'Just a pitch with grass' - Iwobi urges NFF to provide infrastructure to match Super

[Ugbowo]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

The pitch is an issue but not a major issue. We have lost to lesser teams in past AFCON qualifiers and matches on great pitches. If the pitch was the main problem then we should have beaten GB silly on their much better pitch but we didn’t. Our players need to bring the same professionalism and commitment that they display for their clubs to national team games always

Cheers.

Yes, its not the only issue but it is a major issue for the players.
Iwobi was just being very diplomatic.
I don't know what job you do for a living but I am sure you know that many top professionals in all areas of endeavour expect to be provided certain 'basics' in order to perform their magic.
Balogun said his own. Iwobi is saying his.
By the time Osimhen starts talking, maybe they will take things seriously.

I’ve heard and rejected this argument many times previously. It’s one thing to desire a perfect pitch to play on and quite another to use it as an excuse for failure. Like I pointed out in a prior post, our opponents also have to adjust to bad pitches because the majority of their players play overseas professionally on good pitches. If bad pitches affect our players then obviously, it is no different for the opposition. So, bad pitches are not a legitimate excuse for the occasional abysmal performances of our players, especially on home turf. There’s a lot more to it than just bad pitches


Cheers.

TTK,

Saying the other teams play on the same pitch is not a valid response to this complaint.

A bad pitch does a lot to even the playing field. It reduces the technical advantage of one team over the other. If you take Spain to a sandy pitch in anywhere, Nigeria, to play against a local side they will struggle because of the "elements".

When you have a bad field it's very difficult to do basic passing movements, its hard to control the ball and can be tough to create and execute 1v1 situations. You can try to eliminate by going long but when you are the "superior" team or in the case of the game against Ghana, the team chasing the game, going long is playing into your opponents hands especially if they are sitting deep. These are the little details that separate the best from the rest. With the amount of technical players we have, we need to put them in the best conditions to succeed. You compare the SE with Bosso's U20 who, most players have not had the luxury of playing on lush green pitches in their early careers and you can see how they embodied the nonsense of jambody football.

The little things matter the most sometimes.

Bissau played on the same pitch but barely had any passing combinations. Their goal was a ball over the top against our high line.

OK, maybe the next time we play one of the so-called minnows at home, our overseas players shouldn’t bother to show up because we already know they’re not going to play well due to the bad pitch, right


Cheers.

Or maybe we can fix the pitch so we our advantage becomes real?

[Silver-Shadow]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

The pitch is an issue but not a major issue. We have lost to lesser teams in past AFCON qualifiers and matches on great pitches. If the pitch was the main problem then we should have beaten GB silly on their much better pitch but we didn’t. Our players need to bring the same professionalism and commitment that they display for their clubs to national team games always

Cheers.

Yes, its not the only issue but it is a major issue for the players.
Iwobi was just being very diplomatic.
I don't know what job you do for a living but I am sure you know that many top professionals in all areas of endeavour expect to be provided certain 'basics' in order to perform their magic.
Balogun said his own. Iwobi is saying his.
By the time Osimhen starts talking, maybe they will take things seriously.

I’ve heard and rejected this argument many times previously. It’s one thing to desire a perfect pitch to play on and quite another to use it as an excuse for failure. Like I pointed out in a prior post, our opponents also have to adjust to bad pitches because the majority of their players play overseas professionally on good pitches. If bad pitches affect our players then obviously, it is no different for the opposition. So, bad pitches are not a legitimate excuse for the occasional abysmal performances of our players, especially on home turf. There’s a lot more to it than just bad pitches


Cheers.

TTK,

Saying the other teams play on the same pitch is not a valid response to this complaint.

A bad pitch does a lot to even the playing field. It reduces the technical advantage of one team over the other. If you take Spain to a sandy pitch in anywhere, Nigeria, to play against a local side they will struggle because of the "elements".

When you have a bad field it's very difficult to do basic passing movements, its hard to control the ball and can be tough to create and execute 1v1 situations. You can try to eliminate by going long but when you are the "superior" team or in the case of the game against Ghana, the team chasing the game, going long is playing into your opponents hands especially if they are sitting deep. These are the little details that separate the best from the rest. With the amount of technical players we have, we need to put them in the best conditions to succeed. You compare the SE with Bosso's U20 who, most players have not had the luxury of playing on lush green pitches in their early careers and you can see how they embodied the nonsense of jambody football.

The little things matter the most sometimes.

Bissau played on the same pitch but barely had any passing combinations. Their goal was a ball over the top against our high line.

Thank You!!!

