PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by oloye »

maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
Oga no vex, that's why I apologized for my off topic rant, but to me the bigger problem is not Uzoho vs Ezenwa but rather a lack of actual class level players in all departments, with GK being the most glaringly obvious. Either of the two is like six of one, half a dozen of the other, same level of GK but below expected NT standards.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by fabio »

oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else, claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never satisfied until he tears a building down.
Baba Oloye, you have said the truth on the bolded.... Everything else is, let me say is story.

My sauce said, Uzoho was chosen because of height, thank you for confirming it.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by oloye »

maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
Oga no vex, that's why I apologized for my off topic rant, but to me the bigger problem is not Uzoho vs Ezenwa but rather a lack of actual class level players in all departments, with GK being the most glaringly obvious. Either of the two is like six or half a dozen of the other, same level of GK but below expected NT standards.
But that was obvious or how do you think we landed with a 19 year old who was rushed to the world cup. That was pretty much obvious except that some people felt we had a world class keeper in Ezenwa who was kept out.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
Oga no vex, that's why I apologized for my off topic rant, but to me the bigger problem is not Uzoho vs Ezenwa but rather a lack of actual class level players in all departments, with GK being the most glaringly obvious. Either of the two is like six or half a dozen of the other, same level of GK but below expected NT standards.
But that was obvious or how do you think we landed with a 19 year old who was rushed to the world cup. That was pretty much obvious except that some people felt we had a world class keeper in Ezenwa who was kept out.
Yes, but there were others - like me - who wanted us to spread our breadth of options to include the likes of known NT level GK's who could actually make a difference and not just 'not spoil' the party, but actually contribute in a positive manner. This after the fact Monday morning quarterbacking discussion cannot be complete without acknowledging this aspect that maybe it shouldn't have been either one manning the posts...
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by 1naija »

oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else, claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never satisfied until he tears a building down.
If Rufai is entitled to his opinion, how is stating it disrespectful to the people that make goalkeeping decisions? Here is what Rufai said, and he is right on the money. And btw, he did not say Uzoho is a bad goalkeeper and should not keep for Nigeria. He merely stated his observation of his performance.
“What you look out for in a goalkeeper is his ability to be ‘clean’. By this I mean his movement, the way he does his catches, how he parries the ball and general technicalities required of a goalkeeper. “This is where Ezenwa has an edge over him. Ezenwa’s movement in the goal line, his commanding presence and how he organises his back four was what we missed at the World Cup in Russia. He is a natural goalkeeper.”
Uzoho only saves balls any goalkeeper can save, but has been scored on with the slightest challenging ball that has come his way. He must improve in this area if he intends to get out of division 3 football.
Last edited by 1naija on Fri Aug 10, 2018 3:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by oloye »

maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
Oga no vex, that's why I apologized for my off topic rant, but to me the bigger problem is not Uzoho vs Ezenwa but rather a lack of actual class level players in all departments, with GK being the most glaringly obvious. Either of the two is like six or half a dozen of the other, same level of GK but below expected NT standards.
But that was obvious or how do you think we landed with a 19 year old who was rushed to the world cup. That was pretty much obvious except that some people felt we had a world class keeper in Ezenwa who was kept out.
Yes, but there were others - like me - who wanted us to spread our breadth of options to include the likes of known NT level GK's who could actually make a difference and not just 'not spoil' the party, but actually contribute in a positive manner. This after the fact Monday morning quarterbacking discussion cannot be complete without acknowledging this aspect that maybe it shouldn't have been either one manning the posts...
The people who are paid to make the decisions and who do so based on the evidence before them are not paid to pander to everyone's whims and desires. They analysed what was before them and took a decision. People forget that they were the same people who handed the jersey to Ezenwa over Akpeyi.

