Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by YUJAM »

C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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Nigerians will find every excuse under the bush when they lose a match! :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll: :roll:
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by vancity eagle »

As usual there are many things at play.

And yes the pitch is a MAJOR FACTOR

We just beat a team 10-0 playing on a proper pitch.

10-0

Let that sink in.

The match before and after that we struggled on Nigerian pitches.

It is a MAJOR factor.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by vancity eagle »

YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:39 pm C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
G Bissau does not play a possession based ground game.

The poor pitch doesn't effect them. It affects US.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by YUJAM »

That's not true. They play a possession game just like most other African teams.
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:26 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:39 pm C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
G Bissau does not play a possession based ground game.

The poor pitch doesn't effect them. It affects US.
Ghana's First President Kwame Nkrumah said: "We face neither East nor West; we face Forward"
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:29 pm That's not true. They play a possession game just like most other African teams.
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:26 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:39 pm C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
G Bissau does not play a possession based ground game.

The poor pitch doesn't effect them. It affects US.
They had 30% possession

They sat back and defended. Their goal came from a long ball and not intricate passing.

The pitch affected our game for more than theirs. You are just lying if you claim otherwise.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by YUJAM »

So a lower possession % means that a team doesn't play a possession game? Let's stop making excuses.

G Bissau is a decent side that played decently at the last ANC. They acquitted themselves in the game they lost vs Nigeria
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:36 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:29 pm That's not true. They play a possession game just like most other African teams.
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:26 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:39 pm C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
G Bissau does not play a possession based ground game.

The poor pitch doesn't effect them. It affects US.
They had 30% possession

They sat back and defended. Their goal came from a long ball and not intricate passing.

The pitch affected our game for more than theirs. You are just lying if you claim otherwise.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by packerland »

The pitch may not be the reason we lost but c’mon people! How can we be the giant of Africa and we don’t have at least 3-5 world class playing surfaces.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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bushboy wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:31 pm As we continue to unpack and deal with our emotions and frustration after yesterday's game, there is one particular issue that we have overlooked that caused me great disappointment. The Abuja pitch!!

We were told for weeks that the turf was in immaculate condition. That after that horrible pitch in Ghana, the eagles would come home and play free flowing football on a lush, well watered pitch. That was NOT the case. That pitch was atrocious. Dry. Uneven. Bumpy. Players could barely control the ball. The ball bounce was unpredictable. Crosses were awful. Shooting was abysmal! Some due to poor play, but some 100% due to the pitch.

That pitch cost us at least ONE goal that I vividly remember.

It is a shame that even with Dangote funds, we cannot produce a world level playing surface in that country.

Sad, sad, sad.
I noticed that too. Nigeria is a lost cause. I don't know what else is happening in that country. I have been away that I am at sea to think of what is going on in our country. With all the money we have in that country, we still cannot put the right foot forward. I am sick of the happenings in Nigeria.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by akamoke »

vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:25 pm As usual there are many things at play.

And yes the pitch is a MAJOR FACTOR

We just beat a team 10-0 playing on a proper pitch.

10-0

Let that sink in.

The match before and after that we struggled on Nigerian pitches.

It is a MAJOR factor.
Is that the tree you are resting on...the pitch!!!

I won't repeat what the rest of the crew have said to debunk the myth

I just thought that for someone who bashed local coaches, you are quite measured in your criticism here and deflect to the pitch

FYI - from what I see, coaching is not the main issue but the coach is also culpable - buck must stop at his desk as he selected these players who somehow lacked killer instinct
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by vancity eagle »

akamoke wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 4:53 am
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:25 pm As usual there are many things at play.

And yes the pitch is a MAJOR FACTOR

We just beat a team 10-0 playing on a proper pitch.

10-0

Let that sink in.

The match before and after that we struggled on Nigerian pitches.

It is a MAJOR factor.
Is that the tree you are resting on...the pitch!!!

I won't repeat what the rest of the crew have said to debunk the myth

I just thought that for someone who bashed local coaches, you are quite measured in your criticism here and deflect to the pitch

FYI - from what I see, coaching is not the main issue but the coach is also culpable - buck must stop at his desk as he selected these players who somehow lacked killer instinct
The coach has serious issues. So does the pitch. So does the bloody NFF. It's a mixture of garbage that does not breed success.

The root is the NFF.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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Check
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

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aykwes8 wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:30 pm
Ugbowo wrote: Wed Mar 30, 2022 4:44 pm I didn't want to bring this up to make it look like we were searching for excuses but it contributed A LOT. Especially when we were chasing the game and how Ghana was set up.

We needed passing moves to get them out of position. We couldn't string passes together both due to our quality and the quality of the pitch. It resorted to long balls which they were able to defend with their back 5. Controlling the ball made them close down on us quicker and we were lightweight compared to them. Constantly getting bullied off the ball because we couldn't control it. Players couldn't make their natural skill count. Lookman tried a few times but the ball just no answer. Pitch was messing us up.

Ppl will say both teams played on the same pitch so no excuses. But the onus was on us once Ghana scored that goal early. It was easier for them to be defensive with the state of the pitch. It became an advantage to them. Had Osimhen's goal counted and we were up 2-1 at the half, we would be going to Qatar now. Ghana would have had the same problems trying to conjure up attacks on that pitch.
You really was expecting the referee to allow a 20 yard offside goal? How sickly delusional can one be
You came to insult me from a post made over a year ago?

