Give a break down why you think so. He took his time to break down the parameters of his decision. The only way you can counters his list is by coming up with what you think are the better parameters or learn from his study.
Meliforme, thank you for the good work. I appreciate your time and passion.
You are welcome. TheGoodJoe. Thank you so much for the appreciation.
Yes it looks ludicrous prima facie, but you need a little deeper to uncover facts. That we find it difficult to string passes, and transition from defense to attack is not altogether a coaching problem.
charlesemeka85: bro the matter tire me how folks here rate certain players
Ejike as a player is bereft of footballing intelligence. Many here still fail to understand that the game have evolved where coaches demands for less dribble with efficiency because while dribbling a player may lose the ball which will wreck havoc to his team
Football is more mechanical and scientific now unlike years back. Here we tend to hype players that many atimes don’t merit it at all
Ejike is a poor player, to me he is still amateurish and have a lot to learn for him to make the leap to bigger leagues in the future
Football analysts and experts says otherwise. So being the third best dribbler in the world is all you know about Ejuke.
You have not noticed his goals and assists, only one player at CSKA Moscow has more goals than him, and only one player made more assists than him. This is because he played most games in the second half of the season as a sub, at a time he was leading in goals and assists.
Only one player passes the ball better than Ejuke at CSKA Moscow, and that player is a midfielder.
I can tell you for free that Ejuke is more intelligent than all SE wingers. No Super Eagles player commands more technique than Ejuke.
Meliforme: Top Eleven Super Eagles players with the best passing technique.
Kelechi Nwakali Okechukwu Azubuike Innocent Bonke Chidera Ejuke Oghenekaro Etebo Alhassan Yusuf Obinna Nwobodo Raphael Onyedika Moses Simon Alex lwobi Frank Onyeka
I have read most, if not all the criticisms directed at the list above. Criticisms are very much welcome. I am grateful for them. However i will ask that if you are to give your criticism, please go a little extra to attach stats to the criticism you intend to purvey.
Life is ruled by facts not sentiments. I did not just wake up to compose that list, i invested time and resource studying every Super Eagles player. I did it out of love and enthusiasm.
I have also given the metrics i used for the compilation in my previous post. Please feel free to give a contrary opinion and do so with stats.
Meliforme: Top Eleven Super Eagles players with the best passing technique.
Kelechi Nwakali Okechukwu Azubuike Innocent Bonke Chidera Ejuke Oghenekaro Etebo Alhassan Yusuf Obinna Nwobodo Raphael Onyedika Moses Simon Alex lwobi Frank Onyeka
What is passing technique Passing technique refers to the entire complement of passing skills. A player's passing technique refers to number of passing skills the player brings to his game.
What are the skills that composites the technique of passing Listed below are passing skills: a) Short pass. b) Long pass. c) Chipped pass. d) Crossing. I included crossing as a passing skill in the study.
How i performed the calculation used for the ranking 1) The number of passing skills a player brings to his game. 2) The accuracy at which each of the passing skill was executed. 3) The average number of the each of the passing skill completed per game .
TheSuperNerd: A Winger-Penetrator. A playmaker-Winger. A Creative Winger. They go by these names and a few more.... Ejuke remains a fine talent in the picture of things but he needs better consistency going forward and an improvement in a few areas chief among them which is "decision making".
His decision making especially at the last Afcon was atrocious.
His 21/22 story reads in summary: A Beast in the first half of the season but cooled down in the second half of the season.
Hopefully his 22/23 story comes out better. Dude has what it takes to still turn heads.
Ejuke wasn't a starter for most games in the second half of 21/22. I think the AFCON tourney affected him psychologically. Imagine not being in the match day squad against Tunisia, as if any of the personnel starting in his position are better.
Our wingers are all poor in making decisions. Comparatively Ejuke seems the better pick.
Curtisaxel10: I don't think so. His English is very poor. How can he communicate phrases such as "gengen pressing", " high back line", "diagonal passing", "false nine" etc especially when he has to make tactical switches while play is going on?.
Communication is more important to coaching than many people realize. Maybe that is why Rohr hardly made in-game tactical switches—he probably didn't know the words to use!
Anyways, there are coaches like Pep, Jose and Klopp who have done well in leagues with languages that they are not too conversant with. I wonder how they do it.
His English is enough to communicate those clauses. You should listen to him again.
TheGoodJoe: Thanks for the update. Don't you think his English might be a challenge? Many of our players are sharp English speakers, especially the Foreign borns.
Either way. We judge him with the games to come and I hope he blends with the team. I think the team also needs an interpreter. Or Zaidu can assist of his Portuguese is fluent.
