Yakubu and Yobo not good for the Nigerian team because their name begins with 'Y' . But Yusuf is good

Muhammad Yusuf had a clunker, a nightmate, against Egypt, people that KNOW NOTHING about football (and some are brain dead) start saying he is not SE material.

In the last 2 games I can't recall a single cross from his wing. He has shut that wing down.

I don't think he is playing to his potential, attacking-wise, yet and that is not his fault. Anytime he makes a run on the wing, his team mates choose to go middle and use him as a decoy. I am thinking maybe they don't have confidence in him that much because I think they should be using him more.

okunoba:

Too many people with nothing good to say, your team won by 3 goals to nil and u still so negative. Yakubu and Amodu did well this time around. We should be singing their praise. The game was a joy to watch.

Yakubu ran his guts out today. His movement was better (one led to a goal) and he was marking upfront. Better than the first 2 games but still not up to par of what is expected of him.

Obasi is always useless in the second halves.

Sagamite:

When Amodu took Shittu and Martins, people are screaming he is taking unfit players.

Now someone come and tell me Shittu is not fit. He is the true captain of SE even if does not have the band. Commitment and vocal.

The most impressive moment was when he was being carried out for treatment vs Benin for slamming his yansh on the floor, he turned around and was shouting instructions to his team members. Fuu.cking Leader!!!

Yobo should go to hell.

I think Shittu should be captain

Project Topic:MARRY NOT AN UNLUCKY WOMAN: A Case Study Of Yobo!!!

Yakubu always scored more goals than Obafemi Martins when they both played in the premiership. I never liked Martins as a striker, he was too wastefull in front of goal when he was at Newcastle United, always blasting the ball unlike Yakubu who was alot more clinical in front of goal.

No one as scored more goals 4 Nigeria than Yakubu in the present SE team. Non. He might be going through a bad spell due to injury and fitness, but there is no doubt he his the best Nigerian goal poacher out there. The record is out 4 all to see.

If Odemwinge continue to take chances like this once in a while he will always rescue Nigeria in most games we play.

Most of his passes are usually wasted by the strikers.

deb:

@Sagamite,

Shittu is a great player. I've never doubted his leadership ability and committment on the field of play.
My challenge with Amodu was using Nnwaneri over him against Egypt.

Yobo is a disaster and his presence is no longer needed in that team. Even when he is fit he commits school
boy blunders

Trust Naija football fans.   No allowances for a bad day in the office.

Make una praise Yakubu small now    The guy actually ran his socks off today. Well, relatively speaking.

This is what i was telling a friend a few weeks ago. Yobo is our problem in the defence. In all the friendly matches and qualifiers we play without Yobo, we did not concede a goal, execpt the one aganost Ireland. There is still room for improvement on the part of our players. Odemwinge held on to the ball for too long, Yakubu did not support the midfield  and he lost so many begging chances. For someone who complained of not getting the ball, he loses the ball too often.Martins first shot was a goal. Mikel was for most part of the game rusty, Yusuf Mohammed was slow in recovering, the coach was not reading the game properly, as he ought to have changed the formation to 4-4-2,Due to the fact that the Mozambiquians where overpowering Yakubu. The only person that stood out for me was the goalkeeper, Vincent Enyeama for his alertness all through the game. He seems to perform better without Yobo on the field My player rating would be

Vincent Enyeama---------------- 8.5       was commanding in goal all through the match

Yusuf Mohamed------------------ 6.5    lost the ball so many times

Danny Shittu---------------------- 7      Did what needed to be done, was really caught off guard

Onyeakachi Apam---------------- 7      Provided good defensive cover in goal

Elderson Echiejile---------------- 7       Was good defensively but did not provide additional support to the front line

Dickson Etuhu ------------------- 6.5    Provided support for the back four when nessecary

Sani Kaita ------------------------ 7       By far the most active midfielder of the day. Showed great determination for every ball

John Obi Mikel------------------- 6.5     A shawdow of Holland 2005. Was expected to be mobile but he wasn't. Lost the ball too often

Peter Odemwingie-------------- 8.5    One of the better players of Nigeria in the match.Showed purpose and determination from the blast of the whistle

Yakubu Aiyegbeni--------------- 6.5    Except for the pass that gave Nigeria her second goal, he did'nt really do much.

Chinedu Obasi Ogbuke--------- 7      Covered his end very well. He did particularly well back tracking for Echiejile any time the latter went forward

Yusuf Ayila------------------------- 6      There wasn't enough time to judge the fellow

Obinna Nsofor-------------------- 7      Showed great determination with the ball. Combined brilliantly with Obafemi Martins

Obafemi Martins------------------ 7.5  Showed what a hardworker he was. His goal scored in less than 15minutes of makes one wonder why Yakubu Aiyegbeni starts before him.

