₦airaland Forum

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Ter Stegen and the 20 saves that have kept Barcelona's European hopes alive


Ter Stegen has made 20 saves, 18 of which were from shots from inside the box, and these figures further highlight his importance to the team. To put it in context, no other goalkeeper has had to intervene that often in the competition so far this season. Thibaut Courtois has made eight saved, while Jan Oblak has completed six, with Keylor Navas and Alisson Becker making nine apiece.

Well, Stegen the only one keeping us in the UCL

Haaland has more goals than entire Real Madrid forward line


The eight forwards who have represented Los Blancos this season have managed just 38 goals between them, two less than the Norwegian international. Only Karim Benzema has acceptable numbers this term, with his return of 18 goals, although this is still far behind the teenage sensation who took Paris Saint-Germain apart in the Champions League. Rodrygo has seven, Gareth Bale, Lucas Vazquez and Vinicius with three goals, Luka Jovic with two, and Brahim Diaz and Eden Hazard with one each. Mariano Diaz is not counted has he has only played two games.

Haaland has 40

LaMujer:
make we win Clasico fess

"Manchester City taught a lesson in how to beat this Real Madrid side on Wednesday night, and Quique Setien was there to see it.

The Barcelona boss was at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu to watch the Champions League tie ahead of Sunday's Clasico.

Setien was joined in the stands by assistant Eder Sarabia as they conducted a scouting trip on Zinedine Zidane's side.

He would've noticed City's success in attacking Real Madrid's left side and also noted the threat that Vinicius Junior can bring."


now i'm a bit confident

forgiveness:
Which rape?

Have you forgotten how Chelsea beat dem in their own backyard to win the Champions league?

Before yesterday match, Chelsea and Bayern Munich played 4 matches. We won twice and lost twice. Where dem wan rape?

The fact they even struggled against small boys and expired legs showed that Bayern is not good enough.

Chelsea manager Frank Lampard has admitted his side were taught a 'harsh lesson' following their 3-0 Champions League defeat to Bayern Munich.


Your manager accepted his L honorably, but una dey make excuse

forgiveness:
*Yimu* I hear but na for dem backyard dem beat Bayern Munich. Abi I lie?

jihday:
Huh? Aberration? Conte is a very brilliant coach

He is, but winning the league in your first season is quite an uneasy feat. that's why i tagged it an aberration.

It's not supposed to happen, well, but it did

‘A good appointment done in a wrong way’ – Babayaro faults Yobo's Nigeria appointment

"From my point of view as an ex-player I think he is a good appointment probably done in a wrong way," Babayaro told BBC Sport.

"I'm not sure if he's got his badges but if you are trying to appoint someone you make sure they've got the right credentials before you appoint them.

"I don't care if it's an ex (player) or whoever, make sure you appoint the right person that knows the job.

"Yes, Joseph Yobo has been a captain for Nigeria and he has done well, if you want to give him that sort of position make sure he gets the right badges.

"If he hasn't got his badges, send him somewhere. It takes a few months or less than a year."

"Get the right badges, get the right papers and make him whatever you want to make him."

forgiveness:
It was the first Champions League final to be held at the Allianz Arena (known as Fußball Arena München for the final). As tenants of the Arena, this meant Bayern were the first finalists to have home advantage since 1984

Take note of the home advantage.. home advantage... home advantage.... but Chelsea still beat dem 4 dem backyard. Abi na frontyard!?

The rest you wrote no concern me.

lol, what is home advantage when you have only half capacity of your fans? If Munich fans try to shout, London fans would fire theirs too, and no one would really outshine the other

ILLICITblood:
Wonderkid Bukayo Saka is making a serious claim to be in England’s Euro 2020 squad but Arsenal legend Perry Groves warns it may be too soon




We are gradually losing Bukayo Saka to England

lol, anybody that thinks we'd get Saka is dreaming. Unless he gets someone like Okocha did with Iwobi for us, he's gone(not going)

andrewbaba44:
Conte won the league in his first season ,without even purchasing players

Humility017:
how about Conte

Ha! well, that's an aberration.


Even Greece won Euro's 2004

Neobulletzz:
Mou won it with Chelsea in his first season

that was aeons ago. I was referring to recent seasons, hence, the managers i mentioned.

Neobulletzz:
Mou won it in his first season

I don’t even rate Lampard yet, my fingers are still crossed on him but someone here is saying Lampard is bias, calling for his sack, a coach that haven’t completed one full season, haven’t done any major transfer due to the ban, the only option he has was to integrate the youth into the team

Man U spent millions. Tottenham have better players and a good coach in Pochetino compare to Chelsea yet Lampard is still in top 4 even without spending a dime since beginning of the season till now and someone want Lampard to be sacked already. What happen to giving him a full season, let him make transfer and see what he would do before you judge him

He could not buy players and yet you are complaining about him using the ones at his disposal, like what do you want him to do, that is what I don’t understand?

