Segun Oluwaniyi

I would say that this boy has wasted his talent and his career, but the fact that he has made it 7 years and to age 25 in his career with a lack of amazing talent, long criminal history, and repeated shows of general disdain for his team and the sport is actually incredible in some ways. Society will dismiss Nile Ranger long before football does.

There is a good chance he is not 19. It is common knowledge that he failed the test and was meant to be a member of the world champion u-17 team led by the likes of Iheanacho, who is twenty. He had passed the one several months earlier, so he is still young, and just a victim of the poor records in Nigeria. Good player, though. I think he will be superior to Amartey or Mendy (who will be bullied in this league, imo) over time.

Leicester are underachieving. No excuses should be made for Raineri on that front. They are a better side than Boro or Sunderland without question and have been easily outperformed by both in the last two weeks. The loss of Kante has only been exacerbated by the bizarre commitment to 4-4-2, when the personnel just no longer fits given injuries. Whenever I have seen them, teams run rampant over the likes of Andy King. They are meant to be bringing over Ndidi in January and maybe he can approximate Kante, at least in terms of energy and athleticism, though obviously not ability. A decline is acceptable, but a relegation is not by any means, imo. Raineri has essentially lost one player from last season and seen serious investment.

The situation is not that dire, imo. The task is simple. qualify above two of Honduras, Panama, and the hopeless Trinidad and play a fairly weak side from Asia for qualification. Qualify above all three and go directly to the World Cup. They've played two of their most difficult matches so far. North America has the most forgiving path to qualification available, so there is plenty of space for a progressive appointment.

I think it was the hardest draw for any English side in terms of having two sides that would actually challenge them for qualification. Obviously, there are no giants for them to contend with.

There is no reason a 21 year old cannot come back from one ACL tear, it is a very common serious injury. Depending on the severity, there is every chance that he is back running full speed and cutting by next pre-season.

I quite enjoyed this break, tbh. Already, a lot of teams are playing for big stakes already, and there were some big matches, especially in the Americas and Africa, with some big names in Europe, too. The friendly breaks drag on forever, though. Substituting competitive football for training matches is terrible.

I'd have a bit of that! Does he play in a midfield 2 or 3 baba? He plays in a three, behind Kubano, with some hey-you local boy holding behind him. Essentially, he plays box to box and carries the ball forward quite a bit. I think it would be interesting to see him next to Shelvey once or twice.

Clark's brilliant. I don't mean to insult Clark, btw, I understand he has played well and is probably underrated given how poor the environment was at Villa, I am speaking solely of the best way to utitlise Mbemba, especially as CM is the weakest area of the side.

I think Rafa should try him in midfield. I've mentioned before that I watch many of his games for RDC who deploy him as a central midfielder and when I see him there, it is hard to believe someone of his talent cannot help this side. In the last match against Guinea, he was crucial in both goals, making Yaya-esque, powerful runs from deep midfield to the top of the opposition box and spreading to the wide players in good positions. His general play and ability to cause havoc is very impressive. Against Libya (who are poor since the civil war, tbf) he was also dominant in that position. It says something that their manager values his midfield play to the point, he prefers to play League 1 players and local boys at the back. Generally, the club has invested a good sum of money for Chancel, and if the conclusion is that he cannot make a better defender than Ciaran Clark, his signing was a massive error. There is obvious talent there, and it would be good if the club found a way to exploit it.

If only we could reach the heights of losing to Iceland we might get some respect More than ten years now since England has won any knockout match of a senior tournament. All three of those have very tough roads ahead anyway. I would enjoy it if Ecuador collapsed though, so all of the talented and entertaining sides could qualify from that region. Their presence at tournaments (along with Honduras) is a scourge upon the eyes of the world.

As mentioned before, Wilfried Ndidi is probably not 19 He is older than Iheanacho and Success, so likely 21 dependinig on what time of year he was born. Regardless, I think he is a potential star. He is a strong, quick, and versatile athlete who started in central defence but was too skilled to continue there. He is in midfield for Genk and has filled in at right back for Nigeria when needed. Bringing him over in January would be smart, adjusting to the Premiership from Belgium would not be easy. Gerrard struggles in MLS. He'll be starring in celebrity challenges and mumbling incoherently on Match of the Day in two years.

Active day for NUFC in Africa: Atsu started for Ghana, who suffered a very damaging 2-0 defeat today in Cairo against Egypt. Combined with a lacklustre draw in Accra against Uganda in the first match, the Black Stars are in a precarious position for the World Cup with 2 of the 6 groups matches played. Mbemba started for DR Congo and as usual played in defensive midfield, rather than defense. Northampton's Zakuani plays as central defender and also captains the side. They played pretty poorly (Mbemba included) , imo, but scored two goals in three minutes in the second half (one of which was thunder bolt by Bolasie) to steal a 2-1 win against Guinea in Conakry, which is a tough place to play. RDC are now my second team and I think we are in a good position to qualify for the World Cup, but it will really come down to the home and home with Tunisia. For my personal enjoyment, we got a big win yesterday. Many consider Algeria the best team in Africa and yesterday they had Slimani, Mahrez, Brahimi, Bentaleb, and Feghouli in their ranks, but they left Nigeria with a fairly comprehensive 3-1 defeat. The defence still is questionable under the new manager, but the team we had yesterday with Moses, Iheanacho, and Iwobi (with players like Musa, Ighalo, and Success in reserve) attacking and Mikel dominating the middle, is very exciting and absolutely loaded with fire power. Even 4 points clear after 2 matches, qualifying above Algeria and Cameroon in the "group of broken dreams" won't be easy, but this team could be special in 2018 without the usual self-destruction. Fwiw, Abeid came on for the final 20 minutes. I didn't notice much from him.

