₦airaland Forum

I think what we need is a bench that is almost as good, if not as good as the regular starters. If I were Rohr, that will be one of my two points of focus after our qualification. The other being team cohesion in mastering different tactics.

Thanks boss. But this one right here is encompassing.

gritzky1996:
www.nairaland.com/4041192/official-thread-russia-2018-world#60254660
OFFICIAL FIFA WORLD CUP THREAD

We can definitely categorize our wingers. Some of them are actually CFs turned wingers. It would be a great thing to have the ones that actually do both crossings and cut-ins. That will be ideal.

TheSuperNerd:
Okay... very well said. Now I get you.

Well... that is where we will now focus our radar on the likes of Noah Sarenren Bazee, Samuel Kalu and maybe "some unknown darkhorse" (who can be anyone i am missing right now) who can actually cross the ball in typical winger style.... Anyway... the moulding continues...


P.S: Samuel Adegbenro of Rosenborg did come to my mind but he is more of a power playing Left Winger/wing forward who cuts inside often... crossing is not a regular feature of his game from the little I have seen of him. But hey he has a full season so I could get to observe him much closely.

Henrg Onyekuru also does less crossing... he is typical skillful and goals-hungry Wing forward/winger..

I don't see why this is an argument in the first place.

forgiveness:
But I think the coach doesn't have confidence in some of these players hence my submission.

You are just somehow o.

somehow:
And you think there won't be acres of gaps if Aina plays? Even with the gaps, how many goals came from there? Ekong and shehu played at the other end where the PK came from, what do you have to say about that?

My issue here is that we shouldn't throw Aina into a do and die match come october 7th except of course we have no option. Aina is not even a natural LB and there is no guarantee that he will perform better than the natural LB we currently have there. (Forget club football for now).

Held his own -- I like that. Say it just as it is. No exaggerations. However if one says Okocha bossed Denmark despite we losing 4-1, that's not debatable. Okocha did it again and again against big teams almost throughout his playing career.

And that's the main reason even though Okocha may not have won lots of laurels for club, country and personally, he Is seen the world over as a very special player. Some things are not debatable.

Mujtahida:
You should understand the applause for Mikel stems from the fact that while Spain with Xavi, Iniesta and Busquets were loaded in the middle, the SE on the other hand were lean in that sector. Mikel was like the guy from a poor family who goes on to make it big while Busquets is like the scion of a rich family just doing his thing. Widows mite

Dynamism. I've been an advocate of that.

adegwurulez:
I mentioned a winger for flexibility of tactics. Moses doesn't deliver crosses often and Simon isn't an accurate crosser. There might be times when we come against stubborn defenders who won't let you go anywhere near the 18yard box, defenders that have only one disadvantage, HEIGHT. In such cases, the coach might decide to bring in a good crosser of the ball so we can exploit our opponent's weakness.

Lol. It will remain debatable my friend. But let's move on

TheSuperNerd:
Oh yeah? You mean it? not even one more round?

https://i2.wp.com/picsmine.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/03/Mr-Bean-Meme-Oh-really.jpg


P.S: Mikel is still World class... and that's no exaggeration. Ntooorrrrr....

Sir this Mikel matter people almost called me a Mikel hater just because I don't hold him highly as they. Facts and stats are not debatable. When we start to debate and we start to say if this if that then it throws away all logic. The truth is Mikel is our best midfielder. The most versatile and experienced who has played at the highest level than the others. And that's a fact. But what I don't like is exaggerations. I won't go into another Mikel argument.

Kog45:
This is endless arguments that would yield no result.Jobie said no need going into argument with Mikel faithful meaning what u are pro Mikel but Jobie forget that Michael2 is anti Mikel meaning we w not gain anything from your discussions coz both of u w be biased in your analysis.

Ditto to me i w be tagged pro Mikel coz i always hold sway for him.It was on this thread people are rating Etebo,Ndidi,Iwobi higher than Mikel but of recent they are keeping mums waiting for bad performance from him before they come out in full force.

I remember my real fisticuffs on this thread was with Michael2 and it was centred on Mikel,some even believed am from South East whereas am a Yoruba man from northern part of d country.

My defence of Mikel is not always personal.but i hate d way some always ridicule him for no reason.It was on this thread some one tagged Mikel as one of worst midfielder to represent Nigeria,a reputable Moniker even said Mikel should not be in d starting XI of eagles.

