₦airaland Forum

coogar: sturridge cannot....stop blaspheming!

Studge would outscore 20 goals any season of the week. Thats a fact.

8 goals in 12 games at Bolton whilst playing on the right-wing tells me that.

13 goals from the right-wing this season tells me that.

You dont need to be a rocket scientist to extrapolate that any team that plays Studge as no 9 will cop him 20 goals at the barest minimum.

coogar: 20 goals/20 assists with at least 40% of those from set-pieces.
any r[color=#000000]e[/color]tard can score from 12 yards. manuel neuer does that for bayern!
make torres the penalty taker, the freekick specialist and let's see
if he won't score 30 goals per season.

Is it Manuel Neuers fault that the bottler Torres cannot hold his nerve from 12 yards?

The dud is even begging Mata and Luiz to take his penalties for him (Birmingham and Genk).

It is when the stakes are highest that Torres wants to ruin Chelsea football club. Thank God Di Matteo did not allow him take pens in UCL final otherwise we would be playing Europa League now and Harry Redknapp would still be Spuds manager

Lampard is the fifth highest goalscorer in English PremLeague history, and has scored 186 goals for Chelsea, only 43 of them being penalties.

Thats only 23% of his Chelsea goals.

Since Torres started his career in 2000, he has scored 184 goals. In the same time period since 2000, Lamps has scored 195 goals.

Even if you take away penalties, its either a shame on Torres part, or a sign of greatness that Lamps should be close to Torres in terms of goalscoring.


Keep your filthy trap shut!!!

coogar: how many times did drogba score 30 goals for chelsea in his 8 seasons at chelsea? twice!
ibime, you are a phat philandering phool!

DD in his first two seasons brought more to the table than Torres could ever bring even if he scores 30 goals.

When you talk about SHAPE KEEPING, DD is the ultimate tactical weapon, unlike Dud who does nothing waiting for through pass all game.

If Im a midfielder given a choice of playing behind even a 15-goal-a-season DD and a 30-goal-a-season Torres, I take DD anytime.

There is no midfielder who didnt profit from DD's hold-up play, whether to set them up or hold the ball up and give them a breather. . .

unlike Torres who loses the ball flakily and has midfielders running up and down like a ping-pong.

No mind Nateevs.

20 goals ke.

Na that one we go chop?

Sturridge can GUARANTEE Chelsea 20-25 goals if played in no 9 position and Lukaku would guarantee 20 goals.

What are we paying Torres for?

Oga Lamps cops 20 goals and close to 20 assists for eons, yet Nateevs is/was his number 1 hater.


Why should Torres score only 20 goals in a close-to-60 game season?


Anything less than 30 goals for Torres is ABJECT FAILURE!

This is factoring

(a.) His price
(b.) The fact he is not tactically robust and can only play one way (through ball) and doesnt help his midfielders game
(c.) The sheer amount of times he loses the ball.

Infact, anything less than 35 goals is failure cos dude needs to repay 18 wasted months of copping £175k per week to do nothing.

coogar: sneijder was the best midfielder....tap into your euro 2012 app on your iphone
and see the raw stats. sneijder created more chances and made more passses in the
attacking 3rd...yet, you are talking about helping de jong. why should sneijder
help de jong when van bommel was on the pitch? the only difference was schweini
had a more clinical finisher as team mate whilst van persie looked lost more often
than not!

Why wont he create more when he's playing just behind the striker. . . Sneijder is not very good at supporting his striker, that's why RVP has to wait 5 minutes before Sneijder shows up in the box, by which time the opportunity is gone. RVP was too often isolated and that is part of Sneijder's duty too.

On the other hand, Schweini was the man. He shined in his defensive position and still outgunned Sneijder attacking-wise

coogar: van der vaart's best position was playing just behind a striker...the same position
sneijder loves to occupy. it was because holland had to go for broke that made their
gaffer introduce a legion of attacking players. holland didn't fare badly but they
have the worst defence in the tournament.

Sneijder does not have the goal or assist record to warrant demanding that position unlike VDV who does produce figures more commensurate with playing behind the striker.

