Super Eagles head coach Gernot Rohr has admitted that Joe Aribo has make the team stronger following the Rangers midfielder impressive performance in last Sunday’s 1-1 friendly draw against Brazil, reports Completesports.com.
Aribo scored Nigeria’s only goal of the game, his second in two appearances for the Super Eagles.
The 23-year-old received a pass from Moses Simon in the 35th minute and weaved his way past Paris Saint-Germain defender, Marquinhos before the slotting the ball home.
Aribo also scored on his debut for the three-time African champions against Ukraine last month.
“We have a very young team, younger than what we had at the Africa Cup of Nations in Egypt. Joe Aribo is one of the players bringing his fitness and speed into the team. His left foot is technically interesting for us in the midfield,” Rohr told reporters after the game against Brazil.
The former Charlton Athletic player will look to make his home debut when the Super Eagles host neighbours, Benin Republic in a 2021 AFCON qualifier next month.
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COMMENTS
Hope he has Nigeria passport coz he can’t come to Nigeria with British passport.
You are very funny . How can you be talking from the back of your mouth. If he want 9ja passport he will get it same day because he his on official assignment and he his a Nigerian as well.also, he can get a visa just to enligthen you further.
Please someone should tell Rohr to stop referencing his team as a young team. Since he started coaching Nigeria soccer all he says is his team is a young team. Will the team ever mature under his steward ship or is that going to be his excuse when the team flops? Rohr is not a good coach, the earlier he’s relieved the better for us. He’s given his best and we shouldn’t expect much from Rohr.
Mad animal anyway ur name has said it all snake eag haba people are answering names oh
Loool@ ubah
Now we have Aribo, Ndidi, Etebo , Iwobi and Azeez. So who and who will be in the first 11 assuming all are fit.
I will prefer a midfield combination of Aribo, Ndidi and Etebo. Aribo as the main no. 10 while Ndidi and Etebo will provide defensive cover. I think this will make it more balanced and provide a good competition for Iwobi to up his game or come in if we need more creativity in the middle.
Well said @Ikeben… if the players are all very fit that will be a very solid midfield
@Ikeben, I will also prefer The Midfield Trio of ARIBO, Etebo and Ndidi. Then Iwobi comes on in the Second half cuz he seems to be a more better Substitute player even at Arsenal. So Either Etebo or Ndidi comes off in the Second half for Iwobi while ARIBO withdraws to either 8 or 4 while Iwobi plays the No. 10 role.
It’s not about being in the first team or not. It is about having strong substitutions. Then Rohr can easily substitute Etebo when he is tired. Unlike before when he cannot because he does not have a natural replacement for Etebo. That was one of the reasons we lost to Algeria and Argentina in the past tournaments.
Mr. Rohr, stop your young team narrative and instill confidence in the team.
Your game management has not improved. Not sure if you’ve learnt anything from your dismal world cup performance, disappointing nations cup outing..
Your match reading ability and substitution method show that you need to upgrade..
Bro that was what I was saying that he needs to improve in some areas before a certain animal here started attacking me and calling me names lol.
Apply for Rohr’s job now if are jobless. You Sabi pass the National coach. There is a common saying in Benin City that every Nigerian is a coach on the sideline.
Hahahahaha….savage response…!!!
That’s the same thing I told one uncouth rabied dog too when he wouldn’t stop raining insults on his grandfather’s mate. Its so easy for them to insult the coach but they themselves cannot stomach half the insults they dish out.
The coach is bad, the coach is bad, Nigeria is rising steadily in global ratings and beginning to attract respect from top countries. When their tactical masterclass coaches where there, we were ranked in the same category as Honduras, Estonia and Saudi Arabia dem in the bottom 60 of the FIFA rankings and couldn’t even qualify for AFCON.
When the team plays well, it is the players….when the team plays badly, it is the coach…what a senseless way to think….Lolz. Never do wells who never see anything positive in what we have at hand out of their sheer hatred.
