TheSuperNerd:
True but Ighalo has been leading the lines for some time now and the last time he scored was a sub vs Luxembourg.

His only competitive goal for Nigeria came from the penalty spot in that chad game. He's yet to score from open play in a competitive fixture.

Honestly, Sir Icon4s' concerns for our Top9 role is spot on.

TheSuperNerd:
Well, Anichebe is Drogba-like.... Are you saying you didn't fancy Drogba too?

Everyone has the kind of strikers they prefer shaa.

And uhmm... I think you guys are missing a plot with Sadiq Umar. That lad is very good. Is it because of Rio 2016 you doubt his talents? He even banged in 4 goals at Rio.

He's a tall lad who still needs to get his balance right as his centre of gravity when on-the-ball isn't so strong but can be worked on when in on-the-ball situations.

And which other striker do you have in mind as Osimhen's long-term back-up? I know of Success who is also a natural 9 but is playing LWF today. Awoniyi? Suleiman Abdullahi of Spezia? Franklyn Akammadu of Cesena? Etc... Who?

Icon4s:


Sorry abt the 'e'. Slip of fingers.

I have never expected much from Ighalo.

I have followed him since 2009 when he was with Udinese and also played for the Flying Eagles. He turned out average at the WYC of 2009 much to the disappointment of most enthusiasts then.

He resurfaced again with the dream Team V alongside, Oduamadi, Igiebor,Ujah, Raheem and the likes. Oduamadi, Igiebor and Raheem were the stand out performers from that crop. Ighalo flopped again.

Enroute qualification for the 2011 All Africans where they won the first leg 3-1 in Benin, I met the team at the International wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport where they were to board their flight to Accra. Toyin Ibitoye of Channels TV was with them. Among the very few faces of players i could recognise then were those of Oseni, Lukman and Ighalo. I no sabi all them Oduamadi, Igiebor, Ujah by face then.

I personally walked up to Ighalo. I told him "Ighalo the whole of Nigeria is banking on you o".
All he did was to smile and rubbed his hand on his chest meaning "cool temper". I smiled back and went my own way. We lost that game 2-0! and we crashed out.

His rise in profile was so sudden. From my experience, such players turn out to be a flash in the pan. They usually have abt 2 or at most 3yrs of good games thats all.

Brown ideye is not any better.

For now i dnt really consider Anichebe reasons for which u know already. Except things would have changed by now.

Victor Osimhen, I dnt think he can shoulder the responsibility by 2017. He may not likely be our main striker even at the 2018 WC though he 'may' make the squad. He is just abt to start his professional career in January. Lets see him develop and very importantly lets see if he can transfer his U17 performance to the senior level.
If he develops well I see him more post 2018 WC.
2018 WC is abt 18months away. E no far like that o. He is not yet a professional player.

Kayode is hard working. He has always been like that since his U17 days. Let us see him in a friendly. But as i have earlier said i dnt see him as the heir apparent to that Position.

I would want us to also try Isaac Success as a CF in the march friendly. He is already more deadly than Ighalo at Watford. I see him as a better prospect in the nearest future.

Icon4s:

After that Chad game several games have followed. Yet nothing.
We have been very patient with Ighalo until our last game.
The thing is we are lacking quality in that department.

Mujtahida:

If we don't run into issues over the question of allegiance I think Tammy Abraham is good. The NFF chairman has said he grew up in the same neighbourhood with Tammy's dad(I hope I am not mixing it up with Ejaria) and he is in contact with the Dad. Even Solanke is good but same issues. As regards Umar I saw a striker if he learns not to switch off when things are tough then he will do fine but those guys I mentioned are way, way sharper than him.

BascoVanVeli:


Is it after 3 starts that we know? What about Ideye who made an assist and found himself on the bench the next game, that is way too much pressure.

TheSuperNerd:
I already mentioned Tammy Abraham as one of ours "potentially". I have always sounded out Tammy.

But until he's confirmed for us for good, I will keep picking Sadiq as Osimhen's longterm back-up.

Solanke is good but he needs a lot of work too. Tammy's stats are better than Solanke's. Even when they both featured in Chelsea's youth system, Tammy's goal-ratio trumps Solanke's. They both banged in 41/42 goals throughout Chelsea's youth system. Tammy did so in lesser matches.

Icon4s:


Sorry abt the 'e'. Slip of fingers.

I have never expected much from Ighalo.

