₦airaland Forum

Azpilicueta is lost on that right wing.

Fabregas is not getting on the ball enough to influence the game.

Conte's insistence on wing play is killing our creativity in the middle.

Batshuayi is not looking like a 33m striker.

RLC and Matic are invisible.

Cahill is a disgrace.

Follow your ball, you dey shout calm down.

Shey this Alonso no worse pass Baba like thistle?

Smh.

Passing from thr back can't work with that foolish Garri Cahill.

He's such a liability on the ball.

Cahill

Long balls from centrebacks to the flanks again...

Nice one time Pedro though.

I'm watching RLC very closely today...

Ibime:
Thank God say you use your church mind accept the L. If say you no gree, we for use force comply you to accept am cos those bigkesh punches na 10 10. Oya hold it. . . .

Guy forget that ting.

Let's move on from there

raumdeuter:
You cant list a player who has a valid contract if he doesnt want to leave. Its either the club buys him out or he siddon there dey chop the money go

The player has a right to see out his contract just like the club has the right

Pep can give Toure the Adebayor treatment if he's serious. Banish him to the reserves. Block him from team meetings.

Unfortunately parasites like Toure and Bastian are not fazed by that. What else do they want to achieve in their careers?

Civil service in football.

Must be nice for the parasites.

raumdeuter:
Toure though he is done at top level can still play in many clubs and deliver, Even in the current Manure would do a better job than those Dab Afro and Shrek

He told Toure oh ahhh You wont play if you dont apologize

Lmao at Dab Afro and Shrek.

If Pep lists Toure in January then we'll know he's serious.

Toure wey dey ready to run down his contract before signing for Westbrom or Rangers...

raumdeuter:
See Pep laying down the law here

Nihilist come tell me face to face if you dont respect this guy

https://twitter.com/jonnysmiffy/status/778230952678002688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

[img]http://twitter.com/jonnysmiffy/status/778230952678002688?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw[/img]

Like 40 year old Toure cares about playing.

He already knew he won play under Pep. If he was interested in game time, he would left the club this summer, and he won't struggle to attract suitors.

You can't threaten a parasite like Toure. Either get rid or stay there shouting while Toure wipes his tears with 50 pound notes

Griffon:
The long and short of it is that, contrasting style of play is to be blamed for the numbers Alhaji Kante is posting now. Well I love the logic, it stands. So bye-bye to the days Kante charged around the pitch. Well, I actually loved that version of him to be honest. The only ninja who is close to anything like that is Everton's Gueye. The ninja has made 31 tackles already - nine more than anyone else, and you can see clearly how that hard-work is helping Everton.

This is coming so soon and I really hope Kante can make a success of his new role.

Bring Fabregas back into the side, and he will naturally takeover the deep lying playmaker role, leaving Kante to wreak havoc again.

All goes back to the Marker, Passer, Runner argument that raumdeuter, ibime and I had a while back.

Right now we have a version of Busquets, and a Poor man's iniesta. Xavi's rightful heir just needs to find his way back into the team.

MaziOmenuko:
Quite true, I was addressing the dude that wanted to transfer out Zlatan to get Aguero. I personally would love to bring in Aguero after the 2 away games, but Kane's injury and Lukaku's doubts forced my hands.

Now I am starting the week with a -8 deficit.

Sounds like you're on the right track bro.

Congrats.

Meanwhile at Abramovic Towers...

Antonio Conte is ‘already under pressure’ at Chelsea, with Roman Abramovich ‘furious’, according to reports.

Conte started the season strongly with Chelsea, guiding the Blues to three victories and a draw from their opening four Premier League games.

But they were outclassed and outplayed by Liverpool last Friday, with the Reds inflicting upon them their first defeat of the season.

The manner of the loss angered owner Abramovich who, according to both the Daily Star and the Daily Express, ‘held meetings with Chelsea executives until 1am’ that evening.

Both outlets add that the Russian was ‘furious’ with Conte and his players, and openly questioned tactical decisions made by the new manager.

David Woods of the Star writes that Abramovich ‘is understood to have been angered by the limp performance of the expensively-assembled team’. He adds:

‘He is also thought to have questioned why Conte, with his men 2-1 down from the 36th minute, waited until the 84th minute to make any substitutions.

‘A source close to the club’s owner said: “He was not happy with Conte’s performance, but it was very early.’
It is understood that the Italian is unhappy with the standard of the club’s summer transfer window, with new additions expected to be made in January.

Griffon have a look at Kante's highlights vs Burnley.

