₦airaland Forum

(1)Arsenal v Bayern Munich
The fact that Arsenal defeated a perfect Bayern team who went on to win the trophy last season means this tie is on the balance.Also,Guardiola's stubborn decision to tweak this Bayern team means they are not as physical as they used to be therefore Arsenal will have more space to play there passing game.55-45 in favour of Bayern majorly because the first leg at the Emirates might be a disadvantage.
(2)Zenit St. Petersburg v Borussia Dortmund
Dortmund's injury woes should be over by February.A fully fit Dortmund should get a draw in Russia and finish off the job at
Signal Iduna park.60-40 for Dortmund.
(3)Schalke 04 v Real Madrid
Well,Schalke got themselves a bigger meat than they can chew in Madrid.No doubt about the outcome of this tie.70-30 in favour of Madrid.
(4)Galatasaray v Chelsea
Homecoming for Drogba,right?Mancini and Mourinho were never the best of friends either.If Mourinho could get this Chelsea
team ticking by February,i'll go for a 60-40 on Chelsea.
(5)Bayer Leverkusen v Paris Saint-Germain
5-0 trashing by a struggling Man Utd team shows that Bayer are still well off the pace.They won't have answers to the questions
raised by a star-studded PSG team come February.65-35 for PSG.
(6)AC Milan v Atletico Madrid
Two teams at different ends of European football ladder,AC Milan is diminishing while Atleti is ascending.The fact that Milan laboured to qualify from a group containing Ajax and Celtic clearly revealed their woes,but inexperience could count against
Atleti.52-48 for Atleti due to their recent form.
(7)Olympiakos v Manchester United
Fergie dominated Olympiakos in all the four matches he played against them,but this is Moyes' Utd now and they are struggling.Lack of experience in latter stages of UCL coupled with the second leg being played at OT should count against Olympiakos though.58-42 for Man U.
(Manchester City vs Barcelona
We can talk about this match-up all day.So many points to prove.Barca are definitely the most unlucky first placed team of
the group stage.Yaya Toure have a point to prove,Man City alsohave their point to prove against a recently struggling and unflamboyant Barca.If Man City maintain their ruthless form at the Etihad,this tie may be over as early as the first leg.Nevertheless,i expect their inexperience in knockout stages
to count against them.52-48 for Barca.

Bellamy should make the cut.The guy always make sure he have a "sparring" partner in every of his opponents,or even his own team.Ferdinand was one of his favourite.
One glaring omission from the list is Wimbledon's legendary hard man,Vinnie Jones.The guy has the quickest ever booking
in a football match,being booked after just three seconds for a foul on the opposition player.

Barca ain't special no more,they look more direct and fragile this season.If City continue to develop and churn out impressive home results under Pellegrini's guidance,this match-up may be over as early as February.I expect Barca's experience of UCL knockout stage to count in their favour,though.54-46 in favour of Barca,but if Man City could go through they will automatically become my favourite to lift the trophy come May.

dademola: i hope arsenal beat chelsea! a newcastle win wnt be a bad idea...

Your wishes has got an element of fear written all over it.Due to the 4-1 bashing,you'd definitely hope Newcastle will be strong enough to do the 'dirty' job of eliminating Man City.

Fabville: To me, i believe we have only two out and out striker in RVP and Hernandez and the two are so deadly. I just wish DM realizes this now. Sometimes i fear that we might lose him to another club because of him being under-utilized. But he's a patient, committed and hard working lad. If we use him regularly, he would have even improved more and we all know what that means.

The most annoying part about Hernandez situation is that he is at the point in his career where he should be playing regularly.The guy is 25 years old,for crying out loud!!!
If he continues to be overlooked,i won't be surprised if Man U lose him to another club.

coogar: stop distorting the facts....
rooney's hold-up play is substandard....the passes actually got to rooney but he did nothing with them. all rooney had to do was to draw kompany out & let young & valencia occupy the space kompany has left in the back.

i dunno how people arrived at rooney being the best player - because he scored? cleverley was the best player on the pitch. he brought up more urgency, passed the ball well and got everyone involved.

rooney took all the setpieces on the day. shyte deliveries all through. the corners & indirect freekicks were horrible. we had tall players all over the pitch - carrick, fellaini, welbeck, rio, smalling, vidic and yet, rooney couldn't deliver for any of them to score.


rooney was shyte!
look at the graphics - he received 52 passes throughout. carrick, cleverley & fellaini supplied 29 of those passes to rooney so the distortion of facts that rooney had no service should not be entertained on this thread.

