₦airaland Forum

eph12:
He still started a match last week. I guess that one na training too. I love these excuses

No need to put Fred o. They should allow the team play like 10 matches straight like this if not we no go get sense to understand the team we have

Understand the coach we have you mean?

Joezinho:
This is how a fifa team looks in real life. No midfield, no balance, no cohesion, no plan, just through ball, pace merchants and inshallah...

Pogba is way too far forward. We can't play with this many players forming a line across their back we get in each other's way, have no creativity from central and every time we turn the ball over we're entirely exposed..

Pogba is the only one trying to unlock that Villareal defense...

larride:
Do you guys still want us to sell DDG?

Expert17 and CapitalCee are offline...

eph12:
Dalot is rusty as in he has not been training and keeping fit so he can take his chance when it presents itself? Make sense

LMAO which one is manager system and head coach please?

Training and a competitive match are quite different...

No worry them go soon put you to help us protect the draw...

Oasis007:


I no fit lie, dem dey slice our fullbacks easily like Butter. Greenwood and Sancho should move inward, to create space for both fullbacks to do their jobs offensively.

You sabi ball...Sancho especially is guilty of hugging that touch line. I no know whether them no dey watch how Mane and Salah dey tuck inside to free up space for Robertson and TAA respectively...

It boils down to the clueless Ole...

Agenda everywhere...I rather have Dalot over AWB...

Ole is clueless, very few player will look as good as they really are under him...

McTominay:
You guys just dey misyarn! Take out mctominay and see how our midfield looks. Our problem is neither Fred or TomTom, but OGS not instructing the sitting midfielder (dmf) to stay just infront of the defense. Our supposed dmf keeps getting forward to play as an amf leaving opposition players to run straight at our defense.
Compare our with that of Chelsea, city and Liverpool. Ours keep getting forward unnecessarily and loose the ball.

McTom concentrate on the match...

You have gotten the nod ahead of eph12 so do well to justify your selection...

Oasis007:
Lineup

Better...

Godada:


Pep has my Unalloyed respect as a all time coach. He is up there in the top 5 best. Carlo Ancelloti and Mourinho.

The title is actually misleading. Pep is dead serious about his job. He wants cold results from his players.

This can be seen from his past. Ibrahimovic had issues with Pep because Messi wanted to play in the middle. Messi delivered trophies too that the same year he played in the middle with the holy grail of football...the champions League.

The debate about who is the G.O.A.T in football has been over flogged. These are different players with different strengths. No point arguing whose better.

Among the two: Anyone can be a CR7 but that comes with monster and unparalleled dedication. Good luck with that.

Messi is naturally gifted. But imitating him would be difficult too.

That been said. Pep understands and reads the game very well but he over tinkers with his team

At the bolded, it shows you really understand football...He tries to be too clever and sometimes, it backfires...

larride:
What are you bookmarking? You sabi read so?

I was going to ask...

Segedinho:
Today is my birthday

Juve 2 vs 0 Chelsea

Goal

Morata and Chiesa

Birthday blessings Chief...

Oasis007:
Unai Emery: “Individually, they [Manchester United] have very good players – attackers like Cavani, Martial and Cristiano Ronaldo. These are three attackers who could play in any team.”

Baba be very kiaful...

Oasis007:
Solskjær on Villarreal: "We have played each other five times, every time has been a draw. Very well organised, technically very good. They can play from the back. It is hard to press against them, which I thought we did well in the [Europa League] final."

Have we ever pressed as a unit? This man has an idea what football should be like but he just can't implement what's in his head...

He keeps talking about pressing but we never press as a team, just one or two individuals pressing.

Oasis007:
Emery is coming with Locomotive Train Tactic. We should expect Villareal to be ultra defensive, thus I expect idiotic Ole to start both CR7 and Cavani upfront.

We need crosses flying in from left and right into opposition Box.

My predicted Lineup below...... Hit or Miss.

