₦airaland Forum

TURKEY: Super Lig - Round 9

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https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/football_pics/32993Aminu.jpg
Whoscored Nigerian Super Lig Player of the Week | Aminu Umar

Antalyaspor 2-1 Kasimpasa

Samuel Eto'o (Antalyaspor) got whoscored's MOTM recognition in the expense of Kenneth Omeruo. Omeruo looked rather sluggish and could have been more effective in preventing Antalyaspor's goals. However, the Super Eagles standby center-back came out in top 5 for successful tackles (3). He made 7 clearances, 3 interceptions and was dribbled once.
+Stats Rating: 7.21


Sivasspor 0-0 Bursaspor

Super Eagles defensive midfielder, Mikel Agu was not as impressive as he was in his previous outing for Bursaspor. He lasted for the entire duration and was yellow carded in the 59th minute. But in terms of pass success rate, Agu made Whoscored's top 5, with 43 accurate passes from 48 attempted - the second best for players who put in a full shift. Agu also came tops in successful tackles of 4, but was dispossessed twice.
+Stats Rating: 7.02

Teammate, William Troost-Ekong also lasted the entire encounter, and did well at the back, with a total of 56 touches to keep the home team quiet for the duration of the match. King-Kong, as he is called by club fans, was impressive with 5 clearances and achieved 100% success in tackles attempted.
+Stats Rating: 7.14

Silvasspor and Super Eagles left back, Elderson Echiejile is still out due injury.
+Stats Rating: N/A

Osmanlispor 3-0 Karabukspor

Dream Team VI forward, Aminu Umar, worked another full shift as a left attacking midfielder for Osmanlispor. Aminu was rated highly for his all-round contribution in helping his side earn an impressive home win. Umar made 36 accurate passes from 42 attempted, 3 of which were key passes in the build up to the goals scored.
+Stats Rating: 7.29

Osmanlispor's manager, Irfan Buz, did not give Raheem Lawal a chance to come on.
+Stats Rating : N/A

Yeni Malatyaspor 1-0 Trabzonspor
Sincere Seth and teammates benefited from an own goal to steal the maximum points in front of their home fans. Seth did not get the nod from the bench, after a dismal debut showing in the previous round.
+Stats Rating : N/A

Azubuike Okechukwu was conspicuously missing from Yeni's matchday squad for the second consecutive time. The 20-year-old Dream Team VI defensive midfielder last played for Yeni on the 1st of October, when he was pulled off in the 44th minute of their 1-1 draw with Patrick Eze's Konyaspor.
+Stats Rating: N/A

Super Eagles vice captain, Ogenyi Onazi started for Trabzonspor but was subbed off in the 60th minute. Onazi only managed one shot for the period he was in action -- the shot was off target. He managed 42 touches, and made 28 accurate passes out of a total of 32, and got a mention in the top 5 for successful tackles (2).
+Stats Rating: 6.23

Kayeserispor 2-1 Konyaspor

Imoh Ezekiel was a 46th minute sub-in for Konyaspor. He was cautioned 3 minutes after regulation time. It was all tie in top 5 for aerial duels won (3), with Ezekiel getting a mention. Ezekiel also managed to take a total of 2 shots for the considerable short time he spent on the pitch, one of which was on target.
+Stats Rating: 6.04

24-year-old Konyaspor forward, Patrick Friday Eze, was not listed for the encounter. Eze has been impressive for the Anatollian Eagle since his move from the Emirates. He has scored twice in the 197 minutes he has logged in the Super Lig. He also has an assist to his name in the Europa League.
+Stats Rating: N/A

Ndidi's best SE game till date was that Senegal friendly.. I'm still trying to understand where those passes went.

Mujtahida:
Yeah, there's something not quite so energetic or vibrant about Ndidi when he plays for Nigeria. Also Etebo can play as the AM with Mikel and Onazi behind. Wait ooo are only going to be playing 4-3-3? What of other formations? It's like 4-4-2 is slowly fading away.

