Papi85:
spot on sir, have said this before that we shouldn’t be crying about not having a natural number 10 in the super eagles because that role is gradually fading off

Modern football requires more of a CAM ( a hybrid of An Attacking midfielder and a Central midfielder) who primarily functions more as a CM but more unique n versatile due to passing ability and creative spark he produces but not as adventurous and flamboyant like what we had in the 80s,90s and 2000s. Even some tacticians of late deploy them as B/B midfielders. Good examples are De Bruyne, Fernandez, Valverde, Muller, Mount, Bellingham etc While the less physical and pacy ones are dropped deeper as DLP the way Ancelotti used Pirlo who was a natural number 10 but had to be dropped deeper by the Italian tactician to detect play as well as control the tempo of how his team want to play

Football hv evolved so much and lost its spark compared to years back due to the lack of mercurial attacking midfielders who brings entertainment, artistry and creativity that feeds fans with much excitement.

Players like jay jay, laudrup, zizou,Totti, baggio , Platini just to mention few I can remember now would hv struggled in this era if they were still playing active football

Players of their talent and skills are mostly pushed to the flanks and also instructed to drop back to help fullbacks when the team is chasing possession unlike what was obtainable many years ago

Football is too mechanical now and mostly based on team work, speed and work rate

Icon4s:


I remember that goal by the young Henry Nwosu during the 1982 World Cup qualifiers game against Guinea, played in 1981. It was the only goal of the match and took us to the next round of the qualifiers.

AndSunGorilla:

The disallowed goal against Cameroon in Maroc 88 is what I will never forget, that goal should have won us the game but was wrongly disallowed. Also I remember Keshi's free kicks hitting the crossbar maybe once or twice.

Icon4s:


This video just sums it up.
This is why we cannot have another JJ Okocha in the Super Eagles.

Mujtahida:

It pains me. I'm so used to the classic ten. All my football heroes from Diego to Zidane, Jay-Jay were all 10's.

Subzeroo:


Lol remove 0.1 from most of them and they are bad games

charlesemeka85:
the same reason players like ozil, James Rodriguez, Coutinho fizzled out easily in the modern game

Joebie:
Those are not games. You no sabi interpret data?

Nomyth:
Could the dearth of quality AMs in the National team be a direct consequence of our poor performance in youth football in recent years?

Our various youth teams have been the production line thru which we get quality Midfielders in the past.

Etim Esin, Mutiu Adepoju, Jay Jay okocha, Thompson Oliha,Wilson Oruma,pius Ikedia,Mikel obi, Haruna lookman all came thru the youth ranks.

Our local league hasn't really come thru for us in this regard with only Friday Ekpo the only quality Midfielder I can identify that the league has given us and it is not every time quality Midfielders pop up randomly in Europe. Only Sunday Oliseh, Joel obi and Obodo have popped up for some time.

We might need to pay more attention to the youth teams u17 to u23 if we need to discover more AMs for the NT.

BankyGee:
Kelechi Iheanacho dey pass ball abeg. That pass that started the buildup to the third goal 🥅 against Preston is just 😤😤😤

charlesemeka85:
the same reason players like ozil, James Rodriguez, Coutinho fizzled out easily in the modern game

Subzeroo:


If they are not games they are still poor, 7.1 rating is the average category

AndSunGorilla:

Maybe he enjoys his crassness? You know it's lonely at the top. Sometimes, being authentic could be the way some guys have to manage their stardom and loneliness at the top.

Kog45:
Ayo Ogunlana spent most of his life in Kaduna State and possibly still living in the north.

He made Nigeria team to Algier 90 as the oldest.In fact he made his eagles debut in 1981 but have Muda Lawal,Henry Nwosu and Ademola Adeshina to compete with.

Henry Nwosu and Ademola Adeshina made eagles at 17 years of age.Nwosu was barely 17 at Afcon 1980 and Adeshina 17 at Afcon 1982.

Papi85:
spot on sir, have said this before that we shouldn’t be crying about not having a natural number 10 in the super eagles because that role is gradually fading off

Modern football requires more of a CAM ( a hybrid of An Attacking midfielder and a Central midfielder) who primarily functions more as a CM but more unique n versatile due to passing ability and creative spark he produces but not as adventurous and flamboyant like what we had in the 80s,90s and 2000s. Even some tacticians of late deploy them as B/B midfielders. Good examples are De Bruyne, Fernandez, Valverde, Muller, Mount, Bellingham etc While the less physical and pacy ones are dropped deeper as DLP the way Ancelotti used Pirlo who was a natural number 10 but had to be dropped deeper by the Italian tactician to detect play as well as control the tempo of how his team want to play

Football hv evolved so much and lost its spark compared to years back due to the lack of mercurial attacking midfielders who brings entertainment, artistry and creativity that feeds fans with much excitement.

