₦airaland Forum

Spy360:
With the bolded, you have gotten there. Case closed.

Lol.. Na marathon league I dey talk o. Not all these cups that even relegated Wigan and Birmingham can win.

And if you don't know, na top 4 I dey think of. Nothing concern me concern league now. Wen time to compete for league, na me go personally campaign let dem change that defence. But for now, you see that front 6. I just need A partey-like DM and a Coutinho-like Am. Finish.

If we get those two, if we no finish top 4, make you and Blueray drag me here till end of the season.

iamoyindamola:
[b]Arsenal still edge those clubs you listed in midfield][/b]just that wengay will play giroud, bendtner, chamakh and they will be wasting chances upon chances.
The only time we played those big clubs was when rvp is in mad form.
Imagine auba was fortunate to play those kind midfielders even song was balling not xhaka that can't pass 1m to his team mate

Hmm.. It's true sha. Seeing how we'll do the playing and they'll do the scoring. Lol

If auba dey then eh, him for break shearer record tey tey

Spy360:
My friend if you concede 8 it simply means your defence is poor. Whether it is 4man or 10man.

The fact that Barça scored twice and even hit the post shows they were capable of winning. One goal is enough to win a game as long as you do not concede. Sadly this is common sense.

Any team that concedes from 5 goals upwards(in terms of mauling o, not 5-4, 6-5 tinz) is no longer defence. It's purely midfield and attack work. Take a look at the stats below, what was the team doing to warrant 13 shots on goal(target)?
You can blame the defence only, but me I'll hold the team generally as a whole.
A good functioning team with good midfield attack and defence can't allow such

iamoyindamola:
The midfield then was top notch who dare challenge arsenal in midfield battle...them dead

as in... Which small team wan compare with us. It's only wen we meet our mates for midfield like man city, Chelsea, man u we dey collect cos their midfield pass our own and our defence na scrap. So they'll surely edge us out.
But now, small team o, big team o, all na our seniors.

Imagine? We couldn't win ordinary wolves during Emery tenure. Who does that?

Akinbahm:
An evidence Bayern self no get defence was Messi brilliant pass to Jordi Alba b4 passing to Suarez imagine Barca attackers keeps utilizing those chances It wont ended that way yesterday.

that's what I want spy to know. Both defence team aren't good. What prevailed was who has a better midfield and attack to capitalised on the weak defence. Sadly barca midfield and attack wasn't it. They targeted semedo wing anytime he overlaps yet Roberto was no where to be found. Busquets is passed it. These are the little things(attack) midfield ought to snuff out before it becomes too hot for the defence to handle

iamoyindamola:
Those guys you listed can't do shit, there was a time Bolton, Stoke(delap,olofinjana) will be happy facing arsenal just one throw inside the box18 everywhere scatter
Atleast these one kept LFC and city at bay only that they have individual brain farts

see bro. Anytime I watch arsenal match then, once we did not hold control of the game (both in possession and chances created), just forget it, I know we'll lose.
That's how bad our defence was then. Dem Gibbs and Jenkinson couldn't see shirt in any small team, except arsenal. But we made them look average. Even monreal was so poor at first for a season plus before he was consistent.
The only person I see who was consistent was mertesacker, yet he was madly average. That tells you how bad our defence is.
The midfield/attack as you know needs no introduction

iamoyindamola:
10-2, 8-2, 6-0 etc
Bro wengay and his boys made me depressed

Lol... I tire.
That's wen we get midfield o.
Imagine now wey we no get midfield?

BlueRayDick:
For the sake of the team I hope u are right

My brother. Hopefully it'll be right for the team.
I just have this belief that if we sign a good DM and Am, I'll be confident of top4 barring any long term injury to any of our key player(s)..

BlueRayDick:
Goan preach dis gospel to barca fans lemme see if they will not curse arsenal to suffer trophylessness for 600 years

...

iamoyindamola:
Bro let's do something, we should rate this defence and midfield to the one wengay have been parading.
I think we can agree this defence is not the worst but the midfield is way terrible compare to wengay's days

I know I've once asked this thing before...
A defence containing Silvester, djorou, Andre Santos, Gibbs, Jenkinson, even koscienly at a point. Yet we still made top 4.

