₦airaland Forum

I think Huxley is just trying to pick at anything he can to disprove the existence of God without understanding the full context of his argument.

Yeah - someone sent me this in an email a few months back. Funny how these illiterate chumps managed to get hold of Nigerias base of power. A sad situation

Somebody needs to do a study on Zenith St Petersburg style of play. I also saw their 4-1 win over Leverkusen in Germany and they were rampant.

Somze, did you know that Boulahrouz marked Didier Drogba and Crespo out of the World Cup as well as Ronaldinho in the first leg of that Champions League? I don't know how anyone can turn around and tell me that Ferreira is a better centre-back than Boulahrouz. I believe that Mourinho was using him to make a point to Abramovic that he should control transfer policy, not Frank Arnesen. Until tomorrow, nobody can tell me that Mourinho's handling of Boulahrouz wasn't biased or influenced by politics.

BTW, we were 3 points behind Man Utd, not 2.

somze:
1. How well is Bhoularouz doing now?

2. I named just one game, others exist, why don't you name your 12 games in 2 months, then we check his stats on sky or bbc online

3. Who has aged? RA or JM?

4. Two points behind Man Utd solidifies my argument.

(1.) How well was he doing before he came to Chelsea? Do we judge him after the fact or before it? How well is Kezman doing now? How well will Sheva do when he leaves? All these things have psychological impact. Boulahrouz played the first 6 games for Sevilla after which he got injured and faced months on the sidelines. I haven't heard his story since.

(2.) I am not you personal assistant. However, it was widely reported that SWP was having his best spell in a Chelsea shirt at the time.

(3.) Jose   

(4.) Two points - only because Ronaldo had a three game ban and Man Utd dropped a lot of points at the start of the season. Two points which turned to five in the next game (as it would have under Mourinho) - and five points which we have since clawed back, despite Ronaldo playing every game since then and despite Man Utd having a full squad and our squad being decimated by injuries.

somze:
1. Ronaldihno, keane and Baptista (I don't know if I am mixing the dude's name with a wrestler, but I'm referring to the Arsenal's match where he got sent off) to mention but a few.

2. Remember the game with Westham last season?

3. This is the funniest thing I've ever heard. Stress and migraine is part of the job dude! Haba abeg strike this out for lack of relevance.

4. Who were the league leaders? Abeg get the printout and tell me how many points we were behind Man Utd and Arsenal jare.

(1.) Forget the Arsenal game - Boulahrouz confidence was already broken by then. Even till now, he has still not recovered. Lemme ask you a question - how many mistakes have Wes Brown and Mikael Silvestre made at Man Utd? Numerous - however, it does not stop them from becoming useful squad players for Man Utd when there is an injury crisis. I don't think SAF will be playing Patrice Evra in central defence ahead of them just because they made mistakes. Instead, he will give them the confidence to feel like a useful part of the team.

Now, lets talk fact - Neither the Ronaldinho mistake nor the Keane mistake were glaring mistakes (as Senderos makes) - he was just outwitted by brilliant pieces of skill. Did Ashley Cole not make an even worse mistake in that very same game against Aaron Lennon? The fact is, Boulahrouz had played about 8 games before that and got good reviews for his performances. I believe Mourinho's handling of the Boulahrouz situation was due to his personal sentiment against Frank Arnesen.

(2.) Just one game? SWP put together a brilliant sequence of about 12 games in December and January. Not only SWP - Ferreira, Kalou and Sheva also played better this season.

(3.) OK - let us just say that his gra-gra attitude with Roman made his position untenable, destabilised the club and also caused him a lot of stress. Have you seen him recently? He has aged about 15 years. Please, I want peace at Chelsea, not gra-gra.

(4.) Am I your personal assistant or your Google search robot? From what I remember, we were 8 points behind Arsenal and about 3 behind Man Utd going into the game at Old Trafford (which Mourinho would have also lost)

somze:
(1.) Bhoularouz was crap, even Ferreira was better than him. That in incontrovertible.

(2.) SWP started to regain form during JM NOT after DURING. How confident is he now? OBi and SWP have been relegated to the bench. Sidwell played more under JM.

(3.) JM has not had that and there is NO evidence that suggest we would have been in a worse position if JM was around.

(4.) Please do a print out of our postion at the league table when he left with respect to Man Utd and Arsenal.

(1.) Boulahrouz was crap based on what? His one slip up against Ronaldinho? Before that, he played quite well. We are talking about Hollands first choice centre back here, not some League 1 player.  He had just won German league when he came to us with a team that conceded the least amount of goals in the German league. Mourinho killed his confidence. Full stop. Whether its because Frank Arnesen signed him, I don't know.

