₦airaland Forum

chukwudi44: You are a comfirmed olodo.What makes you think I was promoting the catholic faith by that post.FYI orthodox catholics are not the same thing with roman catholics of which I belong to.

If you bothered to read the link you will see that roman catholics constitute less than 5 percent of the romanian population.

I was merely trying to point out the fallacy in Joagbaje's claim

I would ignore your silly rantings.

It is very lucid here on in NL that youre the catholic (whether roman or orthodox) apologetic. You skew Christian truths miserably to promote your catholic dogma. Jo just said "ROR is taking over Romania" you didnt need to idiotically inject your catholic gibberish into his post. You could have just ignored it.

As though being Roman or Orthodox adds any value to the thread. . . and he calls somebody an olodo.

MY take

- Spain- only a fool would write off such a team full of world class players capable of rescuing many teams in dire need. Arteta's great form in arsenal couldnt gurantee him a place in the team. Torress too is unsure. The tiki-taka going to be employed hasnt really been deciphered and no single game is over two legs so any team playing them is going to have to score first should they decide to park any vehicle. The spain switzerland game of 2010 keeps coming to mind. But theyre serious contenders for the honours.

-Germany- after having watched them decimate teams during the qualifiers and trounce the much celebrated holland they would have to be my close second. Not much to say- Ozil creating, Schweinsteigger behind him, Lahm right, Gomes forward (who can forget Goetze) etc. In every angle and every department they have a significant representative and with Jachim loew at the helms only a few things could go wrong. I envisage them getting to the final.

-Netherlands- with RVP and Klas han coming from such a succesful season (as individuals) i can already imagine the confidence they would be brimming with. They have world class creative players around them but i still sense the air of perenial under achievers lurk around them and ofcourse( how selfish Robben would be) a strong determinant as to how far they would go. They would obviously crush the likes of Italy, France and that erratic Portugal. The only challenge they would have would be the two teams above them.

ANY OTHER TEAN TO ME IS SHYT- THE HOSTS Sweden- no chance Denmark, france, italy etc. Some how Portugal may have an outside chance but i still beg to differ.

I carefully ignored England as i dont expect tradition to change. If they get to play Germany, they would lose- either during the game (were they may stand a chance) or during a penalty shoot out were in that case they would definately lose! Beating Spain and Netherlands would be as difficult.

ATTENTION seeker! The ballon d'or is voted for why not let the players and coaches make their choice. What trophy did ronaldinho win in 2004 when he was awarded the title over henry. Oshi!!!!

MIAMI ALL THE WAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! BABY....SCREW PACERS THEYRE BREAD FOR US!

we wish him all the best and hope he doesnt get dumped by the way side as the erratic mancini would be sure to buy another replacement for him.

Fidel Castro is also a sworn catholic...the mexican mafia credited for decapitating and decimating humans recently are from a majority catholic community...Italy is a catholic dominated country. What is your point about catholicism self that we dont know?

THE MAN SIMPLY STATED "ROR IS TAKING OVER ROMANIA". . . period.

How do you know your church is preparing you for heaven?

They both deserve it. Fergie for his relentlessness, doggedness and bounbackability- he shut dalgish up, he shut wenger up (well wenger shut himself up) he got mourinho sacked, he got scolari sacked, Ancelotti does the double and he also sees him get sacked. he has lived through every manager in the premier league and has come out tops. Mancini peeped him this year but he did it with goals difference and a budget capable of solving nigeria's subsidy issue. he is an easy pick as the greatest manager in world football and IMO the greatest manager ever in sport history! He was credited for endearing himself to the hearts of ManU fatefuls by stating that he wasnt hired to win trophies. Instead he was hired to over take liverpool and make ManU the best team in England. 25 years gone by and he has near done it.