Those defence across those season, if it's now, they'll be slated way more than this sef

iamoyindamola:
The midfield hardly contribute to attack or defence
Xhaka na confirm follow come anywhere belle face, I have headache watching him trying to pick out a player than mustafi defending

na my talk bdat.
The midfield hardly contribute with attack or defence. That's why I feel the 343 Arteta is using is to mask the midfield, not actually the defence (unpopular opinion tho) as most people think.
Also most of the shout we're shouting since in defence is because of Emery. Most of the stick the defence take is because of Emery. I won't judge this defence(esp as I saw how they played under Arteta) until next season and an improved DM and AM.

BlueRayDick:
You for no just add this one cos the same Barca whose coach was battling cancer won other high profile fixtures that season despite the cancerous state of the manager.

By the way u brought the Barca game into the discussion trying to sell the idea that a barca team Team with Xavi, Iniesta won't concede much and.not perform magic when in fact it has happened before.

Kosohun tuntun lábẹ́ ọrùn mọ

OK, I apologize for the first paragraph.

But the 2nd I disagree, I categorically asked if they'll concede 8 which was under 90mins not across 180min.
So far you haven't brought any, so that 7-0 doesn't count. The highest they conceded in their lowest ebb was 4(half of the

BlueRayDick:
But u know if Arsenal doesn't prioritize sorting our defence those two clowns will surely start seizable amount of games àbí?

I know No team will play without conceding season long, but having clowns in Ur backline guarantees u to ship in loads of goals

no they won't. Tierney will replace kola and sokratis is never a 1st team player under Arteta.

Emery made them clowns. From next season, the only person I might be afraid of been a clown in starting 11 is luiz, but then it comes occasionally.
Luiz, Mari, Saliba, holding, chambers.
I believe they'll all do a decent work.

But you see that midfield and attack, I'm afraid esp if auba isn't spectacular as this season

BlueRayDick:
I'm not proving any point for u. Any team that wants to do away with gnashing of teeth every match will sort out its defence. Arsenal has been gnashing teeth for too long.

How do u look at misfits like Kolasinac, Mustafi, spent David Luiz and useless Papasthapopulous in Ur defence line and u leave them to go after midfielders that are still average?

A player in the mould of Thomas Partey can still stabilize the midfield, but I can bet u Williams Saliba will not Stabilize that backline. The defence is priority.

Lol..
No problem.
We just have to disagree to agree on this

BlueRayDick:
Should we have a deal that every goal we concede next season that comes from those useless clowns at the back I should call u out here?

1..As long as it's not kola or papa Manning the back.

2.. As long as the goal scored is a clownish goal(you don't expect us to go throughout next season without conceding, do you?)

So deal?

BlueRayDick:
Just seeing this now. You are obviously not aware a Barca team that had those players u mentioned lost 7-0 on both legs to a Robben inspired Bayern side in the 2013/2014 season

Lol...
That's 7-0 on both legs
I asked for a single leg.

Even big teams with good defence lose and concede by 4 or 3 goals every now and then.

N.b... This is me negating the fact that their chief coach was battling with his life with cancer

BlueRayDick:
My point is clear. A good defence will always save the team when the midfield goes to sleep. Look at how good and complete man city midfield is but look at how trashy their defence can get with Benjamin Mendy and Otamendi's brain Fart.

You think Guardiola is foolish to be expending as much as Bosnia's ministry of defence's budget on his backline?

I'm sure u watched Leipzig vs Athleti and u saw Upamecano and how solid he was. That's how A CB should be not some damn clowns we parade at the back.

You just proved our point. Good midfield and attack grant you top 4, defence and squad depth win you league.

With the shitty defence, they still sat comfortably in 2nd. That's to tell you good midfield and attack can carry you far(top 4), but there's a limit it can do(esp in a competitive league).
Liverpool under klopp before van dijk is another very good example

iamoyindamola:
The defence is not the worse we have seen at arsenal, par papa and kola the setup is okay at least for now.
Midfielders should be the priority plus creative

Exactly, bar sokratis and kola. I don't know who in that defence will be giving us headache week in week out.
Even mustafi markedly improved under Arteta.


But you see that midfield and attack... If auba no score, na just "so help me God" I go dey talk. And is not as if we get goalscoring defenders sef.

BlueRayDick:
If u really want to put things into perspective, here it is:

ATTACK WISE :

1. Aubameyang 22 goals + 3 assists
2. Lacazette 10 goals + 3 assists
3. Pepe 5 goals + 5 assists

DEFENCE WISE

We conceded 48 goals....just 8 goals short of the 56 goals our attack fired past our opponents.