Watch his movement and his passing. Makelele reborn.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBaNGuxE69c

Griffon:
Talking tactics now, what do you ladies make of Kante's change of role?

I bumped into a Sky Sports article that analysed the change and i think their claim is valid. The article explained how kante's tackles, passes and general contribution has regressed ever since he moved to Chelsea.

Under Conte, Kante has been 'forced' to sit comfortably in front of the defensive line, recovering possessions. This is in stark contrast to what we saw him do at leicester last season. His game is all about pressing all over the pitch, hounding opposition players from left to right and making your 90mins look miserable.

I dont know what the don intends to achieve with this change of role - condense space, possessional play or just him paying attention to our backline. Whatever the motive is, i believe it somehow defines his so much talked about 'idea of football' - an idea i'm still trying to wrap my head around.

I don't think we're limiting Kante defensively

Leicester never used to do a full press, and only used to press in their half anyway. They had an average ball possesion of 44% last season, which obviously means that Kante would have had to work harder there simply because his team spent more time off the ball than on it.

This season Kante is playing in a team that averages 56.9% ball possesion. It's no surprise his defensive numbers are down.

Offensively it's a much different story.

At Leicester, Kante would win the ball and quickly make a short pass to Drinkwater to punt to Vardy or Mahrez. His job was simply to tackle and destroy.

At Chelsea he plays a bit more like what Drinkwater was doing at Leicester. He drops between the centrebacks to collect the ball from deep and then starts our distribution. Consequently his pass rate has almost doubled from 39.2 passes per game at Leicester to over 60. Without the enforced urgency of Leicester's counter attacking ethos, he no longer needs to rush hurried passes, and his pass completion ratio has gone up from 81% at Leicester to 94.1% with us.

He also now has the freedom to pick a pass that he lacked at Leicester,which sees him now making 4.4 long balls a game as opposed to 1.7

Kante has become our playmaker on the low. Watch him well next time, and you will notice one of the reasons why Conte feels he can drop Fab. Kante makes more passes than any of our midfielders.

Conte seems to be playing a game where build up from the back is paramount. Against Liverpool, you may have noticed that Luiz and Cahill in conjunction with Kante were attempting a lot of passes at the back, though with very little success. I noticed that after a quick pass combo Cahill would either try to find Willian on the right with a long ball or, Luiz to Hazard, Bonnuci-style.

I'm guessing that if you have a back 3 of 2CBs and a DM who are all quasi playmakers, you can afford to carry non-creative runners like Willian, Oscar and Matic who can just do the legwork and prevent the opponents from pressing the creative back three. At least in Theory.
And thats why David Luiz, Terry, Cahill and Kante have each completed more passes than any other member of the team outside their core group.

Meanwhile, Nihilist I trust you're recuperating fast from the fatal accident of yesterday? Stay strong brother, you have my best thoughts.

The reports are quite inconsistent, some say na trailer jam you, while others dey talk say na molue. Which is it abeg and what is the extent of the damage?

I actually penned a rather nasty reply my guy, which I redacted along with my original post so that peace could reign. Sometimes you take an L. It happens.

Ibime:
Hehehehe. Bigkesh na dangerous guy o. I thought Nihilist had knocked him out but the punches on the counterattack were just too funny. Bigkesh, na to start to ghostwrite punches for some of these Naija rappers na him sure pass.

Pataki:
Well done bigkesh......
Some of your punch lines are sooo hilarious.
Nihilist, pele.

I swear the guy na bad guy. I just had to bow down. His clap backs were vicious!

Bimffo:


Bigkesh and Nihilist.

Oya, its Kumbaya's time.

Hold each others hand..

Settle this.

To be perfectly honest, na me first find trouble.

Bigkesh no vex bro. Na just the usual sparring.

Have a lovely day.

nateevs:
On this topic, Nihilist argues at the extreme end of the spectrum. The only reason, according to Nihilist, that all those players have not made it yet, is that they are utter dross. Nothing in between.

I never said anything of the sort

It will be interesting to know how many goals Rashford scored as a youth player. I watch a lot of youth football but I must confess I didn't know him 1/2 years ago.

What he did as a youth player is irrelevant. What he's doing as a senior player is the koko.

Bimffo:
Nihilist, wetin na.

Ehn?


PS: I know you hate the Youth system/football, but I am just surprised you could use Iwobi and Rashford as example because they were successful.

I don't hate Youth Football at all. All I'm saying is this: I don't support playing a young player and giving him time, if his talent is not immediately obvious. After all, I'm probably one of the biggest fans of Lukaku on this thread despite the fact that a lot of people hate him.

