Icon4s:


I am sure they will be hinging on their over-ruled goal

That their problem. We would have scored if not the bad offside call against Ales

Humility017:

good for him...he should stay clear off the super eagles

Case of monkey work, baboon chopping. it would be unfair to some if he makes world cup squad without sweating for it sincerely.

Icon4s:


The last time I saw Balogun this poor (especially in the first half) was in our friendly against SA in 2014.

He was match rusty. He has not been playing much this season.

enomakos:
then who do you want as their replacement?

.

For now we don't have any choice. We just need to manage them.

However, Felix Uduokhai, Jordan Torunarigha and Tiago Ilori are good enough to be their back up should incase they have off day.

safarigirl:
more nonsense. So, it is Cyriel that is not a good striker?

All of Cyril's goals are flukes abi? How many goals does Tammy have this season sef?

All this nonsense beggi beggi attitude dey turn pesin belle. After the way that guy embarrassed Nigerians, I am ashamed of anyone still campaigning for his inclusion this early. If anyone does that to your country, the ideal thing is to keep talks of him away until after the World Cup, not keep talking about him as if we are that obsessed boyfriend that can't get over their ex.

Tammy is not the only forward at our disposal and I dare say, he is not better than those who have expressed interest to play for us.

If he is still interested after the world cup, we can go for him, but for now, ley him remain at his U21 level that he chose for himself

elyte89:



B4 u say anything, look at d defenders Cyril is facing week in week out and juxtapose it with d one Tammy is facing week in week out
Dis same dressers might b sitting on d bench if hhe were to b in Swansea


Dis is d same tin I use to tell our unofficial scout here
No b every player b national team material


Scoring 40 in eredevisie lower league doesn't amount anytin to me,don't worry I pray dey shld invite him over
And let c what he can offer, same way our so much hyped Mikel agu disappointed our nairaland scout officials

I thought we already trashed this useless argument about leagues?

All the badass defenders that English footballers face in EPL, is it not Iceland that still dumped them out of Euros? Did you ask the useless defenders the Iceland players face or the impotent strikers?

Echiejile and Shehu, who faces tougher defenders? But who plays better for Nigeria?

So, why do you think Tammy would be better than Cyriel? Is it not from Belgian league that the likes of Ndidi and De Bruyne left to come and seal first team spots in this your overrated EPL?

Is Cyriel more hyped than Tammy on this page? By your logic, Tammy will fail before Cyril because he gets the most hype

This your argument is DOA. Please bring up something else.

Tammy has no place in our team, I repeat, stop being pathetic

daveP:
Case of monkey work, baboon chopping. it would be unfair to some if he makes world cup squad without sweating for it sincerely.

he should go play for england
he will be of no use to us...

If Leon wasn't doing the covering up and Zambia had scored may be then some people would have seen how woeful Echejile was.

Icon4s:


That is something goes on here. Selective criticisms. The talk about Echiejile as the worst player on the pitch today is so amusing.

Leone Balogun had a bad game especially in the first half. Dude was so slow in marking out his opponent and also slow in the build up of play.

Troost Ekong, just also like occasionally against Cameroon made one silly clearance that almost cost us a goal. If it were Onazi, Echiejile or Omeruo that made those passes we for no hear word here.

Despite Onazi's contributions in the first 20+ minutes he played some are still scoring him 5/10 for those minutes.

We have our favorite players and the opposite as well but we should be fair in making our judgements.

Yea u are right,Balogun was not at his best today,Ekong even had a better game than him thanks to Shehu Abdullahi performance but not so in Balogun case,Echiejele was find wanting most of d time.

watching the game again now
and all I can say is elderson is still our weakest link
he made balogun work tirelessly

Kog45:
Yea u are right,Balogun was not at his best today,Ekong even had a better game than him thanks to Shehu Abdullahi performance but not so in Balogun case,Echiejele was find wanting most of d time.

you are forgetting the fact that balogun was covering for elderson

Humility017:


he should go play for england
he will be of no use to us...

fashanu season 2. he fall ma hand big time. b4 he c chance bench Harry 'hurricane' Kane, hmmm.

Joebie:
EVERYONE knows i've been on this Echiejile case long. Today even our opponents have all noticed it. I no go blow my trumpet sha o. But I will so love to advise Rohr for free.
When everyone is saying he is the weak link some of you are seeing something else. I wonder if na another match una watch. I've noticed his deficiencies long even when it did not seem apparent.

I form my opinion from what I watch not what some flack commentator says. If our weakest link can make 5 tackles & 5 interceptions all the time then the world is in trouble.

The Golden goal again for your viewing pleasure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYij3ltoaYA

TheGoodJoe:


The guys agent knows work.