How can any fan be comfortable with this defence? Funny enough as it stands the oy thing that will change in our defence is a 19 year old Saliba that is yet to play in a team as big arsenal in a very fast league like Epl.

You may be comfortable with this defence and think midfield should be the first point of call, but I'm not

Not as if I'm saying I'm comfortable with it. But one thing is certain. Our defence improved markedly when Arteta was appointed, most of the goals you quoted we conceded was during Emery's time here not Arteta. Whereas the goals scored was still more or the same with just less improvement.

That's why I said put things in perspective. The defence is not that bad, but the midfield and attack is.. Arteta improved same clowns we were parading beginning of season and our goals were less conceded. But in attack, auba was still the one scoring, both pre Arteta and during Arteta. Pepe improved but the rate was still almost the same in goals. Same with lacazette.
Midfield before and after was the same, tho it improved with ball retention which helped in taking the waves of opposition pressure on our defence.

But it's all good sha..
We all have our choices!

iamoyindamola:
That's why I didn't mention wolves or Sheffield
Chelsea conceded most goals in top 7 says alot

I noticed that it's wolves and Sheffield that's what is been mostly used as example as a defense. Yet none made top 4.

Chelsea whom we normally use as example made the top 4.

I know who I'll pick.

Come on guys. We shouldn't be thinking about wolves and Sheffield conceding less goals compared to their goals scored as example for us to have good defence. We are a top club and we should think as one. Those guys park the bus and play low blocks, route one football and what nots, is that how we should aspire to be?

Bayern conceded two goals ystdy but nobody gave a hoot about that and everyone hailed them, not because they conceded two but they obliterated their opponents.
Athletico lost to Leipzig not even with all the negative football they played two days ago. Nobody mentioned Leipzig for conceding but it's athletico who was out.

If Bayern hadn't created numerous chances yesterday with their midfield and attack and/or lose all the chances they created yesterday, thereby losing 2-0, I'm sure some people will remind us how bad their defence had always been and why they're in farmer's league. But now it's the opposite, it's now how bad barca defence is, forgetting to tell us how great Bayern midfield and attack is.

This Same Bayern conceded 3 against Tottenham in one match, yet we know who cried at the end of that same match.

And my I add, very few teams fear a team with v.good defence but average attack and midfield, but most teams fear a team with average defence but v.good attack and midfield

Come on guys!!

BlueRayDick:
I don't know what you are on about, but my point is clear ; Arsenal was able to score 56 goals (10 goals short of Man united who placed 3rd on the log despite having a far more superior midfield).

We conceded so many goals from defenders who are absolutely useless. I watched majority of arsenal matches this season and I can tell u we have useless defenders. None of them will walk into any Epl team as a starter. They are below par.

The first part of Arsenal's squad that needs to be revamped is the defence. Any other position is secondary.

Arsenal will not be the oh team to rely solely on Attackers for goals, loserpool's midfield seldom contribute to goals scored. So I don't get the hues and cry for a midfield when we know anytime our defence is faced it results to a goal. Average of 1.26 goals conceded per game is nog what a big team should be proud of

why I agree with the bolded that it's not what we should be proud of. I would also add that 1.46 goals scored is not something we should be proud of too.

Also, I think in terms of our defenders walking straight into other elite teams, I've debunked that before.

Also, Liverpool trio forwards have chunks of goals and assist amongst them(firmino, tho didn't score much this season but he assisted), while their defenders are their creative hub to compensate for the midfield. For us, nada!

While I respect your opinion about our defence been bad, I feel you're not putting things in perspective.

But it's all good. We all have our different opinions

BlueRayDick:
2. Arsenal has a Saka that is one of the most promising youngsters in the league. At 18 he's not too far behind Kevin De Bruyne in assists/goal contributions.

Wait? Which De bruyne and which league.?
Saka didn't even come close in assist not even goals.

Debruyne have 20 assist and 13 goals. Both double digits. Saka no even near sef

iamoyindamola:
I like how you mentioned Pepe and saka
Kindly tell us how many goals and assist Pepe did in the league same with saka

me too, I'll be waiting with pop corn for the answer

BlueRayDick:
1. Arsenal has one of the best strikers in the league in Aubameyang. He turns in an average of 22 EPL goals every season. How many Epl teams have such?

2. Arsenal has a Saka that is one of the most promising youngsters in the league. At 18 he's not too far behind Kevin De Bruyne in assists/goal contributions.

