₦airaland Forum

TheGoodJoe:
Not true. Manchester City's dominance was down to the phenomenal work rate and intensity we played with today. Very free teams can cope with it.

By the way, why won't Lacazette and Aubameyang have better ratings. How many of them were working hard for the team to match the ferocious attack of City?

According to whoscored both attempted more tackles than Iwobi, I doubt if they were just sitting down in City's box they could have achieved that.

By the way the average rating of City players is 7/10. After watching this game you'd think that City players would be averaging 8/10 but when you look at the stats you will understand.

TheGoodJoe:
The reality is that apart from Leno, Guendozi and Toreira, most Arsenal players were poor. Sometimes you just praise the other team for a brilliant performance.

Skysports rating

: Leno (7), Lichtsteiner (6), Kolasinac (7), Mustafi (6), Monreal (6), Koscielny (7), Torreira (6), Guendouzi (7), Iwobi (5), Aubameyang (6), Lacazette (7)

Somehow you are telling me that Iwobi was the fourth best player on the pitch. Bro that is sentiments from you and nothing else

TheGoodJoe:
I said I disagree with you. We were on top of the game most of the match and most teams will not come close and will be tucked in their defence unlike Arsenal. I totally disagree with you that a decent team would have beaten City today. That is not true. Did you see the amount of chances we squandered today before running with that notion?

Man City's dominance was down to Arsenal's abysmal play today. Do you think any other team in the EPL will come into a match against City and practically play their CFs as midfeidlers just so they can park the bus? Fernadinho was not even tested at CB neither was Laporte and you think that is down to Man City's dominance?

Meanwhile everywhere else Lacazzete and Auba has better ratings that Iwobi except in your own books. The two of them put in a tremendous shift, playing as midfielders just to keep City at bay.

TheGoodJoe:
Dennis Suarez could not make Manchester City's bench. Heck, I doubt Lacazette, Toreira, Guendozi, Xhaka, Ozil, Ramsey, Kolasinac and others will start for City. Most will not make bench. So what is the point?

The point is Iwobi is an average player if he cannot get into Man City's bench. Suarez was an academy player at Man City how exactly did you expect him to break in? I will not even talk about the other players because it is obvious you are missing the point.
I have no business with these other players, I pointed out that if Arsenal wants to finish in the top 6 then Iwobi should not be a starter, do you disagree?

TheGoodJoe:
That is definitely not true today. Arsenal is far from a decent team. A team does not choose to have a casual game. Arsenal were casual because of the brilliant play of City.

We have been more impressive than Liverpool in two games this season. Are you saying Liverpool were casual too?

Not exactly sure why you are bringing in the game against Liverpool because I never made mention of it, way way off the mark.

Today was definitely not one of City's better games, everybody saw that perfectly well, except you just because you want to support Iwobi, funny.

TheGoodJoe:
That is why I am pointing out to you that Iwobi was not the only poor player today but the whole team. That was because Manchester City had a phenomenal performance and were on point today.

The point is too simple. You are free to focus on Iwobi and miss the big picture.

The talk isn't about Iwobi's game today alone. Let me ask you a honest question, do you see Iwobi making Man City's bench when everybody is fit?

TheGoodJoe:
Thank you. Also, did anyone notice that as soon as Iwobi left the field, David Silva had acres of space to cause damage. It was just that we did not take our chances.

People are tagging Iwobi as poor but there was something which he did well. His work rate was high and he helped the defence a lot.

I do not think it was a case of Iwobi being poor but Manchester City having a phenomenal game. They were brilliant today.

The cry for Ozil and Ramsey is another misconception. These guys can not play with the kind of intensity Emery wants. Apart from Toreira and Guendozi, Iwobi was the person I noticed in the Arsenal side put phenomenal work rate.

Apart from Toreira and Guendozi, the whole team looked average. I think that is enough sign to cut Iwobi some slack.

Finally, Dennis Suarez could not cause much damage too.

Man City was absolutely not outstanding today. It was a casual performance from then, a decent team would have beaten them today

mostob:
I don't think Ozil can start any game again.Do you know why? Because he is lazy. With what you wrote above ,why doesn't Suarez get game time at barca?

