₦airaland Forum

AjanleKoko:
Valencia 3-0 Villareal on 61 minutes.
Soldado, Mata, and Banega the scorers.
Yellow submarine's defenders are totally hopeless today. What is happening?


Full time and it ended 5-0. Not exactly the cracker we all thought it would be. Villareal looked tired from the Europa, Valencia battered them mercilessly and dominated all through. Soldado and Mata both grabbed braces.

An anti-climax at the end of the day. Villareal really missed the services of their captain, Gonzalo Rodriguez, who's out for the season - their defence just wasn't it. Yeah, I think they were fatigued from their midweek EL match. They have a very small squad and it's like they are concentrating their energy on the EL. They're still 8 points ahead of 5th placed Sevilla.
Los Che were just ill on the night. 6 goals in two games for Soldado. Banega, Mata, Pablo Hernandez, Tino Costa, Topal, were all amazing. Until recent, Soldado had been playing from the bench. Emery preferred Aduriz.

AjanleKoko:
Stealthy and medjai have given convincing reasons why we should de-emphasize this clasico.


Let me start by postulating how I think Mou will play. Like us, he has limited options, and we kind of know his players.

Mou is scared of Xavi and Iniesta, so i expect him to play maybe even 2 defensive midfielders. Possibly Alonso and Diarra, just to break up play and ensure that the ball moves to the flanks quickly. It's just logical. If he plays one and keeps Oezil or Kaka (who are both hopeless at picking players up) in the centre, and keep his wide men, Barcelona will pass rings around the midfield. Busi, Xavi, and Iniesta will have fun like the first clasico.

For attack, he'll rely on his wide men, Di Maria and CR7, on both flanks, and possibly deploy both Higuain and Benz/Adebayor. I suspect Adebayor since he'll want to attack set pieces, a la Tottenham. Barca is not great at defending set pieces, and Higuain is not the greatest header of the ball out there. I kind of suspect a Benz/Adebayor combination, but let's see.

Essentially the strategy will be to sit back and let Barca have the ball, try to break it up in the middle, send to the wide men while one of the dangermen make their runs into space, and leave the strikers to finish the job. Which kind of works with Barca anyway, as we saw against Almeria yesterday.

How would I play if I was Pep? I would start with a 4-1-3-2. Something like this:

                                                Valdes

Adriano               Fontas                                  Pique                       Maxwell

                                            Busquets


Xavi                                        Keita                                             Iniesta

                   Messi                                          Villa

If I was Mou, I'd start Ronaldo on the left, since Alves is almost always caught out of defensive position, while Di Maria would either be on the right.
Ronaldo always loves to play on the left anyway. Another way is playing Marcelo as a wing back on the left with Ronaldo on the right, but Mou will dare not try that against Barcelona, not after what happened in November.
Adriano is better defensively, and more versatile than Maxwell, and has improved in confidence of late.  Busquets sitting just in front of the back four will protect Fontas and won't put him under too much pressure.

Messi and Keita will swap positions intermittently, Messi can drop back into his traditional false nine to allow Keita give us a height advantage in front. I expect Villa to run into space and occupy Pepe with trying to pick him up. Sergio Ramos is always trying to go forward, and will still make the same mistakes.

Depending on how the game unfolds, we can pick up pace and move easily back into the 4-3-3. Alves can come in as fresh legs.

Both managers are tactically rigid so I don' expect a change in formation. Mourinho plays a 4-2-1-3 formation with two DMs - Alonso and Khedira with Oezil playing in front them. He uses Ramos as a decoy RB and in between games, he joins up with the midfield so they alternate between a 4-2-1-3 and a 3-2-2-3 depending on how the game is going.
I expect Mourinho to as usual play Ronaldo on the left, Di Maria on the right and Ade, who's a better shape than Higuain at the moment, spearheading the attack.
As for Pep, I expect the same 'ol 4-3-3. What I'm unsure of is the players Pep is gonna be fielding because the copa classico would be days away and that would play a key role as regards his selection.

khanye:
Messi now wiv 47 goals, 26 assists and at least 10 games to go. this man has no limits https://www.barcaforum.com/images/smilies/worthy.gif

Wow! He has equalled his goals tally for last season with many more games to go. He will likely score over 50 goals this season, that's just crazy. . .

