Freiburg coach vows to protect Bundesliga's youngest goalkeeper Atubolu after recent blunders

[iworo]

Freiburg coach vows to protect Bundesliga's youngest goalkeeper Atubolu after recent blunders

SC Freiburg coach Christian Streich has vowed to protect Super Eagles-eligible goalkeeper Noah Atubolu after his recent blunders cost the team some points.

The Germany U21 international was installed as first choice goalkeeper at Freiburg this season following the sale of Netherlands international Mark Flekken to Premier League club Brentford.

Atubolu has been in the spotlight for the wrong reasons in the past few weeks, earning criticism from the German media for some goalkeeping mistakes.

Atubolu was blamed for Mats Hummels' second goal in Freiburg's 4-2 loss to Borussia Dortmund as he appeared hesitant to make a save.



And in the Europa League meeting with West Ham United, a mistake by Atubolu allowed Nayef Aguerd to power home the winning goal with twenty five minutes to go.



Streich is standing by Atubolu who is the youngest goalkeeper to feature in the Bundesliga this season at 21 years and 86 days.

"Only people who don't see it would turn it into a goalkeeper discussion," Streich was quoted as saying by German broadcaster Südwestrundfunk.

"No matter whether it's success or supposed failure, sometimes it's just good for a young player like this to let a game sink in first instead of running from one interview to the next and perhaps getting lost

"It's about protection. He's sitting in the car, that's why you have to pay a little attention to guys like that."

Atubolu has conceded seventeen goals in ten matches so far this season while posting four shutouts.

https://www.allnigeriasoccer.com/read_n ... ?nid=49183

[iworo]

This kid is still raw in my opinion.

[maceo4]

Nah these ones them dey call blunder, wait till they see Uzoho throwing the ball in his own net . I can live with these type of mistakes as growing pains, but not keepers that consistently make a meal of the most routine saves…

[iworo]

Nah these ones them dey call blunder, wait till they see Uzoho throwing the ball in his own net . I can live with these type of mistakes as growing pains, but not keepers that consistently make a meal of the most routine saves…

[Tobi17]

I'll take my chances with a genuinely young player making mistakes and learning his trade as a first XI starter in one of the best leagues in Europe.

[1naija]

We have just as capable goalkeepers in Nwosu and Aniagboso. Sime Nigerians just want someone foreign.

[wiseone]

[Agbako]

Talking of this kid as a future goalkeeper in any ramification is a joke. My u14 goalkeeper can not turn his back to shots coming at him. Every ball in the air is a goal against this kid. There must be a local keeper who is a bit rugged like Eyeama in Nigeria abeg. na beg I deh beg una. kai we don suffer for goalie I swear...

[vancity eagle]

why are they going after this guy when the Swedish dude is actually ready to go and doesn't need a switch.

[Enugu II]

Talking of this kid as a future goalkeeper in any ramification is a joke. My u14 goalkeeper can not turn his back to shots coming at him. Every ball in the air is a goal against this kid. There must be a local keeper who is a bit rugged like Eyeama in Nigeria abeg. na beg I deh beg una. kai we don suffer for goalie I swear...

Point!! They must pay attention to goalies who play regularly, including those who are local. This idea of taking bench warmers from Europe to be custodians of such important position on the field is plain ridiculous.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

Talking of this kid as a future goalkeeper in any ramification is a joke. My u14 goalkeeper can not turn his back to shots coming at him. Every ball in the air is a goal against this kid. There must be a local keeper who is a bit rugged like Eyeama in Nigeria abeg. na beg I deh beg una. kai we don suffer for goalie I swear...

Point!! They must pay attention to goalies who play regularly, including those who are local. This idea of taking bench warmers from Europe to be custodians of such important position on the field is plain ridiculous.

Play regularly where? NPFL? We've produced 3.5 good goalies in 30yrs from the local league but you still believe there's gold in them mines less 3 weeks before Afcon.. Na wa o.

[Damunk]

I still think that it is FAR too simplistic to believe that the sole reason successive NFFs have focussed on foreign-based ‘keepers is because they are “lazy”, or “corrupt”, or “clueless” or even just “biased”.
Administrative acumen aside, these guys do not love football any less than us here. They do not crave success any less than any of us here. If anything, they could well crave it even more because success for them brings opportunities that none of us here are open to. Our own as fans is just pure joy. Finish.

