forgiveness:



The only player that can play the AMF is Iwobi but he can't hold the ball and that is why Rohr is STILL SEARCHING for a player who is capable of holding the ball.

Kelechi Iheanacho can't play that role neither can Etebor. Why? Because an AMF must posses the ability to control and hold unto the ball but unfortunately, Kelechi can't even control a ball and he doesn't have superior techinical abilities while Etebor is a direct player. They are both SS.

This is an extract from Wikipedia

'The attacking midfielder is an important position that requires the player to possess superior technical abilities in terms of passing and dribbling, as well as, perhaps more importantly, the ability to read the opposing defence in order to deliver defence-splitting passes to the striker'



That is why you see players like Juan Mata, Bryan, Eden Harzard, Mario Gotze, David Silver, James Rodrigue, etc thrive in that role.

Do they(Kelechi and Etobor) play like these players listed above? I don't think so.

If they can play that role, why are they not given that role in their various clubs? Why is Mahrez preffered ahead of Iheanacho if he has those attributes?

Funny enough, the new coach tried Iheanacho in that role, guess what, he failed woefully.

The players that can do what is close to those players listed above are Mikel Obi, Sone Aluko and Abdul Ajagun.

We don"t need to bring untested players in a particular role because of sentiments.

We can offset this if we have a bit more creativity out wide and a deep lying playmaker. However if Rohr goes and plays a midfield 3 of Onazi, Ndidi and Etebo with ONLY Iwobi as a creative threat, WE ARE SCREWED. Rohr should NEVER ever do that do that again.

darkelf:


But Bros, I beg to differ a bit

In soccer today, scoring goals is a team effort in most cases and not the sole responsibility of one even if that person is the target man

Even though these guys aren't really scoring much, I believe if they are placed in a team that plays together with excellent team chemistry and tactical discipline, we should see goals been banged in.

Also, some of these guys you listed come from the bench in the dying minutes of a game and usually, scoring during those times ain't easy

Also, these guys may not be the fulcrum of attack for their respective clubs (call it the target man or the attack maestro) but may just be role players

I may be mistaken but that's how I feel

So in a nutshell, we are going to the world cup with a semifinal target with cast offs who sneak into games at the deart for their clubs, but somehow we believe strongly that when they play together as a team, they will be better than the other 28 teams in the world.
God is a Nigerian indeed

forgiveness:


That is just the point.

Rohr should not invite dem for our next friendlies. By so doing, dem brain go reset.

If their place is not threatened, it means we are not doing something right.
I wonder which other country heading to the world cup will reserve jerseys for strikers in footballing purgatory like Musa and Kelechi.
Only Nigeria.

goldfish80:


So in a nutshell, we are going to the world cup with a semifinal target with cast offs who sneak into games at the death for their clubs, but somehow we believe strongly that when they play together as a team, they will be better than the other 28 teams in the world.
God is a Nigerian indeed

Cameroon in 1990
the swedish team of 1994
the croatians in 1998
the turks in 2002
costa rica in brazil
etc..

Before the tournament, much of the team were either unknown or with underwhelming stats.

I feel that we have that kind of squad.

Before the qualifiers, very few gave us a chance but we qualified barely breaking a sweat.

I believe that Rohr knows what he is doing. The team is playing to its strengths.

tbaba1234:


Cameroon in 1990
the swedish team of 1994
the croatians in 1998
the turks in 2002
costa rica in brazil
etc..

Before the tournament, much of the team were either unknown or with underwhelming stats.

I feel that we have that kind of squad.

Before the qualifiers, very few gave us a chance but we qualified barely breaking a sweat.

I believe that Rohr knows what he is doing. The team is playing to its strengths.

In 27 years, you could only come up with just 5 teams who have been able to over achieve at the world stage.

Let's put this in perspective, we have witnessed 7 world cups since 1990 ;
7(wc)x32[number of teams]= 224(teams).
If Out of 224 teams, only 5 have actually over achieved, then it's safe to say we are playing against the odds.

This stat alone should be enough to agitate our minds and that of our players especially that they need to dig in deep and start performing.

Even the 5 teams you listed if further scrutinized , Turkey and Croatia should be struck off.

Turkey had very hot players in Europe in 2002 with players like Rustu, Hassan Sas both at Galatasary. Bashturk was the creative force in the midfield of that Klaus Topmoller Bayern Leverkusen side who lost the champions League final to Madrid.
Hakan Sukur, Umit Davala were not exactly nobodies. Their captain Sukur is the best striker in the history of the country.