AjanleKoko:
Bro, neither of them come close to Kaka, when he was still in top form.

Of course, Kaka in his prime was simply unplayable but as per technique, Ibra and Berbatov are exceptionally gifted.

Siasia's high-handedness must stop too

hannie:
Kaka!!!

The most technically gifted player on his day.

That'd be Ibra or Berbatov for me.

Stealthy:
CBs always go up for CKs, but other people (usually Masch & the FBs) will stay back to prevent a break-away. Milito was against 2 men, couldn't do that much.

Fontas is a CB not a RB. Batra sometimes plays RB for the B team & Muniesa LB, but all three can play as CBs.

I agree with you that we still need Puyi & Abidal next season. I also heard the gist about Botia - hope it's true.

We CAN AFFORD TO DROP POINTS against Madrid. That is the beauty of our 8-points lead & Madrid's difficult run-in to end the season. [b]Do you honestly think we can win all 5 games against Madrid in one season? [/b]I dont think so. Better to disrupt Mou's plans by fielding the team he doesn't expect in the league classico and play our best in the Copa & UCL matches.

So long as we dont lose the league classico by 5-0, we'll still have a 5-point lead plus a better head-to-head with just a few matches left to go in the league.

If we play our best team in the league classico, we'll end up with a tired squad for the copa final. Also, this gives Mou the opportunity to fine tune his strategy against us for the UCL semis. There's no point winning the league classico & losing the UCL ones.

I bet pep will do as I've been saying. He's been saying that the league is the most important cup, which should lead Mou to field his best team against us in the league, while pep just kills him off in the copa final.

yeah, the goal wasn't entirely Milito's fault. We were hit on the break and there wasn't much that could have been done.
As per the classico, the liga classico plays very little role as regards the direction of the title, the copa classico and potential CL classicos are more important. Pep should rest key players for the liga classico and even though I'd love to see his winning streak against Madrid continue, there's no biggie if it doesnt.

Bojan out for the rest of the season with a cruciate ligament damage.
Our injury crisis just keeps getting worse.

Thiago should be getting more games, he was outstanding. Bojan also looked very sharp before he got injured.

Poor display from Bilbao. I expected more from them, they just didn't turn up. They gave away two penalties needlessly and hardly threatened

Chelsea's top scorer is Drogba with 9 or 10 goals, that says it all. Their midfield is dead, they hardly create chances.

^^ Thanks

Plateau United sacks players

The management of Plateau United has dispelled allegations from some of its sacked players, that they were unjustly ousted from the team.

Spokesperson for the team, Goteng Tongshinung, said the sacking was done in accordance with an extensive technical report carried out by the club management.

"That would be unfair of them to say so, the sacking was done in accordance to the technical evaluation we carried out. We are currently battling relegation in the league so we would not have sacked players that would help us out. We have to get rid of players that cannot help our cause, the sacking is good for Plateau United" he affirmed.

The management of the bottom-placed Premier League outfit sacked nine of its players on Monday. The players affected include Abdullahi Isa, Ajibade Omolade, Saleh Mohammed, Shedrack Monaya, and Daniel Njoku.

Others are Waziri Kabiru, Chorbe Godwin, Uche Ilo and Eze Nwabike.

Reasons for sack

General manager of the club, Bitrus Bewarang, explained that the sacking of the players had become necessary to "save the team from relegation".

According to him the players were sacked for reasons ranging from indolence, truancy, absenteeism, indiscipline, poor performance and poor commitment.

"A good player must exhibit qualities of good discipline, punctuality, commitment to the team and must be ready to deliver.