I have followed him since 2009 when he was with Udinese and also played for the Flying Eagles. He turned out average at the WYC of 2009 much to the disappointment of most enthusiasts then.

He resurfaced again with the dream Team V alongside, Oduamadi, Igiebor,Ujah, Raheem and the likes. Oduamadi, Igiebor and Raheem were the stand out performers from that crop. Ighalo flopped again.

Enroute qualification for the 2011 All Africans where they won the first leg 3-1 in Benin, I met the team at the International wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport where they were to board their flight to Accra. Toyin Ibitoye of Channels TV was with them. Among the very few faces of players i could recognise then were those of Oseni, Lukman and Ighalo. I no sabi all them Oduamadi, Igiebor, Ujah by face then.

I personally walked up to Ighalo. I told him "Ighalo the whole of Nigeria is banking on you o".
All he did was to smile and rubbed his hand on his chest meaning "cool temper". I smiled back and went my own way. We lost that game 2-0! and we crashed out.

His rise in profile was so sudden. From my experience, such players turn out to be a flash in the pan. They usually have abt 2 or at most 3yrs of good games thats all.

Brown ideye is not any better.

For now i dnt really consider Anichebe reasons for which u know already. Except things would have changed by now.

Victor Osimhen, I dnt think he can shoulder the responsibility by 2017. He may not likely be our main striker even at the 2018 WC though he 'may' make the squad. He is just abt to start his professional career in January. Lets see him develop and very importantly lets see if he can transfer his U17 performance to the senior level.
If he develops well I see him more post 2018 WC.
2018 WC is abt 18months away. E no far like that o. He is not yet a professional player.

Kayode is hard working. He has always been like that since his U17 days. Let us see him in a friendly. But as i have earlier said i dnt see him as the heir apparent to that Position.

I would want us to also try Isaac Success as a CF in the march friendly. He is already more deadly than Ighalo at Watford. I see him as a better prospect in the nearest future.

Mujtahida:

Between the duo who do you think looks more likely to commit to the Eagles in the future?

Eagles star Ahmed Musa

Mujtahida:

If we don't run into issues over the question of allegiance I think Tammy Abraham is good. The NFF chairman has said he grew up in the same neighbourhood with Tammy's dad(I hope I am not mixing it up with Ejaria) and he is in contact with the Dad. Even Solanke is good but same issues. As regards Umar I saw a striker if he learns not to switch off when things are tough then he will do fine but those guys I mentioned are way, way sharper than him.

TheSuperNerd:
True again... The pressure is indeed much.

Have you noticed that Ighalo's other two international goals came as a sub? I don't know how much time he must have before he breaks his goal drought as a "starting" no.9. We've given him a good run of games so far or do you want us to take it to 7 or 10 starts before we're certain he needs to go get his mojo back?

BascoVanVeli:


Please don't get me wrong I like Ighalo alot especially as a person but he does not deserve a call as it stands his club form is not up to par. My case was really for Ideye who had a good game against Zambia then got dropped.

TheSuperNerd:
EGYPT VS NIGERIA FRIENDLY CANCELLED OVER EXPENSES?






A proposed friendly between Egypt and Nigeria in January may longer be played as the AFCON-
bound Egyptians are not willing to bear all the
expenses for the game and have even gone
ahead to fix another game with Tunisia about the same time.


The friendly between Egypt and Nigeria was billed to be played on January 9 in Dubai to prepare the Pharaohs for the AFCON in Gabon.

But we can exclusively reveal that Egypt have
since announced they will play against another
AFCON-bound team, Tunisia, on January 8.

It has now been revealed that the Egypt vs
Nigeria clash may have fallen through because
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are
demanding their Egyptian counterparts bear their entire expenses and also because the Super Eagles will not be at full strength for this match.


“It has not yet been officially confirmed but it is
looking very likely that the friendly against Egypt in Dubai in January will no longer hold,” a top official informed.


“Egypt are not ready it seems to foot all the bills for this game.

“And also, they would rather test their readiness for the AFCON against the main Super Eagles than a team of home-based players and untested Europe-based stars.”


Source: http://africanfootball.com//news/667272/Egypt-vs-Nigeria-friendly-cancelled-over-expenses

TheSuperNerd:
EGYPT VS NIGERIA FRIENDLY CANCELLED OVER EXPENSES?






A proposed friendly between Egypt and Nigeria in January may longer be played as the AFCON-
bound Egyptians are not willing to bear all the
expenses for the game and have even gone
ahead to fix another game with Tunisia about the same time.


