Kelechi Nwakali should be invited immediately

[danfo driver]

No matter how poor a season he is having in Holland, the fact remains that this boy is our most talented playmaker. Speaking with Rohr yesterday though, I think what he plans to do is wait for Onyekuru to get fit and play him and Moses out wide, then use Iwobi as his playmaker.

Personally, I think Nwakali is a far better playmaker than Iwobi but alas, I am not the coach. Alternatively, he may use Mikel as his playmaker but again, who uses a 31 year old as their playmaker?

You spoke to Rohr? Why not divulge the details of what his plans are?

Super Eagles' winning streak ends with 0-2 loss to Serbia as they succumb to two second half goals - See more at: https://goo.gl/MKLCG5

He asked you to tell him what Rohr said and you posted a link to your match report. see as u wan use style increase website traffic

[Ayo Akinfe]

No matter how poor a season he is having in Holland, the fact remains that this boy is our most talented playmaker. Speaking with Rohr yesterday though, I think what he plans to do is wait for Onyekuru to get fit and play him and Moses out wide, then use Iwobi as his playmaker.

Personally, I think Nwakali is a far better playmaker than Iwobi but alas, I am not the coach. Alternatively, he may use Mikel as his playmaker but again, who uses a 31 year old as their playmaker?

Argentina -- Banege (29); Di Maria (30)
Croatia -- Rakitic (30) ; Modric (32)
Iceland -- Gylfi Sigurðsson (28)

Brazil - Wilian (29)

Germany - Ozil (29)

Personally, I dont care. I just think most times you write without thinking.

Argentina, Croatia and Iceland na Dunlop mattress wey everybody dey take sleep. See how an energetic Peru side made Pa Modric look like the old man he is. His children gave him the run around all day!

[metalalloy]

No matter how poor a season he is having in Holland, the fact remains that this boy is our most talented playmaker. Speaking with Rohr yesterday though, I think what he plans to do is wait for Onyekuru to get fit and play him and Moses out wide, then use Iwobi as his playmaker.

Personally, I think Nwakali is a far better playmaker than Iwobi but alas, I am not the coach. Alternatively, he may use Mikel as his playmaker but again, who uses a 31 year old as their playmaker?

Argentina -- Banege (29); Di Maria (30)
Croatia -- Rakitic (30) ; Modric (32)
Iceland -- Gylfi Sigurðsson (28)

Brazil - Wilian (29)

Germany - Ozil (29)

Personally, I dont care. I just think most times you write without thinking.

That would be every single time he writes.

[Chriskendo43]

Agent is too much on this site, disgusting

[zee]

Una don start again....just what exactly has he done for his club? I am asking a genuine question ni o....because if he has not set his club ablaze , i am struggling to see what he will do differently from the ones we are destroying now for losing a friendly to Serbia.

Dean Oloye...............don mind the clowns

[john12]

Shameless agents when we were beating Poland Argentina Cameroon and Zambia you didn’t ask for kelechi. Now, you’re asking for kelechi. I have looked and searched for the imaginary exceptional player that tour omitted but I can’t find any. Rohr called the best we presently have available and we must support the players we have in hand. After World Cup, newer guys can be integrated. Kelechi plays in an obscure backwater league but you think he is good enough to challenge world class players like rakitic modric Messi, Aguero etc

[Siddonlook11]

Hmm someone already said it and I want to repeat it ..we did the same thing ( i was one of them btw ) to Luqman Haruna and he has never recovered.

Abeg make Kelechi grow jejeje ..his time will come... We need to figure out how to get the best from Mikel ( healthy or doped ) .. and have Iwobi cover in 10 if mikel is not available.

Btw Iwobi was not helping Ebuehi at all at all on the wing...something Moses and Musa have above him.

[metalalloy]

Hmm someone already said it and I want to repeat it ..we did the same thing ( i was one of them btw ) to Luqman Haruna and he has never recovered.

Abeg make Kelechi grow jejeje ..his time will come... We need to figure out how to get the best from Mikel ( healthy or doped ) .. and have Iwobi cover in 10 if mikel is not available.

Btw Iwobi was not helping Ebuehi at all at all on the wing...something Moses and Musa have above him.

Iwobi tracked back at times. The second goal was just comical the way that Ebuehi and (Ekong i think) were split. Im not sure what Ebuehi was trying to do there with the position he took.

It was one game and I don't think he was as bad as people have been making out. He should def be kept in the mix.

[Siddonlook11]

Hmm someone already said it and I want to repeat it ..we did the same thing ( i was one of them btw ) to Luqman Haruna and he has never recovered.

