Onazi looks to get his career 'out of reverse gear'

[maceo4]

This is 5 years and countless games for SE before this one bad game now means everything prior was film tricks...I mean come on now y’all can’t be serious...maybe if you said your idea of Joel Obi might be film tricks then I get it, but Onazi had a prior body of work, and the likes of Mikel also had a stinker in that game. Watching it now again on my dvr.

[deanotito]

This is 5 years and countless games for SE before this one bad game now means everything prior was film tricks...I mean come on now y’all can’t be serious...maybe if you said your idea of Joel Obi might be film tricks then I get it, but Onazi had a prior body of work, and the likes of Mikel also had a stinker in that game. Watching it now again on my dvr.

My comment after that game was I hope he found another game to redeem himself. But the redemption game never came. You see, Rohr was never a huge Onazi fan. Even for people like me that liked him, it was pretty obvious Ndidi was better and somewhat obvious, Etebo was better....But per sentiment, I stuck with my guy. I still hoped the midfield would be Ndidi, Onazi and Obi...But after that game, I fear small

[Siddonlook11]

Was a big time Onazi fan. I thought the world of him. Then that friendly game against England 2 years ago. Never saw him the same again.

He had been nursing an Achilles injury, taking injection to play etc, which eventually ruptured. It’s gonna be tough for him to get back to the player he was, but if he can that would be great for SE, we always knew what we would get from him and he was an engine in that midfield.

IF a club really did that to him thats slavery and wickedness !! Unless he insisted on playing and taking injections haba !! Thats just pure wickedness by these clubs o if this is true.

[Dammy]

A lot of CEs don't really know Onazi but think they do. It's a shame that he was played mostly as a destroyer for the SE. Onazi is a very skilful player with a rocket of a shot but he didn't often display those qualities due to tactical restrictions just like Ndidi at Leicester, a player we know can do more than just being a ball winner.
I remember we had a thread for Onazi's Maradona like goal against Stuttgart in the Europa league, where he went on a mazy dribble run and scored. A limited player wouldn't have been able to do that at that level.

[Lolly]

Onazi was once number 1 on the team sheet for SE midfielders. I used to be worried if he wasn't playing. But injuries and lack of playing time have obviously affected him. I pray he recovers and gets some playing time at his new club. I see him still featuring in the GWG someday since we are currently struggling to find new quality midfielders. The likes of Nwakali, Kingsley Michael and Onyeka (though I have only seen him play once other than YouTube highlights which were unimpressive anyway) are not good enough. We should start looking elsewhere.

[maceo4]

This is 5 years and countless games for SE before this one bad game now means everything prior was film tricks...I mean come on now y’all can’t be serious...maybe if you said your idea of Joel Obi might be film tricks then I get it, but Onazi had a prior body of work, and the likes of Mikel also had a stinker in that game. Watching it now again on my dvr.

My comment after that game was I hope he found another game to redeem himself. But the redemption game never came. You see, Rohr was never a huge Onazi fan. Even for people like me that liked him, it was pretty obvious Ndidi was better and somewhat obvious, Etebo was better....But per sentiment, I stuck with my guy. I still hoped the midfield would be Ndidi, Onazi and Obi...But after that game, I fear small

Ndidi and Etebo took over in the run up to the world cup because Onazi was playing with an injury and wasn't the same Onazi of old. When he was in his hey day no other midfielder could displace him and he was an undisputed starter under every coach including Rohr. In our 2017 world cup qualifiers he was a starter played full 90 minutes anytime he was available and Ndidi would sub in for Mikel (who would hand over the captains arm band to Onazi) to help close out a game. He was definitely in poor form leading up to the world cup and so was rightly benched but seems he took it personally and didn't prioritize SE anymore. He would pull out of SE games b/c of an achilles problem only to take injections to play for his club in the next game (but I don't blame him, NFF won't take care of him if he gets injured playing for SE). This was a few months after the world cup (Oct 2018) where he was dodging calls and a couple months later (Dec 2018) he ruptured his achilles playing for his club and hasn't been available for SE since. But when he was fully fit he was Rohr's number 1 defensive midfielder and he appointed him vice-captain ahead of Ahmed Musa (starting from the Senegal friendly in March 2017 - calling him a good team leader), so for me its hard to say Rohr wasn't a big fan...he just faded as a player and others took over but long-term injuries (and I think age, bobo claims he used to play with Mikel when they were young in Jos yet Mikel is 6 years older than him) didn't allow him to bow out properly like Mikel did.