Comparing both their qualities, Sneijder should be happy to drop deeper and let VDV play no 10 because Sneijder is more defensively sound than VDV, can hustle more in the midfield, and has only been behind the striker in the last 2 years, and has proven himself at Ajax as a pivot midfielder and even on the left wing. Contrast with VDV who can only play as a no 10. . . but has the goals and assists to back his claim.

coogar: the actual fact is sneijder [color=#000000]r[/color]aped germany!
opta stats say so.....he murdered schweini, ozil and khedira in
the key battles....but was let down by his wingers and his striker.

Schweinsteiger raped Holland abeg.

Although Sneijder did some good things, he didnt cross the half-way line to help out De Jong.

It was painful watching Van Der Vaart playing in central midfield. The dude was so weak, players just kept drifting past him. Obviously Sneijder has better defensive qualities than VDV but dude is feeling too big these days to help out his defence.

Contrast with Schweinsteiger who controls the game from his own half and still produced two sumptuous assists.

Kai. . . I remember when Nateevs and BlueDiva told us Joe Cole was better than Schweinsteiger in 2009!

.

Within the Nigerian environment, Rochas is as good a Governor as one can hope to get.

Rochas pays all his contractors and does not take cuts from the works, relying solely on his security vote for his pocket.

The only question is whether Rochas can sustain his promising start as he has committed 3 times the yearly budget to his projects in the state.

This means we either expect work to slow down next year or for the state to approach the bond market to plug it's deficit.

The deputy Governor Jude Agbaso and his brother Martin Agbaso (who facilitated Rochas election) are the fly in the ointment in Imo State and I see them doing everything to sabotage Rochas, especially as Rochas took all the works contracts away from Jude's control (who was using them as an avenue to siphon) and distributed them to the many private contractors in Imo State.

nateevs: I hear Emenalo has flown out to meet Jovetic's reps and make a deal happen.

Good news, although Jovetic is not too fast. . . so I reckon Mata, Hazard and Jovetic will fight for no10 role. . .

debosky: Lord let Chelski buy Van der Wiel - people complaining about Bosingwa haven't seen rubbish RB defending yet.

Negro please. . . Debuchy who has shown a lot this last season, plus Nathaniel Clyne should be the right-backs we go for. VDW's bad-boy image doesnt help him.

This girl is a fool. . .

Its obvious that this Farouk guy is just trying to cover his tracks.


On one hand we have:

(a.) Otedola engaging the SSS ab initio.

On the other hand, we have:

(b.) Farouk producing hand-written memo as evidence


Which of these carry more weight?

Farouk Lawan is guilty!

Who cares what Roman wants?

RDM is a devotee of attacking footie if Roman didnt know. He just has common sense unlike AVB.

I am sure the break clause in the contract would allow RDM to leave with a nice sum of money when Roman goes for Guardiola.

Some guys might be in for a shocker when Guardiola appears. I dont trust any Barca manager till I see him take control of a different team.

I remember our running discussions about Frank Rijkaard on here in 2008. I dont see anyone calling for Rijkaard now.

Roman would soon learn that players play footie, not managers.

Some guys on here are mad.

What would Carrol do 50 yards from the goal?

Carrol wey no sabi run.

A game played 40 or 50 yards from the opponents goal is a game for players with movement, not bumbling oafs like Carrol who are only effective if England play in the opponents half and swing crosses into the box all day.

coogar: how many times did messi
go 1-v-1 with cech last month at the bridge?

Messi has scored 82 goals for club and country this season whilst Torres has scored 8.

Whenever Torres flop, you always point to some other successful player missing chances.

Wetin concern 82 goal Messi with 8 goal Torres?

At least we thank God that Torres is back to his physical best. His pace continues to look good, something he seemed to have lost in his first few months of Chelsea.

However what the game highlights is the riskiness of building your team around a player so mentally weak, especially when you are commiting your whole style of play to create the kinda opportunities he thrives on, foregoing other avenues which have worked well for us, such as having a big target man who can hold up play and set up the midfield, or crosses from the fullbacks, or knockdowns from a strong centre-forward. There was no better example of "switchback" than the passes Spain gave Torres today.

nateevs: This point of view can only go so far.
Put Messi in a tactical straight-jacket and there's every possibility he'll look worse than Ramires.
That doesn't mean he's not 20 times the player Ramires is.