I'd say hit but I don't know if we'd have enough defensive cover for Telles and Dalot...On the bright side, this selection should see us keep the ball for the most part.

Joezinho:
Villarreal are definition of ogbono soup...5 draws and 1 win for them so far in La Liga… This is going to be the lowest of low blocks, just can’t see past a draw but we bloody need that win..

I expected good games against Young Boys and Aston Villa and got shiit on. Now I expect an awful and boring game. Maybe that will reverse-jinx it. Villareal and Everton games are make it or brake it. Must-wins both of them to get back on track.

I watched Real Madrid vs Villareal over the weekend. I hope the Villarreal that turned up against Madrid doesn't turn up tonight if not they'll cause us serious problems...

Hopefully Ole opts for ball players rather than his twins...

ChristoBam:
Who will criticize Poch for playing two DMs ehhn?

With that frontline of Neymar, Mbappe and Messi. No one expects otherwise.

Besides Herrera already has like 5 goals this season. He's in no way similar to any of McFred.

The question is; that did their midfielders do their job? Yes...

Here, Ole will play our best CM on the wings while Bruno is the AM...When McFred win the ball, they struggle to give a pass (Fred tries but his passes are sometimes erratic) and can't carry the ball forward (McTom is better here but he just runs into traffic because he is a terrible passer). We need Pogba playing close to those guys so that once they win back the ball, he is within 5 yards of them to receive the pass and from they progress with the ball forward or pick any of our forwards with a pass...

With the wingers we have, it amounts to underutilizing them when Pogba is played from the wings. What Ole needs to do is simply to drop one of Pogba or Bruno or play Pogba alongside either of McFred or Matic...VDB is also an option alongside either of McFred...

eph12:
If Ole demands it from them? Why didn't you bring this up before talking about their contributions na?

So now you acknowledge that Veratti was a very solid 3rd man in that midfield. Go on

I have said it here before...

eph12:
Never said he did. I only wanted to be sure you're aware of that.

What defensive contributions does Pogba, Greenwood, Sancho etc have? What are their interceptions like?

Sancho and Greenwood will track back if Ole demands it from them. I have seen Greenwood doing that time without number. Pogba might not be very good defensively but even he does more than any of the PSG front 3...

The point is that people will criticize Pochettino for playing 2 DMs and one CM if the do not win games but because they're effective, nobody will complain. If McFred perform like Herrera and Gueye yesterday, I'm sure you won't have folks complaining about them.

Another point is that Veratti played as a CM very close to the two DMs so he was always available to receive the ball as soon as they won it.

eph12:
Also note that Herrera played with Gueye who had about twice Herrera's defensive contributions. To be very clear, Herrera was dribbled thrice yesterday.

Gueye was exceptional doesn't mean Herrera didn't have a very good game. Gueye was tasked with covering for their LB whilst Herrera covered for Hakimi...The problem PSG had is that their front 3 do not contribute as much defensively.

Bar Ronaldo, our others options in attack help out defensively which is supposed to make the job easier for McFred but still they fail to adequately do their job.

Illimitable:
They really aren’t. They are good players, they aren’t top of the shelf.

Attached is the Ballon d’Or rankings in 2009.

I dare you to find any season of ballon d’Or top 5 ranking where Ronaldo’s team mates dominated the list like this one.

Well, let's leave it here, Ronaldo is your GOAT while Messi is mine.

Illimitable:
No matter how bad their wavelength is, it can’t be as bad as playing next to Greenwood and Sancho. Neymar is Neymar, Mbappe is Mbappe.

Should we add the trophies won on both sides of the coin and tabulate? If Ronaldo had Mbappe/Neymar against Villa or Young Boys, he would get a hat trick in both games.

From the game today, did you see any sequence of play that suggested Ronaldo would have scored a hattrick of goals? Who will create the chances for him? Neymar that wants to be the star of the show or Mbappe that is himself struggling to score?

Illimitable:
These are tier B players.