"But where these qualities are lacking, such a player does not deserve to be kept in a team because he has the tendency to corrupt other players in the team.

"We have taken these measures to ensure that those that not ready, do not affect others' interest," he added.

Bewerang said that the club is already making moves at finding capable replacements for the sacked players "The screening is ongoing and we hope that those, who prove themselves, can join us and be part of the crucial second round."

from 234next

http://www.nigeriansportsforum.com/index.php/topic,69.0.html

Good boy

Torres twice forced fine saves from VDS, which other Chelsea player did as much? He was the only threat in a very poor Chelsea side.

Torres twice forced fine saves from VDS, which other Chelsea player did as much? He was the only threat in a very poor Chelsea side.

Villareal will play Porto in the s/final.
The other s/final tie will likely be an all Portugese affair with Benfica and Braga already in good position to qualify.
Rossi, meanwhile, is EL top scorer with 9 goals.
I'm sure Villareal will beat Porto when they meet in the semis. Sevilla defeated Porto 1-0 at the Dragao.

I'm looking forward to a La Liga European double. La Liga was actually the last league to complete a European double with Barcelona and Sevilla winning the UCL and Uefa Cup respectively in 2006.

It's You - J Holiday

Lol, Villareal have finished the job in the first half. 3-0, there's surely no way back for Twente in this one. I'm sure Villareal can beat Porto in the semis. Sevilla defeated Porto at the Dragao and were only unlucky not to have qualified.
A European double for the la liga this season looks most likely.

@eyo: lol @ justin bieber

Nice one Aj. Even Pep wasn't confident going into last night's game. He said he had a "negative feeling" and Cryuff was also pessimistic about our chances. It's all good sha. I'm glad we created chances and also took them.
My concern, however, was the way our defence was repeatedly breached. If Shakhtar hadn't been profligate and they took their chances as it came, we could have been severely punished. Of late, we've been very shaky at the back and it's not unconnected to the absence of Puyi and Abidal. I hope Pep sees this and tries to correct this in the coming games by:
1. Not playing Busi as CB. Even though he put in a decent shift last night as CB, a natural CB in Milito or Fontas would be a better option.
2. Tell Pique to improve: I don't know what Pique's problem has been of late. He has been helping the team out in attack lately and getting amongst the goals but at the back, his performances haven't been top notch.
I just can't wait for Puyi to get back. . .

He should fight for his place at Chelsea.

He should fight for his place at Chelsea.

Congrats Kanu

Johnpaul88:
Good to see a high five return!

All the players deserve special eulogy. They were all men of the match esp Iniesta.

While the goal drought period continues to take its toll on our MVP, it is quite hilarious to see others rise to remedy the situation. That is the sweetness that is the hallmark of our team.

I'm so happy!

The way Iniesta and Alves despoiled that Shakhtar's left-back - Rat, I really felt sorry for the dude.
In all, it was a near flawless performance. No one saw a manita coming, lol.

eyoniggar:
The scoreline is healthy. We need not to worry ourselves much in the 2nd leg. But do you guys think it wud
be advisable for Mesis, Xavi, Iniesta and Alves to be rested in the 2nd leg in order for them to be fresh n ready for the
copa?

Iniesta is out of the return leg but then I think we should play Messi, Xavi and the other guys. Even though it looks like it's done dusted, it is still not over yet.

I don't think the away goal would be of any advantage to Shakhtar in the return leg.

So far so good, it's been good. The lads shouldn't relax. A couple more goals and it's a wrap.

Yessss, we're almost there. Great work from Iniesta to set up the goal

Great start

Busquets in defence. Pedro on the bench.

I can't believe someone mentioned Goldie. LMAO.

Airis, Waje, Mo'Chedah, Tiwa Savage

I think 'Wakawiki Emcees' is one of the best ever hip hop tracks to come out of Nigeria.
Eedris is definitely a legend.