Tougher days ahead for Brown Ideye.

Super Eagles of Nigeria International and Dynamo Kiev of Ukraine striker, Brown Ideye appears to be finding life tough at the very start of the 2013/14 Ukrainian season which is barely 2 weeks old.
Before the commencement of the new season, Kiev splashed out on few new signings including Dutchman Jeremain Lens form PSV, Younes Belhanda of Morocco and the Congolese
striker Dieumerci Mbokani from Anderlecht FC of Belgium. It is the arrival of the Congolese player that has since see Brown, who was a super regular as well as the club's highest goal scorer last season, starting both matches played so far by the club from the bench.

In the opening match of the season played at home to Volyn on 14th July, Mbokani started ahead of Brown and played the whole 90 minutes. Infact, he scored the teams only goal in the 1-1 draw against their lowly opposition in a match they were expected to win convincingly. Despite not being able to break the resilience of their opposition's defence line, Ideye was only asked to warm up around the 75th minute and he still ended up as an unused substitute. This was viewed by many as a surprise considering he has been the club's leading scorer in the last 2 seasons. Interestingly, fellow Nigerian player Haruna Lukman who seemed to have lost his way around few seasons back appears to be finding his form again under manager Oleg Blokhin. Haruna started the match and played for 67 minutes.

Six days later on 20th July in one of the week 2 matches played away to Horvela, again Mbokani got the nod ahead of Brown. The match ended 2-1 in favour of Dynamo Kiev and no prize for guessing who scored both Kiev goals, Dieumerci Mbokani. Ideye Brown was again an unused substitute for the match. His countryman, Lukman Haruna coninued where he left off in week one by starting the match and this time, he played the full 90 minutes.

This is not implying that Ideye's days are numbered or over in kiev but the fact is, he has a battle in his hands to win back his shirt from a player who seems to have grabbed the opportunity given him by his new manager. Ideye will no doubt get his chance to win back his place in the team but as long as this Congolese rival of his keep banging in the goals, then Ideye's chances becomes remote. Baring in mind that Mbokani scored 34 times in 53 matches for Anderlecht in his two seasons at the club.... a goal ratio which cannot be sniffed at. One other point to note is the Manager's preference for a single striker upfront supported by an advanced mid-field player rather than playing two strikers with identical features.

This could either be the rude awakening Ideye brown needs to work harder on his goal scoring returns or allow himself to be frustrated by the lack of playing time and end up seeking a way out. With World Cup 2014 around the corner, this certainly isn't the best of times for the Nigerian player but then again, the season is still very young.