₦airaland Forum

Nihilist:
Send off this Rakitic na?

Not even one yellow after 3 cynical fouls.

Hazard, Willian, Kante, Alonso and Moses are really carrying the team so far.

Moses is doing well

I love WillyWilly abeg

I'm just happy we got this far with no disasters

I thought Messi was about to do a Boateng to Rudiger there

Fabregas already escorting

Greatihex:
http://www.goal.com/story/ovrebo-my-night-of-chelsea-barcelona-hell/index.html


This man can never say that he didn't see that eto handball. It is not possible.

He collected money.

If I see this man today, I will still kill him.

He is one of those fantasisers about the beautiful game and wanted to do his bit to support "beautiful football" that night against the anti-football Chelsea.

Barcelona only had one shot on target that night.

Greatihex:
Another formation i may go with is 3-4-1-2 with hazard and Morata upfront and Barkley behind them. Dd and kante pairing and Barkley the link between attack and midfielder. Barkley helping in marking and releasing to hazard or morata once he has the ball.

Please I see you putting Barkley and Fab4 as CAM in your team and leaving out Willian. Have you forgotten WillyWilly is a CAM by trade?

Eruditor:
Telling lies on Sunday.

Tell me more. . .

Thecassanova:
Am I the only one that noticed Emerson would make a better LWB than Alonso?

Quicker, better & trickier on the ball than Alonso. That's the kind of competition we need. But let's see how he performs in subsequent games.

I thought Emerson was slow to close down vs Hull and a step behind play. He looked like someone coming back from a long injury.

Let's go with Morata upfront. Giroud been hammered 10-1 and 8-2 too many times while playing for Arsenal against Barca.

Griffon:
4-5-1:

Courtois

Azpilicueta Christensen Luiz Alonso

Moses Kante Fabregas Drinkwater Hazard

Morata

Might as well replace Fabregas with Willian in the 3 man midfield then.

weedtaker:
Drinkwater and kante vs Iniesta busquet rakitic

Lol, kuku kee me

Who we want play na? Abi na Donkeyoko or Fibreglass wey no fit move him body?

My formation against Barca is 4-4-1 with Azpi as the 11th man with a brief to follow Messi anywhere he goes:

____________________Courtois

Moses____Christensen_____Rudiger______Alonso


Willian_______Kante_______Drinkwater_____Hazard


____________________Morata


Azpi as spare man to follow Messi everywhere.

We have no chance, but this is the best I can think of.

1760:
ibime griffon
Man city is probably the best side in Europe currently, who are the cdm they have bought in the past 4 seasons because I see Guardiola buying plenty wingers and defenders and no cdm and no one is blaming him like you are blaming Emenalo

City had Fernandinho and a man called Yaya Toure. That's a good midfield unlike one eediot that thought he can be competitive leaving Mikel and Ramires to man his midfield.

History has absolved those of us who spoke against this policy, as those two bozos have long been shipped off to China like the China products they are.

Guardiola has now converted KDB into an excellent CM, and he won't stop there. He dare not drop Fernandinho or KDB even for Carabao Cup games cos he knows he lacks depth in that area, that's why he is buying Fred this summer. Thankfully no stewpid TD like Emenalo to go arguing before the board that Pep already has enough CMs.

If you don't know Pep, he likes to overstock CMs. At Bayern he bought so many and insisted everyone must be comfortable stepping into midfield. He would even instruct his fullbacks to tuck inside as extra midfielders. Even despite having Alonso, Thiago, Vidal, Martinez, Rode, Schweini, Kimmich and Hojberg, he still converted Phillip Lahm into a full-time DM.

jamescross:
if you can name 2 decent DMs united, city, arsenal, Liverpool, Tottenham, Madrid or Barcelona has signed in those 7years. I am giving you a very widddddeeee net to display yourself. yes even the psg and Bayern you mentioned :-/

My friend will you shut up and stop exposing your foolishness more?

Bayern just this summer added Tolisso and Rudy. They already had Thiago, Vidal, Javi Martinez all of whom were signed at the same time Emenalo was TD at Chelsea. In Emenalo era, Kroos, Schweinsteiger and Alonso have passed through their midfield. They had so many CMs, they could afford to even convert some to RB like Kimmich. They had so many, even decent guys like Rode had to find their way.