Giggsy on the otherhand for his tenacity and longevity peeps thierry henry and shearer IMO. but Henry shouldnt be too far off-he held the premier league in a choke hold for 6 of his seven seasons there winning the PFA player 2 times (back to back) and the writers award 4times (a record). He had the golden shoe 4 times finishing second 2 of the other three times. As far as I am concerned he was the world footballer of the year in 03 (when it was given to zizou the last time) Giggs didnt neccessarily light up the premier league with his goals like CR7 did but he was with his manager through it all and at the end of the day players would eventually be judged by the trophies they amassed. For this alone Giggsy would end up being the greatest player ever. Except (and i pray) that Wilshere and chamberlin start winning trophies and then by 2026 they would've won 14 league titles, 10 FA cups, 4 UEFACL titles etc etc... I hope and pray because i am a gooner through and through!

^^^ 1025

Winning the league title is usually commensurate with spending hard currency and in that toll wenger is head and shoulders above every other manager. Only Jurgen Klopp of Borussia dortmund would come a distant pluto- earth distance close.
It doesnt go without saying that the excuse of "young lads" has been overplayed and monsiuer would need to step up his game. But successful managers like Mou, Fergie and now Mancini had to spend money to reach this level of success.

Barcelona- Highest paid sport men in world football(also sports by extension)
R/Madrid- Most expensive team
Mancity- need i say more
Utd- spent £20mill on Young, 16 on Jones, 18 on De gea. . . you must spend my brother!

Thats why i am imploring wenger to do same now with the logic that with this bit part ensamble of players and a third placed finish (19pts! behind the champs) he can add a few good players to even the points and then hope on Managerial prowess and mind games to nick it over the others. Hell liverpool spent 100 million and they got only the carling cup. Is that an apposite return on investment?

^^^^ tell them!

Edicolove has expressed my views verbatim. Its very sardonic that in this day and age fellow christians are contesting the very essence of GOD. YES! its Gods very essence that is being contested here on in.

Th real poser is if sickness and evil come from God why do we pray against them? why do people take medication to combat them? Why not accept it as the will of God and move on? we feel God and truth to be one entity but we believe another thereby paralyzing the verimost tenet of our belief- that God is love and light and that in him lies no darkness.

It would be arduous trying to convince others away from a thought even though superior understanding proves them wrong. I just cannot help but thank my God that i head and shoulders above this base level of understanding. imagine? God create darkness and sickness?! tufiakwa!

Just found this thread....woooooow

^^^^@ duduspace, dont hold your breath wengers the most sentimental manager in world football. Ramsey hasnt merited the last three starts (save the stoke game) yet monsieur for God knows what reason keeps injecting him in the team. I for this reason do not expect him to sign Mvilla. The Podolski deal was inevitable Chamakh is shyt, Park is a scholar not a footballer and RVP cant do it all alone.

But for the other areas wenger would give many excuses- Wilsheres return, Arteta, Rosicky, Frimpong, Diaby, That IDIOT ramsey etc. He would calim we have just too many midfielders that he could rotate into the seating four position. But if he does i would be excited.


SEVEN YEARS NO BE PLAY AGAIN O!

and he is better than a player that has flawed him in all but one of their encounters this season..has outscored him in every competition..has broken every record...Bad belleism more than Bokoharam is ravaging Nigerians...

Miami all the way...we're taking them down this year..Including Okhlahoma city thunders and that Kevin durrant of theirs...Shame on BULLS..a putrid one man team.

Congratulations to Madrid. That is were it should end. All these "best coach of the generation" is annoying to hear. Sure he did a fine job, but not one that was special because he was hired to win the champions league and he is yet to achieve that. Porto without mourinho won the league, and UEFA cup, Inter had won the league 4 times before he got there... Chelsea could have won the league without him with the retinue of players that they had and same goes to madrid. Notwithstanding, he did his part.

He should win the champions league with them then he would be considered as "one of the best". Going to different teams that have plenty money to spend and winning titles there is not my criteria for being the "special one". My standards are waaaaaaaay higher.

Sir Alex, Wenger and maybe even Capello still lead the way before Jose. And they do it without making so much of a fuss.

