Alex Iwobi had a weekend to forget, while fellow youngsters, Samuel Chukwueze and Kelechi Iheanacho, were restricted to just cameos in a poor weekend for the trio.
EiE followed their progress, and here is a scorecard of their performances, with other Europe based Super Eagles players also in view.
Iwobi’s Arsenal made a trip to the Etihad where they were hosted by champions, Manchester City, with the Nigerian handed a starting berth by his manager, Unai Emery.
However, with just few minutes into the game, Iwobi was dispossessed very close to his goal area, with Aymeric Laporte and Kun Aguero combining to great effect to punish the Gunners.
That mistake led to City’s opener. setting the tempo for the rest of the game, despite Laurent Koscielny leveling up for the Gunners minutes later.
The home side went on to add two more goals via Aguero before Iwobi was substituted on 66minutes and was replaced by Aaron Ramsey.
Elsewhere, Iheanacho played for just six minutes as Leicester City were narrowly defeated 0-1 by Manchester United at the King Power stadium.
His compatriot at the club, Wilfred Ndidi was his usual self, playing from start to finish in that encounter.
Still in England, it was Leon Balogun against Isaac Success as Brighton & Hove Albion welcomed Watford to the Amex Stadium.
That game ended goalless but without the Nigerian duo, who played no part in the game. Balogun sat on the bench for the duration of the match while Success was not listed at all.
In the Sky Bet Championship, Oghenekaro Etebo was the standout performer for his modest side, Stoke City, who were 2-0 losers at Hull City.
Etebo who was booked in that game featured for 90minutes, raking up 100% tackles and dribbles, in addition to two interceptions won and one chance created.
Super Eagles captain, John Obi Mikel, played his second game in the colours of Middlesbrough as they came from behind to beat West Bromwich Albion 3-2 away.
Mikel featured for 75minutes and won 50% of his tackles.
Now, we take a trip to Spain where the young sensation, Chukwueze, seems to be losing his place at Villarreal. He featured for just seven minutes as Villarreal gave up a two goal lead to draw 2-2 at home to Espanyol.
Moses Simon‘s Levante were held to a goalless draw at home by Getafe with Simon a spectator for 90minutes.
Francis Uzoho kept his first clean sheet since his move to Cypriot side, Anorthosis. They were 1-0 victors over Apollon with Uzoho in goal.
In Germany, Jamilu Collins was in top form as Paderborn destroyed their visitors Greuther Fruth 6-0 in the second division. He played from start to finish without creating a chance, but won two tackles and interceptions.
It was a weekend of draws for our Serie A based trio of William Troost-Ekong, Ola Aina and Joel Obi.
Troost-Ekong’s Udinese were held to a 1-1 draw by Fiorentina, while Aina’s Torino and Chievo Verona, where Obi plies his trade, also played out 2-2 and 0-0 draws with Spal and Empoli respectively.
Of the trio, only Obi tasted no action as he was not listed at all, while the rest saw 90minutes with Aina standing out tall with his five aerial duels won, and two interceptions.
For John Ogu and Hapoel Beer Sheva in Israel, it was another frustrating outing after a 1-1 draw with Maccabi Netanya. Ogu played the duration of the game.
Finally, in Turkey, Henry Onyekuru fired blanks in Galatasaray’s 1-1 draw at Alanyaspor despite playing from start to finish.
Chidozie Awaziem helped his new side Rizespor to three points and a clean sheet after a 1-0 victory at Erzurum. He was on from start to finish.
1 Comment
opadokun hafis February 5, 2019 at 10:42 am
nice keep it up