₦airaland Forum

junnyjake:
Yes, he did very well in making the SE a marketable brand, attracting sponsorship here and there.

And to see that he's come this far, I have to say he's playing the political aspect of the game quite right.

We saw what happened with the delayed MRI scan for the U-17 players. Manu complained about funds and inability to treat the sick ones as a result.

With the other Nigerian teams, he necessarily don't need to offer them equal attention, but just a little fraction of it can go a long way.

As for the delayed MRI and Manu being starved of funds. U recall that was the era when Dalung and Giwa forcefully took over the Glass house? That was a crisis period man.

tbaba1234:
Haha, them no dey celebrate this one.

OK. Well, no wahala.

Oasis007:


Happy new Islamic Year to Sir Tbaba1234 and Elyte89.

Dem dey kill Ram for this one too?

Make I go watch Liberia vs Nigeria for my friend Wasiu's house ni.

do4luv14:
Ya. Me too will try visit dia. But AMBODE had give a contract to turn it into proper stadia.

And yes they are plamty. I think taye taiwo is an Ajboy too.

Really? The place deserves a stadium status. When they one commission am I hope they can organize a novelty match involving the Maracana old boys? Maybe Maracana old boys vs Super Eagles all stars.

So Taye Taiwo too play there? Me no know o. Like I said those are the younger generation.

junnyjake:
I'm not so satisfied with the dude.
He's so SE biased.

Please explain further.

That one na the fake NCAN.

The real NCAN, na the one we get here.

ChrisKels:
Yes nah, or what do u think?

If we made the right selections, we would get six points from the double header, then pay back SA in their own come in J'bourg

I am not being arrogant but we are supposed to get 6points from Libya.

ChrisKels:
Our match against Lybia away will be played in a neutral ground in far away Omar, Algeria.

We are supposed to seize the advantage.

praizblog:
Themis three powerful king Oba Elegushi on lagos, Ooni of Ife in osun state, and Oluwo of iwo land in iwo are pictured together at a gathering.

And the feel comfortable and adorable. Who is your favorite king among the three?


News source ; http://www.praizenews.com/adorable-photos-oba-elegushi-ooni-ife-oluwo-iwo-land/

Mine is Oba Elegushi

ChrisKels:
From an NFF chieftain, I quote;

” Based on our discussion with his management team and his parents he will represent Nigeria . He has decided to play for Nigeria. Lookman never shut out Nigeria completely but we have to be careful because of the experience with Tammy Abraham “,

“Coach Gernot Rohr has always wanted Lookman. Now with the retirement of Victor Moses, he will add to the options available to the coach on the flanks. An announcement will be made soon”

Correct.

Anekwe82:
Did Nigeria u17 qualify for final?

Semi finals are tomorrow.

tbaba1234:
Ademola Lookman is an excellent addition. He is young and adds to the excellent wing players in the team.

We might not need a top 9 with the kinds of players, we have.

You are thinking like I am thinking.

Once upon a time we had so much quality in our striking position and poor quality wingers. And then we switched some of the strikers to play from the wings. Eg: Osaze, Utaka and Nsofor

Now we have a reverse situation. The younger strikers do not posses as much quality as the young wingers. We can switch position of those wingers that have eyes for goals to strikers. I have two candidates: Henry Onyekuru and Ademola Lookman.
The wings are already crowded and we have to maximize our potentials.

do4luv14:
Ofcos not. I dont go to maracana cos of those guy whose vocation is to weed their lives away. Dont need a secondary smoke to infuse my system.

But did you know that not all maracanian ballers make it thus far as ighalo.


Wia is MONDAY JAMES of =BUH golden eaglet?

So Monday James, Siasia's 2005 U20 player, too na Maracana product? U no say we done graduate from Maracana long ago. I no see those younger generations.

Of course not all Maracana products got to play for the SE but the ones I know and saw playing (and played with and against some) ended up as high fliers in the SE. Samson Siasia, Emmanuel Amuneke, Sunday Oliseh and Taribo West. Martins was a product of the Orile sand field but also played mock nations cup at Maracana. Others like Bina Ajuwa, Kelvin (Kachi) Amuneke and Ugochukwu (wowo) Chukwunyere were also handed debuts but injury finished some like Bina.

Football development seems to have dipped in AJ. Na football academies dey produce players now. No more street football.

Me go like go back go visit that Maracana one day too. E don Tay o. So boys don turn am to Colombia now. Na wa o.

Did u ever here about Atine and Duru? Those two bros then play pass Emma Amuneke o. But just like Moi they didnt end up playing professional football.