I knew this was going to happen. I basically predicted it. Someone here rightly said that mourinho is obsessed with Barca and its very easy to know why. Rafa Benitez correctly said that "Jose only makes friends with Managers that he beats often". when you look over his career you would either be forced to dread barca or love them. I think deep down like viera for arsenal and figo for barca theyre still fans of these respective teams. Mourinho shares that history with them-he loves the club that helped him begin his coaching career as an interpreter. He is clandestinely a Barca fan. . .i swear down!

He was quick to claim he lost by drawing 1-1 to bayern. he claimed the first goal was offside. Where was he to say that khediras goal against barca was or that CR7s against Bayern was? nowhere. He is indeed a despicably sour loser and the game of football can do without his ilk.

I know he is a good manager, definately among the best but some utterances he makes just makes me loathe him. Why cant you lose and give credit to the team that beat you? I know why, its because he knows they were better than his realmadrid. When he lost to Middlesbrough at chelsea he praised them because it was glaring that Chelsea was a better team that just lost on the day but when he loses to Barca or Bayern, it has to have been via a conspiracy. He is a Joker!

Over the two legs bayern totally bossed madrid and ozil was inconspicous. Bastien, Gustavo and kroos totally dominated the games especially yesterdays. They could have scored a goal or two even before the penalty. mourinho should go and sleep joor!

BAYERN FOR THE TITLE! GOOD FOOTBALL MUST PREVAIL!

Stealthy, Ajanlekoko and coogar have very good points worthy of note. Especially stealthy and Ajanlekoko!

I couldnt agree more with all your submissions. Fabregas was very key yesterday but strangely enough he got substituted for Missfiring and mispositioned keita. Alexis shouldve been sacrificed for pedro when the goal was needed and the manager couldve urged the players to shoot more. Did you notice messi hit the bar when he abruptly hit the ball as against the brownian motion dribble chelsea players felt he was accustomed to doing in such situations?

My take on the whole game to me should also be extrapolated to define barcas 2011/2012 season- They lost concentration of certain games! My mind keeps reflecting on the real sociedad game (2-0 in 13 mins only to draw), ACmilan (2-1 up only to draw), Madrid games(2-2 spanish cup final, 3-2 spanish cup final, 2-0 to 2-2 lacopa del rey semis. . . etc.) the list is endless. Then they did it again yesterday- 2 goals up. chelsea terry down, how could they have conceded a goal like that? It was absolutely dissapointing.

The two most worrying facts apart from all the "not taking shots and so on mentioned afore" should be that

1.) messi looked jaded and bereft of ideas.

2.) that pep looked like he had taken enough and wouldnt continue with the Job. his body language kept saying so. I hope he doesnt Barca need him. He just needs to learn from his mistakes and work harder for next season. Most of his key players are young (below 25) and many of the injured ones that were so missed this season like Villa and that dutch guy (cant remember his name now) would return.

messi needs to be given a break. Perhaps till the lacopa del rey final. Let CR7 chop pecici again. (make messi dash am). The damage of playing many games would later tell on him (CR7). By then Madrid wouldve sacked that ego maniacal prick-mourinho!

I pray guardiola renews his contract. He shouldnt cower now. Greatness must hit a few bumps.

But Barca is certainly not approaching declivity as some morons already suggest. They had a bad game because they were too slow at times and mostly because their best player let them down. It happened to Roberto baggio in 94. ALSO THERE IS THE CURSE OF TRYING TO DEFEND THE CHAMPIONS LIGUE. NO TEAM HAS DONE IT-NOT CAPELLOS AC MILAN, NOT DEL BOSQUES REALMADRID, NOT PEPS BARCA. . . YET!

I just re-read the whole story and i have to say its an over embellished work full of half truths and gibberish!

Did he say he purchased 6 range rovers, 2 Bentleys and an Aston martin? He is smoking Lipton bags!

Birdman, JayZ, Lilwayne that have way more money than Dbanj havenot purchased that amount of vehicles and Dbanj wants us to believe he did. Also the write up gives the impression that the other folks in Mohits make no money on their own. When we know theyre all lies! Wande coals mushin to mohits outsold Dbanj by 3million copies. SID did alot of shows including the AMAA in Bayelsa and the Prince as we all know had a smash hit with "give it to me now". Donjazzy opened a club for his bro in london. organised numerous tours for mohits yet Dbanj "purportedly" bought them all their cars. They work for him.