Suarez used to get game time last season. But this season you have Malcolm and Coutinho as the first players of the bench, there is no way he is getting into that team. But his quality isn't the problem at all

daveP:
Lol


i guess the urgency is why he is this important. Arsenal gat some shitty players, and im saying this as an arsenal fan. Man you cant bench the only dribbler you get in the team. arsenal needs dribblers. Besides that midfield is very very crippled.

My point was never even bench him today or tomorrow, I already said long ago that Arsenal needs to buy actual wingers, however Suarez is a decent winger we will see what he can offer.

Arsenal's midfield isn't exactly crippled. Torreria is a guy that will run for 120 minutes and still run home from the stadium, Guendozi is a guy that can keep things ticking, his short passes are good and he recycles possession perfectly well. These two things are vital in any midfield. The problem with Arsenal is down to creativity and their defence.

Dannyxy:
now let's drag back a little... I don't know about you, but today with what I watched, iwobi wasn't the creative outlet, he played wing back(first mistake by the coach) .. Go back and watch that game, arsenal wanted to be defensive and compact, with their terrible defenders(second mistake)..

Now iwobi was playing a defensive role in this game, a very bad choice by the coach, and he was practically struggling, and then he made that mistake, his psychology and morale was down, he was trying to make an impact, but as the game continued, he just became confused... He was no longer confident on the ball, because now he realized, loosing the ball, trying to do something with it, could make them concede more goals, been that he was playing a defensive role.. Hence the terrible display, he was not lackluster, and it was not that he didn't try, it was just a bad day for him..

Go back and watch that game, with an analytical mindset, I know you can annually analyze a match, so I am disappointed, you are talking like most beer parlour fans we have in Nigeria ...

Since they have already explained to you that Iwobi was not the wingback today I believe that shows that either you didn't watch the match, or you did so with tinted glasses. Iwobi was more of a side midfielder today, not a winger though.

Now that we have that out of the way let me say again that Iwobi was supposed to be the creative outlet in this game, he touched the ball enough times to at least create one chance but he didn't.

By the way the comment I made was a general comment, not because of this game at all.

Earthquake1:
Iwobi doesn't even help himself, he doesn't pass on time, he holds the ball as long as possible, tries a few dribbles and passes back or sideways

As a fan that's got to hurt

You are seeing the light. Absolutely no creativity, without consulting whoscored I know Iwobi has less than 0.2 key passes per 90mins this season. For the creative outlet of a team that is poor. Creativity is the only reason why he is in the team because he does not score, so why is he failing at it?

edi287:
Iwobi is a better ball carrier imo while Suarez is more technically gifted.
Arsenal just wasted their time in this transfer window. At the end of the day - Iwobi is still the only one that can drive into the opposition's box.

Then you really haven't watched Suarez well enough. Dude can dribble, like he seriously can dribble, he has an end product more than Iwobi and he is more creative, considerably more creative. I think Iwobi is only better at short passes because Suarez would always want to penetrate naturally.

However I would say a 4-4-2 would suit Arsenal a lot more. Have a midfield 4 of pure workhorses, say Guendozi, Torreira and some other person that actually works hard, then plug in Ozil behind the strikers, that way his defensive deficiencies will be totally and completely masked while his creativity will be something else. With Auba and Lacazzete ahead of Ozil I see nothing but goals and more goals. Suarez can fit the Ozil role perfectly too(maybe eceb slightly better because he can dribble more than Ozil, though less creative obviously). Bellerin is a Barca product, he is naturally a wingback even when playing as FB then play with one wingback and another stagnant fullback more like what Barca used in 2008 when Abidal was the stagnant full back, when Bellerin pushes forward let Guendozi drop in as the third CB then one of the CBs, obviously the quicker and more astute CB(in 1-v-1 situations should be the roaming CB.
I do not buy into this assumption that Arsenal does not have good enough players, a team with Ozil, Auba and Lacazzete should be guaranteed 2-5 goals every weekend.

Earthquake1:
He is average, yes

But he doesn't get into the box, he doesn't shoot, he doesn't even cross only a player low on confidence would do that

Has he ever in his career possessed these qualities? Except maybe crossing. Does that mean he has been low on confidence all his career? Maybe he should consider the Wijnaldum option, maybe just maybe he will turn into at least a decent holding midfielder (although his games in that position most especially the game against Libya doesn't give me much confidence).

