fiizznation:
All this talk of enlightenment whether political, social or economical is nonsensical. The northerners were enlightened even before the average southerner knows what a cloth looks like. We had a solid political administration even before the colonial masters came to Africa.

You talk about enlightenment and you southerners throw 'real enlightenment' in the dustbin. Let me tell you op,
enlightenment isn't dressing half-naked like the Europeans do, enlightenment isn't piling up numerous PhDs and what not, enlightenment isn't ignorance.

And from what I understand and know about most southerners is that a chunk number of you are very very ignorant. You know nothing and yet you claim to know everything.

Can you explain why voting Buhari is an informed decision? What does Buhari bring to the table of these super informed/enlightened northerners?

Where are the signature projects na?

Forgiveness have been right after all about the tribal nature of this thread. Incredible

Mickael2:


7 assists. Poor for a winger who played 33 league games

How many 20yr old wingers have dropped better numbers in the Epl?
Recall that same season he was Liverpool's young player of the season and he came second to Hazard for the Premiership award.
9 goals and 7 assists is nothing to scoff at. Arsenal fans will be in heaven if Iwobi hit those numbers.

andrew444:


Pick up which Epl ? Did Leicester use 300 million when they won theirs ? He could not win the league ahead of Leicester when Tottenham was close and have the opportunity you dey here dey talk 300 million ,like say Man U never spend more than 300 million .

Leicester had a freak season. Not a good reference to anchor your argument, because we can equally accuse the likes of Westbrom and Burnley for not winning the Premiership using the Leicester City standard to judge everyone.

andrew444:


Everyday no b xmas ,even if Martinez no play central defence Bayern no go still win champions league so no use that one as excuse because you hate pep

There is nothing like disgrace,say dem win Bayern 5-0 for champions league ? If no then nothing like disgrace

Also give kudos to mascherano

Bayern actually lost 4:0 to Real Madrid. If that wasn't enough disgrace then I don't know what it is.

andrew444:


You don't need to join anyone to sing guardiola praises ,the world is praising him .

Poch can even buy a player with 100 pounds and turn him to a super star ,but what has he achieved with the Tottenham team ? Nothing

When he even had the chance to win the Epl title ahead of Leicester he could not ,poch might not win any title with Tottenham

Do you know how many players pep have converted to a position which is not their preferred position ?

pep made mascherano played central back and won the champions league

Pep made yaya toure played central back also and won the champions league .

He tried to repeat same trick with Javi Martinez at Bayern and he was disgraced out of the champions league.
I'd give kudos to Yaya Toure for being versatile enough to hold his own more than any Pep magic. Tbh

Mickael2:


But that was exactly what he did with Kimmich at Bayern Munich, so what are you on about?

Are we now talking about Bayern? I thought we were discussing Man city were you said money havent been a factor in his success.

andrew444:


Tottenham got good players over the years and poch is a very good coach

They should be fighting to win the Epl or fa cup and anything cup not just there coming 2nd or 3rd

For your information I rate Tottenham ahead of Chelsea Arsenal and man united

The only team I see that's better than poch team is Liverpool and mancity

Bros, give Poch £300 million to spend on this squad and you see him pick up the Epl and play in the Champions league final.

Mickael2:


Yes totally, that was not a bad return at all. Subtract his goals and Liverpool would have still scored over 100 goals in the EPL, I believe even Steven G had more goals that he did. The point is that they said that it was the Sterling/Suarez combo that got Liverpool into second spot but I am saying that without Sterling, Sturridge/Suarez would have done exactly that maybe even more

Sterling was vital to Roger's tactics at Liverpool. His dribbling and chance creation stats were off the chain aside the goals.
Take away Sterling and their attack won't be pouring.

andrew444:


You don't need to join anyone to sing guardiola praises ,the world is praising him .

Poch can even buy a player with 100 pounds and turn him to a super star ,but what has he achieved with the Tottenham team ? Nothing

When he even had the chance to win the Epl title ahead of Leicester he could not ,poch might not win any title with Tottenham

Do you know how many players pep have converted to a position which is not their preferred position ?

pep made mascherano played central back and won the champions league

Pep made yaya toure played central back also and won the champions league .

What are you saying? Poch is managing Tottenham to stay competitive while they build a brand new stadium.
As a result, they basically have zero balance to buy anyone. Durring the summer transfer window, they spent zero.
How fair of you to demand that he wrestled the league off people who have spent half a billion dollars.

