₦airaland Forum

nitrogen:
My God, these guys are fast

We talk about it every time right? We play like pregnant women in the midfield and backine

nitrogen:
Yes, all of us need to calm down.....

Someone even said that OGS knows his players......ooiin, what do I know?

. He knows them now, abi. .

Some of us are even called "fake fans" for being critical of what we observe.... Well, like you said, what do I know?

larride:
Is the person wrong?

2018/2019 season 66pts - 6th.

2019/2020 season 66pts - 3rd


Make of that what you will.

You have time bro... u really have time.

patrickmuf:
How someone will read what you just wrote and still defend Ole is beyond me.

Every average team will at one point or another enjoy a rich vein of form in the course of the season so I don't get carried away when we hit that form because we'll be back to playing rubbish afterwards. It's what gave Ole the job and afterwards, we faltered. Last season, we started poorly only to pick up after Bruno was signed and when teams figured out they key to stopping us from creating chances was a parked midfield, we began to struggle again.

Yesterday, Liverpool showed their attacking prowess with TAA and Robertson combining for a goal. Watching that match, you'd marvel at the tactical play of both managers, Fabinho sat deep to protect the defense whilst TAA and Robertson pushed forward to stretch Arsenal allowing Mane, Firmino and Salah to press Arsenal from the front and when they beat that press, Wjinaldum and Keita engaged...Arsenal couldn't live with it even though they too looked dangerous on the counter. Watching the match, you feel Arsenal missed a midfielder who could resist that press and when Cebellos came in, they looked far more dangerous.

That's two coaches playing to the strength of their respective teams. Here, we are so disjointed, the front 3 will press but the midfield will sit back. When the midfield pushes up, the defense will sit back instead of pushing up to make the field compact. We are really behind in terms of playing progressive football...

You nailed it bru. I noticed some of those last night and well. I just feel alot of people have lowered expectations as regards how we should play. We have been so conditioned to celebrate certain successes that we used to see as normal. Even OLE is aware of all these cos he has said it a few times.


We have become Manchester United with expectations in the level of Cardiff. I actually appreciated the fact that we qualified for Champions League but if you analyze the way the team is set up... the way they play...the substitutions...the tactical inputs and displays... are we different from the lower placed teams? Are we even different from Super Eagles?

I see some people think we are criticizing OLE based on the two matches. Well, that is not true. Most people have been sitting on the fence for a long time and they are starting to see the reality or should I say that they will eventually admit their fears and reservations.

Please do not remind me that we made top three...I already know and I also know we were not great. We made top three because of how poor other teams were.

I looked at the way we played towards the end of last season and I was not surprised. That has been the norm under OLE and trust me, its gonna be same this season. A good manager can not be a bad one overnight, likewise a "not-so-good-enough" manager can not be adequate overnight. Football has changed so much. There were times we were not so far away from teams like Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern M. but now we are so far below them and you know what is painful, the gap is increasing every season.

I dont think anyone is saying OLE is a bad manager entirely but we have seen seen his antecedents and we know that he is not what we want to take us back to where we belong. My fear is that we dont want to go the Liverpool way- I mean the 30years of wait.

One thing you can take to the bank is that we going to have that famous 10-match winning spree but we are also going to have many of those frustrating matches which might be worse towards the end of the season. Is this what we want? Is that going to be enough, especially for Manchester united?

This is DEFINITELY beyond players not having enough rest .. it is DEFINITELY beyond the team not having an adequate preseason. It is beyond those!

Expert17:
Further maths ni

With the way we play, he would do better further up the pitch than where he is playing currently. My opinion though

eph12:
Is it safe to talk about Pogba yet or we should still face front?

He's very talented yen yen yen

I dont think Pogba is loving his role in this team. I believe he wants to play further up the pitch

adebayo201:
That's it. VDB said this concerning our last match. Run purposefully. Fast play.

And they are young... I would understand if they were all around Matic's age

My concern is that our play is very slow and to think we are supposed to be having fast players...

I'm so enjoying the game. Perfect game plan... world-class players. We are doing absolutely well. With the way we have been playing, it is obvious we are going to achieve top 4.

I go with Larride, Nitrogen and Patrick on this issue. I think it is so obvious that OLE isnt the man for the job and some of our fans here are similar to the so called legends who would never be objective in their appraisals.

Since OLE came on board, our lots have been the same. String of many poor plays followed by a few times when we do better. In my opinion, the corvid break played out as an advantage to some teams while it didnt favour most teams hence I keep saying that we got to 3rd position not cos we were that great but because other teams like Leicester city went totally flat. We were having a new player who was ready to prove a point. By the time we went back to our normal play under OLE (during the times when struggled), it was too late for other teams.

I have also observed that most people here only want OLE here because they dont want us to be seen as a team that keeps changing managers. To some, it is about the fear and uncertainty of going with a new manager.

