₦airaland Forum

Nihilist:
Wetin carry you go Torquay oga nateevs? Na there you park your yacht abi? Baller alert.

Na una type dey wear those blazers with anchor embroidery and shorts with confirm boat shoes.

Naaah! I didn't go to the Yacht. It was hired for the weekend.


Seriously, na work carry me go. I'm in the Hospitality IT business. I get to sleep in every town in the Country.

CFCman:
My only police encounter was when I was pulled over for changing lanes frequently. The officer asked to see my driver's license and proof of insurance. I showed him those docs.

He then told me the reason for him pulling me over, advised me to maintain a lane, and left.

I didn't receive any ticket.

Imagine. Yeye!

I do easily 25,000 - 30,000 miles a year covering Europe. I drive from the UK to anywhere. 85/90mph constantly, changing lanes when I have to. UK, Nothern Ireland, Spain, Portugal, France, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Denmark, Sweden. . . . Never got stopped by a Policeman for 'changing Lanes' frequently.

Which kain thing?

Only ever got stopped by a Policeman on the A40 in London, after a 250-mile trip from Torquay, for jumping a red light.

Nihilist:
. Currently I don't need a visa to visit the states for up to 3 months, so unless I intend to live there...which I don't...i just can't see the need for an American passport.

This is the point I was going to make as well. I also don't intend to live in the US as well. I currently hold just two. If I must drop one, then it has to be the America one. As I can travel to the US for 90 days without Visa.

RIP to Ugo. I only read he collapsed.

Nihilist:
Mehn I fux with that Tielrmans kid

Welcome to the Light mate. Go and sin no more.

Na the same Cuadrado dey play like this?

It's over

lalaboi:
A lot are just over-reacting to the loss.

Utd were more motivated having been defeated twice by us already this season.

Spurs have a more difficult run in than us. I wouldnt worry much, We got this!

For real. I don't know if we would win our remaining games. But if we do, we will be 2 points shy of the all-time points record set by ourselves. That's a phenomenal achievement considering the huge difference in quality and investment in both eras.

I think many people are not putting what Conte has achieved into proper perspective. He has literally pulled off a miracle with only Luiz, Alonso (considered below average by many) and Kante as the only new addition to the main 11.

There really is no need for over reaction.

Spurs so far have been playing without pressure. Now they are going into the rest of their games, needing to win. It remains to be seen how they cope with that expectation. Unfortunately along the way, they are playing two teams who are desperate to finish in the top four.

bigkesh:
That's the only thing Jose is good for.. ....To stop a team with a clear approach to the game and idea of football,To build his own approach and have an attacking pattern na wahala

Peach brother! Preach. Been saying this for eons.

Nihilist:
Spurs don't play 343, at least not with out and out wingers like we do. They play something closer to 361. Alli and Eriksen stay relatively narrow and pack the midfield unlike Hazard and Pedro who stay wide and cut inside.

Plus Spurs don't play that system all the time. They're already back to playing 4231 in their last 2 or 3 games.

And we are not doing it with 2 out wide players either. This is not to be confused with the fact that the players who play on either side of the no 9, used to play wide on in a 4-3-3. If anything at all, they play narrow. This was the very first thing I pointed out to you about the system many months ago, when you wanted Conte out and said our goals were by luck.

Hazard plays very close to Costa and so does Pedro. Plus they both run into the midfield in defensive position, to form the first line of resistance. Although hey have the flexibility to provide width when they can, theactual width is provided by the wing backs.

I am not going to criticize the system on the back of one loss. The reason we've led the league for most of the season is because we defend very well and we are difficult to contain in attack in a 3-4-3.

To tell you how brilliant the system is, Jose needed 3 attempts to find a temporary solution. The system is fantastic.

How can it not be? 99% of the league so far comes into games against us with only one thing in mind - stop us from playing. We are the only team in the league who goes up against any opposition, home and away, without modifying set up. The only thing we adjust per game is where the defensive block starts from. We still play a 3-4-3. This is indicative of a superior setup. We mastered it.

