The reason why no one is looking at the likes of ozil,isco,James Rodriguez and coutinho anymore
As an AM in today’s football if you are a liability of the ball and dances with the ball too much no coach needs you in his team. The best they can do for u is push you to the wings
Coutinho that used to play from the flanks at Liverpool and cut in with that his trade mark short ,I see coutinho as a winger despite him being an AM
Ozil has past his prime jare ,Na Isco own Dey surprise me
Actually Sadiq Umar has 8 goals and 7 assists in 19 matches. that is 15 goal involvements in 19 matchs (75%). Sadiq Umar is not about just goals, he is a creative forward like el hadj diof of the 2002 world cup. This is why there is interest in him. His underlying stats are impressive. He scores, assists, passes and dribbles. When he does not score, he completes 5 dribbles, wins penalties, creates 3 chances etc in a match. Sadiq Umar is the most creative forward we have. HIS CREATIVITY IS UNDERRATED. I MEAN EVEN MAN CITY AND SEVILLA IS INTERESTED IN HIM so we are not fools for talking about him. He is only in Almeria because his club refused to sell him by overpricing him
As per Nwakali, he as impressive last season as he saved Alcorcon from relegation and was player of the month for his club. Also, he is now a major part of the sd huesca team. In his last few matches, he was the best player on the pitch
Sir,I totally agreed with you on Sadiq Umar but on Nwakili...NO NO....Nwakili can only come in if Eguavoen is ready to do Maduka Okoye treatment on him like Rohr did with Okoye.
Kelechi Nwakili can only make it base on Eguavoen confidence but on his football assessment for years now,he deserve no eagles call.
komekn: It seems a lot of you are CAUGHT UP in a nostalgic era of entertainment football. Where dribbling, showboating without commensurate end product was the order of the day.
Sorry to inform you that FOOTBALL HAS MOVED ON, that kind of football is pleasing to the eyes but will not win you tournaments.
It's now about cohesion, work rate and END PRODUCT, I really do hope that my friend Eguavon is not sentimental and emotive about a bygone era that no longer exists.
It's the same mentality that makes you assess players based on youth football exploits of donkey years ago.
Dribbling showboating without end product is essentially rubbish in today's highly tactical and disciplined strategic planned football environment.
I remember when Mahrez, Raheem, etc did all that dribbling and showboating, they don't do that anymore , it's all about END PRODUCT
There is such emotive bias among many here some are blinded by sentiment based preference not HERE and NOW performance.
In this regard KC is off the boil , essentially out of his 5 seasons at Leicester in the EPL he has had only one very good season the rest 3 and a half have been abysmal. He should be dropped until he finds form for now.
The HERE and NOW forward players are Awoniyi and Dennis they are doing better than Victor O. as it stands currently. Many will not like that .
I really believe after suffering a serious fracture to the face including eye socket he should not be going to the AFCON. He should be allowed to recover properly and get match fit.
Nwakali is a non starter , has DONE NOTHING WHATSOEVER to deserve a call up to the SE, he is not even outstanding in the lower quality Segunda Division.
The hypocrisy and bigoted double standard we show here is mind boggling. When I would mention Nigerian origin players in the Championship, many here will be screaming bias and prejudice. That the Championship is a poor level for the SE.
Not too long ago our arguably best Midfielder Etebo, after a very good World cup went to Stoke in the Championship. I actually expected him to be the next Ngole Kante, but it didn't happen, he was ok but not outstanding in the league. That accolade of outstanding went to Olise, Eze, Ovie, etc
Luckily Etebo is in the EPL playing for Watford currently not too much to report he is injured and will be out for month's.
The Championship is a league where young players leave and go straight to the top leagues and clubs more than any other second tier league in Europe. Omar Richard left Reading straight to Bayern Munich another example.
We have centred on a very few number of players and ignored the rest, players who are not necessarily making waves.
We still talk about Sadiq from the Segunda Division on a very regular basis. Some even compare him to Adebayo giving him all kinds of accolades . He has scored 8 goals in the Segunda Divisions. Elijah who plays for Luton is not in the mix although he has scored 10 in the Championship. Personally I really don't rate both of them as SE quality.