If elderson's agent was working for shehu homeboy would be playing for real madrid and not in cyprus

The Golden goal again for your viewing pleasure:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HYij3ltoaYA

BascoVanVeli:


He was match rusty. He has not been playing much this season.

But against Cameroon he was not match rusty,truly be told he had a poor game today especially first half,though Echiejele exposed him a little bit just like Cameroon match but pacy Zambia were able to exploit d situation not llike Cameroon.

THE Sone Aluko sermon keeps repeating from me.

Meanwhile, almost all crosses from the wings were not well executed. WE NEED IMPROVEMENT ON THAT FOR CHRIST's SAKE.

jotey:


you are forgetting the fact that balogun was covering for elderson

That's what am saying

Icon4s:


This game really exposed the fragility of our CB pairing.

They still have a long way to go.

Yes sir, u could see how easy it was for Zambia to play the long ball and isolate our CB's with their forwards.

jotey:
watching the game again now

and all I can say is elderson is still our weakest link

he made balogun work tirelessly

Definitely when u have weak LB,left sided CB we need to work but Balogun was average today,though still our best CB.

Bro did you watch it? It was Ekong and not Balogun that supposedly kept him onside. But that thing was close. Only an eagle eyed individual may have let that chance stand. Mikels goal against Algeria, till today some Algerians would tell you he was offside while others would say he was not.

BascoVanVeli:


thank u the first half was a mess. Honestly I don't know how some people watch football. Leon played the man onside for the goal that was ruled off and he also got manhandled when Zambia missed a sitter around 30mins.

Icon4s:


That is something goes on here. Selective criticisms. The talk about Echiejile as the worst player on the pitch today is so amusing.

Leone Balogun had a bad game especially in the first half. Dude was so slow in marking out his opponent and also slow in the build up of play.

Troost Ekong, just also like occasionally against Cameroon made one silly clearance that almost cost us a goal. If it were Onazi, Echiejile or Omeruo that made those passes we for no hear word here.

Despite Onazi's contributions in the first 20+ minutes he played some are still scoring him 5/10 for those minutes.

We have our favorite players and the opposite as well but we should be fair in making our judgements.

I hardly criticize Elderson even when others criticize him but he was poor throughout. Balogun was bad in the first half but improved in the second.

Kog45:
But against Cameroon he was not match rusty,truly be told he had a poor game today especially first half,though Echiejele exposed him a little bit just like Cameroon match but pacy Zambia were able to exploit d situation not llike Cameroon.

Go watch the Cameroon match, he almost dashed them a goal in the beginning.

Dedebanky85:
My takings on the game. Just as I expected, Nigeria won but not how I had hoped it would be. I thought the Zambians would have loved to attack more from the beginning which would have opened up more spaces for us, but hey they remembered what we did to CMR and didn't come out until the second half precisely after the goal. Who knows maybe Zambia were hoping for a draw to try and see if they could trounce CMR in their final game and hope for a Nigerian loss.

To judge a players performance you need to combine both halves of the game not just one half. Therefore, it is very unfair to say Mikel Agu was poor in this game. If this game was only a first half game then he was very very very pisssssss pooooooor. But in the second half he grew into the game and played very well.

I'm thinking Aina has taken Echejile's shirt for good. Aina started reciprocating the same optimum value our RB was enjoying under Shehu. As for Shehu, if you don't leave Cyprus for a better league by first week of August next year, sack your agent and get you a new agent that would take your career to the next level. Shehu is a damn good MF. He made Iwobi's substitution really look good because Iwobi was an extra body in the midfield while Shehu ran the show alone in the right wing for the last 20mins. I don't know who is more energetic btw he and Onazi. This leads to the next point on Onazoi.

Onazi! Onazi!! Onazi!!! That guy is really disrespected and underrated by Naija fans. Where I watched the game got into a panic mode when Onazi got injured. It should never be so!. His energy level and consistent pressing makes him a very valuable assets to teams. The only sub for him is Shehu, but I'd never trade Shehu from RB to the MF cos he's very good in the RB. Rohr should start looking towards Azubuike Okechukwu as a replacement to sit on the bench for Onazi.

Lets face the truth, except injuries, Ndidi, Onazi and Mikel would always be the starting MF.

Overall, this game was of a very high quality and any neutral fan would have enjoyed the game. But why can't Nigeria have a good playing surface. Today it's good, tomorrow e don dabaru. Look at CMR and their lush green stadium. If we can't get the required training from Europe or SA, at least we can go learn from CMR on how to maintain a lush green pitch. It's becoming ridiculous and it's affecting our game. Little wonder the 2 games we played on a smooth field have been our best games (against CMR in Uyo and Yaounde).

