With the appointment of the new United manager, his credibility has already come under criticism even before he started. Today the hosts discuss this new appointment and if this is the rise of a new direction for Manchester United, after a long spell of decline in performance and trophies in the last 5 years, and since the SAF era.
Naz and Seyi are of the opinion that the arrival of ETH would bring about good change for United in terms of style of play, team direction, and squad improvement. While Mayieve is still in doubt of his abilities to improve Manchester United.
Remember that player who had so much potential he was fit to play as a striker for one of the biggest clubs in England? We are talking about Timo Werner and what really went wrong, and why he has been struggling so much at Chelsea, could it be as a result of being mispositioned? A mental state of mind, or a case of him not being used to the style of play in England, since he has played in Germany all his life.
His stats from his playing time with the German teams and his stats in Chelsea are totally different.
Listen to the opinions of the hosts and you be the judge of this.
And Osimhen wanted to leave the super eagles as he was called names and bullied and felt picked on by Amunike.
For him, he thought the process of becoming a footballer was a rosy one, but he soon realized he needed to increase his level of work and output to be the best In his field.
Even when he scored goals, his coach still criticized him for the way he scored the goal. Listen to this story of the man called Osimhim and find out what makes him special.
Remember the time when footballers were all about the game, winning trophies and scoring goals? Well, now football has evolved beyond that with the rise of Social Media. Now most players have created a brand for themselves out of football, either in fashion, entertainment or lifestyle. While some people would argue that the decline in a player's performance is a result of their flashy and crazy lifestyle, others argue it has nothing to do with it.
Today the hosts look at a few players and compare if truly their lifestyles have any impact on their performances, players like Cristiano Ronaldo, Neymar, Pogba, Obafemi Martins, etc. While some people's lifestyle is what gets their results on the pitch, others have been in weird situations as a result of that.
Listen to today's episode and you be the judge of that.
As the season is almost coming to an end, it looks like we can already determine who would be the champion in their individual leagues, while for others it is a case of "you snooze, you lose" the podcast hosts discuss the race to the final this season, and who they think would come out on top.
Fan loyalty is a very important attribute when supporting a club/team because there are seasons when your club can be dragged down from the top, last season we have seen a couple of big clubs in football lose their charm, clubs like Manchester United, Barcelona and Arsenal just to mention a few. Today the podcast hosts discuss fan loyalty and if fans should stick to their clubs in times when things aren't looking so bright?
For years, the conversation around who is the best dribbler of all time, The Ballgecko Podcast host list and rank their best dribblers of all time, and as usual Mayowa and Naz didn't really see eye to eye, it is always expected that these hosts would always have a back and forth when it comes to their favs.
How many times have you seen a piece of news about your favorite footballer only to realize it was false? We asked the crew of the Ballgecko podcast and the unanimous answer was “too many times”. In this age where anyone can spring up with fake news and false narratives, we discuss the effects this has on players and who should be held accountable and who can best help change the negative-heavy style of football news content currently circulating.
In the future, awards may be all footballers have to show for their time in the game. Especially to people who never saw them play. But what will that mean for one of Nigeria’s best-ever players who has never won the African Player of the Year award?
Why did he never win one? Was he unjustly denied in any year or were there simply better players in the years he could have won it? Was he a victim of circumstance or did the choices he made during his career mean he was never well-positioned for the award?
How often do you come across a player who talks up his game as much as Zlatan Ibrahimovic? Not very often I suppose. But how many times does he back up his tough words with actions? Perhaps much less than you’d imagine. We check out the origins of Zlatan’s grandiose speeches and gestures and ask the important question. Is Zlatan Ibrahimovic really as good as he says?
On the World Cup Segment of the podcast, we discuss the disappointment of Nigeria missing out on a spot at the 2022 World Cup on home soil and point fingers at the biggest culprits of the failure in Abuja, including a certain Pep Guardiola enthusiast.
Join us as we analyze the 2nd leg between Nigeria vs Ghana, the hosts share their thoughts on what the team needs to do to avoid the mistakes made in the 1st leg. This game would prove how bad the Super Eagles want this, a victory against Ghana won't be so bad, don't you think?