This view will go very far.

The world is littered with players who thought they were too skillful, neglected to learn how to work for the team and never achieved their potential. Berbatov and Riquelme are two of such players, and your boy Ganso is likely to go the same way. Whenever Manure has a big game, Fergie will drop Berba, and just like Mata shoulda been dropped by RDM against Barca if not for the political ramifications of such act.

The likes of Mata and Hazard will come up against umpteen players and teams that will outskill and dominate them where simply waiting for their team to do their work and recycle possession to them will not cut it. Whether playing against Yaya Toure, David Silva, Fabregas, Xavi, Iniesta, Ribery, Robben or a hundred other players I could name, there will always be matches where if they do not work within tactical instruction, they become liabilities.

Why should Messi be strait-jacketed when any manager can guarantee within 98% certainty that he will outskill any of his opponents?

Mata and Hazard may not even be able to outskill some Athletic Bilbao and Montpellier boys who may dominate them from time to time talkless of the top guns. Any player that throughout his football development forgot to develop all aspects of his game, thinking he would always be the best player on the pitch and dominate every game is doing something seriously wrong. Nani has proven in this regard that he can handle all situations as the opposition full-back is strictly Nani's responsibility, not like Hazard and Mata who have spent their whole careers passing on opposing full-backs for their midfielders to mark for them.

nateevs: I am a big fan of Nani as well. One thing we must not forget though is that Nani is 25 and Hazard is 21.

The Hazard you saw in Lille was the cornerstone of the team. Valencia isn't and neither is Nani to United.
For that reason, tactical discipline is easy to surmount.

At Lille, it all went through Hazard, at least for the last two seasons.
He popped up everywhere, which meant that more often than not, he wasn't playing as an out and out winger.
One plus to that is that, while at it, Hazard has developed the ability to play across the front.
Something Valencia and Nani will probably never learn to do.

I won't make any conclusions on who's better for now. I don't and have never seen Hazard's skill-set as that of a pure winger.
I will wait till he settles in the league for over a season. Only then can we tell if he's heads and shoulders above the others.

That said, if Hazard lives up to his abilities, those players should not be mentioned in the same sentence with him.

Nani can play anywhere across the front 4. I dont know where you get that idea.

Valencia is strictly right-wing and mostly 4-4-2 man.

However, I cant see how Hazard "living up to his ability" should not be in the same sentence as Nani. That assumes he has some ability that Nani does not which is patently not the case.

As far as anyone with footie brain is concerned Nani was the EPL Player of the Year in 2010/2011.

Nani would also "live up to his ability" if he was given tactical freedom of 4-3-3, played consistently every season (as he was in 2010/2011) and was made a focal point of his team like Hazard has been all his career. I would like to see Hazard strait-jacketed on the wing and see if he can produce half of what Nani produces.

Mata was like Hazard, shining all over the place, floating where he wanted. When RDM put him in the same tactical strait-jacket on the wing that Nani has been playing all his life, Mata disappeared and was Chelseas worst player in the latter stages of the Champions League, simply cos he lacked the physicality to be as tactically flexible as someone like Nani is.

I thought Diouf was on loan to Hannover. So una been done sell am pata pata? Kai, you guys lost at least £6m from that deal cos Diouf is worth no less than £7m and above now.

Ashley Young is your 4th striker, especially with Kagawa around to take an extra place in midfield or on the wings.

BTW, what are you guys planning to do with Mame Biram Diouf. I hope you know he tore the Bundesliga apart scoring virtually every game there just by utilising his sheer physicality and speed even if his touch is still messed up (much like Pappis Cisse). Im sure there are German teams willing to pay upward of £7m for the kid.

Its good to differentiate effectiveness from skill.

Henry is effective and tactically flexible because he has a good physical quality called speed.