The same Ukraine that needed the ref to force us to a draw in the presence of their fans beat current Euro and Euro league defending champions Portugal complete with all their CR7s, Bernado Silvas, Joao Felix et al. to qualify for Euro 2020 unbeaten and with a game in hand….
Coach Fernando Santos of Portugal too must be tactically inept and clueless……LMAO
@Dr Drey
I really love the angle you look at things, I doff my hat for you being always positive and going about it with much wit.BuT
I might be wrong,(be free to correct me if I am); but it seems you always look at a game based on results only.how it is gotten doesn’t matter to you?
Yeah yeah..In a game, at the end ,results are all that matters; but sometimes your approach to a game to get that result would tell how far you can go in getting those positive results continuously. That’s why coaches like Capello at real madrid, Van Gaal at Barcelona and Man United were sacked even after winning trophies. They got the desired results but their approach to the game wasn’t good enough, at least to the fans and employers.
I have always been one to support Rohr’s man managerial skills and respect his results so far; but to be blinded by his faulty approach,changes, is totally a no no for me.
Not everyone that criticise the coach hates him or wants him out. Some criticise cause they do love him and want him to improve in the real sense,in a positive way. They see flaws(like they do in players) and critic those flaws rather than the person of the coach. You don’t expect everyone should be quiet to the coach’s obvious tactical deficiency in being too defensive in games we should have gone for the jugular; games such approach cost us ie. Argentina, Algeria..
Or to be quiet about his mistakes on substitutions sometimes,bringing on an Onuachu against Brazil,that literally slowed down the game and killed our attack.
Definitely people would criticise these errors,not necessarily meaning they hate the coach. You do support club football and we do criticise our clubs and their coaches if they turn out a bad performance,it doesn’t mean we hate those coaches and see no positive. We sometimes criticise to make corrections. We criticise the game per game.not the person..every game is different from the next..so we take it as it comes…
My point is..there are those out there who see the game as it is.and never take it personal..we are all here for the entertainment and to learn..it wouldn’t be fun taking it personal; even if we have different views to the game..
That said,Rohr’s stats is good..
Much respect…
Thanks so much Mr Hush.
I must really appreciate you, your personality and your immense contributions on this forum. Oga sir…you be man. You are one of those I look forward to reading from on this forum because of your artistry in aptly dissecting the game, especially with regards to the SE. Of course we cannot all have the same views to issues, there will always be dissenting views, dimensions and angles to a various analyses. We both have had sweet discussions a couple of times, maybe not coming to a consensus in the end, but having driven home salient points which we both can take to the bank.
Apart from you, there are others like @Big D, Deo, Oge, Greenturf etc with whom there have been occasions of intellectual discourse without getting gregarious. I do agree with you that the coach isnt above criticisms….of course all coaches are. While I also admit yours and those of others like you are and have been intrinsically constructive in nature.
But while we freely criticize this coach, we blindly overlook the fact that somehow someway, our team seems to be getting certain things right, which wasn’t happening before he came on. Some people have even said we have more talents now than before, then i look at our present team and ask, who can each one of them confine to the bench in their various positions in the teams that had the likes of Enyeama, Ejide, Yobo, Efe, Taiwo, Odiah, Onazi, Mikel, J.Obi, Nsofor, Odemwingie, Eneramo, Martins, Emenike, Uche brothers etc before them…as if there was ever a time in this nation when we ran dry of talents home or abroad, apart from the times when the national team was turned into a business venture for inviting and promoting players with no business or quality to lace booths for us, even when others where at their best in their various clubs in Europe. Its still unbelievable that the likes of Ezekiel Imoh, Abdul Ajagun, Abiola Dauda etc never got to even train in the SE at their peaks.
Some people will even go further to claim he’s just lucky since he had talented youngsters poured into his laps by Manu and Amineke…..but there was also a period where we won gold at U17, Silver at Olympics and silver at U17 3 years in a row (2007 -2009), why werent the coaches during and around that period lucky too…?
The coach is bad, he’s terrible, he’s tactically bankrupt, but in the history of coaches in Nigeria, only Westorhof has a better win ratio, yet this man is just a bit over half way westerhof’s tenure. His only offence being that he hasn’t won the AFCON yet.
