₦airaland Forum

“It’s been a slow start for Pogba. The difficult thing is everyone looks at the price tag and everything which goes with it. Then you go back to basics and look at what kind of player he is.

“He isn’t a Lionel Messi — a dribbler or a 40- goals-a-season man. He’s someone who can be the engine room of the team.

“Good players rise to the top and he has to just find himself at United. He has the capacity to do it, it’s up to him now.”


- Frank Lampard

"I think he's (Rooney) paying for his success. He had so many successes in his career. He brought his expectation levels to such a level that people probably think he has to perform in every match, every week, every month, every season at the same level.  For me, that's a problem.

"I think in this country it happens to everyone, it is just your nature, you build people, you kill people, you build again and you destroy again! And I think it is just the nature of the business, especially in football."

- Jose Mourinho

"He (Rooney) cannot be jumping from No 6 to No 9, or No 9 to No 10, or No 9 to No 6. For me, he is an attacking player. What is an attacking player for me? For him, a 9 or 10.

"Play No 6, play in midfield, not with me unless we need it and unless we ask him to do that, but with me, I want the ideas completely clear. He is a second striker, plays behind the striker or as a striker. That's what I think is Wayne Rooney."


- Jose Mourinho

"I put him [Rooney] on the bench for three matches in a row. That is hard for him, hard for me, so that is being ruthless, to put in my mind the interests of the team in front of the player, prestige, status. In this case even legend. To put on bench a player with the numbers he has for club and country is hard.

"But as we were saying before, this is an industry where the people who leads, sometimes in a correct decision, sometimes not correct decisions, but in our mind the decisions we think is the best for the team."


- Jose Mourinho

Speaking to Sky Sports News HQ, Mourinho said, when asked if he would ever be as ruthless as to sell the 30-year-old: "No, never.

"I will never make that decision. A player of his stature, a player of his history in the club will never go to point where club or manager want to make that decision for him."

afrodoc2:
--------------------------de gea-------------------------
---------bailly---------smalling--------blind------------

--Valencia-------Herrera----pogba--------shaw-------

---------rashford------zlatan-------martial-------------

just a thought. go toe to toe with them, I think we have the better players

Nice one! But it's impossible to use it against Chelsea today! It won't be bad to use it, probably after booking ticket to the next Round, in the UEFA Cup.

Never expect all these would ever happen on this thread!

forgiveness:
You must be a very funny one.

Not as funny as You and Supernerd!
You better repent now, and stop trolling! LOL!

You ought to be admitted at the Intensive Care Unit of a reputable, well equipped Hospital with the amount of severe blows your Moniker has received so far from different angles and corners.

On a serious Note; I suggest you adjust your style of analyzing the National Teams, scouting and recommending Players, simply by considering the glory of the National Team(s) first.

We can't have all Players at once in the Camp, also we can't be rotating the Players in every Match! I am expecting Rohr to have built his own Team before 31st of December, 2016.

We should be having a formidable first Eleven before the Date! We do not need to be testing Players here and there! In my assessment so far..... I think Ikeme is presently the No. 1 Goalkeeper. Leon Balogun and Ekong also have secured their Position in the Team.

Onazi and Mikel pivot would be inseparable at the moment, because they are getting to understand each other better.

Iwobi, Iheanacho and Moses (I prefer Simon) should be stamped as the front 3 behind the Striker - in a 4-2-3-1 Formation.

Finally, the Technical Adviser can play a false 9, and the best candidate among the present Eagles is Iheanacho. If however Rohr decides to play Iheanacho as false 9, then it will be better to play Iwobi in the Hole and flanked him with the duo Moses.

But if he decides to play a natural (typical) 9, then Ighalo should lead the line. He's good at holding the Ball, he gets pace, can dribble also, thus definitely he's gonna a thorn in the flesh of many Defenders.

The Positions that need to be fixed up are the 2 and 3 - The Fullbacks. I suggest Rohr shouldn't try out Wilfred Ndidi in the Position again. If he doesn't trust Musa Muhammad, I think he should play Shehu or Omeruo there, but I prefer Shehu because he did play it well at the Olympics.

Echiejile is losing it. He's no longer a reliable Fullback. We need to fix up the Position asap too!

Q&A: JOSE ON CHELSEA, ABRAMOVICH & SUNDAY

Jose Mourinho will face Chelsea for the first time as Manchester United manager on Sunday and the Reds boss has discussed his return to Stamford Bridge in great detail, providing an assessment of his exit in 2015/16, his relationship with Roman Abramovich and his standing among Blues supporters. Here is the transcript of his fascinating pre-match press conference…



Looking back, how do you feel about the way you left Chelsea?

