My 8 take aways after Cape Verde and Liberia

[Tobi17]

I'll like to see Bonke and Kingsley again when we face CAR in three weeks time, maybe we should play Iwobi as a CAM in a middle triangle of Ndidi and Bonke/Aribo... if Onyeka is covid free and good to play, then Bonke might have to be on the bench

[chief nfachairman]

I don’t think Ajayi has long left in the SE ranks. Akpoguma will ensure that.
Omeruo also seems way past it, but short of a new quality centre back emerging from somewhere, he might just survive for another year.
I think Sadiq can force his way in at the expense of Onuachu. He is more versatile yet has similar attributes.
Musa won’t make the WC if we qualify. Rohr won’t carry the sentiment that far.

Still looking for that ‘missing link’ - the creative midfield genius.
I’ve not given up on Eze, Ejaria and Olise. Just one of them might help.
But that’s another story for another day.

I believe Aribo can step into that AM role perfectly. HIs coach thinks he's on the way to world class and that role suits him best. WHy is Rohr now playing him as a box to box or twin pivot?

LEts see what Benitez does to Iwobi. HE might just explode this season.

Olise met Ejaria in Reading and has left him. Eze and Ejaria started together in Championship and Eze don leave am. For now, Ejaria should focus on his career in the Championship. We need standards.

Standards ?

Yet 2 of our key players play in Scotland, a piss poor league if ever there was one.

The championship is a higher level than Scotland.

Or what about Cyprus ? That 2 of our players play in.

We don't have attacking midfielders in top leagues so we have to get them from where they are.

Ejaria was one of the highest rated players in Chamlionship according to whoscored. Ive watched him play and he will be an asset to our team. Similar to Ejukes dribbling style bit a better passing range.

FIrstly, Rangers is a continental team and Balogun and Aribo have been involved in the Europa league in the past 2 seasons.
2ndly, Ovie is not even rated top 50 players in the Championship and not even top 10 midfielders. assist he is number 35 with 5 assists (sheyi ojo was rated 19 here), Big chances created, he was rated 21, Key passes - rated 12 (only stat he rates top 20).
BTW, Olise made top 5-10 in most of this stats and they both play in the same team.

3rdly, while he was at Rangers, he struggled for playing time after the first few matches and he bailed to the championship for survival.

Please Ejaria must show he is better than Iwobi and Aribo before he is called up.

Uzoho is a goalkeeper and if not that Rohr luckily got Okoye, our 3rd choice might be worse than akpeyi. Shehu would not make the WC squad. He's even a doubt for the ANC except quota system is used.

[chief nfachairman]

I based my team on what Rohr will do. I think Musa will be at the World Cup.

musa wey don get pot belly, put more wahala on his head by marrying 3rd wife. Abeg, After ANC, i doubt Musa would even start for his turkish club by next season.

[chief nfachairman]

Chief,

I am one of those that believe Bonke did a reasonable job in the recent game. However, I am not sure he is here to stay. Bear in mind, Bonke played because of the absences of at least three key players based in England -- Ndidi, Etebo, and Onyeka. Given that fact, does Bonke really stand a chance to make a tournament squad at the moment? That is really the question.

and SE in general.

1. By World cup, Nov 22 (We shall qualify), our attack would Chidera Ejuke, Osimhem and CHukwueze. Chidera is a handful like Chukwueze and Osimhem. He hits the ball very well too. CSKA is doing a fine job on him.

2. Bonke has come to stay. HE did his job very well in that middle. He made it a battleground. HE also showed up for his defenders to pick up the pass and hit the simple pass to the next man. He couldnt get complex becuase he's new to the team and needs to understand the movement of his other players. He has 3/4 more solid years to give the SE before he ends up in China, Qatar, etc.

