₦airaland Forum

WAS DISSAPPOINTED @ THE LEVEL OF OPPOSITION BUT HALF BREAD IS BERRA THAN NONE. NFF SHOULD REALLY GET US STIFFER TEAMS SUGGEST JAPAN & A TOUGH SOUTH AMERICAN SIDE PERHAPS URUGUAY, ANYWAYS GOOD TO SEE SOME HOME-BASED GUYS. THINK NSOFOF COULD PLAY AS OUR TOP NINE HOLDING UP PLAY FOR OSAZE OBASI & CO LIKE HE DID IN BEIJING, MENNN ARGENTINA GO TUFF NO BE SMALL REALISTICALLY I THINK A DRAW IS THE BEST WE CAN GET. THEN THRASH GREECE AND GET A HARD FOUGHT WIN OVER THE KOREANS, SOMEONE SAID SOMETHING ABOUT THE SE NOT HAVING WC JERSEYS SO WHAT DID THEY WEAR IN ANGOLA ANKARA?

@semid guy u wan use laff kill me finish but agree with u 100%. as per nwaneri he should be put on a no fly list into naija. still think kanu has small sometin to offer. great write up. as for mikel? don't get me started

MILNER

DUNNE

DIABY

PIENNAR

HART

TEVEZ

^^^i second that i mean c'mon cross e no fit, beat opposition player e no fit, he's making eboue look like ryan giggs EBOUE of all pple EBOUE

was suprised becomrich did not paste maps showing the small locations of kanu's talent

this is the last time i will comment on the amodu issue for all the mans short comings and faults the way he has been dumped is sooo unfair i mean c'mon i'm not a fan of his but this guy qualified u twice for the WC achieved the AFCON mandate he was given(semis) all this with abuse on top, haba nigerians well i'm a patriot and will support and wish SE all the best @ the WC, i await to see the magic this foreighner will do and hope karma forgets about us this summer

@eastbay thanks for your comments agree with u 100% that amodu should never have been hired guy believe me if sacking amodu would be the solution i would be 1st to advocate such a move but i just have a gut feeling we might regret that action(remember japan/korea) so lets just agree to disagree on that point. like semid said a joint coaching crew btw siasia and amodu might be the answer if both men decide to set aside their egos(especially amodu) but if one them rocks the boat(likely shaibu) then he should be dropped for the other to fully take charge.

@semid thank u too for the comments. about nsofor i no mad ooooo lol dude was just annoying me with his overall play and k-leg shooting but as u can see i'v added him to my WC squad list. hope i'm off the hook

kanu is one wily old cat. trying to deceive us with yesterdays performance have to admit i'm one of the (slightly) deceived papilo still got some game so i'll still give him benefit of the doubt if we can't find another creative outlet

CAF are jerks nuff said

The Nation’s cup has almost ended and the SE performance has drawn diverse reactions some mostly right others way off the mark. My aim with this write-up is to examine the performance thus far and look at the short to long term solutions to our teams current state in world footie. All this with as much calm, objectivity and fairness on my part.

Here goes!

First before going to assess and analyse the different components that make up the SE I would like to briefly dwell on our semi-final loss to Ghana. Honestly the loss to the BS hurts especially when you see that they are made up of fringe players and u-21s but aside the emotions we have to be fair. We dominated that game from start to finish if martins had converted his chances(especially the clear one in the 1st half) we would probably not be having this conversation. Like osaze said we probably used up our luck in the previous rounds matches we should ordinarily have won lol…but jokes apart I think we can still draw positives from yesterdays loss ball possesion was near perfect, chances were created (but missed!) few mistakes(no one mistake) made that proved costly sadly. In all our situation is not all gloom & doom

Like I said earlier I intend doing a comprehensive analysis of the components that make up the SE and in my humble opinion proffer solutions to our current predicarment. I will look @ four components and these are Players, Technical crew, Administration(Nff, Ptf), Media and last but not least us the Fans.

