Newslegend.com.ng’s IZUCHUKWU OKOSI writing for All Nigeria Soccer website cast his eyes on the performances of Nigerian players across the major leagues in Europe and picks out these takeaways from them.
1. Abraham For Nigeria – NFF
Please Try Again
A) Two league goals in two back to back matches for Chelsea after four league
matches.
B) Abraham’s performances has put Olivier Giroud on the bench and it seems
manager Frank Lampard trusts him more than the Frenchman.
Nigeria Football Federation should please try once again to convince Abraham to
choose Nigeria over ADOPTED country England. He should first be a Nigerian
before anything.
His talent, class and current club will all be positives for Nigeria. Let the
process begin today before a late England call up to replace an injured
striker!
They need to let Tammy know that ‘we will appreciate and love him better’ here.
2. Scoring Iwobi Lands At Everton
Super Eagles forward cum playmaker Alex Iwobi divided opinions whilst at
Arsenal for his low goal scoring returns but in two games for new club Everton
(Carabao Cup match against Lincoln City and Wolverhampton Wanderers in the
Premier League) he has scored consecutively.
And it looks ominously a new lease of life for the Nigerian. He will likely score
at least up to 10 league goals (or a little more) for the Toffees in the league
this season.
That shows that sometimes patience is needed for players and coaches must find
the best positions for them.
3. Improved Omeruo
Kenneth Omeruo had a very poor game penultimate weekend against Atletico Madrid
but really stepped up when Leganes went away to Real Betis.
Omeruo made three blocks in the first half, made a total of four tackles in
total in the game and seven clearances.
Omeruo had better communication with his defensive teammates which was quite
good to note.
4. Aribo’s Strength & Weakness
Rangers were beaten 2-0 by Celtic in the Old Firm derby on Sunday which was
laden with several bad tackles but our attention was primarily on the
performance of new Super Eagles invitee Joe Aribo.
Aribo who is expected to play against Ukraine in a friendly on September 10 in
Dnipro played behind striker Jermaine Defoe.
Comparison has been drawn between him and some of the current Super Eagles
players and what he could bring to the Eagles.
Aribo struggled physically and was easily shrugged off the ball but he did
found Defoe with some good passes. The friendly will provide another chance to
see what he can do.
5. Etebo Must Leave Stoke In January For Better Team
Oghenekaro Etebo was Stoke City’s best player last season but this time around,
it seems the Nigerian might not even help the Potters in dire situations.
Stoke are currently bottom of the 24-team EFL Championship and aside the
results are not producing performances that can encourage the most optimistic
supporter.
Etebo was in action at Saint Andrews on Saturday as Birmingham defeated them
2-1 and it was shocking to have seen him sign for a second tier club in England
in the first place.
Etebo’s talent deserves better and Nigeria national team do not deserve any
less. January move away from Stoke City please, ‘Karo.
STOP PRESS: Chelsea’s Tammy Abraham has reportedly informed the Nigeria Football Federation that he will make his decision on representing Nigeria in April 2020. However, he did not state if that also means NOT heeding to invitation to The Three Lions squad before then.
Izuchukwu Okosi
Photo Credit : chelseafc.com
