₦airaland Forum

Brilliant! Super pass from Chalobah.

FBS:
Matic takes waaaaaay too many touches for a DM.

You see that right? Way too many before he makes a decision.

RLC and Oscar out. I am sure Conte already knows Oscar will never work in midfield. Chalobah and Bat on.

Analysing defensively and offensively, this system will work with only two of our midfield players - Kante and Fabregas. Defensively, Oscar is not mobile enough to cover that huge gap in midfield, despite Traore falling back to provide midfield cover. Offensively, Matic is just blind. Because this system does not have an advanced midfielder, it means one of the deep midfielders - well the only two - must be able to spot the runs of the two forwards and make one-time passes. This is where Fab comes in.

Without these two, 4-2-4 will not work in midfield.

The thread is infested.

3-0

2-0

airmark:
Pedro always trying to run faster than the ball. This guy is a clown.

You saw that too. Proper clown.

Madrid scores.

Two changes from the last team that faced Liverpool. Oscar in for Fab and Pedro in for Moses. This means for the fourth game in a row, Conte will play RLC as CF. He plays alongside Traore.

Madrid without the usuals.

ItGeek:
source ? good news for Ola Aina and others.

Good News for Jay DaSilva.
Ola Aina is a right back.


http://africafootballshop.com/exclusive-baba-rahman-to-join-schalke-04-on-loan/

Baba Rahman might be going on loan.

Of course, when it comes to United, the source of income becomes the more important factor of the two topics. Overspending and over-valuation of players duly take a back seat and the much despised "buying the title" as it were, becomes legitimate and the new fancy thing to engage.

I am very interested in seeing quotes from 2002/2003/2004 of non-Chelsea people who were genuinely unfazed by Chelsea's spending.

Griffon:
Yeah it becomes a 4-4-2 when we're defending but that tend to suffer also in the hands of a manager who has an extra man in the midfield.

I want to think Conte already has a plan for this. Have you seen the any PS season games? What I have noticed is that the 4-2-4 system heavily relies on an extremely mobile 2nd striker, who is able to join the midfield and form a defensive 3 in midfield.

agrovick:
Why are we not talking about the Maga money Juventus is about to make from Pogba and the one paid to Napoli for a Higuain with no resale value?

I hinted in this the Lukaku debate earlier this week. Not surprisingly, these deals are not getting the negative press they rightly deserve. Darling United is involved, it must make sense. You can imagine if Chelsea was involved in one of those deals.

Ibime:
Judging by preseason so far, I reckon Ola Aina and Chalobah have already pushed Rahman and Mikel from Contes thinking.

True. And RLC has already pushed Remy out.

"Normally central defenders are strong in the air and aggressive, but we need to have a good build-up to create easy passes in the midfield so they can create good passes for the strikers. I believe when the ball goes from the central defender to the striker as quickly as possible, it comes as quickly as possible back. That is why the players in that area need quality"

Pep.

Nihilist:
Are you sure nateevs didn't write that article?

[quote author=Nihilist post=47954522][/quote]Was watching on Chelsea TV. I don't know if it was online.

mithel:
We still struggle to create chances

I worry about that as well. Although, I will like to see what the final set-up can do when the likes of Hazard and Kante join.

A few positives to take from this.

1. If this is anything to go by, we will be super solid at the back. Great organization.
2. Everyone looked fit and committed. New Manager factor or Conte factor?
3. We will definitely play 2 strikers.

One interesting thing to note is that until Fabregas' red card, Conte kept RLC on, in striker position, from the first minute. Traore was taken off and Bat went in but not RLC. RLC only had to go off when Fab got a red card. This might suggest, RLC is closer to the first team than last season.

Red card Fabregas

It's great to see how this 2-man midfield fares against a PL side.

Nihilist:
I honestly think that you don't know what is worrying you.

I never said anything that dimarzio said must be true.

In case you have forgotten, this was your original comment:






Now I have given you the word of both a respected sky journalist and Lukaku's agent himself telling you that Juve , Arsenal aND Chelsea actually know who he is and are actually making bids for him.

So what else did you want to see as proof that Juve tried to sign Lukaku if the word of even own Lukaku's agent is not enough?

Are you saying the only acceptable proof that a club tried to sign a player is an actual succesful transfer?

We must not have tried to sign Pogba then, or Naingollan

We're you expecting Nihilist to get one of the Agnelli's to come and post on Nairaland?

You better try and figure out what is worrying you, and stop yarning for yarnings sake - you're not a piece of string

For the simple reason of financial interest from a move, agents will say anything. That's where you need more than just mere quotes to prove this. You know how many agents have claimed their players are being wanted by XYZ just to start a bidding war?