7pm. Nigerian time

komekn:
My preference would be for Finidi , he has had a very successful career with considerable financial benefits. He has been doing quite well in terms of coaching in Spain as well. He is not hungry and looking for food.

Most Nigerian coaches do not lack capacity and ability but lack integrity in the context of the NFF.

I agree with you.

Una no know anything.

Bros Osahon wey survive multiple armed robberies in Benin come still cross the desert and Mediterranean sea, come jam small store thief for Italy. Person wey the armed robber suppose even runaway from.

Una thief na small for where naija own dey.

See how bro Osas just take that thief shine.

Other sharp guys now go begin look around for any small store robber wey dem go chance.

Earthquake1:
Samuel Kalu and Onyekuru has made me non-chalant about Ademola Lookman

He can switch to wherever he wants

Can I now caution you against bigotry because of this comment?

Earthquake1:
Do you really think anything he says would mean anything or change anything?

What happened to bantering and having fun with theories

You British born/non-British born have some serious lack of humor

Somebody made a comment kind of comparing too players. And I said we need both players. And next thing I was being attacked for not cautioning the poster against bigotry.

And sincerely though I didn't see the need for the comparison I didn't even reason out or attach bigotry to it. I only saw him as one of those Onyekuru fans and we have lots of them here. Do I even know the person's ethnicity that I would quickly call him a bigot?

Humility017:
Pinnick has been appointed by FIFA to head Ghana FA normalization team...same pinnick just successfully handled Liberia FA election..

pinnick is really a man Nigeria should be proud of.
competence is just something you can't hide.
I see him going places....

#kudos to pinnick.

Pinnick all the way.

This is an FA chairman that knows what it is to run a country's football.

Mickael2:
No offence but you are getting it all totally wrong. A false 9 IS NOT an attacking midfielder running into the CF position, rather he is a CF running into the attacking midfield position. Those are two distinct patterns, one is running forward whilst one is running backwards. When you play two forwards one almost always drops into the position that Ahmed Musa was operating from and it is called the SS position not a false 9 position, I mean that was what Anelka used to do at Chelsea, they are not even remotely connected to each other and it is quite funny you are equating the two. As an AMF you can go to any side to detect play, even before Iwobi we had even Di Maria operating as a wide AMF like in that champions league final against Atletico, that one is totally different but a false 9 is a rather distinct position. In conclusion Iheanacho and Musa were playing the SS role not the false 9 role please.


to answer your question I could ask you where was Dembele when Messi gave him that pass with which he scored against Chelsea. Or maybe where do you normally see Ronaldo during games? Are they also false 9s? A good coach will tell you that your formation is rigid until you enter the final third of the pitch then you can start being creative with your movements, even if it means a RB occupying a CFs position so long as it is effective. Okay his second goal was scored from which position?

You don't get me.

A false 9 is typically An attacking midfielder or a striker who has been deployed in an attacking position, without having a recognized CF in that game. But often drifts to the midfield and also joins the attack.

This is just like describing an advanced attacking midfielder.

And note also that the false 9 plays also the SS role and as well as the number 10 role when the need arises in a particular match. This can be or may not be in the game plan. But it does happen. These players are not robots. They cannot play 100% according to instruction

And see in coaching, two coaches may not see things exactly the same way , due to different coaching philosophies. Coach A might call Musa an SS in that game another might see him as a false 9. Also depending on what the coach was seeing. Most times players go into the field and not play 100% according to the coach's instructions and u end up seeing him in positions he is not meant to be. It happens a lot with young adventurous players.

So bros, you are not Rohr so am I not. We were not there when he drew up his game plan. So u hold on to what u think Musa played and let me hold onto mine.

A little word of caution ahead of today's friendly against Liberia. They are not an easy push over and they even drew their last AFCON qualifying game against Congo DR 1-1.

It is going to be a lot tougher than the Seychelles game.

Humility017:
oga icon is it the best two that will qualify from the wafu nations cup....for the world cup?
or just the winner of the tourney?
I am getting scared.

We are in WAFU Zone B. Only the winner of this Zone B will qualify to play in the CAF U17 not even the main U17 WC o.

To me any team that wins that WAFU Zone B is a potential World champion.

If our boys can manage to win this. I pity those Uganda, Tanzania , Angola and co they will be playing. CIV own go better pass their own.

Ighalo is my boy from the AJ hood, though I never saw him play. do4luv14, did u ever see Ighalo play at the Marakana stadium in Navy Town?

All Marakana products in the SE were always high flyers. The guy is not representing at all.

Kog45:
I remember watching Ighalo during U 20 WC and i asked myself was Siasia blind.

Really surprised to see him having good season with Watford and honestly apart from Cameroon match both home and away,am not impressed with Ighalo total output in GWG.

