₦airaland Forum

Lovely goal by Tello! Great set-up by Messi.

The boys just need to keep their concentration for 90 mins.

Oh and Masch gets some special mention for his tackling - our best defender this season.

Lovely goal by Tello! Great set-up by Messi.

The boys just need to keep their concentration for 90 mins.

Oh and Masch gets some special mention for his tackling - our best defender this season.

Another point blank Messi miss! The guy is looking jinxed!

Wow! Sociedad nearly scored on the counter. Thank God it's Valdes, not pinto!

I prefer Fab to play in attack rather than AMF - he's been good with shots & headers and less impressive with maintaining possession.

Wow! lots of players rested: Abidal, Pique, Puyol, Sanchez, Busquests

I'm happy to see Tello and Cuenca starting, though I would have liked Pep to blend them in more often earlier in the season when we were beating teams 5-0. Messi is the guy that needs the most rest and I thought he would only come in at half time. I'm also starting to suspect there's a contractual reason he has to play every match.

My prayer of late is for Messi to get 5 yellow cards and sit out a home match sometime soon.

Anyways, I hope the boys win Sociedad comfortably. We need the points more than ever.

dayokanu:
My point is despite their argument against it, the number of goals I have seen saved on the goal line by these post markers is enough to convince me as a coach to stick to the tradition

I agree. I've seen Barca concede a number of goals that could have been prevented with a man on the line (eg the Busquests own goal vs Arsenal in Nou Camp last year). Doesn't hurt to keep men on the post. The only downside is that if those 2 men are slow to get off the goal line, the may play the opponent onside in the follow-up after the corner kick.

To Bundesliga matters:
The BL is the most exciting league in Europe this season. The only league where a winner is very difficult to predict each season - with the additional UEFA coefficients they've got, I see BL teams performing better in the UCL, provided they don't keep rotating those top spots lol.

Bayern's draw means that Dortmund are in the driving seat. With Dortmund out of Europe altogether, they can focus on the league, while Bayern tries to ensure they're in the UCL final in the Allianz (I doubt they'll make it that far, unless they're as lucky as they were in 09/10 season). And Dortmund is playing some exciting footie too, so they have my support (sorry dayokanu - I'll support Bayern in UCL until they meet Barca!)

AjanleKoko:
The real irony is, we practically handed over the league to Madrid this term.

Ah, well. Life goes on. Let's focus on the remaining competitions, and try to at least finish up in second.
Other teams will now start to fancy their chances.

Yeah, I don't mind losing the league to Madrid, so much as having such a big point that at this stage - we have made it really easy for Madrid. I doubt if Valencia can really challenge us for 2nd place - they have EL to worry about and Valencia is too inconsistent to make La Liga more than a 2-horse race.

eyoniggar:
And yet hope is lost at a 7 point gap. Cules where art thou faith in Barca? The league is far from over, see fear,chai!!

I like your optimism, but we look more likely than Madrid to drop points. Our away form has been atrocious this season, mainly due to Pep's many formation changes - the guys looked confused in the 1st half. Experimenting with 3-4-3 in the away matches only worked against Madrid (interestingly). Plus the squad is simply tired. We over-used Messi & the other key stars in the big home wins (eg copa against Osasuna) and now that we need them to give extra, they're drained.

Looks like we need to strengthen the squad (look for some cheap bargains) or use the B-team boys more often (again, I wish Soriano was promoted to replace Villa temporarily).

The matches are coming thick & fast now and the fixtures aren't easy. We play Valencia at the mestalla midweek, then stubborn Sociedad, then Valencia in Nou Camp, then away to Osasuna, then away to Leverkusen in UCL. That's over 1 month of playing midweek matches! Our thin squad can hardly cope

Messi needs a rest and should be removed when we have healthy leads in league games (whether he wants to come off or not).

Iniesta should be back in 2 weeks and Keita should also return from nations cup next week.

Good game by Villareal. I hope this marks the start of their climb from the relegation area.

Uninspiring draw! There were too many defensive players at the start of the match, we offered no serious threat until late in the 2nd half.

The league is gone. Madrid are too good & too hungry to drop any serious points.

We should just concentrate on retaining the champions league & winning the cop

Uninspiring draw! There were too many defensive players at the start of the match, we offered no serious threat until late in the 2nd half.

The league is gone. Madrid are too good & too hungry to drop any serious points.

We should just concentrate on retaining the champions league & winning the copa.

Marchena in for Villareal. He should have come in earlier na - guaranteed penalty!