Ryan Sanusi (DM) - Sparta Roterdam

” We (Argentina) are looking forward to the game, Nigeria are going to line up their top stars as agreed, so hopefully the game will be a classic. At the end of it all both teams will be better off regarding preparations for the World Cup”, Tapia said to the media in Argentina.

--OwnGoalNigeria

I think I read he was going to invite a large pool of players for the Algeria and Argentina matches.
I personally think that is a great idea, as any newly discovered player needs to be integrated in the team early. In this circumstance I expect Rohr to be more cautious

Icon79:
Big Joe, that wasn't a criticism o. I was just a little worried whether some folks at the NFF are trying to twist his arms. You know, now that we've qualified, the Nigerian factor is about to kick in .... all the agents and godfathers are waiting to strike.


O pari

sorry.. he is unlisted

ChrisKels:
Is Nura Abdullahi also in the dugout for Roma?

muazam score

lol..

daveP:
They've started watching their backs. Nice!

Onazi, Emenike Score In Trabzonspor, Olympiakos Cup Wins
October 25, 2017 5:35 pm
By James Agberebi:

Super Eagles midfielder Ogenyi Onazi was on target for Trabzonspor who thrashed third-tier side Corum Belediyespor 6-0 away in the fourth round of the Turkish Cup on Wednesday.

Onazi scored in the 74th minute to make it 4-0 in favour of Trabzonspor.

Hugo Rodallega (eighth, 18th minutes) and Dame N’Doye (79th, 82nd minutes) both had a brace while Theo Bongonda scored in the 52nd minute.

Rodallega was however shown a straight card in the 63rd minute.

Onazi’s only other goal came in the league and he has made five appearances in the Turkish top flight this season.


In the Greek Cup, also on Wednesday, former Super Eagles striker Emmanuel Emenike scored for Olympiacos who defeated second division side Acharnaikos 3-0 away.

Emenike scored in the 90th minute to bring the score to 3-0.

Guilaume Gillet and Andre Martins had scored in the ninth and 48th minutes respectively for Olympiakos.

The win took Olympiakos to first position on six points after two wins in Group five in the Greek Cup.

Emenike, who is yet to score in the Greek Super League after four games so far this season, has now scored three goals in the Cup.

--CompleteSportsNigeria

Assuming our boys follow train with this team I for support them. Na only one naija boy dem carry this time.. Hence I'm for Spain.

daveP:
na true sef. If dem win now, British media no go let us hear word. The mvp from their team will be tagged 3ice the price when Nacho won it years back. Then they go wan force them to play topflight football, all cos their English. But Spain too go do their own sha.

lol... Rohr sef for don run if na some coach

Mujtahida:
It's like the involvement of the fans this time around is higher than previous years. Everybody watching like a hen over her brood. Who knows what we will hatch with this level of deep involvement.

ITALY: Serie A - Round 10

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About 17 Minutes Played

Fiorentina 0-0 Torino
Torino hands Sadiq Umar a second consecutive Serie A start.
Joel Obi not listed for the encounter

AS Roma 1-0 Crotone
Roma take an 11th minute lead from the spot, with Simy in Crotone's dugout.

Bologna 0-1 Lazio
Orji Okoronkwo in Bolgona's bench. Lazio go ahead as early as the 4th minute.

abi oh.. i'm sure the boys e concern will know earlier

safarigirl:
Shey the match is in two weeks? Expect the list latest Tuesday next week...however, I think it will be out by the end of this week.

By Friday next week, camp will be open after the UCL and Europa games

our blood too dey hot lol

krattoss:
I taya oooo

Give him the benefit of the doubt. What if he is considering some new players and wants to see more of them play in the league before concluding.

Mujtahida:
Hitherto, as you well know, the list comes out at least three weeks to any match. Abi we have soft pedalled because we have qualified?