On Busquets and Mikel,I w not come in coz anything i say here w be meaningless to my friend Michael2 but it is glaring Busquets is a class,ranging from his displayed in Barca and Spanish national team but on a good day Mikel w hold it against Busquets anytime anyday, just watched highlight of Spain vs Nigeria at confederation cup.

Oga Na. Rohr was looking for physical options and someone may have suggested Aaron. But don't forget he only made the standby initially.

forgiveness:
If he does not perform then kick him out of the team. Chikena!

Some raised eyebrows here when Aaron Samuel was invited.

Aaron Samuel want not supposed to have been called in the first place when players like Kayode and Martins were doing well.

If you do well you must be called to the national team and it's not enough to use the training to rate and discard a player because we have heard about players who don't do well in training but performed wonderfully well in main matches.

Besides, we the fans want to access the players with our two Koro Koro eyes before conclusion and judgement are formed based on what is seen because I don't trust our coaches. GBAM!

I am never a fan of Shehu Abdullahi and Ezenwa. You can ask anyone here.

I have never for once agreed to any school of thought that suggests or suggested that Onazi should be kicked out. Ask.

Which kind bad belle chance Keshi gave Martins?

Martins Obafemi was played in wrong positions or given small time.

If Martins Obafemi continues to score for his Chinko club, he should be given a chance under Rohr.

If Rohr sticked to his 'we have a complete team' and didn't invite Ighalo for the match against Cameroon, we for chop am.

Are u sure they were not tested?

List the players who never tasted action in friendlies and otherwise prior to those WCs and I could be wrong.

Modified
"tested", how exactly do u mean?

forgiveness:
Every squad player must be tested prior to the world Cup in other to avoid what happened to us against Italy in 1994, Greece in 2010 and against France in 2014 when some players where delibarately injured but we couldn't replace them with a better quality players.

To avoid another reoccurrence, we must see how we play without Mikel, Ndidi, Onazi, Moses, Balogun, Ekong etc in the team.

Bigger teams does that regularly.

Lol I agree to some extent. For me, I had reservations about Aaron. He belonged to that class who never merited an invite back in the days. I'm not saying he did not perform eventually. Even the likes of Bright Dike, Shola Ameobi performed. Yet I still have my reservations because they never deserved the invite in the first place. I have posted before how Keshi had a way of making these players perform. They won't get that luxury under another coach. Let's stop the invites based on the past. Glad Rohr said recently, going forward club form will be considered most., and even Enyeama he gave conditions. He will not just walk back into the team, without finding another club and performing.

adegwurulez:
@bolded for reals? It doesn't matter if he performs or not? If performance doesn't matter then we can as well go to the world Cup with some bunch of farmers.

See ehm... In football, the coach bears the brunt of his decisions. I see people here castigating the coach for inviting Aaron Samuel only when it had been reported that he flopped in training. This same people had at one point questioned Aaron's continous snub. This same people never spoke up when he was called to replace Iwobi, only after he flopped.

See that's the kind of fans we have, today shehu shouldn't be in the team because he plays in Cyprus, tomorrow shehu is the best thing since sliced bread. Today ezenwa doesn't inspire Confidence, tomorrow he is Enyeama's reincarnate.

You and every other person clamouring for Martins won't come and apologize if he's called up and flops, hell you might even blame the coach for calling him. If I'm correct, keshi gave him a chance which he couldn't grab but because he's the great Martins, he should be given a hundred more, while someone like onazi that can kill for the team should be kicked out.

Typical Nigerian mentality. The grass is always greener at the other side.

I beg no vex my bro

mikron:
my guy i bin take small leave now im back. where are my guys?

My sincere apologies

TheSuperNerd:
Sir Joebie....