The reason Valencia fits better into Utd's 4-4-2 than Hazard would is because he has immense physicality, can run flank up and down, and gives no headache to a manager tactically, as he will handle right wing both offensive and defensive, even attack from right-back if he has to. Ashley Cole never ever crossed the half-way line against Valencia and that tells me more of his effectiveness than a thousand step-overs. United were always able to pin Chelsea left-flank in their half, which allowed United to play most of the footie in Chelsea half. . . all thanks to Valencia. This is something a million tricks and flicks from Hazard could never do. . . give your team the TACTICAL ADVANTAGE.

The reason I would always prefer Nani to Hazard even in a 4-3-3 is the same. Nani has the skill, but also the physicallity to handle to whole wing by himself, offensively and defensively. He gives you the option to play tippy-tappy, swift counter-attack or cagey defensive football. Hazard cannot meet at least one and a half of these criteria. Whether you want to play your 4-3-3 as a 4-5-1 or 4-2-3-1, Nani would always give a coach more tactical options than Hazard.

Na Lewandowski una dey celebrate?

Must be the start of the downfall of United when you rely on slightly-above-average players like Lewandowski.

I'd rather take me chance on Welbeck who has a lot more upside than Lewandowski who can so never get any better, this season will prolly be the pinnacle of his career.

Pace, power, passing, skill and movement are all on Welbeck's side. The only ingredient missing is finishing which may come with time, and even if it doesnt, he's still a good tactical option.

Lewandwoski on the other hand is one-paced, slightly stiff, and always playing his football in straight lines. . . just slightly worse player than Roman Pavyluchenko.

Like the Poland vs Greece game showed today, if his team do not put the ball in the centre for him, he cant drift wide or in the channels to get himself in the game. With Welbeck, he'll always be in the game, whether you lump the ball in the air, down the line or he has to drop into midfield. To be fair, Lewandowski can drop play no 10 position sometimes but not like Welbeck to tippy tap with the midfield. . . he mostly does it so he can make runs of the main striker.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]We all Cried Out ''Watch Out For Bale''! [/color]

Gareth Gates abi Norman Bates? Comot jor!

Gareth is best winger, VDV is fantastic, Lennon is good, Parker is very good DM, yet I wonder why the great Modric cant turn this lot into contenders.


Last season, Valencia reurned to Manure team at Christmas whilst Manure was level with Spurs. By season end, Manure was 20 points ahead with Valencia same assists as Bale, and his return recognised as the defining moment in Manures season that led him to win Manure player of the season with both the players and fans.

Season before, Nani copped 18 assists and was in every educated observers opinion the player of the season, yet you are telling me about Gareth Bale who prolly copped no more than 6 assists.

Season before that Bale was on bench until January, and everyone recalls that Valencia put cross after cross on Rooney's head, leading Rooney to challenge DD into the 30 goal margin for the pichichi.

Guy, stop yarning opaks.

These boys Valencia and Nani are the best wingers in arguably the best league in the world.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]Matches Rooney Fell Dip to Play behind the Striker Manure somehow wouldn't keep Possession for a longer Period of time Bilbao Against Manure at Old trafford stil lingers on ma mind as One of those Games {Bet u Hardly Have Lille/Belgium Losing Possession When Eden is in the Middle of the Park} :8 [/color]

Please, those are games where play is controlled from deeper on the pitch, and the no 10 has little to do with it. Rooney would out-assist or outscore Hazard any day of the week. Whilst you claim Rooney was bowing to Bilbao, Hazard was busy bowing to Trabzonspor and CSKA Moscow in UCL group stage.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]LOL! Guess u've got a Reason to hail Nateev's and I Sense of Salsa Style of Soccer. I Actually advocate for Sexy Football {Though i hardly see Such in ma team Games} and Dudes with Flair jxt gives u a reason to Watch football made in 21st Century {God bless Neymar}.
Coincidently, Nateevs and I have got an accomplice and he's a Billionaire who needs Sexy Soccer at the bridge! [/color]

Its called immaturity, still thinking like kids and lack of mature football mind. Just like Abramovic. Anything that can do a fancy flick dey trip una. Football babies. Those of us who've played footie wella know that most times, the most hardworking and effective players are also the most skillful. What concerns Valencia with dagbose when fullbacks are ridiculously frightened of him, scared to cross half-way line against him, and he can run past them, power through and deliver pinpoint assists all day? Do you know that Valencia is the only right-winger in the league that Ashley Cole is scared of?