The problem we have with our own system are the scarce creative quality in the first 11 and non-existent quality in depth. This is a one-in, one-out solution and not a complete structural revamp.


Make the likes of Pedro, Moses, Matic, Cahill the back up players. Buy a striker who complements the co-attackers. A striker for the system first, before the goals. Then watch how formidable we would be.

Nihilist:
343 is a counter attacking formation, not a creative one. You cannot press higher up the pitch with 3 men at the back otherwise you open yourself up to counterattacks down the flanks.

So by default, a 343 team has to defend in a low block, Now because you have to defend in a low block, you cannot commit too many men forward in attack. The fewer men you can commit to attack, the fewer chances you can create.

Because, you can't commit to many men to your attack,there's no point holding on to the ball for too long.

You can't afford to probe your opponent's defences, because you literally have one man less at the back than your opponent, so any turnover could be catastrophic, as we saw for Rashford's goal today. Essentially playing 343 means you cede posession immediately.

So it doesn't really matter the players you have. If you cannot send men forward, you cannot create enough chances. If you cannot hold the ball, you can't build wave after wave of effective attacks. You can only hope that your wingers dribble 10 men and score sweet goals like Hazard has been doing for us. Once you mark Hazard and Sanchez/Mbappe/Whoever, the game is up straight.

Lets look at the Stats. According to whoscored:


Chelsea have the lowest possesion stats of the top 6 as at start of this weekend.
Chelsea have taken the fewest shots in the top 6
Chelsea have made the fewest key passes per game in the top 6
Chelsea have made the most dribbles per game in the entire league.

https://www.whoscored.com/Regions/252/Tournaments/2/Seasons/6335/Stages/13796/TeamStatistics/England-Premier-League-2016-2017

So you can see from the stats that we are heavily reliant on individual dribblers(also known as Hazard) to bail us out offensively, simply because 343 as a system cannot create enough chances.

Except you forgot that Spurs switched to a 3-4-3 after meeting Chelsea first time. You should look up how Spurs are doing with the formation.

The difference between Chelsea and Spurs is that Chelsea are doing this with 8 defensive players, hence the stats you posted. This is essentially why the players in a 3-4-3 system, matters.


The problem is not the formation, the problem is the personnel.

Nihilist:
Which is why I said earlier:


Is the 343 formation viable if we have to spend money on Alexis, Veratti, Mbappe etc?

How much do you reckon we will need to spend to get these players? 100m? 200? 300?

What is wrong with the 3-4-3?

Danhumprey:
And there lies the problem. Hazard is the only real creative player in the team. what about Fagregas?

you guys obviously need to spend like madmen in the summer. this your squad is just papering over the crack and punching above their weight.


with Costa misfiring, Hazard marked out completely and Pedro clueless, your attack is dead.

And I am sure Conte knows this. This is why the first name we should be chasing in that transfer market is Sanchez. Creating a formidable second attacking outlet, which renders man-marking useless, before it gets conceived.


And I say again, No to Lukaku. When team stays as organised as they were today with the intent to defend, players like Lukaku cannot unlock shi!t. Get a player who complements co-attackers with intelligent movement on/off-the-ball, even if that player scores fewer goals.

Nihilist:
Exactly, with Hazard marked out, we lost the only creative player we have in the team. Alonso is not a creative player, he does not take on other players, he does not make defence splitting passes. His main strength is his off the ball movement.

But what good is your movement off the ball, if the guy that should be passing you the ball has been marked out of the game?

Pedro and Costa are in the same category as Alonso. They are runners off the ball. They don't create nada. So even if Alonso was fit, with Hazard taken out the game, it's likely to have been the same story.

So what are the alternatives? Play Fab instead of Matic in a 343? Maybe...but the superior midfield numbers from Manyoo will still choke everywhere. See Man City game for reference.

The real play here should have been 433/451. That way you can accomodate 2 creative players and still stay defensively sound. That's just it.

If you play 343 against the big boys, you will lose the midfield. If your defence and attack are on point, then you will get away with it. If they get the lesson teachers out to mark out your best player, then you're fvcked...as we were today.

