₦airaland Forum

Griffon:
Context please. Are we discussing being outnumbered in the middle of the park or the artistry of Silva?

They are not mutually exclusive. When you have 3 midfield men, two of which are Fernandinho and Silva, you will ALWAYS be outnumbered if you face them with a midfield 2. Did you see Spain vs France 2 weeks ago? Don't act like Kante is infallible when he meets superior talent.

In case you forgot, even with Matic on the Pitch, Costa dropped into midfield, and Willian did as well. That's why I pointed out tat Willian only made 3 passes as well. The only way to cope with the numbers was to drag every last man back except for Hazard.

Costa's heat map below. You can see that the vast majority of his time was spent in central midfield and occassionaly our own half. We might as well argue that Costa brought solidity into our midfield because Fabregas is crap.

Griffon:
Brah it had nothing to do with numerical advantage.

Against Liverpool at Anfield, It was Can, Wijnaldum and Henderson vs Kante and Matic. We weren't penetrated, and were unlucky not to have won that game.

Against Spurs at home, It was Dembele, Wanyama, Erikson and the ever-playing-from-deep Alli vs Kante and Matic. We won that tie without being penetrated much.

What you saw lastnite was poor midfield positioning n' awareness on display, not being at a numerical disadvantage.

Can, WIjnaldum and Henderson combined do not have half the talent that David Silva has in his big toe. There are levels to this ish.

MSN are also 3 men. You won't expose your defence to them because your defence regularly eats a trio of Redmond, Shane Long, and J.Rodriguez for dinner. Which is why even after Matic came on, Costa was dragged down by Conte to track back on the left flank. Which is why when Willian came on, the only thing he did was sit in midfield and track back. Willian made only THREE passes yesterday. THREE.

Context is the key to everything.

There was nothing like Poor positioning from Fabregas or Kante. The 2 of them were simply not enough to contest the midfield with City. Instead the City attacks were snuffed out at Centre back level where we had the advantage. City only had 2 shots in the box that 1st half...compared to 5 from outside the box. In fact, the only times we really looked like conceding was when Matic allowed Stones and then Kompany free headers in the box from set pieces. One of those headers was straight at Courtois, the other hit the Bar.

I don't want to do a Fab vs Matic argument today bros, but I just want you to know that a formation change was what happened yesterday, not a personnel change. Dazall.

Ibime:
It ain't about numbers my gee. Fabregas came off around 70 minutes sef and nothing changed.

As it was, Matic and Kante mounted the roadblock, it's not like Fabregas was helping them with anything defensively. Matic simultaneously mounted midfield roadblock with Kante and left-wing roadblock to help Alonso who was being outnumbered in the 1st half.

We have been playing 3-4-3 all season with Matic and Kante and never heard about needing a 3rd midfielder until today. Matic and Kante were always sufficient.

This is simply a case of Matic benefitting from the narrative Fabregas has enjoyed all season. All season, Fabregas came off the bench and we all noticed an improvement in our attacking play and lauded him for it. Matics 90 minute defensive contribution was swept under the carpet in that narrative. Today for the first time, Matic came off the bench and we all noticed an improvement in our defensive play.

Sometimes you need a stark contrast to set a narrative. Matic got the same narrative yesterday that Fabregas has got all season on the attacking side. No need to be salty about it. Even the coach acknowledged it.

It's a no-brainer that if you send on a DM, you will gain defensive solidity in midfield. Afterall, that was Mikel was doing under Mourinho.

What we saw yesterday was not a straight swap, but a formation change. If Cesc was the problem, Conte would have simply swapped him out for Matic. Conte saw that the issue was with the formation, NOT the personnel. 343 simply could not contest the midfield against a 451, so he put an extra man in midfield. Dazall.

Griffon:
Like I told Nihilist last-nite, It's something Cesc can't do.

Being a CM isn't just about the touches and vision. Good positioning and great awareness are traits that are required most.

We all saw how Citeh were slicing through our midfield when Cesc and Kante were doing the shift, you can't compare that to when Matic came on.