The friendly between Egypt and Nigeria was billed to be played on January 9 in Dubai to prepare the Pharaohs for the AFCON in Gabon.

But we can exclusively reveal that Egypt have
since announced they will play against another
AFCON-bound team, Tunisia, on January 8.

It has now been revealed that the Egypt vs
Nigeria clash may have fallen through because
the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) are
demanding their Egyptian counterparts bear their entire expenses and also because the Super Eagles will not be at full strength for this match.


“It has not yet been officially confirmed but it is
looking very likely that the friendly against Egypt in Dubai in January will no longer hold,” a top official informed.


“Egypt are not ready it seems to foot all the bills for this game.

“And also, they would rather test their readiness for the AFCON against the main Super Eagles than a team of home-based players and untested Europe-based stars.”


Source: http://africanfootball.com//news/667272/Egypt-vs-Nigeria-friendly-cancelled-over-expenses

pelezico:


If we are still relying on the likes of ideye or even players that have long said they will not play for Nigeria then we have major problems up front. Better to look for fresher faces and players who are playing well. We need forwards who are playing exceptionally well with there clubs who "lead" the front line as opposed to just turning up.

BascoVanVeli:


Please don't get me wrong I like Ighalo alot especially as a person but he does not deserve a call as it stands his club form is not up to par. My case was really for Ideye who had a good game against Zambia then got dropped.

Icon4s:


Sorry abt the 'e'. Slip of fingers.

I have never expected much from Ighalo.

I have followed him since 2009 when he was with Udinese and also played for the Flying Eagles. He turned out average at the WYC of 2009 much to the disappointment of most enthusiasts then.

He resurfaced again with the dream Team V alongside, Oduamadi, Igiebor,Ujah, Raheem and the likes. Oduamadi, Igiebor and Raheem were the stand out performers from that crop. Ighalo flopped again.

Enroute qualification for the 2011 All Africans where they won the first leg 3-1 in Benin, I met the team at the International wing of the Murtala Mohammed Airport where they were to board their flight to Accra. Toyin Ibitoye of Channels TV was with them. Among the very few faces of players i could recognise then were those of Oseni, Lukman and Ighalo. I no sabi all them Oduamadi, Igiebor, Ujah by face then.

I personally walked up to Ighalo. I told him "Ighalo the whole of Nigeria is banking on you o".
All he did was to smile and rubbed his hand on his chest meaning "cool temper". I smiled back and went my own way. We lost that game 2-0! and we crashed out.

His rise in profile was so sudden. From my experience, such players turn out to be a flash in the pan. They usually have abt 2 or at most 3yrs of good games thats all.

Brown ideye is not any better.

For now i dnt really consider Anichebe reasons for which u know already. Except things would have changed by now.

Victor Osimhen, I dnt think he can shoulder the responsibility by 2017. He may not likely be our main striker even at the 2018 WC though he 'may' make the squad. He is just abt to start his professional career in January. Lets see him develop and very importantly lets see if he can transfer his U17 performance to the senior level.
If he develops well I see him more post 2018 WC.
2018 WC is abt 18months away. E no far like that o. He is not yet a professional player.

Kayode is hard working. He has always been like that since his U17 days. Let us see him in a friendly. But as i have earlier said i dnt see him as the heir apparent to that Position.

I would want us to also try Isaac Success as a CF in the march friendly. He is already more deadly than Ighalo at Watford. I see him as a better prospect in the nearest future.

Mujtahida:

I think Ideye had a good game against Zambia however he seems to buckle under the pressure of being the arrowhead of our attacking line. He does exceedingly well as a supporting striker for the Eagles. I think he still has much in him to contribute to the Eagles if he's allowed to perform in that role but the nagging question still remains who will the point man of our attack be. I quite agree with Kog45 that so far our attack has done well. I love a free wheeling team where every player in the attack can score and right now we have Moses, Iheanacho, Mikel, Iwobi, Etebo, Ahmed Musa, Ideye as goalscorers and our possible goalscorers but I still feel a point man is necessary for two reasons 1) if the point man we eventually get is really good, then on any given day he will score goals on a regular basis for us and that means our chances of winning any game will be more robust. 2)if the point man doesn't score, he can still be a threat, menacing the defence of other teams with high pressing runs and drawing defenders on to himself (think Iheanacho in our last match against Algeria) and therefore freeing up space for the other vipers (it just struck me now that I know of no national team in the world named after snakes) in our attack to strike. Overall I think it is good for tactical and strategic reasons that we get a good CF and soon too so that the overall schema of the team can start being put together and for it to gell in time before the world cup. All makeshift arrangements should give way to a crystallised team set up. We might not live up to the full potential of what we have available if all the pressing concerns in the problematic areas are not quickly sorted out before the second half of next year.

