Theo Walcott singled out Alex Iwobi for special praise after Arsenal's 3-1 win over Stoke City at the weekend

by Kevin Affleck on December 12, 2016
NEWS WATFORD FC

Picture by Franziska Empl

Picture by Franziska Empl

safarigirl:
or he just needs to get out of City.

We can can't have a repeat of that Mikel in Chelsea rubbish mbok, it's not by force to stay in a big club. I'm sure he'll get lots of offers from other good clubs who don't have a thing for patching their defaults with bags of money and are actually interested in development of youth players.

Kelechi, if you or your handlers follow this page, somebody better start throwing you at clubs like Dortmund, Juve, Arsenal, Wolfsburg set....just get ou5 of City.

By Simon Jones for MailOnline

Leicester agreed the £15million fee for Wilfred Ndidi back in November

Genk's Wilfred Ndidi (centre) during the
Europa League clash with Sassuolo on Friday

TheGoodJoe:


I still say Nacho stays and fights with Gabriel from the role. There is no need leaving now. Guardiola rotates a lot and Nacho will still see playing time.

zicky:
yea, he rotates a lot indeed and Iheanacho could not play for 5 straight games, so much talk about rotation.

TheSuperNerd:



Isaac Success only has half an hour in him,
says Mazzarri


Walter Mazzarri played his cards very close
to his chest this afternoon when discussing
the fitness of his squad but did reveal that
Isaac Success will have to be content again
with a place on the Watford bench.


Success missed six games and seven weeks of
action with a combination of a dead leg and a
hamstring injury and, given this is his second
injury of the season, has very much been eased
back into action and wrapped in cotton wool.

He has made the squad for the last two games but stayed unused on the bench despite Watford being behind at West Brom and home and hosed against Everton at 3-1 up.






“He’s recovered now,” said Mazzarri. “He’s
available 100 per cent for the team but he has
got around 20-30 mins in his legs.

He won’t start because then we have to make one change already. If he plays, he comes on from the bench.”


The make up of the XI will depend on how, and if, the likes of Younes Kaboul and Valon Behrami
come through training tomorrow.







“Kaboul has been training with the team,” said
Mazzarri, who had hoped the big defender would be available against Everton.

“We need to verify his condition and see how many minutes are in his legs. Behrami didn’t train yesterday. He’s still recovering. He was very tired after the game. We will evaluate if he is able to start or come on from the bench.”


Quique Sanchez Flores played without a striker at Manchester City last time, asking Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney to flank a packed midfield.

Deeney even ended up at right-back at one
stage. Mazzarri has not taken a backward step
this season and you won’t find him parking the
bus at the Etihad stadium. He watched City’s
game against Leicester and you suspect he
knows what he wants to do. He’s just waiting to
see who he has available first.


“After such an intense game, as it was against
Everton, where the team has spent a lot
physically and mentally, it’s still very early to
decide on the formation,” he said. “I still need
tomorrow. I need to understand the condition of
the players who have played the game. We
usually check on them the day before the game.


Some of the players trained individually, some
trained with the team. We will see tomorrow or
even the day of the game.”

Craig Cathcart returned to training this week but he’s being pencilled in to return against Crystal Palace or Tottenham.



Source: http://www.wdsport.co.uk/2016/12/isaac-success-only-has-half-an-hour-in-him-says-mazzarri/

TheGoodJoe:


I still say Nacho stays and fights with Gabriel from the role. There is no need leaving now. Guardiola rotates a lot and Nacho will still see playing time.

TheSuperNerd:
Ex- International Wants Leon Balogun To
Replace Ahmed Musa As Super Eagles Vice-Captain




Former Super Eagles goalkepper Emmanuel
Babayaro has urged Super Eagles coach Gernot
Rohr to make Mainz 05 defender Leon Balogun
vice captain of the Super Eagles.

Leicester City star Ahmed Musa is currently the
vice captain of the team but Babayaro says
Balogun has shown enough in terms of leading
the players on the pitch to be named as vice
captain.


”Balogun has leadership qualities that only Mikel can match in the Super Eagles, I love Musa a lot for all he has achieved in such a short time, but when it comes to motivating players Balogun is a more natural leader” Babayaro told
Owngoalnigeria.com.


”He (Balogun) has made William Troost Ekong
looked world class, he is always giving out
instructions, unfortunately a lot of people don’t
see that on camera.

”I don’t know about his relationship with the
press, which is a criteria as well to be named
leader of a national team, but I also don’t think
Musa has a good rapport with the press as well.
Balogun should be named vice captain”.