[maceo4]

Was a big time Onazi fan. I thought the world of him. Then that friendly game against England 2 years ago. Never saw him the same again.

He had been nursing an Achilles injury, taking injection to play etc, which eventually ruptured. It’s gonna be tough for him to get back to the player he was, but if he can that would be great for SE, we always knew what we would get from him and he was an engine in that midfield.

IF a club really did that to him thats slavery and wickedness !! Unless he insisted on playing and taking injections haba !! Thats just pure wickedness by these clubs o if this is true.

Those Turkish clubs don't play, you saw how they tried to bully Mikel to play during covid to the point he had to just cancel his contract with them.

[deanotito]

This is 5 years and countless games for SE before this one bad game now means everything prior was film tricks...I mean come on now y’all can’t be serious...maybe if you said your idea of Joel Obi might be film tricks then I get it, but Onazi had a prior body of work, and the likes of Mikel also had a stinker in that game. Watching it now again on my dvr.

My comment after that game was I hope he found another game to redeem himself. But the redemption game never came. You see, Rohr was never a huge Onazi fan. Even for people like me that liked him, it was pretty obvious Ndidi was better and somewhat obvious, Etebo was better....But per sentiment, I stuck with my guy. I still hoped the midfield would be Ndidi, Onazi and Obi...But after that game, I fear small

Ndidi and Etebo took over in the run up to the world cup because Onazi was playing with an injury and wasn't the same Onazi of old. When he was in his hey day no other midfielder could displace him and he was an undisputed starter under every coach including Rohr. In our 2017 world cup qualifiers he was a starter played full 90 minutes anytime he was available and Ndidi would sub in for Mikel (who would hand over the captains arm band to Onazi) to help close out a game. He was definitely in poor form leading up to the world cup and so was rightly benched but seems he took it personally and didn't prioritize SE anymore. He would pull out of SE games b/c of an achilles problem only to take injections to play for his club in the next game (but I don't blame him, NFF won't take care of him if he gets injured playing for SE). This was a few months after the world cup (Oct 2018) where he was dodging calls and a couple months later (Dec 2018) he ruptured his achilles playing for his club and hasn't been available for SE since. But when he was fully fit he was Rohr's number 1 defensive midfielder and he appointed him vice-captain ahead of Ahmed Musa (starting from the Senegal friendly in March 2017 - calling him a good team leader), so for me its hard to say Rohr wasn't a big fan...he just faded as a player and others took over but long-term injuries (and I think age, bobo claims he used to play with Mikel when they were young in Jos yet Mikel is 6 years older than him) didn't allow him to bow out properly like Mikel did.

These comments about nursing an injury...I just don’t know. Seems pretty apocryphal and convenient. What kind of professional player - while on a contract - will put his Achilles at risk by taking injections to play high intensity games??? Even a jankara doctor will tell you that is stupid. You simply speed up the rupturing process. And then you still wanted to go to the World Cup??? For what?

Please I like Onazi. Wish him the best. But if your version of events is correct, then I have ...let’s just say I don’t understand. I’ll be kind

[deanotito]

Was a big time Onazi fan. I thought the world of him. Then that friendly game against England 2 years ago. Never saw him the same again.

He had been nursing an Achilles injury, taking injection to play etc, which eventually ruptured. It’s gonna be tough for him to get back to the player he was, but if he can that would be great for SE, we always knew what we would get from him and he was an engine in that midfield.

IF a club really did that to him thats slavery and wickedness !! Unless he insisted on playing and taking injections haba !! Thats just pure wickedness by these clubs o if this is true.

Those Turkish clubs don't play, you saw how they tried to bully Mikel to play during covid to the point he had to just cancel his contract with them.

Yes, cancel your contract and go public. Of what use is rupturing your Achilles? Mikel refused to play and that’s why his contract was cancelled. If Onazi had a medically justifiable reason, he would get all his money.

[maceo4]

This is 5 years and countless games for SE before this one bad game now means everything prior was film tricks...I mean come on now y’all can’t be serious...maybe if you said your idea of Joel Obi might be film tricks then I get it, but Onazi had a prior body of work, and the likes of Mikel also had a stinker in that game. Watching it now again on my dvr.

