AIG07:
What's all this fuss about a loss?
2 losses in 14games spanned over 19months is not only fair but an amazing result that shows that the Super Eagles has changed and evolved into a better side.

Their continuous victories and good showings has turn us to spoil brat(I don't know when we turned to Spain/Germany overnight).

Everyone is blaming the coach, the players, the administrators and even the fans on ground for not playing their respective roles to ensure another victory against the Serbs.

I have never seen anyone here blame the ball used. No one has show concern since it's the same ball type will be used at the mundia.

We all need to give the team and coaches some break. No need for all these unnecessary pressure the fans are putting on the team.

Finally, I personally, still believes in this team and coaching crew to deliver at the tournament proper. So, they've got ma back.

NO DOUBT EAGLES WILL SOAR AT THE WORLD CUP.

Na all this kind comment dey make me dey happy....No b say super eagles go lost,people go begin yarn invite this and that,looking for player to blame,the coach knows the best....Thumbs up to you bro

komekn:


One game doesn't make a player give him time.

Nwakweme will not like this.

mank1234:


Actually 3 losses. We lost to Algeria 3:0

We lost on paper sir

Meanwhile, let me reveal the names of 18 players who are guaranteed a place in the Super Eagles world cup squad, injuries aside:

1. Francis Uzoho
2. Ikechukwu Ezenwa
3. Abdullahi Shehu
4. Joel Obi
5. Tyroone Ebuehi
6. Brian Idowu
7. Leon Balogun
8. Troost Ekong
9. Chidozie Awaziem
10. Wilfred Ndidi
11. John Obi Mikel
12. Oghenekaro Etebo
13. Eddy Onazi
14. John Ogu
15. Alex Iwobi
16. Kelechi Iheanacho
17. Victor Moses
18. Odion Ighalo


O pari

� I don't know what to say

Icon79:
Meanwhile, let me reveal the names of 18 players who are guaranteed a place in the Super Eagles world cup squad, injuries aside:

1. Francis Uzoho
2. Ikechukwu Ezenwa
3. Abdullahi Shehu
4. Joel Obi
5. Tyroone Ebuehi
6. Brian Idowu
7. Leon Balogun
8. Troost Ekong
9. Chidozie Awaziem
10. Wilfred Ndidi
11. John Obi Mikel
12. Oghenekaro Etebo
13. Eddy Onazi
14. John Ogu
15. Alex Iwobi
16. Kelechi Iheanacho
17. Victor Moses
18. Odion Ighalo


O pari

Obi and awaziem is a 50/50 stuff

kennysville:


Keep telling yourself that

Be humble and learn. Shalom.

Trust me, those two players are going to Russia. Mark my words!

Rohr is professional, he doesn't read the game the way an average fan does. He knows what Joel Obi, in particular, brings to this team. I expect him to start in Russia, believe it or not.


O pari

elyte89:




Obi and awaziem is a 50/50 stuff

realpoacher:
Yea!...Yes!!... Yes!!!

My submissions from the game last night....

Walahi, na head I take waka comot from viewing center last night with serious heartbreak!

-Joel obi fall my hands big time. Offensively poor, defensively OK, but we don't need more DM/CM. What we need is the link between the defence and the attack and that was why we clamoured for Joel obi. We didn't ask him to come and play alongside Mikel, we asked him to come and do Mikel's job in Mikel absence, and in that regard he failed woefully.

He couldn't connect any long pass forward, couldn't remove his marker, he can't shoot and he fucccking couldn't throw. Poor, poor, poor for me,... Rohr should drop him ASAP!. OGU can do all he does ,and Ogu can score too with his terrific shots. .. Thank you Mr. Joel Obi and Goodbye

- Ebuehi is overrated here. Position wise he is excellent but his overall defensive abilities is not better than Shehu. Offensively Ebuehi is better than Shehu, Defensively Shehu trumps Ebuehi.

My Verdict: Shehu should start ahead of him

- Playing 3 DMs as CM,DM and AM cannot work for us. With it we lacked bite. No creativity at all. No one among the 3 of them could take up the responsibility of driving the attack. First half, Ndidi was DM, Obi was CM and Onazi was AM. Onazi failed woefully at AM. In the second half, Onazi swapped places with Ndidi and went to DM while Ndidi went to AM. Ndidi too failed woefully there while Onazi went AWOL at DM.

