Mesut Ozil Of Arsenal a Big Game Flop

By Sammy Aniekan for Eddy Educators Sports

Mesut Ozil has been lauded several times this season as the best midfield artiste & enforcer who bosses & dictates play from the midfield with ease but during the weekend when Arsenal took on Chelsea, Ozil was no where to be found as he was missing from the party.

No player has controlled the midfield with the consistency that Ozil has demonstrated in the 2015/2016 football season. He has the highest number of assists in the current season & he has eclipse Fabregas record of assist per game. He splits defenses with ease & calm but against Chelsea on Sunday he was no where to be found. He was on the pitch for the entire duration of the game but it was as if he was sleeping on the pitch as he couldn't really make meaningful contribution or impart through-out the entire period of the game.

In-fact Ozil has never be able to raise his game nor influence any game in which Chelsea is the opponent since he moved to Arsenal. He has always been missing in action when Chelsea is the opponent. If Arsenal FC club are really serious about ending their BPL title drought this season, then Ozil just have to step-up to be the man for the big occasion. Also if Ozil wants to be counted & ranked in the same league as club legends such as Dennis Bergkamp, Patrick Vieira & Thierry Henry he needs to really begins to pull his weight in big games such as this one.         

Wenger's Arsenal loses to Mourinho-less Chelsea Setting a New Club Record in the process

By Sammy Aniekan for EddySam Educators Sports 

Diego Costa scores the only goal of the match

The star match across Europe & the entire world failed to live up to its billing, as league leaders Arsenals were out-class by current title holders Chelsea who are battling relegation. Mertesacker red card in the 18th minute after he brought down Costa forced Wenger to replace Giroud with Gabriel & Costa made Arsenal pay immediately as he smash in Ivanovic's cross at Cech's near post. The defeat means: 

• Arsenal who were league leaders before match-day 23 are now 3rd on the league table.
• scoring a goal against Chelsea has become an impossible task.
• They have now equalled their BPL record of 6-matches for the longest goal drought against any single club following a similar drought aginst Liverpool between 1997-2000.
• Arsenal have gone 532 minutes without scoring a goal against Chelsea FC in the BPL equalling a club record in the process.
• Chelsea have stayed unbeaten in nine straight games against the Gunners winning six with three ending in a draw.  
• irrespective of Arsenal's position on the league table that Chelsea remains the top team in London.
• that even without Mourinho in Chelsea's dug-out, that Chelsea still remains an insurmountable obstacle to Arsenal FC.

Arsenal 0 vs Chelsea 1 Live

Arsenal 0 vs Chelsea 1    
Diego Costa scores as Arsenal are reduced to 10 men.              It's already half-time at the Emirates. 

Arsenal's Icon Patrick Vieira Chooses Mourinho over Wenger

By Sammy Aniekan for EddySam Educators Sport

Arsenal's Icon & legend, Patrick Vieira says he enjoyed Mourinho's methods & tactics better that those used by Wenger.

Vieira won 3-league titles & 4-FA cups during his 9-year sojourned at 
Arsenal even captaining the undefeated invincible's during the 2004/2005 season.

Vieira insists that Mourinho with whom he spent just two seasons & even spent more time on the bench than on the field of play made a more lasting impression on him compare to Wenger. 

Vieira was speaking to the Times & selecting a first-eleven of former team-mates both at club & national team level when he was asked to picked his coach for his side & he responded that it was Jose Mourinho.

Mourinho Escapes Wenger's Wrath

Wenger knock-outs Mourinho

Arsene Wenger has never defeated Jose Mourinho in a competitive match spanning two eras and six & a half seasons of intense rivalry & he is going to miss the opportunity to do so this weekend when Arsenal take on  Chelsea in the return leg of 2015/2016 BPL match.

No-body has gotten under Wenger's skin & nerves more than Mourinho both on & off the field. It was Mourinho who upset the balance of power in the BPL during his first era by reducing Arsene Wenger's Arsenal from perennial title contenders to perennial top-4 chasers. Initially there were only two teams in London, Arsenal & others but that all changed after the coming of the Special One as Chelsea became the star team in London & Arsenal became just one of the other teams in the city of London.

