₦airaland Forum

timbros:
Hector Cuper: the specialist in losing finals...

1997 he took Real Mallorca to Copa Del Rey final, losing to Barcelona.

1998 he took Real Mallorca to UEFA Cup Winners Cup final and lost to Lazio.

2000 he took Valencia to UEFA Champions League final, losing to Real Madrid.

2001 he took Valencia to UEFA Champions League final again, lost to Bayern Munich.

***2002 his Inter Milan team lost 4-2 to Lazio in the final Serie A match of the season, handing the Scudetto to Juventus. A win would have won Inter Milan their first Scudetto since 1989***

2009 he took Aris Thessaloniki to the Greek Football Cup final but lost to Panathinaikos.

2017 he took Egypt to the AFCON final only to lose to Cameroon.

Abeg who you offend, Mr Cuper?

Will never forget those back to back Valencia finals. He did really well Valencia. Very unlucky to have lost both.

amodu:
It is my birthday blue family, show your boy some love.

Happy Birthday Amodu. May this year bring you a lot of success in every endeavour

The best picture I have seen all weekend.

Hehehe

Hehehe. Liverpool.

Time to find all those Nihilist's post from 4 games in. You ready hommie?

Nihilist:
Make una leave matter for Mattias

Costa 15 goals

Lukaku 14

And Nateevs is talking technique. It's painting me that data tsunami washed away the posts where he was badmouthing Costa. I remember that post well because na me him and guapo dey discuss that day.

Lukaku my nigga

Belgian assassin.

Nihilist. Seriously you have confused me with someone else. I called Costa a demon. And last season and the one before that, I criticised his preference for attacking only on the left.

Nihilist:
We were linked to Lukaku too. Infact depending on what sources you believe we bid between 55 and 67 million pounds for him.

That discounts the rest of your post as does the fact that Costa also lacks technical ability. Costa's top 3 traits are aggression, strength, and finishing yet he's thriving in this system..and this is despite have statistically the worst first touch in the whole EPL

Let's not forget that you didn't believe Costa was a 'franchise striker' or a good fit for the club either, so I'm not really surprised with your submission

Not true. And I wish you can show me where I stated that about Costa. I have never viewed Costa like an Ibra but he is still at very least, 60% technically better than what Lukaku can ever master.

If ever I criticised Costa, it will only be for his attitude. I have never referred to Costa as a technical dud. You must have me mixed up with someone else.

And I still do not believe we bid for Lukaku. I followed the news closely and what I got was that Everton never received a bid. Lukaku's agent was the one making noise about a bid.

I am surprised you think Costa's technical ability and Lukaku's are in the same bracket. Since when ?

Nihilist:
Costa is the very definition of technical dud and he's joint top scorer in the league.

What does Morata have over Lukaku sef? Are you kidding me?

I won't even deign to discuss a Dembele that is not even the best Moussa.

There is a reason why we are linked over an over with the likes Morata and Dembele (by the way, he was at SB on final day of the winter window. Brendan confirms this) and not Lukaku. Because just like I hinted mid-week, when it comes to team success in a playing strategy, the combined effect of having the appropriate player per position is greater than having one super scorer who potentially breaks down play.

Lukaku lacks the technical ability for tight corners and the explosiveness to press, receive balls in tight spaces, make one-twos with Hazards, Pedros, Kantes and move the ball into the opposition area in seconds. This is not Lukaku.

So while Morata and Dembele might be outscored by Lukaku in a kick and follow strategy, someone like Conte will not sacrifice fluidity in attack and continuity in play for a 20-goal-season Lukaku. If it comes to that, then the system will change altogether.

However, if we are to continue in this formation, Lukaku to Chelsea will not happen. It doesn't matter what Morata/Dembele have or don't have over Lukaku in goal scoring. It's what each player potentially brings to improving the system.

It's the same reason you have a high-volume assist-maker in Fabregas and people wonder why he doesn't play. Because the potential consequence of playing Fabregas is deemed greater than the advantage of high volume assist-making.

The system relies on multiple assist-makers/scorers, whose primary role is contributing 'technically' to its sustenance, continuity and improvement.

Nihilist:
Lukaku goal and assist now.

Costa replacement ready.

It ain't happening. Technical duds cannot play in this system.

It's Morata or Moussa Dembele.
Lukaku is not coming to Chelsea.

12pts clear for the moment.

Hehehehehe 15Pts Cech

Goaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaallllllllllllllllllllllllllllll

Nihilist:
Cech 15 points

Allloonsssosooooo

Kagawa10:
Wanyama is far more dominant in the midfield than Matic though. I once thought his one-man performance against Barca was just one off but now, I've seen the light.

Anyway, I don't see why the 3 players (Fab, Matic, Kante) can't play at the same time. It would give you more control and creativity in the midfield.