Sir Mikron is a long time member of the house..... biko... nothing to welcome "newly" as far he is concerned .... Rather, we say, "Welcome Back Sir Mikron, Sir AIG07's twin partner"....

lol.. na that day u go play the match for spirit world abi.. i dey see you oh..

anyways, welcome to the thread!!

mikron:
God punish those wey sey we no go qualify
come oct 6th zambia must fall in uyo,
no more calculator things

oh I knew you were gonna talk about Iceland, which is why I stressed performance for SE, and talked about Bora's resume..
Let's go back to the issue at hand -- performance for SE.. secondly, I don't like to argue when people use the words like, IF.. thirdly you made a match fixing claim which would be impossible to prove. Let's just drop the argument because it doesn't give room for stats and facts... lol

Mickael2:
we didn't go far because Aiyegbeni was paid to ruin our campaign, together with Kaita. we were comfortably going to dispatch of Greece until he messed up and we should have defeated south Korea if not for that other guy. personally the coach did his job and an outstanding one at that, look at what the Iceland team is doing now

Leave resume. Lagerback's SE performance was mediocre. What made the team good? How far did they go? By that standard, you should be speaking more highly of Bora.. lol

Mickael2:
let me argue better things with you rather than wasting my time with someone who thinks doing a rainbow flick means controlling the midfield or skinning a dmf.


looking at the resume of the two coaches Lars lagerback is far superior, not to mention that in a short while he assembled a really really good team. tactically Lars is a lot better

hmm. you mean Lars Lagerback

Rohr so far is the most promising since Troussier. It's too early to talk about his complete team. In my estimation it's maybe 70% concluded.

Mickael2:
i think the 2010 set had a shot, no thanks to Keita and his silly behaviour. The squad was great, Osaze was on the bench too, Obasi was brilliant and Keita wasn't a bad player. Kanu was on the bench too and the coach was great(he is quite better than Rohr for sure). It depends on the group we find ourselves and the adjacent group, meet any top team and we are not going to like it

I wasn't particularly impressed with the Keshi era either. And that's my own opinion.

Modified
When/If* we qualify, I see Rohr surpassing our past. And I don't care who we will be grouped with. Remember our best in the WC is the second round. Just keeping the target low, but trying to tell you all the same that the '94 SE had the best chance of going past the second round, compared to the the SE of 98, 02, 2010 and 2014. If we had kept faith with Troussier we would have achieved it in 98. IMO, the SE of 2002, 2010 and 2014 did not have that potential considering the depth of the starting line up and the bench.

Mickael2:
I still think we had some very good performances before Rohr but I know we can't compete with the top teams yet. That has to be our vision 2022

this is gradually becoming a Mikel argument oh. lol be warned, you can't win any war battling with Mikel faithfuls. I've had my share of it.

Mickael2:
But wait, this guy was the DMF of the all conquering Barca and Spanish teams but somehow he will be skinned by a 30 year old Dmf turned amf who isn't among the top 10 Amfs in the world? Wow! Just wow, are you at home?

Fine, it's not about the scoreline, but I think you are exaggerating especially when you use say "totally outclassed". I don't admire most of our recent (pre Rohr era) performances though.

Mickael2:
getting thrashed is far far different from getting totally outplayed. By the way in recent memory, our only meeting with Spain was a thorough thrashing, 3-0 not 4-0 though. And apart from Enyeama's heroics, we would have been Messi's most preferred team at the group stages. Which other top team have we faced in recent memory?

When you are just (football-wise) 34 and you move to India.

Done Deal : 2010 World Cup Star Kalu Uche Joins Delhi Dynamos FC
Published: September 07, 2017
Done Deal : 2010 World Cup Star Kalu Uche Joins Delhi Dynamos FCIndian Super League outfit Delhi Dynamos FC have announced the signing of Nigeria international Kalu Uche ahead of the Indian Super League season.

Uche has played in India before for FC Pune City, for whom he scored 4 goals in 11 appearances back in 2015.

The experienced striker or attacking midfielder returned for a third stint at Almeria in February 2017, and is joining Delhi Dynamos FC as a free agent, having run out of contract at the Spanish club.

''I am happy to welcome Kalu to the Delhi Dynamos squad this year,'' Delhi Dynamos Director Rohan Sharma said to the club's official website, delhidynamos.com.

''Kalu brings a lot of experience to the team having played for Nigerian national team, has had over 175 appearances for Almeria, as well as having played in the ISL in 2015.

''He will bring toughness both mentally and physically to the team and I look forward to seeing him make a mark on the ISL this year.''

The Enyimba product has also defended the colours of Espanyol, Wisla Krakow, Bordeaux, Neuchâtel Xamax, Kasımpaşa, El Jaish, Al Rayyan and Levante.

Uche represented Nigeria at the 2010 World Cup, and scored two goals for the Super Eagles.

Igho Kingsley

Photo Credit : delhidynamos.com

http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=24547

That reminds me. Where is Kingsley Madu and Maarouf Yousef?