But the big question do we have someone to replace him?YES and NO

YES if we can be patient with the young ones like Sadiq Umar,Taiwo Awoniyi may be they can shake the tables but guess what a lot would still raise eyebrows calling this young lads.

Pls can Simy do it?I don't think so cos his goal scoring record not that good.

I think Rohr should change his formation to suit what we have or else we keep on struggling.

Let me state that we are very much aware that we are lacking quality CFs right now. We know options are few but that will not make us to keep defending the only one we have been trying all these years and has been failing us. I followed Ighalo even before he was called by Siasia at U20. He has always been at best average. That was why when he started scoring for Watford i saw it as a flash in the pan. He was having a form of his life that even him didnt believe.

Then to the question "Can Simmy do it"? My answer is why don't we give him the try? Ighalo has failed in previous matches and will still likely fail in the next match. We saw Simmy's game against DRC even though he didn't score but we saw some flashes of what Ighalo does not have.

And for those players u mentioned: Sadiq and Awoniyi, I am not even seeing them as players who can solve that CF problem because to me they are just average.

Rohr should either change the team setup or convert one of those young wingers to a CF.

Mickael2:
Is he not currently the highest goalscorer in China??

China you said?

Red hot in China but repeatedly proven to be Ice cold in the SE.

Mickael2:
Musa's game against Iceland was not from a false 9 position. That is not what a false 9 is, that is just a perfect example of a fluid 3-5-2 turning into a 3-4-3 because Moses was joining the attack. That was not a false 9 play at all, Musa was almost always on the wing and from that you can see that he was in now way a false 9. Let's just say he was a mobile forward drifting to the wings but calling him a false 9 in that role is a NO NO

Hahaha. Bros, That 3-5-2 formation against Iceland we deployed 2 false 9 in Iheanacho and Musa. Each of them played the role intermittently.

Many at time peeps here think the midfield is just around the center Circle. The midfield also extends to the flanks.

A false 9 typically falls deep into the midfield and also joins the attack. He is just an attacking midfielder that also runs into CF positions. Now note that an AM must not always play centrally. We can have an AM playing from the sides. Which is more like what Iwobi does in the SE and also under Wenger.

As I said, these things are not automated. It depends on how the coach has set up the team and defined roles for the players. Rohr did not play a recognized CF in that Iceland game. Musa and Iheanacho were used as false 9 interchangeably.

Modified: since you said Musa was always on the wings, in what position was he when he got that pass for that first goal?

Mickael2:
The only time I ever advocated for Ighalo because of his holdup play was against Cameron way back then and it worked. Simy Nwankwo has how many goals in the Serie A this season? There is no way any coach would start him over a red-hot Ighalo, that is one of the laws of nature. If we have Simy averaging like 10-15 goals per season then we can call his name but he isn't, and that's the reason. It is currently clear that we are short of options in that department presently.


Quick question, based on your definition of a false 9, what did Musa play against Iceland? A false 9?

Who is red Hot? Ighalo?

Ighalo has proven to be grossly incompetent in the GWG, I would take the chance of seeing what Simmy can offer.

Mickael2:
When you play as a false 9 that means you have to drop into the hole originally occupied by the opposing team's DMF there is absolutely no space around that area. First of all Musa CANNOT function as a false 9, from his style of play you can see that. How will Iheanacho who can hardly beat his man function as a false 9? If you play Iheanacho as a false 9 then he will continue drifting backwards until he starts playing as a 10 all over again and the function becomes null. Do not make me laugh, Onyekuru as a false 9? There is a big difference between beating your man all ends up around the touchline and actually having to drift through 2-3 players in the middle of the field. If you think Onyekuru can function maximally in a tight space then you really need to start watching him more often.

Like I said only Iwobi comes close to that role but his finishing abilities is a great negative for him presently.

Chairman, all those 4 players I listed can play as false 9. A false 9 may not only occupy a space created by the opposing DMF. These things are not automated like you are playing a PS game. A false 9 can also play from wide positions. Note also that a team must not have just one player as a false 9.

Ahmed Musa cannot play as a false 9 yet he put 2 pass Iceland as a false 9.

Oasis007:
Someone is claiming Lookman wanna use SE to break to the Everton starting XI cos Onyenkuru is more rated?!

Well I have nothing more to add, cos it's apparent you did reason like him.

Excuse me Mr Man, what is the meaning of all these now?

If you want to attack him for the comment he made why not face him? Why are you bringing me into this? Am I the owner of that moniker?

Well, I don't have time for this your antics this morning.

Just leave me in Peace.