As for the terminology 'lets not spoil', that was your coinage to satisfy whatever position of your arguement. Like I said Uzoho did what was expected of him...and honestly that is what counts with regards to the world cup. If we did not progress,it was not because of the keepers department....
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by fabio »

oloye wrote: But that was obvious or how do you think we landed with a 19 year old who was rushed to the world cup. That was pretty much obvious except that some people felt we had a world class keeper in Ezenwa who was kept out.
Haba, no one ever felt Ezenwa was world class. I know you and you know the reasons why :taunt: :taunt: :taunt: :taunt: , but you can't reveal it
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never complete until he tears a building down.
I agree for the most part with this at least he didn't 'spoil ball' sentiment. But this is also why our team was so disappointing. Majority of our players were at a world cup (where you are suppose to show case your talent) playing not to 'spoil ball'. World Cup is where you showcase your class players, the ones with IQ's, ability, drive that's above average. But not a single one of our players had that bit of genius to be decisive (aside from Musa against below average opponents), or had the necessary cutting edge to show they were good enough to be at this level. In Uzoho's case you could look at the the Messi goal which you can't necessarily blame him for, but a more elite goalie might have saved as we saw the likes of Courtois continuously do for his team.

Throughout the tournament, Musa and maybe Etebo were the only ones that had some self belief to try things and not just only give the simplest most obvious pass. I remember Musa trying to execute a simple give and go with Kelechi (similar to the one he did with Emenike against the same Argentina leading to his second goal in 2014), and Kelechi didn't even have the composure to release the ball on time instead delayed and got his pass blocked. What was worse was how sorely lacking in ability our players looked when they did try the more intricate skills like incisive long passes with the likes of Ndidi, Omeruo showing just how poor these parts of their game are with woeful attempts at long or cross field passes. Then let me not talk of Idowu, such a limited player who can't even take the space ahead of him to try anything positive, but rather looks to offload the hot potato to the nearest person he can find even with acres of space ahead of him.

Anyways, sorry for the rant, but you are right Uzoho didn't 'spoil game', but he also didn't put his stamp on our games either or show that he was a special or elite level player/prospect. Its probably why he's back to another season of division 3 ball.
Thought this was about Uzoho and Ezenwa.....and Ezenwa would have stamped the game?
Oga no vex, that's why I apologized for my off topic rant, but to me the bigger problem is not Uzoho vs Ezenwa but rather a lack of actual class level players in all departments, with GK being the most glaringly obvious. Either of the two is like six or half a dozen of the other, same level of GK but below expected NT standards.
But that was obvious or how do you think we landed with a 19 year old who was rushed to the world cup. That was pretty much obvious except that some people felt we had a world class keeper in Ezenwa who was kept out.
Yes, but there were others - like me - who wanted us to spread our breadth of options to include the likes of known NT level GK's who could actually make a difference and not just 'not spoil' the party, but actually contribute in a positive manner. This after the fact Monday morning quarterbacking discussion cannot be complete without acknowledging this aspect that maybe it shouldn't have been either one manning the posts...
The people who are paid to make the decisions and who do so based on the evidence before them are not paid to pander to everyone's whims and desires. They analysed what was before them and took a decision. People forget that they were the same people who handed the jersey to Ezenwa over Akpeyi.

As for the terminology 'lets not spoil', that was your coinage to satisfy whatever position of your arguement. Like I said Uzoho did what was expected of him...and honestly that is what counts with regards to the world cup. If we did not progress,it was not because of the keepers department....
This is where we start diverging, just because someone is paid to do the job doesn't mean they are doing the best job or making the best decisions. Coaches who are paid get fired all the time. We as fans can criticize what we see as incorrect decisions, and the fact that those making decisions are paid doesn't mean they are without flaws. In fact other coaches with more coaching acumen and accolades who get paid MORE to coach also criticized our coach after our first game (ex: Mourinho). And we saw that those criticisms actually FORCED drastic changes in the second game. But this forced change also highlights the fact that these so called paid coaches DO NOT always get it right and are not above criticism. And I personally think they should have at least LOOKED at other options before making their GK selection be between these two rather below average keepers.