Let me ask you a very very honest question, do you think Iwobi can make the first team of Real Madrid, Barca, Man City, Chelsea, Liverpool, PSG, Atletico, Juve, Napoli in fact any decent team in the world? Or will he even manage to be the first player off the bench for these clubs?

Dannyxy:
oga it was w bad day in the office for the young man... Every time arsenal plays badly, the next thing is for you guys to put the young man on the slaughter table... Abeg make una chill..

Dennis an upgrade?.. Oya now make we see... Shey na this same epl.. Lols

I really pity iwobi, you could see that the mistake really affected his play going forward, he is always being blamed for arsenals woes...

Any unbiased mind would see that, bad tatics from arsenal's coach and superior tactics from pep, and a motivated team play, is what is making man city win now...

Iwobi made a mistake yes, but the whole arsenal team was piss poor..

Did I say the whole Arsenal team was not piss poor? There really was nothing wrong with Arsenal's tactics though, they kept City at bay sometimes even better than Liverpool and Man U did. It is the personnel. The defence is another problem no doubt but Arsenal's midfield is a decent midfield, the problem is that their creative outlet is Iwobi. Iwobi is an average player at best, and if a team relies on an average player as their creative outlet then the team is a midtable team at best. Iwobi had his best game of the season against Liverpool what did that fetch Arsenal? 1 goal and a serious demolition, back then when Sanchez still was in the team of he had a good game you could back Arsenal to win, and worse the strikers ahead of him were Giroud and who again? If Sanchez was still at Arsenal when Auba and Lacazzete came in then he would have led them to a second place finish at least, Iwobi is just not good enough to do that. He would be a good addition to the West Ham team, but at Arsenal he really should not be a starter if they have title-wining intentions. Finito

Earthquake1:
Iwobi has a HUGE confidence problem

I think he should leave Arsenal and work his way up

Bro it is not confidence problem. A player low on confidence would not be trying to dribble around his own box, he would be making hasty decisions but Iwobi currently is confident enough. It is just that he is not good enough and he is inconsistent. You watch Iwobi's best games and all of us here will be screaming but do you ever ask yourself if an elite winger has this kind of game will it be considered a good game? If someone like Sane has one of Iwobi's best games then it would be considered average, no way is Iwobi a top player or even in the first tier below top players. He is average at best and other more critical analysers will tell you he is a tad below average(as a winger oh) and I can't argue with that.

andrew444:
Suarez will always be an upgrade to iwobi despite the fact that both of them are average players

Both are average players, I will not argue that at all because it is true. Both I know Suarez is more creative than Iwobi, I believe with Auba in front of him he would pick up quite a lot of assists

Icon4s and Tbaba plus all them Arsenal fans.....COYG!!!!! This match is going to end 3-4 with a hattrick from Leno.

Like I have said before, a team where Iwobi is the first choice winger is at best a top 8 team. Let us see what Suarez will bring though, after watching him for over five years now at Villarreal, Barca and Sevilla I actually see him as an upgrade on Iwobi, no offence really. Then why does the coach keep Ozil entirely out of the team? There is no tactics in this world that a coach could adopt that would potentially keep Ozil out of the first XI or out of the team as a whole. Unaichukwu Emery isn't an upgrade after all or should I blame the Arsenal transfer policy?

Humility017:
if you truly watch the npl
you will agree with me...that very few players there let say 1% of them...can be said to be below 20yrs
that league is for men and not for teenagers.....
maybe because back then in Benin I often interact with all this academic guys...and I get to know how someone who is 24yrs will put in 16 years old in his international passport.
when I was still a CCR in a telecom coy...
I once had a customer who plays football for Gateway... he has three birth dates...
he later told me that one was his football age...one his real age.