Some have decided to practice quasi tribalism with Nigeria origin players in Europe Vs Nigerian players from Nigeria. Not sure why ❓are some more Nigerian than others. Showing prejudice and open discrimination.
Terms are used like " he is one of our own" etc it's just petty small minded ignorance and narrow mindedness. We even decide who we think is more patriotic in the Nigerian context.
What you wrote as per the highlighted portions is why I hate modern football. In fact, I spend my leisure time watching YouTube videos of old football matches or footballers of a bye-gone era. Like today, I watched Zidane's clips.
The beautiful game has become machine game - stats, stats and God damn stats. It's painful to watch particularly for some of us who watched football at a time when expressiveness was allowed and fused into the framework of productive outcomes.
Today in the the sick name of END PRODUCT beauty has been sucked out of football with an uncompromising viciousness that saddens me, flair swallowed by the aridity of numbers. In the temple of jogo Bonito, an alien god who spits out only stats and money has been erected and is now worshipped by devotees like you. In fact it is like the god of soccer has left the temple for demons of soccer.
As if when football was beautiful, teams did not win.
Zidane was elegant to watch. His haul of laurels tells us that a player can be a sweet, delightful maestro and be highly effective. He won everything of note there is to win in football - league titles, champions league, world cup.
Ronaldinho was a volcanic splurge of beauty and mesmeric speed. He was a winner. He was a unplayable and single handedly decided games.
Denis Bergkamp was a god of the first touch. His goal against Argentina in France 98 as was his goal against Newcastle in the EPL are the works of unrivaled genius. He won many trophies with Arsenal. And so were Maradona, Baggio, Kluivert, Van Basten, Zola and many other great players who played great football and also stood on podiums to receive accolades, recognitions, trophies and titles. They delivered END PRODUCTS and consistently too.
So this artless, cold, soulless football we play today, all in the name of winning is a travesty of the beautiful game. Football is meant to entertain - flicks, spins, roulette, silky moves, mazy runs, golazos, leg overs all go into the mix of winning or END PRODUCT as you tastelessly put it. One should not be sacrificed for the other.
I detest modern football with a passion. For me just as Socrates of Brazil said beauty comes first- victory is secondary. And yes, victory and beauty can be coupled together.
The truth is that it is because we do not have high thinkers that is why football has become so drab. All art is about the triumph of that which is beautiful. And football is an art. Europeans have turned it into a debilitating scientific exercise. I sometimes wish Europe is not the dominating center of world football. Even the Brazilians have been sucked into this vortex of wack football. Thank God for YouTube. I use it to remind myself of an era that is gone. Perhaps one day a generation of coaches will arise who will say no to machine football. But I doubt it.
What you wrote as per the highlighted portions is why I hate modern football. In fact, I spend my leisure time watching YouTube videos of old football matches or footballers of a bye-gone era. Like today, I watched Zidane's clips.
The beautiful game has become machine game - stats, stats and God damn stats. It's painful to watch particularly for some of us who watched football at a time when expressiveness was allowed and fused into the framework of productive outcomes.
Today in the the sick name of END PRODUCT the beauty has been sucked out of football with an uncompromising viciousness that saddens me, the flair swallowed by the aridity of numbers. In the temple of jogo Bonito, an alien god who spits out only stats and money has been erected and is now worshipped by devotees like you. In fact it is like the god of soccer has left the temple for demons of soccer.
As if when football was beautiful, teams did not win.
Zidane was elegant to watch. His haul of laurels tells us that a player can be a sweet, delightful maestro and be highly effective. He won everything of note there is to win in football - league titles, champions league, world cup.
Ronaldinho was a volcanic splurge of beauty and mesmeric speed. He was a winner. He was a unplayable and single handedly decided games.
Denis Bergkamp was a god of the first touch. His goal against Argentina in France 98 as was his goal against Newcastle in the EPL are the works of unrivaled genius. He won many trophies with Arsenal. And so were Maradona, Baggio, Kluivert, Van Basten, Zola and many other great players who played great football and also stood on podiums to receive accolades, recognitions, trophies and titles.