Verdict: Joel Obi out, Ogu can do his job and even better. Onazi is slowly overstaying his welcome in this team. Ndidi is the current warlord at our DM/CM. He should stay put there and shouldn't bother about AM at all.

- Alex Iwobi could be the AM that we seek. Dude is so useless on the wings BUT very effective from the attacking center half. He can dribble, take his man out, pass, drive attack, and snick in to score too. When he paired Ndidi in the second half at AM, he had two shots on target apart from his dribbles, while he was quiet all through the first half.

Verdict:
Iwobi should be played henceforth from AM, with time he would blend, grow some stamina and his mojo will come out.

- Uzoho is confirmed first choice with his excellent reflexes, awareness and positioning. The goals he conceded was none of his faults or errors. As a matter of fact, many top keepers will get beaten by those balls. But I'd love to see Ezenwa keep either England or Czech friendlies.

- Overall , Rohr will have to train our boys to keep the ball. Hold the ball, heck we can kidnap the ball for all I care because counter attack will not work all the time. If we keep ballooning the ball, the day we meet a team that is selfish with the ball we are toast. Just like Serbia, they played the ball on the ground. They played us from the middle. At the end, we were well beaten both in possession and in goals.

- Mikel and Moses are the talisman we have in this team but with distinct qualities. Mikel does his own with eagle eyed pinpoint passes and ball retention techniques while Moses does his own with superb dribbling skills and attacking driving runs. Iwobi can be our third talisman but he is been wasted on the wings.

Long story short...
We should stop clamoring for players because from what we have seen, no one out there currently does it better than the guys we currently parade. So let's groom what we have at hand presently into what we desire.


Therefore, all this noise about Ajagun, Martins, Aluko, Dessers, Bonaventure, Sadiq should stop. Only Henry Onyekuru who has been in the mix during the qualifiers can be allowed in to slug it out with the 35 man list.


Thank you!!!

that if they will hear.......
I will even prefer Henry to Ighalo....for the CF role.

I know both will make the team too but Joel to start in Russia? That is so not certain. A midfield of Mikel-Ndidi-Onazi is more likely... Unless you are forseeing a Mikel-Ndidi-Joel midfield lineup.

Icon79:
Trust me, those two players are going to Russia. Mark my words!

Rohr is professional, he doesn't read the game the way an average fan does. He knows what Joel Obi, in particular, brings to this team. I expect him to start in Russia, believe it or not.


O pari

Bingo @Mikel-Ndidi-Joel midfield lineup. With Ndidi playing the anchor role/ball winner role and Joel playing more as the CM and Mikel as the playmaker. I think that's our best team right there.


O pari

TheSuperNerd:
I know both will make the team too but Joel to start in Russia? That is so not certain. A midfield of Mikel-Ndidi-Onazi is more likely... Unless you are forseeing a Mikel-Ndidi-Joel midfield lineup.

Lol, una no go kill person.

Mujtahida:

Excuse masters we be for naija

If Henry Onyekuru makes it to Russia, then maybe Joel may be dropped. Mikel, Ndidi, Onazi, Ogu and Etebo are going to Russia. Joel is likely to be the sixth midfield man and we are going with six midfielders, I am 100% certain Joel will make it.

But with Henry now... If he gatecrashes the squad, then that means he will join Iheanacho, Iwobi, Victor Moses, S.Moses, Ighalo and Musa in attack.


And on preferring Henry to Ighalo, well for me shaa... I also prefer Henry in a 4-3-3 but in a 4-2-3-1... Ighalo takes it. But Anytime any day, I go with our biggest goals threat in Iheanacho upfront either as past of a 3-5-2 OR in a 4-3-3 flanked by Moses and Iwobi with a Mikel-Ndidi-Onazi/Joel midfield OR in a 4-2-3-1 with Mikel, Victor Moses and Iwobi all behind Nacho... Nacho is far deadlier than Ighalo and he would have converted that sort of chance Ighalo blew over against Serbia.