Croatia, were the offshoot of Yugoslavia. They always pride themselves as the region who produced the better players in the old Yugoslavia.
Call them the Biafrans of Yugoslavia, if you understand what I mean footballing wise.

MetalJigsaw:
When we talk of a quality, tested and trusted AM, those guys you mentioned are not qualified for that role.

* Etebo: He's a player full of energy, he has goal scoring potentials. But he's not a technical player . He can hold the ball to some extent. He's not the type you can expect accurate, killer passes from. He really can't read the game.

* Iwobi: He's a very smart, fast (our team is widely known for this), technical, a potential goal scorer. A good passer.He can read the game but very slow at it. He posses a very terrible ability to hold the ball especially when hes closely marked, thus losing the ball or giving it away by passing to an opponent.

* Iheanacho: A good passer, dangerous at freekicks, a potential goal poacher. But he's very bad at trapping or controlling the ball.
Not a very fast player.
Lacks the ability to dribble his marker.

Oya name that tested and trusted AM that has ALL the qualities that the 3 players your described above do not have

goldfish80:

In 27 years, you could only come up with just 5 teams who have been able to over achieve at the world stage.

Let's put this in perspective, we have witnessed 7 world cups since 1990 ;
7(wc)x32[number of teams]= 224(teams).
If Out of 224 teams, only 5 have actually over achieved, then it's safe to say we are playing against the odds.

This stat alone should be enough to agitate our minds and that of our players especially that they need to dig in deep and start performing.

Even the 5 teams you listed if further scrutinized , Turkey and Croatia should be struck off.

Turkey had very hot players in Europe in 2002 with players like Rustu, Hassan Sas both at Galatasary. Bashturk was the creative force in the midfield of that Klaus Topmoller Bayern Leverkusen side who lost the champions League final to Madrid.
Hakan Sukur, Umit Davala were not exactly nobodies. Their captain Sukur is the best striker in the history of the country.

Croatia, were the offshoot of Yugoslavia. They always pride themselves as the region who produced the better players in the old Yugoslavia.
Call them the Biafrans of Yugoslavia, if you understand what I mean footballing wise.

For each of those tournaments, i could have mentioned multiple teams...There are always at least 3-4 teams in each tournament that do better than expected. It could be more.

Take 2002

Senegal in 2002 was relatively unknown, South Korea in the same tournament beat the Italians. Already talked about the turks.

I mentioned those teams because they overperformed..

tbaba1234:


Cameroon in 1990
the swedish team of 1994
the croatians in 1998
the turks in 2002
costa rica in brazil
etc..

Before the tournament, much of the team were either unknown or with underwhelming stats.

I feel that we have that kind of squad.

Before the qualifiers, very few gave us a chance but we qualified barely breaking a sweat.

I believe that Rohr knows what he is doing. The team is playing to its strengths.

Let me also add Bulgaria and Romania of 1994, Senegal of 2002, S Korea of 2002, USA of 2002, Ghana of 2010. Italy were no where near favorites to win the 2006 WC but they won it.

And if we want to go back further in time: Algeria of 1982 and Poland of 1986.
cc:Goldfish80

tbaba1234:


For each of those tournaments, i could have mentioned multiple teams...There are always at least 3-4 teams in each tournament that do better than expected. It could be more.

Take 2002

Senegal in 2002 was relatively unknown, South Korea in the same tournament beat the Italians. Already talked about the turks.

I mentioned those teams because they overperformed..

Senegal lost the 2002 Afcon finals to Cameroun via penalty shoot out .
All their players including goalkeepers played for top teams in France(starters not bench warmers).
Diouf, Cisse, Diao,Diallo, Fadiga, N'diaye, Henry Camara, Sylva etc weren't playing in reserve leagues.

South Korea benefited from referee/FIFA largess. If the refs made the right calls, we wont be having this discussion in the first place.

soetanoreoluwa:


If we can't get enyeama there is no reason for us going to Russia then cos Enyeama is Alpha and omega of SE

Are you telling me no one is indispensable? There is no one like God but we have alot of human that can do your work perfectly all you need to give them is chance...
My points are clear if enyeama said he's not coming what should we do? Quit or what?

I don't believe your post... Remember we qualified without enyeama..


About the bolded part... Ain't a goalkeeper so I don't need a psychologist...

