₦airaland Forum

Goal.

Anyone who thinks Rugby is for puss!es should go and try.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]Pardon me to drift away from the discourse on ground. I dug this up from a thread that've hitted the archives, had to tail the poster and i tell you, I fell in Love with his personality.

Dont get it twisted when i say he must have morphed into Coogar - my detective work anyway.

So A-40, Dayokanu, Ibime and all the old guards, who's this dude? Is he still on this network?[/color]

I have always been tempted. One observation though. Jackal starts all sentences with capital letters. Coogar never does. Such traits are habits and one can never be that cautious. So for me, Coogar is not Jackal.

GustavoFring: I'm currently at a Rugby game(Leicester Tigers v Treviso) and the commitment is unreal.

These guys are smashing into each other in this cold weather and pouring rain- there have already been 3 subs due to injury.

Many of the lads playing are wearing tape and bandages on joints, something we can never see in football these days.

Is there any footballer who actually cares about the sport these days? Cos everyone seems to be a primaDonna to me

Mate, I know a dude who plays non-league Rugby. Those dudes are beasts. It's one of the rudiments of the game.
The less committed you are, the higher your chances of injury. So they go all in.


I know one footballer though who puts in everything - John Terry.

coogar: i'm even more convinced that more unruly ones would go this time around. it's brazil FFS! an opportunity to watch football, do drugs, drink irresponsibly, loiter the beautiful beaches & flirt with modelesque chics. who says the £9,000 has to be from their pockets? they would put it on their credit cards, come back to the UK & declare bankruptcy!

From a moment that was me thinking of hooligans without credit cards.

Katsumoto: English fans haven't been unruly since Euro 2000. There has been a massive clampdown on yobs. In South Africa, English fans were well behaved. There weren't any incidents involving English fans. At heathrow, officers were at the airport checking passports of all travelers to SA. And there were also officers on ground in SA.

But I here you on the cost of accommodation in Rio. Apart from Rio, Salvador and Sao Paulo, the other locations will be much cheaper. Although travel may be expensive between cities.

This.

According to a paper report I read, "those wishing to watch the tournament's opening ceremony, on 12 June, may have to pay US$1,095 (£680) for a 45-minute return flight from Sao Paulo to Rio - almost as much as a Sao Paulo-New York ticket or a London-Sao Paulo flight".


That's extortionate. It will cost me £160 for a return flight to Glasgow as I type.

coogar: english fans add chaos....
yes, they bring in the hard currency & stuff but they are the most indisciplined & the most unruly set of fans in the world. they embarrass themselves every time & i can sure you a chunky fraction of them would be deported before england gets to the k.o. stage of the competition.

This time around, there will less of the unruly ones. This is not going to be a cheap world cup outing for fans. . Some 2 star hotel rooms in Rio De Janeiro already taking bookings at over £700 per night. A vast majority of them selling for between £300 - £500 per night. Travel agencies offering package for the whole period for over £9,000.

This argument still dey continue fa Useless stuff.

GustavoFring: How does it reiterate your view?

Currently Alaba is clearly the better left back.

He is constantly attacking the opposition, and tracks back when he has to.

Ashley is constantly Marking the opposition but hardly makes meaningful forward plays these days.

They both excel on the Pitch, but Alaba's all round contribution is clearly greater than Cole's defensive activity .

So I dont understand how Cole is still better than Alaba to you.

Mate please scratch what I said. I read that in a hurry, missed your first statement and shouldn't have replied hurriedly.
It doesn't reiterate my view.

What is does do is emphasises a subjective view on tactics and how players fit in. Somebody like Jose Mourinho will not agree with you that a full back's primary responsibility is not defending. Likewise someone like Rafa Benitez. In the same vein, someone like Pep might disagree that a winger's primary responsibility is to provide cover for his full back. Jose Mourinho disagrees with that.

What's my point? If we throw in the argument of tactics viz a viz modern football, this argument will run off course and become even more complex. What we should do is bring it back to the basics.

If it makes any difference, I like Alaba and always prefer an attacking full back than a fully defensive one. What I would not do is say that because one provides brilliant offensive contribution, then he is automatically better than one that provides unmatched defensive contribution. Especially considering that they are "left backs" to begin with.

dayokanu: Leave nateevs make he dey yarn opaks

Its easy to know those with defective analysis.

In modern day football is there anything like "Primary responsibilities" especially talking about a Full back? Mention any fullback who isnt excellent going forward

Is it Lizarazu, Sagnol, Carlos, Cafu, Lahm, Zambrotta, Dani Alves, Alba, Marcelo who? Yet some stay in the Yisa Shofoluwe, Austin Eguavoen era Full back who are clueless going forward.

As a modern full back Ashley Cole cant make top 10.

What Jackbauer is explaining is basically tactics and how a player's abilities fit in. This has got nothing to do with a pound for pound comparison with two players. This is why I say this argument is very subjective. Alaba's attacking prowess can be attributed largely to fear created in the opposition by Ribery who plays in front of him. This does not automatically make Alaba a better left back than Ashley.


In modern day football, primary responsibility is of crucial importance than you care to admit. This is the reason why David Luiz, in-spite of his attacking abilities (pass completion rate, free kicks, aerial threat, finishing on goal), is considered a defensive liability by most.

In truth, his deficiencies are exposed more because of tactics of the team he plays in. If he plays in a Barcelona team, his attacking abilities will blossom more and going by this logic, many will consider him a better defender than Manuel Vidic.