77 days to go... This is the time for moment of truth. We cannot be going with a striker that will miss ten chances and score 1.../this is why Nacho gets my nod. Hold-up plays and playing with back to goal are useless when a no.9 cannot even turn it into goals.

Humility017:


that if they will hear.......
I will even prefer Henry to Ighalo....for the CF role.

Icon79:
Meanwhile, let me reveal the names of 18 players who are guaranteed a place in the Super Eagles world cup squad, injuries aside:

1. Francis Uzoho
2. Ikechukwu Ezenwa
3. Abdullahi Shehu
4. Joel Obi
5. Tyroone Ebuehi
6. Brian Idowu
7. Leon Balogun
8. Troost Ekong
9. Chidozie Awaziem
10. Wilfred Ndidi
11. John Obi Mikel
12. Oghenekaro Etebo
13. Eddy Onazi
14. John Ogu
15. Alex Iwobi
16. Kelechi Iheanacho
17. Victor Moses
18. Odion Ighalo


O pari

What about musa ?

It could be... But this is the same way we liked the Ndidi-Joel-Onazi combo on paper when the lineup came out before we saw the lapses in the Serbia game....

We have seen the Mikel-Ndidi-Onazi combo in action... That midfield played a super part in destroying African Champs, Cameroon 4-0 in uyo.

The Mikel-Ndidi-Joel could work buuuuttt... We need to see it in a friendly first.

Icon79:
Bingo @Mikel-Ndidi-Joel midfield lineup. With Ndidi playing the anchor role/ball winner role and Joel playing more as the CM and Mikel as the playmaker. I think that's our best team right there.


O pari

Kog45:
OK sir accepted he was not fit,hope to see fit Ebuehi again then we talk.

Ehen. That's just my point. If then he doesn't live up to expectation I will be the first to say so. Even this one I know he underperformed but I'm saying perhaps it could be because of his lack of full fitness.

He is no.19 on Icon79's list... Don't mind him. He deliberately forgot him... Loolll

andrew444:



What about musa ?

haha.. I had said you keep posting LIKE you have an agenda.. I went on to say you might have something to gain.. Does that sound to you like I know for sure..

just like suspecting a child that he steal meat from stew pot, and the child in response says, "prove it".
forgiveness did a similar thing the other day.

komekn:


You see what you want to see.

To buttress your point, state the argument you have assumed in the negative I present. I really expect more from you. But then when I contend with you on specific you go missing.


What is the agenda? state it according to you?

Icon4s:
Well, for those interested in where the 2 friendlies have taken us to in the FIFA Ranking, we gained Ranking points from 609 to 635. We are expected to move 4places up(from 52 to 48).

No sir, My FIFA rankings simulator says otherwise

We are moving 7 places up to 45th position

TheSuperNerd:
He is no.19 on Icon79's list... Don't mind him. He deliberately forgot him... Loolll

Lol

mazimee:


We lost on paper sir

Loss is loss. On paper or on field. Check FIFA website.
Using an ineligible player is considered as cheating. The correction wasn't meant to demean our team.

komekn:


Mostly agree with you with some exceptions.

But you do not proffer any solutions.

KC is not a bonafide No 9, he can not play as a lone striker. That's a handicap, it's not part of his skill set to bully defenders, he doesn't have blistering pace or technical wizardry, finishing a resounding big YES. But without support he can be anonymous.

Iwobi lacks maturity, skill upon skill without doubt but end product in the final third very suspect.

Ekong and Balogun the best CB combination we have.

Aina is yet to play a complete game or half he hasn't been tested properly. So can we truly talk about his qualities.

We watched a Championship striker Mitrovic give our defenders a terrible time. Awaziem found out. There will be strikers in the World Cup that will be much better and more physical.

The team needs strength in depth.

The core of the current squad is good but they need 4/5 quality tried and tested additions. This will give us a fighting chance.

The world cup is not a sprint it's a marathon. You need to have capable replacement in every department. We shouldn't be looking at youth potential but players who are delivering for thier clubs consistently.

Dressers could even be an option Ideye, an additional striker is essential as well as Am.

We want to at least get past group stage anything less is not good enough.