3. Arsenal has pepe that had 18 goal contributions in his first season at An Elite club in the EPL coming from a backwater French ligue 1.


4. Wolveampthon Wanderers is sitting atop Arsenal because their defence is more compact than Arsenal. They scored lesser goals but also conceded lesser goals.

5. If Arsenal keep fielding those clowns in our backline, our attackers will score but we will concede like we did this season and it will end in tears. Arsenal should get a player in the mould of Upamecano and maybe our goals allowed will reduce

I get you. But I know it's not just the defence but the system.
Can we put things into context.. How many goals did we concede under Emery vs how many goals we concede under Arteta this season?. Mind you, it's same defence both had and used.

Aside auba, who was our go-to guy in terms of goals.
Also this season have been the worst season I know in terms of goals contributions across our midfield and attack. Aside auba, nobody have double digits, and you think that didn't affect our chances. Heck across the midfield, we churned out, is it 2 goals or 1 sef?

Pepe sef have 11 goals contributions contribution in the league. While I won't berate him much cos he's acclimatizing to the league, but if we're been honest, that's too poor for a winger in a team aspiring for top 4

Random question I want to ask.
If a prime busquets, xavi and iniesta was in that midfield with same defence of yesterday, would the scores have reached 8??

iamoyindamola:
Dont mind them instead of watching good football they will run after defence, now the youngsters will take the blame next season because the little chances they will get some may not use it.

E just tire me for spy I swear.
See waves after waves of attack, but na defence we go look. He's even calling Suarez sef. Suarez wey don expire since 2017, that shouldn't be in barca squad talk more of 1st team.

I remember how Madrid beat athletico in semi final 4-1 in champions league with Ronaldo scoring hat trick. I guess a whole athletico then doesn't have defence

Akinbahm:
Baba if our attackers keep bottling chances upfront the way Barca did yesterday our defense will still look fragile.

...do you ever thought of why Man city bought Ake first before getting Sane replacement, they did so because their attackers is still among Top 5 deadly attack in world of football.

Lastly Bayern was able to dismantled Barca yesterday because their attackers buried any slight chance that showed up...

Gbam

Akinbahm:
Baba forget this yarn Barca attack was absolutely dead even Bayern self no get defence nah Barca attackers Bleep up wey no pressurize Bayern defence.

I'm still on my word attackers win you games your defense nd your squad depth win you league.

Nah only Messi I fit rate in that Barcelona squad...

leave am brother.
I told my brother (who's a barca fan) that Bayern will humiliate them ystdy. He said it's a lie. I asked him, aside messi, who is the next wildcard in the team, cos if Bayern just hold messi, everything don finish. He said that's the problem, nobody can hold messi. I just look am laugh.

Now messi was way subdued yesterday, and nobody in that attack and midfield could cause trouble, but na defence we go blame.

There's a saying that if a beautiful lady doesn't have brains, the private part suffers. No truer words than that wen you have a dead dead midfield and attack, cos almost everyone knows midfield (mostly) and attack is the brain of a team

Spy360:
8-2

Even if you have Messi, Suarez and Griezmann in your attack, if you don't sort out your defence, experiences like this would be inevitable.

8-2.

Bros you don start again? Lol.
Anytime wey person receive high scores, na always defence.
You won't talk how the midfield was dead yesterday or how attack was foolish and dead. But no it's the defence.

I no fit count how many times the Suarez and griezmann(wen he came on) touch ball or were effective. Even messi was very ineffective yesterday, but na the defence wey dey receive waves and waves of pressure we go blame. Not as if barca came to pack the bus sef.

Lana1:
You have to work hard to get what you want. No be the same Gnabry of Arsenal? He and Perisic have both improved their game to be at this level.
You think Rashford will get into this Bayern team with his headless chicken runs?

We've been getting more bodies into the box but thing is we hardly cross. Na pass pass pass around the box, till you pass the ball enter net like Arsenal of old. That one is on Ole.

The fact that perisic and gnabry improved most times is on the coach or training staff. For example, we all know that there's a vast difference between Sterling of Liverpool and Sterling of Man city. He(Sterling) even acknowledged it was Arteta who improved his goalscoring instincts and spatial awareness. That Perisic goal might even be what was taught on training about off-the ball movement.

Though I fully agree with the Davies skillfully beating semedo. That's naturally borne skills Most of your fullbacks don't have.

Kbs468:
Nothing much could be sourced out there other than the below for now

Thanks bro, I really really appreciate