₦airaland Forum

ProfOrlando:
why is everyone just keen on Tammy Abraham, c'mon , we need a keeper now more than a striker.........

We have over flogged that keeper issue.

Time to discuss our attack.

Mujtahida:
Sir Icon4s you are unusually passionate about this Tammy matter and I guess it's cos of the fact that something vital is missing in that attack. Truth is we can build at least a quarter final team if we have all the right pieces in place. But getting that guy would be extremely difficult, even more so than when we got Iwobi but no harm in trying. The best, the very best is what we want for the team.

You get the point. That's all.

I am not comfortable with our pool of strikers.

jotey:
he said he is focused on England u-21

why not let him be

is it by force?

It cannot be by force.

Since he is still eligible to represent Nigeria, we have the rights to hold talks with him and his reps on the issue.

Kog45:
My man na today we go know how tomorrow go be.

Pls can u give me a pool of players u think they can do it.

Oga, the WC is still 9months away, the European season is still young.

My point is we must recognise the fact that our attacking department is lagging.

If you say the attack does not need improvements no wahala. But I am sure Rohr has recognized this fact. How strikers will be invited for assessment from here onwards is left to Rohr and his crew to decide.

jotey:
someone else is behind this moniker

the icon4s we know will not beg for Tammy to play for nigeria after snubbing and embarrassing us

I rather will call back yakubu than to see tammy play for us

besides I don't think he is even better than iheanacho

Has Tammy rejected Nigeria?

safarigirl:
I'm guessing you just don't like Cyril Dessers. Not Nigerian enough?

To be sincere, I have not seen him enough to clamor for him.

I only clamor for players I have studied closely.

Joebie:
Haha you have just conceded there is none at the moment. Nobody is saying we should shut the doors to other strikers. The fact is Ighalo is our best at the moment.

It means you have not been reading my posts well.

Have we not been discussing on how to improve the attack for the world cup?

Joebie:
Pinnick cannot force any player on Rohr. The best he can do is aid the process of the switch. However, if Tammy is invited and comes good under Rohr before Russia, nobody can stop Tammy from going. We can shout all we want on NL.

So you are also of this view.

Why are you now saying I am not being realistic?

Kog45:
My man am not comparing this team with any old super eagles teams.

My point is this do we have players to give Iheanacho, Ighalo a serious fight for a shirt at d moment.

Is the World Cup this month?

safarigirl:
while una stikk dey follow am talk, let us talk about the people that don't need talks to play for us.

That is being realistic, not dreaming about players that are attached

safarigirl, you know me well for who I am as per my ideologies here.

I don't just clamor for players any how.

Yes we will continue to discuss the players we have already but do you recognise the lack of quality in our attack?

safarigirl:
oya, goan drag Tammy from England's U21 team.

You are one of the people who constantly talks about how playing for the National team should be a thing of pride and how we shouldn't be begging players to represent us...but you just dey here dey shout Tammy upandan as if the boy is unattached

Make we go dey beg Tammy because he has scored 21 goals in 10 matches in La Liga and is the next Messi.

Tammy is occupied, focus on players that are not.

Begging ke.

He has not rejected Nigeria. He just has not accepted Nigeria yet. So he us still open for talks.

Joebie:
Team play is your overall contribution. If you want a dedicated 9 who will ONLY score all the time, mention a REALISTIC suggestion and not make projections that may not come to pass. Who is that dream 9? As a coach, you will fail because you want to work with fantasy players. A good coach should be able to get the best of what is available at all times.

No fantasy here.

I don't know about you but I have seen better Super Eagles forwards line from yesteryears.

If you are satisfied with the attacking line we have, your opinion. But I am not, my opinion also.

Joebie BTW where are the two left backs you promised us.
Or are they not "Realistic"?

Mujtahida:
Truly we are limited upfront ooo. When we meet a team with a more compact defence we will be exposed cos we don't shoot from outside the box, we don't score from free kicks, corners, headers. Of our eleven goals so far ten have come from within the box. Only Ighalo's goal was from outside. Look at Germany, France and Spain shooting goals from outside.

You get the point.

That our attack is so blunt. Our WC attacking department has never been this bad.

Thank God they have Classy players like V.Moses, Mikel Obi and Alex Iwobi playing behind them.

At the WC a very tactical coach can just take out Moses and Iwobi and the team is dead.

Joebie:
jam body goal? haha we go manage am..
Moses cross when Ighalo classily jumped over for Mikel to convert nko. Ighalo is a team player.. I like his all-round play.. if he doesn't score he is very likely to assist. He is our best striker at the moment.. Those calling for his head now forget that Iheanacho also fired blanks for SE sometimes, and they blamed Iheanacho then for this and that. hahaha na wa.. why we like to flip-flop na.

