Super Eagles defender Leon Balogun was once again dropped from Brighton and Hove Albion squad as they lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield United in Saturday’s Premier League game.
Balogun is yet to feature in the Premier League this season, with his only appearance coming in the Carabao Cup.
The only goal of the game was scored by Oliver McBurnie in the 23rd minute.
The win move Sheffield United to fifth on 28 points, just a point from fourth position in the league table.
At Carrow Road, relegation threatened Norwich City lost 1-2 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Wolves are now sixth on 27 points on the log while Norwich remain 19th on 12 points.
And in other results, Aston Villa lost 3-1 at how to Southampton, Bournemouth lost at the Vitality 1-0 to Burnley and Newcastle pip Crystal Palace 1-0.
And in the lunch hour kick-off, Everton were forced to a 0-0 draw by struggling Arsenal at Goodison Park.
Premier League results
Brighton 0-1 Sheffield United
Norwich 1-2 Wolves
Aston Villa 1-3 Southampton
Bournemouth 0-1 Burnley
Newcastle 1-0 Crystal Palace
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COMMENTS
Balogun’s absence from the B&H bench is not news anymore. It would be news if he made the bench, much more so if he played. The real news for me would be an explanation as to why Balogun is experiencing this ignominy at B&H. What exactly is the problem?
He’s not good enough
Pure lie… And stop your wicked lie. I live n work in n around Brighton, talk to some of Brightons honest fans who will always tell you Balogun deserves to be playing regularly n if at all be on the bench but for silly reasons not related to football at all but social dirty life they practice here at Brighton. Balogun has refused to blend n they see him as an outcast.
Calling what i said a lie and a wicked one at that is hilarious at best.
I’m not privy to the information on the ground in the city of Brighton and as such cannot confirm nor speculate based on that. However I would like to think that the coaches, who see him everyday in practice, will not just decide that a quality player should sit on the bench (not even in most cases) to the detriment of the team just because of issues non related to football. Especially on a team like hove albion that needs every point they can muster in the premier league.
Balogun is not a bad player but he’s not indispensable either plus he’s on the wrong side of thirty. Its just possible that the other guys are better than him at this point. There’s no shame in that as such is the nature of the sport. Let him find a move away to get more playing time. Clearly it isn’t working out where he’s at
@Lord sorry for using that word lie.. Didn’t mean to be rude but just wanted you to get your facts right before condemning a player who has been very dedicated to our Nigeria national team course. Now l, the way we trust these white people, that everything they do is honest completely baffles me. I have worked, played football n do many other things with them. I can n hopefully write a book on their ways. You talk about the manager see him in training yeah, here is where many people get decieved. Most of these White English managers will be ready to fail as long as their wicked plan towards a particular player goes on. In all works of life, this is the attitude of the white English managers. You can be the best in what you are doing with even your boss attesting to that but as soon as the same boss who, lets say he is an atheist, finds out you are a Christian, he start doing everything albeit coded to get rid of you. He won’t even give a damn how that decision will negatively affect the business. It really surprises me how we black people especially nigerians trust these white to always been honest. How laughable. Reason the Jamaicans see nigerians here as sell out to the white against other black people.
A defender who was solid for Nigeria during the 2018 WCQ games, who held his own against forwards like Messi, Higuain, and Manzukic at the world cup, is not good enough for B&H, a mediocre, mid to low level premiership club? So Duffy, Dunk and Webster are head and shoulders better than Balogun currently? Even if that were the case, does that explain the fact that Balogun has not featured in a game this season? The fact that the guy hardly makes the bench. Let me repeat that – LEON BALOGUN IS NOT GOOD ENOUGH TO MAKE THE BLOODY BENCH AT B&H? It doesn’t make an iota of sense. It’s either Balogun has undergone the most bizarre of retrogressions, that is he has gone from the solid Balogun we know to a total misfit, or as Glory says, there is more to this than meets the eye. And I think Glory might be closer to the truth here. Just saying.
During the 2018 pre world cup friendlies, Balogun played against some world class strikers and did well. Against Poland who we beat 1 nil at home, recall how Balogun and Ekong kept Lewandowski at bay. In the Argentina friendly that we won 4-2, Balogun was there helping us to stop Aguero, Higuain, Di Maria, Dybala and others. How about his performance against England? Though we lost 2-1, Balogun was solid against the likes of Harry Kane, Raheem Sterling, Marcus Rashford, etc. So Balogun has gone from that, to a player who now can’t even make the bench at B&H? If it is true that he has retrogressed so badly, then so be it. But if this guy is being victimized in some way, shape or form, then the Nigerian media in particular should jump on this and give us the 411. Nigerians should rally round the guy and support him. Additionally, January must not pass him by. Balogun needs to get outta there and breathe new life into his career. His agent hopefully has started doing the needful.