I asked the last time that if MOU has an ultra defensive game plan, what is OLE's game plan. He keeps talking about the United DNA, but are you honestly seeing that in the way we play. How can u serve me drab football in 25 games and better play in 13 games, then he gets judged based solely on the 13games. The other 25 bad games where we lost or struggled to win or draw are judged on the fact that we dont have good players.

BTW, I'm not sold on the Sancho transfer. I really do not see him as a game changer.

Lastly, maybe we should always remember that this is Manchester United and not Super Eagles!

On a serious note now. Now that OGS has been around for a while, may I please ask what our pattern of play is. He keeps talking of playing the Manchester United way but I do not see that.

Maybe I need my glasses

We ended last season exactly the same way we are playing now. I'm not surprised though.

Lemme say the truth again. We qualified for Champions League, not cos we were that good, but cos other teams were particularly worse for the last 10games or so.

I'm not convinced

GloryIsaac:
Dub..

chidexxy007:
All things being equal na

I got that part bro... I'm just being a realist honestly.

I'm 80% certain we will sign Sancho but I dont see us signing more than two players during this transfer window... which isnt going to be enough

I hope they prove me wrong.

chidexxy007:
Liverpool only threat here, all things being equal.

Wolves away not a threat?

Derby match with Leeds? I hope you realize that no matter how bad those guys are, they will definitely going to put up a fight on that day.

With our players always very tired and a manager who would use 15 players all season till they are barely able to move.... we will be alive to see how the season pans out

handelex:
Ole should get ready to be sacked after this game.

I'm not a fan of OLE but I cant really blame him

It's been soooooooo long we played this good. I think we have just been alittle unlucky.

eph12:
We are being serious with the ball today

Yes, we are actually not doing badly

handelex:
There's really no need for unnecessary shaleye, the difference between those two is visible to the blind. Rashford beats Welbeck in almost all departments.

Okay bro

handelex:
Well I don't see us going out to sign a dmf this window seeing that Matic just signed a contract extension and Ole is hyping up McSauce to take over from him. I would have really loved Partey, don't understand why we are not in for him.
Another thing, how did you end up convincing with yourself that Rashford =Welbeck? You can be lynched in this streets though..

You might want to tell me the difference between them, my bro.

handelex:
Another reason why we need serious investment in that squad.

True, I would personally consider this TW a disappointment and failure (Sancho or not) if we do not sign a proper DMF. It is so obvious we lack one when Matic isnt playing. Without a solid bench, these guys are going to play so well in 10-15 matches and the rest will be disappointment. It has been confirmed that they can not play at that high level for more than 12-15 matches. The difference between us and liverpool is the consistency and the fact that they really pull their socks whenever they are called up... cant say the same about ours.

Rashford = Welbeck...hardwork with no endpoint but at least he works hard for the team.

I do not agree with what Oasis mentioned earlier, this season hasn't been good for most teams. Its one of those seasons where everyone else is worse and u are just less worse.

olabode89:
AWB is very dull.. oh my God.

Just shows you that we are not ready yet. Our LB and RB have been useless. They are seeing more of the balls but not doing much with the balls. I still havent seen a top teams whose LB and RB have been this limited.

The tactical awareness of our games... the managerial inputs have been shallow. It seems to me that CPH has a better manager in terms of tactics but average players and Manchester United with top players with very shallow tactical play. And this isnt the first time!

I'm worried about our midfield

Oasis007:


OGS is going no where for now. He's the one that gonna fix the Squad at large. We've got to live with it.

Trust OGS is smiling right now. You know why? Because he's gonna set-up the Team for Counter Attack.

Like some have opined, OGS should play 4 - 4 - 2 Formation (Diamond Midfleld Shape).

Backline should have AWB, Lindelöf, Maguire and Williams.

Midfield at the base should be McTom, left and right should be Fred and Pogba, while Bruno sit atop.

Upfront? Martial and Greenwood. In Goal?! DDG!

I'm almost certain he will go for his 3-5-2 formation

Hopefully they will sign a solid DMF to replace Matic. This should teach Oga OLE some lesson on being able to rotate his squad. Similar thing happened when he first came in

Oasis007:


Not impressed, hoping on Liverpool to destroy Bluus!

It's going to be bloody on Sunday. Like I said OGS is learning on the job. He has improved but we need more.

As for the players... I'd rather not say much

We tried...

On to the next one!

Cant believe I have been watching a delayed match. It was still 0-0. Had to fast forward now

Ravioli:
I don't want maddison and grealish 'em near pur team.. Let' em fvxk off with their hype. Foden is another good cam that can fit bruno's boot but he is city's own.

You are very right, especially Grealish

chidexxy007:
wish Bournemouth can even score more, we need that goals difference reduced.

Done!

I also think we realized that speed for speed, they might be better so we are just trying to slow down the game but Village has been compact. We allow them build but they do not give us that privilege.

I'm just happy we are ahead