PSG have run through Thiago Motta, Veratti, Matuidi, Rabiot same time while routinely adding Diarra, Kyrchowiak, Lo Celso at different times. PSG will never be caught without at least 3 good CM/DM at any time and will always dominate us in midfield in UCL while the stüpid Emenalo will be arguing he sees no problem with our midfield.

Man Utd failed to upgrade their midfield for many years, relying on Carrick only for many years and went into the wilderness.

Tottenham midfield? Are you serious? They always have 3 killers at any time and always dominate us there - Dembele, Wanyama, Dier.

You should shut up if you don't know nothing.

jamescross:
I am not a Chelsea fan

This is where you should have shut up and not type long epistle on another mans club like you follow the club indepth. What you try to deduce from Wikipedia years later, a real fan has followed inside out day by day. Bloody ITK.

jamescross:
so what happened in 2013/2014 is that the end? is it 2012/2013 it all stops. nonsense get out of here.

2012 to 2014 is enough time to lose generational players like KDB to the overstocking of wingers and lack of midfield support policy that favoured the hardworking AMs like Oscar and Willian.

Name 3 decent DMs that were signed in Emenalos 7 year tenure. Only Matic and Kante who managers had to fight for.

Some teams like Bayern or PSG sign that amount every 1 or 2 seasons.

Griffon:
Be gentle on them boys

The boy was probably 13 years old when all of this was going down yet he wants to argue with his elders using Wikipedia. Last season he was a Madrid and Chelsea fan. This season he is a City fan. This is the type of things you see in teenagers who haven't found themselves. Please lets be careful who we argue football with. Some of these people are kids who we shouldn't discuss football pre-2016. Everything he knows about football, he learned in the betting shop in the last 2 years. Anuofia.

Griffon:
You have no idea of what we've been through, do you? I am sure you are a young Chelsea fan who's relying on web info for his rebuttals.

I am not hating on Emenalo, I have always been pragmatic on this very issue.

When a TD fails in his job to create a balanced squad, he gets the sticks, it's that simple.

I doubt you know a thing about the great Chelsea collapse of 2012/13. The Mikel - Ramires midfield blueprint. The bad air between many managers (Jose, RDM, Rafa) and the TD.

I doubt you know a thing about these comments which were made by Rafa years ago:



The Spaniard at that time detected the structural defect in the team which was created by Emenalo who was then entrusted with the task of creating a tiki-taka playing side. He demanded for a DM but that wish was never granted.

We had to drag along for years without a true DM. Those were times Chelsea looked so fvcking vulnerable. Those were times the likes of Corinthians, Basel, Everton etc will disgrace us before the entire World.

Those were times Luiz would get shoehorned into the DM because we lacked steel in midfield.

If not for Jose who made a return to the club and demanded for Matic's recall, I am sure by now, Mikel would have still been our only identified DM.

I am pretty sure you know nothing about all these.

That's why I called him a wikipedia analyst. Those on ground know the structural defects of those times and who was the cause.

jamescross:
lemme finish with your silly post first. if what I wrote is burning your brain so much go and jump inside a lagoon.

stupid question, did I ever say Lampard was a DM it seems you're finding it hard to read this afternoon and just want to be a nuisance.

now it's "Griffon said Emenalo did not build decent CM base," before it was "You don't know what Griffon is talking about. He is talking about Emenalos reticence to sign decent DMs," you are clearly confused.

if someone provoked you go and look for the person and stop falling your hand.

You will soon tell me the year Chelsea had more than more than 6 players for their attacking trio or even up to 9 your claiming for lw, am, rw.

and how that affects my question to Griffon?

that 2011/2012 when Chelsea won the CL Your Emenalo bought Raul Meireles, KDB, Romeu, Mata and Cahill Chelsea already had Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Essien in midfield right?

if you want to focus on only one year lemme know and stop claiming you know about someone you see only on TV or read about in the news

The more you type the more clueless you look.

Take 2012 summer, you already have Mata, you add Marin, Moses, Oscar and Hazard to the first team. Next summer transfer window you add Schurrle, KDB and Willian.

All this while while keeping Mikel, Ramires and Lampard as your only first team CMs.

Add to that arguments with coaches who wanted to sign DMs and you prevented them.