Some managers, when they leave clubs, they like to… in Portugal, translating into English, we say ‘wash the dirty clothes’ and it means to speak about what happened. To go back to speak and speak and speak. I left the club with a very good feeling. A feeling that I gave everything to succeed, I gave everything to the club and I don’t want to go back and speak especially about the bad things. I keep the good things and in Chelsea I had so many good things, so many good things in terms of results and so many good things in terms of friends that I have for life. I have an amazing empathy with the supporters. The supporters didn’t change their relationship with me because of last season and a couple of months of bad results. So I keep all of these good memories. There are things that I don’t forget, but I keep them for myself.



Is the owner still one of those good friends?

He was never my friend. We always had the relationship of owner and manager. It was a very respectful relationship. You are not a friend, you're not close to each other. It is just a person that I keep respect for.



What kind of reception will you get from the Chelsea fans, and do you care?

To say I care is not true, because to be honest when I go to a football match I don’t focus on that. I am more focused on the game, I try to prepare myself for the match, so I cannot say that I care. What can I expect? I don’t know. They can think about me and remember our great relationship and have a good reaction, or they can look at me and think for those 90 minutes that I am the United manager and he is playing against us so he is not somebody that we like at the moment. I did my job and they gave me their love, and they gave me their support. That is the most important thing. Now, I go there as Man United manager and if they decide to have a different approach then I will always respect that. For me, what you are not going to have, ever, is a bad word about any one of my previous clubs, any of the fans who have supported me, so I always keep a very good feeling and it doesn’t matter what is going to happen. But it is my nature, it is my nature, it is my club and obviously I go there to try to do my job.



How difficult is it to visit a club with which you have such an affinity with the fans? 

I have to try to forget it and try to do the job, you know? I played there with Inter and I tried to do my job. If you ask me if my team scores a goal, am I going to celebrate like a crazy kid? No! I think I can emotionally control that situation. Am I going to have any negative reaction if the crowd has something negative with me? No! Again, I have the maturity to control that emotion. But, what Man United fans can expect from me is more important in this moment and what the Man United fans can expect from me is that we will play against Chelsea in the same way I played against Fenerbahce, Liverpool and everyone.



Are you a better manager because of those difficult final months at Chelsea?

No, that period came at a period of my career when I was already a grown man. I was already a stable manager, emotionally strong. I was not a kid. It didn’t happen in the first years of my career. It happened when I’d already had so many years, so I think I got it in a positive way. I was lucky to have a big club like Man United that focused on my career and not on my last three months. I was lucky enough to have the chance to stay in the competition that I most love and to stay in a big club like Man United, with a big project and a big challenge like I have in my hands. So everything is positive.



As a title rival, how important is it to beat Chelsea at their stadium?

You look to the table and the distances are so short. It looks like the team that wins three matches in a row is immediately in the top three or four. The team that has a bad run, just a couple of results, goes immediately out of top four. But honestly, it looks like it is going to be tight. We are in a period where some teams are having easy fixtures and if they win two or three of those, with ones playing in between them sharing points, like what happened in Liverpool, or Tottenham against Liverpool. In a couple of weeks it will depend on one win and another one losing, they get the draw and the other one wins two consecutive matches to go there. So my feeling is that it will be close and probably one team that is playing for the title in March probably doesn’t finish in the top four. I think it is going to be really tight.



Could we have six or seven teams going for the title in April or May?

It can be that way, also because the other teams can steal points. So it can be tight, probably not six, probably three. Probably during the run, somebody will fall a little bit. I am not a gambler but if I was, I would not bet a lot on the title because it is a big risk of losing money. I would bet a lot on the top four.

forgiveness:
Loooolllll! I didn't mention names na. Na you add put ooooooo.

Are you really a Troll or just obsessed with foreign-born Players?! LOL!

I think the Elders have spoken well. There is limit to everything. The Newbies are already misunderstanding you, your opinion and philosophy. LOL

It's fair to argue with facts and stats - doing justice to the argument is far more important. It's true that stats don't lie but sometimes it's misleading like a Youtube clip!

TheSuperNerd:
@ First bolded That's true but u don tey Sir..... *smiles* I am 100% certain you know of my passion for all our national teams and my boundless love for all our players and talents... And probably of my vision of a golden and more powerful generation rising in Nigerian soccer.

WHY AM I SO SURE?? You showed some of your homework here: (when speaking on Siasia's bribes and the U-23 team to which I didn't drop a comment then)


Even when you did, you crowned Forgiveness "A Saint" as one who stood with the team and Siasia when that's a quarter-lie


**Your subtle "romance" and stand with Forgiveness without actually seeing thru matters wholly didn't start today bro.**


@ Second bolded.... I am glad to hear this. So very glad....

@ third bolded..... quota system... I ONLY QUOTED THAT PART COZ I WANTED TO KNOW why we should even be discussing "quota system" when we are talking picking the finest and the best for each position regardless of location... And the "someone"?... Didn't wanna disturb your moniker..... I'm not afraid to mention if I wanna mention.

