Aribo, Balogun Get Very Good Ratings In Rangers’ Win Vs Hamilton

Welcome the two most improved Naija players in their Role. They are currently the best in their positions among Eagles players. Now let’s go and finish off the qualifiers.

I hope this my analysis won’t be looked at as disrespectful but the opinion of a fan that loves the two players
aribo vs etebo
to make a concise argument we will have to differentiate their qualities according to what is required from their position (centre midfield first, then attacking midfield second). remember, this is strictly my opinion and it is liable to change :
1. technical ability – which is “the ability to make plays and disrupt plays”, that is playmaking. etebo wins this. rohr mentioned this as etebo number one quality, and indirectly rated it above that of iwobi. during the world cup etebo played as the no10, starting all three games in that position. by doing so he benched iwobi who now plays that role. I don’t know how many of you watched him in his debut season at stoke, the guy was beast. but the time etebo showed what he can really do was during afcon. he was the back bone to all our counter attack especially during the quarter finals. while iwobi was responsible for giving the incisive passes, that defense split through ball, etebo, on the other hand, orchestrated the tempo, the long pass that initiates the wingers movement.

2. creativity – “the ability to create chances”. aribo obviously wins this easily. his dribbling skills are like those of wingers, the kind of dribble that you do to charge against the opponent’s defense. etebo can dribble too, and he proved it in the world cup. but etebo kind is the type that just removes the player in front of you, not necessarily to spark an attack. unlike etebo, aribo for rangers is something else. that guy has the feet of neymar. there’s this game I watched where aribo played as the number ten. the guy was the definition of menace. he spots space between the defense and the midfield,and goes to that space (almost all true the game). in doing so he attracts either the defensive midfielder and any other player, drawing two players to himself. and what did he do? he just dribbled past them. after doing that effortlessly, he gave simple passes to the forwards. and who would forget the match against brazil? it was a tiago – marquinoes defense this lad took out. late during the match, he had almost dribbled past tiago silva when the experience defender knew the only way to keep aribo from creating a scoring chance is to foul him.

3. defensive contribution : no argument here, etebo hands down. all do I need to remind you of the match where he participated along side ndidi to shut down keita at afcon?

4. overall gameplay : this includes passing, ball control, composure, and vision. this is where it becomes debatable. so I will leave this a draw

5. suitability against African opponent : etebo wins again. his physic is his advantage. African games are mostly decided by workrate and what we call “gra gra”. against the two afcon qualifiers we played it was like aribo (for most of the game) disappeared. I couldn’t imagine how aribo would fair against west African sides. of course, it is too early to judge but this is quite obvious that etebo is better suited for such games. at the last afcon tournament, etebo was our best player according to whoscored.

the winner therefore is etebo, winning 3-1. though, aribo seems to have better potentials at becoming better at world stage. but on this situation, only time would tell. I am glad we’ve both playing for super eagles. the two are quality players and they will always have a spot in almost (if not all) African team starting 11.

Guaranteed starters in my opinion. Playing week in and out and delivering great performances is what we need right now from our players and these two have been outstanding for their club so far. Balogun defending so well, and aribo being his dominating self and scoring goals from midfield. Once again I say we are so fortunate to have such a player in our team.
The coach (Rohr) needs to work on our mf the way he is working on the goal keeping and defence department. We need more players like aribo and ndidi, who can dominate the mf. We shouldn’t be converting players to play in the mf unless they can naturally play very well in that position because when they come up against natural midfielders the difference will be clear. Lets widen out scouting net and discover more gifted players in the mf instead of hanging onto the hope that Eze will change his mind. These players are out there, lets find them.