Some love for Alex Iwobi

[Bobsffc]

From reading some of the reports, it does seem that Alex Iwobi has been at the receiving end of a lot of unpleasant on-line abuse following Nigeria's defeat in the final of AFCON. Completely unjustified imho... from what I saw he played OK in a defensive role which is not his normal game.

I imagine it's been a pretty upsetting experience for him, to be cast as the villain responsible for his nation's defeat. An example of the (negative) power of social media, and a lot for any one individual to handle.

He's been great for us, and we've missed him in his absence. Just hope there isn't a hangover for him in terms of his confidence going ahead. I'm sure Marco and the coaching staff will do and say all the right things, but I also think we should show him from the stands how much he is appreciated when he plays for us.

[hovewhite]

Our support for Alex will be needed.

[General]

I wasn't sure if he did get any abuse in the end.. an interview surfaced online of him with the Nigerian sports minister about abuse online and having the support of Nigerian govt etc, but I thought he said he didn't see the abuse as he deleted most of his Instagram account, perhaps as a result of losing the final or before that I don't know. Got the impression though he was relatively blissfully unaware/unaffected.

That said though, of course support the guy.. as you mentioned, for the final, which they only just lost in fairness against the host nation, he was apparently playing a deeper midfield role for the team, not his natural position.

Comments I've seen online seem split, but there are a few that seem to appreciate his role in a Nigerian team that got to the final.

That being said, you have to take social media posts with a pinch of salt, most commentators are either immature intellectually or fundamentally young in age and on the more extreme spectrum of the emotional scale, if not a bot.

Twitter carries far too much weight these days in analysis of general life, when it's active usership is way down and the number of people who supposedly have accounts are still distinctly small when compared to the global population (and skewed heavily towards Western hemisphere countries, particularly the U.S).

[filham]

Sounds like he will be pleased to get home to the player friendly Cottage.

[H4usuallysitting]

I think we should boo him from the first minute

[Grassy Noel]

I think we should boo him from the first minute

Nah. As soon as the team is called out.

[jarv]

Glad he did not pick up an injury while away.

[H4usuallysitting]

I think we should boo him from the first minute

Nah. As soon as the team is called out.

As we enter the stadium....want to hear those boo's down the Fulham Palace Road

[Bobsffc]

Alex definitely getting a lot of focus on the uploaded video from Motspur Park...seems happy enough. Good to see him and Calvin back training. Be interesting to see if either makes the starting eleven. Suspect they'll both be on the bench

[Southcoastffc]

Alex definitely getting a lot of focus on the uploaded video from Motspur Park...seems happy enough. Good to see him and Calvin back training. Be interesting to see if either makes the starting eleven. Suspect they'll both be on the bench

As does Antonee Robinson's new haircut!!!

[Stoneleigh Loyalist]

He was played totally out of position due to the needs of the team. Not his fault that it did not suit him.

[peachcobbler]

This was Willian's words on his time back in Brazil. I went back to the video to find this as I remembered it and he looks like he hasn't aged a day since leaving Corinthians.

"The reasons for my leaving are the threats I suffered, especially my family. The threats never stopped. Whenever Corinthians lost and sometimes I wasn't doing well in the game, my family received threats and insults on social media. My wife, my daughters, after a while they also started attacking my father and my sister
When I returned to Brazil, I came back with a lot of desire to play for Corinthians , I knew the pressure, the pressure, the criticism I would receive, but I didn't come to Brazil to be threatened, to have my family threatened with every game I lost or if I didn't play a good game. That's the main reason. I know it's not all fans, I know it's the minority, but it ends up causing a huge impact and mental damage, especially on my daughters. Emotionally this affects a lot."

[Cambridge Away]

This was Willian's words on his time back in Brazil. I went back to the video to find this as I remembered it and he looks like he hasn't aged a day since leaving Corinthians.

"The reasons for my leaving are the threats I suffered, especially my family. The threats never stopped. Whenever Corinthians lost and sometimes I wasn't doing well in the game, my family received threats and insults on social media. My wife, my daughters, after a while they also started attacking my father and my sister
When I returned to Brazil, I came back with a lot of desire to play for Corinthians , I knew the pressure, the pressure, the criticism I would receive, but I didn't come to Brazil to be threatened, to have my family threatened with every game I lost or if I didn't play a good game. That's the main reason. I know it's not all fans, I know it's the minority, but it ends up causing a huge impact and mental damage, especially on my daughters. Emotionally this affects a lot."

I didn't know that, thanks

And i thought our online "minority" were bad