Marchena in for Villareal. He should have come in earlier na - guaranteed penalty!

Tello & Thiago in for Adriano & Xavi.

I guess Xavi is injured - Pep doesn't sub him off when we need goals.

That was close! I think we can nick a slim win here. Else, the league is gone.

@medjai, thanks, I realized that later. He's not even on the bench.

Tello & Thiago in for Adriano & Xavi.

I guess Xavi is injured - Pep doesn't sub him off when we need goals.

That was close! I think we can nick a slim win here. Else, the league is gone.

Alexis in for Pique. Good move. Masch is back as CB & I expect Adriano to slot in as LB, abi will Adriano just be in midfield?

Alexis in for Pique. Good move. Masch is back as CB & I expect Adriano to slot in as LB, abi will Adriano just be in midfield?

success4:
Everyone has bad belle when it comes to football, including you.Want to fill a rebuttal?

Lol! Have you seen me making comments here other than when my team is playing?

We were lucky not to concede a penalty there. Very sloppy defending, in a match where we have more defenders than normal!

I was wrong about bringing in Pedro - he's not even on the bench! Cuenca in for Adriano then. Man, our squad is thin! Soriano really should have been promoted, then sold next summer.

We were lucky not to concede a penalty there. Very sloppy defending, in a match where we have more defenders than normal!

I was wrong about bringing in Pedro - he's not even on the bench! Cuenca in for Adriano then. Man, our squad is thin! Soriano really should have been promoted, then sold next summer.

The 3-5-2 isn't working so well. Looks like the players are confused and are sometimes running into each other. Xavi hasn't stamped his authority in the midfield, Messi & Cesc are too deep most times. Playing 3 at the back is leaving the right flank exposed and Puyol isn't the most mobile player around.

I think Pep should take out Adriano for Pedro and remove one of the defenders. I'll prefer Puyol/Pique to leave - Masch is our mobile defender and Villareal attack with speed, not so much with the aerial ball. Thiago can come in and we switch to 4-3-3, with Alves going back to his normal position and Thiago controlling the midfield with Xavi. Messi, Pedro & Cesc will then push forward.

We have to win this.

Bad belle people! Barca should step up and win, let's leave a bad taste in the mouth of bad belle people.

The 3-5-2 isn't working so well. Looks like the players are confused and are sometimes running into each other. Xavi hasn't stamped his authority in the midfield, Messi & Cesc are too deep most times. Playing 3 at the back is leaving the right flank exposed and Puyol isn't the most mobile player around.

I think Pep should take out Adriano for Pedro and remove one of the defenders. I'll prefer Puyol/Pique to leave - Masch is our mobile defender and Villareal attack with speed, not so much with the aerial ball. Thiago can come in and we switch to 4-3-3, with Alves going back to his normal position and Thiago controlling the midfield with Xavi. Messi, Pedro & Cesc will then push forward.

We have to win this.

Strange line-up that Pep is using today. Injuries have not helped matters.

Valdes

Puyol-Pique-Abidal

Alves-Masch-Xavi-Busquests-Adriano

Messi-Cesc

I'll like to see Alves & Adriano get some crosses in for Cesc. These are the times we miss having a proper no 9. Our false 9 Messi is too short for the variation Pep is trying today.

With 2 DMF, we should not be too prone to counter-attacks. All the best to the boys. We need to win this match!

Ouch! Messi's lob was so close!

Guys chill out! Who cares whether Ini or Cesc is the better player? So long as they make their individual contributions to the team in an effective maner, I'm happy!

Kobojunkie:
I think it is a huge leap to assume that 13 M litres are produced, let alone that all that is available for daily consumption. That is why I would rather we look for the facts, and not manufactured truths



a) The Capacity of all of our refineries are still put at about ~40 something % capacity by some analysts leads one to immediately question the 13 million daily processing scale. Back in the 80's when our daily consumption was not even close to 1/3rd of what it is today, and our refineries were at about 50%(at least warri was) we still were not able to supply 50% of that. Now I am to believe that at 40% these same refineries produce more than 25% of daily use??

b) Yes, they may have a combined capacity of 400K plus barrels of oil a day but that does not help in answering this in no wise

c)  I would rather not do the math but find facts that state how much we actually produce in the way of daily production.



I think your math needs some work but that said, I think I would rather be fed FACTUAL numbers than Numbers pulled from data that itself is probably cooked up.  Don't worry about me . . .  I am fine if I don't get an answer on this for some more weeks.

Lol! I don't understand you. I have used facts here. NNPC has given figures for the amount of crude that goes to the working refineries. I didn't manufacture the figures.