General Arsene Wenger became frustrated with the fact that he could never defeated Chelsea lead by Mourinho even in his dreams & worst still Mourinho had reduced Arsenal from title favourite to chasing bread crumbs. Arsenal trophy/title became earning a top-4-finish in the premiership. To add insult to injury Mourinho gave Monsieur Wenger a befitting gift when Wenger celebrated his 1000th game in charged of Arsenal FC by a 6-0 thrashing. 

Wenger likes to portray this Mr Nice Guy image but the frustrations' of not having defeated Mourinho in the course of his career got to him & he allowed his emotions to boil & take over & he fell into the snare of physically assaulting Mourinho in his technical area destroying his Mr Nice Guy image & making Mourinho the good guy in the process. The fans of Arsenal were not left out & label Chelsea as boring out of frustration & Mourinho told them that boring means to stay 8 years without the BPL title, obviously a dig on Wenger's credentials as a Manager.

Even though Wenger eventually managed to defeat Chelsea in the community shield at the start of the current season with Mourinho in charged, the game in question was more or less a glorified friendly match & Wenger had to copy Mourinho's strategy of scoring 1 goal & then packing the bus which he has repeatedly condemned. Although Wenger behaved like someone who had won the world cup after winning the inconsequential community shield & even went as far as refusing to shake hands with Mourinho at the end.

In the next competitive match Wenger lost again & also two of his players also received their matching orders for fouls & bad sportsmanship further tarnishing Wenger's Mr Nice Guy image.Mourinho forcefully shook Wenger's hand before the match just to distabilise Wenger knowing fully well that Wenger despises him & won't be happy through out the match as a result of shaking him.

Now would have been the best opportunity for Arsene Wenger to land the killer/knock-out punch on Chelsea in a competitive game with Arsenal in the driving sea for the BPL title & Chelsea battling relegation but Mourinho, Wenger's Nemesis won't be in the dug-out to shake him come sunday. If Arsenal defeats Chelsea on sunday, the fans of Arsenal & Mourinho are not going to be fulfilled.They will believe that their victory would have been sweeter with Mourinho in the dug-out.

Wenger pushes Mourinho

Ronaldo Demands Debt Payment From Lionel Messi

L-R Neymar, Messi & Ronaldo at the 2015 Ballon d'or

Real-Madrid talisman Cristano Ronaldo has jokingly ask Lionel Messi to pay up money owned him for language translation services rendered during the Ballon d'or for the best player on the planet which Messi won.

The Portuguese ace spoke with reporters after the 5-1 thrashing of Sporting-Gijon about how he acted as an interpreter for  the pair of Messi & Neymar who both don not understand English while on stage during the Ballon d'or ceremony & told them they were going to pay him for his service.  

Becoming a Slave or a Master of the Dreaded Subject Mathematics Part 1

There's no two ways about it you either become a master of the subject mathematics or you become it's slave

A lot of people at one level or the other view mathematics with trepidation. At the mere mention of the word mathematics they begin to tremble & fidget. Children view mathematics as an unnecessary evil & enemy which they are forcefully compelled to study & as a result they grow up to hate the subject,

On a day when there is no mathematics on the time-table a lot of students are happy & cheerful. When the mathematics instructor isn't  in school for one reason or the other majority of the students heave a sigh of relieve & are relaxed. Now when the mathematics teacher comes into class to teach the mood of most of the students changes from happy to sad & they switch off from active mode to passive or dormant mod. In other words they are present in class but not available & they begin to pray that the period should quickly roll over. In a large class some students will tactically leave the class  & will only return when the period is over.

Now who suffers at the end of the day, is it the subject mathematics or the teacher? The answer is no, the teacher neither suffers nor the subject. The worst thing that can happen to the teacher is him getting fired which doesn't change any-thing after all he is going to get another job else-where if he is good. It is the students that suffers greatly experiencing the back-lash & full-scale wrath of the subject mathematics.

They become slaves to mathematics & mathematics is a cruel task-master that doesn't pity its slaves. Mathematics enslaves those who dislikes it or hates it's messenger or prophet the mathematics teacher.. It takes captives of all those who refuses to becomes it's master. A slave will always suffer in one way or the other & when you become a slave of mathematics it is going to terrorize you & make life meaning-less & frustrating. .

So it is either you consciously make the choice &effort to become it's master or remain it's slave forever.

President Buhari & Football are Soul-Mates

President Buhari of Nigeria & football  are inseparable. In the year 1985 the Golden Eaglet of Nigeria won the maiden edition of the under-17 world cup in China with General Buhari as the Head of state back then.