I, probably like many here have met at least one former NFF member in person. He is smart - very smart - hardworking, reputable and above all, has football running through his veins.
So maybe we need to think deeper.

I see absolutely no reason why the NFF - or any SE coach for that matter - would not fast track a standout NPFL ‘keeper into the SE squad if he truly did exist. After all, it is this same NFF that has tried to push for a quota allocation and has indeed ALWAYS had a local keeper amongst any three keepers in the squad AT ANY TIME.

You really want anyone to believe that they would jeopardise their own success by keeping their best keeper on the bench? Or even more bizarrely, they are deliberately inviting poor keepers from the NPFL, just to sabotage themselves?
This doesn’t wash with me.

Yes we can try our local keepers and wish them well. But what are the stakes here?
If they fail, our own is to shout abuse at the team, the NFF and of course, reserve the worst abuse for the ‘keeper. If Uzoho, Okoye and before them Akpeyi got it bad, trust me, any local ‘keeper will get it ten times worse.

But ultimately, the NFF will be left carrying the can.
Maybe they are just not ready to take that high risk with a ‘just okay’ local ‘keeper simply to satisfy the clamour for ‘local content’.

If the coaches are not impressed and say ‘no’, is the NFF expected to overrule them?
And then who takes responsibility if/when things go wrong?

[Enugu II]

I still think that it is FAR too simplistic to believe that the sole reason successive NFFs have focussed on foreign-based ‘keepers is because they are “lazy”, or “corrupt”, or “clueless” or even just “biased”.
Administrative acumen aside, these guys do not love football any less than us here. They do not crave success any less than any of us here. If anything, they could well crave it even more because success for them brings opportunities that none of us here are open to. Our own as fans is just pure joy. Finish.

I, probably like many here have met at least one former NFF member in person. He is smart - very smart - hardworking, reputable and above all, has football running through his veins.
So maybe we need to think deeper.

I see absolutely no reason why the NFF - or any SE coach for that matter - would not fast track a standout NPFL ‘keeper into the SE squad if he truly did exist. After all, it is this same NFF that has tried to push for a quota allocation and has indeed ALWAYS had a local keeper amongst any three keepers in the squad AT ANY TIME.

You really want anyone to believe that they would jeopardise their own success by keeping their best keeper on the bench? Or even more bizarrely, they are deliberately inviting poor keepers from the NPFL, just to sabotage themselves?
This doesn’t wash with me.

Yes we can try our local keepers and wish them well. But what are the stakes here?
If they fail, our own is to shout abuse at the team, the NFF and of course, reserve the worst abuse for the ‘keeper. If Uzoho, Okoye and before them Akpeyi got it bad, trust me, any local ‘keeper will get it ten times worse.

But ultimately, the NFF will be left carrying the can.
Maybe they are just not ready to take that high risk with a ‘just okay’ local ‘keeper simply to satisfy the clamour for ‘local content’.

If the coaches are not impressed and say ‘no’, is the NFF expected to overrule them?
And then who takes responsibility if/when things go wrong?

Damunk

You assume that they do they ignored the NPFL consciously? Nope. What happens is what we call and unconscious bias. Take for belief that only top players from big 5 leagues are the best. That is an unconscious bias which denies that there indeed exists a player outside those leagues that can and is better than a player who plays a similar position from that league. That is a bias that I refer to and it exists. There is a clear bias against NPFL players that is undeniable. We had the chief scout under Rohr who was interviewed previously and he confirmed the use of a database for selecting players. Lo and behold the database only had players who were playing in Europe! What do you call that? The call up if local players from time to time was simply a response to pressure and the use of tok e nism in attempt to appease critiques. It involved very little serious scouting.

[Damunk]

Damunk

You assume that they do they ignored the NPFL consciously? Nope. What happens is what we call and unconscious bias. Take for belief that only top players from big 5 leagues are the best. That is an unconscious bias which denies that there indeed exists a player outside those leagues that can and is better than a player who plays a similar position from that league. That is a bias that I refer to and it exists. There is a clear bias against NPFL players that is undeniable. We had the chief scout under Rohr who was interviewed previously and he confirmed the use of a database for selecting players. Lo and behold the database only had players who were playing in Europe! What do you call that? The call up if local players from time to time was simply a response to pressure and the use of tok e nism in attempt to appease critiques. It involved very little serious scouting.