So this artless, cold, soulless football we play today, all in the name of winning is a travesty of the beautiful game. Football is meant to entertain - flicks, spins, roulette, silky moves, mazy runs, golazos, leg overs all go into the mix of win. One should not be sacrificed for the other.
I detest modern football with a passion. For me just as Socrates of Brazil said beauty comes first- victory is secondary. And yes, victory and beauty can be coupled together.
The truth is that it is because we do not have high thinkers that is why football has become so drab. All art is about the triumph of that which is beautiful. And football is an art. Europeans have turned it into a debilitating scientific exercise. I sometimes wish Europe was not the dominating center of world football. Even the Brazilians have been sucked into this vortex of wack football. Thank God for YouTube. I use it to remind myself of an era that is gone. Perhaps one day a generation of coaches will arise who will say no to machine football. But I doubt it.
Well, In my opinion, Guardiola still plays beautiful expressive football and that is why i like him. He in fact once said he does not play for tackles. Beautiful football will allways return and triumph in the end. If you are 3 goals down in a match you might need a Ronaldinho who does not mark to score and create 5 goals for you and this your statistic will fly out of the window. Anyway I THINK GUARDIOLA IS AN EXRESSION OF BEAUTIFUL FOOTBALL
What you wrote as per the highlighted portions is why I hate modern football. In fact, I spend my leisure time watching YouTube videos of old football matches or footballers of a bye-gone era. Like today, I watched Zidane's clips.
The beautiful game has become machine game - stats, stats and God damn stats. It's painful to watch particularly for some of us who watched football at a time when expressiveness was allowed and fused into the framework of productive outcomes.
Today in the the sick name of END PRODUCT the beauty has been sucked out of football with an uncompromising viciousness that saddens me, the flair swallowed by the aridity of numbers. In the temple of jogo Bonito, an alien god who spits out only stats and money has been erected and is now worshipped by devotees like you. In fact it is like the god of soccer has left the temple for demons of soccer.
As if when football was beautiful, teams did not win.
Zidane was elegant to watch. His haul of laurels tells us that a player can be a sweet, delightful maestro and be highly effective. He won everything of note there is to win in football - league titles, champions league, world cup.
Ronaldinho was a volcanic splurge of beauty and mesmeric speed. He was a winner. He was a unplayable and single handedly decided games.
Denis Bergkamp was a god of the first touch. His goal against Argentina in France 98 as was his goal against Newcastle in the EPL are the works of unrivaled genius. He won many trophies with Arsenal. And so were Maradona, Baggio, Kluivert, Van Basten, Zola and many other great players who played great football and also stood on podiums to receive accolades, recognitions, trophies and titles. They delivered END PRODUCTS and consistently too.
So this artless, cold, soulless football we play today, all in the name of winning is a travesty of the beautiful game. Football is meant to entertain - flicks, spins, roulette, silky moves, mazy runs, golazos, leg overs all go into the mix of winning or END PRODUCT as you tastelessly put it. One should not be sacrificed for the other.
I detest modern football with a passion. For me just as Socrates of Brazil said beauty comes first- victory is secondary. And yes, victory and beauty can be coupled together.
The truth is that it is because we do not have high thinkers that is why football has become so drab. All art is about the triumph of that which is beautiful. And football is an art. Europeans have turned it into a debilitating scientific exercise. I sometimes wish Europe was not the dominating center of world football. Even the Brazilians have been sucked into this vortex of wack football. Thank God for YouTube. I use it to remind myself of an era that is gone. Perhaps one day a generation of coaches will arise who will say no to machine football. But I doubt it.
oga forget this your long epistle football has gone beyond fancy moves, flicks and flamboyant moves
Now it’s more scientific and result oriented so coaches of nowadays do not tolerate players with loads of skills and fancy foot work without work rate
If you like dance the whole pitch but a liability off the ball nothing for you
What you wrote as per the highlighted portions is why I hate modern football. In fact, I spend my leisure time watching YouTube videos of old football matches or footballers of a bye-gone era. Like today, I watched Zidane's clips.