Benitez: "You need to know the players and find the balance. If you have too many players with quality - these players we were talking about, all dynamic but cannot regain the ball - you do not have the balance. If you give the ball away, you have to regain [it]."


http://www.skysports.com/football/news/11668/8326971/chelsea-linked-with-newcastles-cheick-tiote-and-corinthians-paulinho

Fast forward: Chelsea boss Rafa Benitez faces frustration in the final days of the winter market. Benitez wants to sign a holding midfielder, having concluded the team do not distribute the ball quickly enough from defence to attack. But Blues football chief Michael Emenalo and the board are reluctant to commit to a major signing in January.

We had a team where managers where routinely forced into playing David Luiz to patch the midfield yet the learner TD would resist any improvement to the DM position while still lavishing tens of millions buying a 6th AM to fight for only 3 positions.

All these evidence have been provided 5 years ago. I could go provide the link about RDM fighting Emenalo over his wish for just £10m to sign Wanyama but I am not about to waste my time with 5 years old argument with you clueless Wikipedia analyst. Shut up!

jamescross:
first off before I read the remaining 'thing' you wrote. How does my asking Griffon to further explain why he blames Emenalo for Chelsea's failing refer to the 'nonsense' you claim I was typing. is it only Mata and hazard I wrote or were you blind to were I wrote the reason of my stating the attacking players I am mentioning. did I not list the midfielders Chelsea brought in and the ones I think they had at that time. how many DM's should Chelsea have brought in to play beside Lampard?


first read properly before you start acting like one voltron. lemme just hope that the rest of your post is not some trash talk but makes some sense.


next time before you jump up and claim someone does not understand what someone else is talking about make sure you understand what others are talking about.

Griffon said Emenalo did not build decent CM base, you jumped in talking nonsense about Hazard, Willian, Mata etc.

Which other DMs did you mention, and did Emenalo sign them? Is Lampard a DM? And how many wingers/AM did Chelsea sign for just 2 or 3 positions?

You are the one talking nonsense here and putting your nose in something you know nothing about. Your post reeks of cluelessness. I should have addressed it properly as the heap of nonsense it is, just a listing of Chelsea signings with no background knowledge or substance behind it.

jamescross:
so to you Emenalo that joined Chelsea in 2007 as chief scout and then first team assistant for four years before being made TD in 2011 was "learning on the job" and the board that employed him and kept promoting him and refused his willing resignation in 2013 to accommodate mou was "leaning on the job"

let's not even look to far as to 2007 for the players Chelsea brought in during that period, let's start from 2011 if you agree Emenalo is the cause of everything in Chelsea not just the bad.

that 2011/2012 when Chelsea won the CL Your Emenalo bought Raul Meireles, KDB, Romeu, Mata and Cahill Chelsea already had Mikel, Lampard, Ramires, Essien in midfield right.

then in 2012/2013 after winning CL he brought in Hazard that you are enjoying now, Oscar, Azi. should Meireles have stayed? was he worth replacing. Chelsea lacked quality in an attack which he addressed, out went kalou.

2013/2014 he brings in William, matic, schurle, salah, ginkel out went malouda, Essien, Mata and even KDB. I am still looking for how you came about the Emenalo did not buy midfielders and was only buying attackers as if Chelsea had quality attackers.

in 2014/2015 when Chelsea won the EPL Fabrepass, Costa were brought in

2015/2016 flop year only Pedro, to replace the inefficient Juan cuardrado to solve attacking imbalance on Chelsea's right side. all through this period when was Mikel ever a constant starter in Chelsea's eleven. Chelsea still had Ramires starting beside Lampard

2016/2017 revival Kante


Now Abrahimovic is not the kind to keep someone that is not performing he even sacked avan grant who was said to be close to him after just a year.


Just be honest about why you don't like him because your reasons stated above doesn't hold water

You don't know what Griffon is talking about. He is talking about Emenalos reticence to sign decent DMs, not the Mata, Hazard nonsense you are typing above.

Griffon was 100% right. He was here when Emenalo was fighting RDM and Benitez who were requesting for good DMs. He was here when Emenalo was planning for Chelsea in 2012 summer with no manager in place, planning for no midfield but Mikel and Ramires.

When it comes to team structure, especially the need for, and skill required for CM and DM positions, Emenalo has always been clueless.

Emenalo signed hundred wingers/AMs, the only decent CMs we got were specifically requested by the managers. JM requested Matic and Fabregas, Conte requested Kante. Even Meireles that AVB brought in as emergency CM cos we had no decent bodies in that area was shipped off as soon as AVB left.