[Cally]

I'm ashamed for Nigeria. I attended the U-23 game against Guinea, and quickly noticed how terrible the pitch at the national stadium was. I attended that game with someone within the NFF who had made personal efforts to sound the alarm about that pitch, but was rebuffed. CAF and FIFA officials visited that stadium for inspection recently, and were terribly alarmed by the condition of the facility. All the chairs were covered with layers upon layers of dust, such that I had to use 2 big bottles of water and a towel to wash the chair in order to be able to sit on it. The NFF office is located right next to the mainbowl, and within the same gate. Its unbelievable.

The whole stadium is disgustingly dirty and unkempt. Don't be surprised when that stadium gets banned by CAF soon.

On the contrary, I visited Uyo stadium just a day before, and it was so clean and well maintained. I could not believe when I was told that the stadium is 10 years old already. The maintenance culture is top-notch. In the same country.

[Dammy]

I'm ashamed for Nigeria. I attended the U-23 game against Guinea, and quickly noticed how terrible the pitch at the national stadium was. I attended that game with someone within the NFF who had made personal efforts to sound the alarm about that pitch, but was rebuffed. CAF and FIFA officials visited that stadium for inspection recently, and were terribly alarmed by the condition of the facility. All the chairs were covered with layers upon layers of dust, such that I had to use 2 big bottles of water and a towel to wash the chair in order to be able to sit on it. The NFF office is located right next to the mainbowl, and within the same gate. Its unbelievable.

The whole stadium is disgustingly dirty and unkempt. Don't be surprised when that stadium gets banned by CAF soon.

On the contrary, I visited Uyo stadium just a day before, and it was so clean and well maintained. I could not believe when I was told that the stadium is 10 years old already. The maintenance culture is top-notch. In the same country.

The NFF have no authority over the Abuja national stadium. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Sports

[maceo4]

I'm ashamed for Nigeria. I attended the U-23 game against Guinea, and quickly noticed how terrible the pitch at the national stadium was. I attended that game with someone within the NFF who had made personal efforts to sound the alarm about that pitch, but was rebuffed. CAF and FIFA officials visited that stadium for inspection recently, and were terribly alarmed by the condition of the facility. All the chairs were covered with layers upon layers of dust, such that I had to use 2 big bottles of water and a towel to wash the chair in order to be able to sit on it. The NFF office is located right next to the mainbowl, and within the same gate. Its unbelievable.

The whole stadium is disgustingly dirty and unkempt. Don't be surprised when that stadium gets banned by CAF soon.

On the contrary, I visited Uyo stadium just a day before, and it was so clean and well maintained. I could not believe when I was told that the stadium is 10 years old already. The maintenance culture is top-notch. In the same country.

They don’t want to pay and use the Uyo stadium, it’s just so sad how things are done in that country…

[vancity eagle]

I'm ashamed for Nigeria. I attended the U-23 game against Guinea, and quickly noticed how terrible the pitch at the national stadium was. I attended that game with someone within the NFF who had made personal efforts to sound the alarm about that pitch, but was rebuffed. CAF and FIFA officials visited that stadium for inspection recently, and were terribly alarmed by the condition of the facility. All the chairs were covered with layers upon layers of dust, such that I had to use 2 big bottles of water and a towel to wash the chair in order to be able to sit on it. The NFF office is located right next to the mainbowl, and within the same gate. Its unbelievable.

The whole stadium is disgustingly dirty and unkempt. Don't be surprised when that stadium gets banned by CAF soon.

On the contrary, I visited Uyo stadium just a day before, and it was so clean and well maintained. I could not believe when I was told that the stadium is 10 years old already. The maintenance culture is top-notch. In the same country.

The NFF have no authority over the Abuja national stadium. It is the responsibility of the Ministry of Sports

Ok but who is choosing for SE to play their matches there ?

[gochino]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

[Robotnik]

They should continue losing matches at home and winning away to make a statement.

[txj]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

[Damunk]

I'm ashamed for Nigeria. I attended the U-23 game against Guinea, and quickly noticed how terrible the pitch at the national stadium was. I attended that game with someone within the NFF who had made personal efforts to sound the alarm about that pitch, but was rebuffed. CAF and FIFA officials visited that stadium for inspection recently, and were terribly alarmed by the condition of the facility. All the chairs were covered with layers upon layers of dust, such that I had to use 2 big bottles of water and a towel to wash the chair in order to be able to sit on it. The NFF office is located right next to the mainbowl, and within the same gate. Its unbelievable.

The whole stadium is disgustingly dirty and unkempt. Don't be surprised when that stadium gets banned by CAF soon.

It is extremely sad what you found at the Abuja stadium. Terrible.
If na me, I’d have filmed those seats with my phone and posted on social media.
WTF.

