₦airaland Forum

ratiken: Crap!!!
Why are these players too quick to jump to the media with complaints? how many times have they complained about their club managers or they want to make us believe its always been smooth sails at their clubs. This has to STOP.
We as Nigerians need to stop patronizing them, no one is perfect ...... people should learn how to work with each other.

This is the most sensible post I have seen here and i salute this poster instead of the other rubbish comments i am seeing here. Can emenike explain the reason he came late to camp for the match against congo? Even in his club in turkey, emenike has lost his scoring touch of late or is there lack of creativity in fernabache too!

I think we have mediocres as players in our national team that is why they are so quick in complaining to the media, no true professional does that, our players cry like babies when things don't go their way and they blame the coach for their level of mediocrity which is laughable.

Am sorry for those clamouring for siasia to coach the eagles again forgetting that he had problems with the likes of osaze, mikel and enyeama when he coached the eagles then, nobody is talking about that, we have also forgotten the problems eguavoen had with yakubu too.

Am sorry to say this but i think we have local champions as players, we cannot be blaming the coach all the time. They can't be under -performing and expect all of us to join them in their stupidity to crucify the coach! I will have none of that at all!

arsetalks: Keshi hasn't done well. Take away the afcon win which is beclouding people's judgment, Keshi's results have been rubbish ( after the afcon that's).

Siasia was building a nice team that has a partner of play but for our win at all cost mentality, he was ousted for no good reason.

Personally, I will welcome Sisia back with open arm provided the NFF will give him a 6 years contract with a mandate to build a team for the first 4 years.

We need to go back to the drawing board.

you mean going back to a coach who has not been coaching any team for a while now?

dabossman: Hahahaha. Guy you harsh o! Oga Keshi, abeg no return us to 64th in Fifa ranking o.

But you spoke some bitter truths. Nigerians always ridicule their footballers out of reckoning eventually. I've seen it happen over the years; to Yekini, Oliseh, Okocha, Aghahowa, Kanu, Yakubu, Martins, Yobo and those who went into coaching like Siasia and Keshi. No matter how many laurels they win for us, we always tag them as being thrash and usher them out unceremoniously.

It is only after they are gone that we begin to remember them with nostalgia. That is when we realize that they were useful in their time. You can imagine folks asking for the return of the same Siasia whose head they demanded for 3 years ago. Nigerians are impatient and ungrateful. Most don't even realize that football is a dynamic game. You can't win it all, players won't always be in form, even the best coaches get it wrong. That's the beautiful game.

If Keshi's contract doesn't get renewed, I can bet that 3-7 years down the line Nigerians will remember Keshi with fond memories.

that is the painful reality bro, because most nigerians are plastic fans

This just shows that as a nation we lack talented and dedicated players currently which is no fault of the coach, some players have disappointed the nation and they need to sit up if they want to continue in the eagles. The truth is our players get swollen headed with little success, hence they start loosing form cos they've lost focus. We only think that the likes of martins and uche are doing well enough to be recalled but the truth is its because they are no longer in the national team hence they are impressing to be back into the eagles but if they are called back to the national team, they will start fumbling, osaze is the only one that seems to be different here.

Our players need a new attitude to the national team, am already getting disappointed with the likes of emenike and even onazi, omeruo, and obaobona need to sit up, they are all getting too comfortable or is it because they feel they have no competition. We can't be blaming mikel all the time here.

I rest my case

iammo6: you gotta be kidding.....

and you are for real abi? so funny

dabossman: This is funny. The same Nigerians (including NFF) who clamoured for Siasia's sack are now calling for his return. When some of us said let him be, they said he was thrash, lacked tactical and technical know-how; the very same things they are accusing Keshi of now. So, we've gone full circle now abi?

I will keep saying it; our problem goes beyond coaching. There is a dearth of quality talent in our team. Majority of our players play in inferior leagues. Those who are in top leagues are either squad players or worse, bench warmers. Which Nigerian player at the moment is pivotal to the success of their club.

