₦airaland Forum

optimist25:
Colin udoh- The fickle nature of Nigeria football fans. You’re like kids, always looking to discard the old toy once a shiny new one pops into view.
And always so comically predictable.
Each time the cadet teams (U17, U20) Do well at the world stage, the immediate refrain is, yup, you guessed it “keep them together”. As if it’s possible for a national federation to keep and maintain players like a clubside.

When national team players have a bad day at work (like Onazi Ogenyi Eddy and Joel Obi at Wembley), they are instantly declared “finished” and a posse of new names trotted out in their stead as the savior.

The same Onazi that was once hailed by these same folks as the savior. Yes, I remember when NIGERIA failed to qualify for the 2012 Nations Cup, these people savaged the entire team, and the coach for not calling up Onazi, stopping just short of saying he could not only qualify for the Nations Cup all by himself, but could possibly win the whole damn thing too, then bring the trophy home by walking on water!

Today, the same Player has become their villain of the piece. Joel was hailed as the next best thing since sliced bread. There were even whispers of how he could bench everyone in that midfield, including Mikel kpakpa. Today, he should not go to the World Cup.

Now there’s a shiny new toy to sink those grubby fingers into. His name? Kelechi Nwakali.

Just like Onazi in 2011, Nwakali has barely two seasons of senior club football under his belt, but after watching him in one excellent game, against an arguably jaded team, folks want him to take over the world.

Deja vu anyone?

All of a sudden Gernot Rohr, who has watched the player over and over again, has tapes of him, and even invited him to come play the game where our Royal Ficklenesses saw him, does not know enough to leave the Player out of a WC squad he thinks neither Nwakali is ready for.

But all of our Royal Ficklenesses, majority of whom have never been 100 feet of the Nwakalis, feel they know more and better than a man who put them in that spotlight in the first place!

Yes, Onazi had a bad game. Yes, Joel had a bad game. And yes, both deserved to be subbed and need to work extra hard to prove themselves again.

But that knee-jerk reaction of throwing them under the bus, is just not the right way to go. Not any more.

Nigerian football fans must learn to be wiser and think a little deeper than just skin deep.

Players will have bad games. Including the shiny new Nwakalis. Feel free to criticize them. On the basis of that bad performance and let them know they have to improve. But don’t be too quick to cast players away.

We must learn to get behind the players when they fall down and support them to get back up.

They will give you more and lay down more in good times when they see you have their backs in bad times.



O pari

for the sake of civility, I'd hold back from calling Colin udoh a fool. How could he be so clueless to know that fans' displeasurable reaction over a player's lackluster performance isn't only peculiar to Nigeria. Go check other nations how underperforming players are grossly given sticks. making excuses for a supposed professional midfielder who could not string good passes together and another who's always jittery in front of onlooking crowd perfectly suits the description of a fickle fan. English fans for instance do not give a flying fvck about your past performance. You're expected to be shunning out good performances because as a fan, you pay to be entertained not to be bored to death. I'd send Onazi and Joel back to Nigeria through canoe if I were the coach. Those guys should just retire from football.

Icon79:
Moses only plays RWB for Chelsea tho.

O pari

he's been tried at LWB a coupla times when Chelsea are chasing a game.

komekn:
How many minutes and how many games did Aina play for the SE.

Aina primarily is a RB to have a level playing field he should be tried in his preferred position. However, that not withstanding did he get a fair chance

How many minutes of SE playing time did he actually get.

Finally, how on earth can we be taking a player who has started to decline so badly that he failed in lowly Turkey went to Belguim and started playing 2nd division in Belgium and not even first choice. Finally this player has lost pace he is now a liability. That player was taken ahead of Aina.

THAT'S A TRAVESTY.

I really don't see how we can justify taking Onazi even Joel Obi has been disappointing.