(2.) SWP never played under Mourinho as he played in December and January of this season. I was at the Bridge a lot during this period and SWP was flying.

(3.) There is a lot of evidence. I watched our games against Reading and Birmingham an even though we won, I couldn't believe what I was seeing. We were already conceding a lot of goals from the start of the season. Mourinho had lost his aura. He was also in ill-health with stress and constant migraines. My girlfriend works at The Wellington Hospital where he used to come for treatment.

(4.) Do I need to? We were about 8 points behind the league leaders.

^^^As I told you Somze, Jose turned down the chance to take Alex back from PSV. That is what killed us last season, nothing else. He also refused to play Boulahrouz.

I strongly disagree that we have more fringe players. Jose just refused to put confidence in his fringe players. We only have two more - Belleti and Ben-Haim. Sidwell never plays. Alex has just replaced Boulahrouz and Malouda has just replaced Robben. You can argue about Anelka but he only came in for the ANC and we had no ANC last season. Anyway, the increase in the number of injuries this season negates the increase in the no of fringe players.

The main difference I notice between Grant and Jose is that the fringe players have more confidence. I don't like the individualist "untouchable" culture that Jose introduced and it affected the fringe players. Back in Mourinho's time, a weak personality could not survive and our subs always put in poor performances and were blamed for our poor performances - from Kezman to Ferreira to Boulahrouz to Wright-Phillips to Shevchenko, you name them. This season players like Wright-Phillips and Ferreira have come in and plugged in vital gaps in our team when we needed them. Even Sheva scored something like 10-12 goals if I am not mistaken. He is even making goal-line clearances. That is the difference.

I thank Jose for everything he did but he left at the right time. By the time he left, he had lost his composure and it was the end of his cycle. He built a personality cult around himself and I understand why many fans find it hard to let go. However, it was the end of his cycle. I am happy now that Grant gets along with Roman and we don't have all the press speculation around the club anymore.

Ako, as for 95 points, 04/05 was a long time ago. The league is a lot more competitive now. I cannot judge Jose on 2005, I can only judge him on last seasons performance. I think we had reached the end of a cycle with Jose. You made an explicit statement that Grant lost us the league but if we start the league from Grants first game, we will be top. That said, I am still undecided about Grant. Let us see how the Champions league final goes and then I will give you my final verdict on him. I am liking some things about him as I highlighted above - but I am also unsure if he has the motivational abilities and the strength of character to deal with a multi-millionaire dressing room. Let us wait and see.

Jesus! Zenith St Petersburg just beat Bayern Munich 4-0. They also beat Bayer Leverkusen 4-1 in Germany. We need to sign some of their players quick. I am thinking Pogrebnyak and Arshavin. I will be calling Roman Abramovic immediately.  I am sure he can use his Russian connections to get them cheap.

Akolawole:
In his era, our defence leak goal like mad, the wahala(goal difference) that might make us lose the league

How can it make us lose the league? We are unbeaten in 2008 and he has only lost away to Arsenal and Man Utd, results which we have since reversed. If anything, Jose made us lose the league. As Bluehorizo pointed out, our record under Grant looks like this:

Chelsea Played 30 Points 73
Man United Played 30 Points 70
Arsenal Played 30 Points 61
Liverpool Played 30 Points 58

Akolawole:
(1.) Reuben was in sunderland NOT southampton as you claimed when Clemence invited him.

(2.) How do you want Amodu to select? Is it by living in England?

(3.) In all your links including the DVD, Drogba was quoted as saying. NOT direct interview.

(1.) Did he or did he not have Premiership experience? You claim he never played in Premiership. I said he did. I never said he was in the Premiership whilst playing for Naija. You lost. Stop arguing.

(2.) He should not have been appointed in the first place. He is an amateur coach who coaches in an amateur league. He has no European experience or access unlike SiaSia or Oliseh who should have been appointed. Do you know how much football has changed?

(3.) If the BBC or Reuters staff watch the DVD and affirm that Drogba said these things, then that is good enough for me. If you want, you can order the DVD and watch it yourself. I don't have to. I am surprised that you are questioning these things because this news is six months old. It was well covered by every news agency and newspaper over here. There is no denying that he said what he said because it was caught on camera. Abi you want talk say na film tricks? 

Who is Professor Lawrence? 