WHO THE H--K IS HE KIDDING?

deenee: It pains my heart that the duo of D'banj and Don Jazzy are no longer a team. I however don't ascribe to the numerous interviews filled with varying contradictions that D'banj has granted since their infamous split. He should concentrate on his new found fame and make the best of it while it lasts. I also don't buy this idea of him saying that 'he bought this and bought that'! If the recent interview is anything to go by, Mohits is jointly owned so is he saying that other artistes on the label were just parasites living of his largese? My respect for Don Jazzy has grown significantly because he has displayed some level of maturity and I hope this will be a steep learning curve for other Nigerian artistes that wish to sign on to an international label. There are many versions to the split. One school of thought connotes that the rift was caused by differences on how to share the $3 million sign on fee,another states that it was as a result of D'banj's high handedness which reached a boiling point with the Kanye West and total disregard for other label mates speaking of which his feud with Ikechukwu comes to mind. For those who are saying that D'banj will conquer the world, bear in mind that the entertainment industry there is much more sophisticated that what obtains in Nigeria. It is only in Nigeria that you will put together a bunch of incoherent syllables,call it an album,put it in the market and make money. Abroad you will be subject to the opinion of music critics that will give their take on everything from lyrics to album cover. More so who buys albums these days when you can download for free on some sites and a whole album on iTunes cost less than a dollar in some cases! So I doubt if he will make money from albums sales as predicted. Most international acts make money from shows and tours. chris brown, lady gaga, jay z and kanye's watch the throne tour are good examples to cite in this regard. I doubt if D'banj can pack a stadium full of fans overseas unless he is a supporting act for another artiste. Why leave where you are celebrated to where you will be accommodated? No doubt, the deal with GOOD music is a welcome development but throwing away the 'dirty water and the baby away at the same time raises some vital questions about loyalty. I wish the both of them the very best in their future endeavours!

A GENIUS WROTE THIS!

I wanted to ignore Omar77 and bluetooth. but, like ekwy has already pointed out the contract was all inclusive. you both should go and read the "leaked" mails that Dbanj admitted had some verisimilitude. Every where oliver twist is played Don Jazzy gets royalties from it as the producer and as the owner of the label.Thats part of the "i let him have this and have that". This is not like the "I PAID SAMKLEF MONEY TO MAKE A BEAT FOR ME" this is production. Its more complicated than you think.

Have you ever wondered why Timberland, Pharrel and Doctor Dre got so wealthy? Yeah! Its because they also produced the successful tracks from their various artists.

Back to the plot, DonJazzy had a huge cut from any endorsement deal that any of the artists under his label was to get. Even M.I has a cut from Iceprinces shows et al. You can investigate that! (M.I runs the music aspect of Choc city)

For the brouhaha that Dbanj hasnt realeased an album since 2008 yet is still relevant has nothing more to do than the singles he realeased. If you are very conversant with the nigerian music terrain you would know that Musicians get more, far more from their singles than the album. Infact the most they get from the album is dependent on their pedigree and how much the marketer was willing to pay prior to proliferating the cds. Thats why the likes of Davido and co that have no albums yet have made alot of money already. You do not suggest that he sells his singles now do you?

Dbanj since 08 has released "Mr Endowed + its remix", scapegoat, and oilver twist". Also he has featured in Many mohit hits like that of the Prince (give it to me now) and in Wande coals (mushin to mohits album). so whats the fuss? everybody does that to remain relevant. Whizkid has released two singles already "sisi nene" and "Baddest boy" ofcourse you know its in a bid to remain relevant. Same with bankyW and NaetoC. Thats just the nitty gritty of music making and remaining relevant in the industry.

Jeeeez! I am already getting exhausted. Tinnie tempah and craigDavids despite their dominance in the UK couldnt garner serious followership in the US.Dbanjs task is certainly not unrealistic and imposible but it damn sure is going to be arduous. he should brace himself, afterall Kanye west has struggled to transfer his album selling success to his protege big sean and label dudes like common et al.