Players like jay jay, laudrup, zizou,Totti, baggio , Platini just to mention few I can remember now would hv struggled in this era if they were still playing active football

Players of their talent and skills are mostly pushed to the flanks and also instructed to drop back to help fullbacks when the team is chasing possession unlike what was obtainable many years ago

Football is too mechanical now and mostly based on team work, speed and work rate

daveP:
https://youtu.be/58iv7_DCL2U?si=Xk3YRBd7YPI2goCu


Who remembers this game? Kog45 most likely. A lot to see from the game. Esp as symptoms still persist. Chai. Seedorf na baba.

elyte89:



Den Dt means all dis while na we no get coach wey get sense to bring out d best in our midfield players

AndSunGorilla:

Yes now, if you look at Man City's team last season they had midfield controllers AM style midfielders or creative MFs like De Bruyne, Silva, Gundogan, Foden but on the flip side Liverpool never really used "AMs" or creative MFs and they got results when they needed to, especially when they won the EPL. Liverpool then had workhorses as midfielders, the likes of Henderson, Fabinho, Wijnaldum, Milner, there was nothing creative about those guys. My point is, it's the coaches job to find our strengths and play to it.

Papi85:
spot on sir, have said this before that we shouldn’t be crying about not having a natural number 10 in the super eagles because that role is gradually fading off

Modern football requires more of a CAM ( a hybrid of An Attacking midfielder and a Central midfielder) who primarily functions more as a CM but more unique n versatile due to passing ability and creative spark he produces but not as adventurous and flamboyant like what we had in the 80s,90s and 2000s. Even some tacticians of late deploy them as B/B midfielders. Good examples are De Bruyne, Fernandez, Valverde, Muller, Mount, Bellingham etc While the less physical and pacy ones are dropped deeper as DLP the way Ancelotti used Pirlo who was a natural number 10 but had to be dropped deeper by the Italian tactician to detect play as well as control the tempo of how his team want to play

Football hv evolved so much and lost its spark compared to years back due to the lack of mercurial attacking midfielders who brings entertainment, artistry and creativity that feeds fans with much excitement.

Players like jay jay, laudrup, zizou,Totti, baggio , Platini just to mention few I can remember now would hv struggled in this era if they were still playing active football

Players of their talent and skills are mostly pushed to the flanks and also instructed to drop back to help fullbacks when the team is chasing possession unlike what was obtainable many years ago

Football is too mechanical now and mostly based on team work, speed and work rate

Mujtahida:

This one is fairly recent na. Friendly match between naija and Netherlands as build up to France 98. Them thrash us. We also played friendly with Germany.

That Dutch team was brimming with talents all over. Bergkamp's goal against Argentina in the Q/final and Kluivert's header against Brazil in the semi final are some of the most delicious goals ever scored at a WC.

Napoleon55:

Good insight and spot on.
Even though I don't want to invite our man Thegoodjoe into this,
but I have to disagree on the part of Zidan and Totti,
They would have found a way to excel in the modern game.

elyte89:
So make we kuku dead dis Nwakali talks den ,na our coach no get sense😃😃

elyte89:
So make we kuku dead dis Nwakali talks den ,na our coach no get sense😃😃

charlesemeka85:
It’s seem some players are unsure of playing the friendlies in Portugal due to injuries

Aina and Toru hv been ruled out, also it’s like onyedika had a knock yesterday playing in the UECL

Ogbu should be invited asap as Toru’s replacement

TheSuperNerd:
Ndidi could pass this to Nacho yet Kvaratskhelia couldn't do a simpler pass to Osimhen yesterday vs Madrid.

Thunder, where are you??😡😡

charlesemeka85:
It’s seem some players are unsure of playing the friendlies in Portugal due to injuries

Aina and Toru hv been ruled out, also it’s like onyedika had a knock yesterday playing in the UECL

Ogbu should be invited asap as Toru’s replacement

TheSuperNerd:
Impossible to dead the talks that are relevant to the tactical improvement of our team especially in the middle game.

Someone telling you Liverpool won a few titles with just "work horse" midfielders is painting a very limited picture of how Liverpool played. They had a TAA who was the primary source of their creativity. Nigeria can't boast of such in any of our Fullbacks so it is very relevant to focus on what the team truly needs especially with respect to improving how we transit, how we build up sequences and how we get the best out of our attack.