Left to me, i’m not saying we shouldn’t criticize the man, of course no coach is perfect…name them…Mario Zagallo, Vincente del Bosque, Roger Lemmere….Mourinho, Wenger, Guadiola…they all got relieved of their jobs at one point in time or the other due to the dissatisfaction of their fans or employers, but its obvious the faults of Rohr are more often than not over emphasized than what he brings to the table. For many, its pure hatred.
Its even more preposterous when some people say he has no input into the team…it is just the players. When the team does well, its the players…..when the team does badly…its the coach. This is a game where 3 players cannot put passes together independent of the coaches game plan and execution methodologies. So how is it that 60% of the times it is players that come from different clubs and train for a few days together that get to win games without the input of the coach.
You cant fault me if I look at the game based on results, a situation which even the coach has been pressured to accept. Even when he’s winning some people want him out, imagine if he looses…these same set of fans who are asking him to be adventurous and daring will be the ones to call for his head. If you say you are a millionaire and you net valuation doesn’t show that, how then are you a millionaire…? If you say a coach is poor and yet very strong teams have to dig deeper than usual or resort to mother luck to grind a win out of him, where then is the justification that he is a poor coach.
Some even go as far as saying he is defensive, and I’ve asked them, pls point out 1 match the eagles have played with a parked bus in the over 30 matches the man has been in charge….i’m yet to get an answer. Some will even say he plays 2 defensive midfielders then i ask again, who are those 2 defensive midfielders…no answer. Etebo plays the box-2-box role, a role Ndidi used to play when Onazi was still around. So how is his much preferred 4231 tactics a defensive one. 80% of our games, we score 1st, rare are the times when we have had to chase games under Rohr….and the few times we have had to, we have responded well, albeit not always lucky all of the times.
If defending when its necessary to do so is what his critics call defensive game…then let them wait for when there is vacancy in the SE for them to apply and introduce their own attacking game. Let them wait till when they’ve got their own opportunity to start making subs as from then half hour mark. Let them wait will when they are on the saddle so they can play 7 attackers and 3 defenders.
The farthest we have gone in the world cup in Africa is Qfinals and its just a paltry 3 times; ironically, Cameroon did it in 1990 playing conservatively and hitting on the break…same with Bruno Metsu’s Senegal in 2002, Goran Stepanovic’s Ghanaian side of 2010 wasnt anything like an attacking team. So if we are t=being trained to know when and how to be dogged and resilient in defending and knowing when and how to be ruthless in attacking why does it create much fuss…?? Dont teams need a component of the 2 to be successful…? The popular cliche goes that attack win matches, defense wins championships.
Be you an attacking team, a defensive team, a team that never cedes possession or somewhere in between, there can but only be 3 results in a game of football, a win, a draw or a loss. G Rohr’s tactics or lack of thereof has brought more of the 1st 2 (even at crucial times too) than the latter and that I am more than willing to amplify, rather than his flaws which some have made their personal problems.
Constructive criticisms are highly important and welcomed, but the ones that do not make any sense will require clarification. While the one that comes with insults to the man or his family will also be meted out to the donor in equal measure. Quite ironically, those that find it easy to throw insults at this man, because he is not there to defend himself will run rabied if one, just one, word of insult is directed at them….isnt that hilarious…?
A man cannot be dumb, clueless, stupid, a bastard or useless, yet we keep climbing up the ladder in terms of ability, strength, performance, appeal and global ratings. It just doesn’t add up.
Something right must be happening somewhere. That I wish to amplify and focus on, not the negatives.
By the way….Bringing on Onuachu for Osimhen in that friendly was in no way a blunder….Osimhen had shown what he can do, Onuachu also deserved his chance…if he fluffed it in the process, you cant hold the coach responsible. His job was to push the Brazilian back line backwards while holding up play as a pressure relief outlet for us, while the midfield gets take a breather, settle in and get their mojo back, but the dude couldn’t even bring balls to feet under control. Yet, if this guy hadnt been featured, same critics will come here and say Osimhen was visibly tired and ineffective, yet he had Onuachu and Olayinka on the bench and couldn’t bring him on.