This is our point. . . These same guys claiming Juve are interested also claim Guardiola and Wenger inquired. However, anyone who has watched Guardiola's and Wenger's football for two minutes will think naaaah! That cannot be true. So there's a question of credibility in these claims. Whether Skysports, ESPN or whatever relays the story is not the point. The point remains, that the 'source' is questionable.

Meanwhile, if you are not saying what DiMarzio said must be true, what are you saying then?

Nihilist:
This was Raiola himself in April 2015

“Juventus was interested in him last summer but I want to be clear: I don’t think one of the Italian teams can pay that amount of money for one player. It’s almost impossible. We have never said he would leave at the end of this season.

Maybe he too doesn't know what he's talking about, abi nateevs?

You are the one who is clearly in the know with Lukaku.

Raiola said it. So it must be true. That's your mantra here. But Raiola was saying that Juve were interested in Lukaku in summer 2014? Abi no be wetin you dey post here be dis?

Summer 2014 Lukaku was still a Chelsea player. Everton signed him on the last day in July for what .....£28m ? So what Juve could not afford £28m for one player? Is there something else you want us to know about what Raiola is saying?

Unless this is not about Lukaku.


On the subject, you are just being playful. No one is claiming to be in the know. You are the one going to the end of the world just to prove big clubs are interested in Lukaku. Except what you are telling me is no better than Guillem Balague claiming to be in the know as well. When these yeye quotes are subjected to little analysis, they fall apart.

You are cutting quotes off the internet and pasting here and I am supposed to swallow that? Showing me pictures of grown men fighting over a mic? So what? What do you want me to say? Oh! that sh1t about Lukaku must be true. Watch that fella grab the mic.

Lukaku remains at Everton despite all the pictures and no amount of bullshiting at the moment proves otherwise. If we don't see a concrete bid from a big club for Lukaku, everything you are pasting is as good as thin air and no one of them has ever been interested.

Nihilist:
Nateevs this a picture of raiola confident enough to seize Dimarzio's microphone
Show me another journalist that has this kind of relationship with a super agent.
I laugh in Congolese.

I don't care Nihilist. DiMArzio cannot prove to me why Juve will not sign Lukaku (and Everton will sell for £75m) at 23, with re-sale value, no CL football, considerably cheaper in wages and opt for Higuain who is almost out the door.

Except of course they never asked and DiMarzio is spilling poppycock.

Nihilist:
Why ask if you were going to disbelieve anyway?
As if the same Pep did not sign artiro Vidal.

Oga park well and on ya inner light.

GDM is as ITK as possible when it comes to Raiola and Juventus. His Dad actually brought CR7 to Juve begore manyoo swooped. when GDM calls it, you better believe it.

So what? Arturo Vidal's technique is in the same phase as Lukaku's? Seriously? Either I don't know what technique means or you haven't seen Lukaku play football. I will give you my right arm if Guardiola watches Lukaku as a footballer, let alone wants to sign him.

Forget this story abeg. DiMarzio wetin? So there are no English journalists ITK, close to Everton, that can report the same story on this side of the Channel abi? Only DiMarzio knows all deals. The only thing that resembles the truth in all DiMarzio said is that Chelsea may have asked Everton for Lukaku. Even that I dey doubt am because no reputable source is carrying it yet. Even the Telegraph is saying according to "Daily Mail"

Meanwhile, it's recorded that Chelsea has already had two bids rejected for Morata.



So Arsenal with Wenger also asked about Lukaku. Arsene Wenger? Seriously?
And Juve inquired about Lukaku but left him alone to go sign a 29-year-old for £75m.

DiMarzio ko Romario ni.

Nihilist:
Well it depends on who you consider a title winning manager
Gianluca DiMarzio is a sky Italia journalist and acclaimed expert on Italian football. He has a close relationship with Mino Raiola who happens to be Lukaku's agent. Di Marzio's dad is a famous agent as well who has worked for Juventus and was responsible for bringing Maradona to Napoli.

Long story short - When DiMarzio talks, he talks from an insiders POV.

And DiMarzio says that Everton have rejected a 50m bid from us for Lukaku only last week He also notes that Juventus, Arsenal and Man City have inquired about Lukaku recently.

You were not wrong - this data is actually members only, and I regret to inform you that you are not a member.

Hmmm. DiMarzio knows!

So mean to say ManCity with Guardiola - the almighty proponent of tippy-tappy football - inquired about Lukaku.
Belgian laugh from my mouth.

