fabyom: Bassey had a great game when he switched to left-back. Ajax needs another CB to unleash Bassey at left-back.
My admiration for Bassey began when i saw the friendly game against Arsenal, while he was at Rangers, in that game he was played as a left-back. Bassey won me over.
When i saw him played as a CB, i was like wow, what a versatile player. The quality that i saw in Bassey made me believe that he is an upgrade to what we have in S.E especially at CB, but a closer look at Bassey as a CB revealed what looked like a deficiency, but which is actually a strength when he is deployed rightly
Bassey is a world class LB and should not be wasted at CB. He has qualities that makes him a good LB and at the same time limits him as a CB. He has the skills of a fullback. He anticipates well as a fullback, but makes poor judgements as a CB and there are good reasons for this.
Any coach that believes in Bassey will play him at LB and allow him to develop further in that role.
If Ajax desires let them continue him at CB and watch the opposition exploit Bassey's obvious weaknesses at CB, a situation which is quite unfair, and has a way of affecting his confidence.
chrisooblog: At the moment I can't put my hand on my chest and tell you who is better than Bassey in the CB position for the SE. Balogun who I would have pointed to some years back is not the most comfortable on the ball and also lacks pace. Omeruo is not it right now, Ekong always has a mistake in him, Awaziem still lacks defensive awareness and sharpness while Semi Ajayi is not exactly the wall of Gibraltar.
Akpoguma who one could have mentioned was definitely the weaker CB when Nigeria faced Algeria recently.
Bassey is a young upcoming player so it's not surprising you will fine flaws in his game at the moment. How many 21-year-olds not named Saliba are world class CBs at the moment? Give Calvin time he'll get better.
Defensive awareness and sharpness is one of Awaziem's forte, and it is one of the qualities he has above the others.
What makes you think that Omeruo is not it right now? I want to know.
Regarding Balogun, is pace the first quality you consider in a CB.
I am yet to put a finger to the reason why Bassey started games ahead of Balogun at CB position in Rangers FC. I don't think it is for footballing reasons.
Bassey is a fullback, it is written all over his game, i mean his skills and decisions. As it stands, I will pick Awaziem, Balogun, Omeruo ahead of Bassey, they thrive better at CB.
BannedLarge: Funny enough, Bassey can cross a ball well but he is our best CB at the moment and will be wasted at LB
Bassey is not close to being our best CB. His flaws in that position is obvious to the keen eye. Bassey is best as a fullback. It is his best position for now.
TheSuperNerd: Joe Aribo FT Stats for Southampton on Saturday.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Southampton - EPL Matchday 14.
Played 90mins+ (CF/SS - in a two man attack, drifted to both wings too). 58 touches. 2 chances created. 1 big chance created. 33/38 accurate passes. 87% passing accuracy. 100% accurate long balls (2/2). 1 shot on target. 5/9 ground duels won. 1/5 aerial duels won. 5 recoveries. 100% tackles won (4/4). 2 clearances. 2 headed clearances. Was fouled once.
*Aribo won the most tackles (4) in the game.
This is not just impressive, but rare.
From the above we can deduce the following:
Massive contributions to defense - Those stats are quite rare for an SS and or CF. This is incredible. Creativity - Dude created two chances, one of which was a big chance. This is very good. Passing - Dude recorded 100% accurate long balls. This is an improvement from the Aribo i used to know, that rarely attempts long balls even as a midfielder, even when he attempts it falls short of meeting the target.
Joe Aribo is the kind of forward that we need in S.E.
And yes, we can have both onfield but you see one has to choose a side of the discussion to debate. I chose to play against even though I am a fan of Eze. I guess I wanted to pick the harder route on my debut. Lol
So yes, Eze and Iwobi together is tactically feasible and can work but again, looking extra carefully at both, the passing ranges of both lads are similar. I personally will switch things up a bit and put another Midfielder with broader passing range to complement Iwobi.
And then Eze's Defensive numbers aren't so decent. I will ensure the MF with a broader passing range picked also offers enough defensively.
You are right, Nerdie.
in my assessment of the strengths and weaknesses of our players, Eze may not have a starting berth especially in midfield, however the left wing is open. He has what it takes to start there depending on the how the coach intends to approach the game.
TheSuperNerd: Raphael Onyedika. My God! What a solid Performance at the heart of Brugge's Midfield against one of the very sound sides in the league. A Top 4 battle.
So comfortable with the ball at his feet. So calm yet very solid in physical duels. Beautiful Passing range.
bike81: have you followed all the rules indicated in T&C? bookie has a very strict policy. if you were too suspiciously successful or in case of creating multiple accounts, your account could be closed
Agatech1999: Please who has successfully completed verification on 1xbet. They continue to reject my photo after providing identify card and bank statement. How can they say photo is the issue. I have been dealing with them I think dats why. I am winning like mad so the block my withdrawal
Barryseal: I guess you didn't read the part he said someone told him that their players were betting on their matches and fixing games. Imagine Hugo Lloris saying something like this, do you think there would have been no investigation? What are you even defending? Are you working for the betting mafia ruining our football? Your take on this matter raises suspicion. Even the club owners have come out in black and white to indicte the league on "match integrity". You think they don't know what they are saying?
Betting is not just destroying football, betting is ruining lives, curbing potentials.
