Icon4s:


Yahaya is yet to clock 18 & so no professional contract yet. He trains with dU19 team. There is another Nigerian called Dele Alli at Tottenham (19yrs old).

ManCity needs to win at all cost against Sunderland so Iheanacho cannot start that match. No room for gamble as Manu are jst 2 pts behind.

safarigirl:
oh, thought the Sunderland game is a Cup game

safarigirl:
oh, thought the Sunderland game is a Cup game

TheGoodJoe:


How can he not be there? Aguero did not score, I guess he is not there. Sterling did not score, I guess he is not there. Please. Michael Owen was seventeen when he started scoring for fun in the EPL. Martial is nineteen and he is making the EPL look easy.

Nacho is up to the task if not he would not be on the bench for City. Get it again, Pellegrini chose not to replace Dzeko because of Nacho. You do not get that statement. Dzeko is one of the best strikers in the world. He left and Pellegrini trusted Nacho to replace. That is enough to calm your pessimistic writing.

Icon4s:


Bc he scored a rebound dat any City player could have scored if he was in that position?

I say again calm it Iheanacho is not there yet.

Icon4s:


Bc he scored a rebound dat any City player could have scored if he was in that position?

I say again calm it Iheanacho is not there yet.

Icon4s:


Bc he scored a rebound dat any City player could have scored if he was in that position?

I say again calm it Iheanacho is not there yet.

TheGoodJoe:


Not any other player would have scored that goal. When Nasri took that shot, watch the replay again. Nacho was behind the defenders. It was not just a rebound. Nasri took the shot, Nacho was behind the defenders. Before the keeper and defenders could react, Nacho ran past the defenders to the ball and he nicked the ball with his outside foot to score.

For you to say any other City player would have scored it shows you are just running around this thread with hate.

If Nacho was not good, he would not be among the players in one of the most expensive and the most talented squads in Europe.

TheGoodJoe:



How can Nacho not be there yet when Pellegrini let a great player like Dzeko and Jovetic leave to keep Nacho. Please I trust Pellegrini's instinct after he has worked with Superstars like Pires, Riquelme, Sorin, Senna, Rossi, Forlan and many more.

If Pellegrini feels Nacho is good enough for him to let Dzeko and Jovetic go, that is good enough for me to know Nacho is ready.

TheSuperNerd:
Oh no Sir....... Honestly, not just any player would hv converted that chance. Nacho's fast-growing positional intelligence, excellent finishing and Speed (as he sneaked in between 2 dfs and beat the Gk to d ball) were all called into play.

I know some people would want to take the shine off Nacho's goal. It's quite Unfortunate.

Even Top man city fans in England tweeted the following: "if Bony had that particular, he would have hit it to the keeper and it goes out for a corner or he would not have gotten to the ball at all........."

What does that tell you?

Nacho isn't exactly the finished article yet but pls take no shine off that kid. I understand ur reservations based on having seen many exciting young talents come and go but that shouldn't keep you in the pessimism arena always........ *smiles*

Nacho, Yahaya, Success, Awoniyi and a couple of others are out to show the world that a new era has dawned.

Or would you say Man utd's Anthony Martial is still not ready despite his exploits so far?

joseph1013:


On Saturday, Man City fielded the most expensive lineup in all of UK's history. Think about it: They spent top pounds to assemble talents that were worth more than the great squads of Manchester United and Chelsea in the past. What does this mean? They want to win and want it fast. In the midst of the most expensive squad of all of Britain in history, they kept faith with a young 18-year old who is not English. That's a big deal, mehn. It's a big deal! Tell me how many top players in England would make that first team? How many Strikers in the Premier League are better than Dzeko?

Even Kompany knows this. Look at what he said:

“At the moment it looks like Kelechi is third in the pecking order (of strikers), and at his young age and at this kind of club, it’s a massive achievement already."

joseph1013:


How can he say any player would have scored that goal? I know for sure that Bony would not have scored that goal. After the game, alot of fans who have watched Kelechi since he signed for them felt justified and kept wondering why he didnt introduce him for Bony much earlier. I'm suspecting icon and his hatred for Kelechi

TheGoodJoe:


I understand the frustration of the City fans. When Nacho scored, they yelled repeatedly "I TOLD YOU SO, I TOLD YOU SO."

