₦airaland Forum

Idowu is the only left back we have now. I think he is okay. But that kind of player should not even be on the bench of a strong team. There is still lots of work to do in this SE team.

Pearlk:
over hyping players b4 proper national team test is one of d bane we have in dis thread,@ d end such player fails to live up to d hype
d likes of idowu(biggest scam in d history of nija football),J.obi,etc,now one jamilu collins ,atleast let c him play first in gwg colors b4 rating him over d existing full backs we av/had

We have no option but to turn to the lower divisions. We’ve seen Madu and Amuzie who are largely bench warmers. Let’s see what Collins can bring.

Kog45:
Options? why not.It all depends on Rohr.

Pls before this invitation did you guys say anything on Jamilu.

As i said hope he comes good in GWG.

Oga I can believe anything now .some times it seems as though some players will never get a look in. I would like to see Semi Ajayi who just got promoted from League 1. . There are players who have clocked hundreds of minutes in the past in the Championship. But the thing with Ajayi is he doesn’t need a FIFA clearance, so I understand.

Kog45:
Chief forget YouTube highlights o.

Na today Chief. U don dey this biz for long na.

Fact Jamilu belong to an agent and hope he comes good in GWG

Before. But do we have viable options?

Kog45:
Chief forget assessment. Jamilu belong to set of players that uses super eagles to boost their career.

Yes it’s a good development. But will Collins give Idowu a good fight? I’m hoping he does.

Kog45:
Yes Echiejile is out but replaced by Jamilu Collins a division two player in Germany?playing for pade...sorry hearing the name of the club for the first time.

My point is you drop a player on the back of sever poor national team showing, and that does not mean he won’t be invited subsequently. A player has no business being a regular bench warmer especially when there are other deserving players dying for a chance.

Modified

Let me sum this up by saying my point is find the best competition for the regulars.

TheLoneCitizen:
You stated
"The big positives is that Echiejile has been shown the way out. But if for example Collins cannot threaten Idowu’s place, we want to see what Deji can do right away. If Deji can’t, let’s see ikwuowem right away. If Ikwuowem fails, let’s see Duru right away.et it rotate until we have another viable option. I mean this for all the playing positions. The regulars should be pushed constantly. That’s my position." That's trial and error.

Look at Leighton Baines of Everton, he is facing new competition from Lucas Digne, but he doesn't just see his position taken outrightly, he is eased out of the squad.

If you want Onazi to be out of the team, you don't just stop inviting him, you ease him out of the squad, these are senior players. Germany can't just stop inviting Tony Kroos, look at the way Nainggolan was eased out of the Belgian squad.

Your past national team performance should be in present continuous terms. Etebo gave a good account of himself at the Mundial. You can’t be rewarding players based on that they did in 2016/2017 when since then they have been poor. Like I said earlier, we can only conclude that Etebo’s form has dropped when we assess him in the National team. For uncapped players, we can only judge from recent club performances.

Modified
You seem to be making a different argument. I’m speaking of building a formidable bench that pushes the regulars constantly. No be trial and error.

TheLoneCitizen:
If a player should be invited only based on club performance, rather than on the strength of past national performance, then what's Etebo doing in the squad?

You don't run a national team on trial and error, so just because Ospina had a subdued season for Arsenal, he shouldn't have made it into the Colombian World Cup squad? They would have lost a good GK due to unrealistic theories.


A national team is ought to be judged on pragmatism not idealism. When Joachim Low played the Confederation Cup, he invited only young new faces, but he also brought in two proven players Emre Can and Shkodran Mustafi.

As I said Joel and Onazi might not start, but they were invited so if the midfield fails, the coach has proven and known players to turn to. Not that he turns to the bench and sees another Ebere Eze or what's-his-face.

Onazi isn't bad in my opinion, just had a bad day.

Take a look at the lis and be true to yourselves. We have missing names due to injury and retirement. Besides those we know who would start irrespective of whether they had bad games in the recent past. I’m not going to start another argument about player A or B. I’m not convinced yet that it’s a new dawn with Rohr. The big positives is that Echiejile has been shown the way out. But if for example Collins cannot threaten Idowu’s place, we want to see what Deji can do right away. If Deji can’t, let’s see ikwuowem right away. If Ikwuowem fails, let’s see Duru right away.et it rotate until we have another viable option. I mean this for all the playing positions. The regulars should be pushed constantly. That’s my position.