Emenalo cannot point to one decent CM/DM he has signed in the last 8 years. He recommend Ramires in 2010 and was too busy trying to protect Ramires place in his team and Mikels place as Mikel supported him in the difficult years from 2007 to 2011 when everyone was questioning who is this Emenalo guy.

A lot of good attacking midfielders were wasted at Chelsea due to Emenalos failure to create a good DM base. Instead he kept adding more AMs and wingers. Those AMs we had should have achieved more. I'm talking KDB, Hazard, Willian, Salah etc. An important opportunity to create a dominant team when Roman had the financial power to stockpile the best AMs in the world was wasted because Emenalo could not build a decent Central midfield to support them. It was a tragic waste of talent and opportunity.

Imagine he had just agreed to spend £25m on Wanyama and Dembele then, what this team would have achieved, instead of using the money to buy another Oscar, another Marin, another Willian, another Moses, another Adrian or Schurrle that we didn't even need.

Below is what Emenalo was doing in summer 2012 when given complete control. He fought with RDM who asked for Wanyama, then later fought with Benitez who insisted on new DM when Romeu got injured. Emenalo was a learner on the job.


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2151724/Roman-Abramovich-rebuilding-Chelsea-Pep-Guardiolas-arrival--Neil-Ashton.html#ixzz2CyYUPcTQ


They are picking the players and the next coach will pick a team to play in a system designed without a manager in place yet for next season.

Abramovich is making the final decisions based on Chelsea’s scouting network and the analysis provided by the club’s director of football Michael Emenalo.

Under discussion is 4-2-3-1, a bespoke system that will be used purely for the benefit of Fernando Torres.

Chelsea’s £50m striker will be at the top of it and there will be a three-man supply line stationed right behind.

It will be a huge cultural change, especially for some of the players who came to rely on the ball sticking to Drogba in times of trouble.

The talk at the training ground is of ‘switch back’, a tactical trap that will be set next season for opposition defences.

They intend to draw the opposition away from their own penalty area, pushing up towards the halfway line before Hazard, Juan Mata or former Werder Bremen winger Marko Marin releases Torres for a one-on-one through on goal.

It is a system that will be borrowed from Liverpool after a study of Torres’s goals revealed that 56 of his 81 strikes for the club were scored in similar circumstances.

Low key, Willy Willy has become a great finisher over the last 18 months. No wonder he's been giving Richalyson advice on how to finish.

jamescross:
and ibime i never seen play lwb just lb and is still best lb in the world.

I'm saying our mentality of LB is now becoming skewed toward LWB style of ultra-attacking. Madrid have always had that mentality right from Roberto Carlos days so Marcelo has never really had defensive duties. For the style of play Chelsea played during Cole era, there is no reason to favour Marcelo over him. It is now in the days of LWB like Marcos Alonso that you can start to think that way.

Skimpletyger:
Prime Cole and Marcelo, who would you go for?

Football has changed, with wingbacks changing our expectations of a fullback, as well as high-pressing football.

In the expectations put on fullbacks those days, nobody would swap Cole for Marcelo.

Skimpletyger:
Lol boss, I greet you righteously.

I wanted to ask, was there ever a time Chelsea board went for Marcelo?

Why, when we had Ashley Cole

Skimpletyger:
I think say na only me sef...

What's with everyone crying set? I tried reading the 1st paragraph and I scrolled down, omo see project work


e come be like those days I dey read final year students project to score them, Mehn, it's too boring. I will just dash you mark

I read it on PC. I did not know it would be so long if not I might have stopped, but after the first few parahraphs, I just had to finish it.

Below is a gripping read on the human story behind the Chapecoense crash:

http://www.espn.com/espn/feature/story/_/id/19444318/the-unthinkable-fate-chapecoense

Greatihex:
"However, while people say Conte could have managed that situation better, Costa caused a lot of problems and it will have been difficult for the manager to forget about him not wanting to play in a title run-in. If you're in Conte's position, you're not going to accept that. It's then up to you to replace him with quality.


http://www.skysports.com/football/news/15116/11250311/mnf-extra-antonio-conte-deserves-respect-for-work-at-chelsea

There is no problem with hiw Conte handled the Costa situation.

2 very entertaining games back-to-back. UCL dey hot this year.