₦airaland Forum

Neymar1095:
you have started with this your rubbish again. Azpilicueta is only rated because of the lack of mistake he makes. Why is that? because he has the easiest role in the team only ever having to make sidewards and backwards passes. Never does anything exceptionally, not even defending. He is just the defender version of Mikel.

This boy you don jump on top my matter again. Dem send you come ni?

Bobo, you just dey yarn nonsense. I think i'm going to start discriminating those who i discuss footie with on this forum. My praise of Azpilicueta's game goes beyond him not making mistakes. The guy's versatility no be here. The guy has played 3 different positions in the last 4 years and has bossed it. He has played outside his natural position in 2 title-winning teams in that span of time. A player with a dominant right foot playing LB. A 5"10 guy playing CB . All these in the most difficult league in the world!

His durability is also unbelievable. He has played more minutes combined than any other outfield player in the last 3 seasons to say the least. He was the only outfield player in the league to play every single minute in that 2016-17 title-winning campaign. I doubt if anyone else has done that for a team that emerged champions. He also played every game last season and only failed to start one. All these in a league as physically demanding as the EPL. One word. Machine.

His 1v1 defensive game is probably the strongest in the EPL. The man go stick to you like glue. He is also not afraid to get stuck in with those tackles. He's got no chill for shakushaku dancers.

And then there is that signature attacking move. He picks the ball up from deep, runs along that right halfspace and chips in a cross and, BAM! You know it's a Morata goal. I would like to see your Otamendi or even Stones with all his ball-playing ability try that. Everybody's raving about Mendy's crosses but nobody makes a squeak when Azpi does this.


Morata would decapitate you for calling his benefactor and savior a defender version of Mikel. I daresay over 80% of Morata's Chelsea goals have been assisted by Dave, a guy playing RCB! Morata's goal against Arsenal his first in a very long while was courtesy guess who again?

He really is the Caesar of all EPL defenders.

EarthXmetahuman:
wanted to post this yesterday.

Azpilicueta is the most underrated CB/LB ever.

Bro, I dey tell you. The guy is a model of consistency. Even when he's been shunted across different positions, he still manages to perform excellently. I call him "Mr Reliable".

'Dave' is the best defender in the EPL, in my opinion. It's so criminal he doesn't get the plaudits and praises he deserves. How they continue to overlook him for PFA team of the season selections is something that baffles me. But if na guys like Otamendi, Cahill you go dey see their names.

One of the few PL players I would kill to have in my team. He so much reminds me of Lahm.

E be like say Airmark don do wedding and im no send us invites o . Baba neva login for the past 96 hrs which is very unlike him.

My guy probably dey enjoy him honeymoon. No time to drag Hazard matter with you-know-who. Happy Married Life o ! .

Una no go kill person for here . Dresses with higher IQ. Wetin man no go hear.

Ibime:
I stand corrected. I thought that was Theo all through World Cup given he was playing leftback

No wahala. Mistakes dey happen but you self come carry agidi on top wetin no dey correct.

Heywhizzy:
not like I'm in support of someone rating Mendy that highly but all you wrote here is trash.. how did you come into such conclusions like he has no technical ability, no positional awareness and average football IQ.. using nice football terms doesn't actually mean you know football.. Someone that can pick out attackers in the box smartly is who you call all pace and power, has average football IQ, well-done Sir, I too know.. Running into the box once or twice having a comfortable win has now become lack of positional awareness, I duff my hat for you

Errm. . Ogbeni, have we met before cos me I no see the need for aggression wey you dey carry come. I've only stated my observations about Mendy. I don't know how you watch your football but those with trained eyes will agree with majority of what I've said.

There are artists and there are athletes. Mendy falls into the latter category. He's got incredible motor and physicality but his technical ability is limited. I said limited, i did not say non-existent.

When I say technical ability, I mean skills like passing, crossing, vision, ball retention or to use the vogue word press resistance ( that ability to hold the ball under pressure), first touch, ball control etc. You get the picture. Of all the above, Crossing is the only major aspect where he scores above average.

Out of curiosity, I just checked Mendy's Who scored page and even they assigned a calculated weakness of " holding on to the ball" for him. His passing accuracy has never hit the 90's. In his best season to date, he had a PA of 78%. Now All this for someone who started his career as a DM. If that is not limited technical ability, I don't know what it is. You can compare with technically-gifted fullbacks like Kimmich and Alaba to see the difference.

