₦airaland Forum

ChrisKels:
Though I'm not sold on Ejuke because I think he still plays sec school football, but I will forgive him today because he was played out of position. He would bury at least one of those chances of they came while he was playing from LW[/b]

Yes, he has won MOTM performances with his sec school football in a league that has Victor Moses. He has even more MOTM than Victor Moses.

Judging from the matches played so far, dude is looking like our most prolific winger.

JayromWrites:
Omoh e be like u watched a different match from loads of peeps


I no know wetin Simon need do for una again


E didn't have a jaw dropping performance but he was definitely one of the top performers today

I don't go with public opinion, except when necessary, and this instance is not one of them.

The players all gave good account of themselves, but some were better.

dkay51:
Simon worked the most so its expected that he'd make more mistakes, most of the balls were coming to him all angles. He was always at the back defending against Zizo and at the same tormenting the Egyptian defenders. He's my best player today, same way we always give it to Osimhen even when he misses sitters.

I commend greatly the work put in by Simon, he worked himself out and it is commendable.
but as far as impact is concerned, many outperformed him. What will you say to Ndidi, Iheanacho, Aina, Omeruo, Aribo, Ekong.

Aside the first two that i mentioned, the rest are listed in no particular order.

andrewbaba44:
Moses Simon was man of the match

Accept that

Moses Simon was your man of the match?
Alright, your opinion, and i respect that.

Moses's performance was not a far cry from his previous performances.
Most of the forward passes was directed to him, making him look like our star man.

In my reckoning, as far as top performances are concerned, he is not even in the first five.

12large1:
At least keeper save 2 of his shot. Which one Simon do

Ask them?

I don't want to criticise Simon's game, because we won.
We see what we see.

Top performers

Ndidi,
Iheanacho.

Danielnino00:
Welcome to the fourth edition of the Nairaland Nigeria Football Awards!. Keeping in line with the laid down tradition, this thread has been created for all members of this forum to vote for the players under each category of the awards that they deem fit to win it.

The nomination for the award categories were selected by a five member panels that were chosen by members of the Super eagles thread (the official thread for discussion on Nigeria football).

The rules for the voting is simple; Pick one individual from each of the award categories that you wish to vote for. You can only vote once!

The award categories are ;

1. Nigeria player of the year
Victor Osimhen
Kelechi Iheanacho
Emmanuel Dennis

2. Nigerian female player of the year
Asisat Oshoala
Chiamka Nnadozie
Rasheedat Ajibade

3. NPFL player of the year
Anayo Iwuala
Olisa Ndah
Ojo Olorunleke

4. Most impactful new inclusion (2021)
Taiwo Awoniyi
Frank Onyeka
Kingsley Micheal

5. Best Ogedengbe goalkeeper of the year
Maduka Okoye
Ojo Olorunleke
Francis Uzoho

6. Stephen Keshi defender of the year
Zaidu Sanusi
Kevin Akpoguma
Ola Aina

7. Samuel Okwaraji midfielder of the year
Wilfred Ndidi
Frank Onyeka
Joe Aribo

8. Rasheed Yekini attacker of the year
Victor Osimhen
Paul Onuachu
Kelechi Iheanacho

9. Most improved player
Taiwo Awoniyi
Kelechi Iheanacho
Frank Onyeka

10. Super eagles goal of the year
Alex Iwobi goal Vs Sierra Leone
Paul Onuachu goal Vs Benin republic
Kelechi Iheanacho second goal Vs Liberia

11. Best assist of the year
Victor Osimhen assist for Samuel Chukwueze vs Lesotho
Ola Aina assist for Victor Osimhen goal Vs Lesotho
Alex Iwobi assist for Iheanacho's second goal vs. Liberia

12. Team of the year
Akwa United
Enyimba
Super Eagles

Voting closes on Monday January 10th 2022.
Thank you.

