₦airaland Forum

charlesemeka85:
talk am reach next week I no gree

Boniface is more like a Zirkzee kinda player ie CFs that are skillful, can play any where upfront as well as drop deep to create opportunities for his team mates

He isn’t forceful and bullish like Adriano. Adriano was a menace to defenders during his prime

Also the Brazilian had more pace

We will just have to agree to disagree my brother.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lcl2tAwi4to?si=3dk6cei9IvhkrGrV

From this video here, are you telling me Boniface does not have some elements/characteristics of Adriano in his game?

Marjoribanks:
I remember posting few weeks ago, Boniface is the Nigerian striker with the highest ceiling!
!

Very correct. He has more tools in his game than our other strikers. Only thing is his fitness and finishing. He got 2 goals today off 7 shots but a more clinical striker probably has a hat-trick if not 4 goals with some of the chances he had

charlesemeka85:
my brother the thing even shock me

I wonder if he truly know who Adriano is and how good he was during his prime

Adriano was a tank with bazooka for em left foot

I am not saying Boniface is of Adriano’s level at his prime. No.

I’m saying Boniface has many of the same characteristics of Adriano and if he, Boniface keeps developing, he’ll be similar to a prime Adriano.

charlesemeka85:
bros they are not similar in any way

Disagree. Both had great size and skill on the ball. If Boniface gets more clinical, they’ll be more similar.

lovewins:
Boniface with a brace. Another magical goal.

He cooked that defender

Cooked both defenders on his 2 goal. But if you look at those goals, he came from a wider position into the center.

He’s not really a CF. Top player

oloriooko:
Seems he plays with more freedom in club and more relaxed but in SE looks tensed and under pressure

This is the same for many players. The NT shirt is very heavy. Only a few players do better for their country vs their club. Off top of my head, James Rodriguez is one of those players.

charlesemeka85:
boniface like Adriano 😳

Hmmmmm

Yessoo, Adriano had pace, skill and a powerful shot. He just couldn’t keep fit and his father’s passing mentally hurt him badly.

Meliforme:
Boniface is very skillful.
I mean very skillful.

If he can stay fit and improve his finishing this season, he’ll get a big move in summer. He’s like a more skillful Adriano.

I still think he’s best as a support striker than an out and out no 9.

lovewins:
Boniface with a fantastic goal

Boniface na fool aswear…

See as guy pull down his shorts after the celebrations

SamueItem337:
Victor Boniface with an assist

He needed that. His production has really dropped off after that his injury last year right before AFCON. If he was fully fit all of last season, I do think he’d have been Leverkusen’s player of the season and one of BuLi’s top players.

mekabuachi:
Getting Benin republic and Rwanda again in our group is a hugeee blessing in disguise... But many people that realize this...

The same thing I said. We need more looks at them for WCQ. We now know the Rwandan keeper is one to watch for.

Our performance against Rwanda away will give us confidence we can beat the home and away in WCQ and flip our fortunes around.

The way SA has been playing in AFCONQ also has me believing they will drop more points. It was two very very late goals that salvaged a point against Uganda and a win against a poor South Sudan.

We’re in a hard spot for WC but hope dey.

This Rwandan keeper stood on his today, fashi.

I’ll take a 0-0 away draw. The boys will know for WCQ against Rwanda, they have to be ruthless in front of goal.

We move!

9JAMac10:
why is Victor boniface even invited to the team aside his comedic skills

He has a different profile from our other forwards but I don’t think we are using him well. He’s really more of a support striker that should play behind a main striker. Similar to Lookman.

If we play with a 3-4-3 with Boniface, we should actually pivot to a 3-4-2-1, where Boniface and Lookman are the two tucked in forwards just behind the main striker.

Boniface has the best hold up play in our current set up and his dribbling is very good, especially for a player of his size.

But I will agree, since returning from his injury, he’s looked off the mark. Even for club. He’s not scoring and assisting as much. I think mentally he’s playing safe so he doesn’t re-injure. Once a player starts playing within themselves it’s never a good sign.