Abeg make Kelechi grow jejeje ..his time will come... We need to figure out how to get the best from Mikel ( healthy or doped ) .. and have Iwobi cover in 10 if mikel is not available.

Btw Iwobi was not helping Ebuehi at all at all on the wing...something Moses and Musa have above him.

Iwobi tracked back at times. The second goal was just comical the way that Ebuehi and (Ekong i think) were split. Im not sure what Ebuehi was trying to do there with the position he took.

It was one game and I don't think he was as bad as people have been making out. He should def be kept in the mix.

Ahh kept in the mix for sure - I am just saying its a weakness he needs to try and fix ( he does it too in Arsenal ) sometimes he comes back to help but I think he prefers the 10 role which does not require that coming back to help ). .. I do think for now ..Mikel is a much better 10 than Iwobi and should keep that position for Nigeria.

I dont like : Joel, Etebo , Nwakali , Ndidi and Onazi in the 10 position abeg make Rohr stop the experiments .

[DIMKA76]

Nigeria has to go as a counter-attacking team and defend for long periods of the game while having to improve hugely on keeping possession. We don't have the players to play it any other way. Neither Nwakali nor Onyekuru can add value to the SE at this stage of preparation. The WC has simply come too soon for them.

[Gotti]

Tufiakwa. Enemies of Nigeria. Kelechi is not anywhere near ready. And I love him by the way.

You dey mind , they want to serve the boy to sharks. Osita no sharp at all

In 2010 we did the exact same thing to Haruna, his career never recovered.

[Gotti]

Nah so dem call for Rabiu before last world cup..

I personally don't think Nwakali is some magical panacea to the creative issues we have but for those saying "he is not ready" what makes Uzoho anymore ready than Nwakali? If we are willing to throw a 19 year old goalkeeper into the deep end to figure it out and learn on the job, why not Nwakali?

DESPERATION!

Which is also the reason folks are calling for Enyeama (btw, one of my all-time fave SEs) who has not played football (at least not competitively in the top flight) in almost a year. We are not quite that desperate in midfield at the moment. Wilson Oruma should be cursing for not being in this age-grade.

[The YeyeMan]

Tufiakwa. Enemies of Nigeria. Kelechi is not anywhere near ready. And I love him by the way.

You dey mind , they want to serve the boy to sharks. Osita no sharp at all

In 2010 we did the exact same thing to Haruna, his career never recovered.

Hmm... Haruna's career never took off, let alone recovered. I don't think his call up to the SE had much to do with it.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Tufiakwa. Enemies of Nigeria. Kelechi is not anywhere near ready. And I love him by the way.

You dey mind , they want to serve the boy to sharks. Osita no sharp at all

In 2010 we did the exact same thing to Haruna, his career never recovered.

Hmm... Haruna's career never took off, let alone recovered. I don't think his call up to the SE had much to do with it.

CE will drive one mad if you are not careful. Lukman Haruna’s club career got derailed because of his poor work rate. It has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Super Eagles.

Over the decades, thousands have young players have faded into obscurity after showing early promise. To try and claim playing for Nigeria will in anyway detail Nwakali’s club career is abominable ignorance that beggars belief!

Alloysius Atuegbu, Godwin Achebe, Henry Nwosu, Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Obafemi Martins, etc were all teenagers when they began playing for Nigeria. I am not to bothered though as Rohr is aware of all this.

[Gotti]

Hmm... Haruna's career never took off, let alone recovered. I don't think his call up to the SE had much to do with it.

Notwithstanding, Haruna's had "taken off" more than Nwakali's at the time of the 2010 WC, coming off 3 seasons in the French top division with Monaco (including 40 league appearances in the prior 2 seasons).

[wanaj0]

Tufiakwa. Enemies of Nigeria. Kelechi is not anywhere near ready. And I love him by the way.

You dey mind , they want to serve the boy to sharks. Osita no sharp at all

In 2010 we did the exact same thing to Haruna, his career never recovered.

Hmm... Haruna's career never took off, let alone recovered. I don't think his call up to the SE had much to do with it.

CE will drive one mad if you are not careful. Lukman Haruna’s club career got derailed because of his poor work rate. It has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the Super Eagles.

Over the decades, thousands have young players have faded into obscurity after showing early promise. To try and claim playing for Nigeria will in anyway detail Nwakali’s club career is abominable ignorance that beggars belief!

Alloysius Atuegbu, Godwin Achebe, Henry Nwosu, Ifeanyi Onyeadika, Daniel Amokachi, Sunday Oliseh, Obafemi Martins, etc were all teenagers when they began playing for Nigeria. I am not to bothered though as Rohr is aware of all this.

