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| Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by cashmentor(m): 5:45am On May 13, 2012 |
http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/nigeria-not-producing-good-players-anymore-wenger/ ****Says Kanu’s an exceptional player**** It was amazing to hear Arsene Wenger switch from English Language to French and then German during the announcement of Arsenal’s pre-season tour of Nigeria at the club’s training ground in London last week before the match with Norwich. It was the eve of his 900th match as the manager of Arsenal. Wenger is today the only manager that has presided over more matches at the club and has equally enjoyed the same amount of successes. Known for his ability to spot and develop players from around the world, Wenger, in this chat with Sunday Vanguard’s Jimoh Babatunde, took time out to speak on Nigeria’s football and her players. EXCERPTS Since the exit of Nwankwo Kanu from Arsenal, we have not had another Nigerian in the club. What’s your impression of Nigerian players in the EPL? For me, Kanu was an exceptional player. I saw Kanu in the Olympic games, he arrived there late. It was the preparations and he was the best player there when Nigeria won. I like Kanu because he was not only a great player, but he was very brave, and you could travel with him anywhere. I think he was very great in representing Nigeria. He was a player that everybody loved here, as well as a man everybody loved here in England. He never complained, you could kick him from everywhere, and he would never say a word, and he was very brave. Then he created his heart foundation, and he does a good job with that. He is brave; when you have his knees, and you still play today, you must be brave. Why are you not taking more Nigerians to the club? (It is) for one single reason. It is that Nigeria is a massive country, but I believe that at the moment, they do not produce enough players anymore. It is 140 million people who love football. I met the Minister of Sports during the World Cup, and he talked about that situation. I think Nigeria has a job to do with the youths, to rebuild the system. From the explanation I got, every province is different in terms of their system, but there is no global system to educate young players. It is vital to me that they educate the young people…They do not produce any good players, not enough anymore. Is there a window of opportunity from this tour to create the platform for a relationship between Arsenal and Nigeria? To create a relationship, I think is a good start, but our stay is too short to create something deeper and to create the communication such that Nigeria can be very important. We are not staying for such a long time that would allow for that. How do you rate Mikel Obi as a midfielder in the EPL? He plays for Chelsea, and if you play for Chelsea, you are a great player. But he had strange movement out of Nigeria because he was in Norway, and then he came back for Man United before Chelsea, so he did it in a complicated way. But since he has shown great quality. He is as well a bit of the Kanu type, he is strong in character, he is a fighter, and he is doing extremely well, but maybe you have more of these players in Nigeria who do not get the chance to go out. On the pre-season tour We compromised, honestly on the sporting side because we had a rational methodical approach of our pre-season and we sacrificed some of that to go on tour…I realized when I was at the World Cup in South Africa, how popular a club like Arsenal is in Africa, especially in Nigeria. It was unbelievable. I was even frightened at some stage by how popular Arsenal is in Kenya as well. It is absolutely unbelievable, so every morning at breakfast, I had some meetings with people from all over Africa, and I realized how popular our club was over there. I don’t really know how you can transform that popularity into market… On football development I believe that there again, when you think about potentially developing players, it is first to have the coaches. So chronologically, you have to educate people to coach, and then create schools where you can develop the players. To make it as simple as possible, football is first a technical sport. It is not natural to use your feet to do something. Your feet are made to walk through the street, not necessarily to play football. So you have first to transform someone into a football player, and that is between ages 5 and 12 years old. When you come at 14, it is too late. That is why you have to educate people to teach the basics of our sport between five and 12. The kind of quality the coaches need is to know what you can do to develop people, that is the exercises that you can give, and as well to teach him not to make basic mistakes. There are two things in our job that can be very dangerous. One, not to develop the potential of a person, the other is to disturb the potential of a person by making him do the wrong things. Sometimes, we can as well do that. Your fans in Nigeria are disappointed that you have not won a silverware for five years or so now. As a manager, how do you feel about that? You want to give me sleepless nights (laughter). But we have maintained our level at the top, but we couldn’t finish…It s true that we missed winning, but we were at many times very close. Let’s not forget that in 2006, we were in the Champions League final and we have never gone out in the championship against small clubs. We went out most of the time against clubs who won it, like Barcelona, twice. That is what people forget. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by semid4lyfe(m): 10:17pm On May 13, 2012 |