I agree with the last point and this is why I insist it is the personnel and not the formation. Imagine we had Sanchez/Bernado Silva instead of Pedro. Mbappe instead of Costa, Verratti instead Matic and Joao Cancelo instead of Moses. Then you have a near perfect situation, still in a 3-4-3, where marking out a single player is an impossible defensive tactic.

So 3-4-3 is not the problem. As a matter of fact, Conte has performed magic getting us this far, with the little creativity the team possesses. Imagine what he could do with better players?

joeace2020:
Take the middle finger because you are done bragging and boasting. You will get beaten by tottenham and you will lose two matches in the league

Spurs have to play Crystal Palace, United and Arsenal. Always keep things in perspective guys.

Nihilist:
I still think that we might have lost this game today even if Alonso was fit. Our front 3 were marked out of the game, and then they swarmed midfield with 5 players - Pogba, Young, Lingard, Fellaini and Herrera. We had no chance today.

Even Juve the Owners of 3 at the back, switched to a back 4 against Barca to cope with superior midfield numbers. If we must continue with 3 at the back next season, we may need to go out and buy a new 11, because we will be exposed against the big boys in Europe.

I am not sure you got that right. It wasn't about numbers in midfield. Herrera wasn't playing predominantly in midfield, he was tasked with policing Hazard. Because everyone knows, without Hazard, we struggle. Neither were Young and Herrera. Those were deployed to stop the advance of our wings backs.

The problem was a combination of Conte's decision to play Zouma, (which meant playing Pili at LWB and as such, no outlet for attack. Bear in mind that Moses on the other end does not attack efficiently as well so we were blunt), Hazard being marked out of the game and Costa just being well. . . Costa

Leyqute:
Throughout the game Hazard was in the back pocket of Herrera.

No shots on target, no shots off target. The dribble wey dem say e fit dribble sef we no see am.

Madrid right now go dey eye am dey price am for their team B. "E no gree 5 million?"

Stop being Pedantic. Even Messi can be marked out if he was the only creative player in the team.

Nihilist:
That 343 formation no be am at all.

With Alonso out, it meant 8 of our 11 players were defensive minded players with less than 10 goals between them them this season

Again, it's not the formation, it's the players in it. It's not like 4-3-3 makes it any better suddenly. This is we why need to make major upgrades in the summer.

hensben:
Since cortoise and Alonso were ruled out for this game conte would've played 4-3-3. That's the closest formation to 3-4-3. Well....,

No you cannot just expect him to switch 4-3-3 like there was no game plan. The players would not have known what to do. What happened was we started out with the wrong personnel.

Bringing Zouma in was the wrong decision. We should have started with the same back line, with Willian coming in and Pedro to LWB.

It's one of those days. Lead down to 4 points.

Willian on

lordfalcao:
Who noticed kante isn't playing anything for this match.. This referee is a suspect...

You are watching an entirely different game homie. In fact, Kante is the only one trying to make anything happen at all.

I think Conte will bring Willian in and Zouma out (If Alonso cannot play at all). This means Pedro moves to LWB and Pili moves back to normal position.

Emaprince:
Honestly, Alonso's absence is showing big time. Zouma in this game is just rubbish.

THis is exactly what I was coming to type. That if anyone was ever in doubt about what he brings to the game, it is evident by a mile in this game.

Conte's switched Moses to LWB.

Emaprince:
I expected Luiz to intercept and go to the ground to push the ball away from Rockford...before the later could get to it Luis and maybe cahill musta returned fully.

Exactly what should have happened. Maybe not Cahill but definitely Luiz.

WTF Luiz?

Nihilist:
Chai I dont like Zouma in a 3 sha

Don't like Zouma in anything at all.

Who's playing LWB now ?

Alonso out of Starting line-up

Edshaf,

Did you eventually wait until you obtained all approvals before commencing works?

CFCman:
7 more league wins and Chelsea will set a new points record in the league. But Lukaku and Mourinho may have other ideas
The current points record - 95 - was set by Chelsea in the 2004/05 season.

Last time they both had ideas, they had 9 goals to share.


Meanwhile, nothing matters to me more now than breaking that record.