₦airaland Forum

One player, just one player can make all the difference.
Welcome home, boys.

You have tried.
All of you.
Both the villain,
And the innocent.

Mujtahida:
Meliforme over to you.

Is that the whole story?

jihday:
just stop this thing you are always doing

Just stop this thing you are always doing.
Do we have a profile like Kelechi Nwakali in the national team?
No, we don't.

We do not, and that is the plain, honest and barefaced truth.
We do not have midfielders who can play the ball like Nwakali.

It was in this forum, that I posted Kelechi Nwakali averaging at least two crosses per game.
A feat that equalled that of Kelvin De Bruyne.
Even our fullbacks and forwards can't do that.

TheGoodJoe:
Onyedika is not but he has other attributes like his defending, off the ball runs to the opposition. He has the long passes.

I am not saying I prefer Onyedika for the deep lying role. I am saying for now, Kelechi Nwakali's focus should be on making a name in club football. Not National team call up.

Yes, a skillful player like Nwakali should do everything possible to establish himself at club level.
But that doesn't mean he has a replacement in the national team.

TheGoodJoe:

I don't think it is necessary since we have a more experienced Onyedika that can play that role. I would prefer Kelechi Nwakali focusing on improving his performances in his club than Super Eagles call up.

If Raphael Onyedika is half as creative as Kelechi Nwakali.

komekn:
When you perform outstandingly the football ⚽ market responds with heated transfer demands from multiple top clubs.

After 25 games he has 2 goals and one assist, all the dribbling and stats are not transfering to dominance on the field of play it seems 🤔.

I'll say it again most statistics are not entirely conclusive but indicative.

How many games did he start?
How many minutes did he accrue?

So Possession won in midfield per 90 is not dominance?
Beating your marker in order to create space is not dominance?

Do you know the situation at Sevilla?
Do you know their struggles?

Chidera Ejuke is a fantastic player,
his time is at hand.

Chidera Ejuke's most impressive stat for me is possession won in midfield per 90.
He currently seats in the 9th position in La Liga stats table.
A position contested by both midfielders and forwards.
A statistic that has at least four Barcelona players in the top 10, explaining one of the reasons for Barcelona's dominance in the Spanish football.

I have noticed a pattern in the matches for Sevilla that has Chidera Ejuke in the starting line up. Sevilla will go on to concede only after Ejuke has been subbed out.
This tells a lot about how important Ejuke is to the game of ball possession and defending.

TheGoodJoe:
@ TheSuperNerd

I think that is why Pep Guardiola went all out for Cherki and also getting Reijnders and Ait Nouri. Choking the opposition with flair in numbers will break compact defenses. Time will tell.

Chidera E juke should be dancing Alanta because they are now the wanted breeds

Yes,
Dribbling and switch of play using long balls are very important to breaking down a compact setup at the back.

Chidera Ejuke recorded the most dribbles completed per 90 for any player in Europe's top 5 league, before his injury, and currently seats only behind Yamal in La Liga stats table for the just concluded league season

His passes of the ball and the switch of play using long balls is a delight.

Goke7:
Some of those players are hot favourites o and they themselves know if they are dropped people will start shouting for their return. Most times we are the blaming the coach unfairly. It’s difficult for any Nigerian coach foreign or local to stop inviting certain players even if they don’t play with enough commitment and zeal in the national colours

There are many ways out.
The coach can still invite the hot favourites, and play them from the bench.
If he is making progress with the players that interprets his philosophy well, dropping the hot favourites won't cause much stir.

Goke7:
In our last match in uyo the players were more of the problem and even the match prior also in uyo. Our boys are too pedestrian at home.

If you assemble players that won't work according to the tactics laid out,
Will you as a coach continue their invitation.

Why invite players with bad behaviour.

Goke7:
Our players are the problem not the stadium there is this casual approach to the game they need to change and it’s not this present set of eagles that’s been having this problem, even if we move the game to another stadium it’s still the same players. Our players must play for the entire 90 mins with same zeal and commitment

The players are not the problem. The problem is the coach that picks the players.
Players don't pick themselves for matches, they don't invite themselves.
They don't even determine tactics.

Sugarboyy:
He only plays like a professional one in every 10 matches

Moses Simon is good.
Go to Nantes in France and make enquiries.

Even in the national team Moses Simon has been good.
There are good reasons why my blames has been on the coaches.

Players like Moses Simon is an asset to any team.
When a player is making a dribble, the movements of his teammates around him can make or mar the effect of the dribble.

Coaching can be everything.
A coach needs to know how to use the quality available to him.

Emmy450:
ah even you too?
Moses Simon has been poor but ejuke is not an upgrade

A player who rose to the status of being Europe's top dribbler is not an upgrade to Moses Simon?
None of our forward can handle the game of passes, the way Ejuke does. He plays his passes like a midfielder, even in tight spaces.

His problem sometimes can be showboating.
And the compulsion to impress.

Chidera Ejuke has the skills
He should realise that without responsibility and leadership, even the most skillful will amount to nothing.

He needs the doggedness, the presence and the fight to assert his influence.

Emmy450:
Abeg abeg abeg make person hear word jare!!! Ejuke ko, duke ni.