The beautiful game has become machine game - stats, stats and God damn stats. It's painful to watch particularly for some of us who watched football at a time when expressiveness was allowed and fused into the framework of productive outcomes.
Today in the the sick name of END PRODUCT the beauty has been sucked out of football with an uncompromising viciousness that saddens me, the flair swallowed by the aridity of numbers. In the temple of jogo Bonito, an alien god who spits out only stats and money has been erected and is now worshipped by devotees like you. In fact it is like the god of soccer has left the temple for demons of soccer.
As if when football was beautiful, teams did not win.
Zidane was elegant to watch. His haul of laurels tells us that a player can be a sweet, delightful maestro and be highly effective. He won everything of note there is to win in football - league titles, champions league, world cup.
Ronaldinho was a volcanic splurge of beauty and mesmeric speed. He was a winner. He was a unplayable and single handedly decided games.
Denis Bergkamp was a god of the first touch. His goal against Argentina in France 98 as was his goal against Newcastle in the EPL are the works of unrivaled genius. He won many trophies with Arsenal. And so were Maradona, Baggio, Kluivert, Van Basten, Zola and many other great players who played great football and also stood on podiums to receive accolades, recognitions, trophies and titles. They delivered END PRODUCTS and consistently too.
So this artless, cold, soulless football we play today, all in the name of winning is a travesty of the beautiful game. Football is meant to entertain - flicks, spins, roulette, silky moves, mazy runs, golazos, leg overs all go into the mix of winning or END PRODUCT as you tastelessly put it. One should not be sacrificed for the other.
I detest modern football with a passion. For me just as Socrates of Brazil said beauty comes first- victory is secondary. And yes, victory and beauty can be coupled together.
The truth is that it is because we do not have high thinkers that is why football has become so drab. All art is about the triumph of that which is beautiful. And football is an art. Europeans have turned it into a debilitating scientific exercise. I sometimes wish Europe was not the dominating center of world football. Even the Brazilians have been sucked into this vortex of wack football. Thank God for YouTube. I use it to remind myself of an era that is gone. Perhaps one day a generation of coaches will arise who will say no to machine football. But I doubt it.
Playing as a 10 doesn't require just good dribbling skills but also good decision making.. Ejuke in my opinion still needs to improve on his decision making.. I don't buy into the idea of using him as a 10.. He isn't familiar with the role...
That is why playing as a teen might help him. Is just like Grealish. He is a natural in playing the false nine role but his final decision making as a wing forward is poor.
That is why Guardiola keeps playing him wide.
I don't believe a forward can not play the creative role. It just takes training and understanding.
If Eguavoen can train him to play that role, he can become an asset.
charlesemeka85: oga forget this your long epistle football has gone beyond fancy moves, flicks and flamboyant moves
Now it’s more scientific and result oriented so coaches of nowadays do not tolerate players with loads of skills and fancy foot work without work rate
If you like dance the whole pitch but a liability off the ball nothing for you
You missed the kernel of my point which is that the two can go together. The thrust of my submission is that at the time teams were not so consumed with statistics, did they not win? For example watch Zidane against Brazil in Germany 06. That was a magisterial performance yet he was highly effective. In fact the only goal of the match was orchestrated by him. And even during the Era I'm referring to, in a team of 22 players you'd find maybe just two or three who color the match with flicks and dribbles. It's not like the whole team is given to dribbling. But today we want to eradicate the few who play with flair and brand them as ineffective time wasters.
It's just a mindset to think that beauty in the way of artistic expression of skills and techniques need not be part of modern football. It has nothing to do with winning or effectiveness.
You missed the kernel of my point which is that the two can go together. The thrust of my submission is that at the time teams were not so consumed with statistics, did they not win? For example watch Zidane against Brazil in Germany 06. That was a magisterial performance yet he was highly effective. In fact the only goal of the match was orchestrated by him. And even during the Era I'm referring to, in a team of 22 players you'd find maybe just two or three who color the match with flicks and dribbles. It's not like the whole team is given to dribbling. But today we want the eradicate the few who play with flair.
