Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr says that he will begin search for new midfielders especially a replacement for the ageing captain of the side, John Mikel Obi, Completesports.com reports.
Mikel missed all the side’s qualifying games for the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations,
but made himself available for the final tournament in Egypt.
The former Chelsea midfielder however made only two appearances in Egypt 2019 struggling to get fit in the major part of the competition.
Rohr also solely depended on midfielders; Wilfred Ndidi and Oghenekaro Etebo in the competition and was forced to play Alex Iwobi in the playmaker role due to the limited options available to him.
The German tactician is however now determined to boost his options in that department by bringing in more midfielders.
“First, I think we have to thank this great player for his successful career and also what he has done for Nigeria. He didn’t participate in the qualifiers, but he agreed to come and play his role as captain here. It was good to have him around even though he didn’t play many games, ” Rohr told a news conference after the Super Eagles 1-0 win against the Carthage Eagles of Tunisia in their third placed encounter on Wednesday night.
“We have to search for new midfielders now. We have Semi Ajayi who was part of our initial 25 man list for this competition but didn’t make the final 23. He could come and play in defensive midfield. There are other young players, but it all depends on what they are doing in their clubs.”
Rohr added: “We don’t have players in Champions League clubs. We have some good players playing in second division in Germany and England. We only have two playing in England regularly, but Alex Iwobi is not all the time starting player at Arsenal, and Ndidi, yes in Leicester but it’s not a very big club.
“So I think we have to work hard to find the players who can replace Obi Mikel or the other ones we have in the team now.”
By Adeboye Amosu (pix: by Ganiyu Yusuf) in Cairo
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COMMENTS
We need a good goalkeeper too and we dont need addition of many players as well .
Good one. The earlier the better for search for replacement.
We also need to search for a good tactician to replace Rohr
GR all d way if u don’t want him park one side bro continuty is the key our SE is gradually revolving and will be a force to reckon with in the nearest future u can see for yourself the exciting talents popping up we need GR xperience,remember d day de cut down tree no b d day e de withered patient bro
Welcome development, i called Iwobi the weakest link in our midfield before the tournament, some people due to sentiment almost burnt down this forum, but they can blame Ighalo for not scoring, Iwobi only had one assist, with many misplaced passes, he doesn’t track back to help etebo and Ndidi. A young man that can’t run his inconsistencies is killing our games sometimes, he needs to improve fast and I believed he will. guys we need competition a lot of players needs to be challenged Ndidi included, Denis, igbekeme, Ejike, and other good midfielders needs to be invited for our next matches.
Sunnyb i disagree with you to downplay Iwobi’s contribute because he was the attacking enforcer in the team not to forget how well he holds the ball properly even in tight areas.
Things will only get better for iwobi and Nigerian thats all i can say.
Goal Keeper as well. Osigwe is in Switzerland Dele Alampasu Portugal and Uzoho Spain
I think dele should move to clubs where he will get game time….even if na cyprus. Going a whole season without one top flight game isnt doing him any good. The ease with which Uzoho switches clubs to get game time is one thing that has continue to keep him in reckoning. Alampasu can not continue to rely on 2013 U17 old glory. Uzoho was his 2nd choice in the same tournament, but look at how well hs grown his career so far.
This guy is incredibly simple in his speech and approach and yet as blunt as a knife. He doesn’t mince words and says it as it is with regard to his players’ weaknesses and strengths. Now, this is a disappointment to the ‘Rohr must go’ group as his views and plans in the press conference above show the man is staying. We really do need a midfield maestro in the mould of Okocha and Oliseh, doing all the background work in the middle of the pack. Iwobi is either still growing or has not exactly fit into that mould. Too many misplaced passed or missed through passes from teammates.
One more thing, Mr Rohr, please request a tinkering of your backroom staff/technical bench. People like Agali, Alloy Agu etc can make way for others to help you find more exciting players for the midfield, attack and goalkeeping roles.
Anti Rohr group right now would be like , “So this man is not resigning sha” with their fingers between their teeth. Omo9ja, Oluwa and the likes, sorry brothers, you gon have to wait for some time
Hehehehe….you nor observe say dem don keep quiet for a few days now…? Hungry people dem wey rohr nor gree dem use SE chop. Lolz
Westerhor, discovered Finidi, Amunuke, Oliha from our Local leagues. He made them stars IN super eagles before they moved to top champions league clubs in Europe.
However, this third class coach Roar is waiting for a player to develop himself to champions league level then he will now claim the glory and easy salary in Nigeria.
Roar must go
Reason Rohr’s case is different is, one invitation to develop such home based players, next they are in one God forsaken European or Asia countries playing 2nd, 3rd or 4th division football n worst still sitting on the bench for those clubs. If you were to be Rohr,what would u do?
Nigeria has a vibrant league during Westerhoff’stime. So developing and discovering players was a lot easier. Between 2017 and 2019 the league has been stop start. For instance in the run up to the World Cup last year, the league was abandoned because of NFF wahala.