BELGIUM: Jupiler League - Round 12

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17 Minutes Played

Anderlecht 0-0 Waregem
Henry Onyekuru starts in Constant Vanden Stock Stadium.
Waregem hand first start to Ex-Flying Eagles left-back, Kingsley Madu, and assist king Peter Olayinka

Genk 0-0 Club Brugge
Club Brugge forward, Dennis Bonaventure starts from the bench tonight.

Waasland Beveren 0-0 Kortrijk
Kortrijk super regular, Abduljaleel Ajagun also start.

Yes Iwobi as AM. I concur

Icon79:
Good point! It's not really Mikel, per se. rather the role he play. I don't think we have another playmaker in this team. Alex Iwobi has the quality and the skillset to be a playmaker but we kept playing him on the flanks. If I have access to Rohr, one suggestion I would make to him is: move Mikel to DM with Ndidi (Onazi can come off the bench) and play Iwobi in the #10 role. If he starts now to play that role, he would perfect it before the world cup.


O pari

Samuel Kalu is a decent winger... He should keep pushing.. He can definitely make Qatar if not Russia.

BascoVanVeli:
Eagles star Moses Simon reveals why he is firing again in Belgium


By admin -
October 25, 2017, 4:13 pm

Moses Simon is firing again with Belgian club KAA Gent – 3 goals, 2 assists in the last 3 matches – and he has revealed this is so because he is doing less defending under a new coach.

Moses Simon took Belgian league by storm when he joined Gent in January 2015 from Slovak champions AS Tencin, but lately he appears to struggle to get back to such form.

The 22-year-old flying winger himself has given reasons for his new-found form.

He said under sacked coach Hein Vanheizebrouck he was forced to defend a lot more and that affected what he could offer upfront, but that is not the case with new coach Yves Vanderhaeghe.

“I previously had to defend more and that affected how I attacked,” he revealed.

“But the new coach has asked for more action upfront.

“That’s what we need and that’s what can win us games.

“So now if they put three men on me, (Samuel) Kalu will be free and if they put three men on him, I will be free.”

http://scorenigeria.com.ng/2017/10/25/eagles-star-moses-simon-reveals-why-he-is-firing-again-in-belgium/

That same coach is coaching Henry now so let us see how things go.

Let him release it when he is ready. Coach will still be get criticism for when he chooses to release his list?

Icon79:
I believe that I asked the same question on Monday. The game is barely two weeks away and we still haven't seen who's invited for the match.

Strange!


O pari

They still have Spain to beat. I'm for Spain

daveP:
Outside talk: England can now win u17 cup and leave us with our boys. sorry Brazil.

Well players for me that have played in big games will not be intimidated. Just as pirlo did with playing video games in the evening of a world cup final.. that does not show only experience but someone who has been in that situation before. -- big games.

Mujtahida:
I know big game player has to do with experience but sometimes it requires guts. Most people have said Onyekuru has confidence. Some weeks back - as a result of a link posted by Joebie- I read lots of write ups in FFT magazine on great players especially the one on one interviews. Players like Edgar Davids had guts even when he had not fully turned pro, same thing with Ibrahimovic. Same thing was said of Pogba. So when I read peeps here using that word 'confidence' to describe Onyekuru it hit a trail of thoughts in my mind. He should be tested soon. He's too tantalising to be left out.

Echiejile is still very much a strong member of the team. He is still the first choice LB at the moment. Is he my choice? no.

MetalJigsaw:
[b][/b]Echiejile again? that's a short 1

did you read the quote?

MetalJigsaw:
Why are they still after this guy, thus making him feel as if he's a Ronaldo and too big to play for us. They should just forget about him and move on! We have a lot more better players than him already .

Even if he finally joins the SE, its because of the WC as far as I'm concerned.

I think this list is something we have to revisit time and time again.
No guarantees, but nice for a start..

Modified
I mean this is how it's looking at the moment. It will only take a flop from Ezenwa, a solid return of Enyeama, a wonderful Uzoho debut. and did Rohr say Ikeme will go to Russia sick or not? I thought I read something like that. Someone correct me if i'm wrong.

