₦airaland Forum

Everton to start the new year...Let's bring down Goddison park

Sterling time...Palace should watch it.

diggz:
Abi this season? Val is out and I prefer him to young on that right side.... young can go play ahead of Shawn on the left side

I wouldn't mind

diggz:
Una boy dey ba abeg

Always knew he had in it...Pace and strength...We go need am next season...

Sterling don enter...

Hehehe let's make peace before the turn of the new year...May 2018 find us all including Manchester United better humans and institutions respectively...

codedguy1:
Like say if Jose was topping the league with 50points they won't be here reminding us how we are "fake fans"

Hehehe I wouldn't mind, all I want is to see us winning and playing well...I care less about the taunting from supposed real fans, the Glazers on Nairaland.

sinizia:
I remember complaining then, it sounded like I was hating. They told us to go and support City. They said it's "just 2 points". I stated clearly that football had to with more than just winning, that the momentum, the tactics, the psyche and morale of the team is important as well. Whatever momentum we had before Loserfool match ended few minutes into that match. For all the addition from Mou, he's still a coward to trust his players and others knew.

Pep lost to Chelshit playing attacking football, he took note of his flaws, made new additions and came back still believing in that tactic, and he won this time around. Same tactic but with much improvement.

Defensive tactics do work, but with the right players. Mou had Drogba, Makele, Lucio, Samuel, Essien, Ballack, Terry, Carvalho, Zanetti, strong defensive demons. He had good finishers like Lampard and Milito, Pacy wingers like Duff and Robben. Match winners all over those defensive team of his.

Compare those names with Matic and Hererra. Only Jones, Valencia and Bailly fits the defensive mould of typical Mourinho players. He needs to change. This team is not defensively good. We can't win in that manner. If he wants defensive strategy, he'd get the players that fit it.

I'm out.

Again, spot on...

hardeycute:
Those players are also unfortunate.

Look at Mhiki,Rashford,Pogba,Matic(recently).

DDG and Martial(young with prospects)are the only players I would be happy if my club acquire their services

Even Crystal Palace play with some coordination, is this hard fact too hard to see? Abeg I no get time for argument...We can and should play and win games like this easily.

raumdeuter:
Let's not forget that Chelsea spent more money that's why they're ahead

Maybe that's what the loyalist will say now...We are playing just about the worst football we have played since Fergie called it time...

When we were winning, some of us here pointed out that we weren't playing well irrespective of the flattering score line but we were tagged derogatory names like Einstein's, Mou haters and so on by those who are too blinded by loyalty to see through bullshit...They quickly pointed to our league position in their argument but as I pointed out, it was only going to be a matter of time before our league position reflects our drab performances and now, look where we are with Liverpool and Spurs breathing down our neck, we can only hope...
Worst off, we don't have the Europa league to retreat to this time...Na here we dey last last all men must confess say Jesus be lord and Savior...

hardeycute:
The question is are they playing the way the manager wants?Mourinho has a system just like Pep, Klopp,Wenger etc,it may not be what you really want to watch but it always works for him

NB:I am not talking about how you "feel" they should play?

Then he is responsible, if I don't follow instructions where I work, I'd be fired by my boss...

hardeycute:
Manager or players fault?

Average players

Let me accept they're average but have you seen anything in this game that suggests they have been training together and practicing moves ahead of play?

Pogba who send you?

Drab performance... Even Messi will look ordinary in this set up...

Abeg make una stop this headless chicken stuff, even Crystal Palace attack dey play like people wey dey train together, what do this guys do in training? We depend too much on mistakes or individual brilliance, no form of coordination.

Person dey here dey praise Lingard, see chance wey person get to take on defender but no skill...Even if Martial get one leg, make him come abeg

De Gea, God bless you...

Lol Mata don vex...Sutton want slow the tempo.

Lingard should have buried that chance...

Where is Lingard sef, shouldn't he be seeing more or the ball as the supposed link between defense and attack? Abi him goals lately mean say anything goes?

funlord:
Lukaku gone! Time for others to step up!

Not like Lukaku was up at all...

Lindelof will do well in a 3 at the back system as the ball playing CB

Sutton get some skillful boys for their team, we need to exert ourself better...

Mkhitaryan is a fool...

sinizia:
Nothing like agidi. We drew that Stoke match coz of Mourinho's tactics.

We're playing 4-2-3-1 and winning 4-0s. Then came the Stoke match. In the days leading to that match, they were many articles detailing our struggles at their stadium. Saying Stoke are our boogie team. Mourinho out of fear decided to change a working system and switch to 4-3-3 to CONTAIN a team whose best player can't get into our starting line-up.

You need to watch that match again. We're playing cautious against common Stoke FFS. This Stoke that City and Chelshit will attack with fervour, and give them no breathing space on the ball. Forget that they were lacking defenders against Chelshit, Mourinho was lilly livered to believe he can go to Stoke and whoop them badly.

He lacks faith in his players so much that it makes my blood boil. Pep won't give a care about Stoke, he'd use any team of his and attack Stoke non-stop whether he wins or not.