Players

Lets be brutally honest with ourselves we DON’T have the same quality players we had in that golden generation of the 90s. Individual talents like okocha, oliseh, finidi et al, who awed and inspired us from victory to victory are for now non-existent in the SE. At best we have above-average to good players with potentials yes but not great. That said with better selection and coaching we can mold a team that as a whole will play as a unit to cover for our individual short comings(alla Egypt). This I feel will guarantee us more success than presently being enjoyed until we discover more talented players. Moving forward for the WC I think we should say good-bye to certain players. Nwaneri(too error prone), kanu(he is a great guy and WAS a great player but age/fitness is not on his side), yusuf mohammed(full of ethusiasism but no football brain), yakubu(unless he improves massively b4 start of WC), etuhu & olofinjana(too many DMs need to free space for creative type players) and maybe nsofor if ike uche is fit and we find another better striker. Players who should get a looking include rabiu ibrahim, lukman haruna(if attitude has improved), obodo(if fit and playing well), a few of the u-17s who did well in the last tourney(especially the midfielders) and lastly home-based players especially in areas we are currently deficient e.g wingers, creative midfield etc. in all let there be fierce competition for places.

p.s. will draw up my list of players we should take to WC and post on designated thread

Technical crew

I think amodu has done his best but unfortunately is not good enough. Technjcally he’s still lacking while his player selection has gone from puzzling to hit and miss. His rigidity in tactics and choice of players has(been) costing us dear. His snubbing of the home based players is for me his major draw back to coaching SE cos its obvious your home league provides a pool of players who are raw, hungry to excel and amiable to being molded into the kind of players one wants but alas shaibu doesn’t see it that way at best that is a lazy way to coach afterall this same league wey amodu no like no be westerhof take discover finidi, amokachi ben iroha? Ordinarily I would say sack amodu but that would be unfair to someone who for better for worse qualified us two times for the WC. I know you will say I’m being sentimental but I believe in karma and that God won’t forgive us if we take that route again cos two wrongs don’t make a right. The option open to us I feel is to draft siasia or eguavon preferably siasia to the coaching crew to help amodu out since he(siasia) coached 40% of our players and can bring out the best in them. For now no foreign coach but depending on how the WC goes if we still need a foreigner to coach us then he must be good and ready to work in our conditions but this after the WC. Lastly I also employ the technical crew to formulate a playing style/philosophy or system that maximises our effectiveness thereby picking players who fit the system and not the other way round(again look @ Egypt). Under the 2005 u20 and Olympic teams of siasia I saw a glimpse of this so it can be done.

Administration(NFF)

Normally the best thing would be to remove those in the glass house and vote in serious minded technocrats and people who seek the advancement of Nigerian football but that would be naïve considering how politicised the nff has become and their lust for money. Such people will continue to block or sabotage the entry of those with true intentions into the glass house. So my opinion is to let them know that its also in their(selfish) interest that the national teams especially SE does well. We should also continue to pressure nff to discharge their administrative functions professionally leaving the coaching crew to work without interference in this vein its important that nff appoint the right coaches(please read previous sub heading) to ensure trust in the capabilities of the coach hence avoiding undue interference. The ptf as an ad-hoc committee for generating funds is cool but they should have no say whatsoever in roles of the nff and coaching crew. This body(ptf) should be disbanded after the WC.

Media

The media as gate keepers of the society have a responsibility to ensure truthful and useful information is being fed to the public. In particular sports especially the SE issue has generated so much attention from the media good or bad. The media has a duty to us SE supporters not to misinform us but provide honest truths concerning the state of our football and proffer pragmatic solutions not untrue, illogical, condescending rants or write-ups. For instance the recent story about nff and ptf quarrelling about payment of players bonuses is alarmist at best. Nff and ptf have been fulfilling their promises to the players up till now yet the said story was as if there is a conspiracy to cheat them. Lastly to the media a lot of people(NOT ME) see you as authorities in Nigerian football matters atleast try to speak, write and act like one.