OK, lets look at it this way -

There's a gap in the first team for a particular position outside the transfer window. The manager goes to the reserve team coach and asks for recommendation. Naturally, the reserve team coach recommends the best players he has in that position. The manger brings them into the fold and starts training them with the first team. Then he gives them a chance to play first team games. Abi?

Now what happens if the player given the chance does not do something in his first game. Ok give him another chance. Second game nada. Oya 3rd chance, still zero. What do we do next?

Do we continue to give out chances and hope that they come good?

RLC in particular got several chances and did not show the wow factor.

Iwobi and Rashford showed that they were ready from day 1. Unlike RLC, nobody can say 'Oh they need more time' or they need to be patient.

Rashford in particular, play him on the left, he scored. On the right, he scored, in the middle he scored.

Meanwhile nobody knows what RLC's position is. Is he a CM, AM, or Striker?

Listen to Wenger

“At 13,” says Arsene Wenger, “you would have needed about one minute to know that Lionel Messi was the real thing. Most players aren’t so obvious.”
Read more at http://www.fourfourtwo.com/performance/training/how-become-a-professional-footballer#o7Esus8wZLxG4Xqu.99

Traore took his chance when he was given the chance, why was he loaned out?

Ake had a good season with Watford, but rather than we just turn him to the Sergio Roberto of our Club, we loaned him Out again.

Ake and Traore are good no doubt...but not so good that they can command a starting berth at a club chasing honours. Look, Ake is not better than Azpi on that left. So should he have stayed on our bench to rot? How would he develop. Sadly he has now gone to a place where there are better players than him in all positions...BUT in theory, just as the Watford loan was good for him, Bournemouth should have been great.

You cannot compare Ake to a Rashford who people want to bench Rooney sef.

Since 2010, You can't tell me that out of almost 50-60 Youth products (Not sure of the number) there is not a single one, I mean one that could be promoted, but we could buy Papy and Baba to play for this Club.

Josh's Set, No one graduated.

Baker's Set, No One graduated.

Chalobah's Set, Still no one.

RLC's Set, No one o.

We are are Collket's set, and I don't think any one of them would graduate because this set is not as talented as previous sets.

I don't think you fully appreciate how difficult it is to become an elite EPL footballer.

Read below:

The Professional Footballers' Association (PFA) estimates that each summer, about 700 players are released by their clubs, causing upset and uncertainty.

"The biggest attrition rate is undoubtedly among young players," says Oshor Williams of the PFA's education department, which offers support and training to prepare them for a life outside professional football.

"Of those entering the game aged 16, two years down the line, 50% will be outside professional football. If we look at the same cohort at 21, the attrition rate is 75% or above.


75% of Chalobah's mates that entered the academy did not even make the cut to reserve football.

Of the ones that do, making your way into the EPL is even harder. It's either you're a super talent, or you make use of the loan system.

Come On, Nihilist, we have problems in almost all aspect of the pitch, and we can't get a solution to a single aspect.

I don't think we have a problem at all.I just think that we as fans don't seem to have realistic expectations of what to expect from a lot of these young players...

.

bigkesh:
Give RLC a chance is diff from RLC is better than Fabregas

Rlc really did well until he started forming boss and I wanted him to be dropped not because he lacks the quality just the attitude

Easy to comprehend if you wanna comprehend

Of course it's obvious what you were saying there.

RLC was given his chances by 3 different managers. He played first team footy under Jose and Guus. He played extensively in preseason under Conte. He either could not or did not take thr chances he was given.

Which is why the original question you asked sounded so foolish:

bigkesh:
You mean like Andreas wasn't ready?
Like Lukaku wasn't ready?


The question is what does it take to be ready?? Talent? Character? Or what exactly is it that is needed that our boys who are the best in Europe don't have but miraculously Rashford,Ihenacho,Iwobi and other talents that they destroyed at youth level have

Question for anybody who wanna answer cause it seems its only in Chelsea that they are never ready to displace fools like Matic,Oscar,Baba and co

I gave you the answer 24 hours ago but you didn't understand.

Youth football counts for nothing, it's what you do at senior level that counts.

RLC is a good example. Came on to play like a pant and force you to eat your own damn words.

Rashford on the n the other hand scored on his European debut, Scored on his EPL debut, and scored on his international debut.

Like XZibit said, Thats the difference.

This was our first fight about youth...

How time flies.

Back then it was play RLC, Play RLC, why are we not playing RLC.

Mourinholic:
Fabregas is having dreadful upon horrible games,but cmon let's keep RLC on the bench because he is not experienced and he has not played in front of a 80 000 crowd.........Abi Nihilist

I said back than that RLC was mediocre...and he didn't agree.