I covered him here 2 years ago: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=295151&p=5443327&hi ... e#p5443327

3. SE now have legit central/ Defensive midfield options going into the ANC and WC next year.
Ndidi - LEicester (EPL)
Etebo - Watford (EPL)
Onyeka - Brentford (EPL)
Bonke - Malmo (Swedish giants currently in the CL group stages)

4. Im afraid kingsley micheal would be dropping back to the reserve list once the other players are back. He would have to slug it out with Alhassan Yusuf, if any of the above is out.

5. Aribo should be pushed forward to play where he knows best. Attacking midfield and left and right mid/ attack. Gerard has said it over and over again that Aribo is a beast when given a free role in the AM position. ROhr needs to wake up! Aribo and Iwobi should go ahead to ahead and compete here.

6. Awaziem would be Troost Ekong's partner in the defense by 2022. Injuries have made Balogun pretty inconsistent.

7. We are thin with our central defense options. Thank God Rohr went to rent another Oyinbo for us, Akpoguma. Omeruo is getting to the China age already. Junior Pius is doing great at St.Trudient. He's had several issues bothering on crime and was again arrested late last year at MMIA. I understand he's a very divisive person. http://omasports.com/index.php/2020/12/ ... -of-funds/

8. Collins needs to get out of Bundesliga 2 and Sanusi must win his shirt back at Porto else our backline would be average by WC.

The steel he brings to the team is something that SE need especially in the ANC. I love Onyeka but he is more of a central midfielder, Alongside Etebo though he is now played in the DM role for watford.

Bonke would be a great deputy for Ndidi while Onyeka and Etebo can run and vie for the central midfield. AGain, if Rohr uses double pivot, Ndidi and Bonke woudl crush bones and a creative midfielder would flourish madly.

BTW, i just stumbled on this: https://scorenigeria.com.ng/rohr-bonke- ... er-eagles/

[chief nfachairman]

Otitokoro,

Good points on Bonke. He surely adds steel. There is no question about that.

However, I think Etebo has that as well. So does Onyeka. On Onyeka, I really like his game for his club and it makes me want to see him play again for Nigeria. Maybe, it was just stage fright with his previous appearance for Nigeria. However, one needs to know that it is after he gets additional games in the GWG. Etebo? Here is my take and it befuddles me given that Etebo is a guy with an eye for scoring, which we know from his games at the youth level. Two key points. (1) Etebo defensively does not win many balls. He, certainly, is not within range of what Ndidi does in that regard. I realize that few people are in that zone but we need someone remotely close. (2) If you watch Etebo close, his range of passing is extremely limited. It is always a short pass and simply circulating the ball around for the sake of it. Yes, it is good for maintaining possession but what else? He ought to diversify his passing range. On Bonke? defensively, he was quite notable but really he did not do much else to compete with Etebo. He did not protect or confidently keep possession as Etebo does.

Prof.,
Concur with you regarding Bonke's performance. For someone who was earning his first ever cap in the GWG (at any level), he played quite well and acquainted himself. Kudos to the young man.
I liked the grit Bonke brought to the Cape Verde game. If you notice, they stopped making forays through our MF after the first 20 mins. That was key to them having limited success and very few shots on goal. Regarding his future chances, I'll adopt a wait and see approach.
Nigeria has lacked a DM that adds steel and grit to the midfield. Right now, save for Ndidi, our midfielders are softies (Aribo, Etebo, etc). Last person that provided steel and grit was Oliseh. All people here have been harping about is silky midfielders that lack grit. We need someone like a 'Gennaro Gattuso' to complement our stable of silky midfielders. So, I think Rohr is on point here.

Chief,

I am one of those that believe Bonke did a reasonable job in the recent game. However, I am not sure he is here to stay. Bear in mind, Bonke played because of the absences of at least three key players based in England -- Ndidi, Etebo, and Onyeka. Given that fact, does Bonke really stand a chance to make a tournament squad at the moment? That is really the question.

I think holding onto the ball is not neccesarily possession. Bonke showed up for his defenders to pick up the pass and he layed the simple pass to the next available man. I remember during mikel days when he was a sideways passer, Morinho said Mikel helped the team to keep possession of the ball with those simple sideways passes.