Fans

Finally us long suffering fans I think we were a bit spoiled by the performances of the golden 90s set of SE and have used them as yardsticks for the current SE. as supporters its right for us to demand a certain level of performance from the SE but we should have at the back of our minds that though this set of SE though talented are not of the same quality and require far more understanding and support on our part. Also I want to appeal to us to tone down our negative remarks against SE especially the ‘super chicken’ moniker yes they play badly lots of times but so do other countries. CIV with all their stars lost to common Algeria do their fans call them giant puppies? What of Cameroon that is egypts regular booty call are they called cubs by their fans? Yes the pain of defeat brings about emotional outburst but after the dust has settled lets still have their back after all though family members dissapoint us sometimes do we disown them? SE is a brand that represents all of us Nigerians whether you like it or not so disparaging them is like disparaging yourselves and by all means critisize but let it be constructive. Lastly to all those career pessimists who see nothing positive in the SE who derive pleasure in seeing them lose you are entitled to feel that way but I find it funny you guys support foreign clubs who havn’t won jack robinson for years and are prepared to be long suffering with them even though such clubs don’t owe them nada. Remember when the SE do well it rubs off on all of us as well. Let that be a food for thought for us all.


In conclusion the SE performance in the last decade has been the story of unfulfilled potential, ill-luck and lack of professionalism on the part of nff and SE players that said considering the low quality of players we’ve had in recent years bar kanu & okocha compared to the quality of countries like Ghana, Cameroon, Egypt and CIV we have competed favourably with that little margin of error costing us failure in major championships. No doubt we are still a work in progress but it will take calm, matured decisive action to get the SE to the point we all desire

My 23 for the world cup

Goal keepers

1. V.Enyeama
2. D.Aiyenugba
3. A.Ejide

Defenders

4. T.Taiwo
5. E.Echeijele
6. O.Adefemi
7. C.Odiah(would have gone for chibuzor okonkwo but I don’t think he plays right back)
8. D.Shittu
9. O.Apam
10. D.Adeleye
11. J.Yobo

Midfielders

12. O.Mikelch
13. S.Kaita
14. Y.Ayilla
15. K.Uche
16. R.Ibrahim
17. C.Obodo(if unfit and out of form whoever impresses between Ajilore & haruna)

Strikers

18. O.Odemwingie
19. C.Obasi
20. O.Martin
21. I.Uche(if fit and in-form)
22. O.Nsofor(really struggled adding him to my squad cos of his unimpressive Afcon performances and way wayward shooting. That said he has some talent a better coach might be able to bring out)
23. This spot is up for grabs for whoever is fit, in-form and impressive in training. Yakubu, Eneramo and home-based have a last chance to convince me. In this spot I’m looking for a Heskey like player doesn’t have to be a goal king per se just big, strong and brings his team-mates into play

I would have added home based players but I havn’t seen them play but my spots in midfield are up for grabs particularly 15-17.

Ideal formation 4-3-3

Starting line-up against the argies


1.
Enyeama
2. 4. 5. 3.
Adefemi Shittu Apam Echeijele

8.
Kaita
6. 10.
Rabiu Mikel

7. 11.
Obasi Osaze

9.
Martins
Incase of Plan A failing switch to 4-4-2 with kaita being removed for a striker to partner martins

My startin xi against ghana 1)vincent E
2)elderson E
3)danny S
4)yussuf A
5)yusuf M
6)sani K
7)mikel
osaze
9)nsofor
10)obasi (dude must get his shit together hasn't done jack since d 1st game)
11)fatkubu- i have 2 say i even suprised myself includin him. Yes oga is lazy but @ this point there's no striker in d team who can hold on 2 d ball hence bringin r speedy 4wards into it. I also fancy martins as a super-sub. With this list i go for a 4-2-1-2-1 with osaze driftin into d middle 2

yesterdays game against benin that i watched in the second half will definately go down as the most despicble win the SE have ever gotten. the SE played like a bunch of agbayas bar 3-4 players infact our agbaya status was further cemented when the beninoise brought on that dwar, sorry vertically challenged player to embarrass our sorry excuse for midfield talent . yobo was awesome in his rubbishness infact i never thought the day would come that i would be happy to see one of our players go of injured like i was for yobo. yakubu's movement and pace makes crouch look like usain bolt yakubu 2010 version no go near my training camp complex not to talk of starting 11.