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]HUH? And We blame Fate for him not even making a Mark at the Last 3yrs PFA Awards? [/color]

You mean like Scott Parker who got relegated and Giggs who barely played a handful of games?

Oya, which winger superceded Valencia in the last 3 seasons, except for Nani in 2010/2011?

Mugun like you is talking about Valencia not making your FantasyManager bench, yet Ipukulu Marines (my fantasy team) won the Nairaland fantasy league with Valencia as a central character! Maybe your Fantasy Team woulda finished in 50th position like Nateevs Gat2Lose FC!!!

AjanleKoko: I think I started a thread on this section once about the excellenc(e)(y) of the 90s, and the relevance to Music.

In the 90s, my religion was rap. A little bit of dance music as well, but mostly rap. The soulfulness of the poetry arrested me.
My timeline was something like Soul 2 Soul, C&C Music Factory,Vanilla Ice, Kool Moo Dee, Fresh Prince, Rock Base, Hammer ('90), NWA, Ice Cube, Snap, Ghetto Boyz & Naughty By Nature in '91.

92-94 and the entire rap scene went up ten notches. Dr Dre, Snoop Dogg,The Dogg Pound, Jeru, Jungle Brothaz, KRS One, Chubb Rock, Heavy D, Pete Rock & CL Smooth, Nas, Pharcyde, Eric Sermon, Diggable Planets, a Tribe Called Quest, House of Pain, Onyx, and so many others. They rocked each and every joint. Those three years I still consider to be the Golden Age of Rap. Lyrics were pure, beats were eclectic. I was an undergrad then, and suffered irreparable damage to my GPA as a result of being overwhelmed by the sheer volume of talent.

95 was an in-between year. 96-98 was somewhat split between the West Coast ('Pac), East Coast (Biggie also known as the greatest lyricist of all time), and The Fugees. 99 was when rap started to go south, ending in the much-reviled Southern Crunk. In 2012, I watch Weezy on stage, and shake my head in regret. Why did the 90s have to end?

1998/99 cannot be washed out the history of rap. That was a special year for rap with the likes of Big Pun, Eminem and Canibus coming out, not to mention Talib & Mos Def, DMX, The Lox, Dead Prez, Big L etc.

Although the Soutthern bounce music rose in the late 90's, the death of rap can be properly traced to the decline of Rawkus and Loud records.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]PheW! SømeOne stil think that he've got CR7 to his Side SMH!

Goød Wingers i Hear - Tel me u're not Placing ur Sabbastical Notion on the fact that Young can Dive and Nani can Do a 3 Trip Somersault?
Valencia and his traditional style of Football {No Flair, Wont even make my Fantasy Soccermanager Bench} and HEY! Did i Jxt hear that Bebe is Coming back? LMAO > Am havin' a Laff. . .Eden took u On a trip mate - Remember his English is bad and he could say anything to shrug off the inciting English Press [/color]

Young, Nani and Valencia are better wingers than Hazard within Manure system of 4-4-2.

Even in 4-3-3, I still take Nani any day.

Rooney is a better playmaker/second-forward.

Manure did not need Hazard. Coogar is perfectly right.


Look at you disrespecting Valencia. You and Nateevs have a bug for fancy flicksters over effective performers (not saying Hazard is ineffective but end of day we would judge him goals for goal, assist for assist, and workrate for workrate against any of these three, the rest na jara). Valencia has been by far the best winger in the league for the last 3 years, TAKE IT OR LEAVE IT!!!

1025: @ibeme,
if makalele is waiting for an apology from FBS, then he has to wait much longer than. how come makalele did not win us what mikel has just won us?
do u know book makers were putting us to win the champions league in the next 10 years but mikel said no. the time is now.
if to say na makalele messi meet on the two legs, him for shine now but mikel made sure messi became a defender that day.
talking about messi, do u know that if half of the games messi plays in a season is against chelsea, he won't win third best player. it is the likes of manure and arsenal that makes him dey behave like say he is above everybody.