[quote author=~Bluetooth]Jazzy created a false impression and sold it to some buffons;who swallowed and digested it simply making them to look stupidier when the spill the crap they know little of.BTW,WHEN IS JAZZY GOING TO REFUTE DBANJ'S ALLEGATION AGAINST HIM ? [/quote]Producers make more money than the artist and if you find your self in a situation where your producer becomes your label boss then it would be practically impossible to be richer than he/she is. Did you read about the whitney houston "i will always love you" track? Dolly parton the original owner and writer of the song made far more than whitney did even though whitney popularized the song. In a balanced music business setting the producer/writer gets more. period.

Also there was also the incident of the leaked emails and DBanj didnt refute outrightly the contents of the mails. My memory might fail me but i saw a contract term and agreement as regards the sharing of proceeds from shows, endorsements and co in which the partner responsible for getting the deal would get 40% and 60% was to go the owner of the label (Don Jazzy). I also saw a product sharing contract on how the distributions were to be carried out amongst the other mo hits all stars. I would have to go through it again.

The situation is not neccessarily the same with the Tuface kennies music deal as from what i understand Tuface signed a contract with them that heavily favoured them and that was the only grouch! It was too lop sided. But he had acceded to their demands initially because he didnt know how big he would later become and how much money he would make at the time.

The samsung deal unlike the glo deal wasnt expressly Dbanjs as it involved making beats and ring tones for their fones. This is certainly not Dbanjs specialty. From what i read Dbanjs complaint was that as a co-owner of the label he shouldve gotten more from the deal than he did. He claimed that Don Jazzy shared the first installment with him appropraitely but sidelined him from the second installment! (which runs into thousands of dollars)

I do not know for certain. Just a few of the things that i read but it is CLEAR that with that amount of money at DonJazzys disposal there would be no need for Dbanj to have paid for the Bentley for him as DonJ already has alot of money too. Except Dbanj meant that he was responsible for making the money that DonJazzy used to purchase the Bentley for himself. The too statements are iran and iraq apart!

I'm just reading this story because its my spare time i could careless who owned what or not. But people shouldnt take sides until they hear the other side of the story.

This is one take-D Banj's side of the story as expertly expressed by his publicist through a gifted writer. I expect Don Jazzy to respond with the same amount of love and verbal artistry.

It is unfair to sway and take sides at this point. There are always two sides to a coin and by extension a story.

If dude wants to take over the world i wish him the best! I can attest to the fact that he is indeed a business man and is very very ambitious. But when he veered off into claiming he bought the Bentley for Don Jazzy and how he funded mo hits i saw a part to the story that i strongly feel is frivolous and incredible. Except ofcourse the writer didnt get the picture and Dbanjs camp didnt have time to proof read it before it was published. Either way it is what it is.

But D Banj did not purchase the Bentley for Don Jazzy and he knows it!

Stealthy: Barcelona vs Chelsea. Here is my pre-game analysis:

We all know Chelsea will come to defend to save their lives, so their game plan is pretty simple. of course, they will probably leave two players up front to potentially hit us on the counter. Chelsea's position is very good. Even if they concede 1 goal, the tie is not over for them (unlike Bayern for example). So they can have a Plan B to be executed in the event that they concede a goal.

For us, the task is clear, but not simple: Score 2 goals or more. It is clear that we have issues scoring goals right now. Fortunately, the issue isn't one of creating chances, as we manage to create in most games. This is very important as the core of our game is in midfield and therein lies the strength of the tiki-taka philosophy.