Everything I have written is factual, from NNPC quotes and converted using standard international estimates. I don't trust NNPC, but NNPC operates the refineries and they (or their auditors or DPR) are the only ones that can confirm how much the working refineries produce.

You talk about the 80s, but the new PH refinery was commissioned in 1989, so you may be wrong in your assumptions,

Where does my math need working? Oya show me.

I also don't understand your logic that if we produce 13m litres locally, it will not all be available for local consumption - what happens to it then? We consume  lot more than 13m litres anyway,

dustydee:
Most refineries yield a maximum of 35% petrol so per barrel you get 0.35x158liters=55.3liters and not 75liters.

See links below tht show that 1 barrel of oil will give about 75l of petrol. Oya show us the source of your own claim! Nairaland people sha!

http://www.txoga.org/articles/308/1/WHAT-A-BARREL-OF-CRUDE-OIL-MAKES
http://www.eia.gov/kids/energy.cfm?page=oil_home-basics
http://38.96.246.204/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=24&t=6

Kobojunkie:
Let me help you. Of the 13m litres refined daily, how much of it is makes it into the daily stream in Nigeria? Hope that helps you better understand this. I am not asking how much is processed daily, but how much of the local production is fed into the stream daily.

Also, would it be possible to provide a source for the 13 million figure. Cause it is hard to believe that only 3 or 4 refineries provide about 28% of daily consumption, if we were to assume 13 million made it into the flow daily

I will assume ALL of the 13m litres of petrol available from the refineries is consumed in Nigeria, since we all agree that Nigeria consumes more than that.

So 13m litres is fed into the stream daily from our refineries.

The refineries don't work at full capacity, don't forget. The refineries have a combined capacity of 445k barrels of oil a day. Kaduna doesn't refine anything since the pipeline was blown up a couple of years ago. Warri and PH get 170k barrels of oil a day. 1 barrel of oil will yield 75l of petrol (and other products in diff quantities). Do the math and you get 13m litres of petrol from the working refineries. Note that the working refineries also don't work at 100%.

If all refineries were working at 100%, we would produce slightly over 33m litres of petrol in Nigeria. From my knowledge, we really consume about 23m litres of petrol a day. We won't need to import anything if the refineries were working and petrol is not smuggled across the borders.

Note that barrels of oil are different from litres of petrol.

Source: I work in the industry, so I know a bit.
There's a link to an article below, where NNPC explained wht happens to the 445,000 allocation they collect (or buy, whichever version you believe).
http://dailytimes.com.ng/article/nnpc-accounts-its-crude-oil-allocation

Hope I've answered your questions.

170k barrels of oil equals 27m litres of oil.

When that is refined, you get 13m litres of petrol (and of course you also get diesel, kerosene, LPFO, etc)

Kobojunkie:
That still does not tell us how much of what is consumed in Nigeria is refined in Nigeria. Assume the 33,000,000 litres a day number is accurate. How much of that is from local sources? That is the question. Processing 170k barrels does not give us much to go on here.

Can't you read? I said 13m litres is refined in Nigeria!

170k barrels of crude will produce 13m litres of petrol (plus other components of course)!

Kobojunkie:
It would probably be more sensible if we had information on how much of the daily consumption is supplied from local refineries.

The govt says the refineries currently process bout 170k barrels a day from Warri & PH. Thats about 13 million litres refined in nigeria.

Crazy match!

We started nervously, gained in strength and rounded off the 1st half with 2 goals.

We started the 2nd half confidently and became over-confident and wasteful, as has happened too often this season, though never in the Camp Nou, apart from the Betis match. At the end we barely held off for the win. A third goal to Madrid would have led to an embarrassing exit from the Copa for us.

Our defenders simply switched off after a while and Abidal was well beaten by Ozil several times. I think Pep should avoid using Puyol and Abidal together when playing fast-paced teams, as they're both slower due to age. Masch has been our best defender this season and his tackles have saved us several goals.

Our passing wasn't crisp and we thus couldn't dominate the midfield as we usually would. Cesc seems more at home in the false 9 role than the Iniesta role. Thiago was a bit nervous in this match, but I'm sure he can hold his own against weaker teams in the league.

Messi looked tired towards the end - I hope Pep will grow some liver and sub him off when we're winning matches comfortably in the league.

Finally, I really, really hope that the injuries to Iniesta & Sanchez are only minor.

Why are Madrid players so rough? They play good football against other teams and turn to rugby players when facing Barca.