₦airaland Forum

Top four finish finally over.

Cisse is the truth.

Not good.

[quote author=Mr_TA]You deserve to win the league by getting the most points at the end of 38 games. Not one match. If they deserve it let them finish about us. no?[/quote]I don't care about 38 games. The whole season came down to this 90mins.
If you won this game, you win the league but you were woeful.

So yes, based on this 'one match' City deserve to win the league.

[quote author=Mr_TA]Dude, we get it. you dont like united.[/quote]And I don't hide it.
How can you play like that and hope to win the league?
City deserve to win the league.

Can anyone point out a United shot on goal in the second half?

coded guy: which gulf in which quality? explain.

Remove your red glasses dude.

Why are they holding them back?. . . Let's see how many punches they can throw.

The gulf in quality cannot be expressed in words.

Goalll!!!

How did this united team ever get near the top of the PL?

coogar: never seen this dude play.

You need to see him play. The boy at 18 has ridiculous composure on the ball.
I watched a number of their Europa League games and the boy is top draw.

coogar: excellent link play!

But for a timely block by Onuoha - read beautifully by the way - Torres could have been sticking in a fourth there.
Beautiful play.

Shout out to Bosingwa who in two games now has been asked to deputize as CB and has done very well.

Great play by Torres.

coogar: your granny would have scored that!
that's bread n butter. torres' pass to release ramirez on the right channel(wooooooooooooof!!!)

Trust me, I have seen poor play and extreme profligacy at Chelsea.

Sam Hutchinson on! Standing ovation for a player whose career was seemingly over.

Thank goodness he scored.

Even at 5-0, Malouda can't seem to make the right decisions.

I can't believe there's still 20mins left to play.
Ramires on.

coogar: the awakening! what a striker!!!
now chelsea won't sell him again.

Don't rejoice yet, folks are on the way to point out the exact minutes he slipped twice.
Remember he's only a dud.

Juan Mata. What a player!

Torrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrresssssssssssssssssssssss!!!!

coogar: torres with a brace already.
sturridge's pass was peach - but then that's what torres needs every game week.
if the pass arrives early, torres would murder defenders.

Do you even need to say this?
Wait till some actors come and prech to us about making his own chances.
Some will even call his goals inconsequential again.

How many of those Kalou chances has Torres received this season?
when the transition is quick, Torres is a beast.


The midfield revolution I have been preaching for ages is finally about to happen next season.
Just sit back and watch Torres next season.

Ibime: I dont see how Marin will be better than Gael Kakuta.

I would rather give Kakuta his chance than to stock the squad with more filler material.

We shoulda been looking at Junior Hoillet on free transfer instead.

I have faith in Lukaku and Courtois. I believe De Bruyne is also a very efficient winger although not super fast. If we can get enough speed around De Bruyne, he will produce assists all day with his wonderful crosses.

That's because Kakuta and KDB have ceased playing on the wing.
After his Jan signing, KdB urge his manager to play him in his preffered role - CM .
Since then KDB has played every single game in CM. He's doubled his assists and key pass rate.
Infact, KDB is very instrumental to Genk's success rate in CM, when he's off form, Genk is.
He's been involved in 17 out of 22 goals in their last 11 games since moving to CM.


And so has Kakuta at FC Gijon .
Infact, Kakuta has many times played as a second striker, though he's more of an AM.
I have pointed this out a few times that Kakuta is not a winger and to utilise him that way is to not maximise his qualities.

My point is Emenalo and his crew have something in mind they are working on.
Whatever it is, it doesn't involve Kakuta and kdB on the wings.



The worry about Lukaku is that he is at least 8kg overweight. Also he is considered very inconsistent.
That's not a surprise as he is only 18.
The softness of the Belgian league was hiding his deficiences.
Therefore, it will be a miracle Lukaku is ready for next season.
If there's a young striker a want a manager to take a chance on, it is Patrick Bamford.

Unfortunately for Thibault as well, the club has granted permission to open talks with Atletico Madrid for a second year loan.
So he too won't be part of the next season.

At £7m, the only way I could be upset about this transfer is if he turns out worse than "Kalouda". .
I don't think there's anything worse, not even Ramires.

I have not followed Marin since his first hype but based on the research I have done, a lot of Bundesliga watching fans seem to echo exactly what Dayo says - Indecision, bad decisions, dribbling too much. Well, at least we have one more person who can dribble.

He's 23, still young and hopefully under the right tutelage, he can find the form the sparked all the hype about him when he was 20.
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So another community buy. Certainly no manager approved this.
Just like De Bryune, Lukaku, Cortouis and Davilla before him.


Meanwhile, is there the slightest possibility that Pep might be off to Chelsea.
Also, Ibime what do you think about the possibility of Lucien Favre as manager.

It's almost certain now that RDM will not get the job even if he wins the CL. Reports flying around suggest that Roman and the men is suit are all not happy about the manner in which Chelsea qualified for the final.

Ibime: I dont think you know much about football.

Do you know how many youngsters I've seen who seem to have skill? I dont reckon with small boys football.

Shebi Gael Kakuta was the most skillful player at Chelsea 2 years ago?

Everybody has skill until he is tested on the big stage.

You claimed Daniel Sturridge was the best thing since sliced bread and together with Mata, would make Torres excel. When Daniel was exposed to continuous scrutiny, we saw the obvious flaws in his decision making.

You remember how I used to like Ricardo Quaresma, until his poor decision making became more pronounced?

I know youngsters with skill when I see them. Thats why one of the only youngsters I rate extremely highly now is Ola John of FC Twente. Kai, that boy is an animal. The boy always lifts his head up when cutting in from the wing and always makes the right decision.