The City fans believe Nacho is the real deal and they want Bony dropped by Pellegrini. But, Pellegrini can not just do that because there is a huge potential in Bony. I feel Pellegrini thinks he can find the force in him that led Bony to score 31 goals in 30 matches in Netherlands. He is working on Bony.

But I feel we should not wait too long in developing Bony to fit the team. I think Nacho should jump up the pecking order while Bony finds his feet.

TheGoodJoe:
[b]When the debate of whether Nacho should go to FC Porto or become a Citizen went on, I made one point clear. If Nacho joins City and Pellegrini takes interest in him then we have a Superstar in our hands.

My point was clear. Let Pellegrini take interest in him. Nacho has reached there and the interest is there for all to see.

How many players can a coach like Pellegrini let Dzeko go for. Some people do not get that Bony was brought as a replacement for Negredo. Nacho is Dzeko's replacement. For a young Nigerian that is huge. The potential is there. Nacho did well during the two preseason he was there. That led to the departure of Super Young Guidetti.

Nacho is not the finished article when it comes being molded into a Superstar. The target is simple Messi. On that scale, he is not there yet. But, so far he is there when it comes to being an EPL attacker Nacho is there. The young man has made it clear. He believes in what the City coaches sees in him and very soon, doubters will understand why Pellegrini and co. believe so much in Nacho.[/b]

joseph1013:


Personally, I feel Bony is not well utilized at City. City is not his kind of club. He was massive in Holland as well as Swansea because he was in a 4-4-2 selection. At Vitesse, he broke goal records and for Swansea, I saw how he is one of the game's best headers of the ball. He doesn't get those kind of supplies in City. The crosses are terribly poor.

If he fails to adapt, Man City is in a fix because his salary is huge and only lesser clubs than Man City would be willing to take him on, but would they have the financial muscle to pay his fees?

joseph1013:


Personally, I feel Bony is not well utilized at City. City is not his kind of club. He was massive in Holland as well as Swansea because he was in a 4-4-2 selection. At Vitesse, he broke goal records and for Swansea, I saw how he is one of the game's best headers of the ball. He doesn't get those kind of supplies in City. The crosses are terribly poor.

If he fails to adapt, Man City is in a fix because his salary is huge and only lesser clubs than Man City would be willing to take him on, but would they have the financial muscle to pay his fees?

Icon4s:
There was a 19 years Old Joel Obi at Inter Milan
There was an 18years Old Victor Anichebe at Everton
There was a 20 Years Old Gbenga Okunowo at Barcelona
There was a 19 years Old Christian Obodo at Peruggia of Italy
There was an 18 years old Batholomew Ogbeche at Paris Saint Germain
There was a 20years Old Victor Moses at Wigan and got signed by Chelsea

There is a 19 Years Old Kelechi Iheanacho at ManCity. May he not follow their path.
Kelechi is talented but not there yet.

TheGoodJoe:


[b]I do not see the relevance of your post. Which of these players you listed here was listed by top blogs as one of the best players of his generation? None.

So what is the relevance of such list. Or are you saying because Nacho is Nigerian, then his talents and hard work is irrelevant. Then you are mistaking.

Why not write young teenage hypes who became wonders of the world like Henry, Pele, Maradona, Cruyff, Messi, Aguero, Neymar, Ronaldo De Lima, Suarez, Ronaldinho.

CR7 was 17 when Mourinho called him the son of Marco Van Basten. Carols Queiroz called CR7 at 18 years the Michael Jordan of football. So please keep your pessimistic belief of your race to yourself. I have waited for long for a young African who believes he can be the best in the world.

Any young kid reading this, if you believe you can be great and you work very very hard to achieve it, nothing can stop you. Because, Fortune favors the Brave believer.

I watched Neymar as a young 16 years old kid and all he wanted was to become the best in the world. Few years down the line, he is close to it. That is the kind of belief I see in Nacho.