Sadly, rather than accept this and do their best to function as a team, our players feel larger than life and strut around the field feeling like super stars, expecting the opposition to just roll over and die. Most of them hardly progress in their careers. they are more concerned with money than personal development. David Beckham and Ronaldo are said to spend hours after team practice working on their free kicks. Are our players that devoted to developing their craft? We the fans don't help too with the way we over hype them.

We need to go back to the developmental level. We blame coaches for lack of tactics and technic forgetting that it is players that execute tactics. A coach can shout himself hoarse, but if players lack the technical ability to execute his tactics, it is an effort in futility. We need to develop more technical players. Players who are not just physical, but intelligent. Players who can think on their feet. But most importantly players who have a desire to be the best in the world and work constantly towards it. It is not enough for our youth players to excel at U-17 and then fade away. An it is not just a factor of age. Drogba did not become a household name until he was like 26. He was labelled a late bloomer. Even Okocha peeked in his late 20's. But their class could not be denied. That's not the case these days.

Siasia or Keshi, it's all good for me. Nigerians should however douse their overtly high expectations. Our players are not the best in the World or even Africa.

one of the best and unbiased post I have ever read on nairaland, truly our players are more concerned with money than development, that's why they were busy counting money into the early hours of the day they met France in Brazil.

iammo6: recommend a better one

any coach who has taken a national team to the quarterfinals of a world cup is okay by me, anything short of this is a joke!

chrisooblog: guess that's the problem who replaces keshi? honestly i think its too late to change coaches let keshi see us through this AFCON campaign but ideally i would prefer we get a dutch coach. a young, ambitious, tactical one who will be unknown so that we wont have to pay much plus i think the dutch style matches our own.

@goke7 bro dont think siasia was that bad. under him we played expansive attractive football. i think he was just unlucky and inexperienced to handle the big egos in the team. with time he will be back better

I totally agree with you but what many people fail to realize is that the class of 94 eagles are all full of egos, be it siasia, oliseh, okocha e.tc. cos they feel they are best Nigerian footballers ever, none of them i repeat can be different from keshi if we have them as coaches, they will always disagree with anyone who counters their opinion on issues such as selection of players, if you remember well, when Eguavoen was eagles coach, he also had problems with dealing with players like Aiyegbeni so what are we talking about.

We as Nigerians are just too difficult to please, no Nigerian coach can please everybody, he will always have issues and as for foreign coaches, nff does not even have money to employ the cheapest one. Nff only have money to employ a foreign coach in a world cup year cos the Govt would have made special budget for the eagles.

tuffgongjo: You are here Criticizing Mikel,but you can't spell "Woefully" correctly.
Your case is Worse than his.

I no fit laugh abeg very funny

Meister: The sack of Keshi has long been overdue......The man is slowly killing Nigerian football,his winning AFCON and reaching the 2nd round of the World cup we're all luck and it seems like his luck has run out......If he continues to be the coach we might not even qualify to defend our trophy even though i don't actually think employing Siasia is the right step forward even though he could still do well cause he has probably learnt from his past experiences.
The thing with Keshi is he doesn't learn from his mistakes,he isn't there to coach but to make money,He just has his mind on the money and not to make the team better

so who should replace keshi? We are only deceiving ourselves thinking that the problem of our football is keshi. We have bad administrators who will run the game more effectively.

iammo6: compare Brazil's world cup squad to Nigeria's 2013 Nations cup squad, Nigeria is not anywhere near them...my point is, They(Brazil) over depended on Neymar which actually killed them but it doesnt really mean the rest of the squad lacks quality. I have no beef with Keshi but i never like his selection of players

and you think siasia has better selection than keshi?, do you remember siasia had problems with osaze too, do you remember he had issues with enyeama who was dropped for aiyenugba who cost us qualification for afcon 2012. Our problem is that we have short memories.

If you want to replace keshi, bring someone better and not a current jobless coach

iammo6: i disagree with u....so are you saying Brazil ate what they vomitted when they employed Dunga as their chief coach?? Siasia should not have been sacked in the first place. He is by far better than Keshi

Dunga has just been employed after the world cup, let's see what he can do but everyone knows that the major problem of brazil is actually the lack of better quality players, apart from Neymar, the brazil side is an average team based on what we saw at the world cup. Dunga may not achieve anything special, he's been there before and brazil could not even get to the semi final of the world cup when he was coach.