CC: icon4s thegoodjoe Drklever Safarigirl Andrewbaba44 thesupernerd joebie davep bascovanveli odunayaw jhiday do4luv14 johnbullmyson icon79 thelonecitizen semid4lyfe darkelf drlikita12 Subzero047 humility113 Charlesemeka89 forgiveness chriskels Komekn fabyom mujtahida Tflashoge boomnaija oasis007 chrisooblog andsungorilla arabiandude kellycute realpoacher1 curtisaxel7 purplehouse jayromwrites superbloke meliforme nelszx samueltemi337 elyte89 maidabo idenna stormtrooper11 olu98 barryseal starboytwo edopesin

1. Nigeria player of the year
Victor Osimhen

2. Nigerian female player of the year
Asisat Oshoala

3. NPFL player of the year
Olisa Ndah

4. Most impactful new inclusion (2021)
Frank Onyeka

5. Best Ogedengbe goalkeeper of the year
Maduka Okoye

6. Stephen Keshi defender of the year
Ola Aina

7. Samuel Okwaraji midfielder of the year
Frank Onyeka

8. Rasheed Yekini attacker of the year
Victor Osimhen

9. Most improved player
Taiwo Awoniyi

10. Super eagles goal of the year
Kelechi Iheanacho second goal Vs Liberia

11. Best assist of the year
Alex Iwobi assist for Iheanacho's second goal vs. Liberia

12. Team of the year
Super Eagles

Starboytwo:
I don’t like iheanacho as a striker at all or our no 9, he should play another role.

Eguavoen should use Awoniyi or Sadiq/olayinka

If any of the trio cannot seize this massive opportunity, that is, they cannot successfully lead a line, then they should stop receiving call-ups. We can’t be over reliant on osimhen, it’s not healthy, so massive TRIALS for our 3 no 9.

I pray Awoniyi or Sadiq or olayinka can be a revelation,hmmm, deleting social media will not help this trio.

This might be hard for some of you guys to digest, Sadiq Umar and Awoniyi are yet to become the player Iheanacho is.

The are yet to match up in terms of being clinical in front of goal, creativity, passing, positioning, even on the tactical side of the game.

It will be a great disservice, if Iheanacho doesn't lead the lines of attack.

Shukusheka:
As much as I love this formation and selection, the attack won't work. Should Iheanacho play central forward in a 4-3-3 formation, he should be partnered with pacey inside forwards like Ahmed Musa who can feed off his creativity upfront. Like how Rodgers used Lookman to feed off Iheanacho against Liverpool or how Mane/Salah play off Firminho.

Playing Iheanacho, Chukwueze and Ejuke upfront will have them dribbling, passing the ball around without any them attacking space or being aggressive in the box.

First of all, In the here and now, Musa is not more creative than the two lads.

Again, Musa and aggression shouldn't be in the same sentence, the guys he placed on the wings are more aggressive and explosive than Musa.

Musa might have more pace than Chukwueze, but Chukwueze's pace is still enormous.

Shukusheka:
As much as I love this formation and selection, the attack won't work. Should Iheanacho play central forward in a 4-3-3 formation, he should be partnered with pacey inside forwards like Ahmed Musa who can feed off his creativity upfront. Like how Rodgers used Lookman to feed off Iheanacho against Liverpool or how Mane/Salah play off Firminho.

Playing Iheanacho, Chukwueze and Ejuke upfront will have them dribbling, passing the ball around without any them attacking space or being aggressive in the box.

This is the best front three on paper.

Papi85:
yes boss my doubts prompted me to seek for spiritual help and answers

Thanks for your advise

You are welcome.

Papi85:
aside the signs I hv been seeing both spiritually and physically many told me that pple from the girls place don’t stay in their husbands house, they are promiscuous, strong hearted and fetish

That it is very difficult to bend their women and for peace to reign that the man hv to take a back sit as a weakling while the woman attains the role of the head

Baba me na lion and a very stubborn person so I rather remain single than give up my pride and position as a man

Even this mentioned behaviors I must confess I do notice it in her most especially the issue of been hardened/strong hearted

She is very stubborn as well and a type that when offended she finds it difficult to forgive unless I involve my sister or friend or even her elder sis and bro. It’s takes 2-3 days to appease her when ever I wrong her with constant begging

Also the word ‘sorry’ is not in her dictionary

You should have said this earlier.
This is the one of the major reasons why the marriage should not hold.