Finally sir komekn gives an unbiased non-English summary of our performance!!.

Komekn is this really you?...

Hahaha hahahahaha

Good days ahead

BascoVanVeli:
What is Rohr's deal? A blind man can see that Iwobi must always be Mikel's replacement but yet he keeps the boy on the wings and plays god knows who there.

We don talk an here tire but people say he can't dribble, he can't hold the ball and he can't pass. But he was more involved from the middle yesterday than in the first half playing from the wings.

our good performers yesterday was Moses and Iwobi. The other performers were either average or below par. How was our CBs yesterday? How was our CBs against South Africa? guys don't make a conclusion after one or two matches.. Is Awaziem really a bad defender? Let's not forget that what we have today in Ekong-Balogun partnership was solidified over time.

I still stand by my word that J. Obi can play as an AM. But did he play as an AM yesterday? OGN suggested he was given the creative midfielder role.. I'm about to do a further research on that. We may have all expected so much from him over both friendlies, and that's why we are trying to sound like he was rubbish.. but the truth is that in both games we could hardly find a player who was SPECTACULAR.
Poor chemistry makes all the players look really bad.. Our passing improved against Serbia, but we could hardly spring passes for a long spell of time without losing the ball. We saw a few good combination plays. But you need more of those during the duration of the game. Can Mikel prevent other players from making bad passes? Even with Mikel were we not falling like a pack of cards in the first half against Argentina.. it took a change of strategy and change in personnel to turn things around in the second half.. it's not all about Mikel. Agreed, Mikel can make a difference.. But the way we cry we are missing Mikel, is as if Messi is to Argentina just as Mikel is to Nigeria.. I disagree totally.

Anyway I want to believe we are done with the experimentation.. I am hopeful we will see a better team next time.

MetalJigsaw:
The same Joel that I watched yesterday and against Poland?. Oya swear say Joel add any quality.

realpoacher:


Finally sir komekn gives an unbiased non-English summary of our performance!!.

Komekn is this really you?...

Hahaha hahahahaha

Good days ahead

I would not get my hopes up yet if I were you... Even his attempted "non-English" summary had "English" written all over it albeit subtly... A leopard cannot change its spots...

Siasia said this quite a while ago that Iwobi is best suited for the AM role.. And I think we also had the argument here many pages back

Mujtahida:

We don talk an here tire but people say he can't dribble, he can't hold the ball and he can't pass. But he was more involved from the middle yesterday than in the first half playing from the wings.

somehow:
I know Shehu is injured, but Aina was on the bench same with Omeruo, both can play RB. enough of these excuses, he had a bad day yesterday.

na una sabi. I kuku no watch, was just saying

Both can play no mean say the coach wan play them. You no dey Rohr mind

of what good is your natural left leg if you can't utilize it?

Goke7:

Echiejile is still a back up like omeruo I think. We don't really have a natural LB so the guy may still be relevant

Even Aina is better than Echiejile at LB.. Rohr said Aina, Idowu and Ebuehi are Echiejile's competition at LB

I posted the quote here.. you guys should keep praying for Echiejile

Goke7:


What if Idowu gets injured? Who will play that role? We know ebuehi is a back up for Shehu and both omeruo or awazie can be back ups for Balogun and ekong but for that LB no one. Don't even mention Aina. His supporters have finally concluded he is better as a RB to defend his dismal outing against Algeria and Argentina. So echiejile remains relevant.

I agree that so far Ogu has been better..

SO FAR -- key words.

Martz101:


why are you guys like this, John Ogu so far has been better than Joel obi

Super Eagles Coach Rohr Reacts To Display Of Showboating Iwobi Against Serbia




Gernot Rohr has reacted to the performance of Arsenal winger Alex Iwobi in Nigeria's 2-0 loss to Serbia at the Hive Stadium on Tuesday night.

Though the Hale End Academy product was praised by Rohr, the German manager also suggested that he was showboating, particularly in the second half, adding that the Super Eagles prefer to play as a unit.

''With us all the time he’s very good, already in Poland and he was fantastic tonight," Rohr told Evening Standard.

"Perhaps some times [he did] a little too much individually, he wanted to make a show. We prefer collective football.
''But when he can eliminate his opponent it’s very good. He’s with us all the time in confidence. He’s free when he has the ball.