Cool off. . .I know you are Mikel fanboy, but I hope you are not comparing Mikel to Maka. . .

FBS: Tell me what position does Pirlo play in now? He collects the ball in his own half, locates a team mate and thereafter moves up to field for a return pass and then with one single pass cuts the defense into nano-particles. So are you saying he is faster than Mikel or he has more defensive qualities? Or are you saying that Pirlo transitions between an AM and a DM? ain't Pirlo a deep lying player-maker?
Mikel's "natural" instinct is to move forward and he ain't a defensive minded player until JM changed him just because he can hold the ball. I don't buy that rubbish.

Hahaha. . . "Pirlo transitions between AM and DM". . . Pirlo is a DM just like Mikel. . .

FBS: We've seen this many times even under JM and thereafter doing the same jugging. I ask, wasn't he playing the wall in front of the back 4 that time?

Shuuuush! Mikel hardly ever jogs under Di Matteo, Hiddink, Avram Grant and JM. Thats because they play "low blocks" so he is always sitting in his own half where space is closed.

You only see him jogging when he was playing under AVB, Scolari and Ancelotti chasing counterattacks.

That's why the irony is that for Chelsea to play possession footie, two of our best possession-keeping players (Mikel and Terry) cannot be in the team.


Speaking about my criticism of Mikel (which has always been to do with his pace and speed of play), it is informative that you should throw stones in glass house considering that in 2007/2008, you were lambasting Makelele so that Mikel could take his place (out of patriotism). We have seen em both play that position for a few years now and I think you owe Makelele a thousand apologies

Chelsea team of the late 90's have had a decent run as far as management is concerned:


Di Matteo
Gus Poyet
Dan Petrescu
Mark Hughes
Gigi Zola
Luigi Casiraghi
Slavisa Jokanovic
Dennis Wise
Chris Sutton
Luca Vialli
Ruud Gullit


Now we welcome the latest entrant to the management club. . . Steve Clarke

I thought Jonathan told us the trains are back?

FBS: Sometimes he is so tired you see him jugging behind the player he is supposed to be marking. He is not supposed to be there. Put him up the field and you will see his game.
.

The very reason JM put him in a position where he can be front-facing when his opponent runs at him, not chasing back (from AM position) where he can never catch his opponents. Midfield has no passengers anymore. Playing Mikel in an attacking midfield position is guaranteed to slow down attacks and weaken the defense. The days of Carlos Valderama are over. The new Valderama plays defensive midfield. If an attacking midfield cannot chase back (like Lampard), he should at least be able to launch quick counterattacks (like Mata). Mikel can do neither. Forget under aged football, this is professional footie we are talking about.

Adetayo100: Seems dailymail is linking Maroune Felaini with Chelsea for 20million pounds, it will be a good buy for Chelsea

Ive been arguing this issue with Andre Uweh for yonkers.

Fellaini is too tall, not agile enough and has too high a centre of gravity. In the Belgium vs England match, the amount of times England midfielders nicked the ball off his toes when it was passed to him was alarming.

His body takes too long to get moving, by which time smaller and agile midfielders have nicked ball off him. Central midfield is about instinctive reactions and Fellaini's physique doesnt allow for that.

Fellaini looks good on some dribbles and some passes, but he is too GANGLING and AWKWARD to play the kind of ground ball demanded from central midfielders in tight areas. Sometimes teammates pass the ball to Fellaini but before he can adjust his body to receive the pass, someone steals in front of him.

Hulk's assist ratio will seem to buck the general perception of selfishness/unawareness of teammates, however more worrying is the fact that he has no record to speak of outside Porto.

Sagamite: You will know this write up is a moronic conjured lie by a cretin when you read the highlighted.

So the staff were working more than 24 hours a day on average?

Since when did 250-300 hours per month become greater than 24hours a day?

There are 720 hours in a 30 day month. 250 hours in a 21 working-day month is about 12hours per day from Monday to Friday which sounds just right.