Queens Park Rangers v Stoke City

hoops
What were your impressions of the
Championship from your previous spell at this
level, when you played for Wigan back in 2020?
I’m not sure I got a proper taste of the league
because it was when we first went into lockdown
and obviously the games were not coming as
thick and fast as they are now! But I enjoyed it at
Wigan, if it hadn’t been for that bitter scenario
with administration I think it would have been a
really successful story for the club.
Given the competitive nature of this division,
how should we approach today’s game?
I think complacency is often your biggest enemy.
Swansea didn’t come off the back of a great run
when we played them and maybe we dropped our
standards, not massively but a little bit. We still had
enough opportunities to take away a point but it
showed you cannot afford to take any game lightly.
One thing I’ve learnt about English football is
that you have to earn the right to play, over and
over again. If you think you can take your foot off
the gas because of your last few performances,
you get found out very quickly. I don’t think that’s
something that will play a massive part in our
mentality as a group.
You’ve had plenty of success at club level
recently, but narrowly missing out on the World
Cup with Nigeria must have been a blow. Do
you still have ambitions to play in another major
international tournament?
It’s quite demanding – the travelling and
everything does take its toll, but at the same
time I really do enjoy playing at international
level. I’ve been part of the team for eight years
and probably in my mind I thought I’d play in
another World Cup and then clear the way for
younger players. The way we went out, though…
you can’t finish on a low. There’s another
AFCON coming up soon and I’m going to try
and be there if I can. I’m definitely not done with
international football.
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