The football season is about to come to an end and that means several managerial positions will invariably open up. We look at the managers who will be looking to fill the slots that open up. The biggest coaching names currently out of jobs will be looking to get back in the game as soon as possible. From Allardyce to Zidane, we check their profiles and see where they would best fit and who is most likely to end up where.
In the World Cup segment of the Podcast, we review the first leg of Ghana vs Nigeria tie and ask what went wrong for Nigeria and what went right for Ghana. We also discuss the repercussions of a 0-0 draw for both countries’ World Cup chances.
I start with myself in 2008 I went for a trial in Lagos Nigeria called FUTURE FOOTBALL in Sam Ethnan AirForce base and I saw corruption firsthand and gave up on ever playing football (Tell the Story). Being Old and Wiser now I know that it should not have been a reason for me to give up.
Online I stumbled on Nick Humphries from Train Effective who gave up everything he had and tried to become a professional football player. That's an outlandish dream in itself but Nick tried to accomplish becoming a professional football player in 100 days. He left his home in Australia, quit his well-paying job, left family and friends behind to pursue his dream of becoming a professional football player. He wanted to emulate the success of the likes of Jaime Vardy who also began his life as a professional football player at a relatively late period of his life. The goal was to get a professional contract in 100 days but while he might not have succeeded in becoming a professional football player in that short amount of time, the learnings he got along the way he hopes will aspire young football players to pursue their goals and achieve their dreams. He also sighted challenges like Politics and Ego and Corruption and people falsely collecting money from people in the promise of getting them trials and all, Let's not even get into how that is the norm here in Nigeria.
It's D-Day for Nigeria in Accra as they take on Ghana in the first leg of their final World Cup Qualifier. In a game in which the Super Eagles enter as favorites, we analyze the possible pitfalls they will face and their best chances of taking an important first-leg victory over the Black Stars.
We look at the life and injuries of Ronaldo De Lima and the guys make bold claims like “Ronaldo is the second-best Brazilian ever” and “his two-year injury layoff had its advantages”. There's a lot to agree and disagree on, so listen to the guys make their points for and against issues around his quality, consequences of his injuries, and how good he could have been.
We also discuss the World Cup qualifier between Nigeria and Ghana and talk about the players that we’re looking forward to seeing from Victor Osimhen to Odion Ighalo and give predictions for the tie.
For years, the conversation around who is the best striker of all time, The Ballgecko Podcast host list and rank their best strikers this season, and as usual Mayowa and Naz didn't really see eye to eye, when Naz brought up a certain Chelsea legend who he believes can't dust Mo Salah's boots.
Ghana vs Nigeria war has gone on for a long time, from Twitter wars to jollof rice wars, to creative wars, Team Nigeria has always edged out Ghana, except for when it comes to football, in the many times both teams have met, Ghana has always had an edge over Nigeria. Both countries face each other for their spot in the World Cup Qualifiers, Nigeria will have to put in more than just efforts if they want to have the bragging rights in this war. We analyze how we expect the game to turn out, those players to look out for, and if Nigeria should have most of their older players in the squad.
They have conquered football, stamped their names as The GOATs of the game. Today, the hosts take a look at the football journey of two of the finest ballers of all time, Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi, what would life be like after them and who are those young talents likely to succeed them. How long do they have left in football, and answer the question, are they both finished?
In the Nigerian Super Eagles' 73 year history, there have been major highs and lows for the national team. Three African Nations Cup trophies, six World Cup appearances, and a plethora of star players that represented the country and had stellar playing careers. We discuss who we think the best of the best among the many Super Eagles. From the one so good they named him twice to the goal-scoring goalkeeper who defied Lionel Messi. Listen and find our top five players for the Nigerian National team and see if we've selected a solid top five or left someone out.
When a French coach named Jean-Marc Guillou set up the MimoSifcom academy as part of the Asec Mimosa set up, his only intention was to get a steady stream of talented youngsters from Ivory Coast to European teams. To make a name for themselves and a few bucks for Guillou. His actions, however motivated, would eventually turn out to save a country on the brink of collapse from itself.
With civil war threatening to tear Cote D’Ivoire apart, it was the national team filled with the kids from Mimosifcom, with the mercurial Didier Drogba as their leader, who made perhaps the biggest impact on peace talks when they qualified for the World Cup and addressed the warring factions on the need for a ceasefire.