Oasis007:
Chief I expect you to caution the Dude cos I believe you understand the motive behind the Post. Its very unhealthy and ain't gonna be good for this Thread if we continue this Way.

To be honest I did not read any motive behind the post.

I just saw it as he doing a comparison between Lookman and Onyekuru. We have done Onyekuru-Simon, Onyekuru, Kalu and Olayinka vs all the current Super Eagles wingers in the past.

Besides, you know how people reason on this thread that it is only a bigot that can identify a bigoted post. I have in the past been accused of being a bigot because I pointed out bigotry.

Again, I didn't see the bigotry in his post.

JoebieII:
FLASH BACK

Ighalo handed shot at Super Eagles redemption by Rohr

25 Aug, 2018
Colin Udoh
Football Editor, KweséESPN


Peals of derisive laughter rang through the hall as Gernot Rohr named Odion Ighalo in his list of strikers for the September 7 Africa Cup of Nations Cup qualifier against Seychelles.

The Nigeria coach was forced to explain his choice, with a little chuckle of his own

"I want to give him the opportunity to prove to the fans that he can still score the goals," the German coach began. "He was scored a lot of goals in China and he scored again last week."

He was being factual; last season, Ighlao scored 15 goals in 27 league appearances.

Since returning from the World Cup, he has hit eight goals in as many appearances, but his club form is not the problem. It is his international-goal return that has proven to be the foundation for the withering albatross around his neck.

Four goals in 21 appearances is a disappointing record for a striker at this level, that's an average of 0.19 goal per game or, to be more picturesque, one goal every 5.25 games.

By contrast, Kelechi Iheanacho hits a goal every 2.5 games for Nigeria, although, to put some perspective to the numbers, both Osaze Odemwingie and Nwankwo Kanu posted worse games per goal ratios than Ighalo.

Odemwingie's was a goal every 6.3 games and Kanu scored every 7.3 games.

So why do fans have an issue with Ighalo?

The following might explain it.

He managed just one goal in World Cup qualifying, and zero at the World Cup proper.

Of his other three goals, only one other came in a competitive game, the penalty against Chad in a 2017 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier which was eventually annulled after the Chadians pulled out of the series.

In other words, when the Super Eagles have needed a striker to fire for them, Ighalo has not been the man, except for that one time against Cameroon.

Beyond the lack of goals, the manner of his spurning the chances that came his way in Russia proved particularly galling for many a Nigeria fan.

Ighalo will not be the first to suffer such recrimination.

Yakubu Ayegbeni sidefooted his way into the hall of infamy for THAT miss against South Korea at the 2010 World Cup. Few remember that he stepped up to score a penalty later in the same game.

Before Yakubu, Godwin Odiye's career is forever remembered for scoring the own goal that cost Nigeria a place at the 1978 World Cup.

Neither of those two had a chance to change their narratives.

Odiye won the Nations Cup three years after with Nigeria but the stain remained, while Yakubu was immortalised in a song by Nigerian rapper MI Abaga.

For Ighalo, one moment, okay make that two moments, against Argentina could have made him a national hero forever. All he had to do was find the net.

He did not, and so fine are the margins, that he is now a villain.

However, he now has a chance to flip that script, starting with this game against Seychelles.

If he can carry over his club form to the Super Eagles and score the goals that take Nigeria to the Nations Cup, his 'sins' will be forgiven.

After the press conference, Rohr expanded on his decision to not ostracise the forward


"I want to give him the opportunity to show to all his critics, that he is still able to do well with us and to score the goals," Rohr explained.

"Perhaps in Seychelles he will be very, very motivated to show them that he can score the goals."

Ighalo has the tools to do just that.

For one, he has the assured confidence and reputation of a player who has played at the top level of club football in Europe after successful stints in Spain and England.

Beyond that, he has the bruising strength of an ox, the smarts to link-up play excellently, and the ability to get himself into goalscoring positions borne of experience.

He just needs all of it to come together for the fans to get behind him again.

Kanu was a supporting striker and not a CF. Comparing his goals ratio with that of Ighalo is totally baseless. We saw the number of chances Kanu created for the team, we scored goals from free-kicks and penalties won by Kanu.

And then Osaze played in the same era as Kanu, Martins and Yakubu who were all very highly rated .Osaze never played as a CF. He was played from the wings.

So if anyone wants to compare goals ratio of Ighalo with those of other CF it should be against those of likes of Martins, Yakubu, Ike Uche, Aghahowa and Emenike.

EEGA:
Since Everton rates Onyekuru very high ,Ademola lookman is now trying to compete with him and use the SE to return to Everton's starting XI .

Who dey reason wetin I dey reason?

We need them both in the squad.