On the contrary, I visited Uyo stadium just a day before, and it was so clean and well maintained. I could not believe when I was told that the stadium is 10 years old already. The maintenance culture is top-notch. In the same country.

Nobody should be surprised at this.
Anyone that has been to CRS or Akwa Ibom state will notice how clean their environment is.
I’ve been there several times and it never fails to lift my spirit.
Cleanliness is in their collective DNA.
They don’t even have to think about it.

[gochino]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

[maceo4]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

[gochino]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

[txj]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

You still don't get it...

[maceo4]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

Mace, on that “bad” Abuja pitch, we out possessed GB 70% to 30%, with a superior pass accuracy of 84% to 72%. In the reverse fixture in GB on a much better pitch, we were somewhat less efficient in terms of ball control, 58% possession with a pass accuracy of 82%. So, how can any honest person claim that the pitch affected our game in Abuja


Cheers.

[maceo4]

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

Mace, on that “bad” Abuja pitch, we out possessed GB 70% to 30%, with a superior pass accuracy of 84% to 72%. In the reverse fixture in GB on a much better pitch, we were somewhat less efficient in terms of ball control, 58% possession with a pass accuracy of 82%. So, how can any honest person claim that the pitch affected our game in Abuja


Cheers.

AGAIN, the conversation is about pitches in general being provided for the SE, this interview was BEFORE the game in Abuja. After the game in Abuja when asked about the pitch Iwobi said "no comment". But if the players are complaining about the standard of pitches being provided to them, should we just ignore it? I don't get your hyper focus on the game in Abuja. Are the pitches a problem yes or no? The players are saying yes, and they used to praise the pitch in Uyo. Why did we stop using it? Why not give them the best opportunity to succeed? Why is this even a discussion? This should be an 'obvious' thing, give them proper pitches, esp. at home where NFF has control over where the SE plays. Why is this a contentious matter?

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

Mace, on that “bad” Abuja pitch, we out possessed GB 70% to 30%, with a superior pass accuracy of 84% to 72%. In the reverse fixture in GB on a much better pitch, we were somewhat less efficient in terms of ball control, 58% possession with a pass accuracy of 82%. So, how can any honest person claim that the pitch affected our game in Abuja


Cheers.

AGAIN, the conversation is about pitches in general being provided for the SE, this interview was BEFORE the game in Abuja. After the game in Abuja when asked about the pitch Iwobi said "no comment". But if the players are complaining about the standard of pitches being provided to them, should we just ignore it? I don't get your hyper focus on the game in Abuja. Are the pitches a problem yes or no? The players are saying yes, and they used to praise the pitch in Uyo. Why did we stop using it? Why not give them the best opportunity to succeed? Why is this even a discussion? This should be an 'obvious' thing, give them proper pitches, esp. at home where NFF has control over where the SE plays. Why is this a contentious matter?

I am all for good pitches but the pitch condition shouldn’t be used as an excuse for a below par performance. Our opponents are affected by it the same way… and for God’s sake, don’t pretend that the majority of CE forumer’s aren’t blaming the Abuja pitch for the loss.

For me personally, the ability and willingness of the current NFF administration to provide reasonable playing surfaces for the SuperEagles will be a test of their efficacy but the ability of the SuperEagles to perform adequately shouldn’t depend on how good the pitches are


Cheers.

[Damunk]

AGAIN, the conversation is about pitches in general being provided for the SE, this interview was BEFORE the game in Abuja. After the game in Abuja when asked about the pitch Iwobi said "no comment". But if the players are complaining about the standard of pitches being provided to them, should we just ignore it? I don't get your hyper focus on the game in Abuja. Are the pitches a problem yes or no? The players are saying yes, and they used to praise the pitch in Uyo. Why did we stop using it? Why not give them the best opportunity to succeed? Why is this even a discussion? This should be an 'obvious' thing, give them proper pitches, esp. at home where NFF has control over where the SE plays. Why is this a contentious matter?

I am all for good pitches but the pitch condition shouldn’t be used as an excuse for a below par performance. Our opponents are affected by it the same way… and for God’s sake, don’t pretend that the majority of CE forumer’s aren’t blaming the Abuja pitch for the loss.

For me personally, the ability and willingness of the current NFF administration to provide reasonable playing surfaces for the SuperEagles will be a test of their efficacy but the ability of the SuperEagles to perform adequately shouldn’t depend on how good the pitches are

Cheers.