Postpone the agency business to 2022! No vacancy for any of your 'client'.

[Ayo Akinfe]

Hmm... Haruna's career never took off, let alone recovered. I don't think his call up to the SE had much to do with it.

Notwithstanding, Haruna's had "taken off" more than Nwakali's at the time of the 2010 WC, coming off 3 seasons in the French top division with Monaco (including 40 league appearances in the prior 2 seasons).

That is no basis to determine who will end up with a longer and more successful career. My argument is simple - At the moment, the only two players I see as capable of playing the playmaker role are Kelechi Nwakali and Abdul Ajagun.

No one has been able to provide any better alternatives. Until anyone does, I maintain that Rohr should take a look at both of them.

[john12]

Yo they’re not going to the World Cup. You guys did this nonsense in 2010 and 14. After World Cup, they can be considered

[dhoney]

The friendly against Serbia has further shown that we are lacking in the creative side of our team. Also, the attack is quite blunt as i have repeatedly said that Igahlo is not up to par and will need competition from other Nigeria attacking talents round the world e.g Paul Onachu, cyriel Dessers, Sadiq Umar, Awoniyi, Bonaventure Dennis e.t.c .Even if the midfield has the presence of our captain Mikel, we will still struggle to get goals from Ighalo, and his style is quite predictable, his finishing is below par and can be marked out of a game due to direct style of play.

The Argentina game against spain has shown that Argentina can not really do much without messi's presence. This same thing could happen to Nigeria if Mikel is injured or is ruled out due to accumulated cards

I believe that the immediate inclusion of Kelechi Nwakali will have the added bit to our midfield if mikel is not available. Kelechi's game is very similar to mikel and he has very much improved in his game. iwobi is not physically ready to play that position for us.

Am no agent just concerned that we might be missing an opportunity not to include Kelech Nwakali now.

Nigerians do not change. The soccer player who is not available or who is outside the team, is always presented as THE ANSWER. It is the substitution, not management or strategy, mindset. Laughable.

...really laughable my brother

[wale1974]

Una don start again....just what exactly has he done for his club? I am asking a genuine question ni o....because if he has not set his club ablaze , i am struggling to see what he will do differently from the ones we are destroying now for losing a friendly to Serbia.

The same question should be addressed to you, what exactly has Ighalo, Onazi, Agbo, Mikel agu, Musa done for there clubs compared with kelechi Nwakali?

They are all starters....................Let Kelechi start playing first and then we can talk.

U-17 footie is different from WC.

[wale1974]

I was at The Hive yesterday and my views are as follows:-

Uzoho - Easily our new number 1. Ezenwa just is not physical enough.
Ebuehi - He will receive flak because the 2 goals came from his side but truth is Iwobi who was ahead of him did not give him cover to protect him. Silky, lovely and confident touch.
Ekong - Solid
Awaziem - Good reserve for Balogun but certainly not better than Balogun
Idowu - Lovely touch. Loved the fact that he even went ahead further than Moses in situations with Moses hanging back as his support. Iwobi needs to learn that.
Joel Obi - Terrible, terrible performance. We all groaned when he supplied a poor pass in the 2nd half. Was he tired because he did better against Poland?
Ndidi - Solid
Onazi - I am not a fan of Ogenyi Onazi and I don't believe he is national team class but I know why Rohr plays him. Onazi is energetic and bubbly and when he dribbled a serb again and again, he showed that he can step up.
Moses - VicMo looked tired and disinterested. Perhaps he was already thinking of Chelsea. That free-kick right in front of us in the 1st half was too poor.
Iwobi - An engima, weird, peculiar. Dribbled folk at will and you ask "why don't you just go and do that in more dangerous areas?" Typical Arsenal "huff and puff". Needs to grow up. He exposed Ebuehi too much. Irritating for such great talent. Needs to leave Wenger immediately and go to a coach that can improve him. Brilliant at inter-passing and fearless when he wants.
Musa - Nobody likes him but it is because they dont understand him. The serb defenders were old and slow and not a single pass through the floor or over their heads to set Musa's pace off. Made Branislav Ivanovic look world class again. Rohr should keep Musa in the squad because he gives so many options.
Ighalo - Held the ball with power and would have scored given support.
Aina - That boy can throw the ball, my God!