Modified
Let me back track a little bit on rotation. A player should only be invited based on their club performance. It should be rotated with that in mind.

TheLoneCitizen:
Okay, then, name a guaranteed regular in this current squad.

Kai. Make we leave this matter. Both players are average at best based on world standard. We don’t have strikers banging goals consistently in the big leagues judging by the past season. We can make do with both of them for now. At least with Nacho, there is still room for growth

edi287:
Ighalo won fouls for us. He held the ball up reasonably well and was mobile enough. You're making it look like he's Giroud or something. He's quite mobile and can dribble pass defenders...something Nacho doesn't seem to do too well.

The homebased players are rusty due to the NPFL season on hold.. Nigeria can field another set of players based im Europe for the Liberia game, all expense paid by the inviting associations — nothing to lose, lots to gain. We have a plethora of players who deserve opportunity to show their stuff.

BascoVanVeli:
It is a shame that Liberia lost the president's son to USA.
That said I am sure the NFF will get good money from Saudi but the Liberian sports minister confirmed their friendly last night on Soccer Africa. We could split the team in half. It would be a good way to get guys playing time. Liberia would just need some big name players so maybe a popular guy like Iwobi goes with a few Homebase lads.

Even if Ighalo scores a hart-trick against Seychelles, would it really count in his favor? That’s the big question oh. Rohr seems to want to prove a point with Ighalo, but I don’t think any invited player can prove a thing to me against Seychelles, unless until we meet a formidable team. We are not going to AFCON to play teams in the caliber of Seychelles.

mank1234:
Ighalo again? Are we going to hold up play against common Seychelles? I'm still ruminating on the disappointment he, Victor Moses and Rhor caused us in last world cup.

Anyway, what am I even doing here! I'm out.

I love the idea. I remember bringing this up once. But my point is we would hardly all come to an agreement. I would like to do this with you though.

daveP:
Funnily I know about the back and forth, but my knowledge of mathematical modelling will help and bring all relevant parameters to be considered and used in this new standard. I'll however love if stats gotten from playing time be majorly used. still an ish ba? well lemme sit and model


Where is Safarigirl o.

Has Etebo lost quality overnight? The season has just started. You can make a case for Eze, but it’s too early to conclude he is better than Etebo. They play under different coaches, with different teammates and probably different style of play, meaning if Etebo were in QPR he may be a regular, and who knows Eze may be benched in Stoke. hence, you can’t make that conclusion PREMATURELY. The keyword remains opportunity, or we would never know. IMO, Eze definitely deserves a look to replace Etebo as soon as the latter starts to slack in the GWG.

ChrisKels:
Ebere Eze and Etebo play in the same league, their respective teams have been losing but while Ebere has started and completed every match played by his team, Etebo has been a bench warmer that makes only cameo appearances, yet, Ebere was over looked for Etebo. This is the same thing Keshi did with Oduamadi and Isariemen Ebagua when both were playing for Brescia in the Serie B, while Ebagua was the goal king in the entire league, Oduamadi was finding it difficult to see game time talk more of scoring goals, yet Keshi was inviting Oduamadi instead of Ebagua for reason best known to him.

It wouldn’t be so if we demand they put in 100% every given time. Let his consistent good present form earn him a recall.

safarigirl:
It is Onazi'spast exploits that are saving him for now

I guess anyone can do what they are doing and claim to have inside sources

TheSuperNerd:
Lol... Sure. They are most times wrong and sometimes right. ANS is another with hit and miss records also. Lol..

Of course they have gotten some in the past. This was a rare hit though considering a few would have guessed it.

TheSuperNerd:
They got the one on Semi Ajayi though.

Why can’t Onazi be dropped from warming the bench? Granted, we are playing Seychelles, but aren’t we trying to be even a better team post-WC? Doesn’t mean he can’t be invited in future should his replacement perform below expectation.

We don’t need to temper with the core of the team, but we need to keep looking for players that can unsettle their regular status.

safarigirl:
that is why I said, let me leave Onazi out.