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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Enugu II »

May I asl: was this same field responsible for Salisu's inability to have the u23 overcome Guinea a few days ago? Just thinking out aloud.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by packerland »

Enugu II wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:40 am May I asl: was this same field responsible for Salisu's inability to have the u23 overcome Guinea a few days ago? Just thinking out aloud.
Go look at the match commentaries, guys were complaining about the pitch and the inferior players he put together. Not everyone is invested in youth teams though.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Thunder »

Enugu II wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:40 am May I asl: was this same field responsible for Salisu's inability to have the u23 overcome Guinea a few days ago? Just thinking out aloud.
Bro Enugu II, this is not to absolve the players of a subpar performance. I know the footy purist in you, won’t approve of play on such field, in this day and age. :D
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Eaglezbeak »

The pitch is not in a good condition what so ever but I doubt the NFF even cares about such things as they are more interested in spending founds are probably don’t see it as a big of a deal so why wouldn’t cut corners to keep 10k -/+ a year for themselves ?Nigeria as a nation doesn’t pride it’s self in professionalism so…..I know it’s not an excuse for not playing at a good enough standard to at least not lose to the opposition they’ve lost to but even when Nigeria lost to The Central African Republic they lost in Nigeria on a bad pitch and beat them away on a better surface,I doubt it Nigeria will be able to score 10 against Sao Tome and Principe at home due to the poor playing surface.
Last edited by Eaglezbeak on Sun Mar 26, 2023 3:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Enugu II »

Thunder wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 2:40 pm
Enugu II wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 10:40 am May I asl: was this same field responsible for Salisu's inability to have the u23 overcome Guinea a few days ago? Just thinking out aloud.
Bro Enugu II, this is not to absolve the players of a subpar performance. I know the footy purist in you, won’t approve of play on such field, in this day and age. :D
Thunder,

My brother. The field was poor but my gripe is we seem to bring out these excuses selectively. Our junior teams play on these same fields but we blame local coaches. Why is Peseiro getting a pass and not those local coaches who had teams play on those same poor grounds? That is my gripe. Why did Salidu not get a pass a few days before when his team tied with Guinea on this same poor ground?
The difficulties of statistical thinking describes a puzzling limitation of our mind: our excessive confidence in what we believe we know, and our apparent inability to acknowledge the full extent of our ignorance and the uncertainty of the world we live in. We are prone to overestimate how much we understand about the world and to underestimate the role of chance in events -- Daniel Kahneman (2011), Winner of the Nobel Prize in Economics
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Dammy »

The reason why simple things are so difficult for us is that we put people in positions above their competence. You cannot give what you don’t have! Our National teams don’t have a functional practice pitch, so they practice and play on the turf of the Abuja national stadium turf, so why won’t the turf be worn out? England do not practice on the Wembley Stadium pitch and that’s the norm everywhere except Nigeria.
A check of the resume of the current NFF board would leave you wondering how they got the job in the first place!
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by fabio »

Dammy wrote: Sun Mar 26, 2023 9:42 pm The reason why simple things are so difficult for us is that we put people in positions above their competence. You cannot give what you don’t have! Our National teams don’t have a functional practice pitch, so they practice and play on the turf of the Abuja national stadium turf, so why won’t the turf be worn out? England do not practice on the Wembley Stadium pitch and that’s the norm everywhere except Nigeria.
A check of the resume of the current NFF board would leave you wondering how they got the job in the first place!
Fasten your seatbelts for a rough ride under this current board.
Same thing with Pinnick.....
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Re: Let's talk about that Abuja pitch!

Post by Tbite »

YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 11:32 pm So a lower possession % means that a team doesn't play a possession game? Let's stop making excuses.

G Bissau is a decent side that played decently at the last ANC. They acquitted themselves in the game they lost vs Nigeria
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:36 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:29 pm That's not true. They play a possession game just like most other African teams.
vancity eagle wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 9:26 pm
YUJAM wrote: Sat Mar 25, 2023 7:39 pm C'mon now. G Bissau also played on that pitch. I believe their players also play in Europe, so the state of the pitch should not be used as a reason for the loss
G Bissau does not play a possession based ground game.

The poor pitch doesn't effect them. It affects US.
They had 30% possession

They sat back and defended. Their goal came from a long ball and not intricate passing.

The pitch affected our game for more than theirs. You are just lying if you claim otherwise.
C'mon be real. Guinea Bissau's ONLY goal came because they were the team struggling to get a hold of the ball. Nigeria wanted to score first and they camped in their half and hit us on the break, because our CBs didn't track. There was nothing about Guinea Bissau that suggested a tactically better side or even a technically better side. Basically we were just clueless.

This was not the case of losing to a good side. If any team is disorganised, no matter how good they are, then a simple side can exploit them with a simple tactic. If we played for a draw, do you think Guinea Bissau could score? No way in a million years. It would be 90% Nigerian possession and the score would be 0-0.

We ONLY lost because we were dominant but did not know what to do with the dominance. I.e. possession for possession's sake...when you are that clueless, perhaps you really should play for the draw lol. This was a case of a better side being coached by a moron, and a poor side being coached by a smart individual.
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