It's just a mindset to think that beauty in the way of artistic expression of skills and techniques need not be part of modern football. It has nothing to do with winning or effectiveness.
He won't say he doesn't know what you're talking about. Just vain "agidi" attempt to stifle your opinion
komekn: It seems a lot of you are CAUGHT UP in a nostalgic era of entertainment football. Where dribbling, showboating without commensurate end product was the order of the day.
Sorry to inform you that FOOTBALL HAS MOVED ON, that kind of football is pleasing to the eyes but will not win you tournaments.
It's now about cohesion, work rate and END PRODUCT, I really do hope that my friend Eguavon is not sentimental and emotive about a bygone era that no longer exists.
It's the same mentality that makes you assess players based on youth football exploits of donkey years ago.
Dribbling showboating without end product is essentially rubbish in today's highly tactical and disciplined strategic planned football environment.
I remember when Mahrez, Raheem, etc did all that dribbling and showboating, they don't do that anymore , it's all about END PRODUCT.
There is such emotive bias among many here some are blinded by sentiment based preference not HERE and NOW performance.
In this regard KC is off the boil , essentially out of his 5 seasons at Leicester in the EPL he has had only one very good season the rest 3 and a half have been abysmal. He should be dropped until he finds form for now.
The HERE and NOW forward players are Awoniyi and Dennis they are doing better than Victor O. as it stands currently. Many will not like that .
I really believe after suffering a serious fracture to the face including eye socket he should not be going to the AFCON. He should be allowed to recover properly and get match fit.
Nwakali is a non starter , has DONE NOTHING WHATSOEVER to deserve a call up to the SE, he is not even outstanding in the lower quality Segunda Division.
The hypocrisy and bigoted double standard we show here is mind boggling. When I would mention Nigerian origin players in the Championship, many here will be screaming bias and prejudice. That the Championship is a poor level for the SE.
Not too long ago our arguably best Midfielder Etebo, after a very good World cup went to Stoke in the Championship. I actually expected him to be the next Ngole Kante, but it didn't happen, he was ok but not outstanding in the league. That accolade of outstanding went to Olise, Eze, Ovie, etc
Luckily Etebo is in the EPL playing for Watford currently not too much to report he is injured and will be out for month's.
The Championship is a league where young players leave and go straight to the top leagues and clubs more than any other second tier league in Europe. Omar Richard left Reading straight to Bayern Munich another example.
We have centred on a very few number of players and ignored the rest, players who are not necessarily making waves.
We still talk about Sadiq from the Segunda Division on a very regular basis. Some even compare him to Adebayo giving him all kinds of accolades . He has scored 8 goals in the Segunda Divisions. Elijah who plays for Luton is not in the mix although he has scored 10 in the Championship. Personally I really don't rate both of them as SE quality.
Some have decided to practice quasi tribalism with Nigeria origin players in Europe Vs Nigerian players from Nigeria. Not sure why ❓are some more Nigerian than others. Showing prejudice and open discrimination.
Terms are used like " he is one of our own" etc it's just petty small minded ignorance and narrow mindedness. We even decide who we think is more patriotic in the Nigerian context.
You have some points but you are missing some things.
Manchester City under Guardiola is a team that abides strictly to modern football but we still need that show boating to stand out.
I use the term show boating because we can easily pass out of some of those situations but you still need some skillset to keep the players off position.
Foden, Bernardo Silva, Mahrez, Rodri, Stones, Laporte, Cancelo, are players that show made flashes of brilliance with respect to their technique.
So skills, is even needed more in the modern game than in the past.
To the Super Eagles, when Guardiola blasted the Bayern Munich players for overpassing, there is a term he hammered on. DNA.
He made it known that the modern game is an adaptation but a team must keep its identity.
Even though I share different ideas with Eguavoen, he is right when he points out that we must recognize our DNA. No matter how much we adapt to the modern game.
komekn: It seems a lot of you are CAUGHT UP in a nostalgic era of entertainment football. Where dribbling, showboating without commensurate end product was the order of the day.
