₦airaland Forum

jpmoriarti:
We won't miss Dembele. What exactly are we missing? Promises?

Yes, everyone knows he can unbalance the defence but how many times has he actually unbalanced the defence and Barca won an important match?

Dembele is just an epitome of frustration. So near yet so far away.

No better description and yes the bolded is a common knowledge.

I'm not his biggest fan sef right from how he left Dortmund. My comment about Dembele since he joined Barca is very clear. He's a pea sized brain footballer.

I said he'll be missed coz Xavi is crying on Social media since yesterday. The way Xavi wants to play suits Dembele better.

Good riddance.... he's bye bye!

Culer:
Chiesa would have been a perfect replacement and is even a better player than dumbele.
He can play RW, LW or even 9 ( this one wey Lewy don dey zuzu).

Na typo be this?

Kilishihunter:
Which winger in our squad is currently better than dembele? Even xavi our coach fought to keep him when most of us including me wanted him gone last year, the big reason why we're in this mess of collecting just 25m from that fúckin pi$$g, Me wanting him gone and hoping for his replacement won't make me deny his abilities, There was even a time some fans were complaining of Dembele-dependecia where most of our attacking forays were coming from the right wing due to instructions for him to be given the ball there almost akin to how vini controls most of the vardrid attack from the left

You're on point with everything but I no go like give you, I'm not sad Dembele is leaving...we'll miss him sha.

If we can survive Messi, we'll survive Dembele too. I think we won't sign any winger unless we sell one or even two of Abde, Ferran, Raphinha and Fati.

Culer:
Loan most probably. But City wouldn't want another loan operation again. They might want to cut costs and do away with him completely, so the deal is gonna be really complicated for us because of the cost of the deal and his wage demands.

Of course cancelo is a classy player and would fit in seamlessly..
I really don't buy all that toxicism stuff about him, it's been grossly overblown tbh.

Same here chief, I really don't buy it!

Culer:
Xavi might just get cancelo and convert Him to a RW ( Defensively he's always been found wanting, after all). Fabrizio says we're in for him.

Yes, I wouldn't mind him on the right. He's a very productive player at all levels. My kind of world class player.

I heard he's toxic but don't know how true coz same was said about Auba before he joined but he turned out good for us.

For Cancelo...money dey so abi na loan?

Kilishihunter:
Yamal is probably going to spend lots of his time with the B team to not rush him and aid his first team development so he might not be a major part of the team which is the right thing considering his age
Raphinha is a dribbler we can't put our hope on, something that's vitally needed in this xavi's wing system

Read my comments again. I mentioned four options before adding "and of course the kid Yamal"

I'm very clear with Yamal. He's no Messi and should be fifth choice for two spot that's about 5-10 mins per game. That's okay for a 16 year old. Yamal will not play lots of games sef but he'll play some cup games though.

Here are the options again instead of signing another unproductive player like Nico who'll even cost alot sef.

Raphinha, Ferran, Fati, Abde and ofcourse the kid Yamal. With a midfield four because Xavi may want Gavi again on the wing that's just about five players for just a single position.

No need for another winger bro unless we have the money to go big on players like Kvara Leao, and even Bernardo.

25m won't get us any quality first team player in the current market.

Kilishihunter:
Abde is a right footed forward, We honestly need to find a backup for raphinha, he and lewandowski were our two worst players on the pitch

We don't need a back up for Raphinha. Abde is right footed but can play on the right just like the player you mentioned Nico who's also right footed even though he's spent most of his senior career on the right just like Gnabry and Koeman.

For 25m(Dembele's net package) we're not getting anyone good enough in the current market. We'll do well to work with what we have which are...

Adbe, Ferran, Fati, Raphinha and ofcourse the kid Yamal for the right and left wing position.

Kilishihunter:
Bilbao will make life absolutely tough for is if we go for Nico Williams despite his contract expiring next summer, People that will be still be hurting after losing inigo to us, The only way out is to trigger his €50 million release clause.

Nico Williams lol.

Chief, we don't need another right winger with a pea sized football brain. Nico's decision making is not good enough. Unproductive player!