And three decades later in 2015, history repeated itself in President Buhari first year in power as a democratically elected President, as the Golden Eaglet of Nigeria again won the FIFA under-17 world cup for a record fifth time. 

Speaking after receiving the 2015 Glo/CAF Platinum award for good leadership which was bestowed on in recognition of his support for football which resulted in Nigeria winning two major football events in 2015. The President declared " I think football loves me"       

Lionel Messi Trumps Cristano Ronaldo to the 2015 Ballon D'or Award

The 2015 Ballon D'or ceremony is over & Lionel Messi of Argentina & Barcelona has been crowned the best player on planet earth in 2015 with 41.33% of the votes.

  He faced stiff competition for the award from his Barcelona team-mate Neymar Junior & his Real-Madrid rival Cristano Ronaldo of Portugal who was aiming to pick the award for the 3rd consecutive time in a row & a total of 4 Ballon D'or award to be on par with Messi but which was not destined to be as he was only good enough for 2nd position this time around with 27.76% of the votes while Neymar  Junior came 3rd with 7.86% of the votes.   

The various awards given during the events & their winners are :

• Ballon d'or: Lionel Messi
• Women's world player of the year: Carli Lloyd.
• Puskas award: Wendell Lira of Brazil & club Goianesia. 
• World coach of the year for men's football: Luis Enrique of Barcelona. 

  

  Luis Enrique

• World coach of the year for women's football: Jill Ellis.
• FIFA fair play award: All football organisations supporting refugees.
•  The 2015 FIFA FIFPRO World XI: The selection was done based on a 4-3-3 formation. 

                                                                                          
We have Manuel Neuer in goal.

It is made up of a 4-man defense comprising Dani Alves of Barcelona at right back, a left & right central defensive pairing of Thiago Silva of Paris St Germaine & Sergio Ramos of Real-Madrid in central defense & Marcelo also of Real-Madrid at the left back position. 

We have a 3-man midfield of Luka Modric of Real-Madrid in the center flanked on the left & right by Andres Iniesta of Barcelona & Paul Pogba of Juventus.

It is made up of a 3-prong attack of Ronaldo as the lone striker flanked on the left & right wing by Neymar & Messi respectively.  

• The 2015 Reserve FIFA FIFPRO World XI: The selection was done based on a 4-3-3 formation.                                                                                           

We have David De Gea in goal.


It is made up of a 4-man defense comprising Philip Lahm at right back, a left & right central defensive pairing of Emmanuel Alaba & Gerard Pique in central defense & Jordi Alba at the left back position. 

We have a 3-man midfield of Yaya Toure in the center flanked on the left & right by Eden Hazard & Toni kroos.

It is made up of a 3-prong attack of Lawandowski as the lone striker flanked on the left & right wing by Ibrahimovic & Suarez respectively.  

Brazilian Wendell wins the Puskas award for 2015

  Note that the Puskas award is for the most outstanding goal of the year 2015 & it was actually won by an unknown brazilian forward who plies his trade for Goianesia for a spectacular overhead kick that resulted in a goal. 

Jill Ellis coach of the year 2015 for women's football

Carli Lloyd women's world player 2015

Yaya Toure's Silly Rant about African Football after Losing the 2015 African Footballer of the Year Award to Aubameyang

It 's usually saith that what's good for the goose is equally good for the gander but that is not the case with Yaya Toure. Yaya knows how to win but is a sore loser. He has won 4 straight African player of the year award so if he doesn't win a fifth one he should take in in good faith in the spirit of sportsmanship rather than moaning & grumbling giving reasons why he should be the one to win like one of the top coaches of the BPL normally does whenever he loses.

As a sportsman you should be ready to win some & lose some & if destiny has already blessed you with 4 straight awards one should not be sad or angry because you didn't win a fifth one. There are so many great players in the history of the game like Austin JayJay Okocha & Joel Telhi who never won the award for once in the cause of their career & they didn't crucify any-one because of that. Whatsoever misgivings he has about the voting patterns should be kept in the cooler or thrown into the dustbin because he is greatest beneficiary of the flawed voting system.

Yaya Toure was voted the African player of the year award between 2011 & 2014 on the back of his outstanding performance for Manchester City & not on his performance for the national team of Cote De Ivoire .