BannedLarge: My anger is that he doesn’t perform in big game. You don’t have to score 30 goals a season just keep scoring in all the big and important games and posterity will remember you. Drogba was a perfect example….. it boils my heart that osimehn couldn’t score in 180 Minutes vs Ghana Amartey…. Sorry that’s UNACCEPTABLE expecially as you’re referred to as Monster Machine
BannedLarge: Look at this CRIMINAL trying to change my words. I said “20 goals a season” and not 20 league goals. More so, I hope the Criminal isn’t trying to compare Osimehn to weah? I remember how the begging agent was saying Osimehn is better than Haaland until haaland made him drink shit. Anyway, osimehn has the potential to be a World class striker but, he needs to refine his game and score 20 goals for Napoli before aspiring to sign for Marquee clubs. Marquee clubs aren’t patient with Black players and if you no perform, dem go Finish you. Now, go and beg for a New Jersey Nnama
George weah: 1991/92 stats Total 91/92: 47 23 8 2
23 goals in all competitions for Monaco then he transferred to Milan. Also, the 1990’s was more difficult to score than presently
You play down Osimhen's kindness and TheSuperNerd's good works, just to make a point.
komekn: This match took place over 4 years it was an inconsequential friendly match for Athletico Madrid.
That's the context.
If this match was of such great importance and quality ,then the players who participated, will have had a career boost. Will you agree❓
You would expect selection will be based on outstanding consistent exceptional performance.
That being the case Nwakali and Nwakali should have had serious progession by NOW. But Chidi Nwakali is now playing in Saudi Arabia and Kelechi Nwakali is in the doldrums of the Segundo division.
Not much more to say.
Athletico Madrid should have gone on to lose, if the match was never anything to reckon with.
Being top quality may not always translate to the zenith of endeavours. There are other requirements to it.
komekn: I am tired of this hypocritical double standard hysterical hype of a player who has done nothing.
Nwakali is playing for Ponferradina FC a bankruptcy struggling team with retired, free agents and poor quality players. He is has found his level
There is a reason he is in this poor division, and outstanding quality is not one of them. This is a league the Villa Real B team play in and they are quite a few levels above Ponferradina FC.
Villa Real B team is essentially a youth team that's thriving in a men's league. This gives us an insight into the general quality of the league. Undoubtedly there are some good teams but very few once you go beyond the the top five teams.
For example, Villa Real played Wolves U23 team ( academy Youth team) most of the boys will be under 19 some even 15. Wolves got beat 2-1. If Wolves U23 played a Championship team they would get flogged
All youth teams including Chelsea will get flogged by any Championship team. Get beat by most league one teams not all but most.
The mid table level Segundo teams are poor quality , I would place them at best league two to be generous but most likely much lower.
That gives us context about what quality of players you are competing with. Nobody would be gettin orgasmic about a player doing averagely well at youth football level. As many do about Nwakali here.
Many get offended about using monetary value to assess players quality. But there is an undeniable link between value and quality, you cannot get away from it. A club where the combined weekly wage bill is €37K divide the gross sum by a squad of 22 players and your talking real peanuts.
Many here were vociferous in denigrating a number of Nigerian origin players in the Championship and league one as well in EPL Academies as too poor quality for the SE. But find no problem in continuous unjustified praise for Nwakali. That's bigotry, double standard and shameless hypocrisy.
Let's highlight this hypocritical double standard and bigotry by comparison.
I haven't talked about Fred Onyedinma for at least three seasons as well as quite a few others. I felt he was not good enough, l still do not think he is good enough.
However, if you put him side by side with Nwakali and make a balanced scorecard analysis of sorts. You will find he will beat Nwakali on all fronts, past and present continuous.
If you put into the mix Ojo, Onomah, Oviemuno, Amos, and l could name 10 others like David Kasumu, Osho, Tella, Iroegbunam, Igbodaro,Hungbo, etc , etc You will find they are playing at higher standard than Nwakali and not begging for teams and or earnings peanuts.
I could name a host of EPL premier League academy players as well. I will like to remind many who have forgotten Iwobi played his first senior game for Nigeria when he had not played one game in the Premier League for Arsenal.
I've made a screen shot of PL2 which is essentially the EPL academy Youth teams and results they had against League one and two teams. Wolves is not one of the higher performing teams but had hotly contested match against Villa Real B team and lost 2-1.
My view it's only the players who are putting in top level consistently outstanding performances that should be given selection.
What will you say about Kelechi Nwakali's performance in that friendly game Super Eagles had against Athletico Madrid.
Raphael Onyedika dominated proceedings in a midfield that has Marcos Llorente. This is no joke. Dude commanded that midfield. The kid was just a bully, won almost all his duels.
I know that Onyedika is a decent midfielder, but i didn't expect him to perform so well in a midfield that has Koke.
Kog45: Returning against Nottingham?and what do you mean by Ndidi of Genk.I just hope to see him doing more and I would be assured that Ndidi is back.
My Oga,hope our guys are not faking their injuries.He was out against Algeria but played well for his club without showing any signs of injury.
Ndidi of KRC Genk was known for long balls. he was good with passing. It is worth knowing that his passing abilities was the good reason he was moved from CB to DM.
fabyom: Report emanating from Belgium indicates that Onyedika might not spend 3 seasons there. Many pundits believe he is too good for the league. They called him a better version of Paul Pogba. A star is born!!!!
Sports › Re: "The Super Eagles Thread: The Road To AFCON 2027, 2028 And 2030 World Cup by Meliforme: 8:38pm On Nov 06, 2022
