One of the players i really wanted to see play yesterday was hope akpan.
Before yesterday,i had only watched him play once.
That was when reading were in the EPL 2 seasons ago.
It was a game against my club chelsea.
With chelsea leading 2-0(courtsey of goals from Lampard and mata),Akpan was brought on in the 75th minute.
And Immediately,akpan changed the game.
Reading came from behind late in that game to draw the match 2-2 with akpan providing the 2 assists for reading's goals(both scored by Le fondre).


IMO he is Not a spectacular player,has little or no soccer skills(just like most english/english-bred midfielders),
but he is a player that carries out his primary role of shielding the back four and breaking the opposition's play effectively.
He is similar to the mikel at chelsea(given that he hardly crosses the centre circle),but far more hard-working,a far better tackler and
a faster version.
I think he is the kind of DM we need.Someone who is content with sitting back and shielding the back four while giving the other 2 midfielders some freedom.He also has positional discipline.
Wish opta,whoscored or squawka covered the stats for yesterday's game to show how akpan was important.
He made a lot of interceptions(Close to 10) and also some good tackles.



Keshi's tactics has been below par in previous games,but i think he did really well yesterday.

Right from our pre-world cup friendlies,through the world cup till yesterday,our midfield had always been like a basket,i.e easily penatrable.
That was because of the Mikel-Onazi double pivot.
As we all know mikel at chelsea is different from the mikel in the nigerian team.
The mikel in the nigerian team tries to be more adventurous.
In the double pivot with onazi,
Onazi is meant to be the DM with Mikel the more advanced the deep-lying play maker.
That combo was bound to be a basket because Onazi in the 1st place isn't a DM.
Onazi is a hard-working box-to-box MF that likes to move with the action(he likes to be where the action is).
If the team is attacking he attacks,and if the team is defending he defends.
He hardly sits back to shield the defence.
Onazi also is a clumsy tackler and gets dribbled easily because of his positional indiscipline.

Mikel on the other hand is too pedestrian.
In the doube pivot,his responsibiliy isnt to shield the defence or do any dirty work,but
that of a DLP,similar to Pirlo's role at Juve/Italy.
But with mikel in the double pivot,it always seemed like we were playing short of one player,because he carried out neither his primary nor secondary responsibility effectively.
That combination was always bound to fail because it leaves the MF easily penetrable.

But yesterday with the Akpan-Raheem Lawal double pivot our midfield looked more solid.
Because it was a combo of a natural/simple DM and a box-to-box MF.Both are hardworking and they complemented each other very well,unlike the Mikel-Onazi pivot where one is lazy and the other hard working.

When raheem lawal was subbed out our midfield was less solid,which allowed the sudanese to press constantly.
That was because,Akpan was now left alone to do the dirty work with nobody really assisting him,Mikel and Aluko playing more advanced(though mikel came back at times to assist).

I really think our midfield constantly need a midfielder like akpan.
An Akpan-Onazi combo would even be better.

We should operate a diamond midfield where 3 midfielders rotate amongst themselves..hope akpan reminds me of sani kaita..haruna lukman should be recalled lets see what he can offer..nyc analysis @op,tanx for sharing