The difference was clear as 7up.

And like I said to you last night, bringing Matic on in the 2nd half had nothing to do with Cesc's performance.

If Cesc was the issue, Conte would have made a straight swap with Matic. Instead, he brought Matic on to join Cesc.

I put it to you that if Conte had kept the same 343 with Matic instead of Cesc, the exact same thing would have continued to happen, quite simply due to the numerical advantage City had in central midfield with Delph, Fernandinho, and Silva.

For most of the first half, Silva only had to go and stand in the halfspace between midfield and the centre backs, because he knew Fab and Kante had to watch Delph and Fernandinho. This is why Luiz was having to rush out so much to try and Mark Silva.

I don't need any soothsayer on TV to tell me that once you throw an extra body into to midfield to Mark Silva all that nonsense would stop. It didn't even have to be Matic, you could have plucked a spectator from the Shed end and put him in the midfield to the same effect.

So United will be 6th on 6th April

They were
6th on 6th March,
6th February,
6th January,
6th December,
6th November,
6th October.

*#Con6tency*

Spurs score again sha

diggz:
Call it numbers if you want bro. It actually translates directly into stabilizing our game play while preventing the opposition from having easy pass through the midfield.

If you put my grandpa in there, you'll get exactly the same effect. 3 midfielders find it harder to get past 3 than they did against 2. Quelle surprise

Griffon:
Cesc's creativity is needed in a game of this sort, Matic is on to complement.

So numbers...

Griffon:
Staying compact is the idea. No matter how useless Matic is, you can't find him drifted away from the action zone.

Cesc doesn't understand 'cos he's no Dm.

Matic is on, Conte dey observe sha

Matic is on to put numbers in midfield, nothing more. If there was a problem with individual performance in midfield, it's a midfielder that would have come off.

Griffon:
It's not even about the 3 or Silva, it's about how our 2 are going about the business of screening the defence.

It's horrendous!

What do you want them to do? They are 2 men marking 3. Our own 3rd man is at centre back. If they like, they should run through midfield all they want. They still have one man against our 3 centre backs. Apart from that goal Courtois dashed them, what chance have they created? Outside the free goal, they've only had 2 shots from inside the box.

Costa playing left wing just tire me sef.

dyabman:
oshey defender of the universe

Well, they haven't created any real chance and they scored an osho free so I'm not sure why you dey vex

dyabman:
oga , it has something to do. fab is just having a pageant walk

The wholr point of playing 5 at the back is to defend a lot deeper.

Hazardeeen of life

Griffon:
Oboy they are having a field day in our midfield. Are y'all seeing those through balls and runs?

That's why you need Matic, we're not compact.

City are playing 3 in midfield vs our 2.

That's why Silva us seeing space to run in to. Has nothing to do with Matic's absence.

chrisley024:
Costa mind already in China

Dude get mental problem

Cortouis na bastard. Aguero puts Raumdeuter to shame yet again at our expense.

Griffon:
Hazard is a daredevil, oboy see drive.

God save caballero there

Luiz dey mad o

Hazardeeeeen

lordfalcao:
This is me lordfalcao reporting live from France

Bringing to you lacazette alert

24 goals in 26 ligue 1 matches

We get match today. How you gonna get to the bridge from France now?

lordfalcao:
I said Costa shooting techniques over lukaku is his ability to shot from both feet's in tight angles, which we have all seen this season.

But you posted lukaku's goals from both feet this season forgetting I was emphasizing on shooting " from tight angles from both feet" as the matrix of Costa's shooting techniques.

What if lukaku's goal from his right foot were tap in or pass and shoots inside the box, where his techniques can't really be tested??

The numbers simply do not support your assertion.

Costa has 17 league goals, 11 of which were scored using his stronger right foot. That's 65% of his goals.

Lukaku has 21, only 10 of which came from his stronger left boot. That's less than half of his goals. He's scoring with his head. He's scoring with his right foot. He's scoring freekicks. And he's hitting the target at a higher level of accuracy than Costa is.