And I disagree that we can say GK didn't play a part in our non-progress. Like the example of the Messi's goal (which was savable) if he saves that maybe we could have progressed, who knows. Yes he didn't make any glaring mistakes, but also didn't contribute much to our chances of winning. He didn't start our counter attacks well with incisive passes or throws out. His goal kicks/clearances out of the back always seemed to put more pressure on us as they barely went past the half way line, or were erratic and inaccurate. With him back there our entire set up/style of play became fully focused on protecting our young GK (as likes of Mikel mentioned during some pre-match interviews) and preventing teams from getting any kind of shots at him rather than focusing on attacking (which is usually our strength - probably why the likes of Idowu were preferred to a more positive/attacking Ebuehi). All these things affect a team and their ability to progress out of the group stages.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by nanijoe »

@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

nanijoe wrote:@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
My stance had been clear before the WC, that others should have been given a chance to stake a claim. If Uzoho beats them all out then we have to accept the coaches choice that he was the best, but the refusal to look further than Uzoho to me wasn't the best decision.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by fabio »

nanijoe wrote:@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
There was no world class GK... The question why was a 19 year who had not played 10 matches for his club's first team, given the no.1 position and played all the pre World Cup friendly above those who played first team in Nigeria or South Africa and had more caps than him....

Simple: Pinnick NFF anyone who is in the Nigerian league is not good enough for the national team. The SE media officer confirming this ...
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by green4life »

maceo4 wrote:
nanijoe wrote:@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
My stance had been clear before the WC, that others should have been given a chance to stake a claim. If Uzoho beats them all out then we have to accept the coaches choice that he was the best, but the refusal to look further than Uzoho to me wasn't the best decision.
My guy, please name the other better gk options that were overlooked.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by bret- hart »

So lemme get this straight? Akpeyi the basket and Ezenwa that cant even catch a routine ball from mid air is better than Uzoho??? Uzoho is the best that we have. Hopefully the likes of Okonkwo and Banazu declare their allegiances for Nigeria so we finally see the last of Akpeyi and Ezenwa wearing the GK jerseys for Naija.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by jette1 »

bret- hart wrote:So lemme get this straight? Akpeyi the basket and Ezenwa that cant even catch a routine ball from mid air is better than Uzoho??? Uzoho is the best that we have. Hopefully the likes of Okonkwo and Banazu declare their allegiances for Nigeria so we finally see the last of Akpeyi and Ezenwa wearing the GK jerseys for Naija.
that ezenwa qualified us for the world cup that Uzoho gave a away thanks to his juvenile slow-motion goal keeping
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by mcal »

bret- hart wrote:So lemme get this straight? Akpeyi the basket and Ezenwa that cant even catch a routine ball from mid air is better than Uzoho??? Uzoho is the best that we have. Hopefully the likes of Okonkwo and Banazu declare their allegiances for Nigeria so we finally see the last of Akpeyi and Ezenwa wearing the GK jerseys for Naija.
...don't understand. How did he get you to Russia :???: :???:
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by pajimoh »

mcal wrote:
bret- hart wrote:So lemme get this straight? Akpeyi the basket and Ezenwa that cant even catch a routine ball from mid air is better than Uzoho??? Uzoho is the best that we have. Hopefully the likes of Okonkwo and Banazu declare their allegiances for Nigeria so we finally see the last of Akpeyi and Ezenwa wearing the GK jerseys for Naija.
...don't understand. How did he get you to Russia :???: :???:
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by maceo4 »

green4life wrote:
maceo4 wrote:
nanijoe wrote:@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
My stance had been clear before the WC, that others should have been given a chance to stake a claim. If Uzoho beats them all out then we have to accept the coaches choice that he was the best, but the refusal to look further than Uzoho to me wasn't the best decision.
My guy, please name the other better gk options that were overlooked.
How can we know if they were never given a chance?
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by Bell »

oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else, claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never satisfied until he tears a building down.

oloye, I'M IN GENERAL AGREEMENT WITH YOU

I'm not sure what people are thinking when they suggest that Ezenwa could be better than Uzoho. If it's going on a limb so let it be but I think Uzoho will man Nigeria's post (or at least be a constant presence for the SE) for a long time to come. And I'll say it here, there are not too many keepers in the world that would have extended Nigeria's stay in Russia. Uzoho may not have been the savior, but he definitely wasn't the problem.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by gochino »