Lol at 'Ighalo classily jumped over' is he not even the one that others should be jumping over for him to score?

Both Iheanacho and Ighalo have received a fair share of my criticism.

I am not in the habit of practicing selective criticism.

Mujtahida:
What about Dessers, Bonaventure? What do you think? Hype or the real deal?

I wan play, I wan play no mean say when you come play you go play well cos from watching football I have realised that club and national football ain't the same. Club is an indicator though.

These are also bright youngsters. But what is the status of their nationality issues?

Also add Peter Olayinka to that pool.

And you are right about club football being different from national team football.

Some players even deliver more at national team level than at club level.

Mujtahida:
He wasted that second chance. He should have been on point like Iwobi. Iwobi saved Ighalo. Should we have drawn or lost that match he'd be a goner.

You get the point.

Kog45:
Oga icon4s u be boss here,pls i want u to tell us d striker now,agreed Nacho is warming bench,Ighalo not too clinical.

Pls let's go down to memory lane,Westerhoff era,we have Yekini,Amokachie, Siasia as d strikers but i can tell u they are not our best in Europe as at that time but d best in national team.

Hope u remember Richard Owubokiri in Boavista,d second best striker in d whole Europe but couldn't break into Eagles, Did u remember Mike Obiku in Feyenord,Chris Ohenhen in Compostela in LA liga.

These are in form player and superb strikers who are supposed to be in d team but Westerhoff believe National team was a different ball games and he stick to his team especially Samson Siasia who was finding it difficult in Europe.

Despite Efan Ekoku high profile with Norwich he find it difficult to break into XI,if I can remember Ekoku only had a game against Zaire.

My question is this where are d strikers that are better,if we can get them no issue,national team belongs to all players.

Good question.

But let me respond to the other parts of your comments first.

Those names you mentioned: Richard Owobokiri, Mike Obiku and Chris Ohenhen were no where near the qualities of Yekini, Amokachi and Siasia as at that 1993-94 period.

Efan Ekoku. That flop. With all the rantings then about how he was better than Yekini. Only for him to miss a simple tap in against Zaire at the Q/Final of the 1994 AFCON.

Can you compare the present qualities of Ighalo, Nwakaeme and Iheanacho even add Kayode to those of Yekini, Amokachi and Siasia of 94?

The era of Martins, Yakubu, Osaze, Utaka, Ike Uche was even better than this current strike force.
This is a challenge and we have to recognize and address it.

That is my point.

We are Nigeria. We are known for producing quality strikers. We have standards.

Now, to which striker is better than Ighalo and Iheanacho (even though i know the view from where you are coming from but let me answer straight) I am not saying outrightly that Tammy is better but he has a potential of doing better than Ighalo come June next year. This is a boy that has distinguished himself as a youth player for both club and country( England).
Sent on loan to Swansea by his parent club didn't waste time in ceasing a starting place, something even Iheanacho could not do.

Tammy's career is on the rise and if he continues playing for Swansea week in week out would have grown into a more matured goals poacher by next summer.

I hope Iheanacho's fortune improves at Leicester, but Ighalo I am not sure we'll see any improvements in his game from now to June next year.

TheGoodJoe:
I still believe Onyekuru is better hitman than Tammy. The challenge Onyekuru faces is variance. He suits a similar system like Iheanacho but Tammy can function in a conservative/defensive system.

Tammy is a typical CF while Onyekuru is a WF.

You are right about his similarities with Iheanacho.

Tammy would just fit in perfectly well given the short time the national team has to prepare for matches.

But for Onyekuru you need to groom him into that position just like we are doing for Iheanacho. And this may take some time.

TheGoodJoe:
I agree with that too. Ighalo needs to work on getting sharper while attacking. His decision-making looks slow to me and shaves fraction of time when he is to react and produce goals.

At least he worked hard but not convincing.

Even at Watford he was best at scoring the lone ranger (one on one) kind of goals, the type he scored against Cameroon.

We also need a striker that scores from crosses: header, tap-ins, jab ins and so on. No be only jam body goal.

Mujtahida:
And I don't trust that Nwakaeme. I don't know why.

That one.

I call him "jam body striker".

The problem is we have so many strikers but none is a stand out.

Iheanacho, well he is still up and coming but his rise has not progressed as much as most expected. He is the only striker among the lots we I have that is most likely to make the WC squad. Ighalo too may squeeze through.

We need some one like Abraham. Having Abraham and Iheanacho together in your team would be mind burbling.

TheGoodJoe:
43' - Ighalo with a half-chance under pressure from Tembo, but he volleys off target.