Note: Forgiveness has already said he wasn't speaking for quota system. Looolllll... THEN I WONDER WHAT ELSE HE MEANT BY WHAT HE SAID ON THE YOUTH/CADETS TALENTS THREAD shown IN MY EARLIER "LOOOONNNG POST" where I gave You, Sir Oasis007, a lot of mentions.

@ fourth bolded.... Actually Sir, you sure have been partial... It's not me thinking... It's me "knowing" **check first bolded again**

@ fifth bolded...... I'm actually not offended. I expected such to happen

But just to make it balanced... Okay.. "Forgiving" (would have used "Forgiveness" ) is already forgone. Not even an issue... BUT FORGETTING?? Well, I can forget the "cloudy atmosphere" under which all this happened but I can't "neurologically" forget... I'm not amnesiac...



LASTLY...... I don't throw jibes. I only reply to "selected/certain" jibes thrown at me. Ignore some. But sometimes you reply some to set records straight coz Silence isn't always golden.

Super finally.... YOU'RE WELCOME.....

Forgiveness is a fat Liar, while Oasis007 is a quarter-Liar

- Supernerd

(just joking with the quotation)

LOL! You are really a funny Dude! I may seem partial with my support for Forgiveness, but I'm ain't! Just don't want him to feel bullied and isolated because of his philosophy. (he would surely laugh at this comment)

We can't all be on the same page - but my concern is; this thread shouldn't be turned to Politics Section. Maybe I missed, but I'm kinda convinced this is the first time you are engaging in E-Confrontation. LOL!

I think we should return normalcy back to the thread ASAP! We have few Days left to the Algeria Match, Rohr is kinda disappointed that the Thread was derailed.

Rohr is waiting for us to start recommending Players based on Merit. Forgiveness shouldn't be feeding us with craps! LOL!

I enjoin all aggrieved Parties to sheath their swords...... it's time to start discussing Algeria Match in proper!

TheSuperNerd:
**smiles** *winks** **laughs**


It's still me Sir... it's still me afterall...

You are a scam for subtly jumping in the name of peacemaker and now making jibes like "Unlike the other who surrendered to EMOTION"

Dude..... I got the message

So you've been noticed.... Mr Oasis007

Run along now.... Next time... Don't jump in so quickly. Stand apart like the others and observe for a while... Only then will you drop truly wise comments.

I rarely comment or engage in any discourse on this Thread, even though I am big Fan of it.

This Platform has indeed helped to enlighten Monikers like mine..... the importance of believing in the National Teams, especially the Super Eagles.

This Thread, has economically, helped me to cut my daily expenses - because I am no longer buying Complete Football or Soccer Newspapers purposely to read News on Nigerian Players as well as the National Teams.

I was disappointed to read jibes and allegations flowing up and down. And more disappointed that, some fellows ain't helping the Tense to calm, rather fanning the Flame.

I do not meant to offend anyone, cos there is nothing to gain from it. But only disappointed that Supernerd could quote Parts of comment (Quota System) and acknowledged my Moniker as Someone.

I have nothing to gain from siding anyone, however if Supernerd thinks I've been partial, and leaning to a particular side with my earlier post(s), I am very sorry! Seeking for Forgiveness from a Person you offend isn't a bad thing.! Hope Supernerd would forgive and forget, and cease throwing more jibes at my Moniker directly or indirectly?!

TheSuperNerd:
And uhmmm.... Loollll... Oasis007

I didn't "run away".... Doesn't it occur to you that someone like me have bigger lives outside NL??

You're funny.... Came in as a peacemaker and now have taken side.... Looolllll

What a scam you are. #NiceTry

I wasn't expecting you to refer to my Moniker as just Someone. LOL! I am not siding anyone, just kinda surprised you could think of Forgiveness as a Bigot?! Common..... you are smarter than that, trust me, you are among the few I respect a lot on this thread. Your hilarious style of commenting is unique and very interesting.

But dear Supernerd - why calling me a Scam?! Why are you quickly losing your temper these Days! Common..... this ain't you per se! Seem your Moniker is hacked!!!

forgiveness:
Bros, leave them alone.

They think say na tap in na em e take score goals for em first professional football experience.

They are known for using double standard and I read to expose as many as possible.

Seem you like trouble! He's also scoring spectacular Goals as evident against Tanzania and Zambia respectively!

I like the way and manner Forgiveness responded to the heated Argument unlike someone who quickly surrendered to Emotion. LOL!

Forgiveness has made it clear, he's not a Bigot as someone is alleging him , neither is he advocating for Quota System (my mistake)!

