Segun Oluwaniyi

Of course this tournament has gone wild in the last few matches days after a tame start The drawing of lots situation 2-3 days ago because this is ACN, and ridiculous thing that can happen of course will. The Congo derby was very exciting second half, very pleased for Leopards to go through and Le Roy home. Hopefully they have retired the old man from African football. It is common knowledge that Equatorial Guinea's president and Hayatou are close friends and their relationship becomes more and more clear with each passing day. It is not enough that this country, who was originally thrown out of qualifying for fielding ineligible players, is now hosting their 2nd ACN out of three because the original host pulled out due to "Ebola" (which is patently ridiculous in itself). Now they have referees blatantly favouring them in QF matches. The penalty was a ghost penalty, and even the free kick was a poor call. I am definitely not displeased it happened to Tunisia though, who generally are a dirty, non-sporting side that play poor football, imo. Brilliant game, though. Tbh, as long as Ghana don't sneak their way to a victory, I'll be pleased. I will watch les Leopards with s supporting interest, but will not mind if CIV or Algeria win, both have earned it over a few years.

This is a bit of a ridiculous overstatement, btw. He is certainly not rotting away, the man appears in nearly every match and starts fairly often. I'm sure he is a bit displeased that he doesn't have the key role he envisioned and is second choice, but many players are perfectly happy to be squad players at bigger clubs. It is not as though he is Scott Sinclair or Wilfried Zaha coming to the matches in street clothing because they haven't made the bench.

Seydou Doumbia to Roma. Ivica Olic to Hamburg.

It is a bit strange to see so many of the Americans going back to MLS.Do you consider a net positive or negative? I'm sure it will raise the profile of your league somewhat, having prime aged American players that people have seen don RWB and may mean the core of the NT can meet more often, but surely they are more likely to grow individually as players in stronger leagues?

You could understand if he was the type that harried/out muscled defenders, held the ball up, and could spot a pass, but Shola has spent the majority of that time walking around with a grin on his face, being the slowest player on the pitch, and controlling the football 1 time out of 5. He has been hopelessly ineffective for a decade and a half!

Schurrle has been fairly rubbish for Chelsea, tbh. Doesn't do defensive work, hasn't been scoring and isn't really beating his man or being creative. A very good player, but a poor fit. Salah is significantly worse than Atsu and Moses (whom Chelsea own), imo. I have no idea why he was signed in the first place. Cuadrado like to get stuck-in doesn't he? He's not the most tactically defensively aware the few times i've seen him but he'll not shirk a challenge. Schurrle/Salah aren't about that life. Cuadrado is a slightly better version of Willian. Don't see the point of selling Schurrle though, basically their goal threat off the bench. But that tackle. I was ready to call Cuadrado the Colombian Willian but then I saw his goal record which was very impressive last season. CL semi final Matic - Mikel Willian - Fabregas - Cuadrado Costa No Hazard?

I agree about it being a farce, but these are the rules, would it not be more of a farce to change them mid-tournament or to make something up on the spot? Not when your rule is to decide quarter finals based on luck If this happened at WC 2014, we would have also drawn lots, tbf. Yesterday, it would have made sense to have a shootout because they were playing one another, but what if the order of matches was different and the two teams were in different cities? How do you find a winner without disrupting the flow of the tournament?

I agree about it being a farce, but these are the rules, would it not be more of a farce to change them mid-tournament or to make something up on the spot? This will just have to be the impetus for change to what is obviously a flawed part of the game. Lots have even been drawn at the World Cup to decipher which team won the group, but it obvious that in 2015 that conclusion isn't satisfactory to players or supporters.

Which is even more advantageous for bigger clubs. I don't understand why you can't scrap the system entirely. Man U: "Oh f***, he's managed by Pardew now! Better get rid of him while we still can!" Why are Man U so eager to sell him for so little? If he plays well from now to the end of the season, they could have received a fee around 7-8 million pound just because of his age and nationality.

Gabi must have actively tried to kill someone for his red, if that is only yellow.

I was wondering about the last time Atletico conceded three in 45 minutes, then suddenly remembered the CL Final.

Quarterfinals/Predictions (winners in old), btw: République démocratique du Congo-Other Congo CIV-Algeria Tunisia-Equatorial Guinea Ghana-Team to be decided later

Lots are there in case more than one team is involved or the teams aren't playing each other. I agree though, since everyone is here, can we just have penalties? Someone call Hayatou.

Long is a great athlete who runs nearly constantly, tbf. It's maybe his only positive attribute. You are right in general, though. Of the CBs at the club now, Taylor is the only one who even approaches the requisite level of physicality and athleticism we should look for in that position, and he is constantly injured and also an idiot. Williamson is weak physically and in the air for his size (Look what Moses did to him). Dummett needs to forget leftback and spend a year adapting to position physically and mentally. It has been a problem for quite a while. Bassong should have stayed at the club.

Hull are the worst team in the Premiership and significantly poorer than NUFC. IMO, the performances under Carver have been relatively spirited and competent, though not particularly well-organised or successful. This should still be enough against this Hull team, though. I see a poorly played 2-0 victory with Colback and Gouffran scoring.

Would playing him cause problems for NUFC? I know Senegal lodged a complaint against West Ham for Diafra Sakho who was "injured", yet played at the weekend.

amazing how much the media ignore the fact Chelsea completely bottled it too, loses to Palace and Sunderland, turn those into wins as you would expect and they win the title Tbf, I was three months old the last time Liverpool won the title, and last season looks to be the only chance they will have in the near future. While it is the same in isolation, I know which side was more damaged. I honestly think, 75 percent of Chelsea's goals conceded come from Ivanovic's side. Even when he hasn't gone flying forward, he is out of position all of the time, and fails to prevent the ball in. He's forgotten how to defend.

Have Senegal qualified or are they going out? Haven't been watching this at all. OUT!

This statistic is more a function of the team you play in, then anything about the player themselves. Roma are tiki-taka-esque under Garcia.

Algeria score a brilliant goal through Bentaleb!! Ghana through, Senegal out! edit: Ayew scores for Ghana! Ghana winning the group now, they go through with Algeria.

Don't know which thread to post, but Ghana have scored through Boye, and now one more goal for Ghana or Algeria send Ghana through. !!!!!....Ghana hit the post and Algeria nearly score in the last thirty seconds. Should be a great ending.

TT leading a lecture on why simple statistics are a poor way to judge the performance of footballers.

I'm pretty sure a goal for South Africa puts them out. A goal for Algeria and everything appears to be equal to me.

So far, Algeria 1 Senegal 0,,South Africa 1 Ghana 0 Right now Senegal and Cisse are though on goal difference over BafanaX2, but everyone is still alive and really a goal for any side will change the dynamic dramatically. Going to the wire.

I agree and see what you are saying, but for me the fact is that, even the paltry 11 points NUFC received from the last 16 matches in 2008-2009 would leave the club with 38 points, a total that would have seen them safe in nine of the past ten seasons. I just cannot see the team going on this poor of a run. Of course, NUFC have gone about making the threat as real as possible, but we are generally competent in terms of playing staff, imo, and while Carver is an idiot, I don't think he is on a mission of sabotage.