Sorry to inform you that FOOTBALL HAS MOVED ON, that kind of football is pleasing to the eyes but will not win you tournaments.
It's now about cohesion, work rate and END PRODUCT, I really do hope that my friend Eguavon is not sentimental and emotive about a bygone era that no longer exists.
It's the same mentality that makes you assess players based on youth football exploits of donkey years ago.
Dribbling showboating without end product is essentially rubbish in today's highly tactical and disciplined strategic planned football environment.
I remember when Mahrez, Raheem, etc did all that dribbling and showboating, they don't do that anymore , it's all about END PRODUCT.
There is such emotive bias among many here some are blinded by sentiment based preference not HERE and NOW performance.
In this regard KC is off the boil , essentially out of his 5 seasons at Leicester in the EPL he has had only one very good season the rest 3 and a half have been abysmal. He should be dropped until he finds form for now.
The HERE and NOW forward players are Awoniyi and Dennis they are doing better than Victor O. as it stands currently. Many will not like that .
I really believe after suffering a serious fracture to the face including eye socket he should not be going to the AFCON. He should be allowed to recover properly and get match fit.
Nwakali is a non starter , has DONE NOTHING WHATSOEVER to deserve a call up to the SE, he is not even outstanding in the lower quality Segunda Division.
The hypocrisy and bigoted double standard we show here is mind boggling. When I would mention Nigerian origin players in the Championship, many here will be screaming bias and prejudice. That the Championship is a poor level for the SE.
Not too long ago our arguably best Midfielder Etebo, after a very good World cup went to Stoke in the Championship. I actually expected him to be the next Ngole Kante, but it didn't happen, he was ok but not outstanding in the league. That accolade of outstanding went to Olise, Eze, Ovie, etc
Luckily Etebo is in the EPL playing for Watford currently not too much to report he is injured and will be out for month's.
The Championship is a league where young players leave and go straight to the top leagues and clubs more than any other second tier league in Europe. Omar Richard left Reading straight to Bayern Munich another example.
We have centred on a very few number of players and ignored the rest, players who are not necessarily making waves.
We still talk about Sadiq from the Segunda Division on a very regular basis. Some even compare him to Adebayo giving him all kinds of accolades . He has scored 8 goals in the Segunda Divisions. Elijah who plays for Luton is not in the mix although he has scored 10 in the Championship. Personally I really don't rate both of them as SE quality.
Some have decided to practice quasi tribalism with Nigeria origin players in Europe Vs Nigerian players from Nigeria. Not sure why ❓are some more Nigerian than others. Showing prejudice and open discrimination.
Terms are used like " he is one of our own" etc it's just petty small minded ignorance and narrow mindedness. We even decide who we think is more patriotic in the Nigerian context.
Many are still stuck in history , that type of football is will see get slaughtered now.
They really don't understand football has moved on.
We understand full well that football has moved on. It is a matter of finding the direction it has moved to unacceptable. That you accept this new face of football does not bequeath on you more understanding of football than the rest of us who decry the current style of football. And I pretty well know that I am kicking against the goads. That's why I say it's a bye-gone era.
I actually think Bernardo Silva is the best player in the world (personal preference) but I think he signifies the kind of flair and trickery of the modern game.
It has a lot to do with intelligence and making fast decisions. Do your tricks fast and get on with it.
I have been reading Ejuke is poor in decision making and i want to address that misinformation.
I am not in any way saying he should man the AM role. He suits best as a winger.
There is nothing special about the AM role. Wingers can also dictate play and create goal scoring chances. Wingers can link the midfield with the attack. EJuke does that for CSKA Moscow from the wings, his speed and technique enables him to do that.
I also want to point out the fact that no player in the current crop has more technique than Ejuke. Even Ebere Eze and Olise do not show the same level of technique as Ejuke.
Iwobi and Ejuke are even better candidates for the AM role than the Aribo some of you guys keep mentioning.
Technique is not step over and dribbles bro, currently Aribo has the best first touch in the world (go and check football manager) and it is an insult to compare him to Ejuke on technique
Showing prejudice and open discrimination.