Siasia must win the Nations cup and get to the quarter finals of a world cup before we can say he's better than keshi, anything else is just an assumption!

Andibot: To bring back someone they can manipulate.

they can't even manipulate the guy, he is as stubborn as keshi, the only coach nff can manipulate is amodu shuaib, no ex super egales player can be manipulated by nff, they are all equally stubborn like keshi name them, is it oliseh, okocha, eguavooen, siasia e.t.c. but most nigerians don't know this. The 1994 set of eagles especially see themselves as the best ever and they will hardly listen to anyone who counters their views and opinions on issues. We are on a long thing i tell u

so siasia is now the solution abi? i will continue to say that nff will finally ruin Nigerian football one day, siasia is equally as stubborn if not more than keshi, have we forgotten siasia's clash with players like osaze, mikel and enyeama when he was eagles coach? who says he has learnt his lesson? I have also said it before that nff has no replacement for keshi if not they would have sacked him long ago, they also don't have the money to employ a foreign coach. Nff just want to have keshi out of the way as a vendetta for all the beef they have for him, they are only just going back to their vomit [siasia] which is so bad for our football.

Can someone tell me what siasia has been doing all this while? We are only going back to the wilderness where we were before keshi took over, if we don't have a better replacement, must we go from frying pan to fire?

Anything done out of vendetta only make things worse, our football was better with the immediate past sports minister but out of politics and vendetta, he was removed, that is why we are were we are with the present sports minister who have managed things so badly.

Keshi may be a bad coach and I agree but please get a better replacement.

texaco1: Nigerians want finish this boy ihenacho . They should allow the boy to develop his game and mature . I have noticed that most young players that nigerians clamor for to be invited to super eagles, don't last long on the stage .

Its not easy to coach in a country like Nigeria I tell you, plastic fans and football administrators push our coaches to make silly errors and blame them when they fail.

thegoodjoehunt3: But, Man City is applying for his work permit as a special talent.

It is not the regular amount of matches needed but reasons to prove Nacho is a special talent. A national team debut at 17 years old would have gone a long way.

Thank you my brother, the guy was ill-advised then and some people here are talking rubbish by blaming keshi, Iheanacho by now would have been a regular player for the eagles, but i still feel that the guy and his other peers should be allowed to play for the u-20 team first to boost our chances of winning the u-20 world cup next year for the first time before before the u23 for the rio olympics in 2016 and then finally into the eagles, that has been my stand

mpowa: The one wey come dey give us results nkor, wetin we they play, I'd rather watch the paint dry than watch super eagles matches, the man isn't building a strong squad for Nigeria, he's only after results and the results self no come again, what's happening to TB Joshua this days.

and you think siasia will be able do better? my brother nff is the one killing our football, until they depend less on Govt funds and become autonomous like most FAs around the world are, we would continue to wallow in this wilderness for a long time to come. We need to get the the foundation of our football right be re-organizing that burnt glass house, even if you bring mourinho or Guardiola to coach eagles, na same story o!

where is this done anywhere, where a coach is hired on match by match basis and we expect both players and coaches to be up to scratch? Nff killing Nigerian football since 1900

mpowa: You need to stop this nonsense statistics, it is the statistics people like Keshi is riding on to take Nigeria for a ride. He won the nation cup doesn't mean he's good, Demateo won the champions league with Chealse where is he now.Siasia might not have won the nation's cup but we know what he could do by his past records, under him Nigeria play more exciting, with a pattern, team scores goals, unlike now when we have only one striker and he even play from 7. And yes he's less sentimental, he does


n't call bench warmers while leaving inform players from his squad for any reason

