Watford defender William Troost-Ekong has returned to full training ahead of Saturday’s trip to champions Manchester City.
The Nigeria international missed the Hornets 2-1 defeat to Brentford last weekend due to a siight hamstring strain.
Troost-Ekong has not make an appearance for the London club since the 1-0 loss to Tottenham Hotspur at Vicarage Road on New Year’s Day.
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The 28-year-old has made 16 league appearances for Watford this season.
His compatriot Samuel Kalu will however play no part in the game due to a knee Injury.
The winger, who linked up with Watford from Ligue 1 outfit Girondis Bordeaux in January has made just two league appearances for the club.
The other Nigerians at the club Emmanuel.Dennis and Oghenekaro Etebo are in contention to face the Citizens.
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COMMENTS
The reason why he is not playing is not injury related. He is simply considered not good enough to start and this is all the SE can get as a captain.
The team needs to be re-evaluated and re-jig. The most important player in the team, the one with experience and leadership traits not bloggers should lead the new team.
Ndidi & Balogun!!
Well said, Abdul.
Some people just can’t stand Ekong, for whatever reason. Yet, this guy has done quite well for Nigeria.
Imagine the courage it took for him to step up and convert that penalty against Ghana, knowing that if he had failed, the vultures would have descended on him.
The guy is no Van Dijk or Koulibaly. But guess what, if we name Nigeria’s best 5 center backs at the moment, the name EKONG will surface. So for me, until we can find better center backs, we have no choice but to continue to use the best we have.
It is okay to insist on bench warmers to start marches ahead of regulars and defeat competitions. May be Ekong should continue warming the bench and leading SE, the outcome will tell.
But the fact is that our AFCON gold medals are won with top and highly influential players leading the team.
Baba go and rest
You saying rubbish he still our second best the defender after Balogun
What difference does it make that he is not playing at Watford dey are still concede Goal even more
He is better than them he should go to another club
He was part of the team that brought them to the Premier league
Did you even watch him at Udinese
You come here and be opening your mouth to insult players
Can you do better than him
First of all let Nigeria have a Good Standard coach that will let the team have a good chemistry and attractive playing style where we play like a team and you see how Good dey are
Look at Afcon for Instance dey were playing as team communication was okay and see how we started seeing the best of them all
Until something happened which I blame the coach for it not the players
Cause Nigeria vs Egypt was…..
Whilst it is true Ekong gives his all when playing for the SE but the question is, is his best good enough? Quite frankly, i do not think so.
The problem with us Nigerians is that we are too sentimental with our decision making. If you check the goal keeping department, it is the same sentiments. “Maduka is playing for a european club and as such should be our number one”, bla ,..bla…bla. We are always afraid to try new hands. Another opportunity has presented itself for us to try new hands, we would see if we blow it again.
Ekong is not playing, from a sports science perspective, this should be a source of concern for the country but for most of our fans, we are a different breed. Fans would wish their way to the trophy, unfortunately it does not work like that. There is no short cut to success, success is intentional!
Countries who have dominated football over the years seldom start players who are have not been playing actively but for us, we expect our bench warmers to win tournaments when they have been inactive for months. Unfortunately, judging by some fan’s comments, we still haven’t learnt a single thing. We haven’t paused to ask why do we keep falling short? The truth is the players, technical crew and NFF are not the only ones to be blamed for our current failures in football but the Fans have to take a huge chunk of it too.
Believe it or not, some fans are still brandishing names like “Ighalo”, “Musa”, “Balogun” even after back to back disappointments. We were made to believe that their experience would take us to the promised land but alas! Nigeria would not be participating. I still think Ekong is still relevant to the team but a player who is not playing for his club at all should not be starting for the SE.
This upcoming friendly should be used to work on positions in the team that requires improvement. The goal keeping, and attacking midfield are key positions that require urgent help. I want to see goal keepers like Adebayo Adeleye, let us sound out Arthur Okonkwo, afelokhai (Was in goal against Mexico and despite conceding 4 goals, i saw something there) should get a look in. We need to do things differently else we would be deemed to be insane. We have tried Uzoho and Maduka and both have not covered themselves in glory.
In attacking midfield, the friendly presents an opportunity to try new players. Let us see Amoo, tosin kehinde. We need more auditions for the attacking midfield role and we need to find a solution. We can not have one of the best young strikers in Europe and be struggling to beat a ramshackle Ghanian team. We the array of attacking talent we have in the team, we should be blowing teams in africa away comfortably.
Finally, it is time to arrange a befitting send forth for Musa, Ighalo and Balogun.
Golden Child,
It’s about playing your best players, wherever they may be found.
That’s a huge advantage of having a quality coach. A quality coach can wake up from sleep and identify his best players. He knows them like the back of his hand.
Before the 1982 world cup, Paolo Rossi was jailed in Italy for his involvement in the Totonero scandal. This was a betting syndicate that tampered with results of series A and B matches.
Rossi was jailed, and banned from football for 3 years.
Following an appeal, the ban was reduced to 2 years.