Seems like the two of you cannot become one, if she finds your infractions unbearable even to the extent where external persons have to come in to appease her. The two of you have not started living together and it is like this.

Again the decision to see men of God somehow shows you have a kind of doubt about her. I may be wrong about this, but marriage should not be entered with a double mind, there should be peace and conviction.

andrewbaba44:
How is it disturbing ,are you a Ghanaian ?

Ghana is a football powerhouse in Africa.
They didn't just lose by a lone goal, but by three.
They tried to make even, but were hapless, and you think it is not disturbing.

If i were Ghana, i will not allow myself to lose by that margin.
What message are they sending to the rest of the continent.

So Ghana lost to Algeria by three goals with no reply from Ghana whatsoever, not even a consolation goal.
Hmmm, this is disturbing.

Subzero047:
Where did you make observations of him, you watched him at his club to know he gets lost in games and his impact is hard to figure out, give me his club matches you watched to arrive to that conclusion maybe I can see where you are coming from

I am not saying that Aribo is a bad player.
I am saying that there are players who are more excellent than him in the current SE fold.

I narrowed it down to his performances due to Gernot Rohr poor tactical input and i said Rohr takes the greater blame.
But even in the midst Rohr's poverty of tactics, some players were able to stamp their influence.

Take for instance his pairing with Frank Onyeka. Frank Onyeka was winning duels even in advanced areas and making forward passes. What exactly was Aribo's, you can't exactly tell whether he is a CM or a DM. He will receive a pass and then sends it backwards, so that what will happen.

I want you to realise that we have better playmakers who are better at making decisions.
Take for instance Ejuke, in one of the matches, when he found it a bit difficult to maneuver with dribbles partly because some of our players weren't moving into good positions to receive (benefit from) the ball, which resulted to what some of you guys will term unnecessary dribbles. He picked his moment for a through pass to Osimhen. This is playmaking, it requires good decision making.

Subzero047:
You watched youtube highlights to judge a player and you are not even ashamed to say it, no wonder you think Ejuke has the best technique in the SE

Try well to understand what a person is saying before running into conclusions.
The Youtube videos are just an extra to the observations made of him to make sure that i am not missing vital moments.

TheGoodJoe:

If Jamie Vardy was any good he would not have taking so long to play in the Premier League.

Tell him.

Subzero047:
The guy makes his judgments on youtube highlights, you shouldn't take him seriously

You are very funny.

He said i should watch his Youtube highlights, which i did and i did that to make sure that i am not missing anything.

I know Aribo.
Aribo is not even in the first five, if we are discussing playmaking in SE.

komekn:
And what if he doesn't

Watch any match with the favourite player syndrome that we have here and when you hear the comment's he bossed the game, best player, pocketed this player or that . You will think you watched a completely different game.

My view is very simple if Nwakali was any good he would not have spent two seasons in the low level Segunda Division. If he was any good Porto would have not relegated him to the B youth team. If he was any good, he would have stood out in the Eredivisie and not have been relegated to Dutch 2nf tier and if was any good he would be at Arsenal, playing with Saka, Smith, Folarin, etc

He's done nothing at Huesca he is the second to the last lowest paid player in the club. Yet somebody days he is the star player in the club.

What's my issue, there is a pre requisite for selection to the SE. Current outstanding top quality performances in your league and club. He fails.

So what we have, is similar to someone, not taking JAMB and having failed his School certificate given admission to the university because he was a great top student in primary school.

Add to that is the shameless bigoted double standard that's been shown by quite a few here as well as quasi tribalism with so called foreign born players.

No too long it was said players in the Championship were too low for the SE.