That's all I need, to know that at least one of those stories na complete hogwash.

Nihilist:
And those same clubs are lining up to sign Costa abi?

Lukaku is better than Diego Costa. We are talking about about strikers here not dribblers. Diego Costa didn't even make Spain squad while Morata did...and Lukaku is better than Morata.

To put it this way, Lukaku is benching 60m+ worth of Striking talent at National level.

Michy Batshuayi is Lukaku's understudy.

Me I no dey the argument bros. I am sure I stated categorically that I wasn't making a preference. I only went a little further in stating that at this moment in time in history, no title winning Manager will take Lukaku ahead of Costa and that's just a simple fact.

Still in the realm of a "little further", talking about Lukaku benching £60m worth of talent is inconsequential. It's not as though this point is stored in a members-only database.

Perhaps I am wrong. Maybe it is locked down in a data centre somewhere on earth with strictly, members-only access. Cos me I am curious as to why there is this much opinion of Lukaku on here yet Bayern, Barcelona, Real, Juve, PSG, Man City, United, Arsenal, Liverpool seem not to know about this 23-year-old goal scoring machine who is not playing in the CL. Sh1t! They've all hired clowns.

SailorXY:
If you are talking about national team nothing can be concluded from it.
Benzema won the UCL playing CF he wasn't even selected.
Hazard on the back of a piss & shiit season still form No. 10 for Belgium.

Perhaps you can show us the average ratings of Hazard vs Martial since they played same position.

Lukaku in all his glory is in the market no club with ambition send am. Like some asked you does it mean the scouts cannot count? That is to show he's mediocre @ best . Even Rashford will not last 2 weeks in the market.

Na me dey ask dat question jare. Abi? Valid question na.

diggz:
Please, who would you pick as your main striker from lukaku, morata and the fighting,not scoring Costa. .....?


Cc ibime

If I could make a choice, none of them.

Morata is not a striker.
Lukaku will make my blood boil each time and ...
Costa is just a thug, a ban magnet and sometimes makes Suarez look like Jesus.



That said, I agree with LordFalcao, there is no title winning coach on earth that will play Lukaku ahead of Costa.
The numbers don't lie but we don't see the Bayerns, Barcelonas, Juves, Madrids trying to sign Lukaku. Dem no sabi count?

Not only a 4-4-2. Lukaku lacks the technique to play in tight spaces. By virtue of the fact that smaller teams play with tighter defences against big sides, Lukaku will struggle to score as many if he played for Chelsea. Lukaku cannot play one-twos in triangles and tight spaces. He also has very terrible passes and ball control in tight spaces.

When he has space, he can be lethal. But then again you see his technique let him down time after time.

Given that more teams will play against Chelsea with tighter defences than not, I say that any plans to sign Lukaku should be let go. It won't work. Let not the numbers lure us into a false sense of optimism.

Nihilstjnr:
The big deal is when you start to hear things like Bertrand is not better than Ola Aina or *insert random academy name here* as egbon nateevs is keen to stress.



I don't understand this statement.

You are still on about these things egbon Nateevs said. I have given you documented evidence. You can check for yourself what the response was when Dele Alli was recommended to Chelsea.

Ti n ba ti e nsinwin, se mo wa taa fun awon oga ni Chelsea ni?

It's not just my own opinion. I can understand why you feel strongly about it. However, it must carry some weight if others are beginning to see the light or if some had already seen that light before now.

My argument aimed to focus on a few things. Perhaps the main point was lost along the way but the crux of the argument was attacking the application of simplistic ideas to Youth development. And also that not every failed loan translates to average talent.

Ibime just gave you a perfect example of how a Manager may sideline a loaned player. But you are here telling us it's only about the talent. 'If you are good, you will play'.

In fact, I don lose appetite for the matter sef. I no know wetin I dey write again. I really hope that this argument will be revisited very soon.

By the way, ye ma pemi ni egbon jare. Wetin sef?

Nihilstjnr:
Lest we forget



Instead of explicitly coming out to say so, you have couched that sentiment in an open ended statement. "Alli has no more talent that Jeremie Boga" - Of course, a valid inference could be made from this statement that Alli could actually have less talent than Boga. So please let us avoid playing with semantics. It's not like saying that Colkett and Alli have similar levels of talent is any less a ludicrous thing to say.

Don't be ridiculous Nihilist. Let's not turn a good exchange of wits into a battle of grammatical correctness. You know exactly what I meant and what I said was very clear enough. No innuendos and hidden meanings in this respect.