In spite of Rossi’s situation, the then Italy coach Enzo Bearzot included him in his final squad to the 1982 world cup, to the consternation of many.
Yet, Rossi had a great tournament, scoring 6 goals that helped Italy win the world cup. He also emerged as the winner of the Golden Ball and Golden Boot awards. To cap it all, he won the Ballon D’or award for that year.
Why did Bearzot take Rossi to the world cup in 1982, even though he wasn’t kicking oranges, talk less playing football? How did Bearzot know that his faith in Rossi would be repaid? What gave him the courage to take what many observers considered to be a reckless gamble?
The answer is very simple.
BEARZOT BELIEVED THAT ROSSI WAS THE BEST FORWARD HE COULD FIND.
He not only believed it, he knew it to be a fact, having watched him thoroughly in the past. As a good coach, he had an extensive knowledge of his players, Rossi included.
He had already played Italy’s matches IN HIS MIND, over and over again, and Rossi was a big part of his game plan. So as far as Bearzot was concerned, Rossi had to go to the world cup.
Even if Ekong starts selling Agege bread on the streets of Watford, if he is one of the best we have, then he has to be in the team.
Go ahead and make a list of the top 5 active Nigerian center backs. If Ekong is not in that list, then we can begin to question his continued invitation to the SE.
Unless a player is dead, or unwilling to play for the SE, IF HE IS CLEARLY ONE OF OUR BEST IN HIS POSITION, HIS PLACE IN THE TEAM AWAITS HIM.
Thank you bro
You understand football
All this players if you wanna see their best Get a standard coach that they will believe in
That has Good record
Look at IWOBI at Everton now he is playing fabulously well under lampard in the position he always wanted No 10
There is room for improvement I’m sure he will improve we all know he has killer pass in him and he needs motivation
We should collect a Good Coach of Good standard that will Groom the likes of Lookman and the rest
And To me no more interference of NFF in Super Eagles
How many times does English FA interfere in Southgate matter leave him he is incharge let him do his job
I personally don’t want posero or wat did dey call him
Valverde is my pick cause
I believe his style of play should be like dat of Spain Good football and the players should be able to respect him
And I think he should be able to teach our own pple one or two things of how football is being run
Why do you guys reason like this super eagles is not a testing ground for anyone if you are good prove it at your club why turn super eagles to advertising ground
Ekong is not good to your standard see and he helped you to qualify for World cup 2018
Whether you like it or not
Maduka okoye is currently our Best keeper go and check his games with his club I’m sure u don’t know the name of his club.
The Goal we conceded against Tunisia is team mistake stop looking for excuses
@Pompei, whilst I appreciate your submission using Paolo Rossi as an example but i believe he (Rossi) is an exception to rule. A good coach can always make room for exceptional players but is Ekong truly exceptional? Rossi was inactive for non football reasons whilst Ekong is not playing because the coaches consider him not good enough, there is marked difference. We can not continue to do the same things that led to failure and expect a different outcome! the end result will be? You guessed right, FAILURE!
How long will we continue with this endless cycle of failure? The question i will ask is have we given others ample chance to lay claim for the center back position or do we just assume these players are the best? Olisa Ndah is rated highly in SA, have we given him enough opportunity? Awaziem has greatly improved but we only play him as right back or in a back three. How about trying Bassey in the center back position? These are players who play regularly for their clubs barring injury.
I agree with you that the best should play for the country but to arrive at the conclusion that a player is the best the country has, you must have done comparative analysis, comparing players side by side using videos of them playing in a SE shirt and not on assumptions. Ekong has played all the SE games(Friendlies inclusive) except for the games against cape verde in cape verde and the 2nd friendly against cameroon. We haven’t had the opportunity to assess other options or give them a run of games to properly assess their capacity. When Ndah played at the afcon, he showed promise, albeit at the right back position.
We really need to do things differently, our old ways has not been beneficial to us. Fans kept calling Maduka our best goalie but we did not get past the 2nd round at the afcon. Then it was Uzoho but again we could not qualify for the WC. We have been screaming out for some time for new options like Adeleye to be given a chance but it fell on deaf ears. Who knows what might have been if only the boy was given a chance. We should not be hasty in crowning a player the best without given others a fair chance.
Smiles
How come Ekong is not Good
Have you forgotten it’s after Afcon dey started benching him
Have you forgotten he is part of d so called oyinbo wall we clamoring have you forgotten that he is part of the reasons why Watford are in the premier league he even captained them in some match
Let be honest here Ekong is bigger than Watford he should go to a better team and I’m sure he will play now I’m not saying he should go Man City and rest but at least better team
Watford don’t know the root of their problem they are changing coach and the result is not changing
Which Defender is better than Ekong in that Watford squad
Don’t rubbish is career over sentiment
He is not a failure and you have no reason to pick him out for any blame he is Good period
Come on look at him at Udinese which Defender do you have that is better than him cause Watford have refused to use him you all clamouring he is not Good
Except Tosin Adara who is at Fulham (pray he choses Nigeria though) and Balogun we have no other Defender
Look at Aina very Talented and skillful player After Afcon also dey not using him why not say he shouldn’t be called
I repeat we need a Coach that will let dis players know dey are of high standard and dey need to be playing week In and out
All the player are Good
Funniest part you all are not mentioning why Musa is in that squad
We are meant to be taking our Best legs in each position
But for no reason Musa always part of the team how many Goals does he have this season what does his performance say at his club and we are done begging dead players if you retire bye bye don’t come back we are moving forward
@MD, there is no point engaging you. You just succeeded in contradicting yourself. You initially stated “Why do you guys reason like this super eagles is not a testing ground for anyone if you are good prove it at your club why turn super eagles to advertising ground”. Yet the same player you clamor for has been deemed not good enough by 2 EPL coaches with great resumes.