I mean, you can’t give what you don’t have. Just like you, our current options don’t have what it takes. It will be magical to discover a goalie within six months.
I only wish Enyeama makes it because I consider him our most viable option, sadly he is making slow progress, just one reserve team match since early December.
I have hope that our SE will do well at the WC but I bet Brazil, Belgium et al won’t make it out of the group stage if they have Ezenwa or Akpenyi in goal.

goldfish80:

Senegal lost the 2002 Afcon finals to Cameroun via penalty shoot out .
All their players including goalkeepers played for top teams in France(starters not bench warmers).
Diouf, Cisse, Diao,Diallo, Fadiga, N'diaye, Henry Camara, Sylva etc weren't playing in reserve leagues.

South Korea benefited from referee/FIFA largess. If the refs made the right calls, we wont be having this discussion in the first place.

Cameroon won the nations cup this year and could not qualify.

France were World Champions with Trezeguet and Henry at the top of their game, scoring goals for fun. Arguably the top 2 strikers in the world at the time.

If it was about stats, no one could stop France..

Senegal was a bunch of unknown africans. No one expected them to be that good.

Icon4s:


Let me also add Bulgaria and Romania of 1994, Senegal of 2002, S Korea of 2002, USA of 2002, Ghana of 2010. Italy were no where near favorites to win the 2006 WC but they won it.

And if we want to go back further in time: Algeria of 1982 and Poland of 1986.
cc:Goldfish80

Italy have never gone to any tournament as underdogs since the first world war.

These teams you mentioned had players in the form of their lives prior to the those tournaments.
I'm talking about performing players, not world class player.
Can you name any player in these teams you listed who played reserve league football or with the U21's prior to those tournaments?

goldfish80:


If their place is not threatened, it means we are not doing something right.
I wonder which other country heading to the world cup will reserve jerseys for strikers in footballing purgatory like Musa and Kelechi.
Only Nigeria.

Romero of Argentina, Batshuayi of Belgium, Okazaki of Leicester etc

I too gbadu this your comment. Nigerians are so biased and lopsided in their analysis especially when it comes to SE. We have a very average squad. I was watching elclassico and asked myself how we ever felt that Croatia should be the underdogs when compared to Nigeria? Not saying wet can't beat them, of course anything can happen, but our pride and confidence towards the Croats is very baseless. We have an almost average squad. No gambler would put a debt on Nigeria. We have very few players in top leagues to be too boastful.

goldfish80:


So in a nutshell, we are going to the world cup with a semifinal target with cast offs who sneak into games at the death for their clubs, but somehow we believe strongly that when they play together as a team, they will be better than the other 28 teams in the world.
God is a Nigerian indeed

tbaba1234:


Cameroon won the nations cup this year and could not qualify.

France were World Champions with Trezeguet and Henry at the top of their game, scoring goals for fun. Arguably the top 2 strikers in the world at the time.

If it was about stats, no one could stop France..

Senegal was a bunch of unknown africans. No one expected them to be that good.

If Cameroun had qualified will you tag them unknown Africans?

We are not discussing about under achievers so why bring up France?
Holland in 2002 had the best players in the world,yet they couldnt qualify.

My focus is on the so called over achievers with our stereotype of "unknown players"

Senegal were world cup débutants not unknown Africans to followers of European football and french league in particular.

Even the Ghanaian team of 2010, had players who played at the highest level like Muntari, Kwado Asamoah, KPB, John Mensah, Paintsil, Gyan, Ayew was like Mbappe of Marseille ......
These guys had no reserve league players.

forgiveness:



Psychologist can not work on Ezenwa because he is naturally below average. He doesn't deserve to be called in the first place. We have better Goalkeepers in our local league. Thanks

Between now and WC SE will play about 5 matches. We don’t have the luxury of testing local goal keepers.
A WC first choice keeper should be proven and tested, not experimental.

FabioPeter:


Romero of Argentina, Batshuayi of Belgium, Okazaki of Leicester etc

Romeo and Batshuayi are certain starters for Argentina and Belgium? Okazaki plays for Leicester city's reserves? Which country is he from sef?

goldfish80:

If Cameroun had qualified will you tag them unknown Africans?

We are not discussing about under achievers so why bring up France?
Holland in 2002 had the best players in the world,yet they couldnt qualify.

My focus is on the so called over achievers with our stereotype of "unknown players"

Senegal were world cup débutants not unknown Africans to followers of European football and french league in particular.

Even the Ghanaian team of 2010, had players who played at the highest level like Muntari, Kwado Asamoah, KPB, John Mensah, Paintsil, Gyan, Ayew was like Mbappe of Marseille ......
These guys had no reserve league players.

Francophone countries have always had the majority of their players playing in France. It is nothing new.

Nothing Senegal did in that WC could have been predicted.

The same goes for other teams mentioned.

No one expected Ghana to be half as good.

Costa rica in Brazil was made up of average players.