as much as i would have liked to support amodu reality and common sense have b@tch slaped me that he's just not it oga saga i read your well put together analysis on amodu's current reign but his team play is all over the place at best. if the team gets a medal from this afcon based on what i have seen i will sharonly swallow my remote

Dr Kitaun:
There is nothing shocking about what u just posted' . . . .

where will Kanu derive strenght to play for 90 Minutes ? Peak Milk ?

ah ah why naw? u know he will be DETAAAARMIN

would like to take this oppurtunity to thank Keshi for showing us why he SHOULD NOT b hired in the likely/unlikely event that amodu is sacked. keshi's tactical nous so far in afcon angola make amodu look like gaurdiola

@semid4lyfe nice list but i disagree slightly with ur midfield. ayila is our best midfielder rite now plus he brings xperience. in the past i would said a big no no to haruna based on his attitude and work rate but tuesday's disaster showed painfully that we need creative CM whereva we can get them

my 2 kobo

mikel obi
ayila yusuf
olofinjana seyi (for experience and back up for ayila)
dickson etuhu
rabiu ibrahim (untried but worth the risk)
lukman haruna (heard he scored recently for his club if he maintains this good club form then he should go to SA)
kalu uche

agree 100% with ur selections for other positions

p.s if obodo is fit and playing well can replace any of rabiu, lukman and kalu who underperforms

so the d-day is here @last anyways i expect a good game of footie today with 2 differing styles. egypt will bring their usual cohesiveness and workrate while naija her physical play & some individual display. me thinks if we are going to get anything out of todays match then we need to be cautions like the way we played against tunisia in rades. yes this approach might be negative but we don't have to much outstanding talent in the middle of the park to dominate them(egyptians). for me this game has draw written allover it but if we nick a win hey bonus

^^^thanks for compiling with suggestion

@egyptians & algerians thanks for ur interest in this forum please u both arab brothers love not war ok

my egyptian brothers like ur competitive banter   but we (nigeria) will still beat u guys.

also want to welcome u guys to our forum. please keep it clean & english

CAF as a matter of urgency should relocate the games in group B to another city e.g luanda. also CAF should do a security re-assessment of the host country no matter how long it takes lives are more precious.

to the togolese team my sympathies whatever they decide to do all the best to them but i hope they choose to continue in the competition to send a message to those 'terrorist' that they have failed

1st of all i totally condemn the attack on the togolese team its a pity that a game which unites us is being trashed in this disgusting way. its a pity about the driver who was killed but thankful the players survived(though with injuries). i think CAF messed up big time i mean didn't they know cabinda had a separist group b4 allowing matches to be hosted they? look @ FIFA and the u-17s when the whole militant thing was still on they made sure matches were not hosted in that region. yes we can argue that the togolese should have gone by road but isn't security of a country criteria for awarding rights?

^^^looser arabic lettering & ocosha we respect ur team (egypt) but u guys are not the force u once were. so how r ur world cup preparations coming along? oops my bad i forgot YOU DID NOT QUALIFY so stop with the excessive boasts

guy its a new year look for something more worthwhile

happy nu new to all the gunners & fine gunneresses in da house, oh & dk too since r favourite nazi voyeour will poke snout as usual

TO THE RED AND WHITE

[quote author=Tudór link=topic=371631.msg5194526#msg5194526 date=1261928209]GAME OVER!!!

what a great game!!