You made it sound like both Valencia and Young played with their right senses all through the game.Seriously,i don't know what else you want him to do in that match that he didn't do.Most of the deliveries he got didn't place him in an advantageous position to score,except the one glaring chance he missed.Most of the ball he got,he passed out to the flankmen who,i definitely believed,were not in the mood to play.


Were those tall players sleeping when Negredo knocked down the ball for Yaya Toure to score?
What were the tall players doing when,Evra,arguably the shortest player on the field,met Rooney's corner only to be denied by the woodwork?Rooney's first two corner kicks were terrible,but the one he got right was unutilised.Seriously,its not like he delivered up to 10 set pieces in the match!
Man U's overall performance was terrible,but blaming Rooney for not doing his job while Fellaini,who was responsible for two goals;Valencia who was responsible for the first goal;and the whole Man U defence that switched to spectator mode for 60 minutes goes scot free is unacceptable.

coogar: and who's supposed to provide the intensity in the absence of van persie? ashley young? did rooney even manage to take the game by the scruff of it's neck and force a goal before city started dicing us?

did rooney even beat kompany once during the game? this is where ronaldo is a different kettle of fish - he would have made one of those setpiece situations counted. rooney took about 12 set-pieces in the first half. we did nothing with them.




i can understand why moyes started welbeck - he went for power instead of stealth. fans have criticised chicharito's strength in games like this in the past & welbeck was handful against swansea but it seems that was down to the excellent holdup play of van persie.

Rooney was isolated for most of the match especially when City were dominant;he doesn't get the ball in a position where he could run at or outwit Kompany,so how do you want him to beat the beast?!Most of the tussles he had with Kompany was when the ball was in the air,one of which led to him being cautioned.The mediocre display of the midfielders meant Rooney and Welbeck doesn't get the service they needed to make an impact.As a matter of fact,Rooney was Man U's best player in the match.
And,for the record,Man U suffered 8 fouls and had 4 corner kicks all through the match,with Rooney converting one of the set pieces,so,your claim of 12 set pieces in the first half is very wrong.

And,why isn't anybody talking about the big Belgian whose negligence of his defensive duties led to the second and third goals?

coogar: he's done extremely well if you look at the circumstances......
moyes can only start 11 players out of the 25 we have in the squad. there's going to be a feeling of who & who should have started if the results don't go our way. the team that started yesterday was very good but the attack messed things up. this is our biggest loss since van persie joined man utd. it simply shows you can never trust wayne rooney to lead the line.

Nah,he hasn't done "extremely" well.Against Chelsea,Liverpool and City,we played like we've got nobody upfront.Just one goal in those three games is a poor return.For a City team that has scored an average of three goals per game at Etihad this season,scoring won't be a problem.The best way to beat them would've been to outscore them,but we were 'toothless' upfront.Please,the intensity is lacking!!!
About Wayne Rooney not leading the line,what do you expect him to do when the midfield is being bossed by Yaya?The times he had the ball,almighty Kompany was breathing down his neck.Starting Welbeck upfront ruined it all.Hernandez would've posed more threat to City's defense line than Welbeck,in which Kompany would have to keep an eye on him due to his smartness thereby freeing up Rooney to have more impact upfront.

I think you should stay clear of romantic relationships for now so as not to get your heart broken in quick succession,since you seem to have a glass heart...lol
Seriously,with the way the world is right now,why on earth will you get so deceived into believing you can own what you stole,especially in the case of a woman?!
Guy,clear your head of her lies and move on.When the person to be serious with comes your way,you won't need a pastor to make you know that you are with the right person,her attitudes and attributes will lead the way for you.

Enegod: she called you a dog!!! why didnt you slap her?!!

That will definitely take the issue to a whole new level...!

R.I.P bro.The lives you've affected will forever be in your debt.
Damn,that got me asking myself if i could do that.