Shebi you remember when Samuele Della Bonna was better than Lampard? (Old school Chelsea fans would remember). At the end of the day, Lampard always had more skill than Della Bonna. Della Bonna just denge on the ball a bit more, but when you talk about skill - finishing, volleying, passing, crossing, keeping possession - Lamps was better - yet I was one of those who go to Stamford Bridge to scream at Ranieri to play Della Bonna instead of Lamps.

Skill is something you cant see. Ariel Ortega could dribble better than Maradona but he lacked the composure to make the difference. Thats the kind of skill our youngsters have - it is not decisive skill!!!

How many of those boys could hold possession like Mikel, chest the ball from the air like Drogba, swivel and score. Do you know that Drogba advised Lukaku that his first touch is not good enough? How can DD with his seemingly poor first touch advise Lukaku to improve his touch? Its simple - look at Drogbas touch when the ball is not on the floor - nobody can trap the ball from the air better than Drogba, even if the ball is knee-height, waist-height or chest-height. That is skill!!!

How many of those boys could pick out assists in the blink of an eye like Lampard. Those boys may look good cos they denge on the ball but none of em can pick the three passes Lamps picked in the semi against Barca - the two passes to Ramires and the one to Kalou where Kalou just stopped running. All Chelsea have always needed is some pace on the wing. Those are the only skills we are missing in the team.

You give Guardiola them boys and he'll take em to relegation.

Jeez! Totally uncalled for.
I didn't even mention in my post who will and won't make it when tested on the big stage.
Your post suggested we don't have the players with enough technical skill for Guardiola to build with.

I came back illustrating that is not the case and named players I thought have the requisite skill and intelligence to cope.
Now whether they will go on to become world beaters is a totally different argument.


That said, I will totally disagree with on a number of things.
Gael Kakuta - You obviously have not been following Kakuta on loan at FC Dijon.
He walked straight into the side and has literally become their best player.
Now I know Dijon is not Chelsea but there are a number of factors to consider when judging whether a youngster failed or not.

It's not enough to state that a young player failed on the big stage.
Failure may be as a result of poor management. Kakuta's case is this.

Other factors that affect a young player's development include lack of patience, silly loan movements, and the hiring and firing of managers with different philosophies causing the young players to change playing styles, learning different things. The Barcelona is different. They stick to a philosophy and that permeates down to kids. It'a all about possession. At Chelsea this is never the case, every 8 months, the youngsters have to play a different style, different attacking methods which cause players to change roles.

This year I have witnessed a classic example of Anjur Osmanovic playing in the hole behind the attackers. Recently, he's not been getting into the team with Ammine moving to the right as an inside forward and Chalobah, who we've known for a long time as a defender moving into defensive midfield and Lewis Baker and John Swift moving all over the place.

John Swift played many times in the Osmanovic role, now plays as a deep lying play maker. Who knows what happens next season with a different manager, all this will change again with a different system and perhaps Chalobah playing right back. These are examples of things that affect Chelsea young players. Definitely, the previous set of youngsters were technically deficient, these factors had a massive effect on their development.


For the sake of time, I can't go into the issue of stupid loan movements. Thankfully enough, Chelsea have signed up to the nextgen series which starts next season. Plus the U18s and U-16s English league which begins next season, we have the opportunity to keep our stars, watch them grow and expose them to top level football and expectations without leaving Chobam to achieve it.

Ibime, watch the next gen series next season and if you've been following CHelsea youth football over the years, you will see exactly what I mean a total overhaul in the recruitment of young players.

debosky: Agreed - the key here is whether he wins the CL or not. . . .if he doesn't and simply reaches the finals, he'll simply be the younger version of Avram Grant and will be swiftly fired or offered the assistant coach job.

You still can't predict what RA will do though, he is still a partly whimsical billionaire.

Totally agree.

debosky: If he wins the CL and gets the job that will confirm that RA prefers results above all else.

Agreed. As RDM has not clearly shown his style anywhere.
If he doesn't then your argument of over 3 seasons, is shot to pieces in one fell swoop.

Ibime: Then we should send him to develop our youth team. . .

We dont have such players in our youth team, so his ability in the transfer market is what would determine his success at Chelsea.

Trust me the players in the youth are infinitely technically superior to the first team.
Lucas Piazon, Ammine Affane, Islam Feruz, John Swift, Lewis Baker, Jonathan Chalobah, Todd Kane, Nathan Ake, Anjur Osmanovic.
Not to mention boys coming up in the U16s like Jeremie Boga. The days are of mechanical young players in Chelsea are effectively over.

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On your post about RDM. I quite agree with many things you pointed out.
The type of tactical flexibility that you refer to is the deploying Ramires on the left in front of Cole to check the attacking threats of Danny Alves.
Then deploying him on the right in the reverse tie. Deploying in the hole and utilizing a 4-2-1-3 when attacking and Mata back to the left for a defensive 4-3-3 against Barcelona.

Management wise,

Calling up Romeu and Bertrand to slot in for Ashley Cole. Ashley needed that rest ahead of a crucial game.
He really has done well. He deserves the job. I say give it to him and all the support he needs.

However, it must be stated that Chelsea is in dire need of a change in playing staff.
Is RDM the man to oversee that change? It's a very different job from stabilizing the team.
I really hope he wins the CL and FA Cup and test the resolve of RA.

This will put to bed finally, the endless arguments we've had on here about the real reasons behind RA's manager appointments. Style before results or not.

Ritchboy has been found out.

ritchboy: Cech

Feriera Luiz Cahill Cashley

Mikel
Essien Lamps

Mata Kalou

Drogba

And that is a very strong line up that can stand up to any team .

Only this team can do it. This very solid, compact team.
Kudos to every single person who was a part of this.

Very well done.