Super Eagles Left Back Position: A Puzzle Yet To Be Solved
Published: September 07, 2017
Super Eagles Left Back Position: A Puzzle Yet To Be SolvedI probably should bow my head down for not raising this issue for sometime but there is always time to bring up this issue.

However like the proverbial saying, it is better late than never.

First and foremost I'd like to congratulate Super Eagles manager Gernot Rohr and his technical team for largely selecting the right players.

The relative lack of intense criticism of his squad attests to this, only there were and still are some reservations over the recent exclusion of Olarenwaju Kayode, Kenneth Omeruo and Henry Onyekuru

But that is to be expected as expectations on player selections vary from one person to the other.

There is however the bigger concern that the left back which is being occupied by Elderson Echiejille leaves much to be desired.

It will be the biggest mistake ever in my humble opinion and any intentions to have this be a reality is better aborted at this early stage in the ultimate interest of the Super Eagles.

My beef is why we keep insisting on playing Echiejille at that position when clearly we are not getting the best out of him.

The fact is that the Sivasspor defender has lost two or three yards. As if it couldn't get worse, Rohr has always kept faith with the former Monaco man of all people at left back! This is indeed extremely alarming.

We have much problems with Echiejille and we now want to compound it by not giving him competition.

I wouldn't bore coach Rohr with names because I know as he reads this piece (which he often does) all the probables will emerge fresh in his mind.

All I can say is that, rather than saturating his defensive unit, he should have kept a closer eye on the artificially well-loaded left-back position.

Why not look the way of Ola Aina, Kingsley Madu, Stanley Amuzie and Maarouf Yousef to solve the puzzle?

Abayomi Ademetan


http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=24550

Oga, assuming u be small pikin, I for don pull your ear well well oh..

we've played several big teams in all our world cup appearances. Now let's talk facts. how many times were we trashed?

Mickael2:
I swear you aint making sense

haha.. type it a third time..

AIG07:
Na because of people like Mikael2 e de pain me say we couldn't assemble our best u-23s for the last Olympics. All this talk of Germany, Brazil wouldn't have surface. Baba take ya time. Na because of people like Mikael2 e de pain me say we couldn't assemble our best u-23s for the last Olympics. All this talk of Germany, Brazil wouldn't have surface. Baba take ya time.

Me sef i don't understand this argument.

The real question is, are there any untested outfield players in the team, excluding the latest new invitees?
I believe all have played at one point in time (friendlies or not). Let's start from there. And I could be wrong with my assumption.

Humility017:
then we should stop inviting 23 players...
it is outright nonsense when we already know those to play and those not to play...

this double standard leaves me surpised...
let me tell....You see some of those players i
on bench could have even done much better than some on the field that day...

even rohr with all due respect is not a world class coach per se....

lol

Chrismario:
We Neva qualify,, una Dae predict our quarterfinal's opponent

Well it's a debate.. IMO, none of those performances you mentioned match the one in question. I can definitely go back to watch them again.

Mickael2:
I have a few off the top of my head. A 4-1 mauling of the Malians who later defeated Ghana. 3-0 against Mozambique at the....2010? Afcon, they held us to a draw a few months before. The 3-1 humbling of Argentina. Oh and I can't forget the 2-1 defeat of Ivory Coast, the scores suggest a close game but the only shot/goal Ivory Coast had was from a Didier Drogba dive

lol if instructions alone could bring such cohesion in any team, there would be no need for friendlies my friend. Let's just wake up in Russia and get it started..

I'd just advise us to watch the match again. Then we can continue this discussion. And im speaking of the Nigeria vs Cameroon game in Uyo.

daveP:
Maybe its not the way he shouldave put it. Again, they might have been simply playing to instructions. but its WIP for now.

some of us will be psyching these Spaniards etc oh and making our beloved SE players tremble, typing all this on Nairaland lol

Anyways my bro. Let me ask everyone, when was the last time we saw SE display such masterclass as a team? when? when o?

TheGoodJoe:
Where was Busquets when Mikel performed well against Spain? He forgot to reduce Mikel's effect in that game. Busquets was Looking so much I thought he was Lucozade.

And I've been calling for Echiejile's competition long. But most of us maintained he is trusted and experienced -- agreed. But when better competition (teams) comes knocking we will have no choice but to fix what is actually broken.

Kog45:
Echiejele sudden drop of form?