See if Lampard makes top 4 with that squad and the circumstances around him, he did a very good job this season

With United? nah. he didn't win the league

biomustry:
This week has been good to us

make we win Clasico fess

TLona1:
Apart from Ronaldo & penalties, name a better love story than Ramos & red card


I will wait..

See ehn, the commentator was just lauding Ramos for going a year without red card o. As if the guy dey hear, boom, he got carded.


IMO, i think it's a foolish red card. You're already loosing, not like it was 1-0 and you didn't want them to get an away goal. You were losing 1-2, and as your teams best defender, he put his team in jeopardy as against the second leg. SMH


Very unprofessional from him, as though he were an amateur. But then, what's professional about Ramos anyway?


I liked how Hernandez Hernandez dealt with him against Levante. Gave him an early yellow, and he calmed the Bleep down

Neobulletzz:
Not every coach had come to the EPL to win a major trophy in their first season. The ones that did, did that with being involved in transfer window

This is Klopp’s fourth season in England, he is yet to win any trophy in England despite been in the transfer since when he came, people didn’t shout for him to get sacked. The club stuck with him, gave him money and he made transfer, not until last season he completed the puzzle of his team where he signed Van Dijk and Alisson then they went to lift the Champions League, still yet to win a major trophy in England, it is taking him a whole four seasons to win a major trophy in England because obviously he is going to win it this season

Guardiola didn’t win anything in his first season when he came, not until the second season when he was backed with money to make transfers the second season

But one brother is already calling for the club to sack Lampard, someone yet to make a major transfer, because he is using what he could get his hands on, what is obviously available to him, he got no other choice yet person say he dey bias

You people with sentiments sha

I don't really like Lamp's bias tbh, but you're right. We all should chill for this season. Klopp, Pep and even Mou didn't win the league in their first season, neither will Ole

forgiveness:
Which rape?

Have you forgotten how Chelsea beat dem in their own backyard to win the Champions league?

Before yesterday match, Chelsea and Bayern Munich played 4 matches. We won twice and lost twice. Where dem wan rape?

The fact they even struggled against small boys and expired legs showed that Bayern is not good enough.

This is a wrong assertion sha. It's a UCL final, no one is at home.

Chelsea got 17500 tickets, same as what Bayern got. the real definition of "their own backyard" is next month's second leg, where you would be given just 1000 tickets. UCL final ticket allocation is very balanced sir, so no, nothing like their own backyard. Finals could have been played in Rome or Luzhniki for all anyone cares.


Also, na only Chelsea fans i see wey dey make mouth upon losing 3-0. It's a shame really instead of you to accept you L and move on, you're making excuses of small boys this, small boys that. that goes to show how defeated you guys already were before the game was played. You probably were expecting to be flogged 5+, but got only 3, so you still have "enu oro"


Someone flogged you 3-0, and you're saying "they struggled", you couldn't even score a goal in front of your own 35k fans(i'm pretty sure you didn't give Munich up to 1k tickets).


abeg make we hear word jare

TheSuperNerd:
Heracles Almelo Goal Poacher Gets Newly Issued Nigerian Passport Ahead Of Potential Cap-tying Game

Heracles Almelo goal poacher Cyriel Dessers could become cap-tied to three-time African champions Nigeria next month.

According to Het Belang van Limburg, nothing stands in the way of Dessers playing for the West African giants after securing a Nigerian passport on Tuesday.

Born in Tongeren to a Belgian father and Nigerian mother twenty-five years ago, the striker qualifies to represent Nigeria if the granny rule is invoked by the Nigeria Football Federation.

He was an unused substitute when Belgium beat Moldova 2-1 in a European U21 Championship qualifier back in March 2015, a game that would have seen him become provisionally cap-tied to his country of birth if he had featured.

If Dessers earns a call-up to the Super Eagles for their 2021 Africa Cup of Nations double header against Sierra Leone and plays in any of the games even for one second, he would no longer be able to represent Belgium internationally.

The former KSC Lokeren and Oud-Heverlee Leuven starlet has been involved in an astonishing 24 goals (18 goals, 6 assists) in 27 appearances across all competitions this term.



**Ifeanyi Emmanuel


Source: ANS

Sorry, does U21 count?


i thought it's only National team, not even U23, let alone U21

Melvyn11:
If you mention me again and add hazard to it thunder may strike you.

melvyn11 Hazard

las las, no be everybody wey dey watch ball sabi ball.