Not necessarily. It could also limit our ability to spread play in attack as this means we switch to a 3-5-2 from a 3-4-3. We won't won't use the wings as effectively as we do now and our Wing backs will need to do more work than they do now, which could also lead to defensive frailty.

Griffon:
I'll build the damn team around this proven goal-scorer because he can fire me to the league title.

It is what makes me a manager.

Its akin to saying, I'll sell Messi if I had him in my team because he is short and can't really lead the line in my long ball approach. It will be fool-hardy, letting go arguably the best player in the world for an approach I could have easily tweaked.

No sane mind does that, only a philosophy obsessed Pep does it.

Yes, true. The problem you have is that you don't accept that, that is only one way of doing it. There are other ways. For instance, like making another proven striker out of another system. This is akin to what JM did when he ditched Mata - a high scoring, high assist-making machine, for the low-scoring, low assist-making Oscar.

The only problem is here is that it seems to be genius when it not Pep but foolish when it is Pep.

Griffon:
And the best decision is to 'throw away' a proven goal-scorer because he can't play your style?

Till when?

What will you have him do ?

Ibime:
God bless the day we signed Kante. One Arsenal or Manure boy was laughing at me in summer when I said he is the signing of the season. Well it's clear he is now almost solely responsible for two league trophies back to back. First with Leicester and now with Chelsea. In both cases he took two relegation threatened teams and turned em into Champions the next season. Kai, that guy must be worth £150m in true value.

If he went to another team and won the league with them before we attempted to buy him, we wouldn't have dared. Just like Bimfo said earlier, we literally stole him for £32m.

Nihilist:
Aguero is not off form. Pep has refused to play Aguero as a pure striker. He wants Kun to be pressing all over. Where did G.Jesus play today? 9? 10? 11? He's been everywhere. Aguero is a 9. That's his job.

Even in this crappy season with injuries suspension and so on, Aguero has 15 goals in all comps. 11 in the league. That pressing is the issue not Kuns ability. Aguero is probably in top 3 pure number 9s in the game today

Which brings us back to the topic, Style/Strategy of Play. Strong player easily in another style. 25-goals-a-season striker, easily, has a weakness in another strategy. People come with a blanket concept when it comes to style "how can he be struggling with a 25-goal-a-season striker?" He should adapt and play to the striker's ability. Well on the back of tonight's display, he doesn't.

Dafidi

I expected to see Musonda but hey I cannot complain. I actually thought RLC did beter than Batshuayi. Bat has a lot to learn mehn!

Griffon:
IB is a seasoned pundit, there's no debating it. I've been following his views on wide range of Chelsea related issues on this board since 2010 and I can authoritatively tell you that hardly a time has the man come short.

Talk about going against Torres' signing, Emenalo's ideology, AVB, Oscar, Mikel, Mata etc. After the storm and the protracted debates, Ibime still wins.

He was the first to claim that Emenalo was given a mandate to transform Chelsea into a tiki-taka playing side. The first to opine that in his bid to actualise the tiki-taka ideology, Emenalo has decided to stock-pile our team with wingers, a decision that clearly exposes his zero knowledge of the game. Ibime was the first to assert that we must first acquire steel in our midfield, if we must work towards a tiki-taka model. Stressing that Mikel isn't a DM and can't be trusted to provide our bunch of AMs with the needed freedom to buzz the tiki-taka way. The first to reject the Oscar replacing KDB idea. Stressing that the former is a runner and can never become a good CM.

Look at our team now and look back at Ibime's assertions. Its pretty obvious this man has been seeing the future all these years.

Ibime must still be smiling now. No doubt.

As for me and my household, at this moment in time in history, the best Manager in the world is Antonio Conte. I couldn't, I cannot and I would not wish for anyone else. EOS!

CONTEDDICTED:
You mean it's Man United points from the possible Man United

Nice One!

6 points abeg. At this point in time, I can confidently proclaim. This is the best attacking side in the country. Arsenal and Liverpool, Mane or Womane, IDGAF! They just do not have the defensive solidity to withstand an attacking Chelsea.

On the other hand, I see they don't have the penetration to get through the best defensive side in the league either, so where the fear dey come from?

We mustn't settle. Those two games are just as winnable.

FBS baba! Apologies for the delay. Happy Birthday Baba. Long life and plenty property in Russia.

WTF is going on here? Thanks dear?

lilEmir3:
this is more like saying Madrid fans are crying When Bilbao draws Eibar

5hit!

Perhaps they can hold on

spartacus11:
says pep

And you can't see why he has done this from a distance? Seriously?

He has about half the season to go with the same players, what do you expect from him? To say he is better than his players? Like Uncle Jose?

raumdeuter:
Ivanovic was 31 this time last season when you swore he was the reason Chelsea defence was bad

Clichy and Kolarov are full backs where pace and fitness is highly needed

Kagawa is having a very intelligent debate but sentiments are getting in the way of logic for others.