OK, if you don't believe goal.com, maybe you will believe BBC. If you don't believe BBC, you have to believe Reuters News Agency. Here are the links as I posted in the other thread. There are many more articles but I encourage you to do your own research.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/solpda/ukfs_sport/hi/newsid_7076000/7076615.stm

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/18102007/4/drogba-wants-leave-blues.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/12/ufndrogba112.xml

http://football.uk.reuters.com/teams/t4034/news/L18042926.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7051285.stm

http://itn.co.uk/news/108df6fb03ea6a67ab4818fae2b384ad.html

http://soccerlens.com/didier-drogba-hates-chelsea/3849/

http://bluechampions.com/2007/11/06/drogba-disgusted-or-disgusting/

Before he went to Nations cup, he used to give interviews with French magazines EVERY WEEK telling them he wants to leave. When he came back from Nations Cup, Chelsea called a meeting with him and told him he will be allowed to leave in the summer but that he shouldn't give any more interviews saying he wants to leave until the season is over.

Akolawole:
1) What of Yobo? He was Naija's best in that competition. If you don't know Yobo started his career as a Striker. Femi Opabunmi is a gem.

2) Reuben has never played in the premiership. Simple

3) Who told you Shaibu don't watch footie? In 1995 while seconded to Sutin Stars, he was one of very few that have Satelites in their house.

4.) I am still awaiting those URL for that Drogba links.

1.) Yobo already played in Nations Cup before the World Cup so it was Shaibu Amodu not Onigbinde who brought him into the team. Opabunmi is a gem? He was our worst player in that WC with his stupid white boots. Where the hell is he now?


2.) http://www.sporting-heroes.net/football-heroes/displayhero_club.asp?HeroID=15413

For your info Division 1 was renamed as Premiership around about 1992.


3.) Wow! - I had satellite in 1990. Does that also make me qualified to pick Super Eagles team?


4.) I am surprised you are asking for links. This news has been heavily reported on. Anyway . . . . . .

http://news.bbc.co.uk/solpda/ukfs_sport/hi/newsid_7076000/7076615.stm

http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/18102007/4/drogba-wants-leave-blues.html

http://itn.co.uk/news/108df6fb03ea6a67ab4818fae2b384ad.html

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/main.jhtml?xml=/sport/2008/02/12/ufndrogba112.xml

http://football.uk.reuters.com/teams/t4034/news/L18042926.php

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/teams/c/chelsea/7051285.stm

http://soccerlens.com/didier-drogba-hates-chelsea/3849/

http://bluechampions.com/2007/11/06/drogba-disgusted-or-disgusting/


I can go on and on and on and on. Befor he went to Nations cup, he used to give interviews with French magazines EVERY WEEK telling them he wants to leave. When he came back from Nations Cup, Chelsea called a meeting with him and told him he will be allowed to leave in the summer but that he shouldn't give any more interviews saying he wants to leave until the season is over.

Yeah, Drogba was blocking Reina's view so he was interfering with play. On reflection, I think the linesman was correct.

Ako, I don't have to give you link. Just put those quotes into Google and you will see link[b]s[/b]. These stories come out in newspapers over here almost every day.

^Utaka was the only good thing to come out of that WC. I can also name several flops such as Opabunmi etc. Yes, we were an embarassment because we were bottom of the group. I even remember Yobo playing in midfield.

Agboola played for Southampton in the Premiership (or the first division as it was called back then)

You do research by actually watching the boy play. Amodu CANNOT HAVE watched him play maybe except for the Chelsea match. If he had watched him, I can ASSURE you that he will not be receiving call-up to Super Eagles.

Yeah, I know Eromoigbe is already in SE. (This guy, you must think say I no sabi any football, you too dey make accusation say I no sabi dis or I no sabi dat)

^^^Yeah - but Onigbinde did not do anything in that World Cup. We embarrassed ourselves there.

And by the way my nickname in Naija was Rueben Agboola - how can I not know him? He also played in the Premiership as well. Plus, you can't compare 1992 to 2008.

We should open the camp up to people who have the talent regardless of which club they play for. For example, Eromoigbe is an excellent player, regardless of the fact he plays for a small club. But you ALSO have to do research to see if they have the talent. Anyone who has seen Barnsley play will tell you ho-ha that Odejayi does not have the talent. Not even close. He does not have the talent to even play Naija league, talkless of Super Eagles. I personally know several boys on Harold Wilson road and in Borokiri, PH who are better than him.

^^^We wouldn't want Drogba out if his attitude is 100% every game like it was today - he didn't fall on the ground, he actually concentrated on the game. Unfortunately, Drogba has not been with us for the last year or so. His mind is elsewhere. For a player like Drogba, his first touch is so poor that it is an instant negative in my mind. However, when he plays with all his heart like he did in the first 2/3 of last season (maybe because he was challenged by Shevchenkos arrival), he is a monster. Unfortunately, with Drogba, I can guarantee that he will only show up for 1/3 to 1/2 of the games in every season - especially when his heart is not with us. He is a player that has to give 110% in every game to impress me simply because of his poor touch. This is why I don't fancy him anymore. That said, I know he will show in the big games and I know he will show in Moscow. 