Mourinholic:
Boga,Solanke,Bertrand,Van hannolt,Rlc are mediocre??

And

Mourinholic:
I hope later on you won't deny calling them mediocre....
The same guy defending Lukaku claims Cheek is average because he isn't playing,as if Lukaku was ever a regular for Chelsea.....Well KDB is also average

After a few months and games of utter mediocrity, this is what my guy had to say.

bigkesh:
Rlc is a disgrace to the academy......
I mean tackle and be serious,that's not confidence but stupidity.......

Colkett,Ake,Musonda,Boga,Solanke and co are dying for this.......

Never liked him anyway...... The problem is if he fails then he will affect the others

And this is an example of the youth you want to compare to Rashford or Iwobi?

.

nateevs:
Christ on a bike. Why do you argue like? Your propensity to obscure the specifics is outstanding. Okay let's do this.

1. Alex is not on loan from Barca. Alex is a Betis player. He's 23, went on loan and is back. Why should Poyet build his team around Musonda who Chelsea can recall anytime?

2. Loans come with all manners of clauses. The most important of all is the "option to make permanent". This clause usually governs how loan players are treated. When a club has a young player in a position and they think they can develop, they don't have to develop others.

3. Clubs loan specific some players who they know are "DEFINITELY" better than what they currently have. In this scenarios, the loan fees are higher and the status of the player is already a known quantity before the player joins. Very different scenario from when say, Colkett, an unknown quantity in senior football, joins on loan. This is the fundamental principle behind why Wilshere Bony and Indi are playing. And this is no justification for dispelling how 18/19-year olds are treated by the same system. I mean seriously? Is there an idiot on earth who thought that Wislhere will not walk into the Bournemouth side? Seriously?

4. You don't need articles for Rashford because he scored goals. If he was a defender or midfielder, you will be asking the same questions about him. So all those hailing Musonda in the articles are idiots like ourselves? Really?


5. Lukaku's case is very specific. And it is has got to do with his technique in tight spaces. This is a valid point. End of Story.


6. First you said he is not playing. We told you he had 14 apps last season. I showed how he was their best player. I shared an article that also shows you how they went 5 games unbeaten after he joined and that he was very instrumental to their campaign. The article also told you about fans making masks of him to games and chanting his name. Yet you have come back saying he cannot make it at Betis.


I go revert to siddon look mode. Very soon though, you go see.

I don't think you understand what the argument was about at all.

Good night.

You're never really safe when you join one off these groups.

You can run to the moon, and they will chase you there.

Just dont join at all

bigkesh:
Statistically Willian is the best player from the list you mentioned so I will compare Willian and Musonda stats



Passing-
Willian has a 92% pass accuracy of which just 48% were forward passes
Musonda has an accuracy of 83%,63% of which are forward passes

Chances created-
Willian has created 17 chances in about 320 minutes,that's 0.05 per min....Then when you consider this donkey has been taking our set pieces you realise the chances from open play can't be more than 4 or 3 in about 320 mins,that's like 0.0125 per min

Musonda has created 5 chances from open play in about 150 mins ,that's 0.03 per min

Duels won
The ever hardworking Willian has won 51% of his duels
Musonda has won 52%

You can say it's misleading because Willian has been involved in more duels but it shows Musonda is not a passenger

Dribbles-
Don't know much about this season but last season in 14 apps Musonda completed 57 dribbles,only Neymar managed to do better in LA liga during that period

Throughout last season which Willian played 30+ league games he completed 75....Do the math

Willian vs Musonda last season with ALL statistics taken into conclusion.

And Willian is the unproductive donkey.

By the way,considering you watch and rate Lukaku,Coquelin and Chambers then I am happy it looks like a duck to you cause that means it is anything but a duck

You say a lot of reetarded things, but this takes the cake.

Lukaku of 100+ career goals, Lukaku who has scored a minimum of 17 goals in all comps per season since coming to the UK, Lukaku who scored 25goals last season, and 20 the season before, Lukaku that is currently 4 for 4 right now, is the one I shouldn't rate.

Coquelin who is a very good midfielder and currently keeping his 35m rival on the bench is the one I should not rate?

So who should I rate? RLC? Bamford? Boga? Solanke?

nateevs:
What has Joaquin got to do with anything? Joaquin had 30 apps for Betis last season, still, Musonda had 14 apps (Can't check how many were starts. I am a busy man these days). So your statement about Joaquin playing ahead of Musonda is inaccurate.

Joaquin is a 35 year old winger. If Betis had a better alternative, they would play him.