No Chief.
‘Unconscious bias’ should not be a new concept to anyone that has gone to high school. It is why in my very first sentence, I factored in ‘bias’.
This bias cannot account for why every tried local ‘keeper has failed to get the nod from successive coaches and administrators. The coaches would have to be pretty stupid and very deaf to not hear the widespread accusations of bias that have been ringing out loud for years.
We seem to make every other excuse except to consider that our local keepers might just not be scoring top marks in training. Can any normal human being see a clear winner in a bunch of contestants yet ignore him because of an “unconscious bias”? Like most things football, we go through this rigmarole in cycles….back and forth, local vs foreign, coaches and players.
That ‘bias’ excuse is not good enough.

There is actually the clear possibility that we have poor goalkeepers as a country at the moment. We can discuss the reasons if necessary. Can you vouch right here and now that our clubs have goalkeeper trainers, for instance? What is their quality? Why is a next door neighbour like Cameroon churning out top quality goalkeepers almost at will, while Nigeria and Ghana are not? Apart from Senegal, which other country is producing world class goalies in Africa.

People list Ikeme as a top goalie. Okay, Ikeme was good, but he wasn’t anything near the quality of Enyeama or any of the Cameroonian greats. That tells you how low our benchmark has fallen. Did we ever have proven greats? I’ve read names like ‘Rigogo’ and ‘Fregene’, but these were local champions we never saw play and probably nobody outside our shores did either. So maybe we don’t have a great GK tradition after all and are limited to Okala, Rufai and Enyeama. Then again, what is the definition of ‘great’? Why is Rufai considered ‘great’ and Ogedengbe or IK considered not ‘great’?

I believe goalkeeping requires some very role-specific technical training. You just don’t become a ‘great’ or even ‘decent’ goalkeeper on talent alone. Do we really have specialised GK trainers in Nigeria? Who is training who at club level? What is the level of training? In fact, what level of training is Uzoho getting in Greece? What happened to our Golden Gloved Alampasu? Did he get proper training wherever he was with all his talent?
So maybe the problem is training, and national team coaches are not finding some of the basics which they expect at that level.

The fact that Okoye, Uzoho and Akpeyi have blundered us out of contention for major tournaments in recent years tells a clear story of being forced to make the best out of a bad bunch rather than a story of widespread and unchallenged “unconscious bias”.

The problem is, you and I can push for the coaches to field local ‘talent’, but as they say, when the shytt hits the fan, you and I will be nowhere to be found.
Those that are being asked to take the risk have to be more calculating than that.
It’s their call.

I just think we are missing something more critical than this bias bandwagon we are all jumping on.
It’s too simplistic.

[Enugu II]

Damunk

You assume that they do they ignored the NPFL consciously? Nope. What happens is what we call and unconscious bias. Take for belief that only top players from big 5 leagues are the best. That is an unconscious bias which denies that there indeed exists a player outside those leagues that can and is better than a player who plays a similar position from that league. That is a bias that I refer to and it exists. There is a clear bias against NPFL players that is undeniable. We had the chief scout under Rohr who was interviewed previously and he confirmed the use of a database for selecting players. Lo and behold the database only had players who were playing in Europe! What do you call that? The call up if local players from time to time was simply a response to pressure and the use of tok e nism in attempt to appease critiques. It involved very little serious scouting.

No Chief.
‘Unconscious bias’ should not be a new concept to anyone that has gone to high school. It is why in my very first sentence, I factored in ‘bias’.
This bias cannot account for why every tried local ‘keeper has failed to get the nod from successive coaches and administrators. The coaches would have to be pretty stupid and very deaf to not hear the widespread accusations of bias that have been ringing out loud for years.
We seem to make every other excuse except to consider that our local keepers might just not be scoring top marks in training. Can any normal human being see a clear winner in a bunch of contestants yet ignore him because of an “unconscious bias”? Like most things football, we go through this rigmarole in cycles….back and forth, local vs foreign, coaches and players.
That ‘bias’ excuse is not good enough.