After all the talk about Ejuke and he does not get an invitation, that might be what is making you uncomfortable.
Chidera Ejuke is the most technical of all S.E players.

His day is at hand.

Mujtahida:
I don't mind this Ejuke on the wings. Moses is not creative enough.

Moses is creative. Some days may not just be his day.

yinkeys:
We need Ejuke’s pacy legs, dribbling skills & energy in the national team, even if it’s only for super sub positions

Ejuke is not all about dribbles and speed.
He passes the ball better than all our forwards, in short passes and long balls.

Ejuke is about control and possession.

Frank Onyeka has improved tremendously, both in his game of duels and passing the ball. His long balls are becoming very good.

Raphael Onyedika and Fisayo Dele-Bashiru's impact are one the reasons why we kept possession of the ball in midfield and in the opposition's half.

Both are excellent at the game of passing.

We win a lot of duels in the middle, but go on to lose the ball because of an errant pass from a midfielder or from a forward.
But yesterday's was different.

kentebemoney:
Dey play!
Ndidi will always play as long as he's fit.
Guy watch our last five games, with emphasis on Ndidi; that guy dey win balls and he's ball retention and use as been top notch.

Thank you.

His long balls are his latest arsenal.

elyte89:
Any line up wout ndidi is dead on arrival..by now u shld av studied some coaches when newly appointed and Dey execute deir first three matches ,u shld knw Dey av some favorites …ndidi is one of dem ..if fit he will play ,even Moses Simon,he likes d guy too ,

Ndidi is a tactician. He is that good.
He is that kind of player that coaches will like to last for the entire 90 minutes.

charlesemeka85:
Olakunle he plays for Krasnodar in the Russian league.

He is giving carpenter vibes,

I hope he is not a carpenter.

Kog45:
Let's see Uche Christanus

Yes, i will like to see him in midfield so that i can properly assess him.
His passes can be carnal sometimes, I don't really appreciate his passing,

Let's see how he fares when he is closer to midfield and away from advanced courses.

zuchyblink:
Russia wan use crossing kpai Zambia players

African players and confusion, especially when the ball is floated into the sky.
Dem be like "egbon will it land here or there".

yinkeys:
Is Tella a better footballer than Ejuke ?
We really need pace, dribblers etc upfront
I wish Eagles goodluck in September sha

Ejuke at a point was Europe's top dribbler.

In La Liga stats table, in possession won in midfield per 90, Ejuke occupies the 9th position, a testament to what he can defensively. We have another good rep in Christantus Uche, who occupies the 12th position.

Kog45:
I think is all about reading the game,he lacks it...I saw a 13 years old boy who was slow but at the end he was picked as the best RB in a youth tournament...the boy played like a professional,he read the game very well,time to attack and to defend.....just check out Festus Agu and Benjamin Frederick you see that teaching of the basics in their games.

Thank you.

Felix Agu has what Bruno Onyemaechi and Zaidu Sanusi are lacking in their games, the basics.
Felix Agu, has an edge when it comes to movements and interpretation of space and he is also a good defender and shows more concentration
and presence on and off the ball.

Even though Bruno Onyemaechi is more skillful.

Kog45:
Maybe Nwakali,since his teammate equalized for Jamaica according meliforme...... Let's see what Uche Christanus brings to the table or how do you see it

Elder Kog45, our long balls are now coming more from the midfield, I know Wilfred Ndidi has it, as well as Frank Onyeka, but they do not possess the creativity of Nwakali.

Kelechi Nwakali's teammate levelled the ground for Jamaica.

Philosopher1979:
Sodiq is mail is not a defender. He is a winger forced to play defence. They should take him forward. He at least is effective in the forward position

He does not possess the acceleration of a winger.

TheGoodJoe:
We need a fuller camp. Then screen Samson Siasia way. High intensity drills. Select the best that can play at a high intensity.

Sadly, I don't think this administration is ready to spend big money for success.

Yes, money is the reason, they are not ready to spend.

junnyjake:
Under Peseiro, that should be at the end of his time with us.

Progressing play from the back has more to do with personnel. We can't have all 3 of our midfielders with the skillet of a traditional destroyer and expect them to quickly transition from defence to attack.

We need DLPs, ball carriers like a refined Etebo and we're good to go.

I never want to see the midfield trio of Ndidi-Onyeka-papa daniels ever again.

Does the coach know the perfect blend of midfielders, I mean midfielders that can compensate the deficiencies in his forward line.

He is not providing the right mix of the midfield option available to him.

Building from the back is not only a function of the personnel involved (even thought it borders on it to a great extent), it also has to do with the right movements of the players into spaces to receive the ball. It is a team effort, and therefore behooves the coach to perfect these in training.

BankyGee:
How's that a problem after just three games? This is not club football.

Or what's your point or suggestion in all of these? He should be sacked?

Why should he work at all with players he doesn't already know.
He should know his players even before his first match.
It doesn't take that long to know a player's abilities.

We have a coaching problem.

Our players are not alien to the game of high pressing (high pressure).

Even if they are, why will you try to infuse that in a very limited training exposure.
You either scout for players with the lungs for high intensity, or you leave out that approach altogether.

Again, complaining that our players can't cope with high intensity, is a discovery that should have happened during training, not after a match day.

Eric Chelle doesn't know his players yet