₦airaland Forum

Copenhagen are rock solid at home. They defeated United there in 2009 and drew with Barca in the group stage. I think this will end in a draw.

honeric01:
Ferdinand?
Gattuso?

Ferdinand was banned for 6 months for drug related offences. I think he tested positive for cocaine.

Gattuso has one of the worst disciplinary records in the history of football but has never been banned for a year. Even his attack on Joe Jordan, Tottenham's Asst. Mgr, got a four match ban.

El-Hadji Diouf, Drogba, Joey Barton, Gattuso, Pepe, Francesco Totti are some of the worst disciplined players in football but they've never been handed a year ban.

I know Salami is a thug, a psycho but a one year ban is ruinous to one's career. You can argue that the ban on Salami is because he has committed a similar offence but what of Bassey Akpan who happens to be a first offender?

Dis Guy:
Salami is an ex-offender with a penchant for fighting and cursing his ban should be review after 6months in the mean time he can go for as many trials as possible

if he is not okay with it he should go to the court of arbitration, just look at the video replay


really, nobody is going to watch that put together event, it's a scam chances are it will be cancelled before it starts-again

do you really think its a world class tournament? Sia1 just want to travel abroad with some local stars so he can always tell them na me help you, no forget my cut when you hammer

LWKMD at your summation of the Greenbowl Soccer Tournament. I think it's a real tournament. We were invited alongside three other countries. I heard we'll be playing Costa Rica and some other countries. No matter how small the tournament is, it will at least afford some players the chance to shine and get a contract abroad.
For Salami, I think a 5 match ban with some cash fine will be okay. Bassey Akpan should get a two match ban.

Idowuogbo:
Odunnu yes we are baking love,wen I finish baking do u want a slice of d sweetnes lol

@mobings cutie
Dats not  cheating ,at least I haven't started riidiNg, I was strokingfeel d firmness in his asssss, oucccch!!!

whisper nice words into her ear while I kiss her gently in all the right areas till she starts blabbering and asking what her name is.

@op correct guy

In UCL, I support all the Spanish teams but Barca for the cup.
I'm confident Valencia will qualify.

Christopher Chigozie scored a hatrick in Ocean Boys' 3-1 win over Zamfara United. Second hatrick in the NPL, this season. Ekigho Ehiosun of Warri Wolves was the first to score a hatrick this season.

Ekigho Ehiosun missed the chance to score his 8th goal this season as he missed from the spot in Warri Wolves 1-0 win over Niger Tornadoes. Ibrahim Ajani of Sunshine Stars currently tops the scorers chart with 8 goals. Ehiosun is second with 7 goals. Victor Ezeji of Sharks has 6 goals.

^^ OK, but at some point they just have to do what is right.
Bassey Akpan and Gbolohan Salami have both been dropped out of the squad for the Green Bowl Tournament as a fall out of the ban handed down on them. They'll now miss an opportunity to showcase themselves to the world.

We model our league after top leagues in Europe, where have such bans been slammed on players in Europe.

Dis Guy:
Ok, anybody know anything about the FA cup, for some reason i only ever hear about it when they are playing the final four or semi-final

The way they play the FA Cup here is different from the way it's played in Europe. Here they FA Cup is played at a go, once the league finishes unlike in Europe, where the FA Cup runs alongside the league.
Our FA Cup(Federation Cup) will start when the league finishes.

.

hold her slim waist and kiss the taste out of her lips

hold her slim waist and kiss the taste out of her lips

^^ I agree he should be punished but one year is too much. This was the same thing that happened with Razak Omotoyosi when he was with Sunshine Stars, he was banned for four years and he had to go and play for Benin Republic.
It's good to discipline these players when they err but they should be reasonable with it. What do they expect these players to be doing in the one year they won't be playing? I think this decision is completely arbitrary. Bans and fines are supposed to corrective measures but the way these people are going about, they are ruining these players. A one year ban is ridiculous, where have they heard that done?
Luis Suarez bit a player of PSV, Ottman Bakal, while he was at Ajax and he was handed a 7 games suspension. Samuel Eto'o headbutted a player some weeks ago, he was suspended for 3 games. These people should understand that football is a passion driven sport and these things are unavoidable.

Bassey Akpan was also handed a one year suspension.

^^ He'll be leaving at the end of the season, he said so on Twitter.

Finally, a win!

Stealthy:
And oh, I forgot to mention that Messi is now ahead of Ronaldo in the pichichi race. That should put some pressure on Ronaldo - he'll not try an assist in RM's next match & generally behave like a clown while trying to get back level with Messi

Talking bout RM, they go to Lyon midweek. I expect RM to overcome their lyon & round of 16 curse this season. Should be a relatively easy one for RM.