See the simple point here. This is not a FIFA sanctioned competition, Villarreal will not release Chuks for this kind of rubbish tournament, and at the U20 level you cannot be parading academy players so the coach is left with choosing players from the NPFL. So I am not sure I know where else he was supposed to get the players from for this particular qualifiers. And as is the case these guys said they are 20, ok let us get rid of all them and play with who? Besides they said they are below 20, you do not have their birth certificate or anything to prove otherwise so that's it. I mean if a judge asks for a paternity test you cannot just tell him that this kid looks like this man therefore he must be his kid.

tbaba1234:
You can tell an under 20 team from facial appearances. We were all 18/19 at some point.

Yes, it is possible to have some players that look older than their age. but when almost the whole team look older then it is suspicious.

If 3/4/5 even 6 players look older, it would not be an issue.

First of all these players are from the NPFL, let us be honest all the players in the NPFL have had to struggle for most of their lives, so you cannot compare with someone who had a solid family behind him. Like I said facial appearances isn't enough to justify this claim. If you want to show me that they are older then try to find their heights from 5-6 years ago and compare it with their heights now (height not body mass or width) then we can talk.

Earthquake1:
Yea based on facial appearances, unless you want to lie to yourself

I have been a medical practitioner for close to 10 years now, I can assure you that facial appearances is not a valid yardstick

BascoVanVeli:
A very stewpid pen to give up.....they can come back but Wydad's keeper is really good

The second penalty was even worse. I don't know if the RB thought he was on vacation or he thought he was a RCM because his positioning was criminal

Earthquake1:
Defenders of the universe don appear

A cursory look at that lineup shows you that most of them are over 20

Based on what? Facial appearances?

Oasis007:


Only Nasifi Yahaya is perhaps U20 in the Squad.... Others are above 20s, and few are in their late 30s already

Do you have any evidence to back this up Sir? Otherwise I am not sure you should be making this baseless claims

groundnutoil:
I have never been one to criticize the coachs. buy this is the worst under 20 team I have ever seen I mean this look extremely political list I mean they are playing politic with our football
and the overages in this group is very glaring I mean how can Paul not see this
look at that abubaker guy how can a 20 year old have a receding hairline
was it only in the north that they did camping or they couldn't go round the whole country and find young champs to play
Paul aigbodun(i don't care what his surname is) is not fit to be a coach and he shouldn't be anywhere near any team
I said again
there is too much glaring overage and politics about this team I don't have any hopes with them going far

Rooney had a receding hairline when he was 20. One of my coursemates way back then had a receding hairline even before he was 20, not sure what you are on about but this your example hold absolutely no water.

bazooka1:
Sterling was vital to Roger's tactics at Liverpool. His dribbling and chance creation stats were off the chain aside the goals.
Take away Sterling and their attack won't be pouring.

Off which chain? It was the poorest among all Liverpool players that played over 25 games. My phone has decided it will not upload images but use whoscored comparison box to check the stats. E no hard

Danielnino00:
Aside the goals,what about the assists and chances he created??

7 assists. Poor for a winger who played 33 league games

edi287:
He scored 9 league goals which isn't that bad. Had a good game against City that season as well. Contributions weren't that major but def a better option than Vic Moses would've been.

Yes totally, that was not a bad return at all. Subtract his goals and Liverpool would have still scored over 100 goals in the EPL, I believe even Steven G had more goals that he did. The point is that they said that it was the Sterling/Suarez combo that got Liverpool into second spot but I am saying that without Sterling, Sturridge/Suarez would have done exactly that maybe even more

bazooka1:
Oh please, when Guardiola buys a player from Mk dons for £4million and turns him to a super star like Dele Alli, I will join in and sing his praises.
Apparently, today ain't that day.

But that was exactly what he did with Kimmich at Bayern Munich, so what are you on about?

Danielnino00:
I'm waiting for Guardiola to join an average team and work his magic on them without spending millions every transfer market before I will agree that he is a genius..

In as much as I respect the man, I won't deny that joining big teams like Barca Madrid and City have helped him.. Those clubs have enough money to sign anybody..

Pochettino, Klopp and Simeone are the only managers I can boldly say are genius.. They have improved the teams they managed despite having spent less. Klopp in particular did great with Mainz and Dortmund..