I think the GK slot is a little tricky. And maybe Etebo is not safe yet.

tbaba1234:
GK
Ezenwa
(2 slots to fill)

DF
Leon
Ekong
Shehu
Elderson
Aina
Awaziem
(1 slot to fill)

MF
Mikel
Onazi
Ndidi
Etebo
(3 slots to Fill)

FW
Ighalo
Kelechi
V.Moses
S.Moses
Iwobi
(1 slot to fill)

The biggest opportunity is in centre midfield. Most of the other positions are filled.

I think as regards finding reinforcements, we need to do it quickly, and blend them early with the team's playing philosophy. Gatecrashers mostly don't do jack at the World Cup. Goke7 please consider what I just said in your notes.

I think Rohr has singled out Victor Moses for a reason. It depends on what you mean by big game player. If you are talking about stability in midfield we need to find that player that can stand in for Mikel and do a pretty good job. All the player needs do is install balance in the midfield, the player still has to be his own player whiled doing so. An experienced player would have been ideal.

Mujtahida:
He is the last of the maestros.
There's a nagging problem which I think Rohr has to address quickly not even till we get to the World Cup. How do we remain vibrant when Mikel is substituted or when he doesn't play. Who is the big game player to step things up. Onazi and Echiejile didn't live up to the billing against SA. What is to be done?

so much talk about Abraham turning down Nigeria -- headline stories

blueto:
Yes, most of the headlines are misleading. I prefer to go for the quotes.

That's experience talking. In the big games, it will come to bear.

Mujtahida:
You need big game players like Pirlo. See this https://s4.scoopwhoop.com/anj/pirloquotes/257746508.png
I do differ from you on the number of players we need. We need one in GK, at least one in the defence, one in the midfield, two wing forwards and at least one CF.

lol we can't blame NFF for something Keshi did knowingly.. Yes you have a point removing Okpala can indirectly influence some choices. But all the same Keshi had control as regards players selection, and he gets the blame for taking the likes of Uchebo, Ameobi...

Goke7:
the technical team is also key especially when you talked earlier about video analysts, a coach may have his own preferred video analyst, what if the nff disagrees with him like they disagreed with keshi over okpala. That can affect a team going into a tournament negatively.

lol.. I like it now that some of us are figuring things out from the quotes, not the headline..

blueto:
It may be that some things are tacitly going on between NFF and Tammy as this report connotes.

” We have some players who have shown some interest and commitment in playing for us, we are going to meet with them soon. I think four of them, and they have all represented England at youth level “, the spokesman of the NFF told Owngoalnigeria.com.”

No fresh talks with Abraham, because we already know where we are with him, but we can’t reveal it now just the same way I can’t tell you the name of the players we plan to hold talks with before the end of the year”, he remarked.

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2017/10/25/nff-ditch-tammy-abraham-plan-to-hold-talks-with-three-england-youth-international/

Tammy might still end up switching to Nigeria and possibly gatecrashing the world cup squad.

haha.. even the quote does not support their caption.

The quote supports what I've always been saying. That the process is on

Mujtahida:
Hahahaha hahahaha. Believe owngoalnigeria.com at your own peril. As always I'd say take their info with a calabash of salt.

Well i thought u were speaking about player selection interference.

Goke7:
Sylvanus Okpala was kehsi's right hand man during afcon 2013, he was sacked for criticizing the nff after afcon but keshi insisted that he must be brought back all to no avail, one of keshi's major brawl with nff was about Okpala. Some folks believe he was keshi's game reader. I think it was an issue we discussed here on this forum if I can remember. Reason folks think we saw another Super eagles during the confed cup and world cup after the afcon display.

Permit me to comment on point 11.