Here's an excerpt analysing Mendy's performance against Arsenal:


His performance was far from perfect in many respects; *he offered up possession too easily, he missed challenges, *and he lacked the tactical discipline Guardiola was looking for. After the match it was put to the Catalan that Mendy was even playing centre-forward at certain stages. Seemingly that was one step too far.


"And that is not good!," the City boss replied


That paragraph basically summed up everything i've been saying. Now you see that needless runs into the box weren't just a one off. He did the same thing against Huddersfield yesterday. I'm not hating on him, I'm just stating the truth.

Hope you learned a thing or 2 today.

Melvyn11:
Lucas is mostly a left back not centre back.

Yep but I think he's more comfortable playing CB. He's not the fastest of fullbacks and his crossing is average. I saw him fill in for Savic and Godin at different times last season when they got injured and he performed well.

Ibime:
Learn the difference between Lucas and Theo Hernandez before typing nonsense. Theo is a leftback.

Mendy only sat for Theo cos he was coming back from year long injury.

Bros, we dey fight ni? I know the difference. You are in fact, the one mixing them up. Lucas is the one who plays at Atletico, and for France. His brother Theo plays for Real and is now on loan at Soceidad and is yet to make up his mind on whether to play for Spain or France, that is if he ever gets called up sha.

Both are actually left-footed. Lucas is the more versatile of the 2 .He can play at CB and LB but I think he is more at home at CB. The only time he got to play LB at Atleti was when Filipe Luis got injured towards the end of last season.

And yeah, you are the one who needs to stop typing nonsense.

AmoryBlacq:
Baba stylishly distancing himself from his prodigy on this one!

This had me ROTFL . People plenty wey dey do apprentice under am. Where lordfalcao sef? .

Neymar1095:
Boy Mendy is already playing that LB/CM role Alaba used to play under Pep. And trust me Benjamin Mendy is going to reach Peak Alaba levels and surpass wateva he did yes he is that good.

No be by that one. Pep likes his full backs to play on the inside from time to time, even going as far to play inverted fullbacks. From what I've seen Mendy is not so good at that, he is just another high-and-wide player. His passing is average, so Pep wouldn't even entertain the thought of playing him at CM. His constant headless chicken runs makes him a weakness in Pep's system. Pep dislikes chaos, he does lot of meticulous preparations before games, planning for possible events and scenarios. How does he account for this? That he expressed these same concerns after the Arsenal game should tell you a lot.

Neymar1095:
Offensively Mendy is only second to Marcelo that's even me being generous.
Mendy is a freak of a nature. He has physicality and intelligence to his game which Marcel lacks. o please don't mention that fraud alaba here again. Alaba should take crossing lessons from Mendy facts.

So now you agree Mendy is not the best offensively. We are making progress. Marcelo lacking in intelligence, what planet are you from? The only edge Mendy has over Marcelo is athleticism and defense. No one should even put both players in the same sentence.

I was referring to Alaba under Pep, 14-16 seasons. Boy was a monster, a phenom. Pep was so bedazzled, he called him "our god". Alonso was wonderstruck after just a few training sessions with him. He had something of a free role allowing him take up different positions while the game was in flow. I wish i could post some of his heatmaps from then. LB, (L)CB, LWB, CM, CAM. Defense, offense, passing, crossing shooting, freekicks, pks. Alaba could do it all. The ultimate player. It's a shame he has regressed since then. Pep would kill to get Mendy to do half the things Prime Toks did.

Neymar1095:
All of you are Mad I swear. Mendy that is the 2nd coming of bale at left back......mtcheew. Marcelo that is a defensive liability that flops With Brazil in every competition. One werey is calling kimmich.... bullocks.

Dude, you don take your meds this morning?

Second coming ko, 7th coming ni. Mendy dey you dey shout couldn't even get a starting shirt for France at the World Cup. Na ordinary Lucas Hernandez playing out of position dey bench am. But for im mind im too na World Champion. And don't even give me that injury excuse. Marcelo-Mendy?? Are you mad?

Mendy is all pace and power. A raging bull with average football IQ. I see Pep trying to do Alaba 2.0 with him, but e go hard. Dude has the dynamism but lacks the technical ability to emulate Alaba. He is sloppy in possession when playing on the inside, and his positional awareness is zilch. Nigga be running into the box thinking he is a CF.
Pep, rightfully has refused to get carried away and admitted he has a lot to work on.

I like him as a person though. He is funny, witty and all.

pharod:
What do you know about running a company? Sir Alex has a position in the board at united and whatever he says no matter how personal an opinion it is, it will be taken as the view and stand of Manchester United.