Rohr will make a costly mistake if he re-invites Enyeama to the Super Eagles Camp after booking the Russia 2018 World Cup Ticket with the services of Ikeme between the Poles!

Enyeama's time is over, we should move away from him and focus on developing a new Goalkeeper for the future - Alampasu comes to my mind.

Wif deserves to be in the Lineup ahead of Onazi against the Algerians. He has already proven himself this Month.

I would have asked for Onazi and Wif to be partnered in the midfield, but Mikel Fans would be offended!

All in all..... Algeria will fall in Awka by God's willing!

“When I played there with Inter, before that, I had never lost a match at Stamford Bridge because I had that [unbeaten] home record.

"Now, I lost already a few matches at the Bridge. Last season, I lost two or three matches so I cannot use the same words. Now, I lost there.”


- Jose Mourinho

Pogba shouldn't ever be played as a No. 10 again! That Position belongs to Mata.... for now though.

I really do not get the Fuss?! I hope someone will deny that Oba Eweka 1 is Oranmiyan's Son?! Is Oranmiyan also a Bini Man?!

Enough of this baseless argument for God's sake! It's a fact that Oba of Benin, Ooni of Ife and Alafin of Oyo are descendants of Oranmiyan!

Congratulations to the new Oba of Benin Kingdom. May you live long!

I am very disappointed in some Monikers for taking side in the Argument between Supernerd and Forgiveness!

The Veterans ain't taking sides, and I think the Kiddos should have learned from their maturity.

Forgiveness is mistaking as a Bigot by Supernerd. It's obvious Forgiveness does mention Names related to Yoruba, but that ain't making him a Bigot.

The Names he has mentioned are Nigerians born outside the Continent. Forgiveness is simply a big Fan of foreign Born Players.

The other thing I noticed about him is; he's advocating for a national Team that respects Quota System. And he believes..... with the foreign-born Players, talented Players from other Tribes won't be an issue!

I hope Supernerd can retract the negative things he has posted to degrade the personality of Forgiveness, also I hope Forgiveness will seek for forgiveness from the Monikers he has offended. LOL!

weedtaker:
how's jose different? dis ur opata yarns don de get out of hand, you mean win anyhow by winning the league with the highest point and least conceded goals abi with scoring the highest number of goals? fergie left us as champions and we finished 7th, na fergie abi moyes we go blame? you just keep disgracing yourself, well what do one expect from someone who thinks ali is on par [if not better] than pogba simply because they both post the same stats last season.

I will never advise you to quit smoking Weeds aswear! I did enjoy your responses! I hope the Guy will learn from it!

You critically answered the Dude beyond my expectations. After Fergie left, ain't we back to square zero?!

Some Goons are simply Jokers..... perhaps he needs to accept you as a Role Model and start smoking "that thing" you are chilling with too!

Sorry Manchester City!!!
Pep Guardiola..... why on Earth you sanctioned the purchase of Stones for £50m?! Lol!

Official: Manchester City is dead..... in the hand of Messi!!!

Individual errors cost Manchester City at least a point!

This Mathieu na real MUMU!!!

Man City should have got a point..... but they foolishly lost the Match!
Individual errors code them a point at least!

Pep Guardiola is crazy! I swear!!!
What does he intend to achieve with this Striker-less lineup?!

SailorXY:
- - - - - - - - - Romero - - - - - - - - -

Darmian - Mensah --- Blind - Shaw

-- Schneiderlin - Carrick - Fellaini --

- Mata - - - Rashford - - - Memphis -


Something similar to this team should start the game.

Nice one, but I think either Lingard or Mkhitaryan is likely to start as RWF instead of Mata! Also, Mourinho may opt for Rooney to lead the Line instead of Rashford!

The Gladiators!!!

More.....!!!

Lads are getting back in shape!

"He (Mkhitaryan) was injured quite a long time but he's not injured any more. Now it's time for him to go back to the levels we know he can achieve.

"He’s training with the team without any limitation. I cannot confirm if he’s [ready] for tomorrow or not, but he’s fit and it’s now time for him to go back to the levels we know that he can achieve."


- Jose Mourinho

I hope to see Mkhitaryan in the Lineup Tomorrow. We need him on Sunday against the Blues, hence he should take his chances tomorrow to get fitter and 100% in shape!

With Martial on the left, a fit Mkhitaryan on the right, Mata in the hole, Ibrahimovic upfront, it will be really hard for Chelsea Players to control the Game.

Also we need Herrera and Pogba to teach Kante and Matic some bitter lessons in the Midfield battle!

It won't be hard to get the maximum points at the Stanford Bridge if the Players play to their strength IMO!

"He (Ibrahimovic) is giving us exactly what we need and expected from him. It’s quite beautiful for me to meet him five or six years later and to find the same ambition, passion and desire to play and compete. He’s really fit and always ready to play."


- Jose Mourinho