Sir Alex Ferguson is the boss of them

So.....he should leave the top clubs and go to the low clubs just to prove a point? Even if they cannot pay his wages? Ronaldo has played for Man U, Madrid and noe Juventus, all top clubs in their leagues and people say that he has achieved a lot in three countries but let us bring down Pep for coaching the top clubs? So wait, if Man City comes and West Ham also makes a less favourable bid(from a financial perspective) he should run to West Ham just so he can prove himself? Will you feed his family for him?

For effect, the season before Pep came to Barca we finished fourth, and that was on the last day that we even managed to secure that fourth place, Pep came and instead of spending he promoted Barca B players( I literally wanted to tear off my hat the day I heard Masch, one of the best DMFs then from the EPL was going to be playing as a CB just so Busquets can get minutes with Toure). How much did Pep spend in his first season? Yet he won a treble, his core players all through the years were not bought

bazooka1:
The news about Madrid considering a Lone option for Diaz is all over the web. A little digging and you find this out for yourself.

Coming to Man Utd comparison. I don't think that was the best example to use in this scenario because for what it's worth, they have achieved some level success with the squad they have. Winning the Europa league and the FA cup is no child's play and they came second last season in the league.
This is first class achievement in my books. Even if we compare both squads and what they are worth, one will discover Man Utd paid over the top for Pogba, Lukaku, Martial then maybe De gae and Luke Shaw.
Guys like Rashford and Micheal Jackson were plucked from their academy. Smalling, Jones and some of those squad fillers are cheap buys.

Man city's defence alone Stones, Laporte, Walker, Mendy, Otamendy, Mangala (€45million ), Danilo, Elderson are worth more than £300m. I won't bother going to their midfield and forward players.

The best example would have been Tothenham, who I believe Pochetino have out coached every other manager in the top 6. The man practically developed his players. The value of Kyle walker, Davies, Alli, Son, Keane, Rose, Erickson etall skyrocketed under his tutelage.

Not every news you see online is true. I remember when Samu was purportedly going to Atletico to replace Vitolo for 25million it was everywhere but was entirely fake. Same as the barca rumours so..

Meanwhile so you want to give Poch credit for Dele Alli but you don't want to give Pep credit for the other Man City players that have improved? I watched Alli against Man U in the FA Cup or so, Welbeck and Hernandez played upfront for United that day and Alli was simply unplayable so he was already good, very good before he moved to Tottenham. So if you give Poch credit for developing him then you should do same for Guardiola.
Finito

edi287:
What injury problems? Vic Moses flopped at Chelsea. Rodgers played him as a 10 sef so no one should talk about English hype being the reason why Sterling played ahead of him.
Being English and his personal lifestyle is the reason why Sterling gets over scrutinized.
Funny thing is people were saying Pep would sell him as soon as joined City yet one of the first things pep did was to call him to assure him he was a key player...same Pep wanted him at Bayern.

I think you have lost the point here. See my point eh, VicMo could have played in Sterling's wing and Liverpool would still have achieved what they did. Sturridge and Suarez did literally everything attack wise.

bazooka1:
Diaz made his debut in Copa de Rey after which Madrid technical team came out that he wasn't ready yet for first team football and suggested that he sent on loan.
I haven't checked if he was sent on loan yesterday, so that's about it.

On the injury to Mendy, do you know Guardiola has spent almost 160million on full backs since he took over at Man city? He was bound to search for internal solution at some point, especially when Mendy got injured.

Which ever way you look at it, money has been the name of the game. Look at Liverpool since Klopp took over. He has managed to clear out the dross like Ibe, Lucas, Benteke and the likes and replaced them with about £400m worth of asset and their trajectory has since gone up from 10th place to first place, a Europa final and champions league final. Potentially English champions.

I don't begrudge them of buying their success because they worked for it. They recruited wisely and had resellable assets like Coutinho and Suarez whom they sold and reinvested in their team.

Man city on their part, went black water and gamed the system, broke financial fair play rules and voala!

Money have been a massive factor in Guardiola and Man city's success. No one can deny that.
They are currently second in the league because someone have out spent them in the close season.

Diaz is a part of the first team, even the coach mentioned it. So which technical team said he should be loaned out? I am not sure where you got that from but okay.

If you think money buys success then I want you to do something. Calculate the amount of money that Man U's first XI cost then compare it to City, then compare their places on the table and you will get that money isn't everything.