I think he has enough English to communicate his ideas on the pitch. Drawings and sketches can communicate tactical details more than thousand words.
Awaziem is good but a journeyman. I can’t rate him until he becomes relevant in Europe. Similar to Awoniyi pre-Union, abundant talent but needs to settle and prove himself.
Bassey starts over all our CBs today. I can’t remember any CB we have had in recent years that is consistently performing at such a high level.
Regarding the statement in bold letters, I think the club wants to sell Bassey, one of the strong reasons but not the only reason why he sometimes starts in central defense, they are also marketing his versatility. I have analysed Balogun and Bassey very closely, i believe Balogun has the edge.
TheSuperNerd: First of all, he wasn't showboating. He was simply trying to escape 3 markers to get a cross in.
Secondly, this is him back to playing as a LB and he did put in some very good crosses in the final yesterday.
Thirdly, ain't no way he is just all brawns. I repeat... Bassey is probably the closest defender to Awaziem in terms of the perfect long ball pass execution. He even does it far better than Ekong. And his ball playing composure disagrees with this "all brawns no brains" talk. He isn't there yet but believe me, he is a mix of both Bs as things stand.
Lastly these are not "unnecessary hypes". The boy has earned the attention and watching his interview after the final yesterday shows a lad who isn't allowing the praises get to his head. Chris, be glad. Bassey will only get better we hope.
"The fans helped us so much, screaming for us, cheering for us!"
Scottish Cup Final Man of the Match, Calvin Bassey, pays tribute to the fans who turned out for Rangers at Hampden Park today 👏 pic.twitter.com/CUJb7IDKJb
— Scottish Gas Scottish Cup (@ScottishCup) May 21, 2022
As for Awaziem, it is not like he went bad. It's just club stability he struggles with. Chidozie has always been a rock for us in GWG colors. Awaziem remains the one central defender in the Super Eagles today who can locate anyone on the pitch with any kind of long pass. He and Nwakali were the most Dominant long passers in camp prior to the Afcon and during the Afcon campaign in camp (up until Awaziem's injury which didn't let him play at the Afcon).
The ease with which he executes the long ball is almost godlike and he is also a very assured defender. A fine combo of ruggedness and technical ability.
We must not forget so suddenly how we admitted how much improved he had gotten in Super Eagles colors prior to the Afcon.
The only issue with him is his very weird club career choices lately mostly motivated by money anyway. Leaving Boavista to go on loan to Alanyaspor all because Boavista couldn't take up his wage bill (awaziem was boavista's highest earner/most valuable player in the market but it wasnt even up to what he desired).
Awaziem haven't lived up to expectations club wise despite starring in Ligue 1, La Liga and in Portugal's top flight all because he is yet to find stability. Stability is his issue and at 25 currently, I hope he finally has that sorted this summer.
Thank you TheSuperNerd for the exposition on some of the stories trailing Awaziem's club career. Awaziem is a defender that i rate ahead of some EPL defenders. Before this story by you i thought Awaziem was just one of those skillful players that are just unlucky, now i know better.
Calvin Bassey is in red hot form. He is burgeoning into a very skillful defender, but as things stands, i will pick Awaziem, Balogun and Omeruo ahead of him in central defence, Bassey looks like someone who is open to new ideas. I believe he will improve more with time.
charlesemeka85: simple update wey person post her few minutes ago e reach ur turn u elaborate am sotey come add Italian and Brazilian players wey no concern this thread join
Mr elaborator!
You know it takes a lot of IQ and work to give details and construct sentences the way TheSuperNerd does it. Please lets learn not to downplay people's gifts, abilities and good works.
Mr CharlesEmeka, you can recall vividly that i have praised you openly on this thread, calling you the numero uno harbinger of good reports. I can repost that comment of mine, if you require it.
BascoVanVeli has also being doing a great job, let's not downplay the good work that these guys bring.
TheSuperNerd: Very well explained Meliforme. True football understanding flowing freely from your fingers.
One goal in a major final shouldn't make us forget that Aribo still cannot dictate plays or boss a midfield from a central role. Afterall, he wasn't even deployed as a CM today.
He is always at his peak best when played closer to the box. Today he wasn't even deployed as a false 9. He was Played further upfront. More like a CF. Yes... Aribo played 9 today but interpreted it rather differently.
Just shows you that when Aribo is not burdened with playmaking/Midfield conduction (which he clearly doesn't have the natural knack to do) but focused on playing close to the box to create attack overloads and use his knack for quick 1-2 interchanges and high workrate to bring his mates into the game, and provided that a genuine MF conductor takes up the playmaking part, then WE WILL SEE THE TRUE AND UNDILUTED BEST OF ARIBO.