My comment after that game was I hope he found another game to redeem himself. But the redemption game never came. You see, Rohr was never a huge Onazi fan. Even for people like me that liked him, it was pretty obvious Ndidi was better and somewhat obvious, Etebo was better....But per sentiment, I stuck with my guy. I still hoped the midfield would be Ndidi, Onazi and Obi...But after that game, I fear small

Ndidi and Etebo took over in the run up to the world cup because Onazi was playing with an injury and wasn't the same Onazi of old. When he was in his hey day no other midfielder could displace him and he was an undisputed starter under every coach including Rohr. In our 2017 world cup qualifiers he was a starter played full 90 minutes anytime he was available and Ndidi would sub in for Mikel (who would hand over the captains arm band to Onazi) to help close out a game. He was definitely in poor form leading up to the world cup and so was rightly benched but seems he took it personally and didn't prioritize SE anymore. He would pull out of SE games b/c of an achilles problem only to take injections to play for his club in the next game (but I don't blame him, NFF won't take care of him if he gets injured playing for SE). This was a few months after the world cup (Oct 2018) where he was dodging calls and a couple months later (Dec 2018) he ruptured his achilles playing for his club and hasn't been available for SE since. But when he was fully fit he was Rohr's number 1 defensive midfielder and he appointed him vice-captain ahead of Ahmed Musa (starting from the Senegal friendly in March 2017 - calling him a good team leader), so for me its hard to say Rohr wasn't a big fan...he just faded as a player and others took over but long-term injuries (and I think age, bobo claims he used to play with Mikel when they were young in Jos yet Mikel is 6 years older than him) didn't allow him to bow out properly like Mikel did.

These comments about nursing an injury...I just don’t know. Seems pretty apocryphal and convenient. What kind of professional player - while on a contract - will put his Achilles at risk by taking injections to play high intensity games??? Even a jankara doctor will tell you that is stupid. You simply speed up the rupturing process. And then you still wanted to go to the World Cup??? For what?

Please I like Onazi. Wish him the best. But if your version of events is correct, then I have ...let’s just say I don’t understand. I’ll be kind

I believe the achilles issues happened after the WC, but he had other injuries and wasn't the same player going into the world cup and rightly was benched.

Regarding the injections, here Rohr talked about it here, in a sly way, making it seem like it was his call, when it was Onazi that refused to do what he was doing at his club (don't ask me why he was doing that sha...), this was in October 2018, by December he had ruptured it - as he continued playing with it for his club taking injections to play:

https://africanfootball.com/news/760022 ... s-concerns

And the German had the following to say in response: ''Onazi had a problem with injury. He left Uyo before the match against Libya [earlier this month].

"I have to be aware of the health of our players. We didn't want to do injections on Achilles tendons before the games."

[deanotito]

Ok. If the reason that Onazi didn’t play well against England was “other” injuries, then I still have a hard time believing that or giving him some credit for playing badly. I simply have no corroboration. One thing I heard a lot from NFL types is that during the season, everybody is hurt. It’s just degrees that matter

Like I said earlier, as heated as I was during the England match, I was hoping he got a redemption match for him to really make up for what he served up against England. He never did, so ... I rarely dump a player I believe in, cause before I pick them, I study them. But there are some things I see that make me reevaluate everything

I like Onazi. But I thought he was a colossus of a DM/CM. That match changed it all for me

[Tobi17]

Onazi and Etebo are just alike in style, so if we are going to hype Onazi... we could as well start to do the same for Etebo.

[maceo4]

Onazi and Etebo are just alike in style, so if we are going to hype Onazi... we could as well start to do the same for Etebo.

But what do you consider hype? To me its not hype to give credit, but trying to diminish him is not right IMHO. Because if we had better they would have been playing ahead of him. And even after he's gone those that took over aren't so much better either (just like you mentioned Etebo is very similar). But let the new ones also win ANC (matching the likes of Yaya Toure in the process) and reach WC 2nd round (matching likes of Pogba). To me its not fair to be using one friendly to now say Onazi must not have been good, and most of it is mainly feelings-based, as I re-watched the England friendly yesterday on dvr and he wasn't so bad overall, it was the give away which ended in the second goal that was bad (also it was Uzoho's fault on the goal itself ball somehow went off his hip as he was diving to it - poor keeping technique).