9JAMac10:
Is this how they will win six consecutive games to qualify for the World Cup

As in! Not clinical enough. Those draws to Zim and Lesotho even more annoying now.

viccy12:
We don't have a midfield

This is why I kept saying let’s go to 3-5-2 with two B2B midfielders whether Ndidi and Onyedika, or Ndidi and Onyeka. The third midfielder (Dele or Iwobi) would be more creative and freed from defensive duties

Can’t complain about the lineup as that’s what we used to win last match but I’d still like to see us in a 3-5-2 for MF solidity instead of 3-4-3.

Drop Chuks for another strong MF (Onyeka or Onyedika). Push Dele higher up the pitch to support Lookman and Boniface.

Aina and Bruno will give us the width.

Niok:
My own is our world cup qualifications is in a mess right now
We always qualify for the afcon tho

Benin and Rwanda in our AFCONQ and WCQ group.

We have to make sure Rwanda is 12 pts out of 12pts for WCQ and AFCONQ. Then we beat Benin in the remainder of our qualifying matches.

The one thing in our WCQ group is it seems no one is particularly very strong. Anyone can drop points to anyone.

TheSuperNerd:
The win in Benin was pure fluke.

It was such a fluke that’s why I’m so pissed. They had no business winning. We dropped points in such a crucial game.

SE has this knack of winning the small game but losing the big game.

Example: We have a better h2h against Cameroon but we are 0-3 against them in AFCON finals.

We beat CIV in the last AFCON group stage but then lost to them in the final.

Same thing here. Beat Benin in AFCONQ but lost to them in the more crucial WCQ.

Anyway, great win. We need another 3pts on Tuesday.

Good thing Rwanda is in our AFCONQ group. It will give us prep for WCQ against them

Where was this performance against Benin in WCQ??!?!

AlbertoIancu:
I see your point but Eguavoen has always been a wingplay man. He believes in attacking through the wings and not the center so I think that's what will happen today. That's why he has wingbacks plus wingers.

Iwobi in the middle won't be needed much.

I understand this but we’ve seen that the modern game is won/lost in the midfield. We have to be able to manage the game from the midfield.

AlbertoIancu:
Wetin do the formation?

It’s the same issue that we have not resolved…playing a 2 man midfield.

Ndidi, Iwobi and Onyeka/Onyedika should be the standard midfield. At least 3 for solidity. We keep asking Iwobi to do a job as a holding midfielder and he isn’t that.

We have the players, but don’t set them up for success.

The team is far too unbalanced.

Just looking at this SA-Uganda result really saddens me. Nigeria had no business losing to Benin republic. Drawing with Lesotho and the likes.

Marjoribanks:
I would be surprise if Equaveon play this! He will never play double DM!

I think he might play 442! Nacho/Boni just behind Osimhen with Ndidi-Iwobi's midfield!

Please, we need to retire this 442 setup. We don’t have the midfield profile to execute it properly.

3-5-2 is our best bet.

Midfield 3 of Onyeka-Onyedika-Iwobi. Far more balanced.

charlesemeka85:
he should go with Onyedika CDM, Onyeka B2B and Iwobi CAM

I have been screaming for this same set up since last AFCON. If you play two solid midfielders behind Iwobi, he’ll have more license to be creative. With Ndidi back, we should have three solid options for b2b/Cdm.

Bashiru and Iwobi should be interchanging for the CAM.

BascoVanVeli:
I agree with u on the release clause. I feel Victor was trying to be too loyal to Napoli. But at the same time even without a clause Napoli would never let him go for peanuts.

There were two contract extensions.

The one of last season that upped his wages to ~€10M a year and inserted the €100M+ release clause into his contract. It also extended his contract from end of summer 2025 until summer 2026.

The 2nd one reduced his release clause to €75M and increased his contract from summer 2026 to summer 2027.

Usually, when players agree on a new wage/deal terms, they extend the contract as well.