BascoVanVeli:


What pressure did u see Ideye buckle under? I don't see how people can justify skipping over Ideye. Zambia was his first match leading the line apart from a friendly which he scored. He played a part in both our goals on the day, he is doing fine at club level so i can't find a reason to say he can't lead our line. If u look at the top countries lately their strikers are not goal kings. Germany, Argentina, Spain, Brazil etc. U only have rare cases like Uruguay who still rely on their 9.

BascoVanVeli:


What pressure did u see Ideye buckle under? I don't see how people can justify skipping over Ideye. Zambia was his first match leading the line apart from a friendly which he scored. He played a part in both our goals on the day, he is doing fine at club level so i can't find a reason to say he can't lead our line. If u look at the top countries lately their strikers are not goal kings. Germany, Argentina, Spain, Brazil etc. U only have rare cases like Uruguay who still rely on their 9.

Mathew Nash @hitcmathewnash

Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho shoots at goal

Manchester City's Kelechi Iheanacho scores their only goal (equaliser) vs Southampton

**WHAT OTHER ADAPTATION BIKONU?? Does he fit into the system or not?? Answer is Yes he does!! So why not play him to keep ensuring he improves "actively" on what you show him daily in training?? How u go know when u no wan play am?? Pep himself confessed that Iheanacho isn't playing because of poor training performances or any issues but just that he(pep) has to play others. PEP SAID (something akin to this), WHEN PRESSED FURTHER BY THE PRESS, "It's true Iheanacho trains like a beast and is one of our best performers in training..." WHAT ELSE DOES HE WANT?? HE WANTS TO SEE "EVERYTHING" BEFORE NACHO STEPS UNTO THE PITCH AGAIN? DID MESSI GET "EVERYTHING" BEFORE PEP ACTUALLY PLAYED HIM IN THE FALSE 9 ROLE?? NA WA OOOO..... Load of bollocks!!!**

Tottenham's Vincent Janssen reacts after
hitting the crossbar

goldfish80:


You're spot on about Odion Ighalo. I recall Egypt 2009,he played as our top 9 and kept missing sitters after sitters. Much was expected of him in that tournament, so much that he was made the skipper ahead of Lukman Haruna.
I think Ighalo doesn't do well with pressure. When you place the burden of the team on his shoulders he will bottle it. But if he's relieved of pressure, you see a different Ighalo. This could be why he has been devastating when coming as a sub for the SE but when he starts, he has a mental block.

At Watford, nothing was really expected of them, they were the under dog and he thrived in that situation. His problem is psychological, he needs a top notch psychiatrist to blow off the cobwebs in his head, in my opinion.

On other young strikers who are usually discussed here, Oshimhen, Tammy Abraham and the likes . No doubt they are talented but I think we would likely not see the best of them till they peak which usually happens between the ages of 25 - 28. I. Wouldn't really wish they peak so early and get burn out before they get to their mid 20's...
Teams that win world cup and champions league have an average age of 28-29, the reason is simply that players are in their peak physically and mentally at that age.

That is why I've always maintained that Qatar 2022 world cup should be within our grasp because the likes of these youngsters with be 26 - 27/28 yrs old powered by the supporting cast of the likes of Ekong, Onazi, Omeruo, Moses and a few others who should be 30/31.
If I got my mathematics right, with these players peaking at the appropriate age and bearing in mind the average age of past world cup winners, we should be on threshold of winning the world cup.

“Manchester City came for Kelechi
Iheanacho in 2010 after he won the
top scorer award in a tournament we
participated in the United Kingdom.
He has been my highest goalscorer
since the U13.

“About 20 clubs participated in the
competition, City wanted to sign
most of these players but the NFF
refused to reach an agreement.

“I have been told two teams are
interested in signing Kelechi now. He
is doing fine in Man City, I want him
to stay and grow with City before
moving to another club.

“Kelechi is not a number nine, he
doesn’t like defenders to mark him.
He is a supporting striker, sometimes
I played him as a winger, from the
left.

“I also played him in the midfield, he
takes shots because he is free in
midfield. If you put him as a top
striker, he won’t be able to shoot.