We absolutely need to score an early goal. The earlier we score, the quicker we can settle our nerves and get Chelsea to move to their Plan B. But how do we do it? The players have to be quick with the ball. The few instances when Chelsea attacks, we need to turn defence to attack very quickly (we can learn from Real this season or Barca 08-09). There's no point slowing the game to allow the opposing defenders get into shape - it's to their advantage, not ours. This is no time to be casual - they have to play like their lives depend on this match. Secondly, the attackers need to be clinical in finishing the chances that will surely come their way, no matter how few. The chances will be few tomorrow, so we need to be especially clinical. The boys need to take shots like they're fighting the net! Just fire and fire, forget whether pep likes the ball being romanced or not! Third, we need to concentrate fully at the back - no silly lapses from the defenders or Valdes. Chelsea will not attack, but when they do, they need to be stopped asap. I will like to see only Alves attacking, of the full backs. While we need bodies forward, we also cannot to be exposed when defending.

I will like to see a defensive line-up of Alves, Pique, Mascherano, Puyol. Puyol to play at LB, but without pushing forward at all. In midfield, it's a no-brainer: Busquests, Xavi and Iniesta. Pep cannot afford to waste Iniesta on the wing in this match - it is abundantly clear that Iniesta plays a lot better in midfield than in attack. And Messi doesn't have to drop so deep when Ini is in the midfield. In attack, I will like to see Pedro, Messi, Sanchez. I thought of Cuenca as he provides width, but Pedro is more experienced and can also score (and boy, do we need goals!), so we will have to rely on Sanchez and Pedro providing width when they have the ball, pressing when without it and running in to the box when their teammate has the ball on the other wing. It's a lot of work, but they have to earn their money tomorrow.

Subs: Cesc for Xani/iniesta. Tello for Pedro. Keita for Alexis with 5 minutes to go and we are going through

Can we win? Absolutely! We have a better team than Chelsea. Will we win? only if we play the perfect game - pressing, shooting, passing accurately and having more luck than in recent matches.

My head says we will win 2-1 and go out narrowly on away goals.
My heart says we will win 3-1 and make the final narrowly on aggregate score.

I go with my heart...

I might be a bit sentimental as he was a former Arsenal player but i would go with Fabregas over sanchez in the game. The reason is simple fabregas has the final pass in him and sadly this is an area that sanchez hasnt particularly made his own. On other fronts they might be on par as they both fluff easy chances and are always looking to give the ball to messi. Sanchez is way quicker than fabregas and his pace might be an asset but in this game were no one needs Prophet TB Joshua to prophesy that chelsea would pack the bus Barca would invariably need a player who can make use of that much needed final pass.

I keep remembering the chance at stamford bridge were fabregas dinked the ball just over the defence to Sanchez and how the latter buckled under pressure and put the ball wide. Sanchez is a very hard working player but in that kind of game he needs to convert easy chances like that. He had only the keeper to beat.

The effeicient players (in terms of scoring) in barca right now is in this pecking order- Messi, Pedro, Cuenca, Fabregas, Sanchez, Iniesta (who would never shoot the ball!), Keita, Xavi (misses far too many chances),Pique, Alves (Mister miss it of barca), and any other person. I have watched far too many games in which xavi and alves have missed seaters especially when barca beat arsenal 3-1 last season.

I have sworn to resign from my present Job should barca not qualify for the finals thats why you see me here frequently. I am summoning all the faith i need from this page. I like stealthy have my head saying a 0-0 game but my heart is saying 4-0 on the night. I go with my heart.......

Stealthy: First, I think you're the first Arsenal fan I've seen on this thread who has come to say something positive. Thanks for that!

Dont mention.

Stealthy: I agree with many of your points, but I disagree with the ff:

Ibra didn't work out, but Etoo & Henry worked out very well. Ibra didn't work out for several reasons, but that doesn't mean we cannot have a tall striker...or for that matter ANY striker so long as they can shoot & score, not the pass-to-Messi attackers we currently have! It's like saying we shouldn't buy creative midfielders because Hleb didn't work out or we shouldn't buy big defenders because Chygrynsky didn't work out. Or we should only buy DMF as CBs because Mascherano turned out great.

Sure i am not saying barca cannot have a tall striker. But with the much coveted "possession football" barca would struggle with a tall striker. A tall striker should be a plan B and that was a decision that Ibra didnt appreciate because he is an ego maniacal prick! (phew). Besides etoo and henry were not neccessarily "Tall" strikers even though the latter is 6"2. They were more skilled with the use of their legs. Other than that i agree with your submissions.