That said…..lets just enjoy what we have and not be like arsenal fans who cried #WengerOut only a few seasons ago, but now wish the old man hadn’t left. The management of United too would right now im sure would also wish the close to $500m they are paying as wages annualy at the moment has something to show for it, irrespective of how it is gotten.
Much respect to you too @ Mr Hush.
Who be dis? You don chop? I think you dey hungry,go get food and seat down for one corner…….olodo. wetin you sabi for football? Come here with 10 megabytes to run your mouth.yeyenatu.
It is absolutely human to be a descent person. I was disappointed at footballfanatic calling another Nigerian an animal, irrespective of the forum and extent of the abuse meted on you, please show maturity to shame and silence such person. Thanks. I concur with earlier comment that Rohr should cease to call SE young Team, invariably it reduces Nigerians confidence in the team,hitherto lower SE morale and integrity. I hope Rohr will fine tune the team to boost players morale and confidence. I cherish Ndidi, Etebo and Aribo midfield combination, meanwhile Etebo needs to step up his game.
Thanks. This is a forum whose overall goal is to contribute to strengthening the SuperEagles. Have forumites forgotten this? Nigerians behave like cats (les CHATS). Is it possible to control even five cats in a room without CHAINING them? Okay, forget my lapsing into serious talk: ever wondered why in civil societies there are always odd number of judges in appeal courts? Judges frequently interpret the laws differently and disagree. In a civil way. Here we interpret soccer differently, and abuse each other. How uncouth!
Calling our team a young team is just stating the fact and obvious. It is not wrong in my opinion because it is true. A team were the Average age of the 21 players in camp is 23.5 and that team is not an Age grade team but a Senior National team is a Young Team. Which makes it very exciting because it shows the boys can improve with more experience and exposure. It also shows the future is really bright considering how they played with a more illustrious team like the Brazilian National team. When you tell a young Sports man who is doing well for his age that he is young you are not reducing his confidence but you are rather praising him because if he can do so much at a young age then it means he can do better at his prime. So the coach is not wrong to me.
I don’t think is wrong to call our team a young team. Even commentator said the oldest player in that team that day was 26yrs. We should stop finding fault unnecessarily. The team is playing well and will should give honor to whom it is due. Rohr has done well with his young team period
@Adeyinka, I agreed with mostly what you wrote. But I disagreed with you on Etebo. Currently Etebo is our best box to box midfielder. He Was our best midfielder in Russia and last afcon. Ndidi and Iwobi needs to step up their games especially Iwobi.I don’t think Iwobi is a 90minutes player, he should be the one coming from the bench. hopefully Rohr would invite Ejike soon. The arrival of Ejike will finally put the G in our unit.
Dr Drey,Dr Drey….how many times did I call u? Listen good bro YOU ARE MY MAN ANY TIME ANY DAY, not because u speak my mind,but the way u say it u have a way with words.@ Hush Dr Dreys comment is not in reference to forumnites like u.You have applied lots of caution in ur comment so far.So comments like that of Drey is not for reasonable men like u.On the contrary it is for people who will never see anything good in the team and the coach.Omo9ja and his cohorts falls in that category of those who don’t see anything good in the team and the coach.
Sir,there is a difference between criticism and condemnation.@Hush u just criticised the team and we all accept it cos we know the team and the coach are not perfect and they are work in progress.But i have listened to Omogja insult the coach- “that coach no tactics, no sense, no formation late sub, I have said this coach has nothing to offer but the NFF corruption has kept him there”.do u call that criticism? That is condemnation.Why on earth will u regard to a coach who has built a team with purpose and vigour as inept,do u know what ineptitude means?this is a coach who was in the technical department of the German FA before we hired him,u know what that means.Since he took over you could see steady and significant improvement in our team with players that will last us the next 10 to 15 years every thing being equal,yet u call him inept.