You claim a lot of experience which i don't deny and yet you come up with this.
You can say the same for Emmanuel Dennis.

Your experiences should tell you that a player's footballing ability is not the only criteria that determines which team a player features in.

drDoom3:
I wonder how you are seeing him not understanding tactics from YouTube highlights. Nwakali has more to contribute defensively then Aribo? You have to be joking here. Nwakali that barely tackles and doesn’t track players in his box. Aribo gets lost in games like seriously? Do you even watch the guy at club level?

I’m tired of this argument abeg. The way you guys slander players without evidence is appalling. You just put up a word salad without real substance up there. Like seriously imagine saying Nwakali is better defensively than Aribo. Even Moses Simon that is a winger tracks back better than Nwakali does.

I don't even know what you guys observe whenever you watch matches.
That is how some people will tag Ndidi an SE flop.

If you think that i am alone in my observations and assertions, see what Sofascore has to say.
I am also tired of this argument.

Nwakali (Green) Aribo (blue).
The league quality has a bearing on player rating.

drDoom3:
I wonder how you are seeing him not understanding tactics from YouTube highlights. Nwakali has more to contribute defensively then Aribo? You have to be joking here. Nwakali that barely tackles and doesn’t track players in his box. Aribo gets lost in games like seriously? Do you even watch the guy at club level?

I’m tired of this argument abeg. The way you guys slander players without evidence is appalling. You just put up a word salad without real substance up there. Like seriously imagine saying Nwakali is better defensively than Aribo. Even Moses Simon that is a winger tracks back better than Nwakali does.

I don't even know what you guys observe whenever you watch matches.
That is how some people will tag Ndidi an SE flop.

If you think that i am alone in my observations and assertions, see what Sofascore has to say.
I am also tired of this argument.

Nwakali (Green) Aribo (blue).
The league quality has a bearing on player rating.

Mujtahida:
Your opinion not Fact. As far as tactics is concerned you simply cannot tell which player has more understanding than the other because you are not privy to the specific tactical instructions these players have received from their coaches.
The information you have is mere tactical outline which is not sufficient for you to reach such definite positions as you have done.

By looking at how a team play, both individually and collectively, you can deduce the team's tactics and instructions from the coach.

Why do coaches make tactical switches and personnel changes during the course of a game.

Englandboy:
Seasons greeting meliforme it been a while

Yes, It's been a while Englandboy.
Seasons greetings to you as well.

Mujtahida:
Aribo and wings? How? Why? You sure have a different eye oo cos this is the strangest view expressed about Aribo. Please watch the video below. He is over the top in his opinion about Iwobi but he's right about Aribo


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3XxKkPG7uBY

The guest in that video, doesn't seem like an analyst to me. He somehow has the demeanour of a motivational talker.

Arlbo is yet to become the player that Iwobi is. Iwobi's problems is inconsistency, there might be some conflicts within himself that he will have to resolve.

Iwobi over Aribo, anytime, any day, and there are fine reasons for this.

drDoom3:
Have you watched Aribo though? He is not a poor midfielder, he is a poor defensive player. Also he is the most technical of all three so I don’t get your point. Aribo was rated as the player with the best first touch in world football just last year and you are comparing him with lowly Iwobi and even a worse Nwakali.

After Osimhen and Ndidi, no other player in our team has a higher ceiling than Aribo. Guy is good at everything. Passing, scoring worldies, first touch, physicality, link up play, dribbling, name it. Guy if a baller.

I would advise you to watch Rangers fc highlights so that you can really see the player you are so helplessly slandering.

Aribo is the least technical of the three.
This is not a slander
I don't know what you guys define as technique. First touch is a technique, but there are other techniques.

I decided to see some Youtube videos of Aribo as you have suggested, to ascertain if i am really missing something. There are some positives to cull from his displays as always but he is not more spectacular than the people he is compared with.