There is nothing proven about Joel, nothing 'positive' except all his positivity is saved for training only

OGN had said Ighalo would not be in he list. Abeg leave that website when like to guess. They make up stuffs that are obvious sometimes, attributing it to Rohr. Just like saying Rohr’s decision to leave out Success is because the league has just started and he hasn’t been given enough game time.

charlesemeka85:
Noah Joel Sarenren-Bazee is one name that has been mentioned in connection with the Super Eagles the past one year after pledging his international future to Nigeria ahead of Germany.

Bazee endured an injury hit season last time out and that cost him a spot in the Eagles squad for both the World Cup Qualifiers and the World Cup proper as he didn’t get enough games for German Bundesliga side Hannover 96.

After coming through pre season unscathed, many thought he would finally get the chance to impress in the colours of the Super Eagles in the 2019 African Cup of Nations Qualifiers game against Seychelles.

Earlier today coach Gernot Rohr announced the list of players and once again Bazee was missing from the 24 man list and he didn’t even make the standby list of four players named by the Franco-German coach.

Owngoalnigeria.com gathered the decision to omit him from the list was once again due to his fitness battles as he only recently returned from a broken toe picked up in pre season and Rohr decided to leave him out of the team.

I am not calling for specific players, or speaking against any player in particular. I’m saying there has the be a healthy competitive atmosphere. There shouldn’t be loyalty talk in SE. I demand the same from our foreign coaches as our indegeneoua ones.

You talk like you have not been following Rohr’s tradition of invitation. There are guaranteed positions under Rohr. I’m not even speaking about the standout players. I’m speaking about the regulars giving us average performances, as well as those who have their dugout roles on lockdown. It’s crazy.

Modified
The regulars need formidable competition always even if it means bringing new faces to fight to snatch their starting shirts. Even our bench has been made too comfortable. Our bench can be as good as our first 11. We should keep striving for that. I’m glad Echiejile is finally (probably) out.

TheLoneCitizen:
That's what I'm saying, the squad no has no prima donna in this team any longer. If Joel plays well and the manager feels he needs to go off, he is indispensable. So no more guaranteed right wing for Moses, midfield for Mikel.


This invitation list is the best list plausible at this stage. Proven players and ones to be tested. If the testing goes wrong, the coach will recline on the proven and that's the reason for Joel and Onazi's invitation, not that he tolerates laziness or lackadaisicalness.

By the way, no matter who the manager calls up, the masses, you and I will never satisfied.

Lol..

We are playing away so it’s going to be a difficult match.

darkelf:
Please bros, let us not even expect too much against Seychelles. I'm predicting a 1-0 win for us at most.

So that at least, I don't get necessary high bp

ROHR ON iGHALO’S INVITATION

"One of our players who did so well during the 2018 World Cup qualifiers was Odion Ighalo," Rohr said at a press conference attended by allnigeriasoccer.com on Friday.

"He missed one or two chances against Argentina. If a player should have a bad patch, the next thing is not to discard him.''

The Franco-German will be banking on the former Julius Berger forward for goals when Nigeria face Seychelles in a 2019 Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifier on September 7.

"We want him to score goals and show he is still able to do well for his country. We share the problems with him and expect him to do well."

Sir, e tire me.

Icon4s:
Ha, e come be Iheanacho vs Ighalo debate we come dey now

Most competitive state virtually. That’s not what I’m talking about. I’m saying that should reflect on how these SE players see their position in the team.

You see we have tagged indegeneous coaches as always having their boys. That’s exactly what it is with this loyalty talk. There are players dying to play for the SE, the players who get a chance again and again should play as if having that in mind. I made this same remark before the World Cup if you remember, and I was hoping after the Mundial Rohr will set a new tone. We need the coach to really push these players.

There is no guarantee they will start? No player should be invited unless they can really stake a claim for a starting shirt. I want a player to push the regular starter always. That’s competition

TheLoneCitizen:
Invitation doesn't guarantee a starting berth, in fact, I think the squad is in its most competitive state in years. We have a plethora of quality out there, capped and uncapped. For just wings, Onyekuru, Kalu, M Simon, Lookman, Musa no one is miles better than another.

For attacking, Iwobi, Iheanacho, Nwankwo, Ajayi, Gabriel, Ighalo.

Not to mention NPFL players and countless fine players in top Europe second divisions. It's an open secret that Joel and the World Cup flops are just for squad depth and loyalty.