He messed up by signing that initial contract extension. That is where, as you correctly put it, he was being too loyal to Napoli. He should have stuck to his current contract then that was due to expire in summer 2025. If he did, he could leave next summer on a free unless Napoli sold him for a decent price.

My thing is this, Napoli have a history of overvaluing players that prevent them from moving. Look at what happened with Koulibaly.

Kim-Min Jae left because he had a reasonable release clause in his contract (less than €50M). Release clauses rarely ever benefit the player, it’s mainly for the club. Only time it may benefit a player is if the release clause is reasonably priced.

Haaland’s release clause was €60M. High enough that not just any club can afford it, but not so high that it may impact the player’s future compensation.

People forget the equation for acquiring a player is transfer fees+wages. If a club doesn’t have to shell out €60M on transfer fees, the player can ask for a portion of that fee as a salary or signing bonus (like Mbappe).

BascoVanVeli:
Nobody was ever serious about Osimhen. Everyone wanted family discount. This is just bad timing. A few years ago, a player like him would have been sold at the beginning of summer.

This is why till this day, I do not understand why he signed that contract extension with the €100M release clause. As a player, you really have no business with one. It’s better to move on a free or in the last year of your contract so you can save the buying club on costs. That money saved can go into your salary.

Look at Mbappe, left PSG on a free and Real Madrid loaded his contract as a result.

Osimhen had no business renewing his contract. If he didn’t, next summer he’d have been a free agent with all the leverage.

Obviously, I don’t know all the details from VO’s side but from the outside looking in, his reps mismanaged this situation. Our Naija players need to get smarter with contracts and the like, especially when they are in positions of strength like VO was at the end of the Scudetto winning season…

VO will definitely need to be one of the top scorers in Turkey. If he’s mid there, his value will drop.

Also, why does he keep insisting on these release clauses? Even €75M does him no favors.

He really needs better advisors sha. This time last year he was one of the hottest prospects and should have capitalized on his move.

Say what you want but Napoli has overvalued him and priced him out of a respectable move.

If Haaland when for under €90M to Man City, Osimhen shouldn’t have a release clause for over €100M. That’s where he messed up in having ADL insert that clause. €75M at the end of last season and more clubs would have jumped at it.

One thing that may have put off clubs like Arsenal from Osimhen is his injury record.

G.Jesus is already quite injury prone. Spending a lot of money for Osimhen might be too much of a gamble for them.

In his 4 seasons at Napoli, Osimhen has only played in 30+ league games once..

TheLoneCitizen:
Best case scenario:

Remain at Napoli.
Hire personal trainer.
Have banging games for Nigeria.
Score like crazy in the 6 AFCON qualifiers.


Sold for 50m in winter.
Now clubs are aware of your wage demands.
100% certain if he remains till winter, multiple EPL clubs will be interesred.

Keep his mouth shut.


Osimhen in AFCON qualifiers
12 games
15 goals, 8 assists.

Fully agree with all of this. Especially the bolded. Keep a level head and let the work on the pitch speak for himself.

ADL will let him go for €65M which is like £55M. In this current striker market, that’s a great deal.

ADL will want to sell Osi ASAP. He’s one of their highest earners at the club and it makes no sense to pay him to sit on the sidelines. If a decent offer comes in January, they’ll sell.

For Osimhen, he should just focus on training and his NT duty. Players have had 8-9 months on the sidelines and come back well. Toney was training in the US during his betting ban.

Your footballing instinct doesn’t just leave you overnight. The main thing is to keep physically fit.

You still see guys like Zizou and Romario with the touch and skills even until today at some of their charity matches. It’s just they don’t have the legs to keep up the physicality

There was no need for Osi to sign that extension.

Many of you said it. Leave when the applause is loudest. You’d rather leave one year early and the fans want you to stay than to go one year later and the fans want you to get out.

He should just keep his head down, focus on his football and see if he can get a January move to the Prem.

Sha sack his agent today.

Bannedlargejr:
That’s a LIE Alvarez was sold for 80 in this market

Read what I said. I said “coming to an end” not over. Yes, Alvarez went for 80M+ but how many other transfers like that happened this summer?