No sane coach would make wholesome changes to a team all in the name of trying out new players. If it was in a competition proper where games are back to back then you can. Qualifying games are like get togethers and far apart so you want to try your strong team always. I expect only 3 or 4 changes to the starting line up against Algeria. I don't see the CB pairing altered at all.
My squad for Algeria:

Ezenwa GK
Ebuehi RB - 1st change
Aina LB - 2nd change
Ekong CB
Balogun CB
Ndidi DM
Ogu CM
Mikel AM
Iwobi LW - 3rd change
Moses - RW
Nwaekeme - ST - 4th change

Algerian game is no longer important , so we can try out a totally different side even Alampsu or Ajiboye. Heck even if we use Superfalcons, e nor matter.

Dedebanky85:
Bro did you watch it? It was Ekong and not Balogun that supposedly kept him onside. But that thing was close. Only an eagle eyed individual may have let that chance stand. Mikels goal against Algeria, till today some Algerians would tell you he was offside while others would say he was not.

It was Leon go check.

Joebie:
Yes I agree. That DMF needs more competition. Let's call a spade a spade, Onazi has not been as good as his last world cup performance. We will need that level or higher in Russia from any DMF.

Did Onazi play the DMF role today?

mank1234:
Are you sure you watched that game?

Echejille was the weak link. Unnecessary back pass to keeper. He has been marked out as our weak link. Zambia build their play through his wing most times. Leon had to cover him up on some occasions and that almost exposed the middle.

Watch the match again it's showing now on Supersport

ur only reason is that he did back passes? Well I will stick with 5 tackles & 5 interceptions.

denniece1:

Lol, even Tammy Abraham dropped a comment on his IG post

Saying??

TheGoodJoe:

The guys agent knows work.

make Shehu sharp sharp obtain the services of this same agency o.

Dedebanky85:
My takings on the game. Just as I expected, Nigeria won but not how I had hoped it would be. I thought the Zambians would have loved to attack more from the beginning which would have opened up more spaces for us, but hey they remembered what we did to CMR and didn't come out until the second half precisely after the goal. Who knows maybe Zambia were hoping for a draw to try and see if they could trounce CMR in their final game and hope for a Nigerian loss.

To judge a players performance you need to combine both halves of the game not just one half. Therefore, it is very unfair to say Mikel Agu was poor in this game. If this game was only a first half game then he was very very very pisssssss pooooooor. But in the second half he grew into the game and played very well.

I'm thinking Aina has taken Echejile's shirt for good. Aina started reciprocating the same optimum value our RB was enjoying under Shehu. As for Shehu, if you don't leave Cyprus for a better league by first week of August next year, sack your agent and get you a new agent that would take your career to the next level. Shehu is a damn good MF. He made Iwobi's substitution really look good because Iwobi was an extra body in the midfield while Shehu ran the show alone in the right wing for the last 20mins. I don't know who is more energetic btw he and Onazi. This leads to the next point on Onazoi.

Onazi! Onazi!! Onazi!!! That guy is really disrespected and underrated by Naija fans. Where I watched the game got into a panic mode when Onazi got injured. It should never be so!. His energy level and consistent pressing makes him a very valuable assets to teams. The only sub for him is Shehu, but I'd never trade Shehu from RB to the MF cos he's very good in the RB. Rohr should start looking towards Azubuike Okechukwu as a replacement to sit on the bench for Onazi.

Lets face the truth, except injuries, Ndidi, Onazi and Mikel would always be the starting MF.

Overall, this game was of a very high quality and any neutral fan would have enjoyed the game. But why can't Nigeria have a good playing surface. Today it's good, tomorrow e don dabaru. Look at CMR and their lush green stadium. If we can't get the required training from Europe or SA, at least we can go learn from CMR on how to maintain a lush green pitch. It's becoming ridiculous and it's affecting our game. Little wonder the 2 games we played on a smooth field have been our best games (against CMR in Uyo and Yaounde).

No sane coach would make wholesome changes to a team all in the name of trying out new players. If it was in a competition proper where games are back to back then you can. Qualifying games are like get togethers and far apart so you want to try your strong team always. I expect only 3 or 4 changes to the starting line up against Algeria. I don't see the CB pairing altered at all.
My squad for Algeria:

Ezenwa GK
Ebuehi RB - 1st change
Aina LB - 2nd change
Ekong CB
Balogun CB
Ndidi DM
Ogu CM
Mikel AM
Iwobi LW - 3rd change
Moses - RW
Nwaekeme - ST - 4th change

If we are looking for a direct replacement for Onazi in the CMF role, my first choice is Joel Obi followed by Abdul Ajagun. But it these two are not available then Raheem Lawal is a better option than Azubuike.

[img][/img]

Bro from the pics you can see where Leon is standing and where Ekong is. Ekong was the one.