Yeah, but according to Marca(the Pichichi organisers), CR is on 25 goals. They awarded him a controversial goal. It really sucks. Anyway, Messi is level.

This 2nd half of the season is going to be real tough. We still have Valencia,Villareal, Real Madrid, all away, then Espanyol at home.

Close. . . Very close. I opined before the Arsenal game that Pep should play with 2 DMs to curtail Arsenal's fluidity but I was like we sacrifice Villa for an extra DM and play with Messi and Pedro up front. What suicide this would have been, seeing how Villa has been on a purple patch ever since; three goals in his last three games. It's good to see Pep show some tactical flexibility though.
I don't think we had gone through too much to down the lads morale so I love the way we responded after Bilbao levelled up.

Idowuogbo:
Poke his frontside aNd also tempt it to salute lool

hehehe you no know wetin you dey take play

@op squeeze her D sized cups

Idowuogbo:
tap his frontside

my anaconda dey vex o

@op grab he backside

entrepreneur

^^ to be played tomorrow

Results of matches played today:

Crown FC 0 vs Rangers 1. First away win for Rangers this season and also, their first away goal.

Sunshine Stars 3 vs Kano Pillars 0. Ibrahim Ajani got the first goal for Sunshine, his 8th of the season. He now tops the scoring chart. Cletus Itodo followed up with a brace.

Warri Wolves 1 vs Niger Tornadoes 0.

Heartland 2 vs Plateau United 1.

Lobi Stars 1 vs Shooting Stars 0.

Ocean Boys 3 vs Zamfara United 1.

Kaduna United 3 vs Gombe United 0. Kaduna United still maintain their record of scoring in every game this season.

playing PS

tanimz baby

tap her backside

I expect Pep to field a strong side toady considering how tight our last two games in the CDR against Bilbao have been. I'm sure we'll win, but it'll be hard fought. Bilbao are a good side, fighting for a CL spot. Before their loss to Mallorca during the week, they had won their last four. With Madrid having now narrowed our lead down to two points, we'll be going all out for this one.

Stealthy:
I hope Pep learns his lessons from the loss to Arsenal. Key issues were:
Messi was tired. I'm sure we could all see this. I've always complained that Pep never subs Messi out of games (only 1 game so far this season were Messi was subbed out). Even when we're 5-0 ahead, he keeps Messi on. The guy is not a machine - he needs to rest. Argentina also used Messi for 90 mins against Portugal last week - that also contributed to his tiredness.

Pep needs to trust his new players. I don't think I know any coach who takes as long as Pep to integrate new players into his team. Apart from Villa, who simply has to play, the other new arrivals (Masch, Afellay & Adriano are all experienced professionals) are given minimal exposure by Pep. This is surprising since we've had so many comfortable wins where these guys could have been brought in. Bringing them in at 85 mins is bad for their morale and also does little to help them gel with the rest of the team.

We need a few more players. We obviously need 1 more experienced cover in defence (while simultaneously allowing Milito to go). I was surprised that we allowed both Chygrynsky & Marquez to leave in the summer (again, Pep hardly gave them a chance last season). I'll suggest to get a defender in his 30s who won't mind sitting on the bench, but will give reliable service when called upon. We also need someone similar in attack - when Arsenal did their changes, they were able to bring on Bendtner & Arshavin to change the game. Which attacker could we have brought on? Bojan? He has been useless this season. Afellay? He is a midfielder. I'll suggest to buy Dany Guiza who is currently wasting away in Turkey. He is in his 30s and won't mind a bench role. He has played in Spain & even won Pichichi a few years ago. He is tall & can give us another option in attack. He will be a cheap buy.

We do not have adequate mental strength when odds are against us. Ajanlekoko already made a good point of this. We tend to be sloppy, make silly fouls and give the opposition golden chances once we're being run ragged. Our guys need to be able to keep their cool when the odds are against them in a hostile stadium.

We tend to overplay at crucial times. There were times I was shouting at the TV during the match against Arsenal. Our defenders like to play the ball out of defence. But when the opposing team's attackers are pressing, you should just boot the ball out. Arsenal got at least 3 chances from sloppy/over-confident plays out of our defence. Pique got his yellow card because we gave the ball to Arsenal just outside our area & he had to make a critical tackle. Also in the attack, our players (Xavi being most guilty) tend to pass rather than shoot. When you are facing a good team, every opportunity counts. What counts is not how beautifully the goal was worked, but whether you scored or not. Pep needs to tell the guys to shoot more - you never know, you could get a deflection or the goalie spills it & a striker mops up. They all count.