Stealthy: I don't quite understand what you mean by this. Do you mean we should concentrate less on playing the perfect passing game (in which case I agree with you) or you mean we should foul more, dive more (a la Drogba), etc (in which case, I totally disagree)?

I meant the bolded.

@ coogar.

Interesting read you have there. I was in no way ranting. I subscribe to some of your assertions and i beg to differ in a few. For e.g i saw ozeil get substituted and he had 22 passes. 11 of which met the intended target. Thats very shabby for a central creative midfielder. the truth is, the match was bigger than him. Xabi Alonso, ronaldo, benzema etc ALL had below 17 passes each (i stand corrected). They won the game so they were efficient but what are the odds of winning such games with such stats? thats the million dollar question.

In the last 10 games at the bernabeau barca has won about 7 times. The rest being draws and in those games especially in the 3-1 of this season guardiola went with the 3-4-3 formation. Mourinhos tactics,like fergusons and wengers doesnt work all the time. One can just have a bad day at the office. I feel that was exactly what happened to barca on saturday.

I agree that sergio busquets had to drop deep to act as a make shift defender during the game but i would blame Valdes, Tello and xavi more for the loss than i would guardiola and his tactics. after all they were home and it has served them for 54 games prior to saturday. Every record would eventually come to an end. You also have to realize that the chelsea game was on the mind of the barca players and manager whilst playing a madrid who had more to play for as the pendulum to win the La liga resides in their ambit now (EVEN PRIOR TO THE GAME)

I agree with you too on the possession craze of Guardiola but when David villa took that shot against madrid during the spanish super cup final Pep seemed to like the goal. If players would just take laws into their hands sometimes for the betterment of the team. He needs to enforce the idea that a goal is a goal over the "try to give a through pass in front of the eighteen yard box" many teams just plan to pack the bus and hope. If chesea would survive it tommorrow God only knows and if youre asking me wether Madrid would survive a game against barca playing like that again i would ask you to look at the stats and tell yourself the truth.

@ ALL

The statements about Barca and guardiola are unfair and unfounded. It was just a win. LAST season Getafe beat barca there 1-0...shit does happen in football. These same Barca beat madrid 6-2, 2-0, 2-0, 3-1, 2-1 in the last seven or so odd games at BERNABEAU!. thats a whopping if you ask me.
Secondly madrid by no stretch of anybodies imagination play better than barca (both in that game and for close to eternity). They simply won the game. Kudos to them. Barca had 70% of the possession, more chances, and even more shots on goal. It took dogged defending from segio ramos and co and jadedness from messi to secure this win. I felt with the xavi chance being converted earlier on it would have been a different game entirely.

It is an act of the devil to conclude that barca is on a downhill because of the loss. In the last two games that they have lost they bossed the whole game constraining the opposition to just behind the centre half. Madrid had to counter and search for set pieces to be alive in the game. I also felt that barca concentrated on playing too well to secure the win- they looked for neat one twos, through passes et al. It wouldnt work all the time, you would need to play dirty some times.

But the Tall striker thingy is not neccessarily the solution. As AJanlekoko (sorry for misspelling it) has rightly said, all those solutions didnt work well. Barca should just play dirty, xavi and co can take shots from outside the box they mustnt always depend on Messi to deliver the goods.

The whole farce about messi not showing up when xavi and co dont is getting annoying. Messi has more assists than both xavi and iniesta this season and Ronaldo is more heavily dependent on ozeil, benzema, alonso and co than messi is on the other lads in barca. Ronaldo thrives in teams that play for him. Notwithstanding he is a very GREAT player.

I dont think chelsea can withstand the barage they would face at nou camp for two reasons: the size of the pitch and the lone goal difference! Mourinho needed the two goal advantage while at inter because at 1-0 and say extra time barca wouldve crushed inter. If barca score an early goal or not the game would have to go into extra time making chelsea to suffer longer. forget the argument that barca would get fatigued pressing for too long. This is not a muhammed ali vs forman fight in football the longer you dont have the ball the faster you get jaded. Thats why most big teams still nick it and beat the small teams in that situation.