Better still I'd prefer the NFF invite a foreign coach, not because they're better than our local coaches but because our all our coaches use sentiments and Kesha is the chief of them all

you didn't read my post well bro, will u give nff the money to employ a foreign coach? you don't get it, there is no money to employ a foreign coach except when the world cup is six months away cos the Fed Govt would have a made a surplus budget for the eagles that year, you can't pay 5m per month regularly and you want to employ who? so you want a coach that will play exciting football and not still get u the result, even man u plays exciting football too. siasia hardly listens just like keshi and i don't see him making any difference, can you tell me the team he's coaching now or has the national team becomes so bad to be handled by someone who has not been coaching for sometime now?

emmabest2000: If we fail to qualify for NationsCup , Siasia will take over from this block headed Keshi ...

it won't change anything my brother, siasia is not different from keshi in terms of character and man management, do you remember his clash with players like Vincent Enyeama, osaze and mikel when he was coach of the eagles? we forget so easily as Nigerians.

Some of the ex-players we are all touting as replacements for keshi are all stubborn like the big boss e.g. Oliseh, siasia and even okocha. They will never listen to your nff guys especially when it comes to the selection of players.

Truth is we don't know exactly what we want for our football

I had always thought that onazi had a slavery contract with Lazio, the guy had better raised his game or else, i pity him o. A better performance by the entire Nigerian team at the world cup would have seen him moved to a better club now, instead they were all counting money overnight before the France game. I know he tried his best at the world cup but Nigerian players should begin to realize that only excellent performances in the National team can make them have better deals with clubs in Europe.

This explains why our so called top striker Emenike is playing in Turkey and will still have the audacity to report to camp late.

I think instead of blaming keshi, the nff should be blamed, our administrators are the ones spoiling our football, they have no plan for the future of Nigerian football, the only plan they have is to wait till six months to any world cup to get a foreign coach who will bolt away after the world cup.

Truth be told, nff does not have a replacement for keshi, if they had, they would have confidently sacked keshi after the world cup, where does it happened anywhere in the world that a coach will be handling a team without a contract . Nff cannot even employ a foreign coach now, they can't afford it when paying keshi 5m a month is even an headache, I hear folks touting names like siasia, am sure FIFA can even ban Nigeria if we go ahead to replace a coach who won the nations cup and a second round finish in the world cup whether its luck or not, with a coach who could not qualify for Nations cup, this does not make sense at all.

The Nff is responsible for all this mess and even keshi knows it and that's why keshi will continue to make a meal of this mess.

Yaya for me is a little bit overrated, it is the likes of nasiri and silva that has made yaya shine like a milion stars in man city, if those guys are not available or don't turn up with their A game, Yaya looks ordinary. He's also not a play maker as people are made to believe, this is the key reason he can't inspire his national team to anything significant.

If he was that good, Barca won't let him go or does anyone think he's like iniesta or xavi, you can't give what you don't have. simple.

i think Nigeria should be cautious on this iheanacho issue and other youngsters, My take on this is that why don't we leave Iheanacho and the other u-17 players who won the world cup last year to all progress into the u-20 world cup team for next year world cup and finally into the u-23 Olympic team for Rio Olympics in 2016 the following year, this will look more like it and by 2018 we would have a world cup squad with just few experienced players who will take on the world. This will more productive than rushing them into the super eagles now. who knows Manu Garba may even be super eagles coach by 2018 world cup.

Remember the u-20 team in 2005, the same team with just osaze, anichebe and few others went to the olympics in 2008 and did well too [same coach in siasia] Nigeria's greatest mistake was not using that team for 2010 world cup, we would have gotten to the quarter finals of the world cup just like Ghana did that year.

we are only making matters worse for ourselves as any visiting team will easily cite security reasons for not to honour any match with the eagles in abuja, someone has forgotten his thinking cap, if we are looking for bigger stadiums, what is wrong with places like enugu and Ibadan.

is it a crime for the National stadium in surulere, lagos to be rehabilitated once and for all to allow the eagles play there?

Someone I repeat is not thinking at all!

Arysexy: Ur foolishness is smelling, Catholics did not pull out under Sunday mbang, under akinola and d rest bc they are Catholics too?

While I support oritsejafor defence of Christians I abhor his indulgence in politics, CAN leadership should never delve into politics cos u don't know d political leanings of members led.