@ Pompeii my brother, look at this scenario. You work with colleagues, most of whom patronise gay clubs after work n keeps inviting you to their LGBT parties. The team all going together to such parties while you constantly refusing . Remember TEAM work n put that against your refusing to attend. That gives you an insight of how that team will relate to you. Many nigerians wether in football/ all works of life suffer from this discrimination over here. They will gossip, tell lies against you,profile you, infact do everything they can to destroy you. What is Duffy n Dung playing that Balogun we know can’t. Ok, if he has lost form, which some of their decent fans,will easily tell anyone is a lie, is his losing such strange form not been orchestrated by those wicked managers? Once a footballer, realise that a manager is doing everything to frustrate him, he is no longer motivated to play for that manager/ club. That doesn’t mean he has lost form,but has only come to a point,where he sees no point waste his energy, knowing fully well that manager will never be impressed. Balogun just has to move and I hope he understands that. BALOGUN REMAINS A SOLID DEPENDABLE DEFENDER take it or leave it.
GBAM.
Gentlemen, i hear you. However let’s be objective here. Now I like to point out that if you follow my posts it should show that much like a lot of people here, I root for and support our own just as well as anyone. Having said that, yes balogun held his own at the world cup. He struggled some against croatia, was solid against iceland and held his own against argentina. He wasnt bad and he wasnt exceptional. Average to slightly above average he was at the WC. He’s never been blessed with pace but that isnt always a necessity for a center back. He is over 30 which isnt something on his side. Prior to his transfer to a lower level club in england, he played for a low level club in germany which didnt put up much of a fight to let him leave. During the cup of nations he lost his place to omeruo who himself plays for a low level club in la liga. As much as Omeruo had improved, he himself is nothing but an average player. When balogun did get a start against madagascar, it was a disastrous start as his indecision on the ball led to their first goal (although to be fair, Awaziem should never have passed that ball to him). Again one can sympathize with him being rusty with a lack of playing time during the prior season. However if you’re honest with your assessment, you’d recognize that ball playing isnt a strength Balogun possesses. Again nothing to be too down about as there are other aspects to his game that are up to par. In any case, our own coaches, including the head coach who shares a foreign nationality with him decided, he wasnt good enough to play during the cup of nations save for some end of game minutes against SA.
All of the above is to say that as much as it may hurt to hear this, he is nothing but an average player at best and on the wrong side of the age meter. It is just possible that this is the main reason why he’s not getting on the field. If you played football like you said then you’d know that a center back pairing is one a coach rarely changes unless forced to. Now I don’t know anything about all the inner workings of the mind of the coach and whether or not Balogun has not assimilated. Any statement made toward that would be mere speculation. If you are privy to that inside info then my apologies to you and it would also represent a sad development if what you are speculating is true. However I think we are all in agreement that the man should find a new home so he can get on the field and show us what he has left.
Apology accepted on the lie thing too. No wahala na. We are all passionate about our eagles!
We are in the 21st century. Suppose to be now wise enough as to not allow these white folks use our mouth to condemn n kill our own. There was a piece on CSN ,by one of them white folks, cant remember his name now,few months ago, bragging about how they, the white people, know how to use black people to destroy black people. Many read that piece here, got angry and lamblasted that man but, is it not what many do here on CSN against our players? Many come here paste how a white man has rated our players n foolish laughing away that he has a point about that player, It now seems, all we do is wait for the white man to give an order for us to carry knives to kill our brothers. What a shame…
@Lord Amo, let me quickly point out some wrong submissions in your comments..
1. Balogun was our best central defender during the qualifiers and at the last world cup.
2. I stand to be corrected, my comparative analysis of the performance of SE matches with Balogun in defence and without Balogun, shows that ratio of goals conceded is lower with Balogun and higher with Ekong/Omeruo.
3. The last club Balogun played for in Germany (Mainz) did not want to release him infact the club is working towards his return to the team.
4. Ogu is the main culprit of the goal conceded at the Nations cup.
5. Go watch the match between SE and S.Africa played in Nigeria and all other matches played without Balogun and compare the defensive stability and calmness of playing the ball from the defence.
6. Semi is doing greatly in his club, Omeruo is playing well, Awaziem is getting better, Ekong is improving but Balogun is above these players in terms of experience and defensive skills.
7. Balogun did well in all the games that he played at Brighton. It’s just a case of the choice of the coach. He needs to move to another club in Nigeria.
Balogun deserves our support and not condemnation.
*move to another club in Europe**
@ Lord Amo. You keep mentioning that Balogun is at the other side of 30. Well noted but that only confirms some ignorance about football. Age in football is mainly for bargain price hence it makes sense at club level but definitely doesn’t matter much at national team level otherwise you keep going in circles of trying to produce a good national team. Since,just when the young player are getting matured at that other side of 30, they just suddenly, not good enough according to your understanding. So what then? Start all over again. Italy, Germany, Cameroun etc before now used to always be very solid in d defence. Reason ? They always had old war horses in the defence. But since they started going for young stars, they constantly leak like basket. People keep mentioning our USA 1994 SE as the best we have ever had but has anyone ever asked how old the defence line was? Those players were men n not boys. They all truly should be very close to their mid thirties. Fitness/ required top notch skills is what senior national team requires n not wether young or old.