I can give you some Drogba quotes to show he is not with us (and this is why he doesn't turn up in certain games):

[b]“I was disgusted. I realised that signing for Chelsea was disgusting. It’s hard to explain,”

“It’s hard to understand because most of all, people see the financial side, or even the sporting side. But I simply wasn’t happy.”

“I even did some things that were almost absurd, in order not to go to Chelsea, such as during the medical…Going to the hospital in Paris, I was praying they would find a problem with my knee, or a problem with anything so the move would collapse.”

“A club like Bayern Munich is historic. I have to admit, that I envy players like Franck Ribery or Luca Toni because they are under contract in Munich. As a player, it’s your duty to continue the tradition of such a club — but the most important thing is to have fun. In Germany they play very offensively, there are a lot of goals, the stadiums are modern and full. That counts for me. When I entered the Allianz Arena in Munich during the World Cup, I was flattened by the atmosphere.”

“It’s hard for Ballack at Chelsea because this club is special. I’m convinced he would have had a much easier time at Manchester United or Arsenal because they benefit from their well-balanced team — he would have been a better fit there. At Chelsea, we depend on our individuals. So, maybe Chelsea is not the right club for Ballack.” [/b]

These are just a few quotes. There are many more.

Nateevs, are you sure? Our players will be very tired after this. I can only see Essien, Lamps and the central defenders being 100% fit for Newcastle. Those boys must be absolutely tired.

Yeah - still want Drogba out but I support him 100% till then. Don't forget Anelkas pass.


Jamie Redknapp (Lamps cousin) - "Avram Grant has been without Drogba and Lamps six times this season, yet he has kept his team in contention. Mourinho was without Lamps and Drogba just once and lost the title."

You can say the same about Cech, Terry, Carvalho, Essien, Mikel etc. You have to give Avram props for handling the situations he has faced with dignity unlike Mourinho who threw tantrums whenever he had injury crisis. I am not saying Avram is the future. You just have to recognise the blessing of David in the way he conducts himself. We are still unbeaten in the league this year.

I am going crazzzzzzzzzzzzyyyyyyyyyyyy!

Here is my rating for the players. Each of the ratings is slightly higher than normal because of the emotional nature of the game.


Cech - 6/10 (Great performance until the Babel goal)
Essien - 8/10 (Great lungs)
Terry - 7.5/10 (Mr Reliable)
Carvalho - 7/10 (Should have stepped up to Benayoun instead of Terry who was already on Torres. Reliable performance though)
Cole - 7.5/10 - (Reliable)
Makelele - 6.5/10 (Good performance, but failure to keep up with Benayoun brings his score down)
Lampard - 8.5/10 (Good choice of passes, good penalty. RIP Pat Lampard)
Ballack - 7/10 (He actually covered more distance than Maka & Lamps despite my protestaions)
Cole - 6/10 (Needs to find form)
Kalou - 6/10 (Gives the ball away in too many dangerous positions)
Drogba - 9/10 (Only a hattrick can get you 10/10. He was at 9.5 in the first half and extra time, but his second half brought his score down)

Subs:

Malouda - 6.5/10 (I thought he played OK and is tactically better than Kalou)
Anelka - 7/10 (Good pass in the box for Drogba's 2nd goal - we don't see much unselfish play at Chelsea and that was a good change from the norm)

Jesus, these players want take heart attack kill person. I need to quit watching football.

Anyway, for the first time in my life, we are in the CL final.

[size=30pt]HALLELUJAH!!!!!!![/size]

Yes! Game Over!

We need to bring off Drogba or Anelka and bring on Belleti at right midfield to shore this up.

The referee better thank his God we scored that penalty

Wetin I talk about this referee. Robbery!

Wetin dey worry this referee?

Please please please - if it gets to pens, take off Cech. Is Hilario on the bench? He's good at penalties.

I talk am! The game is too fast and physical for Ballack. I would like to see Essien in midfield.

Make Gerrard take time o! If he touch Avram again, we will take his head off. Did you see Malouda laughing?

Fear still dey catch me o! We need to be very very careful. Only a second goal can stop me from having heart attack.

Yes. Yes! Did you see Drogba celebrating in front of Rafa Benitez. HaHa! Serves him right!

We just need to keep it tight till half-time. Essien needs to check his forward runs for now and just keep it compact.