Alex Alegria is on loan from Barca...he's been given more minutes than Musonda which is hardly surprising given that he scored a brace in his last game.

Wilshere walked right into Bournemouth 1st team. Bony and Martins Indi straight into Stoke. Jason Denayer staright into Sunderland, yet you people keep perpetuating this myth of 'he's on loan so he won't play'

I am surprised you are asking what Musonda did after his first MOTM. Look for Betis fans around, they will tell you. He was not polished by any means. He is not a striker. So I don't expect him to score much yet. His game is still very raw and still has huge tendencies to confuse the 'flamboyant' for 'crucial' but the talent is extremely undeniable. And Betis fans will tell you, no player in their side was more of a threat. Extremely crucial to Betis' second half of the campaign.

I don't have to post an obscure article to defend Rashford's exploits. You already know what he has been doing steadily...he did it again today!

Like I said, you can't compare a guy who had ONE GOOD game at a midtable Spanish team to a guy who is tearing up trees at England's historically most prestigious clubs on his debut

Are you not the one always saying that Lukaku who has already scored over 100 career goals aged 23 can't make it at Chelsea because teams 'setup differently' when playing against us....but yet this guy with only 13 career starts in his life, and only 2 goals to his name, this guy who can't make the team at Real Freaking Betis while competing with 2 35 year old wingers and 2 of his age mates as new signings...

This is the guy that is good enough for Chelsea 1st team?

Lemme just leave it there.

nateevs:
You have it backwards. You are telling us what Rashford went on to do. I am asking for someone who knew he was going to do what he went on to do; before he did it. You get?

Meanwhile, forget this season. Musonda went on loan to Betis in January 2016 and ended with 14 apps. He was MOTM on his debut and ended being recognised as one of the best players in the team.

No need to kill him with stats of this season. Because in May 2016, Betis appointed a new Manager in Gus Poyet, who doesn't seem to want to play a loan player first.

You see?

Who knew that Pogba would be so crap on his triumphant return to Manchester? The answer is the same for your question...Nobody.

Only a soothsayer would have know that Rashford wold go on to score 4 goals in his first two games for United.

As with any player, the manager sent Rashford on the first time, and watched him to see if he would do anything that would justify a second appearance...and a third, and so on...

After all, the same manager that blooded Rashford also gave chances to the likes of Blackett, Mcnair, Borthwick et al...none of which are at the club today.

Now many of our youth have been given some playing time, how many of them have taken their chances?

Who cares if Musonda was MOTM one day at Betis? What has he done since then?

You mean that there could not be a footballing reason why a player with only 1 goal and 1 assist in his professional career cannot make the Real Betis 1st team?

Why would any manager prefer to play a 35 year old Joaquin over a young superstar? It's not like Joaquin has a distinguished history or pedigree. Joaquin is not Zlatan.

nateevs:


As for me and my household, Musonda first.

Meanwhile, Jeremie Boga is already close to being the best player Granada already. He's walked into the side this season, literally. Debuted as a left winger, dude now is their playmaker in midfield..... and growing.

One day, very soon, it will be criminal to deny the sheer amount of talent from the youth team. Before then, me I dey siddon look mode. I don't 'many power' to argue. One of them will break through very soon.

By the way, I am still looking for someone, anyone, who knew Rashford was ready before that very first game.

Let me remind you about Rashfords breakthrough...

Scored a brace on his debut in Europe.

Scored a brace and copped an Assist against ARSENAL in his EPL debut.

Scored on his England debut

This was not a guy begging for chances. He came in and Forced LVG's hand.

Compare that to all the 'give them time' dross that we've sent on to the pitch, and you will realise that it is almost criminal to compare the likes of Solanke and Abraham to Rashford.

bigkesh:
Which of our center backs is better than Christensen.... What are you even saying,like it's even arguable?!

Stop yarning dust, A sleepy Musonda is better than Willian and Pedro....No be rocket science

Answer the question yourself,apart from Power and running up and down like a pendulum Bob,is there anything a winger needs that Willian or Pedro possess more than Musonda

Creativity?
Dribbles?
Passing?
Intelligence? (Which is the most important and which they lack in abundance)

Abeg abeg abeg

How many starts does Musonda have at Betts this season?

How many minutes has he played?

Let's start from there...

Then perhaps you can start explaining how Musonda who has played less that 15 full matches of professional football in his entire life, and has only 1 goal and 1 assist to his name in his professional career is better than Pedro, Oscar, Willian or even Victor Moses...

I don't want to say that you are dumb, but if it looks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

Lmao 4-0