NB: I am an ARSENAL FAN.

@ Doublecross thanks for the prayer.

Do people really watch football objectively or do they just come here to babble? The mistakes are inevitable in football. Infact one has to be a devil to misconstrue a mistake from a referee to mean UEFA are deliberately supporting one team. Thats the reality of the game.

I am a staunch Gooner but we 95% wouldnt have made it against barca had RVP stayed on. We only felt his sending off augmented the unlikelyhood of us qualifying. Thats the only grouch. other than that Arsenal couldnt successfully put three consecutive passes together-and that was a big shame!

Yesterday Chelsea defended heaven and earth. The world of football has praised them for it but most happy cheerers fail to admit one incontrovertible fact- Chelsea were bossed throughout, caged and forced to play in their own half for virtually all of the game. Nobody remembers that sanchez hit the cross bar, fabregas fluffed a seater and had his later effort cleared from the line, pedro hit the bar and busquets missed a glorious chance at the end. You would need far more than lady luck to escape such pressure from a home team. Barca have been ruthless all season especially in front of their fans and in games like A.Madrids, A.Bilbaos et al were the opposing teams chose to sit back and defend, the results were annihilating.

They can take some positives from recording a win against the almighty barca but they should know that this barca team responds better ahome. Even mourinho can attest to that. His Inter team still lost that game 1 nill. So to objective football watchers like myself i say to Chelsea NOT YET UHURU!

NB: if they could get beat by Napoli 3-1 you want to believe barca can give them 4-0 there...LOL

CAVEAT: I AM NOT A BARCELONA FAN AND I FELT HARD DONE BY WHEN RVP GOT SENT OFF AGAINST THEM LAST YEAR!

But truth be told, this pep guardiolas barca team is on the verge of shattering history-destroying every record before them and dismantling all opposition while at it. True to my word too, they get favoured every now and then but in the balance of every season i believe most big teams do too. For e.g Real madrid used to enjoy such benefits fron referees during their hay days 1997-2003. It balances itself over a long season.

Manchester united have been on the receiving end of some favours lately. but most people fail to recollect that a while back particularly against Newcastle the ref awarded a penalty to Demba ba for something that wasnt worth it. Nobody called Newcastle PDP! also newcastle got some scandalous decisions metted their way when they played arsenal in what turned out to be a historic 4-4 draw. How that erratic Joey Barton stayed on and the two penalties plus the disallowment of RVPs neat goal capped a satanic-duplicitous day at the office for Phil Dowd. Referees do have their preferences whilst some just make careless mistakes.

As for chelsea nobody needs to mention how they have benefited from refereeing decisions especially in this present season. The goal awarded mata in the FA Cup semi final and the two "disgusting" goals against Wigan went unnoticed. These things happen.

I know barca got a life line when the referee refused to give penalties for glaring fouls in the eighteen yard box against chelsea but that was not enough reason for anelka and co to fluff the chances they had when it afforded itself. Plus they defended shamelessly and kept howling at the referee (a cause that ultimately didnt help their cause). Football should be played more sensularly than muscularly. I know the latter is the approach Di matteo is going to take but it invariably is going to be his undoing. If messi is brought down in the eighteen yard box or cesc fabregas the ref would be obliged to award the kick.

I wish chelsea all the best but their task is alot more difficult than finding the depth of the mariana trench.

Its all about traffic my dear. Pastor Chris/CEC or anybody associated with him generates alot of buzz and controversy. Pastor Chris is just like his master: Jesus.Take a look at the Mercy Johnson saga, gate fee, masturbation, Joagbaje, twitter, etc. I once read of a story online about a certain church whose pastor was caught promulgating and fully practising in very paedophillic acts. The funny thing about the story was how it didnt really go anywhere even though the said pastor had confessed to it. I pinched myself because i know that if that pastor had anything (even the remotest thing) to do with pastor chris it would have made the front page of every daily time newspaper or magazine.

It is only the fruitful tree that gets stoned.#Deep