[ohenhen1]

23 man squad

GK- Uzoho, Okoye, Akpeyi
RB- Ebuehi, Aina
CD- Awaziem, Omeruo, Adeleke, Ajayi
LB- Collins, Sanusi
MF- Aribo, Ndidi, Iwobi, Onyeka, Ejaria or Olise
FW- Osimhen,Iheanacho, Moffi, Chukwuze, Kalu,Onyekuru,M Simon,

A few questions?

Why is Moffi not playing ahead of Onauchu?



When is Nigeria going to invite Barcelona academy product David Obinna?

[maceo4]

Like was stated earlier, disagree with you on Ejaria. After watching him play severally in the Championship over several years, not sure he will map into the SE. The fact that Olise was initially his deputy at Reading, then surpassed him and then moved to the EPL speaks volumes. Not to mention, he wasn't even sought after by any team this transfer window. We need to move on from Ejaria.

Standards ?

Yet 2 of our key players play in Scotland, a piss poor league if ever there was one.

The championship is a higher level than Scotland.

Or what about Cyprus ? That 2 of our players play in.

We don't have attacking midfielders in top leagues so we have to get them from where they are.

Ejaria was one of the highest rated players in Chamlionship according to whoscored. Ive watched him play and he will be an asset to our team. Similar to Ejukes dribbling style bit a better passing range.

you sound like somebody with an agenda

why should we move on from EJaria ? When he hasn't even been given a chance and he is a position we lack serious options.

What does Olise surpassing him have to do with anything ? Just because Olise is a talent is not a knock on EJaria.

and as for "why have no teams come after him?"

Well I can say the same thing about Aribo, or Onuachu, or Onyekuru,

Abraham Marcus ? They guy isn't even a midfielder and was invited while playing in an inferior Portugese 2nd division.

Nothing you say is making any sense bro, seems you just dont like Ejaria for some wierd reason.

Some 'weird reason' abi people are not allowed to watch a player and form their own conclusions that might differ from yours without it being labeled an 'agenda'? Ejaria hasn't even been cleared yet to play for us, I'm sure if he ever does and gets called we will all have a chance to see what he can bring. But based on his club play, I also share Otitokoro's pessimism having watched a few of his games (trying to see the Olise hype), I realized he seems like more of a luxury player while Olise was more productive one. But we could be wrong and he proves to be a useful SE in the long run, but doesn't mean we had an agenda against him...by the way how far with your Shehu agenda? I noticed you no talk after he put up a very good display vs Cape Verde

Shehu was decent but it was his mistake that lead to us conceding that goal.

You talk of "luxuory" but Shehu is the very definition of luxury player.

We don't need a third right back who is clearly inferior to the two ahead of him. And he is also a mediocre midfielder.

SE lacks creative players and you are all trying to write off a player who had so.e of the best offensive statistics in the championship.

Watch the match again the mistake was by Simon who had a very very poor game on both sides of the ball. And Shehu is NOT a luxury, he’s a utility player who can plug multiple holes, you need some of those in every championship team, I remember Keshis had Onazi and Omeruo etc…

[Damunk]

What did you guys make of Omeruo?
For me, he was very poor.
Our central defence is in serious need of upgrading.
Apart from Ekong (who I believe is ‘just OK’), I am not convinced that Balogun, Ajayi, Omeruo, Ozone and to a slightly lesser extent, Awaziem are up to it.
For starters, their long balls out from the back are probably less than 50% successful. Omeruo and Awaziem vs CV were particularly guilty of this.

[Tobi17]

What did you guys make of Omeruo?
For me, he was very poor.
Our central defence is in serious need of upgrading.
Apart from Ekong (who I believe is ‘just OK’), I am not convinced that Balogun, Ajayi, Omeruo, Ozone and to a slightly lesser extent, Awaziem are up to it.
For starters, their long balls out from the back are probably less than 50% successful. Omeruo and Awaziem vs CV were particularly guilty of this.