Nacho, Carry Go. [/b]

Icon4s:


The hyping on this boy is too much. Talented no doubt but I remain conservative in my expectations on him.
You are not wrong either if you rate him with Leonel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo because after all the English people hype their players a lot too. I honestly pray he turns out as the Leonel Messi of his generation but let me watch him for some time first. What I have been saying all along is he is not there yet. He is still work in progress. All those ranking and equating him with Aguero, Boney, Silva, Nasri, Navas are not just it.
Talking about players listed by Top Blogs of his generation, were Messi and Ronaldo ever listed by any Blog? No bc blogging is jst a recent thing.
And did you ever watch Obafemi Martins when he played at Inter Milan? Did you see Joel Obi play as a teenager at Inter Milan? Maybe bc Kelechi Iheanacho is the most talented young player You have seen in ur generation.

Kelechi is my boy, I know him more than most of u guys here. There is hardly any match he has played that I have not watched. I can only wish him well but he is not there yet.

thegoodjoehunt:

Hi, just starting my blog. I am Manchester City fan for life.

Now to the article. I like trying to relate a person to a well known character. This makes the understanding of the person being described easy. For instance. In the 2013 U20 World Cup. Oliver Torres was a big revelation to the world of football. If I am asked to describe him, I’ll say he is a cross of Xavi and Iniesta. How’s that for an intro?

Manuel Pellegrini is a lot like Arsene Wenger. They embrace the same up tempo passing football. They like to create width (wing play) in their play using wing backs. Like Arsene used Ashley Cole and Lauren in the invincibles era. Pelegrini loves youth development. He turned the new rave of Real Madrid Isco into a Super star. Before Isco joined Pelegrini at Malaga, he wasn’t even a regular on the bench of Valencia FC. He plays lots of formations like the 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-2. In all formations he plays, he always tries to control the game and keep possession.

Pellegrini built Villareal from an average team to a team that got knocked out of the Champions League Semi-Finals by Arsenal. They were close to the finals but lost because Riquelme missed a penalty that would have taken them to the finals. He groomed stars like Senna, Forlan, Riquelme, Guiseppe Rossi to great players at Villareal. He turned Malaga a team which was last on the table when he took over into a European force in a short time. His Real Madrid stay was nice but he met a new President who didn’t appreciate his work. Florentino Perez made life difficult for him by selling two players he really wanted to keep. Sniejder and Robben who went on to play the Champions League finals for Inter Milan And Bayern Munich respectively. Even though he made a record breaking 96 points for Real Madrid which was surpassed by Mourinho.

I am expecting a lot from Manuel Pellegrini at Man City this season. I am expecting us to make the Champions League Semi-Finals this season and take the Premier League this season. So Manuel Pellegrini is like an Arsene Wenger that gets results. Even though he has not won a European trophy, I take his turning mediocre teams into European forces as remarkable achievements.

Source: http://thegoodjoehunt./2013/07/07/who-is-manuel-pellegrini/

Icon4s:


The hyping on this boy is too much. Talented no doubt but I remain conservative in my expectations on him.
You are not wrong either if you rate him with Leonel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo because after all the English people hype their players a lot too. I honestly pray he turns out as the Leonel Messi of his generation but let me watch him for some time first. What I have been saying all along is he is not there yet. He is still work in progress. All those ranking and equating him with Aguero, Boney, Silva, Nasri, Navas are not just it.
Talking about players listed by Top Blogs of his generation, were Messi and Ronaldo ever listed by any Blog? No bc blogging is jst a recent thing.
And did you ever watch Obafemi Martins when he played at Inter Milan? Did you see Joel Obi play as a teenager at Inter Milan? Maybe bc Kelechi Iheanacho is the most talented young player You have seen in ur generation.

Kelechi is my boy, I know him more than most of u guys here. There is hardly any match he has played that I have not watched. I can only wish him well but he is not there yet.

TheGoodJoe:
Blogging is not a new thing. I was listing top players in forums when Sanchez and Neymar were kids. I was watching a local program on TV in Nigeria '99 when a journalist said. This is Ronaldinho, the new Ronaldo, he will one day be the best in the world. Ronaldinhi was about eighteen then.