maceo4 wrote:
nanijoe wrote:@mace04, so which world class goalkeeper did you have in mind to replace Uzoho?
My stance had been clear before the WC, that others should have been given a chance to stake a claim. If Uzoho beats them all out then we have to accept the coaches choice that he was the best, but the refusal to look further than Uzoho to me wasn't the best decision.
Well said! Uzoho may not have been “THE PROBLEM“ but he was a Problem. Did you guyz not notice how we could not do a basic build up from the back? Being 19 does not mean that you have to play every single ball to no one in particular or do the basics of just kicking the ball to throwing! This was the Genesis of our problem and put the team constantly under pressure. I am surprised no one noticed this, not even our world class coach! even our defenders were doing the same thing! Oliver Kahn mentioned this in his ZDF analysis. He said Nigeria was not bad, but they were doing things at the most basic level. ex get the ball from opponents and just clear it out to throwing or a corner and you dont go far with that type of football at the world cup. Those who live in Germany would agree that Kahn is one of the best football analyst in Germany.
To summarize, you dont go to the biggest football festival with a 19 year old division 3 goal keeper, unless he is a very special talent. If Uzoho was a special talent, believe me he wont be going back to division 3 football after the world cup.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by theYemster »

jette1 wrote:
bret- hart wrote:So lemme get this straight? Akpeyi the basket and Ezenwa that cant even catch a routine ball from mid air is better than Uzoho??? Uzoho is the best that we have. Hopefully the likes of Okonkwo and Banazu declare their allegiances for Nigeria so we finally see the last of Akpeyi and Ezenwa wearing the GK jerseys for Naija.
that ezenwa qualified us for the world cup that Uzoho gave a away thanks to his juvenile slow-motion goal keeping
Unfortunately we don't get to play the likes of Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria at the world cup. Wish we did though cos that could've increased or chances of progressing but we don't.

It's funny though that the and two players who scored for Argentina against Nigeria in 2014 were the exact same ones that scored against Nigeria in 2018. Same team, same scorers, similar order. Messi scored the first and Rojo the last. I wonder if that's ever happened before in the world cup.
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Re: PETER RUFAI: On Ezenwa v Uzoho. . .

Post by TonyTheTigerKiller »

oloye wrote:People need to get a job seriously. Uzoho conceeded goals any normal keeper would concede. When people start doing the iffy business, it is the first sign of joblessness. There is a reason the coaches favored Uzoho, i spoke at length with Alloy Agu on this, and he explained the position of the coaches. Rufai is entitled to his opinion, just as any fan or person with football view. But such view must learn to respect those who make the decisions, because those who do are with these players every day and have all the details needed to make the right decision.

Uzoho still has a lot of development to do, but i can wager my bet on who we will be talking about in the next 3-4 years career progression wise! I wish Ezenwa well, he impressed me with his display during the qualifiers, but i wont call him better than Uzoho in anyway, both are probably in the same category. But one thing which Uzoho brought to the keepers department is the ability to mop up balls in the air, even Rufai at his height was a flapping bird when the ball comes flying across the box.

The two are currently the best we have, i may say that perhaps the other keepers should have been given a chance too especially in the build up to the World cup especially when it comes to the friendlies. But i want to believe that the handlers identified height as an issue with Ezenwa and were not convinced , hence the desperation to get Uzoho up to speed.

Uzoho did not disappoint, he did above what was expected, nevertheless like any other player , he there is still room for improvement, but he did what he needed to do. We should be looking at ways of building upon what he has done, not putting some cheap divisive article in the newspaper.

What else, claim that the coaches probably collected bribe to field him above Ezenwa, looks like the typical naija mentality is never satisfied until he tears a building down.
Oloye, why do you like taking contradictory positions on similar issues? Why does your rhetoric regarding Uzoho not apply to other players who you criticized vigorously in spite of their support by the coaches? This is a display of double standards. During the run up to the World Cup, Uzoho conceded a ton of goals. How many goals did Ezenwa conceed during the qualifiers? If you can answer that question honestly and without bias then it will be clear that Uzoho did not deserve to be our #1 at the World Cup. The honest truth is that Nigeria failed to get out of the first round because the team’s overall chemistry was disrupted by the employment of Uzoho, Idowu, Ebuehi and Etebo as the main contributors for whatever reason :!:


Cheers.

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