Before the WC, none of those teams were expected to do well.

goldfish80:

Romeo and Batshuayi are certain starters for Argentina and Belgium? Okazaki plays for Leicester city's reserves? Which country is he from sef?

Romero is the first choice goalie for Argentina, Okazaki is a starter with Japan, Batshuayi will play a part just like Iheanacho does for SE.

Lately, having a starting spot at club level has been a criteria for first team spot with SE. in our last competitive qualifiers that was the criteria.

tbaba1234:


Francophone countries have always had the majority of their players playing in France. It is nothing new.

Nothing Senegal did in that WC could have been predicted.

The same goes for other teams mentioned.

No one expected Ghana to be half as good.

Costa rica in Brazil was made up of average players.

Before the WC, none of those teams were expected to do well.

You still dont get it.You think I'm talking about world class class player.
For goodness sake, I'm talking about performing players.
That Teranga lions team had lots of performing players who bossed the French league 1.

Diouf, Coly were bossing it at Rc Lens, Tony Sylva at Lille, Fadiga at Bordeaux name them.... these guys were important players for their clubs prior to the world cup

goldfish80:


You still dont get it.You think I'm talking about world class class player.
For goodness sake, I'm talking about performing players.
That Teranga lions team had lots of performing players who bossed the French league 1.

Diouf, Coly were bossing it at Rc Lens, Tony Sylva at Lille, Fadiga at Bordeaux name them.... these guys were important players for their clubs prior to the world cup

As a team, they over-performed..

Senegal were still an emerging force on the continent.

FabioPeter:


Romero is the first choice goalie for Argentina, Okazaki is a starter with Japan, Batshuayi will play a part just like Iheanacho does for SE.

Lately, having a starting spot at club level has been a criteria for first team spot with SE. in our last competitive qualifiers that was the criteria.

ROberto Martinez is under serious pressure to drop Batshuayi. I hear they are proffering a 2 season loan deal out of Chelsea for him. However, if his present predicament continues, its a certainty he wont be going to the world cup.

Romeo is a goalkeeper, they are not judged with the same parameters as outfield players. Mind you, Romeo have been in the Argentine squad for more than 10 years.
The team have been comfortable with him since 2006

tbaba1234:


As a team, they over-performed..

Senegal were still an emerging force on the continent.

Did they have reserve league players in that team who turned them into an emerging force in Africa? ?
Analyze their players individually and tell me if you can find players in footballing purgatory, like Kelechi and Musa.

CC goldfish80
Olorioko
Forgiveness

It is obvious what your intentions are for the SE. All your criticisms is not for the growth of the SE rather it is because you truly hate the team especially because your players are not always selected, so you truly pray for our downfall so that you can laugh at us.

If the 3 of you deny my accusations, prove me wrong by showing me anywhere on this thread where you wished the SE success in any of our matches in the past?

Everytime before any game during the qualifiers, you all will wish us badluck only for these same players you so hate and write off to enter into the pitch and win, not just winning but performing and winning excellently well. But none of you guys will ever comeback after the match to congratulate the team for performing far above your expectations or predictions, rather you all will disappear for awhile only to reappear after the dust have settled to continue to castigate the players and predict doom to the team as a whole.

I am referring to @forgiveness, @mickeal2, @komern and others listed earlier on especially.

But going into the crux of my post. I want you all to know this!


-WHETHER OR NOT ALL OUR PLAYERS WHO PLAYED OUR QUALIFIERS ARE BENCE WARMERS WITH SEAT BELTS IN THEIR CLUBS, THEY WILL STILL GO TO THE WORLD CUP. FACT!

- UNDER ROHR, WE QUALIFIED FOR THE WORLD CUP WITH THESE SET OF PLAYERS YOU ALL SO HATE DESPITE THE FACT THAT WE COULDN'T QUALIFY FOR TWO NATIONS CUP BACK UNDER THREE DIFFERENT COACHES, THEREFORE THESE SAME SET OF PLAYERS WHO MADE OUR WORLD CUP JAMBOREE POSSIBLE WILL BE THERE, ATLEAST 80% OF THEM WILL BE LIVE IN RUSSIA INCLUDING IHEANACHO. IF YOU LIKE CHOKE ON IT.

- THE ERA OF CHANGING THE TEAM UNDER THE DISGUISE OF "LOOKING FOR BETTER PLAYERS" IS GONE. IF YOU WANT TO Be PLAYED AT THE TOURNAMENT PROPER, FIGHT TO BE WITH THE TEAM DURING QUALIFIERS BECAUSE AFTER QUALIFICATION, YOUR CHANCES OF MAKING THE TEAM DROPS TO 20% EXCEPT OFCOURSE YOU ARE PLAYING IN THE MOON.