I watched a young Kaka emerge in 2002 World Cup. I watched a young promising Thierry Henry play alongside Ikpeba and Trezeguet.

So I do not know how you can school me on young talents.

I am a City fan because I believe in our project to dominate football.

thegoodjoehunt:


I wish him the best too. Let us hope Coach Manuel Pellegrini who has a track records of developing great creative midfielders works and develops Iheanacho. The list of creative mid fielders who have worked under Coach Manuel Pellegrini includes Santiago Carzola and Isco who Manuel nurtured and groomed himself. Riquelme and now Silva and Nasri.


Pellegrini and Carzola

Pellegrini and Riquelme
[img]http://thebeautifulgamemagazine.files./2013/06/tumblr_ml7up4hkvt1qj45zro1_500.jpg[/img]
Pellegrini and Isco.

Pellegrini and Silva.

Pellegrini and Nasri.
Let us hope Coach Manuel Pellegrini takes interest in Iheanacho. Come on CITIZENS.

Icon4s:


Kelechi is my boy, I know him more than most of u guys here. There is hardly any match he has played that I have not watched. I can only wish him well but he is not there yet.

TheGoodJoe:
Pellegrini knows a Superstar when he sees one. I wanted to see if Pellegrini will see Nacho as a Superstar when he joined the Etihad Campus. Early on from sending Nacho to Barcelona Academy, I believed Pellegrini saw a superstar.

Now, Pellegrini letting Dzeko go and putting faith in Nacho shows that what I expected in 2013 is happening now.

The interest is there. So our suspicion that there is something special in Nacho is proving. Pellegrini has showed Nacho the rabbit hole. Nacho has to walk in by training harder than ever every day to get there. This is not a Joel Obi scenario. It is different.

You are conservative now. I was conservative when I was waiting to see if Pellegrini will show faith and interest in Nacho.

Icon4s:


The hyping on this boy is too much. Talented no doubt but I remain conservative in my expectations on him.
You are not wrong either if you rate him with Leonel Messi and Christiano Ronaldo because after all the English people hype their players a lot too. I honestly pray he turns out as the Leonel Messi of his generation but let me watch him for some time first. What I have been saying all along is he is not there yet. He is still work in progress. All those ranking and equating him with Aguero, Boney, Silva, Nasri, Navas are not just it.
Talking about players listed by Top Blogs of his generation, were Messi and Ronaldo ever listed by any Blog? No bc blogging is jst a recent thing.
And did you ever watch Obafemi Martins when he played at Inter Milan? Did you see Joel Obi play as a teenager at Inter Milan? Maybe bc Kelechi Iheanacho is the most talented young player You have seen in ur generation.

Kelechi is my boy, I know him more than most of u guys here. There is hardly any match he has played that I have not watched. I can only wish him well but he is not there yet.

TheSuperNerd:
Sir Icon4s, I know from your posts that you existed during the time Monday Odiaka scored the fastest goal at a fifa u-20 world cup. He went on to be joint top scorer with 3goals.

I know you witnessed live thru live telecast or otherwise, the 1989 generation of flying eagles stars with the head master Mutiu Adepoju.

I know you witnessed live the birth of Kanu, oruma, babayaro, etc at the 1993 fifa u-17 world cup. You were there when marco van basten led an impressive dutch side to conquer europe in 1988. You also probably witnessed Diego maradona's rise to godhood at Napoli. These and many more you witnessed and surely your experience cannot be disputed.......... But you seem to forget what playback video technology can do.

Sir, I was just 7yrs+ when I witnessed my first tournament. NIGERIA 1999............ I was so young but for a kid who started reading at age 3(2.5 to be exactly precise) I had an "interesting" kind of memory.

You seem to look down on some of us here as kids in football matters especially when it comes to soccer talents. Pls Sir, I beg you to reject that tendency. I've been privileged thanks to numerous soccer programs, tapes and the likes to witness the super talents that came far b4 my birth. I saw Raymond Kopa of Real madrid, Bobby charlton of Man utd, Alfredo di stefano of real madrid, ferenc puskas of madrid and hungary, kevin keegan of liverpool, eusebio of portugal(mozambican-born who scored 9 gls to top the charts at the 1966 fifa world cup).