Staying competitive in this circumstance is a huge victory on it's own for Tothenham. The man is already a legend.

Mickael2:


Not every news you see online is true. I remember when Samu was purportedly going to Atletico to replace Vitolo for 25million it was everywhere but was entirely fake. Same as the barca rumours so..

Meanwhile so you want to give Poch credit for Dele Alli but you don't want to give Pep credit for the other Man City players that have improved? I watched Alli against Man U in the FA Cup or so, Welbeck and Hernandez played upfront for United that day and Alli was simply unplayable so he was already good, very good before he moved to Tottenham. So if you give Poch credit for developing him then you should do same for Guardiola.
Finito

Oh please, when Guardiola buys a player from Mk dons for £4million and turns him to a super star like Dele Alli, I will join in and sing his praises.
Apparently, today ain't that day.

andrew444:


Thank you for being sincere

But I think say pochetino replace all the team with academy players ?

Ben Davies was bought from Swansea bro and not Tottenham academy ,dele Ali did not replace Chadli they played so many games together before he left okay .

Vetroghen ? Davinson Sanchez ? Dembele ? Erickson? Alderweird? Lloris? Son ? Sergie airier ? Tripper ? Are all this players from Tottenham academy ?

Concerning that street boy matter I no wan talk

The point is that Chadli left and people like Delle Ali replaced and topped whatever Chadli offered.
Sorry I meant Harry winks, I keep mixing him up with Davies.
The point is that academy players have practically replaced first teamers under Pochetino, hence supporting my claim that Poch have out coached Pep.

By the way, who says massive investment in sports won't bear results.
Qatar are bound to be Asian champions, currently leading Japan 2:0 in the finals.
The same Qatar normally lost these type of games 7-8 nil in the past.
I didn't even know Qatar played football until they won the hosting rights for the World Cup.

andrew444:


Tell me a top coach that has done the bolded and i will take you serious

My broda you are just a mourinho and man united fan and you cant deal with the fact that pep torn the epl apart.

Pick player from the streets? So e don reach like that na so you take hate pep reach? Na wa for you o

For your information, I hate Man Utd more than any club and I think Mourinho is a a complete disgrace of a man.
I just used them as an example since you demanded comparism with their squad and Man citys.


For your information, Pochetino have replacedfirst team players with academy boys and have achieved the results they have, which is fantastic.

Soldado =Harry Keane
Youunes Kabul/ Micheal Dawson= Davies
Add Kevin Trippier and Delle Alli who was signed from almighty Mk Don's and replaced Sandro and Chadli, to name a few.

Kanu Nwankwo and Finidi were practically street boys when they were signed up by Van gal at Ajax, who paid their sign on fee from his breast pocket. So it is do able to pick up players from the streets and make them super stars.

andrew444:


Now i know you are a man u fan, so you expect pep not to spend and use players like clichy zabaleta and co who are old legs to win the league?

Pochetino developed erickson? Lol, you didnt watch erickson at ajax,go and check erickson at ajax then you will know pochetino didnt develope him.

Now i understand why you no wan agree about pep.

Why didn't Pep replace those tired legs with players from their academy? Better still, he could have picked players from the streets and coached them since he's a super coach and talent developer.
Why spend 160million to replace those full backs?

Ericson was a talent at Ajax. Highly regarded on at that but it was under Pochetino he blossomed and became a real super star,world class midfielder.

If Pep had coached Ericson, you would have raised his hands as the man who developed Ericson just like you're saying about Sterling but here you are almost in pains to admit the obvious.

andrew444:


I am just making an example with musa

Pep make sterling a wold class player without pep sterling will not be scoring 20 goals in the epl per season and get up to 15 assists, for your information almighty hazard of the epl has never scored 20 goals a season but sterling has done that with pep

There are so many proof pep improved sterling but you guys wont agree because of one thing i wont say about but deep down in your mind you know the truth.

Sterling at just 20yrs old scored 10 Epl goals as a winger at Liverpool. Yes, he has improved as he already has 10 goals this season and we are still in February.
However, a case could be made that he has gained more experience. Man city and Guardiola didn't do anything ground breaking because his celine was always high even as a teen.