As a central midfielder, your ability to understand tactics and make vital moves to stifle and counter the opponents is sine qua non. Only Ndidi trumps Nwakali in interpretation of tactics, even Frank Onyeka is ahead of Aribo in this area. I might argue with some great minds as to whether Ejuke is ahead of Aribo in tactical reading of the game, from my own assessment of their games, i think Ejuke is ( this is strictly a personal view ).

Can you explain why a skillful Aribo normally gets lost in games and his impact is hard to figure out. This is not just a coincidence His compatriots are better at understanding the game, and the opponents than him. Even though Gernot Rohr deserves the greater blame.

Concerning Nwakali, he is technically and tactically more astute than Aribo, and has more to contribute defensively. Being technically and tactically better makes him better at controlling a game than Aribo and therefore owns the CM spot.

elyte89:
Nwakali needs to b seen first playing b4 u can place him as important... Person wey we Neva c

You will soon see him.

Subzero047:
Aribo is a very poor midfielder but has been the best player in the Scottish league from midfield, remind me what is Nwakali doing again?

Nwakali has the AFCON to show you guys what he is made of.

jihday:
i don’t care how his performance will look like but right now, he’s anything but a key player for us

Okay, let's say he has the potential to be a vital for us in the offing.
But i am well pleased to include him because i believe it is so.

Kog45:
Oga meli,just say Victor Osimehn and Wilfred Ndidi.....Nwakili and Ejuke have Afcon to prove to us how good they are....and telling us Kelechi Nwakili is very important to eagles,sir I disagree,pls on what basis....I can only lose sleep on Osimehn and Ndidi if they are not available for selection.

Sir,time for us to calm down on Nwakili cos is rating here is damn on high sides,based on his performance so far he should just thank Eguavoen for believing in him,nothing more.

We need to reduce the pressure on the young man,the coming Afcon is an opportunity for him to prove a lot wrong and I wish the young man well.

Based on the few matches that we have seen of Ejuke, if you are yet to see what he brings, then i will leave you to whatever you make of him.

jihday:
how’s Nwakali important? A player with no cap? Abi it’s Ndidi you want to type?

It's Nwakali.
Relax i will personally remind you of the post. We see what we see.

If i should reckon what people say about Ndidi with some calling him a flop, he wouldn't be at the top of my listing.

drDoom3:
If you play a striker as a defensive midfielder you cannot expect him to play well. Everybody and their parents know that Aribo plays best the closer he gets to the opponents' goal. I don't know why Rohr adamantly refused to play him where he is best utilized. It is not his fault he has not performed as well as expected.

Nwakali is not going to bench Aribo as an AM. He could as a CM or if Eguavoen decides to follow ERohr's footsteps, but if not tthen forget it. Nwakali still has a long way to go to get to Iwobi's level, let alone Aribo.

Aribo is a good winger, but a very poor midfielder. This is not hard to see.
He should be drafted to the wings where his pace, dribbling and finishing will come handy

As far as the central and attacking midfield is concerned, Iwobi and Aribo has nothing on Nwakali, withi Aribo being the least as far as game reading is concerned.
Should i also say that he is the least in technique. This is an honest appraisal.

I am not trying to bring down Aribo, but we will appreciate more the player Aribo is when we see him ply the wings. He doesn't seem to bring anything of note to the team because we have players who are head and shoulders above him adding to the fact that he plies a position that doesn't fit him.

TheGoodJoe:

So sweet to watch. Even the way he spins to receive pass. Ooh la la.

Please TheGoodJoe, permission to be using Ooh la la.

TheGoodJoe:
On a serious note, there is no one in the Super Eagles that has the kind of touch of Nwakali. I don't know if he is raising his game because of the call up but that last through pass was brilliant. That was similar to that of Sarabia.

Sad it did not get to his teammate.

His ball control is also cool.

He needs to work on his work rate. Sometimes he strolls a bit too much. Also, he will look far better in a deeper role, playing in a possessive system. Nice one.

Ndidi, Osimhen and Nwakali are the three most important players, followed closely by Ejuke.
These guys are very unique in what they bring.