The current England side is very talented, imo. Probably a top ten side in the world. The obvious weaknesses are the centre of defense and the Rooney quandary (eliminate him). Otherwise, these are quality, youthful players that perform consistently and admirably for their club sides. The inability to compete with the very best sides is as much a mentality issue as anything, imo.

After two minutes.

I have never understood where he was meant to fit into Tottenham's starting XI stylistically (and I genuinely think he would be more suited as an option in the centre for most of their matches, though they are well stocked there). They seem to target him aerially without Kane in the side, but more often than not in general attacking play, he seems to be standing isolated on the right in another of Tottenham's slow, ponderous buildups. I also find it bizarre that Pochettino is continually starting him when he is clearly struggling for form a bit at this time and the new boy in the team. Fwiw, it has been 2 months and less than ten matches. I still think he will come good (or at least "come useful"), but the transfer still seems like spending for the sake of it.

Does Guardiola plan to go on the longest winless run of his managerial career again? If results are poor, you will be questioned. There is no reason for Guardiola (or Mourinho or Klopp or anyone else) to be impervious to this. I only saw the match from the 50th minute on, but Barcelona were astoundingly poor. It is not so uncommon to see them outplayed or outwitted, but they were not in the match at all. Preseason intensity against a hungry and extremely talented side.

Now that I am unable to watch matches, the cognitive dissonance and constant bickering surrounding certain players is even more confounding. I cannot imagine taking my time to go on about which defensive midfielder should be starting in the midst of a five match winning streak, and four matches during which the club has allowed one goal.

Yup. Terrible fit. Should have gone for Ancelotti when he was still available. we were just talking about this, every time i've seen mourinho he looks like he's just going through the motions and rocked up for another massive payday that s*** with the female doctor also appears to have had an impact on him i reckon I agree. His last few months at Chelsea seem to have f***ed him big style. Doesn't seem the same bloke. The whole Real debacle exposed him. So badly that he immediately went to Chelsea and did well there People overreact, imo. Man U still lack talent and experience around the pitch. Throwing in Pogba and aging Ibra does not change this. 3rd, 1st, bottom half midway through the season. The previous 3 years brought them a CL, EL and FA Cup. Those previous three seasons brought them no serious challenges to the Premier League title, and the CL title was clearly the embers of an era at the club that had faded. Were Lampard, Drogba, Ashley Cole, Saloman Kalou, Raul Meireles, and various others meant to some how assist Mourinho's tenure? Jose came in and immediately challenged for the league, upgraded the squad, and then won the league handily (as well as deep cup runs in both seasons). The third season was a failure, but the entirety of it was not.

Rubbish PSG draw 0-0 with OM in Classique. Nice now 6 points ahead of them and four ahead of Monaco. Emery needs to play Ben Arfa because the Parisian attack is very poor.Even when they right the ship, this PSG will not walk this league by any means, imo. The idea of a CL title is laughable. Yup. Terrible fit. Should have gone for Ancelotti when he was still available. we were just talking about this, every time i've seen mourinho he looks like he's just going through the motions and rocked up for another massive payday that s*** with the female doctor also appears to have had an impact on him i reckon I agree. His last few months at Chelsea seem to have f***ed him big style. Doesn't seem the same bloke. The whole Real debacle exposed him. So badly that he immediately went to Chelsea and did well there People overreact, imo. Man U still lack talent and experience around the pitch. Throwing in Pogba and aging Ibra does not change this. The problem for them is that top four is now difficult, but next season is the one to challenge if those at the club are reasonable.

Should Ivory Coast go through, Lazaar and/or Mbemba will come back to us after the group stages Once again a certain nation is highly conspicuous by its absence. Shameful. If Villa are to mount a furious comback to the top if the league, it is important to note that both Kodjia and Ayew could miss extended time. I download MOTD fairly often, and he does seem to be able to coherently articulate his (usually banal) viewpoints. This puts him levels above most other people in his profession.

Are their any referees from London? By this same logic, they would be banned from a decent proportion of the matches every matchday.

I do not support the white portion at the bottom of the Middlesbrough kit.

My only problem with McClaren is that it took far to long to sack him. I was encouraged by his hire at the time, tbh, but it clearly was not working here, and everyone sat quietly as NUFC hurtled towards relegation. Many managers fail at positions. Most of them are also promptly sacked. I still fail to understand why he was here until March, especially given decent-sized investment in the squad. Clearly he has something about him for both Twente and Derby to have called him back at the first opportunity. I cannot imagine any of Pardew's employers doing this.

This Dutch generation really seems to be lacking in talent.