Sorry no vex o, Oga Company manager. That still shouldn't stop him from speaking out on matters like this. Is he happy seeing the institution he helped build go into ruins? Everybody is speaking out. Fans, ex-players. But SAF has chosen to remain quiet. Probably because he endorsed Mourinho for the job in the first place.

That's why I like my club. Nobody send anybody. Boateng fvck up, Kalle lash am for public. van Gaal do weyrey, Don Ulli change am for am. No eye-service. You mess up, you get called out.

Unlimited22:
Kieran Trippier might be a better crosser than Mendy.
Mendy just keeps them coming all game long, so it looks like he crosses better, but he just crosses MORE.
Truly be told, his crosses are damn good too.

Gbam! Right on the money! It's more about QUANTITY though the quality of his crosses are good. Kimmich doesn't just run to the byline and put in crosses, he knows when to whip one in and when to move infield. I would like to see the cross accuracy for both players. But Mendy dey learn work for where JK dey. The man even makes lit pullouts with his weaker foot. The only fullback better than Kimmich in world football today is Marcelo. The rest na back dem dey.

Trippier na my guy. I've followed the guy from his days at Burnley(FPL things) and mehn dude is the second coming of Beckham. He is so damn similar to Kimmich that I'm tempted to say they are footballing twins. From the style of play down to the haircut, the height. Name it. Maybe that's why I like him so much.

patrickmuf:
It's disappointing that elampiro will be making such excuses for Mourinho and the players.

No mind elamps jare. Even without the World Cup players, United shouldn't be struggling against a team like Brighton, let alone losing.

Sir Alex hasn't said anything about the team's play under Mourinho, has he? One would expect someone like him to speak up. Maybe na because say Mourinho na im paddy.

elampiro:
Look at the number of our senior players at the world cup semi finals, unlike Liverpool whose players were knockout early.

Manchester United had the highest number of players in world cup quarter final and semi final.

How many of our regulars were at the Preseason? Those who were there got injured.

Oga, these your excuses weak. Tottenham nko? Lloris, Vertonghen, Alderweireld, Trippier, Dier, Dembele,, Alli, Kane all played at these same stages. That's basically their starting 11 and all of these players only returned to training a week before the season started. Spurs didn't even make a single signing during the transfer window. Yet they are winning but no, we should make excuses for Mourinho.

obainojazz:
kimmich who, Mandy crosses the ball from any length or angle.. Dude is a beast

philip0906:
Kimmich is a learner when it comes to comparing his crosses with Mendy's.I wish there are stats to compare, I can always wager that Mendy's crosses is more likely to lead to a goal than any other player out there. It's his strength

See EPL fanboys . By their fruits you shall know them. It's easy to hype Mendy's crosses because he plays in the league with the most coverage. The EPL is so big it's easy for casuals like you to think nothing exists outside England. Do you guys even watch Kimmich? I think it will be better for those who have seen both players play regularly to make a concrete assessment.

Mendy is a good crosser of the ball, no doubt but JK takes it to a whole new level. Forget say I like am, nobody whips in balls like this kid. The technique, the trajectory. He is a striker's dream. Just ask Lewy. The crosses are so pin-point and accurate it's harder to miss than score. Mendy is not even the best crosser of the ball in the EPL. I would take KDB, Eriksen over him anytime anyday. Even, Trippier has better inswingers.

Then there is the stats angle. JK had 10 assists in the BuLi, 3 in the CL to go with 4 goals. I even remember him setting up 3 goals in one game! The boy even topped the assists charts for the European World Cup qualifiers with 9. Ahead of the likes of KDB , Ozil, Silva.

Kimmich is a god to Mendy!

philip0906:
I haven't seen any player in modern day football who crosses the ball better than Mendy. He's crosses are pin point. I noticed him last season b4 he was injured. He's a beast with his crosses

Errm. . Joshua Kimmich says hi.

diadem10:
Dortmund would be so happy after offloading Sokratis and Schurlee. I actually think Mustafi, regardless of his 'mistake waiting to happen' game, has been far better than Sokratis. Lol. Sokratis and Bellerin.. They both excel at doing nothing in that defence. 2 Ball watchers. Whatever happened to Holding?

That said, I still don't know why any of Arsenal coach hasn't tried Ozil in a diamond setup. Better still, why Germany coach, Low forgot this same role he deployed Ozil in their 2014 qualifiers when Ozil was their highest goalscorer with 10 goals and 14 assists. How could he have forgotten so soon?