- THESE CURRENT BOYS KEPT FAITH WITH THE TEAM, PLAYED THEIR HEARTS OUT, DELIVERERD DURING THE QUALIFIERS, AND THEREFORE DESERVE TO BE ON THE PLANE TO RUSSIA. EVEN IF WE LOSE OUT IN THE GROUP STAGE(GOD FORBID), SO BE IT!

- NOT TOO LONG AGO, ALGERIA WAS NO1 IN AFRICA, CAMEROUN WON THE NATIONS CUP AND PLAYED IN THE CONFEREDATIONS CUP. THESE WERE THE TEAMS ROHR AND HIS BOYS WERE PAIRED AGAINST WITH. NO ONE GIVE THEM A CHANCE, YET THEY QUALIFIED WITH A RECORD. THAT IN ITSELF IS A HISTORY! AN HISTORY THEY ARE GOING WITH TO WORLD CUP. WE WILL NOT GO TO RUSSIA WITH PLAYERS WHO HAVE NO KNOWLEDGE ABOUT HOW WE GOT THERE! THAT WILL NOT HAPPEN

- ROHR HAS SAID ONLY 4 PLAYERS ARE WHAT HE NEEDS TO BEEF UP HIS TEAM, FIGHT FOR YOUR PLAYERS TO BE AMONG THE FOUR AND LEVEL IHEANACHO ALONE

Iheanacho this, Iheanacho that, the same Iheanacho that was not getting playing time but kept on scoring everytime he wore our shirt, to the point he scored a beautiful free kick against Argentina ranked 4th in the world.

I dare you all Iheanacho enemies and haters to name one player in the history of Nigeria football that has ever scored a free-kick against a top 10 ranking team whether in a competition, friendly, 5-aside, Sunday set or in training match!

I dare you all to name just that one player who has ever scored a direct free-kick like that. Either you name that player or you keep mute and forever hold your peace!

The five of you that I mentioned are not fans, you are agents seeking to do an "uchebo" on us. It will not work. No matter how fans criticise their team, they will celebrate whenever the same team wins a match. Never have there been any time any one of you guys celebrate the SE for winning any game here. All you do is to go "ghost mode" for a while only to jump back in castigating players. Or you think many here haven't noticed your pattern of comments?

SMH

So long as chicharito was on seat belt in both Man U & Real Madrid but still commanded first team shirt in Mexico, IHEANACHO WILL GO TO THE WORLD CUP!

Haters choke on it

goldfish80:


Did they have reserve league players in that team who turned them into an emerging force in Africa? ?
Analyze their players individually and tell me if you can find players in footballing purgatory, like Kelechi and Musa.

Come on, Kelechi has been outstanding for Nigeria.

Both players still have some time to get the required sharpness before the WC.

As we have seen before, top league form does not guarantee a good world cup, the opposite also holds true.

Cc: Goldfish80..
Dedebanky..
Let us all assume dat we have all. Come to our senses, and realised dat u are right.. These bench warmers dat u spoke of, are we taking them to the WC at d expense of any player dat is performing extremely wonderfully in Europe??.
So Wat do u advise we do, strip this team of its key players cos they are bench warmers and bring in a new 11 consisting of world class players dat have never kicked a ball for d SE b4 now, or wat exactly.... How about we start proferring solutions like maybe d players we should call up instead... Cos I dunno y u guys will still criticize d team players wen they are obviously delivering... It's not we can field Aguero or Gaby Jesus,abi na ogbeche, Martins ,Fred Friday , &Bonaventure Una wan carry??

goldfish80:


If their place is not threatened, it means we are not doing something right.
I wonder which other country heading to the world cup will reserve jerseys for strikers in footballing purgatory like Musa and Kelechi.
Only Nigeria.

Is not like we have some Strikers in d top leagues dat we are ignoring na. Haba

goldfish80:


So in a nutshell, we are going to the world cup with a semifinal target with cast offs who sneak into games at the deart for their clubs, but somehow we believe strongly that when they play together as a team, they will be better than the other 28 teams in the world.
God is a Nigerian indeed

See, I never mentioned God in any of my posts

And I'm not one to support mediocrity

But I feel you're too quick to judge situations.

What will you say about the "cast-off's" performance during the qualifiers or the friendly against Argentina

I'm one for continous improvement but we have to do the best we can with the kind of players have

After all, you can argue that the Iceland team is filled with average players but they topped a group which had Croatia with world class players

It's all about team effort