I watched the full match, and I don't think Omeruo was half as bad as you guys made him out to be, yes most of his passes and long balls were erratic, unforced and aimless (an unfortunate deficiency with all our defenders), but he did cut out some dangerous forays by the CV fwds, including putting in some necessary tackles. Awaziem was guilty of making so many misplaced passes as well, but he and Omeruo by and large snuffed out everything the CV threw at them.

But going into the world cup proper where we will face world class teams and strikers.... I shudder to think how we will get badly exposed at the back, all it will take for our opponents to score is to execute one beautifully lofted ball from deep and BAM! our whole back 4 will be caught flat-footed, bamboozled and taken unawares as usual as (God forbid) a Messi, Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, CR7 etc race through on goal against Maduka (Good luck with that)

[Damunk]

What did you guys make of Omeruo?
For me, he was very poor.
Our central defence is in serious need of upgrading.
Apart from Ekong (who I believe is ‘just OK’), I am not convinced that Balogun, Ajayi, Omeruo, Ozone and to a slightly lesser extent, Awaziem are up to it.
For starters, their long balls out from the back are probably less than 50% successful. Omeruo and Awaziem vs CV were particularly guilty of this.

I watched the full match, and I don't think Omeruo was half as bad as you guys made him out to be, yes most of his passes and long balls were erratic, unforced and aimless (an unfortunate deficiency with all our defenders), but he did cut out some dangerous forays by the CV fwds, including putting in some necessary tackles. Awaziem was guilty of making so many misplaced passes as well, but he and Omeruo by and large snuffed out everything the CV threw at them.

But going into the world cup proper where we will face world class teams and strikers.... I shudder to think how we will get badly exposed at the back, all it will take for our opponents to score is to execute one beautifully lofted ball from deep and BAM! our whole back 4 will be caught flat-footed, bamboozled and taken unawares as usual as (God forbid) a Messi, Lewandowski, Erling Haaland, CR7 etc race through on goal against Maduka (Good luck with that)

EXACTLY like this, right?
I hear you.

[Damunk]

What did you guys make of Omeruo?
For me, he was very poor.
Our central defence is in serious need of upgrading.
Apart from Ekong (who I believe is ‘just OK’), I am not convinced that Balogun, Ajayi, Omeruo, Ozone and to a slightly lesser extent, Awaziem are up to it.
For starters, their long balls out from the back are probably less than 50% successful. Omeruo and Awaziem vs CV were particularly guilty of this.

I watched the full match, and I don't think Omeruo was half as bad as you guys made him out to be, yes most of his passes and long balls were erratic, unforced and aimless (an unfortunate deficiency with all our defenders), but he did cut out some dangerous forays by the CV fwds, including putting in some necessary tackles. Awaziem was guilty of making so many misplaced passes as well, but he and Omeruo by and large snuffed out everything the CV threw at them.

Actually, I thought I was the only one being critical of him.
I've gone off Omeruo for a while now but I agree there is a possibility of bias.
But I can't lie...he doesn't fill me with confidence and hasn't in a long time.
The only CD I rate below him is Ajayi and not by that much.
I haven't seen enough of Ozone to know how to rate him.

[maceo4]

Wow, let me rewatch the game again as I thought Omeruo and Awaziems ability to hold the ball and pass it out was at a much higher level than the Balogun and Ekong combo. I don’t recall these so called erratic passes…

[maceo4]

Just rewatched the first half and I don’t see these erratic passes from those two. They mainly kept it short and simple as CV were not pressing high or putting them on any sort of pressure. Omeruo made a total of 3 long passes which all 3 reached their target successfully, 1 to Ejuke, 1 to Jamilu Colins and one to Osimhen who headed it into the box but no one was there. Awaziem had two - one of which was cut out by the defense as it was heading to Osimhen. The other one he put Ejuke in behind the defense, from which Ejuke, after controlling the pass, tried to run past the defender but only ended up running the ball out for a goal kick. 4 out of 5 accurate long balls in the first half is definitely not erratic….on to the second half.