I also saw george best at his best, saw Kenny daglish(the master of time and space utilization in midfield), saw Marco van basten, saw odegbami at afcon 1980, saw muda lawal, saw thomas nkono of cameroun.......... Sir, I can go on and on and on. I saw their worth, their talents and their impacts and achievements. I'M NO MASTER BUT I'M A KEEN STUDENT OF HISTORY INCLUDING SOCCER HISTORY.


SO IN ALL, I UNDERSTAND WHY YOU'RE BEING OVERLY CONSERVATIVE AND OVER-CAUTIOUS.......

IT'S JUST THAT THERE'S A TENDENCY TO PERMIT A LITTLE ELEMENT OF PESSIMISM WHEN YOU TAKE THE CAUTIOUS OR CONSERVATIVE ROUTE.


OF COURSE, NACHO IS STILL GROWING BUT ONE WHO IS "TRULY UNBIASED" CANNOT DENY HIS SUPER CLASS........ He's talented you say..... Yes! But it's more than that Sir........ He's super highly motivated to do and undo.......

A bientot Sir and Godbless.......

TheGoodJoe:
Pellegrini knows a Superstar when he sees one. I wanted to see if Pellegrini will see Nacho as a Superstar when he joined the Etihad Campus. Early on from sending Nacho to Barcelona Academy, I believed Pellegrini saw a superstar.

Now, Pellegrini letting Dzeko go and putting faith in Nacho shows that what I expected in 2013 is happening now.

The interest is there. So our suspicion that there is something special in Nacho is proven. Pellegrini has showed Nacho the rabbit hole. Nacho has to walk in by training harder than ever every day to get there. This is not a Joel Obi scenario. It is different.

You are conservative now. I was conservative when I was waiting to see if Pellegrini will show faith and interest in Nacho.

Icon4s:


Bc he scored a rebound dat any City player could have scored if he was in that position?

I say again calm it Iheanacho is not there yet.

TheSuperNerd:
Oh no Sir....... Honestly, not just any player would hv converted that chance. Nacho's fast-growing positional intelligence, excellent finishing and Speed (as he sneaked in between 2 dfs and beat the Gk to d ball) were all called into play.

I know some people would want to take the shine off Nacho's goal. It's quite Unfortunate.

Even Top man city fans in England tweeted the following: "if Bony had that particular chance, he would have hit it to the keeper and it goes out for a corner or he would not have gotten to the ball at all........."

What does that tell you?

Nacho isn't exactly the finished article yet but pls take no shine off that kid. I understand ur reservations based on having seen many exciting young talents come and go but that shouldn't keep you in the pessimism arena always........ *smiles*

Nacho, Yahaya, Success, Awoniyi and a couple of others are out to show the world that a new era has dawned.

Or would you say Man utd's Anthony Martial is still not ready despite his exploits so far?

Icon4s:


Firstly, let me say I am not looking down on u younger generation, some times I enjoy it when I discuss with younger people It also makes me look at things from another perspective.

My brother, no body is a Master in football analysis. I appreciate the fact that you recognize my years of followership of the game of football. Yes I saw Monday Odiaka, Samson Siasia, Ndubuisi Okosieme and co play FIFA U20 (then U21) in 1985

Just to reveal a little of my CV: I have co-hosted Rhythm sports on Rhythm 93.7 FM on several occasions, though I am not a Sports journalist neither am I a broadcaster-just on invitations. I am also a regular caller on Naija made on Super sports. I am very close to so many sports personalities(especially football). For the records, I played football with Emmanuel Amuneke at Adeleye Street, Sari-Iganmu, Orile part of Lagos. Those that grew-up around that area will probably know me. So I also played the game. Infact Obafemi Martins used to be one of our ball boys when we played at the white sand play ground in Orile in the late 80s to early 90s.

I was privy to reasons for which Oliseh did not include Kelechi Iheanacho in the just released list of players to face DR Congo and Cameroun. And the reason is not far fetched from my line of thought.

Football is one funny game. We are all coaches in our own rights. Our views will always differ.