71' - A great counter attack for Nigeria, but Ighalo opts to try and cut back rather than shoot first time and the move breaks down!

http://www.nigerianeye.com/2017/10/live-commentary-nigeria-vs-zambia.html?m=0

Unfortunately, I do not rewatch matches to start highlighting times of incidents. However, this will give you a clue.

That second wasted move in particular almost made me break my TV screen.

Had that chance that fell to Iwobi fell to Ighalo that game would have ended goalless.

Mujtahida:
It would be difficult to get Tammy considering his involvement with England's u21. Guy is neck deep in. There are so many factors involved and even for the young man I know this is going to be distressing.

Sure I know.

The think is I am not comfortable with Ighalo being our top striker in the WC.

He is not clinical enough.

And also Iheanacho is not getting the desired game time at Leicester.

We need a striker that is very active in a competitive league.

Petrobros:
Oga wait, which young players you don ever recommend here?

Ah.

OK o.

Those that have been long on this thread knew how I spotted the young Alex Iwobi and clamored for his capture.

I first saw Oghenekaro Etebo as a Warri Wolves player. I recommended him to the national team.

I personally stood for Shehu Abdullahi when many wanted him out just because he plays in Cyprus.


As I said I don't recommend too many but I do so when I see the potentials.

Kog45:
My man I got your point, pls where are d strikers that are better.

In your word until we see better player no replacements. Pls tell me a striker that is better than Iheanacho and Ighalo presently.

My point is bring Tammy into the mix as quickly as possible. And get him involved in the build ups to the world cup for quick integration.


I have seen him play a couple of time in the EPL and and can see the great potential in him for his age.

Mujtahida:
Surely he's not as deadly as those you mentioned. Let's see him out at least one or two more matches before we run the rule on him.

One or two more matches?

We have seen him aplenty abeg.

We need strikers that score goals. Why do you think I also personally kicked against Brown Ideye?

I would even pick Iheanacho ahead of Ighalo in the WC team.

Tammy's career is on the rise. He looks very promising.

The sooner we get him into the mix the better.

I don't too easily recommend young players but I do so when I see one that is very promising.

Mujtahida:
Sir Icon4s your last paragraph here says Tammy is in blistering form that's why in my post I said 'earlier you said... '

Well maybe comparatively to our other young strikers

Mujtahida:
3 goals in nine matches is fair for Tammy(earlier you said blistering form) which one can say on average is one goal in three matches yet for Ighalo one goal in three matches is not fair enough? Now I am not trying to denigrate Tammy or excuse Ighalo but I just want you to examine your submission on both of them based on my observation.

Firstly I did not say Tammy is in blistering form. I meant we need a striker that will be in blistering form going into the World cup.

Now comparing goals ratio of 3 in 9 and 1 and 3, mathematically they are the same. But football is no mathematics.

You know how difficult the EPL is and worst still playing for a lowly club like Swansea who typically against top oppositions play to avoid defeat rather than winning and hence not creating much scoring chances.

In the last 3 WC qualifiers we played 3 games: 2 home and 1 away. Scoring 6 goals. Yekini that I knew would have scored 3-4 of those goals. The Yakubu that I knew would have scored 2-3.

Look at those silly misses Ighalo had against Zambia.

Nigeria has a rich history of producing top strikers, Ighalo is far short of the standards we have always had .

Put Ighalo into this pool and be the judge: Yekini, Martins, Yakubu, Osaze, Utaka, Ike Uche.

Ighalo seems to have resumed on his goals drought. I hope he proves me wrong.

cc: Kog45

TheGoodJoe:
Tammy has three goals in nine games for Swansea. I doubt that is anything close to blistering. We should stop beating around the bush and put Nacho there. Give Nacho good passes and he will convert it. It is as simple as that. With Mikel he would have torn SA apart.

3 goals in 9 games is a fair performance for a striker in a club that typically does not have so many scoring opportunities.

Let Iheanacho start playing regular football first. If he cannot break into the starting 11 of Leicester City then what are we talking about?

TheGoodJoe:
We have been down this path before. If Nacho did what Ighalo performed against Zambia, he would have been roasted on this thread. Many would have been calling for a replacement.

Let us call a spade a spade. Ighalo was awful in that match. Let us hope he does not perform that way again.

I am also not pleased with Ighalo's performance in that game.

1 goal in 3 matches is not acceptable for a top striker IMHO.

If we want to go really far in that world cup we need a very prolific number 9.

Tammy Abraham is in blistering form. Pinick needs to relaunch a bid for him.

Lets look at it again.

It is offside joor.

Parts of the Zambian player's body are ahead of Ekong.
see his limb and knee.

Case closed.

Zambia ntooorrrr

FIFA, CAF investigating Nigeria Vs Zambia clash in Uyo.

http://mobile.nigeriasoccernet.com/fifa-caf-investigating-nigeria-zambia-match-in-uyo