₦airaland Forum

AndSunGorilla:
Chelle is playing with his job. We are very impatient, the knives are coming for him soon, just one more loss like this, his job will be on the line.

But what are we being impatient for? Chelle has shown he can get more out of this squad than past managers. Our players also have to shoulder blame as well.

Was it Chelle who caused Bruno or Osasyi to defend poorly on the flanks?

Chelle can hold some blame, yes, but the players have to play on the field.

Amedino99:
It happened in South Africa, it is happening here again. Why NFF just watches and allow other countries to propose piss poor pitches to us is weird to me. What image exactly are we trying to prove by being a push over. Even the fr*aking guinea bissau players didnt want to play on this pitch.

Please STOP!

The pitch affects both sets of players. This is a bad pitch but GB don play us a clean 2-0 and honestly should have had 3, if not 4 goals.

SymphonyRad:
Chelle needs to go abeg, there has been no improvement with this team under his management, while at it, more than half of the players on this team are long overdue for a phasing out, so many abject players.

He should go where exactly? Please stop this talk. The players have to take some blame for thier performances as well.

Bad pitch but these people don knack us 2-0...AFCON qualification is now looking like an uphill battle.

Amedino99:
The ball is moving weird on this pitch man. CAF has blood on their hands for the approval of this nons*nse pitch.

The pitch is bad, but it affects both players equally. That is not an excuse. If GB had finished better finishing this match would be 3-0 to them. Our defense and midfield have been poor. We are playing lazily.

Our defenders are clearing the ball poorly. Osayi and Bruno nearly gifted GB their second goal..

Nwabili's handling is not solid at all but he did make a good save. I just fear one of those shots will bounce off him directly to the GB's player's path.

Our midfield needs so much work. Stringing passes together and controlling the tempo of the game is escaping us.

gracias124:
Africa has a long way to go

We simply are not serious as a collective. Despite all the outside exposure, we still act against our collective interests.

Not surprising. We have very poor building codes and standards. We build where channels used to exist; we build without putting in place the needed drainage structures and the like.

I keep saying this, but we Nigerians continue to be our own worst enemies when it comes to development. Still too interested about me and mine, but not the collective.

Very lazy defending for that goal. Far too easy

At least we are playing 3 in the midfield. That 4-4-2 with Ndidi and Iwobi simply needs to stop.

I'm for Obi because we need a different type of leader. Tinubu just isn't it. He's done some things that are commendable but he just doesn't have the stamina or ideas needed for where Nigeria is right now.

Too many of our people believe we should be subject to this type of lower-level economic development we see in the country.

I don't think Tinubu gets the urgency with which Nigeria needs to develop economically. Roads, ports, bridges, piped water, distribution lines for electricity, heavy industry, telecomms etc. All these things can be put in place in 20-25 years with serious leadership.

That said, re-enacting the fuel subsidy should not be on the able. It's far too wasteful.

Until the ports are built/revitalized, it’s all just talk.

A country like South Africa has 8 working ports and Nigeria really only has Lagos working. Is that not a shame?

Opening other ports benefits all citizens. Less congestion in Lagos and more even development.

We as Nigerians are still not doing things in our best interests and that’s why the West and China play us like fiddles.

TheSuperNerd:
Old Guard
Iwobi (30)
Ndidi (29)
Onyeka (28)
Onyedika (25).
FDB (25)
Alhassan (26)

Abeg remove Alhassan from that list. Even Ndidi should be on a short leash, not getting starting minutes.

TheSuperNerd:
Osimhen
Akor
Ilenikhena
Orban (when he comes in)
Awoniyi

Going forward, these 5 strikers could just be it. Any other such as Durosinmi, Tolu, etc are extraneous weight.

I fully agree with this list. Tolu and Durosinmi no be am at all. Even Awo is on a short leash.

I was really disappointed that Akor went to Venezia. I know na Sevilla sell am for financial reasons but he could have found a better club in Italy e.g. Fiorentina, Udinese, Lazio etc

TheSuperNerd:
Ilenikhena is the only one from the Saudi league and we did not recruit him for what he is doing now in the Saudi League. We recruited him for what he showed at ages 17 and 18 in Ligue 1, the UCL and in Belgium.

This was a chance for us to cap him and bring him home and we have done that.

He is the exception. More than anyone here, I want our lads in the best leagues but I also know how to apply context to certain invitations like Ilenikhena.

100%, I get the context for George. I remember when he was lighting it up in the UCL with Monaco a season or two ago. I would have wanted him to keep that trajectory going by moving onto a bigger club. To go from Monaco top Saudi at 20 yrs is not ideal but I get the opportunistic move to cap him. He can still return to Europe in 2-3 years after securing the bag, similar to Kessie, Gabri Veiga, Joao Cancelo etc.

Blueelf:
But our midfield is thin

GBAM!! SE is like Manchester United and Real Madrid. We have neglected our midfield for far too long.

We saw it in the WC. Once you lose the midfield, you lose the game.