None of them compares to the quality Messi had at Barcelona.

You are comparing Rooney and Tevez to someone that has had Ronaldinho, Etoo, David Villa, Suarez, etc as team mates.

The level at Barcelona was always higher.

Modric, Ramos, Kroos, Casillas, Ozil, Di Maria, James Rodriguez, Bale, Benzema, Marcelo, Varane, Vidic, Van Der Sar, Scholes, Evra were world class...

Illimitable:
How many players in this list made top 5 in Ballon d’Or ranking?

There was a time Iniesta and Xavi was dragging top 3 with Messi and Ronaldo. That’s the difference.

The one Modric won was just politics in play because Ronaldo fell out with Florentino Perez and he got punished for abandoning the ship for Juventus.

Even currently, Messi has better players surrounding him in a farmer’s league in comparison to upstarts like Greenwood or Martial.

If Messi doesn’t score 90 goals this season, questions need to be asked from this trio.

Modric won it...

The thing is that whilst the trio look fantastic on paper, they're not quite of the same wavelength on the pitch...Before Messi's goals tonight, he had tried that move severally but Mbappe will rather attempt to take on many players and lose the ball. Too many big egos in that attack and it's hampering the team.

Illimitable:
No one said Messi won’t have any impact in the PL. The debate is if he would get the Barca numbers in the PL.

So you have to remove the Xavi/Iniesta factor from his career and replace it with McFred.

Ronaldo had Scholes, Giggs, Rooney, Tevez, Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra and others when he produce those numbers...With such quality, Messi will do same or even more...

As of now, we still have Bruno, Pogba, Sancho, Cavani, Varane, Shaw etc...

Illimitable:
None of these players have Ronaldo’s numbers . Which of them scored 42 goals in one season while winning PL/CL and the golden boots in those 2 competitions?

Ronaldo is the last PL player to win Ballon d’Or. Why hasn’t any player in your list come close to winning it if it’s piece of cake?

Ronaldo is the GOAT, bro.

Those guys came from Spain and dominated the EPL, what makes you think Messi will struggle where Aguero, Silva, Fabregas and others before them excelled?

Ronaldo went from Rooney, Tevez, Berbatov, Scholes, Giggs to Benzema, Modric, Kroos, Marcelo, Casillas etc to Chiellini, Bonucci, Dybala etc to Pogba, Fernandez, Varane, Cavani etc Bottom line is that they have always been supported by the best players in their respective leagues...

Illimitable:
He doesn’t.

Ronaldo is the GOAT. Messi has always played in teams with world class players.

Mbappe is better than Sancho
Neymar is better than Martial/Pogba/Greenwood.



Playing in one off games against PL sides after getting a rest over the weekend is different from facing them week in week out.

If David Silva, Fabregas, Aguero, Torres and the likes can do it in England then I am certain Messi at City or Liverpool will do 3 times more damage...

If you want to get on the nerves of Hulk, post update on Madrid women team or Madrid basket ball team tomorrow morning...

Bombblacks:
Is it same Messi fans who do support Argentina over Nigeria in a world cup match and you think it's just banter? I bet you if United meet Psg they will be rooting for Messi to get one over Ronaldo.

Abeg spare us your sermon. The Ronaldo you are yapping about, didn't he score against us and celebrated like there was no tomorrow?

Was he not close to joining City until Fergie and former United players pressured the Glazers to act?

27 goals in 31 games against the best the EPL has to offer but no, he will struggle against Norwich, Newcastle and the likes...

Illimitable:
How does what people write on NL affects the performance of Ronaldo or Messi?

I like the bants. Even in their retirement, I want the banter to continue if they take coaching jobs.

It’s what football is all about.

Endless bants!

I just tire...By the way, Herrera dropped another very good performance...

TheHulk616:
Explain
1. Fraud hazard
2. Sale of varane and ramos.
3. Pères
4. Fraud mbappe.
5. Carlo

Mbappe follow? This guy don crazed finish...