Source: http://owngoalnigeria.com/2016/12/12/ex-international-wants-leon-balogun-to-replace-ahmed-musa-as-super-eagles-vice-captain/

Kog45:
This is my problem with ex internationals,they always like to distract d team with unnecessary suggestions.We have not fully come out of Oliseh and Enyeama tussled coz active Enyeama has retired from eagles.

So what hell again about vice captain,is Rohr complaining about Musa attitudes or what,Babayaro should remembered that captain band was taken from Musa to Mikel and again vice captain from him!No mba

Truly,Leon may have d charisma but not now coz is new in d team and should learn from Mikel coz d guy has been wonderful as a captain.

To be a captain is not just to lead on d field alone but outside d field which Mikel has been doing wonderfully.I don't think Nff can dare it owing eagles two match allowance in d era of Keshi,Olishe,Kanu,Okocha,Yobo even Enyeama as captain,this is a plus for Mikel.

Quite agreed Leon against Algeria showed leadership quality but d politicking of d game in Nigeria is different from western world where d guy was brought up,no issue of unpaid allowance or traveling issue.Pls can Leon as a captain withstand what happened to U 23 in RIO.

safarigirl:
he's suggesting vice captaincy, not the main captaincy

I think Leon will have to wait till 2018 at least to get the VC title still

safarigirl:
he's suggesting vice captaincy, not the main captaincy

I think Leon will have to wait till 2018 at least to get the VC title still

komekn:
Anybody had a look at Tega Abrahams Chelsea on loan player with Bristol City in the Championship, who has scored 13 goals in the championship so far.

The right back position has been a topic for discussion with the Eagles I really think Ola Aina (Chelsea) is an interesting prospect for that position.

There may be questions about the amount of game time he has had. It brings to my memory Danny Shittu who had almost zero game time at Bolton but outside of Yobo within that era was Nigeria best central defender. I remember the Ghana game he was excellent. Indeed was once voted best defender in the championship.

Kog45:
CC:thegoodjoe
Icon4
. Supernerd
. basconvanveli
. tbaba
goldfish
. Joseph1013
pls I had an argument with a friend on why Kanu Nwankwo was one of d best striker to have come out of Nigeria that w always be on my S/E xi but my friend disagreed that cannot w never make his S/E xi,citing his reasons like 87 appearances wit 12 goal,5 Afcon,3 W/C without a goal.

He said i should do my research and i did thorough research on d past and present S/E attacking players with Rasheed Yekini 58 app/37 goals,Segun Odegbami 46 app/23goals,Yakubu Aiyegbeni 57/21 goals,Obafemi Martins 41 app/18,Samson siasia 51 app/16 goals,Aghaowa 32 app/14 goals,Daniel Amokachie 44 app/13 goals,Ahmed Musa 60 app/11 goals,Osase Odewengie app 63/10 goals,Amuneke 27 app/9 goals,Victor Moses 27 app/9 goals,Emenike 37 app/9 goals,Victor Ikpeba 31 app/7 goals,Ideye 27 app/6 goals,Finidi 62 app/6 goals,Agali 12 app/5 goals,Babaginda 36 app/5 goals.

After this,i told him Kanu has more assists than any Nigeria player which he disagreed,citing Amokachie, Siasia and Finidi as d best in assists in super eagle history.

I told him look this guy won Africa footballer of d year twice,he said Ikpeba won it also,is Ikpeba rated than Okocha or Amokachie when w talk of super eagles.

Pls house what really make Kanu so special that he was so valuable to super eagle during his playing career coz i respect his talent than any other Nigeria striker.

chrisooblog:
hi interesting question well before i give you my own opinion let me say i'm a big fan of kanu the person for the inspirational way he overcame his heart condition problem and his philanthropy. now on kanu the footballer like your friend i think he was over-rated and i will give reasons why.

first of as a striker his goal return for the super eagles was poor to say the least. 12 goals in 87 matches is pathetic reading. scoring against the likes of sudan, liberia, uzbekistan, eritrea etc. in international tournaments you will weep. 6 AFCONS plus 3 world cups not even a single goal in sight not even a half goal. now you will say but he won olympic soccer gold. yes he did and i commend him for that but i hope we all know that the olympics football competition is an underage tournament which no serious football nation will continue to boast in as a major achievement. samuel etoo also won an olympic medal but went on to shine and score for cameroon in AFCONS and world cups. kanu on the other hand when he went for senior international tournament was no where to be found. you might also argue that he won african footballer of the year na! but the question to ask is what did he do in those years to merit the awards. for the 1996 one i guess you can say the euphoria of the olympic win that gave it to him because it was definitely not his club form where he scored 13 goals in 39 appearances. the second one he won in 2000 what did he do? did he win a trophy with nigeria? NO. did he win a trophy with arsenal? NO. was he their top scorer? NO. so i'm forced to conclude that the times he won were based on mostly sentiments. you may ask how but it's not so much of a stretch if players like adebayor, mustapha hadji, el haji diouf etc who no one will say are african greats can win it then kanu's isn't suprising.