It resumed hurriedly in 2019 but there are no statistics apart from who scored the most goals.
I we ask how many matches players played nobody knows. Neither most clean sheets, most saves, most tackles etc.
During that time Nigerian players were going on trials without success. Imagine Junior Lokosa going from country to country on trial as top scorer last year as the leagues top scorer and being rejected country after country. Not even top 5 leagues, but in Scandinavia. He ended up not good enough for teams in places like Norway etc. Finally finding a club in Tunisia but could not even be fielded for months whilst they prepared him for competitive football.
This is the primary reason there are almost no local players in the present Super Eagles. Now a 11 month league has been condensed into 6 months. July 24 is a big date in Nigerian football. It is the date of he Aiteo cup final that will decide our final club representing us in the CAF confederations cup. But that competition will begin onthe 8th of August.
Yes, two weeks to recruit, register and train for a competition that other countries have had two months to prepare for.
July 24 is also the NNL playoffs to find out which teams will be promoted to the NPFL. But when is the 2019/20 season starting? Does anybody know??
July 24th is also the date for the NWFL commencing.
So the next time you want local players in the Super Eagles, point fingers at the NFF, the LMC, the NPFL etc who are finding it difficult to organise a league
Nigerian league was worst during Westerhof time due to the following reasons
1. Corrupt Officiating and matches are not televise to remedy bad officiating.
2 you hardly get away wins then.
3. Most goals scored were penalties gifted to home team by corrupt officials.
4. Match result from other venue takes more than 24 hours to know.
5. NO football pitches in the stadiums only sand and shrubs
6. Violence and intimidation of visiting teams
Please there is no excuse for Rohr and his employers present NFF that can even maintain a league calender.
Westerhof was busy attend league matches in Nigeria to fish out players.
Many time Westerhof took our home based players for training camp in Papenda Portugal.
When a coach wants to develop football, you will know.
In 3 years we did not see any player(sl developed by Rohr
“….Many time Westerhof took our home based players for training camp in Papenda Portugal….”
.
You just nailed yourself with that statement.
Apart from the world cup and afcon training camps…pls tell us what other training camps the current set up have access to…?
.
And to say “Nigerian league was worst during Westerhof time” is an absolute falacy. European clubs would come to Nigeria and sign players straight up from our league…Our league had standing calenders….you needed to visit adamasigba stadium then to see how much followership the league had. Several stars from theleague would easily walk into the SE…the likes of Ajibade babalade, Patric Pascal, Ahmed garba, Edit Agoye. Our clubs were challenging on all front in continental competitions…the likes of leventis, BCC lions, ranchers bees, Jasper Utd, Shooting stars, Iwuanyanwu Nationale and so on. officiating was top notch, the league even had sponsors (Bournvita and later Pepsi were sponsors of the league). Referees like Mike Enemuo, Calistus Chukwujeku, Bolaji and Tade (cant remember their surnames now) were among many who were constant selected by CAF. Today, not even 1 linesman from Nigeria can make AFCON officials list, our clubs cant go qualify for group stages of CAF competitions…our top goal scorers fail trails in Norway, Latvia and Iceland and only settle for clubs in morroco, libya and tunisia….we dont know wen the next season will start. The league was suspended for almost a whole year in 2017/2018.
The fact that Westerhof selected more home based players those days was because we didnt have too many in europe as we have now…the likes of finidi and amunike were not first discovered by westerhoff…they were part of our Cairo 91 All african games team coached by then Alabi Aissien (If my memory serves me right). Players get selected to the national team when they perform well…westerhoff selected players who were doing well….he never had a football academey where he “developed” players for the national team, same way Rohr does… no less than 15 players have made their debuts under rohr already. Of the 23 that went to egypt…not less than 7 of those 15 where part of them…so i dont know what you mean by “In 3 years we did not see any players developed by Rohr”…Because that is a FAT lie. You dont have to tell lies just because you want to discredit someone, otherwise the truth will find you out
Pls look for another excuse. You failed with this one sir.
This coach needs to do more just like is expected of the players, our coach can help discover new talents and also most importantly help them secure deals with top clubs in Europe so he can havebChampions League players that is desired……. we know how this method of unearthing and positioning in top clubs helped our former coach
Go find keeper joor,we get midfielders
SUNNYB THANKS FOR POINTING OUT THE GAP IWOBI BRINGS TO THE LINK BETWEEN THE MIDFIELD AND ATTACK.SINCERELY SPEAKING IWOBI ISJUST ENJOYING THE GOODWILL OF OKOCHA,THE GUY IS LAZY AND HARDLY PUT A GOOD PASS ACROSS ATTACKERS,THEN HE HAS A LOW SHOOT POWER WITH NO ACCURACY. I THINK HE NEEDS TO BE BENCHED OR BETTER STILL HE DOES NOT GET A CALL TO NATIONAL TEAM FOR HIM TO TAKE NATIONAL CALL SERIOUS .SO THAT WHEN HE COMES HE WILL BE WILLING TO DIE ,LOOK AT AINA THE FACT THAT HE MISSES THE WORLD CUP HAS REALLY MADE HIM TO BE A BETTER PLAYER ..ANY WAY I DONT REALLY BLAME IWOBI IF NOT FOR OUR COACH WHO WENT TO A TOURNAMENT OF SUCH MAGNITUDE WITH JUST ONE ATTACKING PLAYER AND HE DOESNOT HAVE THE SKILL TO CONVERT CHUKU TO A MIDFIELDER SINCE HE IS A LEFT FOOTER.