Arsene Wenger: Very well said and I agree. . .and that's were European's/South Americans have the edge over we Africans. Most under-10 competitions in Nigeria are played by kids who are well above that age and are just below a mark on the wall  Arsene Wenger: Mikel, a great player?  Hehehehehe. . . .I laugh in boko haram Playing for Chelsea does not mean someone's a great player. IMO Mikel is nothing but average. He plays ''text-book no be me spoil am football'' like an unskilled player. Can Wenger honestly compare him to Cheick Tiote or his own Alex Song?. . .both box-box free scoring DM's who cover the entire length and breadth of the pitch? Wenger no just wan fall Mikel hand cos it'd be unprofessional to do so  Moreover, is Wenger saying a Nigerian player must be playing in Europe before he can be signed by Arsenal?  Hmmmm. . . . . Arsene Wenger: Nonsense! Nearly does not kill a bird and does he expect to win titles and trophies without beating the big clubs? Naija Arsenal fans, e pelo o  4 Likes |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Silva79(f): 9:58am On May 15, 2012 |
90% of our players are average! *passes mic* 2 Likes |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by ozoebuka1(m): 10:08am On May 15, 2012 |
[color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by onyewec3: 10:10am On May 15, 2012 |
arsene wenger cool down,i know the reason why Nigerians hardly have talents these days...... 1.do you know rashidi yekini was claimed to have died at the age of 48.....dats a complete lie because he looks and i believe he's upto 55yrs old 2.recently taiye taiwo's late twin was believed to be of 39years old by his peers and frends yet taiye taiwo himself plays for QPR @ the age of 25yrs....what a sham. 3.have you forgotten you refused to sign obafemi martin to arsenal because as at then there was a controversy relating to his age and as a coach your philosophy isn signing younger player except when u get older player on loan or free transfer(maroune chamahk,yossi benayoun campbell etc) 4.if i may recall,our own player(julius aghahowa) who had served with the Nigerian police before joining the super eagles was oold enof to be my father yet he claimed 26yrs when he was playing for wigan athletic before moving to shahktar donestk. 5.even papillo himself that u claimed to be a great player(no doubt) did not used his real age because i believe if he had done so he wuld have been out of football for a very long time now. 6.the same goes for mikel obi... 7.toni kroos of bayern munich(who is currently playing in the champions league)played alongside nigerian stars like macauly chrisantus etc but today where is macauley chrisantus? 8.i know of one player in yemi tella's squad(akinsola),he had 2 children before he went for the tournament.how could smeone of under 17 have 2 children? 9 akinsola used to tell us that they call RABIU IBRAHIM ''egbon''(meaning ''senior bros'' ).so tell me, akinsola with two kids calling rabiu ibrahim ''senior bros'' NIGERIAN's are known to be age mutilators and thats why they hardly succeed in europe. 6 Likes |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by JimmyBoy1: 10:14am On May 15, 2012 |
Arsena has said it all, we dont have enough quality coaches and we dont catch the kids early enough. We rely on age cheating, that is why our footbal has been declining. 1 Like |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by aremuolusegun: 10:18am On May 15, 2012 |
I agree absolutely with Wenger, our 63rd ranking in the world speaks Volume. Pre season tours are matches played in country where football quality is poor or where clubs wants to enhance its image and business prospect. its unfortunate that Nigeria is now in dat categories of nation. Are we producing QUALITY no but QUANTITY yes. Overage player menace, corruption in glass house, Cabals and politicians in NSC, illiterate and unfocused NPL board, etc av destroyed the game. After the early 90s to the late 90s evolution of players Nigeria has degenerated to the level dat even Niger sees us as mates. From 5th - 63rd in d world. its a shame 1 Like |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by amosy007: 10:24am On May 15, 2012 |
Nigerian politics killed everything including our football from 1999 till date... Thanks to almighty pdp and their zombie followers 2 Likes |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by lareine(f): 10:25am On May 15, 2012 |
For Arsene Wenger to amit that for Chelsea to sign you up, it means you're a great player. Chelsea, I duff my hat. Mikel, I'm prouda ya. Bad belles go n hig transformer. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Sike(m): 10:42am On May 15, 2012 |
Think the man was right tho |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by bluejeff(m): 10:44am On May 15, 2012 |
ozoebuka1: [color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert!Wrong thread. Try the next one. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by mikymouse1(m): 10:49am On May 15, 2012 |
He is right |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Tattooboy: 10:49am On May 15, 2012 |
It wud be a magic if Nigeria (sports&politics) get it right. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by miteolu(m): 10:50am On May 15, 2012 |
miky_mouse: He is rightrubbish, how much will he pay them? econs prof. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by dabrake(m): 10:52am On May 15, 2012 |
cashmentor: http://www.vanguardngr.com/2012/05/nigeria-not-producing-good-players-anymore-wenger/My coach, . . . as usual |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by samdamjose: 11:00am On May 15, 2012 |
onyewec3: arsene wenger cool down,i know the reason why Nigerians hardly have talents these days......NAIJA lies too much. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Olalekan0(m): 11:03am On May 15, 2012 |
onyewec3: arsene wenger cool down,i know the reason why Nigerians hardly have talents these days......You're exagerating,firstly Taiye Taiwo though older than 25 but he's definitely no where near the age of 39 u ascribed to him. Second,Akinsola has only a child and not two. Pls always say it as it is,lies won't do anyone any good! |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by samdamjose: 11:03am On May 15, 2012 |
Let us kill politics first, then there will be a better football in Nigeria. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 11:22am On May 15, 2012 |