Thank you...

funlord:
I hope you know that Valencia is originally a right winger? It was his lack of productivity from the flanks that saw him converted to a full back...as Patrice evra and Gary neville and Dennis irwin have proven in the past a good fullback should be able to create and confine in equal measure! Build attacks and prevent them! Valencia has regressed totally as regards to his attacking instincts and that is not the sort of limitation in a full back that Manchester united requires at this point in time...he has been here for over 10 years and still cant really dribble and crosses like a trainee! He is a good player but can and should do better

However you look at it, Val isn't a winger now and like every top fullback, he needs a competent wingman ahead of him...And yes, he needs to on certain aspects of his game.

elampiro:
Abeg remove Mata. Mata that can't get past a (wo)man. You also underrate the influence and experience of Kompany on the new defenders. Of only we had Vidic of his last years in EPL still guiding our defenders.

Stop belittling Sterling, none of our attacking players has reached his level he was at Liverpool. City was a Champions League semi final team with such players as Sterling, Aguero, Silva, De Bruyne, Kompany, Fernandinho as the core.

No matter how you look at it, only DDG and Valencia that can be used to compare. So two against six.

Mentioning Kompany is akin to someone saying Dortmund's attack is world class because of Aubameyang and a certain Marco Reus who is always injured.
Sterling isn't a world class player, you're only listing him cos of his form this season.
On the other hand, Mata over 38 games in a season might not outplay Silva but he'll definitely contribute more to goals and assist. Our style of play is stifling our players. Mata and Martial and a host of others in our team will look top class playing in that City team.

Adisaowalla:
Those players they spent money on - how many of them are still at the club, let alone contributing to their currrent success as we speak?

Exactly what I am saying...

PietroRico:
Valencia is part of why that right flank is so dead. For all his defensive solidity, he still doesn't know how to cross.
Doesn't know when to hit an early cross or even how.
Doesn't know when to hit it first time, I have lost count of the number of times he delays first time crosses till the opening is closed and ends up just passing back after dallying or just runs down the bye line to smack the defender.

Smalling is too limited and would not make the 1st team of a serious club in Europe or any top 6 in England for that matter except maybe arsenal. I have always thought Evans to be better.

Young, lol. That he is playing ahead of Shaw is enough reason for that man to take a long hard look in the mirror and reevaluate his life to see where it is going wrong.
His competition is blind, darmian and young and he is struggling for gametime. Says a lot really.

The only person I truly rate there is Jones but he has his fitness demons

I'm only trying to disprove the fact that Pep met more quality thus it is easier for him so if you're doing any comparison, it's what Pep met vs what Mou met...
Smalling is not world class but over a season, I will take him over Kompany.
I'll still have Young over Delph
Valencia is a RB remember, not RW, he'd be doing much better if he had a proper RW in front of him and to be honest he is among the best in the division.
De Gea is world class.
Mata though not as good as Silva can do at least 80% of what Silva does under the right system (His numbers at Chelsea are a pointer).

elampiro:
You could only mention defenders. While Jone Stone had been gathering experience in the past few years, Jones, Young and Smalling have been going to sick bed. Valencia is the only stable guy. Jones is having his first season as a real centre back defender. Stop adding Shaw abeg. Someone who has been out for two years.

Mata, Herrera and Fellaini are average players. None is up to Silva. Another quality player Pep inherited.

It means Pep inherited :

Silva
Aguero
De Bruyne
Sterling
Fernadinho
Kompany

They are still the bedrock of the team. Today we talk about Pogba as the bedrock of our team. A player brought in by Mourinho. Only two players I can say have quality+experience as the six City players above, DDG and Valencia.

Kompany? I'd take Smalling/Jones over him for that fact Smalling is guaranteed to play more.
Valencia for all his shortcomings is as good as any RB in the league especially as it has to do with defending, I'm sure if he played under Pep his attacking contribution will double.
De Gea is world class just as De Bruyne.
Mata though not as good as Silva isn't a slush on his own, he can do just as well in the right system.

Sterling isn't world class no matter how you look at it, he is not better than Martial.
Stones is a Pep signing so it doesn't really matter.

Aguero is very good but from Pep's body language he doesn't fancy him...

So if we want to talk genuine quality and experience, you'd be listing;
Aguero
KDB
Silva
Fernandinho

And for us, you have:
De Gea
Valencia
Mata

Kompany, Jones, Martial, Sterling etc are all good but are hampered in one way or another, injuries, in experience,

elampiro:
Players inherited by Pep: Aguero, De Bruyne, Sterling, Kompany, Fernandinho helped their team to finish in Champions League semi final.

You talk about Martial who went on goal drought and was pushed to the wing by Gaal. We were talking about how much his game dropped while Gaal was here. That Martial was very predictable. We talk about the teenage Rashford. At some point Carrick was our best player.

Help me to understand which players we had that were of same quality and experience with Aguero, Fernadinho, Sterling, De Bruyne, Kompany

We have De Gea, Valencia, Smalling, Jones, Young that's our back 5...There's Martial and Rashford who was just about the most highly rated youngster in the league. Mata, Fellaini, Shaw and Herrera on the bench