Chief, the highlighted is not true.
The pitch is just ONE of the factors being blamed by “the majority” here on CE.
This thread is specifically about pitches, prompted by Iwobi’s comments before the Abuja game as maceo4 has repeatedly pointed out.
The coach and player commitment have also been fingered.
Maybe you should go and refresh your memory of your contributions to the other threads.

You agree it’s a factor, so why are you dragging the matter? Nobody is arguing with you that it is the only reason the team underperformed. Or even that it is the main one.

[gochino]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

Don't underate the performance of GB, it's either they played effective or we made them look effective. For example look at the way they closed and marked Chukwueze from the right side only! Football is all about exploiting your opponents weakness and thats exactly what they did, they even created better chances than us despite all the possession. So yes! I want us to be more flexible and play effective Football. We all know NFF is not competent and sadly that's not going to change anytime soon, so its left to the players do adapt and stop complaining! We lost the game for many reasons but I don't believe the pitch is one of them. For example,our defenders were flat footed, Chukwueze ignored many of the intelligent runs Osimhen made etc...That's were the focus should be and that's something the coach and players can influence!

[Cellular]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

Can't believe what I am reading.

It is a known fact that when you play against good teams or teams who like to pass the ball around you want the pitch not to be smooth. You want to use the pitch to negate whatever margin of superiority they have over you. In Europe they overwater the pitch to gain or nullify the advantage. A dry and bumpy pitch will slow the ball down especially for teams that like passing the ball.

[gochino]

Those with agenda continue to pretend the pitch is not THE MAIN REASON for our continued poor performance at home.

We just saw a 10-0 victory played on proper pitch, but the enemies of progress want to pretend that never happened.

Get them a damn pitch for focks sake. Useless NFF.

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

Can't believe what I am reading.

It is a known fact that when you play against good teams or teams who like to pass the ball around you want the pitch not to be smooth. You want to use the pitch to negate whatever margin of superiority they have over you. In Europe they overwater the pitch to gain or nullify the advantage. A dry and bumpy pitch will slow the ball down especially for teams that like passing the ball.

Ironically that was one of our best games in a while in terms of possession and passing. We had close to 80% possession. Like I stated earlier we lost as a result of poor decision making on the part of the players. The defenders were caught out of position multiple times when the long balls were played.

[TonyTheTigerKiller]

Sorry, that doesn't make sense. 100% of the Guinea Bissau players play abroad and did not complain about the pitch, so again, what is our excuse?

And why is the view of GB players important to us as Nigerians?

That's the exactly the point, it's important because they didn't share a view or opinion, the talking was done on the pitch! Get it?

And you would have been happy if SE played smash and grab at home against GB rather than a possession game? The least you can control at home is the venue and the pitch to give your players the home field advantage. We’d rather stack a bunch of roadblocks and dare our players to overcome them, it just makes zero sense.

And BTW, this interview was before the GB game, so it’s not even about making excuses for that game it’s just in general give the players a home field with a good pitch where they can play the way we want them to.

Didn't Passiero complain about the pitch after the game? Look, this is Nigeria, don't expect pitches that have European standards. It just looks stupid complaining about the pitch when your opponent that is also made up of 100% foreign based played on that same pitch and got a good result, it would have made more sense if they played against a home based team!

I ask again, so you would be happy if SE played like GB, played high balls hoping to get lucky, then after that fall back into a defensive block? You seriously telling me that? Because that type of play can overcome a bad pitch, but if you want us to have possession and try to break down the opponent you will need a good pitch to do that. And we DO have a good pitch in Nigeria, its in Uyo. When we were playing there the players loved it and were getting really good results. So explain why we would rather handicap our players with poor pitches? We can complain about the poor pitches because we have a good one that NFF refuses to use, and its rather frustrating for the players. Plus in this interview Iwobi mentioned how great the pitch was vs Sao Tome - did we play them in Europe? So how come other countries are able to provide good pitches but we can't?

Don't underate the performance of GB, it's either they played effective or we made them look effective. For example look at the way they closed and marked Chukwueze from the right side only! Football is all about exploiting your opponents weakness and thats exactly what they did, they even created better chances than us despite all the possession. So yes! I want us to be more flexible and play effective Football. We all know NFF is not competent and sadly that's not going to change anytime soon, so its left to the players do adapt and stop complaining! We lost the game for many reasons but I don't believe the pitch is one of them. For example,our defenders were flat footed, Chukwueze ignored many of the intelligent runs Osimhen made etc...That's were the focus should be and that's something the coach and players can influence!

To be very specific gochino, our inconsistencies in the final third cost us huge victories in both games. We dominated the upper two-thirds of the pitch, including the midfield. The pitch may have been bad but it had little or no effect on our play. That’s the plain, honest truth


Cheers.