Raphinha, Ferran, Fati all better than him even though they all don't play same wing.

I'll rather continue with Raph on the right with Ferran, Yamal, Abde as other options.

Kilishihunter:
La Masia the gift that keeps on giving
Okpansukka is bae go still cook ferran today

Lol.

Lopez 1 assist 1 goal.

What a hit wow 2:0

We're lacking so much control lol

We're playing better now, great!

Culer:
LOL!!! Did you watch the first half

You want to play gundo and frenkie as double pivot?! 😂


Foot ball knowledge= 0

Lol na you ooo

Dejong isn't a single pivot sef. I only made that comment because of how bad Romeo is so far.

Alot of people know he's not a good DM but to sacrifice Gavi, I'll prefer Romeo to be dropped.

Culer:
so who is going to sit on the bench? Romeu plays DM in a double pivot alongside frenkie and Gundogan plays further forward to support Lewy.
You're going to sacrifice Pedri for gavi's "work rate''?

Romeo should sit on the bench. Gundo and Dejong can handle the middle along with Pedri. Gavi needs to be starting games like today. Romeo is too mid. So bad!

Let's see how it goes but I think we'll sign Lo Celso. I just wished we were able to sign Brozovic.

If you look at Livescore, they say...
Barca 61%....Madrid 39%

If you watch the game, it's a different story. After we scored, Madrid dominated and really should've scored.

I think we'll need that Lo Celso coz Romeo lol. Not up to scratch at all. So bad that Dejong is the one playing deeper.

I don't think we'll challenge for serious honours in Europe with Xavi. He's so Valverde!

It's a friendly game but we're not playing well.

jpmoriarti:
We'll go for Joao Felix, who has publicly professed his love for Barca

We'll not go for Felix and we really shouldn't...

As a winger, Felix is currently not better than Abde, Fati, Raphinha and Dembele**

As an interior, he's not better than Gavi(12th man) and the rumoured Lo Celso.

So as a midfielder, he's not strong enough. As a winger, not fast enough for the way Xavi wants his wide wingers....I'll pass!

Felix is better for a team with a clear #10 role. At Barca, there's nothing like #10 role that's why Coutinho and Griezmann suffered.

He's not coming to Barca and really shouldn't!

brandon180:
Fati and Abde did well, Balde surprised me the most, after that injury man’s still looking sharp.
As for raphinha, sha make I no talk first.
Make season start proper.

Ralph won't change. What you saw last season will be on show again. Poor dribbling and touches and the occasional goal/assist.

I don't hate Raphinha but this guy needs to leave Barca.

Aside the goal from dead ball, he was completely useless.

Abde, Fati did well, was impressed by both!

OkpaNsukkaisBae:
Is FA cup not a serious trophy? is it not a shame dat after selling club assets 2 buy players 4 xavi. he failed 2 qualify 4 ucl Roud sixtheen. A very big failure.

If Arteta wins only FA cup for 5 seasons straight, he'll eventually be sacked or may be his contract not renewed or something. But if he wins one EPL in 8 seasons, he may not be sacked.

Yes, Arteta is currently better than Xavi, but after how much they've spent, they need a serious trophy.

Yeah, fa cup isn't really a serious trophy compared to UCL and the league title.

Barca must let go of Dest 🤮 I don't think I've seen a footballler with a lower iq honestly.

Kilishihunter:
Arteta has improved the squad, IMO that team can still challenge for the EPL and maybe even the UCL quarters depending on the paths they face, Even in the game against united they created tons of decent chances but couldn't put the finishing touches

Boss I'm in agreement with you that Arteta is currently better but the margin is quite small...

I'll say Arteta is currently 8/10, Xavi is 7/10!

Kilishihunter:
As of today Arteta is tactically ahead of Xavi reason why he was being linked to be our new coach after rumours earlier in the season that Xavi will be sacked so no be new thing

Yes, as of today(literally), he's better, I think.