I remember in the aftermath of the 2014 World Cup, Pinnick (before he became the president) criticized Super Eagles tactical department, saying we needed a "consortium of coaches", with each specialized in a certain area. I think at this point Pinnick needs to revisit that idea, and work with Rohr into seeing if his assistance team needs reinforcement. And should any at the moment be deficient, they should be dropped without sentiments. Hence, Rohr needs to be sincere to revaluate his assistants.

And let me correct something, the 2014 team was not overhauled without the consent of Keshi. Keshi was very much in charge I strongly believe.

Goke7:
1. Stick to the coach that qualifies you for the world cup cos you you need that strong bond between the coach and the players who have been working tirelessly together.
2. Do not discard half or majority of the players that qualified you for the world cup as it affects team spirit and you end up with players in the world cup who are strange bed fellows. Case in point keshi despite qualifying for the world cup and going to the world cup ended up with players who were not really used to each other. This may be the reason Mikel rejected the inclusion of ramon azeez [though unprofessional of mikel] in the game against France.
3. Go with at least 90% of your players who qualified you for the world cup. case in point USA 94 team. If you must bring in new players, very very few however there seems to be strong cases for the inclusion of Kayode Olanrewaju, Henry Onyekwuru and Sone aluko to the team. They are not strangers to the Eagles as they have been invited before. Rohr can also consider and monitor strongly those who have never been don the green white jersey who could fill in the weak gaps in the current team especially the foreign born Nigerian talents who are all over Europe.
4. Nff need to sort out issues of bonus and players welfare on time. I heard before the end of this year, Nff will meet with the players to tell them how much they will earn during the world cup next year. Good one I must say.
5. Quality warm up games for the team, perhaps warm up games against Germany and Yugoslavia brought out the best of Nigeria against Spain in France 98.
6. We must check over confidence from the players, case in point is one of the reasons we lost the Denmark game in 1998 as the players were already thinking about brazil when they haven't finished with Denmark
7. We must check players who tend to be selfish in the game, result against argentina in the 2010 world cup would have been different if the likes of martins were not selfish in their play. Okocha was another culprit in past world cups. Victor Moses need to be checked on this. Players in better position must be given the ball for clinical finishes in front of goal like we saw against zambia with Iwobi's goal. This could decide games.
8. Team selection must be based on those who are hungry for the team success and not those who just want to appear as some big players have failed to turn up on the big occasions, e.g. Yekini of blessed memory and Okocha.
9. Good mix of youthful and experienced players. One of the reasons we failed in the 2002 world cup was the way we discarded experienced players who were still in form and hungry. Thank God Rohr had admitted that it was the mix of young and experienced players that achieved qualification. So those who feel the likes of Mikel, musa, onazi, echiejile even omeruo are not relevant may need to have a rethink. One advantage of the crop of young players we have now like iwobi, iheanacho, ekong and co is that by the next world cup, they will be very experienced players.
10. Updated FIFA rules must be understood by players and coaches to avoid naive situations. Reason we even failed to qualify in 2006 as we knew nothing about head to head rule. Players also need to be warned about inscriptions on their inner wears as they risk unnecessary yellow cards like we saw in the match against Cameroon involving Ighalo.
11. The technical bench assisting the coach need to have a good balance of competent and experienced hands that will complement the coach technically. e.g. in 2014 world cup the technical team that won the afcon in 2013 was overhauled without coach kehsi's consent which in turn affected the balance of the team from what we saw in afcon earlier. Video analysts to identify opposition strengths and weaknesses can not be overemphasized if we must reach the quarter-finals and beyond in the world cup.
12. Discipline on and off the pitch must be maintained by coach and players. This cost us in the 2010 world cup where kaita was sent off and the indiscipline acts and rows among players that happened in both 1994 and 1998 world cups including the lack of concentration that cost us the match against Italy 1994 in the dying minutes.
13. Undue interference from the Nff and the Government in the choice and selection of players. Government role should be limited to providing logistics and quick handling/payment of match salaries and bonuses to the team. The coaches and technical team should not be owed salaries and all outstanding allowances should be paid before the world cup begins to have an hitch-free tournament.