The way Aina has been treated will be great boost for other players considering playing for Nigeria.

this is nothing but the truth. I thought Rohr would purge the coaching department of favoritism. He seem to have been entangled in the same ugly culture that has plagued our team progress. I am utterly disappointed.

TheSuperNerd:
Ekong and Kane...

why will ekong dash someone 41 thousand just like that?

MetalJigsaw:
Oga, it's not a matter of compatibility. Both of them are only good for the bench. How can a midfielder lack the simple and basic ability to control the ball give decent passes??

I wonder o

KK555:
Lots of you were underrating the English team, calling them average team and all sorts. All the boasts and optimism i saw weeks before yesterday's match have disappeared with many saying that Eagles will not get out of the group.

My switch is personal. I believe they will do well

we never underrated the English team. We were only rallying round our dear super eagles which is what any non-plastic fan ought to do. There's possibility we could have taken a draw or a win out of wembley. Gutted some awful displays from our supposed pros cost us the game.

Joebie:
Fake fan he is. Instead of him to stay loyal to the Black Stars. Qualifications for Qatar is only 2 years away.

lol reading how nice the dude has been sounding just recently, I got confused whether he was indeed the same KK engaging in brawls with virtually everyone. Sincerely I'm amazed

KK555:
Yes that is me. KK50, KK55, KK555.

I must say I'm amazed at your prompt switch of nationality. Whatever happened to being a Ghanaian?

KK555:
I thought he meant Ebuehi has thyroid disease.

are you the person I allege you to be? Kk50

Mujtahida:
Hahahaha hahahaha. During the Finland u 17 in 2003 na so one man begin criticise the whole team. Then Mikel was on sports newspapers as the new kid on the bloc. The man was criticizing the whole team and said 'even that Mikel wey dem dey make noise about no play anything na only that number 10 dey play. Alas my brother, Mikel was the number 10.


Substitute Ebuehi for Tyronne. I don hear something today. Very funny

that bolded part tho . Inside his mind, he's an analyst

TheGoodJoe:
If we are to go with a 3-5-2 formation, I believe giving Moses the liberty to attack will. With Iheanacho upfront pairing Moses, we will have pace and movement upfront. Iwobi supplies the firepower to the forwards while Mikel dictates the tempo.

endorsed. That squad you put right there would beat any team.

Whenever I see Onazi

comodo:
Just noticed that Iwobi pulled something in the 80th minute or so. Saw him holding his hamstring
Did anyone notice it

Rohr said it's just cramp

princfred:
That white small boy (Thyrod or something) should replace Ebuehi. Are you guys not seeing how good he is? The boy ran Ashley Young down.

Tyrone is Ebuehi

Khaytunechi:
that guy's only relevance on the pitch is useless clappings and handshakes.. if the camera is showing him you'll think he's done so much,, not knowing that it's because he's about to clap that they're showing him..

I think Simy will have an opportunity in our next match. I'm only hoping for a brace from him. That will confirm his starting berth

daveP:
that's me. he claps for who, I dunno. applauding circus to him.

the thing funny me Sha

MetalJigsaw:
I want to see Iwobi in AM again. He was fantastic yesterday. He practically seems to stake a strong claim on that position.

I'd like something like this next game:

.............,.....Uzoho

.......Omeruo. Ekong. Balogun

Ebuehi Ndidi Ogu Moses/Idowu

..............Mikel.. Iwobi

..................Ighalo/Simy





.........................Uzoho

.........Omeruo Ekong. Balogun

Ebuehi. Ndidi. Ogu Idowu/Moses

...................Mikel


.............Iwobi. Ighalo/Simy

I'll go with
............... Uzoho


............. Omeruo Ekong Balogun


............ Ebuehi Ndidi Mikel Idowu


................. Iwobi


............... Iheanacho Simy



Moses and Musa should give us options in the bench

Khaytunechi:
Ighalo must be a Celestial Church of Christ member,, he claps on the pitch more than he performs the role of a target man.. how can a number nine who is supposed to be ruthless be clapping upandan every time rather than concentrate on doing his number one duty.. that guy is just a former of activity.. right from his days at age grade competitions.. it is only the law of average that's working for him,, that's why he's got the little goals he's scored for us.. You can't give any other striker that much playing time and they wouldn't score up to and way more than his goals.. Ighalo no just suppose be our number one number nine,, even Uzoho would score four goals with that much playing time as a striker.. na to just de clap clap clap clap and be forming encouragement for team mates.. he's too not good..

someone yesterday said ighalo has had more handshakes than football touches on the pitch.