TO ME I LIKE ROHR BUT I THINK WE NEED A COACH THAT CAN REALLY TEACH OUR BOYS HOW TO PLAY ,,I MEAN THE MODERN SCIENCE OF FUNCTIONAL FOOTBALL THAT WOULD MAKE ANY PLAYER ON THE FIELD SCORE GOALS IRRESPECTIVE OF POSITIONS.
THIS TREND OF SCORING A GOAL PER MATCH IS NOT THE XTER OF SUPER EAGLES IMAGINE OUR COACH SAYING THERE IS NO SHAME IN LOSING TO ALGERIA AND THAT HIIS TEAM IS YOUNG WAS IT NOT THE SAME TEAM THAT BEAT ALGERIA TO CLINCH WORLD CUP TICKET .
MY ADVICE TO PICKNICK IS TO GET NIGERIA A GOOD COACH THAT CAN DELIVER ATTACKING FOOTBALL AND ALSO BLEND OUR CURRENT U23 PLAYERS FOR THE OLYMPIC AND NEXT WORLD CUP
THE LATE KESHI TEAM THAT WON 2013 NATIONS CUP WAS ABLE TO BEAT ALMIGHTY MALI 4 NILL.
WE NEED GOALS IN THE SUPER EAGLES.
GR should consider this newly signed rangers milfieder Joe aribo, checked his stats, he can play in multiple positions in midfield, central, attacking and defensive midfield,we shouldn’t also forget Onazi,then azubuike, I think they are capable replacement s for MIkel but maybe not like for like
Gr is good,he believe in d feature.we want now now,rome was’t build in a day,after German 1990,it took them years to prepare d current team with good league.GR is in d rit direction.
This man would tell you later that your players are not good enough.
Excuses!!! Most of the Algerian players play In Saudi league and esperance Tunis.
Lairs on the prowl…!
Only IZZEDDINE DOUKHA (Goal keeper who didn’t even get 1 min in this AFCON) and MOHAMED YOUCEF BELAILI play in Saudi Arabia and Esperance respectively. 15 out of the 23 man squad play in the top 5 leagues in Europe. Add Islam Slimani and Sofiane Feghouli who both play in turkey and you have 77% of the team playing top football in Europe.
Indeed the Algerian team was a strong team, though its sad we lost to them, but its not a shame we did (no thanks to a 95th min freekick form a star player like Mahrez). Someone had to lose that game, and its unfortunate we did. Even almighty Senegal was made to eat grass by this same Algerian team.
But we dont have to tell lies just because we want to discredit someone or the team…!
reading some ppl comment here can be annoying ,,
wen Nigeria had Ahmed Musa in d league ,, he played in d youth team and prove himself bfor making it to d national team,, likewise iheanacho, omeruo ndidi and host of odas,,, dey were invited to Nigerian youth team bcos dey were fantastic at deir local clubs here,,, but look at our youth teams now it’s soaks ,, dats bcos our league is full of old age players wit no football talent ,,
y are u ppl so sentimental ,, u wnt him to Hep u develop player and sametime u wnt him to be winning match ,,, i rememba aw u ppl were clamouring for dat lokosa den pls where is dat old heavy somtin now?? look at odey dats a talent , he was fantastic ,,
now my response to ur negative criticism of d coach
if u wnt westehof maybe u go and bring him back ,,,
* we are in a more advance world ,, scout everywhere,, any player dats got d talent here in Nigeria shall alwaysl catch d eyes of foreign clubs ,, unlike westehof time ..
* our many national team is Fielding players bcos dey wnt to advance deir leagues ?
*u ppl dnt just av point I swear to God,, bfor now u ppl were criticizing him and wishing him ill luck at d afcon bcos u wnt him to fail but now he prove himself gud ,,, u ve shifted ur critics to not developing players ..
** y do we av many ppl who wnt bad for our country????
We need to scout for talented attacking midfielder and goalkeeper who will compet with uzoho, it does not matter the level of the league whether home or abroad, Nigeria talented players are all over the world not only in Spain, England,e.t.c
GR should consider this newly signed rangers milfieder Joe aribo, he can play in multiple positions in midfield, central, attacking and defensive midfield, we also need Tammy Abraham to come and replace Ighalo.We need Lookman Ademola and also a good goalkeepers are needed in the super eagles. Please Mr. Rohr should try and talk to this players and convince them.