How is it that Costa still has better shooting technique?

hensben:
Costa is slight better bro

Actually, Costa is not.

Check out bad controls per app. Costa is number 3 in the whole freaking league. That's assuming you can't already tell from watching games or reading the comments here.

lordfalcao:
there is no big margin in those stats to show lukaku has way outplayed Costa. Despite Costa finding the net 4 times in the last 10 games.

Costa with his dip in form this season is posting stats which lukaku's own is by far only better with 2%.

If Costa in his not good form is having something like this, I expect something better to lukaku's if he hits top form again.

Don't get it confused. Let me remind you of your post.

lordfalcao:
Costa has good shooting techniques more than lukaku, this season I have seen Costa score from quite tight angles not only with right but also with left...

The stats show that actually, this post is a lie. If you have numbers to prove otherwise, please go ahead and post them, but the numbers I posted show that Costa is actually more wasteful in front of goal, less accurate with his shots, and more reliant on his strong foot to score goals than Lukaku is.

lordfalcao:
Costa has less appearance than lukaku but almost posting same figures with him..

I don't see huge difference in the two stats you posted despite Costa playing lesser matches.

Firstly those figures are not 'the same'

Secondly, who played how many minutes is completely irrelevant here. Number of minutes played has zero correlation to why Costa is failing to hit the target with a higher percentage of his shots.

Number of minutes played does not explain why Costa is missing more of the big chances that come his way than Lukaku.

Infact, Number of minutes played does not explain why Lukaku is better than Costa in any of the metrics posted up there, as the numbers are already adjusted relative to appearances.

Fact of the matter is that Lukaku has been better than Costa this season. At least, so far.

bigkesh:
Am super sure Drogba was worse than Lukaku at 23

He is fast, strong and technically OK but can improve.. .Dude is going to be a world beater
One thing I like about CFs like him is that on their day you can never mark them out

No CB can match his pace and Power ....Thats why Drogba was impossible to handle in 2012 UCL

I doubt if Lewy, Auba and Co would Rojo, Bailly and DDG on their own without any support


The only reason he flops in big games is because Everton leave him without support ,and when they don't it is Barkley and Mirallas

Thank you very much.

The key metric here is that the boy is only 23 years old.

He still has at least 4 years to mature before he hits his peak. Messi and Ronaldo have distorted the game with their obscene numbers.

Compare Lukaku to other big name strikers at his age, and you will be so shocked

lordfalcao:
Costa has good shooting techniques more than lukaku, this season I have seen Costa score from quite tight angles not only with right but also with left...

Lukaku top

Costa bottom.

You can see the facts don't align with your narrative.

Costa has been less clinical in front of goal. He's been less accurate with his shots. He's missed more chances. And he's scored proportionally fewer goals without using his right foot

Next question.

lordfalcao:
you forgot to add the goal he scored against barca. We call it " chest and shoot"

I'm sure I saw Lukaku score this kind of goal only 2 weeks ago.

hensben:
Drogba played with players like him, that is strong and direct. This current Chelsea squad need a striker like lewandowski, Suarez, aguero or abumeyang, strikers that play with the wide men.

Costa is still managing to do quite well in this system - and technically I think he's worse than Lukaku

larride:
You would have thought Mou lambasted Shaw!! You guys really need to stop your obsession or rather hatred for Mou.

Damn.

You don't see anything wrong with Jose implying that a professional footballer is to dumb to think for himself?

Funlordmaniac:

Drogba that had one of the best first touches in the universe was not a technician? See his heading technique join? The force he used to generate from standing leaps? Or na the shooto? (winning 11 terminology) even when he joined chelsea?

It seems your rivals even appreciate your players more than some of you blues!

Bolded is a myth. Drogba's first touch was often poor. He was capable of sublime control sometimes, but very often the ball just couldn't stick to his feet.

hensben:
John Terry the Legend.

Cc Raumdeuter