TheSuperNerd:
Saudi League has equalised.

That’s fine but my point still stands. This is Madagascar we are playing. Against elite teams the gap in quality will show.

We saw it at the World Cup with the likes on Koulibaly, Mendy and Mane. You could tell they were just off the pace. Their decision making was very slow and that is partially due to where they play their club football.

I’m not saying in a vacuum that players from Saudi, Turkey, Scotland etc can’t do well for the SE - at the end of the day these are still professional footballers and Int’l football has fewer matches than club football. But those players ideally shouldn’t be our first choices.

In our heydey are players were starting in UCL finals, playing for title challenging clubs etc. That is the standard we should aim to return to.

There was a poster that said it very simply. You want your best players playing in the best leagues.

Turkey and Saudi are not the best places for our boys to ply their trade. The level of competition isn’t as high as the top 5 in Europe. Not just the competition, but the tactical level.

The pressure to perform week in and week out isn’t as high and naturally you’ll be off game if you’re relaxed.

Ndidi has been finished for a long time now. We need to look at the next gen

I would really like to see us emphasis more midfield play and solidity. This Ndidi-Iwobi double pivot is just not it.

I’m still not sure why Onyedika or Nnadi haven’t hammered down a starting spot. Less so Nnadi but at least Onyedika.

forgiveness:
Oh! I am in support we cap tie him. He is still young.

Considering his other option was France, Nigeria was the best bet to get play time.

Mbappe, Olise, Dembele, Thuram, Ekitike.

Competition dey.

Amedino99:
We didnt see the usefulness of the depth when Osimhen was injured at the start of the WCQ. Make dem go sleep joor.

We need to start building life after/without Osimhen. I love Osimhen but his availability is far too spotty. By the next WC he’ll be 30/31

Even for Gala, it looks like he’ll miss their first two UCL matches.

NFF needs to be cleared out. Even NSC seff

KC has contributed to the SE but it’s time for him to be retired. Certain players we just need to move on from.

AFCON 27 should see the likes of Ndidi and a few other from his set retired once the competition is over.

Papi85:
the likes of etuhu, anichebe , onuoha etc nko?

They also have to be good enough.

realpoacher:
If this is true that he is out of the qualifiers, then I guess injury is the reason big clubs in England didn't break the bank for him

The best ability is availability.

Osimhen’s biggest flaws are 1) being injury prone and 2) having bad offside awareness.

In the Prem those two things will get magnified.

maidaboi:
why hasn't other homegrown talents achieved it?

or is he the only homegrown talent?

You have other homegrown talent that have played far more games than Iwobi but maybe at one ore two clubs. Declan rice for example has 310 Prem appearances but about 200 of those have been with West Ham and the remaining with Arsenal. He may finish his career with more appearances than Iwobi but it may just be for West Ham and Arsenal so he will never achieve that stat.

I’d actually prefer is Iwobi has all 320+ of his PL appearances with only Arsenal. As that’s more games at a higher level.

TheSuperNerd:
You understand Bassey would have to leave Fulham and play for 2 more EPL clubs, then rack up 100 league appearances at each right? He is still 4 short at Fulham right now.
Trust me, this Iwobi benchmark go hard not just for any Nigerian but for any other African player in the EPL. The other 4 people on the list are all English or whites! Lol

Na because Iwobi get UK citizenship and is considered a homegrown player. So he'll always have a market in the Prem.

Blueelf:
Victor osimhen has a very bad agent

This is a player that jad been consistent since his royal charleroi days

Yet, you can't effectively sell him to top leagues

That I'd a crappy agent

Players who aren't even half as good as he is are getting big moves to better leagues

Nobody wan tell osimhen the truth

Like the thing weak me. Find a way to leave Turkey ASAP

I know we as fans/watchers of the game will never know the full details of everything going on behind the scenes, but I feel our current crop of players aren't managing their club careers very well.

1. Osimhen should never have played more than one season in Turkey. He should be at clubs like Arsenal, Inter, Madrid, etc pushing for big trophies. He'll soon fade into footballing backwaters, especially with his injury issues. The SE needs to start tracking his replacement; the best ability is availability

2. Adams moving from Sevilla to Venezia is a backwards move. I understand many La Liga clubs have to sell players out of the league to comply with FFP but surely Adams could have gone to a bigger club in Italy? Lazio, Atalanta, Fiorentina? Venezia will 100% go down this season. Adams could have even tried his hand at an upper mid-table Prem club like Brentford, Newcastle, Villa etc.

3. George going to Saudi before 25 is also interesting. I will never fault a player for taking the money, as football is a short career but the trade-off with possible NT selection needs to be considered.

I know it's difficult for non-EU-passport Nigerians to have steady, long careers at the top but I think some our boys can do better. That's why I give Iwobi a lot of Kudos. Over 320 appearances in the Prem no be beans.

Ultimately, as far as the boys perform with the SE, all is well. But iron sharpens iron.

Early days but Chuks is really shinning at Milan. I hope he can have a consistent campaign with them