How could no coach pick this up and realise Ozil is at his best close to the final third, in front of a dominant 3-man midfield. Even his best games at Madrid was when 1 spanish midfielder (can't remember his name) was deployed alongside Alonso and Khedira in a 3-man midfield sort of while Ozil played on the right but due to the fact that Benzema and Cr7 were always interchanging with him and Ozil was dropping deep a bit after drifting inside, the setup was more like a 4312 diamond setup. Madrid won the league as well as scoring the highest goals ever, breaking barca's records in the process and Ozil was the one at the heart of it all.

I don't know why coaches can't find more about the player they coach.

Do you just like pulling imaginary stats out of your hat or what? Ozil with 10 goals and 14 assists in 2014 WC qualifiers?! Guy, lie small small. Yes, Ozil was Germany's top scorer with 8 but his assists were nowhere near 14. I get the point you are trying to make but easy with the exaggeration.

And Arsenal fans thought the defence would improve with the appointment of Emery. LOL. Bellerin and Mustafi na scam. Seeing Cech trying to play out from the back is comedy gold. The man don try sha this season.

2 games in, and you guys are already 6pts behind your main competitors. The only way you people go play CL football next season na if una win Europa. And what better man for the task than the Europa king himself, Unai Emery. Hopefully we go jam for UEFA Super Cup .

patwhizkid:
Lol Bro

How far?

Madam, I dey o. How Oga and the children? .

Well, I just happen to stumble on this thread. The Argentine national anthem is my favorite. It's one of the reasons I look forward to watching Argentina at international football competitions, Messi of course being the main attraction.

Obviously it has more to do with the tune than the lyrics which I don't understand BTW. Nothing gets the adrenaline pumping before a football match like this tune at least for me. Unfortunately, Messi and co seem not to know how to channel it.

Omo, this one na gathering of ancients of days o. See deneut, even patwhizkid show face after self-imposed exile. As always Baba Jamace dey ground gidigba. Oh, the good ol' times how I miss thee.

Greatihex:
hmm. Oga airmark, come and show him.

Make he no worry. Shebi na that Hazard goal for UEFA Super Cup 2013 final? I remember him beating one or two Bayern defenders before scoring but I would hardly call that destroying. If you want to talk about destroying, think Messi leaving Boateng on his backside before giving Neuer the chip. That one na classic.

Greatihex:
is that why raumdeuter always mention Hazard? To give him injury? So that he will not get the opportunity to destroy their legends again?

Hahaha. E fit be so. With the kain hatred wey im get for Hazard, I wouldn't put it past him.

Errm. . when did Hazard destroy any of Bayern legends again? No tell me say you believe that yarn wey Airmark dey always spin.

All this talk about KDB this, KDB that. The poor boy don get injury na. You can only call someone's name for so long make im village people no intercept.

Kroos to rupture his ACL tonight. You heard it here first.

introvertme:
Same here

Almost done with season 1

Nice to see i'm not the only one. Any favorite episodes yet? I'm having a hard time picking one.

I've been planning on re-watching a bunch of classic TV series, those from the '90s especially. It could be the nostalgia effect but you would agree with me that most of the series you see on TV these days are not as deep and do not match up in terms of quality as those classics of old.

Currently (re)watching The X-Files season one and planning on going all the way to Season 10. And yeah, I know about the reboot on Fox, which was recently cancelled. But nothing beats the original. One of the best shows on TV of all time. A pop culture phenomenon, this show paved the way for Fringe and the likes.

I've got Malcolm in the Middle next and maybe i will check out The Sopranos.

airmark:
Please help us bundle Boathand to Man utd.

Hahaha! Make dem pay money too na, na only 50 milla. I won't be surprised if Boateng chooses United over PSG. The man has unfinished business in England after his forgettable stint with City. For those yabbing him, he is still better than any CB they've got at United. I go like make im join. I know say you go dey scrutinize im every move week in week out .

See wailing! Season never start be that o. I just can't wait for Friday. But mehn Mourinho na case. I don't know how someone can be so allergic to playing good football. The man has lost it and might just end up on the same path as Wenger. Once a world-class manager, now an object of ridicule.

Na una cross make una carry am. I couldn't care any less what happens to Man Utd .

airmark:
He will be a training cone for Neymar.

Congrats to all Bavarians.

I know say you go happy. I go miss am small sha. Despite his flaws, the guy try for Bayern.

Something dey tell me Vidal won't be the only player to leave the club this window. Boateng is close to signing for PSG and i don already give up on Lewy case. I feel it's only a matter of time.

Na to sign another CB if Hummels continues with his poor form. I hear Pavard might be joining sooner than later. Or we can always move Javi back to CB.