2018 World Cup Squad vs 2019 AFCON Squad

[danfo driver]

Earlier today, I thought to myself that Rohr had not done much in the last 1 year. I felt he should have worked on finding another goalkeeper, a second left back and a deep-lying playmaker. And then, it dawned on me that he actually made 8 changes to the squad over the last one year.

2018 WC Squad ----------- 2018 AFCON Squad

Ezenwa --------------------- Ezenwa
Akpeyi --------------------- Akpeyi
Uzoho --------------------- Uzoho


Ekong --------------------- Ekong
Balogun --------------------- Balogun
Shehu --------------------- Shehu
Awaziem --------------------- Awaziem
Omeruo --------------------- Omeruo
Ebuehi --------------------- Aina
Echiejile --------------------- Collins
Idowu ---------------------Simon

Ndidi --------------------- Ndidi
Etebo --------------------- Etebo
Mikel --------------------- Mikel
Ogu --------------------- Ogu
Iwobi --------------------- Iwobi
Onazi --------------------- Chukwueze
Obi --------------------- Kalu

Musa --------------------- Musa
Ighalo ---------------------Ighalo
Nwankwo --------------------- Onuachu
Moses --------------------- Onyekuru
Iheanacho --------------------- Osimehn


------------------------

Changes are:

Dropped:

Idowu
Echiejile
Ebuehi
Onazi
Obi
Moses
Nwankwo
Iheanacho

Selected:

Aina
Collins
Simon
Chukwueze
Kalu
Osimehn
Onuachu
Onyekuru

[danfo driver]

Which is the better team?

[Tobi17]

Which is the better team?

AFCON team definitely better by a margin... Collins is far better than Echejilie, Onazi is on a decline and might be well saying good bye to international football, Joel Obi is too inconsistent to be a long term player, Nacho is in bad form and Idowu was crap. Only player from the world cup squad that isn't too bad is Nwankwo and Ebuehi.

[danfo driver]

Which is the better team?

AFCON team definitely better by a margin... Collins is far better than Echejilie, Onazi is on a decline and might be well saying good bye to international football, Joel Obi is too inconsistent to be a long term player, Nacho is in bad form and Idowu was crap. Only player from the world cup squad that isn't too bad is Nwankwo and Ebuehi.

Victor Moses and his empty skull, nko?

[danfo driver]

The WC team was bare with wingers. It was a situation were we couldnt make many changes to effect change up front because there werent enough options on the bench. I hope this is a sign that Rohr learnt lessons at the world cup. After all, we went there to learn.

[The YeyeMan]

Tbf, three of the changes are forced by retirement or injury.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

ROHR is doing a great job of improving this team in stages. We're better defensively and n attack now than at the wc.

[Odas]

Tbf, three of the changes are forced by retirement or injury.

Exactly! Thx, my brother

[Tobi17]

Tbf, three of the changes are forced by retirement or injury.

Exactly! Thx, my brother

Not exactly
Victor Moses- voluntary retirement, no questions asked
Echejilie - subtly retired with the emergence of Collins
Onazi- mostly injured but my better judgment tells me he's another subtly retired or about to be retired player (no thanks to younger and currently better options like Ndidi, Etebo, Azubuike).

[danfo driver]

Tbf, three of the changes are forced by retirement or injury.

Exactly! Thx, my brother

8 Changes to a team in one year is a bit much. So, 5 changes is good. we need continuity and chemistry.

The good thing is that most of the changes are guys who have been part of the team:

Aina
Simon
Osimehn
Onyekuru

So, only 4 were actual new changes:

Collins
Chukwueze
Kalu
Onuachu

[vancity eagle]

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

[danfo driver]

Onazi is 26 years old. he is not being discarded because of his age. He is being discarded because he is sh1.t!

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

[nzeogwu]

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Most Europeans at 34 are 34.

[vancity eagle]

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Most Europeans at 34 are 34.

Is Mikel 31 or not ?

however old he is , he is still OUR BEST PLAYER.

I personally think he still has one more world cup to offer, even if on the bench. I hope he has the motivation to take this team to Qatar. SE will only benefit.

Do you really think we will have better midfielders than Mikel on the bench in Qatar. I highly doubt it.

[vancity eagle]

Onazi is 26 years old. he is not being discarded because of his age. He is being discarded because he is sh1.t!

