abatically:

You call oboabona, MBA, mikel, Mubarak, azeez real talents? They are all average players at best. If these are the best Africans can produce then my point that we have no real talents is valid. Compare them with messi, Ronaldo, ibrahimovic, thiago Silva, ozil, David silva, Tony krooos, Thomas Muller,Gareth bale, koke, Rooney, van persie, Suarez, etc. These are real talents . Even Raheem sterling at 19 has more footballing brains than those players u listed.

hensben: [size=14pt]you mean that pass to anelka against wigan, if thats how you rate a player due to 3 games he made an impact then all players are equal in terms of quality,to think of, he was not even the best player on those games you highlighted.smh, even the worst midfielder in the world has made one or two passes that doesnt make him a good player, game consistency is what rate a player high, mikel has never been consistent in chelsea for one season since he arrived...he has been use as a squad player for chelsea, he has never been our best midfielder for one season so what are you talking about , clubs even dey make yanga to bid for him, a 26 years old for that matter, they cant even agree to pay his weekly salaries(65k ponds) when yaya toure 30 years old now dey receive bumper deal cos he is threatening man city that he want to leave.[/size]

abatically: It has been confirmed that Zuniga is not facing any punishment for his challenge on Neymar. We can all shut up now, move on and improve our football.

abatically:

My statement is very valid. So u agreed there was no real show of talent at AFCON 2013? When I said Africa has no real talent, it came with a little bit of sarcasm. It doesn't mean Africa has no talent at all.. but it is way way lower than what we see in European and South American tournaments. We only see flashes of amazing African talents at a very low pace. Like one African talent to 30 European and South American talents. The last AFCON says a lot, very boring and one dimensional, I couldn't even pick out ONE player with the brains of Iniesta, Xavi, Mata, Messi, Aguero, Suarez (when he behaves), Robben, Kroos, Rooney, Neymar, Reus, Ozil, Koke, etc. Even Yaya Toure that was supposed to stand out was screwed by his entire team. Africans so much believe in brute force and speed which is really affecting us. Football has changed from the days of long balls and giving the ball to wingers who use speed to get past opponents and cross into the box. A good example is our own Emenike. Powerful and fast player but lacks technical abilities required in modern football.

hensben: [size=13pt]and i say, i dont watch players highlights to judge them rather, their full match, how effective they are in a match thats what i watch, first i am a football FAN before been a chelsea Fan. we as nigerians thinks mikel is an important player coshe is a nigerian, he is the only nigeria player that play for big club, even though, him dey warm bench, as at now, mikel is not even in chelsea plan for next season so they are biding for pogba or kroos to add to fabregas......probably, if galasataray, inter milan agree to pay for his wage he will be sold...watch/listen to football transfer news from cnn,bbc, chelsea tv, and read football transfer news on net, you will be inform of whats happening in the world of football and do you even know, when its said a player make a decisive pass? i am not talking of side/back pass which mikel is known for by chelsea fan and anti-chelsea. oga, you are the ignorant one here, you just check stat instead of you to watch full matches.[/size]

vislabraye:


He's not a bad player, but in this tournament, he didn't put up a good fight as I said earlier before.
He literarily was not seen in some games especially our last match. You need to watch the match very well. Statistics will not always show you the picture. For instance one player could make 20 complete passes in a game against another who makes 10 complete passes.
But the first player 14 back passes to the goal keeper,while the 2nd player made some offensive passess

hensben: [size=14pt]tah! when i dey watch full chelsea match with or without mikel playing and you say make i go watch highlights and you sound as if na only QPR match i take dey judge mikel match performance even the worst player in the world get highlights for youtube, now i see, na highlights you dey watch , oga, try to dey watch full match and see players performance for 90 minutes.[/size]

abatically:

The kanu's? If u read my last comments I said Africa are producing less talents compared to the past. U are calling abedi pele, finidi George, drogba and etoo. I'm talking current, not past. The rate at which we produce talents is diminishing compared to the past. For example, Nigeria has not produced a single world class player since kanu nwankwo.

hensben: [size=14pt]yes a decisive pass is needed from a midfielder, watch other great midfielders like vidal, pirlo, essien in his days for chelsea, gerrard, even young pogba, these players play shot once a while in a match and score goals, their effectiveness and potential is seen in a match and they play same position with mikel, okay, answer this question, why were he warming the bench in most of the matches chelsea played last season? if he is that good or important for chelsea as you claim, dont use he is african as an excuse cos yaya toure boss man city, if he(toure) is not playing, man city will be missing. [/size]

vislabraye:


Beyond just watching you say ? Why do coaches prefer watching matches rather than just statistics ?
If you really want to know the type of tackles he made, the balls he won, then you will to watch those matches again ( if u have the time).
This is not to say Mikel is a bad player per se, but his performance was not inspiring.