Who else felt it yesterday when the commentator said "Nigeria have not been as bright as their shirt"

zuchyblink:
The jettisoned guys lack experience and are not-too-good

same way Onazi's experience made us concede the second goal. Same way Joel's experience makes him run around like a headless chicken. If Rohr was being fair, the right person to drop would have been Joel considering Agu was with us through out the qualifiers. He can string good passes too as opposed to some oldie still jittery in a large capacity stadium like wembley. Joel is a liability!

Rohr really fall my hand.

realpoacher:
Joel Obi is a Big Flop and an Overhyped Fraud!!!


If he makes it to Russia then Rohr is Corrupt

sadly Rohr has dropped Agu and Aina for Joel and Echiejule. Now all hope is lost. I won't be surprised if he still starts Onazi and Joel in games. I watched the post match briefings and he was making excuses for Joel.

The babalowo that did that jazz for Joel is very potent and highly lethal

tbaba1234:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGeBRtTmSk4

thanks Sir

Martz101:
na still you talk say Etebo should be drop before. now na starter

Jesus!

Please kindly show me where I said such.

Na so you wan use me shine?

tbaba1234:
Rohr also said that Joel Obi is unfit and that some players were 'heavy'.. ( maybe Onazi?)

Sir Tbaba, please any link to the video of Rohr's post match press conference?

kellycute:
this your post is reek of emotive prejudice. Ebuehi is mile ahead of shehu, forget about physicality aspect Who e epp? You can not tell me that you prefer shehu to be starting ahead of ebuehi despite clear evidence of ebuehi superiority, Guy fear God. I don’t know why some people like to encourage mediocrity.

no. He claims he was being sarcastic.

tbaba1234:
Rohr says Ndidi will start the next game.

ndidi, Mikel and ogu/etebo as our midfielders. We roasting the Czechs

edi287:
Get a dictionary and look up the word "Sarcasm"

well your attempt at being sarcastic was lame. Maybe you should learn mastering the art.

Martz101:
only this match won't make onazi a bad player

England, Congo, South Africa. Etc

edi287:
But Ebuehi is too soft na. Na achebo him be. Him resemble person way breeze go blow. Shehu is strong and understands the African game.
Shehu is our best rb. It doesn't matter if Ebuehi played well. He didn't play well against Serbia. Injury is not an excuse.
Rohr will RIGHTLY start Shehu in the WC because Ebuehi is weak. Na technical ability we go chop??

crappy and a bunch of hogwash you wrote up there.

Rohr bringing in ebuehi in the second half when chasing a game should tell you he rates him highly. The battle is between shehu and ebuehi and from all data collected, inference is that ebuehi is going to be our first choice right back or right wing back. Shehu has always been suspect in games of higher magnitude.

All these while, we had thought our midfield would gel the moment Mikel plays, alas we all have been wrong. Having Joel and Onazi would be suicidal. Neither of them featured in our retrospective match with the Argies and yet we pulled those heroics. Rohr should just thank his stars. He has everything revealed to him now. It will only be foolish of him to persistently start either Joel or Onazi in competitive matches. Those guys should just turn to pundits. I heard the worst footballers actually make good pundits.

andrew444:
We won't have the same eyes because you see football as rugby just the way onazi played

I'm just laughing like a fool here

Savage you are

asha80:
wasn't that last two days?

that should be yesterday.