Overall Assessment
The lack of a creative midfielder was too glaring. Jon Mikel Obi is now as indispensable to Nigeria as Lionel Messi is to Argentina. There was no effective leader on our side. Talk of Kelechi Nwakali is utter BS. Rohr has his work cut out and this defeat is good at this time. England will offer a very stiff test. Rohr will need to manage Mikel carefully and continue to assess options. On another day, we will beat Serbia. Each time we attacked, they had the fear of our unpredictability.

Omo u sabi football

[Gotti]

That is no basis to determine who will end up with a longer and more successful career. My argument is simple - At the moment, the only two players I see as capable of playing the playmaker role are Kelechi Nwakali and Abdul Ajagun.

No one has been able to provide any better alternatives. Until anyone does, I maintain that Rohr should take a look at both of them.

We are not discussing who might have “a longer and more successful career” (which of course is dabbling in speculation and conjecture) but about the WC in 3 months time - and the brutal reality is that Lukman Haruna was relatively way more seasoned and prepared than Nwakali presently is.

Even granted that life and football is not mathematics, there are nonetheless some general matrix of performance (and experience). Accordingly, apart from both captaining Nigeria to a world U17 title, Haruna had further experience representing Nigeria internationally at the AYC and WYC (which Nwakali did not), played 3 seasons in the French top division (compared to Nwakali’s two seasons of toiling in the second-tier of the Dutch league - apart a brief underwhelming stint at a bottom club in the Eridevisie), and had made his SE debut a full 2 years to the 2010 WC in May 2008 against Austria (after being in the SE pre-ANC 2008 camp under Lazy Betty Vogts).

If you do not have a Benz you figure out how best you can use your Okada. Slapping a Benz sticker on your wheelbarrow is merely an exercise in self-delusion. What Mikel brings to the present SE table is not just creativity (he is quite some ways behind some the SE’s most creative players of yore), but big game experience, leadership, a familiar stability and a steeled (albeit quiet) determination. Expecting Nwakali to seamlessly stepped into those britches in the next 80 days or so is an exercise in self-delusional tom foolery!

[Ayo Akinfe]

That is no basis to determine who will end up with a longer and more successful career. My argument is simple - At the moment, the only two players I see as capable of playing the playmaker role are Kelechi Nwakali and Abdul Ajagun.

No one has been able to provide any better alternatives. Until anyone does, I maintain that Rohr should take a look at both of them.

We are not discussing who might have “a longer and more successful career” (which of course is dabbling in speculation and conjecture) but about the WC in 3 months time - and the brutal reality is that Lukman Haruna was relatively way more seasoned and prepared than Nwakali presently is.

Even granted that life and football is not mathematics, there are nonetheless some general matrix of performance (and experience). Accordingly, apart from both captaining Nigeria to a world U17 title, Haruna had further experience representing Nigeria internationally at the AYC and WYC (which Nwakali did not), played 3 seasons in the French top division (compared to Nwakali’s two seasons of toiling in the second-tier of the Dutch league - apart a brief underwhelming stint at a bottom club in the Eridevisie), and had made his SE debut a full 2 years to the 2010 WC in May 2008 against Austria (after being in the SE pre-ANC 2008 camp under Lazy Betty Vogts).

If you do not have a Benz you figure out how best you can use your Okada. Slapping a Benz sticker on your wheelbarrow is merely an exercise in self-delusion. What Mikel brings to the present SE table is not just creativity (he is quite some ways behind some the SE’s most creative players of yore), but big game experience, leadership, a familiar stability and a steeled (albeit quiet) determination. Expecting Nwakali to seamlessly stepped into those britches in the next 80 days or so is an exercise in self-delusional tom foolery!

10 reservations I have regarding Mikel playing as our playmaker

(1) At 31, he lacks the legs needed for such a role
(2) We desperately need his security alongside Ndidi further back in front of the back four
(3) Mikel’s biggest asset is his long range passing which he provides from deep
(4) A playmaker needs pace to exploit counter-attacks
(5) Mikel will not offer you quick give-and-goes on the edge of the penalty area
(6) Playing Mikel upfield always leaves us vulnerable on the counter-attack when he loses the ball
(7) Mikel’s organisational capability is needed not only as a midfield shield but also alongside the defence. He is always issuing instructions to defenders. Young defenders like Ebuehi, Idowu, Ekong, Awaziem, etc need him alongside them
(8) Have you not noticed that Mikel is the best player we have at receiving the ball from the goalkeeper when he takes short goal kicks? How does he do that playing further upfield
(9) Mikel is also a big physical threat. I think that is most required to protect us at the back. For instance he can rough it up with a striker who drops off
(10) Mikel also wins a lot of aerial duels. We need him where he can nod goal kicks and crosses away