hensben: [size=14pt]how decisive were those pass? instead a back/side pass , thats what you calculate to score mikel some cheap point..smh.[/size]

nonjebose: Why do you find it difficult to accept that Matuidi was better. Btw,have you ever wondered why the FIFA monthly ranking has little or no bearing on the perception of teams by soccer enthusiasts? Simple,statistics that are not objective. What tackles are they talking about? The guy was so confused in Brazil

hensben: [size=14pt]how decisive were those pass? instead a back/side pass , thats what you calculate to score mikel some cheap point..smh.[/size]

As a midfielder, he had to slip into the defence and you want decisive pass. Na wa.

hensben: [size=14pt]lol, go check meaning of magnificent and come back,yes he is suppose to have more cap because he has been in chelsea for long. chelsea FAN knows mikel is not an important player in chelsea, he is a squad player, dont worry, the day chelsea will sell him, go to any sport site and read fan comments, they will not even miss him. have you ask yourself, why luiz(a central defender) was use in the midfield in an important match last season instead of mikel(a midfielder)...mikel cant win a match cos he is zero at moving forward, play side/back pass for 90 minutes, zero interception, zero decisive pass, cant play free kick. mikel is aware he is not up to standard with other players preferred instead, so he is comfortable at warming bench, if he is that good as you claim, he would have ask for transfer all this while like mata, luiz, no club can pay what chelsea is paying him now(65k pounds), so he is comfortable in the bench receiving his money as a nigeria man wey him be.[/size]

abatically:

You mean players with flashes of potential that these teams buy and later sell them to some lower clubs when they find out they can't improve on their potentials? How many of these Africans in man city arsenal or Chelsea academy actually graduate to the first team?

hensben: [size=14pt]first of all, mikel have never been an important player for chelsea, he is a squad player, chelsea have a good relationship with africa players and our sporting director is a nigerian thats what is keeping mikel in chelsea, every coaches that come to chelsea always buy a DMF since essien game declined due to injury, ancelotti bought ramirez, n use him more instead of mikel, now mou came back and signed matic n use him instead of mikel, when mikel was signed by mou, he never used him more instead of essien or makelele cos they were extremely good then unlike mikel who have been average, he is just a squad player cos a club must have a 23 man team, you are just been sentimental and passionate about mikel, try to watch football with a neutral mind by doing that, you will know players that are average, good,very good, excellent and poor on the field of play.
fyi, mikel is lucky to chose chelsea over man united, if not, SAF would have dish him out for long, you know he doesnt have patient with africa players, remember djemba djemba, fortune, diouf and manucho...he prefers to play cleverly an english player...... mikel would have been playing at division 2 or cardiff city by now like manucho and diouf. so, he should be greatful to chelsea for keeping him as a squad player all these years.[/size]

mikeansy:

17 not far off from 27? In case you did not notice it's almost times 2!

Mr statistics how many passes did Mikel complete compare to Onazi?

How much ground did Mikel cover compared to Onazi?

I am not into criticising mikel too much but please don't compare him to onazi

hensben: [size=14pt]first of all, mikel have never been an important player for chelsea, he is a squad player, chelsea have a good relationship with africa players and our sporting director is a nigerian thats what is keeping mikel in chelsea, every coaches that come to chelsea always buy a DMF since essien game declined due to injury, ancelotti bought ramirez, n use him more instead of mikel, now mou came back and signed matic n use him instead of mikel, when mikel was signed by mou, he never used him more instead of essien or makelele cos they were extremely good then unlike mikel who have been average, he is just a squad player cos a club must have a 23 man team, you are just been sentimental and passionate about mikel, try to watch football with a neutral mind by doing that, you will know players that are average, good,very good, excellent and poor on the field of play.
fyi, mikel is lucky to chose chelsea over man united, if not, SAF would have dish him out for long, you know he doesnt have patient with africa players, remember djemba djemba, fortune, diouf and manucho...he prefers to play cleverly an english player...... mikel would have been playing at division 2 or cardiff city by now like manucho and diouf. so, he should be greatful to chelsea for keeping him as a squad player all these years.[/size]

hensben: [size=14pt]first of all, mikel have never been an important player for chelsea, he is a squad player, chelsea have a good relationship with africa players and our sporting director is a nigerian thats what is keeping mikel in chelsea, every coaches that come to chelsea always buy a DMF since essien game declined due to injury, ancelotti bought ramirez, n use him more instead of mikel, now mou came back and signed matic n use him instead of mikel, when mikel was signed by mou, he never used him more instead of essien or makelele cos they were extremely good then unlike mikel who have been average, he is just a squad player cos a club must have a 23 man team, you are just been sentimental and passionate about mikel, try to watch football with a neutral mind by doing that, you will know players that are average, good,very good, excellent and poor on the field of play.
fyi, mikel is lucky to chose chelsea over man united, if not, SAF would have dish him out for long, you know he doesnt have patient with africa players, remember djemba djemba, fortune, diouf and manucho...he prefers to play cleverly an english player...... mikel would have been playing at division 2 or cardiff city by now like manucho and diouf. so, he should be greatful to chelsea for keeping him as a squad player all these years.[/size]

vislabraye:


Based on what you watched, who was a better player amongst the two ?

abatically:

Dude, having a few African players here and there doesn't mean they are top talents. Pls can u name 5 current African players that are genuine world class. Don't include done players like etoo and drogba.

abatically:

Dude, having a few African players here and there doesn't mean they are top talents. Pls can u name 5 current African players that are genuine world class. Don't include done players like etoo and drogba.

abatically:

Suarez is a single player from Uruguayan team. Zuniga's challenge is part of what we see in football everyday. It is a different thing entirely when a whole team fights for money and boycott training and threaten to boycott a match. Jeez Ghana even flew $3 million cash to Brazil. What a disgrace.

abatically:

If a player is really good, trust me a top team will sign him irrespective of his race. George weah was named Fifa player of the year in 1995. Etoo, kanoute, KANU nwankwo, etc were all playing for top teams. It looks like Africa are producing less talents compared to the past.

If u think Europeans will always favor their players, what about the afcon nations cup. Can u compare the quality of football played with what we see in European or south american tournaments? Is it not the kick and follow football, long range shots with nothing to write home about in the technical aspect.

abatically:

If a player is really good, trust me a top team will sign him irrespective of his race. George weah was named Fifa player of the year in 1995. Etoo, kanoute, KANU nwankwo, etc were all playing for top teams. It looks like Africa are producing less talents compared to the past.

If u think Europeans will always favor their players, what about the afcon nations cup. Can u compare the quality of football played with what we see in European or south american tournaments? Is it not the kick and follow football, long range shots with nothing to write home about in the technical aspect.

abatically:

Yes that's right. People talking about more slots for Africa, I don't know if they realized 3 out of 5 countries for 2014 world cup had pay scandals. Now increase the slots to say 10, that means more pay scandals.... Bad image for the world cup. Let's sort ourselves out first before asking for more slots.

tuffgongjo: d slot was increase by sepp so that africa can support him ambitions(re-election)

abatically:

Ha ha ha, I said first 11 in top teams. In a continent where Mikel obi is the runners up of African player of the year says a lot.

omar22:

The continent of Africa has 52 countries and to have 3 slots out of 32 sounds totally unfair and Sepp Blatter doesn't need Europe to win the next 5 elections because he will get his votes from the Latin world, Asia and Africa, these were Mr Blatters promises when campaigning to become the FIFA president when Joao Havalenge retired. Its got nothing to do the African Market, How many replica shirt is sold in Africa? not many, actually low. ADIDAS makes more money from the Springbok (South African Cricket team) than football in Africa, The Jabulani was a huge flop

abatically:

Aside yaya toure, how many African players are playing top football. How many African players are in the first eleven of top football clubs? Real Madrid zero. Chelsea zero ( Mikel is a squad player, moses so bad they loaned him out), even arsenal that likes to buy cheap players don't have an African in their first eleven. Barcelona too, burussia Dortmund have only aubameyang, Bayern Munich have none (pls don't tell me alaba because he is not African anymore), Manchester united have non, Liverpool have none, PSG , atletico Madrid all have no Africans on their first eleven. So where are the talents?

hensben: [size=13pt]bro, the problem with mikel game is not effective thats the reason he warm bench for chelsea and he was awful in this WC, any midfielders that chelsea sign is always choosen ahead of mikel, that says it all. i am chelsea Fan, i watch him week in week out since he signed for chelsea, by now, he is suppose to be bossing our midfield, i always wish him well to succeed since he is chelsea and nigeria player...those midfielders you named to compare mikel stat in the WC play effective game unlike mikel, with your logic, lampard and gerrard are better than zidane because they have more goals than him right? football is not all about back/side pass to make up statistics, your over all work rate n effectiveness in a match that make you a great footballer, thats what coaches look after to feature a player regularly though, some coaches have favourite player in a team and nigeria lack good players thats what is making mikel a regular for super eagles since he play for chelsea even if na bench him dey warm, to talk of yobo still start for SE says it all....barca want to dish xavi out now, why? because age is telling on him now, he is slow and pass back/side pass just like mikel...go watch toni kroos of bayern/germany and see how a midfielder is suppose to play, mikel just trap the ball and waiting for opponent to guild with his nyansh, he lack mobility, agility and ball transition, in other words, he is not confident with what he will do next with the ball, he just too conscious to make mistake thereby, exposing him more as ineffective player.[/size]

abatically:

You are missing Gareth Bale, peter Cech, Marek Hamsik, Henrich Mkhitaryan.

Yes Africans are needed to promote global image, but FIFA makes only little money from Africa. Do u wanna talk about the empty Stadiums in South Africa 2010? Africa lack real talents and it looks like its getting worse. Africa had more stars in the 90's than they do right now.