“I think he did well against Algeria.
The attention was on him as a
number nine and he carried the
defenders away from their positions
and that’s why Moses scored two
goals."

“Change the coach maybe! Of course
he deserves to play, but there are
many, many others who deserve to
play too.


“Our job is so uncomfortable for
these kind of decisions. Normally
when these guys don’t train good,
when they are not nice guys with his
team-mates, it doesn’t matter, but
that is not the case with Kele.

“My advice is keep going, keep
fighting, sooner or later everything is
coming back, and of course he’s
going to have his minutes. Until now
he played good, but in the big teams
sometimes that happens. You can
play just 11 players and that’s all.”

Imama Amapakabo

Onyekuru

TheSuperNerd:
Tottenham and FC Barcelona?? Hmmm... If Pep and Man City loses Iheanacho.... I bet you he will come back to haunt them forever with goals and screamers and "wicked Tap-ins" and the Cityzens will never sleep well knowing they had a super star all along only to lose him because PEP PREFERS SOME OTHERS. What nonsense from Pep!! Iheanacho fits into the pep system 101% and have come in to save his sorry ass a few times this season, so what is Pep's problem??

........................................................................


Tottenham Hotspur monitoring Kelechi Iheanacho, according to report





Manchester City's Nigerian talent is also
wanted by Barcelona.

Tottenham Hotspurs are one of the two teams said to be monitoring Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho after the Nigerian was informed by manager Pep Guardiola he faces a struggle to play for his side.


Speaking to alllnigeriasoccer this week his former Nigerian youth coach Danladi Nasidi stated that two clubs have been alerted to his potential availability:








“I have been told two teams are interested in
signing Kelechi now.

“He is doing fine in Man City, I want him to stay
and grow with City before moving to another
club.”


Now reports in Nigeria claim that those two teams are Spanish giants Barcelona and Premier League rivals Spurs.






Vanguard report that Spurs are monitoring his
situation at the Etihad Stadium. City have
Brazilian talent Gabriel Jesus arriving in the New
Year and Iheanacho needs to adapt to Guardiola’s style of play to become a regular feature in the City line-up.





Tottenham on the other hand need another
striker. Vincent Janssen is struggling to adapt to
Premier League football leaving Harry Kane with
little competition or back-up.








The Nigerian talent is clearly a top goalscorer and Spurs fans would be very excited if he was
snapped up in January.

However, they will surely have to pay a large sum to convince a Premier League rival into selling to them this winter.


Source: http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/11/27/tottenham-hotspur-monitoring-kelechi-iheanacho-according-to-repo/

TheSuperNerd:
Tottenham and FC Barcelona?? Hmmm... If Pep and Man City loses Iheanacho.... I bet you he will come back to haunt them forever with goals and screamers and "wicked Tap-ins" and the Cityzens will never sleep well knowing they had a super star all along only to lose him because PEP PREFERS SOME OTHERS. What nonsense from Pep!! Iheanacho fits into the pep system 101% and have come in to save his sorry ass a few times this season, so what is Pep's problem??

........................................................................


Tottenham Hotspur monitoring Kelechi Iheanacho, according to report





Manchester City's Nigerian talent is also
wanted by Barcelona.

Tottenham Hotspurs are one of the two teams said to be monitoring Manchester City striker Kelechi Iheanacho after the Nigerian was informed by manager Pep Guardiola he faces a struggle to play for his side.


Speaking to alllnigeriasoccer this week his former Nigerian youth coach Danladi Nasidi stated that two clubs have been alerted to his potential availability:








“I have been told two teams are interested in
signing Kelechi now.

“He is doing fine in Man City, I want him to stay
and grow with City before moving to another
club.”


Now reports in Nigeria claim that those two teams are Spanish giants Barcelona and Premier League rivals Spurs.






Vanguard report that Spurs are monitoring his
situation at the Etihad Stadium. City have
Brazilian talent Gabriel Jesus arriving in the New
Year and Iheanacho needs to adapt to Guardiola’s style of play to become a regular feature in the City line-up.





Tottenham on the other hand need another
striker. Vincent Janssen is struggling to adapt to
Premier League football leaving Harry Kane with
little competition or back-up.








The Nigerian talent is clearly a top goalscorer and Spurs fans would be very excited if he was
snapped up in January.

However, they will surely have to pay a large sum to convince a Premier League rival into selling to them this winter.


Source: http://www.hitc.com/en-gb/2016/11/27/tottenham-hotspur-monitoring-kelechi-iheanacho-according-to-repo/