• In 2011 Yaya was highly instrumental as City emerged victorious in the FA cup & he was voted the player of the year in Africa.
• In 2012 a Yaya Toure inspired Manchester City won the BPL, while Chelsea spear-headed by Didier Drogba won the champions league & a Christopher Katonga  lead Zambia triumphed over a Drogba & Yaya Toure's lead Cote De Ivoire in the African cup of nations. Now even though Katonga was voted the player of the tournament he was not considered good enough to be among the top 3 nominees for the African player of the year award which Yaya Toure carted away again for the 2nd time. He did not raised any eye brow as to why Katonga  didn't win.
• In 2013 Mikel Obi won the Europa league with Chelsea & the African cup of nations with Nigeria eliminating Yaya Toure's Cote De Ivoire in the quarter final. Yaya Toure's City could only finish in 2nd place in the BPL but based on better individual star performances at club level Yaya was voted the African player of of the year for the 3rd time running. Yaya didn't complain nor moan about how he wasn't worthy to receive the award. He didn't view this as an injustice or scam on Mikel Obi who won the African Cup of nations with Nigeria.
• In 2014 Yaya Toure won the award for the 4th time after helping Manchester City to the BPL  title & the carling cup even though a Vincent Enyeama inspired Nigeria team qualified for the 2nd round of the world cup and Yaya's lead Cote De Ivoire crashed out during the first round. 
• In 2015 even though Yaya Toure captained Cote De Ivoire to the African cup of nations title he was not outstanding & if not for thee heroism of the much-maligned Boubacar Barry in the penalty shoot-out it would not have happened.   

Yaya's rant was that" Us Africans we don't show that Africa is important in our eyes. If he wants his observation to hold any water let him also come out & say look in 2012 & 2013 when I was voted the African player of the year I did not deserve it because I was wasn't victorious in the African cup of nations.

He should strippecd himself of the 2012 & 2013 award & hand over to Christian Katango of Zambia & Mikel Obi of Nigeria respectively then he can then earn the right to criticized the process that got Aubameyang the award in 2015 or better still let him just concentrate on playing his football. End of discussion.

Zinedine Zidane And The Number Five

It seems there exist a special bond between  Zidane & the number five(5) at Real-Madrid.

The Ex-France international & Real-Madrid Galactico wore the number 5 jersey with poise during his stint with Real-Madrid as a player.

He spent a total of 5 seasons at Real-Madrid during his playing days.

Zidane had his debut as the manager of Real-Madrid on the 9th of January 2015 & won by 5-0.

Gareth Bale scored his 50th goal for Real-Madrid during Zidane's debut match as the Manager of Real-Madrid. Now you may be wondering what's the connection between 5 & 50. From Mathematics 5x10=50 .

Sticking to your New Year Resolutions

Making new year resolutions is as easy as taking food to your mouth but the major problem is actually sticking to those resolutions & carrying them out. Why wait for the beginning of a new year before making resolutions if they are actually meant to improve & make your lives better? The answer is that new year resolutions are made by a lot of individuals based on the fact that the tradition & culture around the world demands they make them rather than on the basics that these resolutions will actually transform their lives for the better.

Resolutions are supposed to be made any-time within the year when you discover short-comings in your character, lifestyle, behavior, attitude or when you observe any-thing that is going to make your life better at that period in your life. Delaying action to address an outstanding issue in your life till the new year can lead to disastrous consequences. Making new year resolutions isn't the best way to alter, change or correct bad behavior, habit or attitude etc.    

So before you make resolutions you need to:

•  think it over, taking time to analyze it thoroughly. 
• ask  yourself whether it makes sense to save more money for retirement, quit smoking & drinking to prolong your life & improve your health, visit the gym to stay fit & lose weight etc. 

Now do you have to wait till the !st of  January to do all this. The answer is no.

How Do you Stick to your Resolutions

You need to:

• Make resolutions that are realistic & achievable.
• Count the cost of implementing such resolutions before making them.
• Strike out any resolution that you might have made on impulse without thinking it over.
• Draw up a road map or action plan to achieve your resolutions/goals.
• Divide your ultimate goal into tiny achievable bits.
• Set few goals at a time.
• Apply the Dee(s) of Desire, Doggedness, Diligence, Dedication to your resolutions.
• Review your progress periodically e.g bi-weekly, monthly & quarterly.