Hudgson was a former 3 lions coach whilst Raineri is an EPL winner with Leicester and also coached Chelsea.
Also, I never stated that Ekong is a failure, NEVER! I was referring to team as a collective unit (Inclusive of Administrators, Back Room Staff, Technical Crew and Players).
You also stated “Don’t rubbish is career over sentiment”. Again you are the one doing what you accused me of. “Have you forgotten it’s after Afcon dey started benching him
Have you forgotten he is part of d so called oyinbo wall we clamoring have you forgotten that he is part of the reasons why Watford are in the premier league he even captained them in some match”. The above responses from you amplifies your sentimental views because none of them addresses the players current form.
This is why Fans like you are dangerous to the growth of the SE because your submissions are soiled with sentiments. I have nothing against Ekong, I like him as a human being and have enjoyed his vlog of SE on youtube but i am more interested in the growth of the SE. I particularly have a problem with Fans who coronate players as the best when others have not been given same opportunity. Enroute to USA 94, Chidi Nwanu was very loquacious about his ability as the best Nigerian defender in europe. Captain Stephen Keshi , Okechukwu and Uche Okafor held sway at Tunisia 94 and were part of the team that lifted AFCON that same year but this is why I love Oyinbo people. If the coach had been a Nigerian coach, Nwanu would never smell the team because:
1. The team was recently successful and there was no reason to change a successful team.
2. It would mean pushing the illustrious SE captain in Stephen Keshi further down the pecking order.
However, Oyinbo is ever progressive and always looking for ways to strengthen and improve. He called Nwanu and Keshi was permanently on the bench. Not only did Nwanu make the team but he was deemed good enough to start most of the games at that tourney and boy! did he give a good account of himself. I am sure there were fans like you who must insisted that Keshi must start all the games at the world cup but for Westerhof, it was all about improving the team and not what the player had achieved in the past.
Golden Child,
Like I mentioned before, if you can come up with a list of the top 5 Nigerian center backs currently active, and Ekong is not on that list, then I will consider agreeing with you that Ekong does not belong in the SE.
SE is no one’s birth right. If you’re not among the best, then you shouldn’t be there.
No serious and top national team is led by a bench warmer. As long as the SE continue preserving slots for inactive players, getting dumped out AFCON and losing winnable matches will continue.
Even the more reverred Balogun was dropped from the team due to lack of playing time at Brighton..
Imagine a National team captain being relegated to the bench in a relegation team and someone is comparing him with one of the best players in the world.
On current form, the SE central defence should be selected from Semi,Akpoguma, Balogun, Awaziem, Bassey, Ozonwafor.
When you have timid Eguzero as a coach and blogging Ekong as captain of a team, commitment from players and morale will be low.
The new gaffer should review the team and identify reliable and consistent players with leadership qualities. In my own estimation Ndidi and Balogun have demonstrated such qualities off and on the field.
Of course Balogun being a German breed, one would always expect that German attributes.
However, i’m really impressed with Ndidi. He is a top professional.His composure and ability to manage his success and growth is really amazing.. He is currently enrolled in a degree programe and combines academic with soccer career..
You don’t see him messing around and his presence is always felt on the field for club and country.
I’m not saying Ekong is not good but we need to allow competition in the team by inviting active and regular players to the team..
Currently, Akpo, Semi, Awaziem, Omeruo, Bassey, ndah, Ozonwafor should be considered for next invitation
With one side of his mouth, someone says Ekong does not deserve to be looked at for selection, because he’s a bench warmer at his club.
With the other side of his mouth, this same person says he’s not saying Ekong is not good.
Talk about STRADDLING THE FENCE.
Having 2 opposing opinions at the same time. COGNITIVE DISSONANCE.
Is Ekong good enough for the national team or not?
As I mentioned earlier, I don’t give a hoot who gets invited, as long as they are the best we have. If the coaches determine that Ekong is not needed, we move.
But if Ekong is one of the best we have, despite his been a regular benchwarmer for Watford, heck, he might even be selling Gala and popcorn on London streets as a side hustle. As long as he proves to be one of the best we have, we no get choice. Unless you want to play a defender that is worse than him, which is counterproductive.
That’s why we desperately need a quality coaching crew. LET THEM DECIDE.
Well said Brodaman.