Yesterday's match between Bayern and Chelsea, during the first half, i was hearing someone complaining about Coutinho and at a different time, about Kante. Like, WTF?

ddippset:
Crossing doesnt necessarily mean that we must locate someone's head.

Remember those 1,2's Messi and Alba used to play?

You can call those crosses too.

well, Messi won't develop such communication with other players, or perhaps, they can't seem to cut it to do such

Blueelf:
This is the major reason i don't want any club legend in the guise of Steven Gerrard coming back to coach Liverpool. Some of these English coaches are very sentimental. I'd take a foreigner (after Klopp's reign) than any English club legend.

doesn't matter tbh. Ole is a foreigner too

jpmoriarti:
Yeahh you mentioned above that Barca do not prioritize crossing, so they do not practice it alot in trainings. So basically we wont have alot of people good in this category. I guess Setien should learn to mix things up a bit and try to catch the opposition by surprise. Though of course, cross and nod is not always that effective. Madrid conducted over 30 against Celta yet still dropped points.

only when you have potent headers and opponent has poor defenders of sort

"We don't have a big squad because this is how things have been planned," Sergio Busquets said after the game.


Ivan Rakitic shared those sentiments, pointing fingers at those upstairs. "This was already known by those responsible," the Croatian added, suggesting that the situation could have been avoided.

also, i hate the fact that Junior is being blamed for our goal. He didn't make a wrong pass. He tried to intercept an opponent's pass which turned out to be heavy, given the distance he was at, and he slipped.

Our defense was caught unawares, shikena!

jpmoriarti:
Yeahh you are right. I noticed that every time we used the wings, they started struggling. But currently, we are so inhibited that we lack wingers and long ball specialists. Even if you threw long balls, who would receive? Busquets tried a couple but there was no one at the other end.

Busquets pass was always too heavy. There was a time Messi was complaing or maybe correcting him. all his long passes, or at least, most were poor. that's on him, not the receiver

IKON360:
Barca will never sign forwards that are suited for long passes, check our strikers from 2006 till now, all are smallish and fast and very good with the ball at their feet. Don't forget that one of the easiest strategies to defend against is long passes and also crosses from the wings. The worst part is that Firpo and Semedo are no where as good as any wing back that can cross, Firpo can't even cross to save his life, compare Firpo to Alphonso Davies of Bayern, Davies was so good going forward and Bayern play with space sha, Barca doesn't play with space, that's why players like Dembele struggle, we play to stifle space and then switching to the other wing and attacking quickly, however when we switch to the other wing to attack quickly uncle Firpo and uncle Semedo players with the task to provide width will now pass backward to start the whole process afresh. What we need is confidence in attacking and more players should learn to shoot from outside, only Messi, Rakitic and Arthur shot from outside the box and players should get into the box with more determination. Semedo is good but even under Setien when Roberto is fit, Roberto will start ahead of him. Firpo is a work in progress for now

consistent practice makes perfection. If they don't train on crossing, they can never get better at it. Arnold and Robertson didn't become a guru in one season. Barca doesn't prioritize crossing, so we probably don't do much of it in trainings.


as for Dembouz, i agree. He's a player that needs a lot of space to work, and when he doesn't get space, he becomes utter useless.


I think what we should be crying for is the adoption of counter attack. Stegen threw a ball from the box to whoever in the middle when like 5 Napoli players were in our half, and instead of us catching them unawares, the unfortunate player passed backwards. this is a very annoying tactics, the Naples players already know we won't counter, so they didn't even bother running at full throttle.

We do not need to depend on Counters like some teams, but when we're facing teams that have locked themselves in, we ought to utilize counter tactics to at least get a goal

ddippset:
People just keep criticizing side passes and back passes as if the 8 men behind the ball will just welcome you and dodge your passes so that you can complete the forward passes you want.

1.We need to start throwing long passes.
2.We need to start pulling crosses from the wings.

If not those sucker punches would continue.

and if we cross, who are going to be the headers?

ya'll should stop complaining about Griezmann abeg.

Griezmann is a donkey, and that's why he keeps starting. Everyone has their uses. Suarez is useless but he knows how to draw out defenders to create space for Messi.

Griezmann might have conversion issues, but he tracks back a looooott, i saw him defending so many times you'd think he were a midfielder. He helped Junior out a lot, and even stays back when we're defending corner. So, please, cut the crap. Ask your coach to relieve him of his defensive duties and see if he won't change positively

Subzero047:
1 shot from outside the box from Muller, One looped ball to Lewandowski that was blocked by Caballero and one misplaced header by Muller that hit the post

Compare it to Chelsea that sent Mount through on goal twice

the 3 big chances meant are what?


do you even know the meaning of big chances missed? na outside shot dem dey call big chances missed?

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it's not easy at all

Chelsea, the other team with Valencia to be officially out of UCL