I think Shittu should be captain

I don't think our technical crew is so brilliant to realize that he is worth being made a captain.
Lots of sentiments go into what we do in our country. Its a general problem.

And why has no one mentioned my Osaze? Another patriotic player like Shittu always putting his heart
into every match

great game

Whats with all these praises? WHo una play? Mozambique!!. . .

If you cant show your qualities versus top teams like Egypt. . . .Then you dont worth jack shi.t to the team!. . . .

Win versus a lesser opponent and then we rain down praises. . . .KMT. . . .Lets see the performance in the Quaters!

When they get to the finals . . .i'll rejoice.

Yusuf Mohamed------------------ 6.5    lost the ball so many times

I use to be is no.1 critic but after today, I will say that he is gaining more confidence and playing better.
Can't remember him losing ball as much as you positioned but if you had said he is not very creative with causing danger  
when pushing the ball forward i would have agreed with you on that. I still miss Odiah, except he is not fit.

For now I can't condemn Amodu because he has won 3 - 0 even though it is against Mozambique, it is still a good score
line. Its the type that you should expect from Eagles against the so called african "minnows". It could have been 4-0 remember?
if not for Nsofor's miss

lalaboi:

Whats with all these praises? WHo una play? Mozambique!!. . .

If you cant show your qualities versus top teams like Egypt. . . .Then you dont worth jack shi.t to the team!. . . .

Win versus a lesser opponent and then we rain down praises. . . .KMT. . . .Lets see the performance in the Quaters!

its all about improvement bro best match of the 3, defence on point, but that attck needs work

nice interview by osaze, its for Jos

Whats with all these praises? WHo una play? Mozambique!!. . .

If you cant show your qualities versus top teams like Egypt. . . .Then you dont worth jack shi.t to the team!. . . .

Win versus a lesser opponent and then we rain down praises. . . .KMT. . . .Lets see the performance in the Quaters!

1-0 victory (could have been 2-1 loss )  against Benin - Condemned

3-0 (could have been 4-0) victory against Mozambique worth praising.

And trust me, Egypt is not as superb, we made them look great by giving them too much space to run with the ball.
We still haven't corrected that mistake. Even today we gave Mozambique lots of spaces to make cracking shots. Thanks to Enyeanma

okunoba:

Yakubu always scored more goals than Obafemi Martins when they both played in the premiership. I never liked Martins as a striker, he was too wastefull in front of goal when he was at Newcastle United, always blasting the ball unlike Yakubu who was alot more clinical in front of goal.

No one as scored more goals 4 Nigeria than Yakubu in the present SE team. Non. He might be going through a bad spell due to injury and fitness, but there is no doubt he his the best Nigerian goal poacher out there. The record is out 4 all to see.

You are not making sense; Martins has a better goals ratio for Nigeria than Yakubu. I don't care how many goals they scored for their teams.

, Just glad we advanced 2 the next stage.

Ggood game from the super eagles who look like they may just be beginning to fly. Peter Odemwingie has to take the credit for this one as his first goal gave us a huge morale booster and his second gave us a two goal cushion which enabled us to take control. Honorable mention goes to the members of the defensive side of the team, Enyeama, Etuhu, Kaita, Yusuf,Echiejile, Apam and most especially one of our most underated players, Danny Shittu.This guy is to Nigeria wat vidic is to man united. we must now consolidate or position having made progress and the next step is to sort out the attack.Mikel is just not doing his job as an attacking midfielder. a lot of criticism has been given to yakubu and although he has missed some great chances, in his defence, he is playing up front on his own and if you watch closely you will observe that when he has the ball there is almost no one near him to offer support. generally this s one big fault in Nigeria's game. the moment we enter the attacking third everything seems to get stifled. odemwingie sometimes appears to be operating on a mental level far above his fellow forwards with the exception of martins. If we are going to the world cup with any expectation of a respectable showing we must get our forwards clicking.

P.sGuys lets have a little patience with yobo. This guy is one of the last giants of the "okocha" era. Men who gave meaning to the name "super eagles". Even with his bad performances of late let us not forget What he has done in the past. A true legend.

bee444:

The problem with this team is their approach to the game. They are too slow when in posession of the ball, if they can move the ball faster on the field the team may go far in the tournament.

Correct; the players or the coach seems to think the Nigerian players are Spanish. Mikel holds on to the ball like he is Xavi and still gets hustled off the ball.

Once the SE play well against a quality opponent, I will praise Amodu and his boys. Until then, they are an unfit team who rely on luck to win.  It is particularly sad when you see NLs over-celebrating a win over Mozambique, which is clearly not a quality team. We shall see in the quarters, insha Allah.

You are not making sense; Martins has a better goals ratio for Nigeria than Yakubu. I don't care how many goals they scored for their teams.