Imagine not inviting an Onazi, just because he lost form.

Let him come and redeem his image against South Africa lol

Icon4s:
Firstly I will say I am not surprised at the list.

On Kelechi Nwakali, I think he grabbed the only opportunity was given against Athletico Madrid. I think he did enough in that game to earn this recall, especially as Mikel has not been invited.

On Ighalo, well, Rohr knows best. I for one would not have wished Rohr to called him back. Well, but it is the game against Seychelles. May be another opportunity to redeem his image.

It’s gonna be hard for us to come up with a standard of measure if going by our arguments for so many pages is anything to go by. One man says we should rate players based on the league they play. Has Etebo suddenly become a poor player Warming the bench in the Championship? There are many factors to look into. Opportunity is the keyword. You never know who is better than who though there’re are indicators which are rather suggestive than conclusive.

daveP:
Seems we can create some kind of report card with categories so we can list players in different levels of club levels and those we can class in the red flag zone.

we will take their playing stats and their club relevance and identity and use it to model a general scoreboard for most of our players playing in different leagues. their moves from club to club and trophies etc. what dyu think?


cc Thesupernerd, tbaba1234, Joebie, safarigirl

Our SE players are too comfortable. It’s not helping them in SE colors. We need fierce competition in the National team at all times to promote excellence. If Joel Obi had been dropped before, trust me he will put in a better fight when he is given another chance. These crop of players are not far ahead of others putting in decent shifts in Europe. Hence, they shouldn’t be sitting tight regardless of how they perform in SE colors.

TheLoneCitizen:
What do you mean "predictable with his midfield", do you want him to be erratic? The right word here, brother, is 'consistent' .

Nice catching up. I was like 6 pages behind.

This is my take on the list:

1. Akpeyi and Ezenwa has no business on SE with a 20 year old preferred to them at the WC. Ezenwa is not even the #1 goalie in Enyimba and far from one of the best in the NPFL.

2. Jamiu Collins is not new to me. I remember he was a teammate of Theophillus Solomon at the time. Is he ahead of Deji Beyreuther?

3. Rohr is predictable with his midfield. Just keeping with his promise as regards K Nwakali. He should not hesitate to drop players who fail to impress (Joel Obi inclusive). Enough of the slow substitution approach.

4. I’m okay with the forward line FOR NOW.

TheLoneCitizen:
cc Colin Udoh.

Uzoho, Ezenwa, Akpeyi

Balogun, Troost-Ekong, Awaziem, Bryan Idowu, Ola Aina, Kenneth Omeruo, Jamiu Colllins, Semiu Ajayi,

Ndidi, Onazi, Joel Obi, John Ogu, Etebo, Kelechi Nwakali

Ahmed Musa, Ighalo, Simy Nwankwo, Iwobi, Henry Onyekuru, Samuel Kalu, Iheanacho

That's the list.

Very well said

Icon79:
Whomever drew up this list must be high on kia kia.

So Daniel Amokachie didn't make the list?
Emmanuel Okala only made a reserve list? Listen,
Victor Moses made it as wingback ... ahead of even the legendary Yisa Shofoluwe
Ben Iroha didn't make the list?
Henry Nwosu didn't make the list either?
Joseph Yobo made it ahead of Taribo West or even Christian Chukwu??

Listen, there are so many things wrong with this selection. If we want to talk about Nigeria's greatest squad, then there should be only ONE criteria: their performances in the SUPER EAGLES team. Not performances in the EPL or any Euro, not in the performances in any age grade team but performances in the SUPER EAGLES. Hence, that criteria would knock out the likes of Kanu Nwankwo, Peter Rufia, and Celestine Babayaro from the list.


O pari

The man is not enlightened

Icon4s:
God...... what have we done wrong for you to keep punishing us with people like these as leaders.

andrew444:
Kano Pillars Legend Gambo Mohammed Joins Indian Premier League Side East Bengal

Should be jailed without trial

maidaboi:
fourded

Kai if some of us here be SE coach eh many Nigerians go die of heat attack when dem see list

ChrisKels:
I doubt u indeed saw that match u referenced. Dude could hardly touch the ball. As an attacking midfielder, was he able to create any notable chance in that match? D boy legs no dey touch ball sef and wen it finally did, he didnt know wot to do wt dem. Abeg forget Babatunde