to notch the highest point ever in the history of the Premiership so whatz the point in going unbeaten without winning titles?
In spite of this famous 49 unbeaten run, Arsenal has never won the Premiership back to back. Only Chelsea and United has done that with style and grace.
The Unbeaten run is not a record as far as i am concerned.
Hate mails are welcome.

@Mochafella,
I totally agree with u that Man Utd is a better place for Mikel to grow but we won't need his services anymore.
Mikel's heart belongs to Chelsea and if he believes this is where he can excel then all i can say is AMEN to his wishes.
The contoversy surrounding Obi's contracts is deeper than what we see. Roman Abrahamovic had paid some fees on Mikel Obi and co.while in Norway before Lyn sold Obi to Man Utd in April 2005.
I want to start seeing the lad playing. I dont care if he plays for Arsenal or Liverpool. My heart bleeds for Obi anytime i see Messi doing his thang for Barcelona while Obi is wasting useful years away.
This period of his life might even be his peak cos i am sure he aint legally 18 years so his useful years are fast running out.

@Akolawole,
Pls stop biting hard on Alex Ferguson.
Isaac Promise and Essien weren't good enough for the trials and Ferguson allowed 'em to go n get more exposure elsewhere.
Arjen Robben's contract was almost signed,sealed and delivered before Moneybag andthe Chief head-hunter(Peter Kenyon) snatched Robben from Man Utd.

Ferguson is a class of his own in discovering talents all over the world and the major reason why we all think he is kinda racist or biased with Africans is because African players lie about their age amongst other things.

Can u honestly vouch for Isaac Promise's or Essien's age? HELL NAH.

@ Passy
May God Bless u.
A lot of Nairalanders are so non-objective and they allow club patriotism to blind em to the facts.
Most of 'em voted Larsson because foolish Thierry Henry claimed Larsson was the man of the match.
Henry tried to bring Dinho and Etoo down by his malicious comments cos Henry himself was shambolic throughout the match.
Samuel Etoo could have scored the 1st goal easily if Lehmann hadn't touched his legs. However, his speed and brilliance sent Lehmann off the pitch.
Etoo had a clear shot on goal in the 1st half that cld have resulted in another goal but Almunia made a very brilliant save.
Against all odds,he still managed to score a vital equalising goal that spurred Barca into action that finally sank Wenger's men.
What did Larsson do better than Etoo who worked his socks off constantly for 90 mins?
Larsson had a brilliant game but Etoo was too quick for 'em flat-footed Arsenal's defence who were caught napping everytime Etoo strikes.
Sometimes its better to just watch how some gooners display their mediocrity in soccer than comment.

I wonda why some grimy gooners won't keep their foul-mouths shut.

Spikelord is consistently constituting a nuisance on threadz and no one is doing Bleep-all about it.

@ Spikelord,

Please:  Always look before u leap.
             Think before u spill your guts.


@ Nightrider,
I don't need your apologies. We r all grown men.
We break-up to make up and this is not a boy/f-girl/f thingy or stone age where apologies r necessary.
I have moved on and sh.it happens

My best columnist in Nigeria is:

Akola

@ Spikelord,

I didnt quite notice the H-factor.

The orange boys(Holland) has so much talent they should be winning the World Cup every year but they are very luckless.
They stand a better chance winning the team than Italy.

The current Italian squad looked so ordinary without Vieri, Paolo Maldini and Cassano.
Where will the goals come from? Grandpa Del Piero or Luca Toni?
It will take a Biblical kind of miracle for Italy to win it but u never can tell.

@ Badman888,
England is making so much noise now cos they believe this is the best team they have been able to assemble since 1966.
Rooney + Lampard +Owen +Gerrard + Terry looks a bit menacing.
God bless the Queen.

@ Skintite,
U cannot be so sure.
I actually wanted the Gunners to win because i was scared of the tears u wld shed.
On a second thought, i wanted Barca to win cos i know all y'all wld have sent me on exile.

Thank God ur team lost.

@ Spikelord,

The Red card wasn't controversial.
The referee was absolutely spot-on if we are to go by the book but ev'ryone just felt he should have used his discretion.
Booting Lehmann out definitely ruined and took the hues off the match.
He should have allowed the goal to stand and give Lehmann a yellow card but it's over now.
Lets forget it.
Better luck next time.

Then i take it u don't know him well enough then.
Brazilians are known to have some long and boring names though.
Pele's name wld have taken 2 shirts if he had used his real name on his football shirt.
Nascimento blah blah and blah.

I mean: when Nigeria is chasing a game.
Isn't Nigeria a she?

It serves em right.
Even FIFA was gutted Nigeria didn't make the world cup because of its shambolic way the NFA handled the management of the Super Eagles.
NFA is a major problem and until some people are flushed out of that organisation Nigeria will continue to struggle and crawl in misery.
The Ban should have been 10 years cos Nigeria needs more time to re-build NFA.

Luiz Ronaldo = Ronaldo de Lima.

Are u really a football fan or a Ja Rule fan?

@ Spikelord,
Sometimes u talk crap.
How can Saha with 7 goals cld have been nearer to RVN with 21 goals.
Na Ferguson give una mouth but its all good.
I can't be bothered about Henry's golden boots in the Prem.
UCL is a bigger picture and RVN has dusted Henry wella in that competition.