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Other than Mikel, Etebo, Ndidi, please name our midfielders who are better than Onazi.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Onazi is 26 years old. he is not being discarded because of his age. He is being discarded because he is sh1.t!

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.



Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Stop talking $@#%. Onazi suffered a bad injury and has hardly played on the 2nd half of the season.

[Dammy]

Apart from Onazi, Ebuehi and Joel Obi are also out injured.

[danfo driver]

Onazi is 26 years old. he is not being discarded because of his age. He is being discarded because he is sh1.t!

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Other than Mikel, Etebo, Ndidi, please name our midfielders who are better than Onazi.

That is the job of the coach. Not mine.

Onazi is sh1.t! Nothing you can do about that!

[Tobi17]

Onazi is a nice guy no doubt, but right now he offers absolutely nothing to the SE. Besides been injury prone and in decline, there's nothing he can offer that the likes of a younger Azubuike can't offer plus jara on top... the Mikel and Onazi comparison is utterly baseless cause we all know Mikel despite his form and age is still a world class player...Onazi on the other hand is just a average player, and unfortunately just like Echejilie, quite a forgettable footballer as well. I wish him the best in his career and life.

[Dammy]

Onazi is 26 years old. he is not being discarded because of his age. He is being discarded because he is sh1.t!

we are thin in midfield right now.

If Onazi ever gets back to fitness he still has something to offer this team as a bench option.

We need to stop this habit of discarding players when nobody has stepped up to replace them.

I've even seen people imply we dont need Mikel, when in his first game back after a year, he was easily our best player.

For me, Mikel should be on the road to Qatar if he wishes to continue. You cannot just replace that kind of experience and talent.

Look at Ronaldo still playing for Portugal at 34. European teams dont discard their players simply because of age. I dont know why we love to do this.

Other than Mikel, Etebo, Ndidi, please name our midfielders who are better than Onazi.

The SE midfield is currently bare but I expect an influx of young midfielders after AFCON 2019 to make it more competitive. Players like Dele-Bashiru(Atalanta), Kingsley Samuel(Bologna), Ofortoboh(sp?) at Bournemouth
, Igbekeme, who's tipped to make a step up to La Liga, Ramon Azeez ( who's back in La Liga), Alhassan, a young Nigerian midfielder in Sweden, who's being courted by Ajax, Feyenoord, Leverkusen etc.
They will give us depth in the midfield positions.

[Flex Swift]

When is Rohr going to address the goal keeping position???

[Eaglezbeak]

Earlier today, I thought to myself that Rohr had not done much in the last 1 year. I felt he should have worked on finding another goalkeeper, a second left back and a deep-lying playmaker. And then, it dawned on me that he actually made 8 changes to the squad over the last one year.

2018 WC Squad ----------- 2018 AFCON Squad

Ezenwa --------------------- Ezenwa
Akpeyi --------------------- Akpeyi
Uzoho --------------------- Uzoho


Ekong --------------------- Ekong
Balogun --------------------- Balogun
Shehu --------------------- Shehu
Awaziem --------------------- Awaziem
Omeruo --------------------- Omeruo
Ebuehi --------------------- Aina
Echiejile --------------------- Collins
Idowu ---------------------Simon

Ndidi --------------------- Ndidi
Etebo --------------------- Etebo
Mikel --------------------- Mikel
Ogu --------------------- Ogu
Iwobi --------------------- Iwobi
Onazi --------------------- Chukwueze
Obi --------------------- Kalu

Musa --------------------- Musa
Ighalo ---------------------Ighalo
Nwankwo --------------------- Onuachu
Moses --------------------- Onyekuru
Iheanacho --------------------- Osimehn


------------------------

Changes are:

Dropped:

Idowu
Echiejile
Ebuehi
Onazi
Obi
Moses
Nwankwo
Iheanacho

Selected:

Aina
Collins
Simon
Chukwueze
Kalu
Osimehn
Onuachu
Onyekuru

Echiejile should have been chopped immediately without even thinking, Ebehi is in rehabilitation after a long time out due to injury, Onazi just couldn't keep up, Moses actually quit, Nwankwo (if I can recall was stranded and couldn't get back to Portugal),Iheanacho seems to be struggling at an important time of his career!
These changes where necessary but almost natural, as for the goal keeping department I don't think any coaching at this stage is going help but Rohr did mention a young keeper out in Germany but obviously he's not in the squad!

[Enyi]

When is Rohr going to address the goal keeping position???

When Nigeria gives birth to a better goalkeeper