Mickael2:


Diaz is a part of the first team, even the coach mentioned it. So which technical team said he should be loaned out? I am not sure where you got that from but okay.

If you think money buys success then I want you to do something. Calculate the amount of money that Man U's first XI cost then compare it to City, then compare their places on the table and you will get that money isn't everything.

The news about Madrid considering a Lone option for Diaz is all over the web. A little digging and you find this out for yourself.

Coming to Man Utd comparison. I don't think that was the best example to use in this scenario because for what it's worth, they have achieved some level success with the squad they have. Winning the Europa league and the FA cup is no child's play and they came second last season in the league.
This is first class achievement in my books. Even if we compare both squads and what they are worth, one will discover Man Utd paid over the top for Pogba, Lukaku, Martial then maybe De gae and Luke Shaw.
Guys like Rashford and Micheal Jackson were plucked from their academy. Smalling, Jones and some of those squad fillers are cheap buys.

Man city's defence alone Stones, Laporte, Walker, Mendy, Otamendy, Mangala (€45million ), Danilo, Elderson are worth more than £300m. I won't bother going to their midfield and forward players.

The best example would have been Tothenham, who I believe Pochetino have out coached every other manager in the top 6. The man practically developed his players. The value of Kyle walker, Davies, Alli, Son, Keane, Rose, Erickson etall skyrocketed under his tutelage.

Mickael2:


Diaz has already made his debut for Madrid and it is a long season with Madrid still in the hunt for all three trophies he will get a lot more minutes so I don't know why you think Madrid do not consider him good enough for the first team.

That Man City academy was there when Mancini took over, how many players did he and Manuel Pelligrini promote? Kudos to Pelligrini for promoting Nacho, but that's about it.

By the way a season is a long long period, so long as you are in the first team you are vital. Zinchenko has been absolutely immense, at some point Delph was suspended and with Mendy injured Zinchenko played and was brilliant. Foden has started a lot games. So too Diaz. When Mendy got injured other clubs would have gone all out to buy another left back instead Pep converted Delph and promoted a B team player. I am not sure what you are on about but if you think Guardiola's success is down to money then you have not been following him at all.

Diaz made his debut in Copa de Rey after which Madrid technical team came out that he wasn't ready yet for first team football and suggested that he sent on loan.
I haven't checked if he was sent on loan yesterday, so that's about it.

On the injury to Mendy, do you know Guardiola has spent almost 160million on full backs since he took over at Man city? He was bound to search for internal solution at some point, especially when Mendy got injured.

Which ever way you look at it, money has been the name of the game. Look at Liverpool since Klopp took over. He has managed to clear out the dross like Ibe, Lucas, Benteke and the likes and replaced them with about £400m worth of asset and their trajectory has since gone up from 10th place to first place, a Europa final and champions league final. Potentially English champions.

I don't begrudge them of buying their success because they worked for it. They recruited wisely and had resellable assets like Coutinho and Suarez whom they sold and reinvested in their team.

Man city on their part, went black water and gamed the system, broke financial fair play rules and voala!

Money have been a massive factor in Guardiola and Man city's success. No one can deny that.
They are currently second in the league because someone have out spent them in the close season.

andrew444:


What about sterling who was a 49 million pounds headless chicken before pep arrived? even nacho outscored sterling during pellegrini reign, but now sterling is a winger who will gurantee you 20 epl goals per season.

I think sterling is now a world class player under guardiola

This is not true. Sterling/Suarez partnership was a Gerrard slip away from the Premiership title.
Calling him a headless chicken is abit over board.

andrew444:


Diaz left for Real Madrid should tell you alot, He did not left for Rayo Vallecano he did not left for stoke city but he left for almighty real madrid

Give guardiola a credit for that, if you dont then i think you are trying to be bias despite you made some point with some of your words

I hope you understand Guardiola is not the coach of the Man city reserves and academy? He is the first team manager.
Those youth team coaches do the heavy lifting to prepare and train/teach these boys.

Guardiola gets the credit when these guys graduate to the first team proper and turn into class players for the club.

Diaz was bought by Real Madrid because of his exploits in the city academy. He hasn't done nada for the city first team.
How Guardiola gets credit for this is incomprehensible.