Joeyzinho: Na this Aribo meliforme say nwakali better pass?
Wonders.
I have always touted that Aribo should be played closer to the 18 yard box. His coaches are just making a discovery that i have since made.
Aribo is a good player but a poor midfielder. He lacks the intelligence and technique required for the central midfielder role. His good touches and control of the ball hides his deficiencies as a midfielder to the eye that is unlearned.
I want you guys to know that as far as the central midfielder role is concerned, the difference between Nwakali and Aribo is wide, with Nwakali having the edge.
A game of this magnitude is supposed to see Aribo in central midfield duties, but no, he was deployed as a false 9, which to me is a revelation and by a good extent his best position.
TheGoodJoe: What is infantile? Opportunity is part of football. If you get a chance and you have it, you can do well. If you do not get the chance, you will take time to blow.
Being English and from Chelsea academy is one of the reasons Tammy broke into Chelsea earlier. That gave him the chance to show his talent. Lampard also gave him that opportunity to show his work.
So, when they are talking of HISTORY, that Tammy has scored 100 goals and Osimhen has not, it is actually infantile to forget about that Opportunity played a part in Tammy having an early start. It is also neglect the fact of Osimhen also battling injuries, coming from a tough background to have the kind of start Tammy had.
This is a fact, and this is football. If you want balanced analysis, you take as much factors as you can. Not jus saying that someone has scored this amount of goals over the years.
TheGoodJoe: What is infantile? Opportunity is part of football. If you get a chance and you have it, you can do well. If you do not get the chance, you will take time to blow.
Being English and from Chelsea academy is one of the reasons Tammy broke into Chelsea earlier. That gave him the chance to show his talent. Lampard also gave him that opportunity to show his work.
So, when they are talking of HISTORY, that Tammy has scored 100 goals and Osimhen has not, it is actually infantile to forget about that Opportunity played a part in Tammy having an early start. It is also neglect the fact of Osimhen also battling injuries, coming from a tough background to have the kind of start Tammy had.
This is a fact, and this is football. If you want balanced analysis, you take as much factors as you can. Not jus saying that someone has scored this amount of goals over the years.
Don't mind those guys. Osimhen could have ended up worse given his upbringing and childhood exposures, but dude has shown to be more than those who are better privileged. They simply do not want to acknowledge that Osimhen is a superstar.
lovewins: Just recently, there was a protest in a federal university in Oyo state. Surprisingly the VC is from the state, the protest was cause he isn't from a particular part of the state.
Can we just stop being hypocritical? Can we stop throwing the racism card at everything especially when we have a semblance of it at home? England has a 3.5% black population, the other part of UK has less than 1% yet it's widely said that you rarely go to a UK hospital and not find a black medical practitioner. If we achieved all this by merit can we just assume we probably don't have a black football coach who can compete at the highest level yet. What exactly have black coaches achieved with African football? Don't we still clamour for foreign coaches? No black nation has gotten to the semi final of the world cup yet, and the highest we've achieved at the world cup as being when a foreign coach was in charge.
Of course I know racism exist, would be insane to deny that, but it's rather hypocritical to scream racism at people who are doing the most to be inclusive. An average Nigerian has a better chance at success in the "racist" UK than he does in his homeland. Can we just look inwards and not throw the race card every chance we get.
Most sport franchise are private entities. Capitalist tendencies trumps personal preferences at the end of the day. It's the reason we have more black players on the NFL and the NBA, they are simply better. While we may have few experiences of racism to make reference to, most employers will hire a competent black coach of they find one. It's all about the money at the end of the day.
BTW, if Kolo Toure is more qualified, he has 52 African countries to prove it with.
Highlights of CSKA Moscow vs Dinamo Moscow. Watch from 3:00.
Ejuke is very quick. Ejuke is an intelligent player. He scored because he placed the ball at the goalkeeper's weaker side, whereas his teammates were shooting to the right of the goalkeeper where the goalkeeper has shown to make more quick and stronger dives.
Nwakali bias be like juju for you ,allow this dude get a club first at least but you won’t ,continue hyping ,maybe you are being paid who knows
My submissions are for the honest eye. I never wanted to reply you nor Komekn, because it is fruitless. Between Nwakali and Aribo who was better at the CM role in the just concluded AFCON tourney.
Aribo is tactically poor for a central midfield role. This is not difficult to see. Our coaches made him look even worse. Watch him struggle in games where the opponent has the tactical advantage, notice players like Ndidi, Awaziem in this same game and you can tell the difference.