CAN should only be concerned about Christian welfare.

you can call me all sorts due to your hatred for other denominations as demonstrated by the Catholics too especially towards the Pentecostals and other Charismatic faiths, only God knows those who are truly His. II Tim 2:19

igwedaboss: the church has to be actively be involve in politics, so I believe. But under no circumstances should they stray away from the major goals. Running away from politics will only allow others to use it and destroy Christianity. One can't just fold hands and see things happen. Division among Christians is not a good sign and they would keep pushing for it. Now is not the time for blames. Its time for the church to stand has one.

The Catholics are the one pushing for division because they are not the one leading CAN for now, their so called bishops see themselves as superior to other clergymen from other denominations, this must be condemned by all. This is also the reason the late Benson Idahosa became an archbishop and started ordaining Pentecostal clergymen as bishops to have a very strong identity due to the over bearing influence of the Catholics, even in those days the Government felt the Pentecostals were inferior to their fellow Catholics until things started changing after much enlightenment. A bishop is an office and not a title according to the Bible. ITim 3:1

I REPEAT CATHOLICS SHOULD STOP THIS HOLIER THAN THOU ATTITUDE!!! This is what is causing the division.

All have sinned and come short of the Glory of God. Rom 3:23

Though I have a lot of reservations about Pastor Ayo, I have said it before on this forum that the Catholics are just hypocritical because they are not the one heading CAN for now, they were never in support of Pastor Ayo becoming the leader of CAN from day one. The former President of CAN, a catholic bishop was also a strong supporter of the Government then, so what's their problem, must they be the one leading CAN all the time?

Catholics should stop this holier than thou attitude, we also know all what their bishops are into all over the world!

JEITO: I wonder why people always criticise and blame Mikel when ever the super eagles under perform.

The truth is that; we have more expectation from him than he can actually give( and that is our fault not his). No doubt he showed brilliance years ago; but we have also seen players that had it and then lost it even though you can still see flashes whenever they play, they just won't be able to deliver at the highest level again.

Therefore, I believe that what Mikel is offering, is the best he can offer and if it isn't up to our expectations, then it is high time we change our expectations and begin to consider the player himself.

Also, for those asking him to step up his game, it is like trying to teach a dog a new trick- it won't work.

The formative years of every footballer is btw 18 and 23 and if by this time you haven't built certain aspects of your game, then it is almost impossible to do it after then.

Unfortunately, Mikel spent these years playing as a deep line holding DM. I don't expect him to change now.

#talk of the proverbial elephant that was tied to a tree and allowed only a few steps to move because of the length of the rope for so long that even when it was released, its mind had gotten so used to taking only a few steps it couldn't go any further...that's the unfortunate situation our darling Mikel has found himself I must say.

Great post, all the fuss about mikel is unnecessary after all

It so unfair the way as a nation we all continue to castigate mikel, this is a player who has done all he can for Nigeria, I just think we expected too much from this guy, what else do we want from him again he has won the nations cup for us, were we expecting him to win the world cup before? If this is all mikel can offer us, I think we just accept that this is how far he can go and leave him alone for christ's sake, he has won lots of trophies for himself, let's shift our focus to younger players and let mikel be.

Am so disappointed with siasia, no wonder keshi looks more matured than him after all and this is someone some of us are clamouring for to coach the eagles again. If mikel had not won the nations cup, am sure he would have been hung by now


LET MIKEL BE!!!!!!

people hailing martins here but when he get called up the national team and he fumbles, we would criticize the coach then, we don't know what we want as Nigerians, no one can satisfy us

despite all destructive criticisms, mikel remains of Nigeria's greats, though i have some reservations, i will never run down a player who has done so much for himself and achieved greatness by winning several titles with both club and country.

Any Nigeian player who feel he's better should first get into one of the biggest clubs in europe, win the champions league, europa league, African nations' cup, premier league, fa cup and so on, then i can forget about mikel but for now mikel remains a hero!

My fellow Nigerians, our memories can be so short. The likes of lampard and Gerard never did much for England but are highly regarded and revered in their country