Damunk, you are aware that Nigerian clubs participate in continental competitions? Well, we get to see these local keepers do well in those competitions. You saw good goalies at even NT youth level nationals. Thus, it isnt just the league. In Rohr's time, i am sure you are aware of the complaints that he regularly invited local keepers that were not even starters at their local clubs. That should tell you all you need to kmow about perfunctory local 'scouting.' These things are real, my friend. Thus, the point about good local keepers and the lavk of genuine scouting of them at the NT lev r k is not simply an imagination. It is real.

There is actually the clear possibility that we have poor goalkeepers as a country at the moment. We can discuss the reasons if necessary. Can you vouch right here and now that our clubs have goalkeeper trainers, for instance? What is their quality? Why is a next door neighbour like Cameroon churning out top quality goalkeepers almost at will, while Nigeria and Ghana are not? Apart from Senegal, which other country is producing world class goalies in Africa.

Bros, you clearly are not aware about local football. As far vack as the turn of the century clubs already had goalkeeper trainers. Enugu Rangers had a trainer and i covered their training then. Read Francis Moniedafe's bio on Bendel Insurance late 19th century and note the role of Cyril Okosieme. These are eons ago. So to even raise this point now is making me shake my head in disbelief. Yes, there are goalkeeper trainers at the clubs.

People list Ikeme as a top goalie. Okay, Ikeme was good, but he wasn’t anything near the quality of Enyeama or any of the Cameroonian greats. That tells you how low our benchmark has fallen. Did we ever have proven greats? I’ve read names like ‘Rigogo’ and ‘Fregene’, but these were local champions we never saw play and probably nobody outside our shores did either. So maybe we don’t have a great GK tradition after all and are limited to Okala, Rufai and Enyeama. Then again, what is the definition of ‘great’? Why is Rufai considered ‘great’ and Ogedengbe or IK considered not ‘great’?

Damunk, now I understand why it is difficult for you to judge these keepers. BTW, i did see Fregene play but admittedly towards the end of his career but certainly while he was still at the NT level.These keepers did not concede goals to routine attempts as we see today, at least not on a regular basis. Why Ogedegbe is not considered is basically because of that but not even to the magnitude that Uzoho concedes them today. You have limited your discussion to only those recognized at the continental level. I dont. Before Okala we had Eyo Essien who was magnificent in his own right. After that we had Shorunmu who was magnificent as well. We can judge goalkeepers, Europe or no Europe. Bottomline, they do not have to go to Europe to be recognized. We see them at the NT level to assess them.

I believe goalkeeping requires some very role-specific technical training. You just don’t become a ‘great’ or even ‘decent’ goalkeeper on talent alone. Do we really have specialised GK trainers in Nigeria? Who is training who at club level? What is the level of training? In fact, what level of training is Uzoho getting in Greece? What happened to our Golden Gloved Alampasu? Did he get proper training wherever he was with all his talent?
So maybe the problem is training, and national team coaches are not finding some of the basics which they expect at that level.

see previous comment

The fact that Okoye, Uzoho and Akpeyi have blundered us out of contention for major tournaments in recent years tells a clear story of being forced to make the best out of a bad bunch rather than a story of widespread and unchallenged “unconscious bias”.

This is by no means the best available to Nigeria! That, I 100% disagree. Unfortunately, this is a result of a limited view of talent where Europe had become a focus and a cursory look locally that is perfunctiry at best is perfunctory.

The problem is, you and I can push for the coaches to field local ‘talent’, but as they say, when the shytt hits the fan, you and I will be nowhere to be found.
Those that are being asked to take the risk have to be more calculating than that.
It’s their call.

I just think we are missing something more critical than this bias bandwagon we are all jumping on.
It’s too simplistic.

i do not think it is simplistic. What we are doing now focusing on Europe with perfunctory attention to the local is simplistic. The complexity is willingness to dedicate the time to find the proverbial needle in the haystack. That we have not done that and consequently missing talented players. This is particularly telling in positions where Europe earely scouts Africa -- the spine positions. Why do you think we lack goalkeepers and attacking mids? You think it is coincidental? Nope, it is because we focus on Europe whereas this same Europe undermines talented Africans in those same positions. As they say begin to SHINE YOUR EYES.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

In all honesty, conceding an average of almost 3 goals per game in games he did not have a shutout is not a very promising return for a young goalie


Cheers.

[Siddonlook11]

Did anyone watch this chap i team's loss today ? He was rated 7.5 by Flashscore which for the losing side is an excellent score for the goal keeper.