now to his club career he had good fortune to play for great clubs. when ajax won the champions league in 95 he was a bit part player scoring only one goal. plus the dutch league in the early to mid 90s was a one team league where ajax by default always before kanu and after kanu. in inter kanu was affected by the heart issue so let's ignore that one. with arsenal he started well but when he was a starter in the first eleven they didn't win anything when he dropped to the bench for bergkamp they started winning leagues and fa cups. in west brom they got relegated. portmouth too thank God he won fa cup beating cardiff city. even wigan won fa cup beating man city.

kanu is a terrific guy and a great ambassador but kanu the footballer is no where near nigerian football legends.

daveP:
wow,if we want to dig up stats then we may have our so called legends down to mediocres.


Like Aghahowa who was on the lips of every street way back then, only 14 goals?


The difference is that these guys played with unrivalled passion. If these xuree t squad just take the passion to another level with their better tactical advantage of current times,...... lemme stop.


Besides there is some politics on this goal scorer list. Give obagoal 5 games and he will be num 2 on all time.

safarigirl:
he's a very passionate fan. I admire his passion.

Sometimes, his arguments may come off as ridiculous and mind-boggling, but I think that's part of what it means to be a die-hard fan. I don't think City has fans as passionate as thegoodjoe even in Manchester City itself

The Arsenal fans can borrow a leaf, if they had half his passion, we would know what was going on with Iwobi

TheGoodJoe:


Gabriel Jesus won the Brazilian League Golden Ball award. Now I am scared for Nacho. The Brazilian kid is coming with too much hype. From what I heard, he is also a monster on the training pitch.

Nacho needs to work twice as hard because the hustle is real.

tbaba1234:
So Man Utd made a late bid for Ndidi according to reports.

Would he have been given a chance under mourinho?

chrisooblog:
hi interesting question well before i give you my own opinion let me say i'm a big fan of kanu the person for the inspirational way he overcame his heart condition problem and his philanthropy. now on kanu the footballer like your friend i think he was over-rated and i will give reasons why.

first of as a striker his goal return for the super eagles was poor to say the least. 12 goals in 87 matches is pathetic reading. scoring against the likes of sudan, liberia, uzbekistan, eritrea etc. in international tournaments you will weep. 6 AFCONS plus 3 world cups not even a single goal in sight not even a half goal. now you will say but he won olympic soccer gold. yes he did and i commend him for that but i hope we all know that the olympics football competition is an underage tournament which no serious football nation will continue to boast in as a major achievement. samuel etoo also won an olympic medal but went on to shine and score for cameroon in AFCONS and world cups. kanu on the other hand when he went for senior international tournament was no where to be found. you might also argue that he won african footballer of the year na! but the question to ask is what did he do in those years to merit the awards. for the 1996 one i guess you can say the euphoria of the olympic win that gave it to him because it was definitely not his club form where he scored 13 goals in 39 appearances. the second one he won in 2000 what did he do? did he win a trophy with nigeria? NO. did he win a trophy with arsenal? NO. was he their top scorer? NO. so i'm forced to conclude that the times he won were based on mostly sentiments. you may ask how but it's not so much of a stretch if players like adebayor, mustapha hadji, el haji diouf etc who no one will say are african greats can win it then kanu's isn't suprising.

now to his club career he had good fortune to play for great clubs. when ajax won the champions league in 95 he was a bit part player scoring only one goal. plus the dutch league in the early to mid 90s was a one team league where ajax by default always before kanu and after kanu. in inter kanu was affected by the heart issue so let's ignore that one. with arsenal he started well but when he was a starter in the first eleven they didn't win anything when he dropped to the bench for bergkamp they started winning leagues and fa cups. in west brom they got relegated. portmouth too thank God he won fa cup beating cardiff city. even wigan won fa cup beating man city.

kanu is a terrific guy and a great ambassador but kanu the footballer is no where near nigerian football legends.