"I don’t know what the tactical options of Arsene Wenger are when he’s with Arsenal but with us he’s free offensively and he can show all his qualities."

Iwobi was replaced by Junior Ajayi with two minutes left on the clock, the Gunners number 17 was substituted on the hour mark in the 1-0 win over Poland last Friday.


**Igho Kingsley


Source: http://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=27140


Russia 2018 WC Countdown: 77 days 19 hours 35 mins to go

one thing I agree with you especially in your write up.
based on our personnel, 3-5-2 might be our best bet.. Now i'm talking about our personnel in the bench as well. Although Ebuehi is also solid as a full back when fully fit, he is a beast going forward. We may be tempted to convert Awaziem to a LB.. not tried and tested there in SE colors but he has excelled there ONCE at club level. So many makeshift decisions can prove costly. Hence, we need to start focussing on the two or three formations we would like to play going forward, and 3-5-2 should be one of them.

kennysville:
Friends, countrymen, Nairalanders....
(Yes its been a while yall read that)

First of all, its a good thing that we lost the match so we dont have false expectations of our boys. To those who wanted the loss, yall got your wishes. To those who didnt want us to lose, well its part of the game.

Correct me folks if I am wrong, but we all knew we didnt have a creative midfielder outside of Mikel for almost 2years now. What exactly was done about it? We started looking for makeshift players to mould into creative midfielders. We knew that Alex Iwobi thrives more in the middle of the park than on the wings, yet we still kept making the same Wenger-ish mistakes. Of course I can understand he adds more attacking threat but the dude's natural forte is the Middle. If he had been encouraged more along this line, its possible we would be having a good midfield- Attack link up.

We also had Azubuike Okechukwu who in my opinion is one of the best creative midfielders we have but simply because he plays for one lowly rated team in turkey, we turned the other way. This dude was instrumental to the Gold we won at U23 Afcon, and the Bronze at the olympics. My assessment of our coach is that he is willing to take the risk of sticking with Mikel Obi as the only natural creative midfielder and hope he doesnt get injured. Pray tell folks, what happens if he gets knocked say in training? Then game plan gets disrupted abi? Then we get to run like headless chickens all over with no clear cut cerebral input geared towards attack. It is now evident to the whole world that without Mikel, our brand of footbal is gra gra and frankly at the world cup, they will exploit that promptly. Unfortunately at this time, it is too late to experiment with any new creative midfielder at this stage because we have to worry about them blending in for the team chemistry.
As someone rightly said, we should just continue with the set of players that got us qualified so as not to look disjointed. And perhaps, hope for the best from that.

My assessment of yesterday's game is that Rohr's game plan for the match was disrupted by the fact that Balogun failed last minute fitness test as well the reported fracture of Kelechi Iheanacho. He resorted to playing musa as a 9 and we got what we got. This tells me that he needs to work on having equally potent replacements for each of the positions.

Talking about Ebuehi and Idowu, i realize they are better suited for attack minded formations. This implies that when we wanna be bullish, Shehu is our man, but whe we wanna attack and keep an all out attack, we need these two boys ( Idowu and Ebuehi) hence the need to really perfect 3-5-2 and really sharpen it , primed for attack!

Our passing needs a lot of work. It is not nice to see us lose possession after 3 passes. Our forwards need to work together in that if a player is in a better positiin to score, then they shd pass to him instead of seeking personal glory (I dont wanna mention names). I dont have a problem with yesterday's team selection. What i have a problem with is the aim or objectives the coach set out to achieve. Was it to sit back and soak up pressure from the Serbs and then hit them on counter? If that was the case, then it was poorly executed


I believe in our team a lot. It just takes right tactics, right personels and executions for us to be able to win. It hurts that we are in the situation we are. I have said this before and I will still say it again, I wouldnt worry about our goal keeping "crises". It is the least of our worries right now. If our team is set up to always keep possession, you will find out that all our goalies will do will just be Goal kicks and routine clearances. In other words, there are things worse than goal keeper problems. Let us get our midfield and attack sharp. End of discussion!


Up Super Eagles