Kilishihunter:
Arteta has also shown he's a better student if Pep than xavi here which might be understable considering he worked as his assistant, They used our heritage, possession football to turn us to Almeria, Partey dey even boss midfield ahead of our more technical midfielders

First presseaon game against a team who has played four games or so and Arteta is already turning us to Almeria lol

Where was this Arteta when they lost to some United weak lineup twice in same match?

I'll take arsenal and Arteta serious when they finally win a serious trophy.

That said, Alonso, Garcia, Ferran and Dest are just not good enough.

Dest 🤮🤮🤮🤮

Culer:
I don't need to see any YouTube compilations. I watched him keenly when he was at Leeds cuz we were linked to him. He's never been an effective dribbler.

Alright man!

andrewbaba44:
You said he isn’t underrated but still went ahead to underrated him because he isn’t flashy and knows how to dribble like dembele and co

Of course he isn’t world class ,I am sure you want him to dribble meaningless dribbles than getting goals or assist or contributing more to games

There is nothing different with raphinha of Leeds than the one at Barca ,the performance are about the same ,the difference is one is a big club and the other is not

Raphinha dribbling at Leeds ? Dey play

Ok

elmessi:
Maybe it's only me sha, but personally the quality of football displayed so far by most of the teams at this tournament is disappointing. I find it hard to even watch for 5mins straight. Women's football still has a long way to go.

They're doing fine.

I'm enjoying the games, may be you're right and it's only you.

Culer:
Wrong. Raphinha was never an elite dribbler. He has always struggled to consistently beat his man.

Wasn't elite but not this level of low.

Raphinha completed lots of dribbles in the EPL, if you can't recall his games, go to YouTube and confirm my point.

At Barca, his YouTube drills will be about crossing, tackling and goals.

Raph at Barca and Leeds in terms of dribbling is night and day. No arguments there.

It may be as a result of the PL being more open with lots of space coupled with us facing lots of low blocks but that's not an excuse for a player we paid lots of money for.

My point remains that he dribbled better at Leeds and has been piss poor in terms of dribbling at Barca.

A winger should know how to dribble/score
A striker should know how to score goals
A defender must be able to defend first and ofcourse, a GK must be able to stop shots!

Raphinha at Leeds was a good dribbler, I want that Raph this campaign 🤞

LeoDeKing:
This is not coincidence, it is something more than coincidence.

Something more like?

andrewbaba44:
My post is implying that raphina isn’t a bad player like most of you think because he is not flashy

My post is implying that raphinha have better stats than bernardo Silva who is a better player shows that he is underrated

Na you know Wetin you Dey find

Raphinha is not underated Baba. He's rated accordingly. I mean he's not a world class player how do you expect people to rate him more than what he's offering?

Underated players are people like: Fabinho Rakitic, Mane, Griezmann, Firminho and others not mentioned.

Raphinha at Barca plays like an attacking DM or a defensive RB. He can't dribble(a prerequisite for modern day wingers) but offers work rate and crossing which leads to some assist. He scores some goals but not in abundance.

Raphinha @Leeds is a different conversation. Whatever happened to his flair dribbling prowess is left for him and Xavi!

I hope he returns to his Leeds days in terms of dribbling while maintaining his workhorse prowess though.

pascal558:
True, but those guys nor get crack head fans like some ororo boys when dey vex say their goat nor win world cup

Boss nothing dey sup...

Messi, like many others will play in the MLS and leave just like many others.

If you support him, worry not. If you don't support him, still worry not.

Messi is okay and nothing, absolutely nothing dey sup!

pascal558:
Yes o, I have to be concerned because the guy is just too gentle to think of such happening to him will be a disaster.

Nothing dey sup baba

Pele, Lampard, Gerrard, Bechcham, Zlatan, Rooney, Pirlo and others not mentioned here played in MLS and nothing happened to them.

Nothing is happening to Messi!

pascal558:
I just hope one crazy idiot nor go high on drug carry gun go blast Messi because anything America dey fear me.

Don't worry, it won't happen sir, Messi will play and be happy there just like other players.

Zlatan with a monstrous ego also played in the MLS. Others also played too.

Don't worry, but we appreciate your concern

Tenks!