3 - 3 draw!!

Agbolahor with two last minuite goals!!

Wonderful!! Marvelous!! Beautiful!!

Villa will play champions league footie next season. . . .watch out!![/quote]na cavemen drawing u take watch match

capppppttttttaaaaiiiiin  ffffaaaaabbbbbbttttaaaasssstttttiiiiicccc

osaze as an AM? interesting idea but might be too late now to experiment with though not against trying him out in a few friendly matches ahead of the WC(his performances against rwanda & mozambique in abuja shows me he has some potential in that role) please can't somebody just kidnap nwaneri & olofinjana and put them in seclusion for 7 months so we can't pick them jeez those 2 give me nightmares

Daji31:
This is an absurd statement. Mozambique did not qualify us. They qualified themselves for the nations cup. They were thesame team that put us in the mess with the first draw.

Would you have made thesame statement if Tunisia had qualified by saying Kenya qualified them. Go and look at the table before the last set of matches. Kenya had 3 points and mozambique had 4. Both countries needed the 3rd place in the group to qualify for nations cup. In order to be sure of the nations cup, they needed to win there last matches against Nigeria and Tunisia.

Kenya was also not out to do Tunisia a favour as you may equally conclude. They wanted to also secure a place in the nations cup.

Maybe you were thinking that Tunisia was good because the had not been to Maputo. When we DREW in Maputo, we were bad and Amodu lacked technical know how. When Tunisia LOST in Maputo, they players were good but a bit unlucky and there coach is world class, only that the stubborn Mozambique players were out to do Nigeria a favour!

guy why people can't be objective and just commend amodu for qualifying SE but no sack him! attribute his success to luck, mozambique qualified us, SE players just decided to qualify us, the grass was brown, the alignment of pluto was in direct conflict with venus

good write-up but a little advise to amodu, he should try and be more media savvy.

yes he has tried with the SE but he could have done better scouring our local league to discover new players

^^^sorry meant name local league players

Pls instead of people complaining about amodu list vis-a-viz lack of home based players name local leagues who are absolute sensations currently. other countries have released their final 23 man list we are still complaining that amodu didn't pick this, include that, me sef fit complain say he no pick one superstar from my church team nonsence!

Princek12:
What happened to the talents that won the Silver Medal at the recently concluded Beijing Olympics? I feel also that there should be one or two players called from the recent U 17 World Cup. Why doesn't Nigeria ever develop on talents? If this squad he called is essentially the same squad that struggled to beat teams like Mozambique and Tunisia during World Cup qualifying, how does he now expect them to compete against more quality teams at the World Cup level?


Also this shows Amodu is a fool. Yes, a big fool. While other coaches already have in mind a short list of players who will go the World Cup, Amodu is effectively saying that the performance at the Nations Cup will be his way of choosing players for the World Cup. He should make up his mind now and choose his World Cup team, whomever that may be, and use the Nations Cup to blend them together, which would be beneficial because that team will be used to playing together when it's time for the World Cup. Or does he think he can start choosing new players after the Nations Cup?

You guys remember USA '94. Westerhof already had his World Cup squad before the Nations Cup, and he took the same team that represented Nigeria in the Nations Cup to the World Cup, which is a good strategy.

guy what are u saying? i can name 10 players off the top of my head who were in beijing so what are u talking about? i'm not an amodu fan but why are u insulting him? ok mr know it all name players that are not in the camping list who should be there and tell me what such players have done lately to warrant call ups. u-17? u want us to start experimenting @ this stage?

@topic for me the list is 95% ok (since most of them are the best we have for now) but like some one earlier mentioned earlier the lack of creative midfielders is worrying. i felt we should have taken a risk on rabiu ibrahim at least for AFCON 2010. anyways best of luck to them

Sagamite:
xtian chukwu ko, islamic chicken ni.

Useless coach.

;Dlmao