DANNY Alves,acknowledged the tactical prowess of this coach when he said after the match that Our team made it difficult for them to play cos of our organisation.He went further to say he could not join the attack as much as he wanted cos he had a man on him(that is tactics ) the coach knowing well that we might not match the Bazilian team man for man resulted to counter attacking game yet preventing their full backs Alves inclusive from moving forward which could have put more pressure on the defence.That method worked and Alves confessed to same.
A CO forumite stated here that he was in the stance live and was with two English who wished our team was theirs.How else can u show tactical prowess after u kept the Almighty Brazil at bay.Some of the so called tactically sound coaches clamoured for by the inept Omogja was in charge when Brazil beat us black and blue in our back yard in 2003 with a young Ronaldiho dazling.With less fancied players and team we are holding Brazil today.
Criticism is good,it helps us to test new things but condemnation will destroy us and keep us perpetually in darkness, the reason our Government is not moving forward cos if ur tribes man or a man after ur heart is not in power u can’t support him no matter how good he’s.Am sure Omogja,and I state this with every sense of responsibility represent the enemies of the coach and the team whose only mission is to use discouraging words to distabilise the team the same people who have used devilish words to send Victor Moses, Igalo and even Mikel away.But he will not succeed cos we are not looking back.Forward ever and backward never.
the coach against Brazil and Ukraine fielded a strong Team And applied the right tactics. we all saw on super sport dstv what Ukraine did to Portugal. against Brazil we got a good result because of the organization in the defence and the fact that the coach employed pacy wingers such as chuwueze and Simon .we should support rhor and assist him. all he needs is constructive criticism and not condemnation.
@Dr Drey
And @Asoko Emmanuel
Appreciation to both of your responses.
Your points are fully acknowledged and well respected.
Even if we sit on different side of the divide, it is clear we all have the same goals; to share viable knowledge, criticise when necessary, entertain and as well, learn.
I sincerely hope we continue to do such as we enjoy sports and make meaningful impact on this forum, which I hope can go a long way in improving our capacity in knowledge and on the long run,find a way to improve the Nigeria sporting environment; if anyway the ‘powers that be’ read our writeups.
Much respect once againto both of you..
And much respect to all forumites…
Congratulations to Mr. Rohr for discovering a world class midfielder (Aribo) for the super eagles. The new goalkeeper Okoye is a new asset to the team. Our super eagles is growing from strength to strength. Is only a blind man will say you are not trying for Nigeria. You took us from zero level to this level. We are now regarded as one of the best team in Africa. We are even stronger than Senegal according to the Brazilian coach. All you need from Nigerians are full support and you need a good assistance coach.
super eagles can dominate any team with this my deadly formation of 3.5.2. Formation. I thing iwobi and osihmen should stand as 8 and 9. Iwobi will be more deadly as supporting striker. I will pick three solid tall defenders ndidi balogun and ajayi. Etebo will be in front of them then aribo and azeez in front of etebo. The both kalu will play as wing backs left and rights then iwobi and osihmen as 2 strikers. This will be a verry strong team to beat if rohr try this format
Super eagles is on the rise again thanks to Gernot Rohr. It’s only those blinded by hate and sentiment will discredit the German for the success the team have achieved since he took charge.
The days of having a quota in the team just to accomodate local based capenters sorry I mean players in the team is gone while players in general are invited by merit.
The team is made up of a good mixture of kids born abroad and those from the home front with an avarage age of 24 which implies that this current team will play together for a long time and I forsee them achieving alot of success during this period.
Rohr have imbibed this belief that you have to a top performer in your club to get a chance in his team which spurs the players to work hard in their respective clubs. The German is not also shy of dropping any of his trusted players who is out of form in favor a rookie doing great in his club.
With the likely inclusion of the likes of Ademola lookman, ebere eze, chidera Ejike, Felix Uduokhai, David Okereke, Kingsley Ehizibue, Ovie Ejaria just to mention a few the team will only get stronger and better with a rich depth of talented players.
Rohr have built a team that will go all the way to conquer Africa and stand among the best in the world in the future.
Abeg when is the next match please oo
Thanks