Kaizer Chiefs midfielder Lebogang Manayama has hailed the impact of Nigeria goalkeeper Daniel Akpeyi at the club this season, reports Completesports.com.
Akpeyi has stood in well for the injured long-time No.1 Itumeleng Khune and played a key role in last weekend’s Telkom Knockout win against Orlando Pirates.
He is expected to be in goal in today’s Soweto Derby against Orlando Pirates at the FNB Stadium, Johannesburg.
The 33-year-old has conceded five goals in 10 leagues appearances this season.
“I think we had this conversation before the season started and I think we’re blessed in that department‚” Manyama said.
“We have three international goalkeepers (Daniel Akpeyi‚ Itumeleng Khune and Bruce Bvuma) – two of them coming from the Africa Cup of Nations.
“It’s a huge experience. Akpeyi is a top keeper and I think maybe people have been too hard on him‚ and obviously he had to fill Itu’s shoes‚ which is not an easy thing to do.”
Manyama feels Akpeyi should have been given more respect based on the fact he’s Nigeria’s No 1.
“If he is No 1 for one of the biggest countries in Africa in terms of football it’s not a coincidence‚” Manyama continued.
“It’s because he has quality to play in such a team in such a country that we believe in him and we kept on supporting him. He has helped us a lot and I think we’re very blessed to have him.”
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COMMENTS
Akpeyi again hmmm
Akpeyi is a good goal keeper,but he is not good enouph to be Nigeria’s first choice goal keeper.for me i think uzoho and okoye are ahead of him
Maybe he is bribing his club coaches and clubmates to speak well of him in the media.
Or probably he also bribes opposition strikers in his league to always play balls he can easily save, or outrightly, not score against him so that his goals returns can be limited to as low as 5 goals conceded in 10 matches.
@Iszy, I quite agree with you bro that he is paying some guys in the media and NFF…….I am watching his game right now and just before halftime he conceded a stupid free kick from very tight angles due to his poor positioning. His howlers per match are just too much when you watch the full game. These are not reported so long as Kaizer chief managed to win the game by outscoring the opponent.
Watching him regularly in SA Premier league confirms to me that he is definitely not a SE material, but our Goal keeper coach is such a lazy and incompetent coach……………..not surprising though judging by Alloy Aga’s playing days too which is always error-ridden until Westerhoff swallowed his pride and invited Rufai to safe our blushes before we could win AFCON then
Is anyone watching this u23 team play ivory coast? This team is just awful, where did dis Imana get these guys from. They look too old and slow. They are being dominated by the ivorian, what an eyesore. The #11 muyiwa is pure garbage, they can’t even string 2 or 3 passes together. Nwakali too isn’t covering himself with glory and isn’t doing much to earn a SE call up. The team is pretty pure. One can tell that this team hasn’t played soccer in a long time maybe due to the league not functioning but damn this team reminds me of d Sambisa 11. Orji okonkwo too is playing nonsense. I honestly hope they improve in d 2nd half as the 1st is nothing to write home about. You can tell dis guys are overage.
pls where can I watch d game from Nigeria?
Sorry my broda am watching it on Bein sports here in Canada
As poor as d u17 did, they are way better than dis bunch. The ivorians have had d better chances, dia poor finishing is what’s preventing them from being up. The foreign based players like orji have been super disappointing. He looks overweight and out of shape. At least d #11 has been replaced. The Bright Enorkhabare (didnt spell his last name right) is acting like victor moses on d field always playing to d gallery and losing the ball in d process. Still 65th minute and still goalless.
Give them the chance bro… Don’t compare them with u17, at least they haven’t conceded early stupid goals like manu team did…
Most of them are not used to themselves don’t you can never tell what the final score like would be…. Plz continue to give up update many of us are not watching the match
Penalty for ivory coast and they scored albeit d penalty didnt look like it crossed d line
Also we are playing with a man down. Almost 75th min with ivory coast up by 1. These guys have no business wearing d 9ja jersey honestly, They are really poor to be honest.
Ozorwafor in for Orji cos our center back got a red card.
80th min and it’s still 1:0. Nigeria playing marginally better but always guilty of losing possession cheaply.
At this rate, I don’t think there’ll be a Naija football in 2020 – Falcons Olympics out, CHAN 2020 Nigeria out, Olympic men too maybe out soon. Na to stick with my Liverpool for football joy next year o. Pinnick and his board should even sef renew the contracts of Paul Aigbogun, Manu Garba and Imamma Amakapabo for another 10 years as reward for wonderful subpar performances in 2019 everywhere. Pinnick continue oo. Na your board go take head carry am las las and pay the penalties for these your “excellent” coaches.
Am not d type to insult ambassadors of Nigeria but this team no good and selfishness is written all over dis team. Its maybe due to d fact that like ololo said they haven’t played with each other. Almost 90th min now. Still ivory coast are still up by 1
It’s very disappointing… Nigeria messing up in various tournament. I wouldn’t blame pinnick entirely but if had a good league where most of the players would be picked from we would probably be doing better… If we don’t qualify let them repair what they think is the problem of Nigerian football – our football league
Game over. Guys who didnt watch dis match, don’t worry u saved ur eyes from dis eyesore of a match. Ivory coast gave 9ja a good schooling on how to play soccer. U ca tell d Ivorians wanted d game more. from d blast of d whistle d ivorians took d initiative and dominated 9ja from d off. I hope dey improve as d tournament progresses as it will be sad if d main team don’t play in Tokyo.
Ivory that had only 3 players on the bench doing this to Nigeria.. This is shameful what if they had a full squad to pick from
My tots exactly. This team lacks hunger and drive something synonymous with many 9ja team. Population don’t mean talent and we should just realize it. The fact that d league has been off for sometime didnt help too but this is where d foreign based players needed to step up. Anytime a team from 9ja loses it really pisses me off but it’s worse when d team don’t even fight. Ololo abeg u see dat #11? chai where did d coach get dat one from, na bricklaying day guy suppose dey do not soccer. Can’t control d ball to safe his life. This is why when some say its pay to play I understand what they mean. There are definitely better boys than dis crop of players but if not then we are in trouble and something needs to be done otherwise results like these will start common place.