Mickael2:


At Barca: Cuenca, Bojan, Thiago, Busquets and Pedro. Iame guessing you probably don't know Cuenca but check him up, he has a couple of classico goals and would have been a major hit if not for injuries. In fact let me go all out and add Sergi Roberto, Rafinha, Tello, Batra and this Everton dude. Admittedly he wasn't the one that gave Bojan his first team debut but he promoted him to the first team squad properly.

Bayern: In Bayern it was rather difficult because over the years Bayern's policy has always been to suck the other teams dry while building their own pool. Apart from Muller I am not sure any Bayern youth team player has been promoted since....1999.


Man City: I already mentioned Diaz, Foden and Zinchenko. Let me throw in Pablo Maffeo

You guys give Guardiola too much credit for the development of Diaz, Foden and Zinchenko.
Man city spent over £200 million on their ultra morden academy. They didn't spend that much on facilities alone just for keep sake.
Even at that, none of these guys have breached the Man city first eleven and Diaz have since left for Real Madrid who do not consider him ready for first team football.

tbaba1234:


No way, with his club fighting for a playoff spot.

The interest could be firmed up by a pre contract,with a summer move in view.

I expected Jamilu Collins to make a move after all the links with Dortmond and Schalke last year.

TheGoodJoe:


I wonder if you are paying attention. Enrique plays an attacking variant of tiki taka. You can not say he is no tiki taka.

Look at the image below. That is Guardiola this season against West Ham. The possession stat is 60% which is high. Enrique having an average of 61.9% is highly possessive.

Below is Guardiola. Look at the possessive stats. It is lower than even that 61.9%.

Finito.

Hold on a sec. Barcelone front six under Enrique was,
Neymar... Suarez.. Messi, Iniesta, Xavi and Busquets.
It is academic these guys will out pass most teams they played even if Big Sam was their coach.
The question is not about having the upper hand in their possession stats, we are talking about ticki tacka.
A peculiar kind of passing game that focuses on recycling the ball slowly, sideways passes, total dominace of the midfield.

Enrique wasn't all about that. He wanted the ball moved faster to the front three. This resulted in significant drop in possession. Busquets pass completion dropped from 91 to 80 same as Xavi and Iniesta.
Barcelona fans saw this kind of football against the Cryuff blueprint. Messi in particular threatened to quit the club.
Enrique just had to go. However, he achieved just as much as Guardiola achieved without ticki tacka.

TheGoodJoe:


61.9% is still a high possessive stat. Okay?

Finito.

High, but not exactly ticki tacka.

This passage from ESPN says it all...

The shift is real, though, and is troubling for Barcelona: That control has largely gone, the midfield is being overrun -- the midfield! at Barcelona! -- and the performances, if not as catastrophic as is claimed, have not convinced. They are losing their footballing religion, it is true.
Finito

TheGoodJoe:


Does not change the very simple fact that Enrique is a possessive coach and in his lowest average, he was still possessive. Having a 61.9% possession is high. Very high. If you watch the game, you will marvel at the brilliant passing game.

Losing possession means they were willing to take more risk to attack and going on the counter is them striking back when they regain possession. It does not mean they were not keeping possession on a high scale.

The point is too simple.

Finito.

Those drop in numbers actually saw Barcelona gradually walk away from their famed ticki tacka to a more direct approach.
They weren't comfortable with the idea, they panicked and sacked Enrique even after winning a treble.
That was the story.

TheGoodJoe:


WTF.

61.9% which is their lowest average is still a high percentage and shows it was a possessive side.

How the Heck does that not support my claim?

The significant drop in possession under Enrique was apparent. Shedding 70/75% down to 61% says alot about his preference for a system not ticki tacka.

TheGoodJoe:


You said direct play, No tiki taka. Which is totally wrong. There was tiki taka with an attacking variant to it.

Finito.

Good night a d sweet dreams.

Yielding more possession to the opposition and going counter is not so possessive.
As a matter of fact, Barca players and Messi in particular weren't comfortable with their style under Enrique, they complained and he was booted out.

TheGoodJoe:


Possession stats dropping does not mean abandoning the ideals of the possessive game play.

Enrique is a possessive coach.

Finito.

If the possession stats are dropping, it means he yielded more possession to the opposition,which makes him, you know, kinda direct....

TheGoodJoe:


Luis Enrique is a possessive coach. That is the point. Coaches have different variants. That does not mean they do not play possessive football.

Finito.

Their drop in possession stats under him do not support your claims Mr.