GustavoFring: I disagree with the idea of defensive duties being the primary of all full backs. Certainly, some fullbacks are mandated to sit back defensively, but most attacking teams these days have at least one full back whose primary duty is to overload the flanks and act as a more withdrawn winger - Players like Marcelo, Dani Alves, Evra and Indeed Alaba fall into this category.

The reality is that the above players are only labeled defenders on paper but in reality are wingers. Under Pep, Barca played a 3-4-3 cleverly disguised as a 4-3-3 with Alves flitting between midfield and defense as needed.

Alaba has been known to play in central midfield and as a winger, so your 'primary defensive responsibility' clearly does not apply to him.

This reiterates my point of view. Ashley is a better left back than Alaba.

Stoopid argument haf start again.


The better player is one who excels at his primary responsibility, consistently. That, my friend, is Ashley Cole. All this 'Alaba assist this' 'Alaba assist that' is subjective argument and devoid of stern analysis. When the chips are down, Ribery is not playing on the flank and Alaba has to defend against Robben, this is when you know where Alaba's balls sit.

It's a tactical advantage for a team when a full back joins the attack, it however stoopid when we begin to overrate the extent of player's primary responsibility on the back of flashes of decent auxiliary contribution.

Alaba will remain to me like Jordi Alba; at least until he plays in a team where his back is pushed against the wall and still manages to fend off the likes of Robben, Ronaldo, whilst contributing fairly in attack.

Man of the match performance by Andre Schurrle. Though playing against a weak defender, it is good to k now that we have someone who can hug the wing and destroy average defensive setups. Dude had a chance and took it.

Goal.

There is a lot of time and games for players to become fan's favourite or otherwise. It's still a bit early to conclude who is a waste of money and who isn't. At this moment, everyone has a fair chance. Those who are good enough will play.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]Oh right.

More like speculating

He cant get there by tracking back in every game you know, Mou gotta help issues.[/color]

It will take a lot of effort.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]So Nateevs whats with the Hazard's inscription on ya siggy?

Mind detailing?[/color]

Forecasting mate. He can be that great.

He is trying to cover his ass. That stuff he's been talking is not working yet. He's lucky he didn't decide to leave Mata off the team this time around.

Fair result considering the red card in the end. We could have won that as we came back strongly after the introduction of Mata.

[quote author=A-40]Hahahahaha

To be fair Vertonghen shoulda been sent off too[/quote]Are you saying Torres should have been sent off at all?

Let's sit back and play for a draw.

Shocker! OMG

He should not take off Hazard. He has brought Schurrle on to cope with the creativity of Chadli. Why don't we let Chadli worry about the creativity of Hazard? Well I guess the mentality is different. Defence first.

See how many attacking passes Mata is making. Suddenly they are pushed back and Torres, Hazard and Oscar are looking threatening.

Mata assist! Simple.

Suddenly we are keeping the ball. As if like magic.

Abegi. Make we talk about correct thing. See the way they move the ball around. You can tell they are well drilled. Their movement off the ball is top notch to say the least and that is why they seem to ghost behind our midfield and back line. They are playing a high line, pressing off the ball but what is most important is what they are doing "WITH THE BALL". And that's the difference.

Instead of us to create a style of play that focuses on what we do with the ball, we are obsessing about what we do without it. This will not make any sense to me. This time last season, Mata and Hazard had already created about 7 assists between them. This season - 0 assists between them.

It's not only about Mata playing, it's also about how much better the presence of Mata makes Hazard and Oscar look.

Lampard playing as the second DM was closer to play the Mikel was. He was jogging beside the Spurs guy with the ball. Ivanovic was way out of position. There is no use blaming Mikel when play didn't go through him. Just like there is no use playing Ramires on the right. Zero creativity.

When it all becomes desperate, JM will get Mata on in a hurry. What would he expect from Mata then, pressing or creativity? You invite pressure on the whole team the more times you cannot keep the ball. how do you keep the ball with your best possession player on the bench?

sawyer89: If you believe that shi.t, you will definitely believe that Patience Jonathan floored Prof Wole Soyinka in a debate contest.

Never believe all that you see and read. There are more beneath!

It turns out people believe what they read when they have an agenda to protect. No single person on this thread displays such consistency. You wait till another debate breaks out, everyone will be online quoting all sorts of links that side with their argument.

You have got to love a tie with Arsenal in the cups.


RE: Sergio. Absolutely one of the best DMs around. One thing that cannot be judged now is how he fairs in a team with players who don't have the off-the-ball movements that Barcelona players seem to innately possess.


Poor Marco Van Ginkel. I wish him quick recovery.

El Guapo: [color=#0066ff]I personally dont think Mata's grim display [from my assertion] has got anything to do with fitness.

Our attacking play has taken a huge regress. No urgency, no cohesion, no strategic moves, just nothing - you can bet yo ballz that Stoke and Cardiff are way better than us in front of goal lately.

Our attacking bands dont think forward anymore, they now think like defenders - Bad programing Jose![/color]

That's an absolutely valid point u raise. Although I believe Mata's a little to do with confidence and fitness.


The psychological effects of this style is our forward players suffering from lack of confidence knowing that their forward play does not guarantee them a place in the side. They are thinking like defenders. Thinking about how to get the ball back before they lose it.


It's small wonder that the combination of Mata, Hazard, KDB, Wilian, Schurrle all have only 2 assists between them after five league games. These players are supposed to be the creative outlet and we've only played one of the top four teams.

pickabeau1: I thought u guys were salivating over willian

I was not impressed.....

I don't remember anyone salivating over Willian.