Pep's subs are wacky at times. I recall the 2nd leg against Inter last year. We needed to score, Inter had gone one man down and all their players were playing in defence. What did pep do? He lft Busquests on, even though he could have sacrificed the DMF for an attacker to put pressure on the Inter defence. He took out Ibra & replaced him with Bojan (even though Bojan could have come in for a midfielder). He brought on Jeffren even though there was a fit & experienced Henry on the bench. This time, against Arsenal, he took out Villa for Keita even though Pedro was obviously the least effective of our attackers. That single move killed our attack & added nothing to the other areas.

Keita is not a world class player. I felt Keita should have been sold in the summer instead of Yaya. Imagine if we had Yaya now instead of Masch - Yaya can play CB, DMF, AMF. Masch is only a DMF (a good one though). Keita on the other hand does not provide defensive cover, does not make any killer pass, does not dribble, rarely scores. He really should be let go.

GBAM!!! It would be great if we got Guiza. He's experienced and he's actually a La Masia product but it was at Mallorca he made a name for himself. We are short of attacking options up front. I think Bojan should be sent out on loan to somewhere he can play regularly because he seems to be lacking in confidence. Nolito and Jeffren aren't exactly the guys that can change a game.

This was just some silly publicity stunt. It's God we are supposed to beg for forgiveness and not nairalanders that we have impersonal relationships with.
Funny, by the way.

Dani Alves' contract talks seem to be going smoothly

http://www.goal.com/en/news/12/spain/2011/02/19/2359361/barcelona-dani-alves-closer-to-contract-extension-report

Dolphins 2 vs Bukola Babes 0. Babes record 8 match unbeaten run comes to end. Dolphins, on the other hand, are on a three match winning streak.

Kwara United 3 vs Sharks 0.

hannie:
This guy and the other one called STEALTHY have both got brains and make a difference in here, with the exception of maybe 1 or 2 others the rest are bloody nitwits that should not have been allowed access to a PC . . . imagine that asswipe called Maiguard abi na Medjai typing giberrish in response to me ? oti fe ku danu ni NL,  e be like say dem never tell u as we don dey do am for here ever since . .bloody Arrow!

@Dayokanu

u better tell that imp if u sabi am ? how can a stan like himself be talking back at me? the ediot says he wants to school me on European footie . . .u no tell dem say I be your NL Godfather ni ?   

E still dey pain you? Mr.veteran, I'll simply advice you to back off; flee or I'll retire you with ignominy from NL. I believe you love yourself

One thing about Pep is that when he fails to get a win at home, he tries not to concede the away goal and often ends with a goalless draw e.g, Chelsea and most recently, Bilbao and these often are games in which the deciding tie is to be played away and this gives him the upperhand as a score draw will be enough to see him through. Infact, since he's been in charge, we've lost just once on away goals- Sevilla in the CDR last season.
I think he's a knockout specialist like Rafa Benitez.

AjanleKoko:
^^
Slight correction.
0-0 against Man United in '08, and 0-0 against Chelsea in '09. Two semi-final games.
Playing it safe is not a good strategy. Look what happened against Inter last year. The home win is not guaranteed if you come up against a side that are extra motivated against you. Look at Bilbao in the CDR. We had to go to San Mames to get a result. Relatively easy when you're facing Spanish opposition, but . . . just for laughs, imagine you needed a result against that Aris Salonika, who haven't lost at home in 49 years, as a result of them forcing a draw at the Camp Nou. What happens then? All I'm saying is, football can force your hand sometimes.

I meant under Pep. The 0-0 draw against United was in Rijkaard's final year. That particular team was a fading one, one of our worst in a while. That was the season we finished 3rd, a whooping 10 points behind Villareal. We had a lot of injury problems that season. Eto'o was out for huge periods, Messi also had injury worries. Ronnie was relegated to bench and Deco was just past his prime. Henry was our top scorer with 19 goals. What a horrible season it was. I still wonder how we made the CL s/final that season.

I get your point though. Playing safe can't save you all the time. But very few teams, probably only that Inter team at that particular moment can pull off what they pulled off at Camp Nou last season.
Aris Saloniki(I think their unbeaten home record in Europe is 41 or 42 years) have not met quality opposition. They hardly play in the CL. But when push comes to shove and it happens that we've to get a result there, for instance, hehehe, we'll spill blood there, Lol.

Stealthy:
BTW so many of us Barca fans on this page - I guess Barca fans tend to have some sympathy for AC Milan.

It's sort of a clique thing. Barca, Milan, Madrid, Juve belong to an elitist class of traditional European clubs. It's like a rich man having a friend that was also once rich but now poor and being harrassed by one nouveau riche. You can't help but feel for Milan.