ozoebuka1: [color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! GBAM!!! Very much on point. Tribalism is so tearing dis country apart. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 11:22am On May 15, 2012 |
ozoebuka1: [color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! GBAM!!! Very much on point. Tribalism is so tearing dis country apart. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 11:32am On May 15, 2012 |
ozoebuka1: [color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! GBAM!!! Very much on point. Tribalism is so tearing dis country apart. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by niyimat(m): 11:56am On May 15, 2012 |
I personally might not know how to play football. I do agree with the words of AW about our shortcoming in international football and the fact that real tutoring for football should start as early as 5 years. Our problems in Nigeria are enormous. Most young chaps do attend to street foot balling on a daily bases, but do they know the basics? even though they are good. One thing that is endemic in our country is poverty,your parents must be rich and enlightened before you can embark on real football training at the age of 5 for seven straight years. We no doubt have great talents and potentials and a lot has the talents to reach such great fist but before you know it, time is gone trying to put your priorities in place because you are on your own. Our football directors are not even helping matters, every thing have been politicized, grass root football has been relegated, corruption is the order of the day. I remember when we were much younger, inter secondary school match pull so much crowd that we prefer to miss our lunch just to watch a school play. Where is that now, the LGA that organizes such event are now sharing money in the council. How will a person who is not sure of what to eat have the appetite to go for rigorous football training. We should even be proud of people like Taye Taiwo, mikel obi who after all this hurdle could still be making us proud. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by knight351(m): 12:24pm On May 15, 2012 |
God punish Arsene wenger! |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Zeeisaac(m): 1:07pm On May 15, 2012 |
We 1 Like |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Myself2(m): 1:27pm On May 15, 2012 |
semid4lyfe: You answered it yourself |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Afam4eva(m): 1:29pm On May 15, 2012 |
Arsene Wenger is spot on. We no longer produce greate players in the mould of Kanu, Okocha, Amokachi, Rashidi etc. What we have now are bunch of average players that start of their careers in Sudan and Israel before been called up by a street club somewhere in London. The lucky ones among them get lucky to be signed up by clubs in the premiership who know right from the start of the season that they will be relegated from the first division. Others are in other unpopular leagues scoring scoring goals week-in week-out against mediocre opponents. When are we going to have our players going to clubs like Real Madrid, Barcelona, AC Milan, Juventus, Bayern Munich, Manchester United, Liverpool, FC Porto, Valencia, PSG etc. Enough of Wigan, QPR, Dundee united and co. See the clubs that Cote divoire player go to. We need to build our age grade football system and not always all did grand fathers that have already written their will even before they start playing football. 1 Like |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Blackbody20(m): 2:03pm On May 15, 2012 |
knight351: God punish Arsene wenger!na u God go purnish, if u know u dont something meaningfull to contribute, u'd better close ur wattery mouth and listen to intellectuals like Arsene Wenger talk. "Mumu fc" 1 Like |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 2:37pm On May 15, 2012 |
onyewec3: arsene wenger cool down,i know the reason why Nigerians hardly have talents these days......OMG...guy,may god bless u...u've sed it all...case dismiss |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 3:02pm On May 15, 2012 |
Blackbody20: na u God go purnish, if u know u dont something meaningfull to contribute, u'd better close ur wattery mouth and listen to intellectuals like Arsene Wenger talk. "Mumu fc"Words!!! |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Olufemichael(m): 3:37pm On May 15, 2012 |
ozoebuka1: [color=#770077][/color]nigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert! ;Dnigeria has great potentials but its just dat we are still suffering from tribal differences and international hatred. every country hates nigerians i dont know why but instead of us to love ourselves in order to make things right we wont... we need to stop this tribal things and elect credible person and put them where they suppose to be 4 a better nigeria if not, the only option to make nigeria better is just to divide it!!! dats ma take.. if you hate it, go and sweep desert!GOOD POST, BUT THE END IS NOT SO GOOD, THERE ARE BETTER OPTIONS. THE BEST WAY TO ACHIEVE OUR GOALS IS TO ADOPT THE SELFLESS SPIRIT, LET US ALL WORK TOGETHER, SEE, WE CAN DO IT ONLY IF WE WORK TOGETHER. |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 3:44pm On May 15, 2012 |
semid4lyfe: what team have you ever coached in your life what team has any member of your family ever coached(no disrespect to them) how much football have you played and what team do you play for or ever played for also same questions to your family(again,no disrespect intended) but you will come on here to disparrage a man who used to be at worst an average player,an a very good coach(i dont like arsenal) and a nigerian who basically apart from kanu has won more than any other Nigerian football player playing consistently in a team that has enough money to buy supposed better players and still despite numerous coach changes still plays regularly Nigerians can just hate for no reason |
| Re: Nigeria Not Producing Enough Good Players Anymore – Arsene Wenger by Nobody: 3:46pm On May 15, 2012 |
dabrake: i know fit shout! |
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