You are wrong! Yakubu is Eagles' highest goal scorerer after Rashidi Yekini.

Amodu shd appoint a leader for d team as d 1 he's chosen is incapacitated by senility.

I suggest Odemwingie/Mikel

Kgdavid:

Ggood game from the super eagles who look like they may just be beginning to fly. Peter Odemwingie has to take the credit for this one as his first goal gave us a huge morale booster  and his second gave us a two goal cushion which enabled us to take control. Honorable mention goes to the members of the defensive side of the team, Enyeama, Etuhu, Kaita, Yusuf,Echiejile, Apam and most especially one of our most underated players, Danny Shittu.This guy is to Nigeria wat vidic is to man united. we must now consolidate or position having made progress and the next step is to sort out the attack.Mikel is just not doing his job as an attacking midfielder. a lot of criticism has been given to yakubu and although he has missed some great chances, in his defence, he is playing up  front on his own and if you watch closely you will observe that when he has the ball there is almost no  one near him to offer support. generally this s one big fault in Nigeria's game. the moment we enter the attacking third everything seems to get stifled. odemwingie sometimes appears to be operating on a mental level far above his fellow forwards with the exception of martins.  If we are going to the world cup with any expectation of a respectable showing we must get our forwards clicking.

P.sGuys lets have a little patience with yobo. This guy is one of the last giants of the "okocha" era. Men who gave meaning to the name "super eagles". Even with his bad performances of late let us not forget What he has done in the past. A true legend.

Sensible post except that you ignored the following points
Yakubu is not mobile; its as if he is waiting for a one on one with the goalkeepers. Did you see the difference with Martin? By being Mobile, opposing defenders come out of the box but with Yakubu standing on the edge of the box, opposing defenders stay in box and make it more difficult for him to run on to through balls.

Also, Yobo always falls asleep. He does it for botyh club and country. I can rememer a few goals he was at fault. CIV in 2006, long ball over his head; Benin in 2006; static as Ogunbiyi went past him to head a corner; 2 goals against Egypt. If Yobo must play, then let him play 2 as I prefer Shittu, Apam and Adeleye ahead of him in central defense.

deb:

You are wrong! Yakubu is Eagles' highest goal scorerer after Rashidi Yekini.

I said goals ratio not highest goals scored

    PLAYER      Goals Caps Ave.
4. O. Martins       15 26 0.58
12. Y. Aiyegbeni 18 46 0.39

I suggest Odemwingie/Mikel

Confused at your choice of Mikel

I said goals ratio not highest goals scored

Could you explain what you mean by goal ratio? please come to my level

deb:

1-0 victory (could have been 2-1 loss ) against Benin - Condemned

3-0 (could have been 4-0) victory against Mozambique worth praising.

And trust me, Egypt is not as superb, we made them look great by giving them too much space to run with the ball.
We still haven't corrected that mistake. Even today we gave Mozambique lots of spaces to make cracking shots. Thanks to Enyeanma

If any team want to be taking shots from 35 yards plus, I am very cool with that.

Bar the header from a cross from the left, Mozambique did not move near our goal.

deb:

Could you explain what you mean by goal ratio? please come to my level

See below

Katsumoto:

I said goals ratio not highest goals scored

    PLAYER      Goals Caps Ave.
4. O. Martins       15 26 0.58
12. Y. Aiyegbeni 18 46 0.39

I said goals ratio not highest goals scored

PLAYER Goals Caps Ave.
4. O. Martins 15 26 0.58
12. Y. Aiyegbeni 18 46 0.39

Quite revealing. Thanks

deb:

Confused at your choice of Mikel

Give d boy some responsibility. This tin's not by age. I'm sure he'll do well

Anyone who thinks Yakubu had a good game needs to be lobotomised.

First of all, he does not press the opposing defence, allowing them free rein to bring the ball into midfield.

Secondly, there are numerous instances where the midfield could play through passes to Yak, but he is too flat-footed/fat/old (call it whatever you want).

We played more balls behind the defence in the 20 mins Martins/Nsofor were on the pitch than the entire 70mins Yak was on the pitch.

Man cannot cheat time. Yakubu started playing for Okomo oil exactly 15 years ago.

Before that, the man who discovered him said he "was a painter and a poor man, but he had some skill".

If he was "a painter and a poor man" prior to 1995, how old was he when he started playing for Okomu oil?

Yakubu is no less than 35 years old, and it shows in his play.

Just look at the physiological changes in his body since he came on the scene in 2000. Yakubu was once one of the fastest players in SE. Today he is the slowest.

Man cannot cheat time.


There are 4 cancers in the team that we must get rid of immediately (Yobo, Yakubu, Kanu, Olofinjana). Until we do this, we are deceiving ourselves.

When other players see these players not playing at their physical best, they will also cut corners. . . . especially when these players are the captains of the team.