texazzpete:

You're a dunce! We hired Siasia to be our senior team coach, at this stage I care nothing for what he achieved using overaged players.


Really?! Is this really what will be going through your mind when the other teams file out to play in Nations Cup next year? Are your expectations and indices of success so low?

The only shameful thing here is how imbecilic your questions are. If this is how you embrace mediocrity in real life, I truly pity you o!

People like you do not deserve any decent response. You belong to the zoo. Read this and after reading, list the coaches that you will like employed, their achievemts so far and your expectations of the coaches. I don't work with sentiments.


Nigeria's Samson Siasia Conundrum
Nigeria's Siasia Conundrum
Posted: 2011-10-21 17:39

‘Half the problems that people get into is the fact that they get rid of managers too soon. We would not make that mistake.’ - Sir Bobby Charlton on Alex Ferguson

Last November, the whole country stood as one to salute the appointment of Samson Siasia as Nigeria coach.

Well, almost.

Naturally there were a few who nursed silent rumblings, but even they grudgingly adopted a fence-sitting approach.

Siasia swept in with the populace high on hopes that he would be the man whose magic touch would bring a fresh revival to the fortunes of the senior national team after a labourious World Cup that left the nation with a bitter taste of bile, like a first-time drunk the morning after a wild binge.

Eleven months on, it all appears to have gone pear-shaped after the Super Eagles failed to qualify for the African Nations Cup.

A 2-2 home draw to Guinea ruined those hopes, and the man touted as Nigeria's football messiah has been left fighting for his national coaching life.

As many have pointed out endlessly, his minimum remit was to reach the African Nations Cup semifinal. Not to even qualify for the tournament has been pointed to as grounds for dismissal.

That might be correct, and the NFF would be well within their rights not to extend his contract, but the question that should be asked is this: has the team improved under Siasia? As an insider, my quick and honest answer to that would be a resounding ‘yes’.

Agreed the team failed to qualify for the Nations Cup, but a lot of work has gone into turning this team around, and it would be a shame to let all that work go to waste.

At the World Cup, the Super Eagles scored three goals in three games, drawing one and losing two games.

Under Siasia, the Super Eagles have played nine games, won five, drawn three and lost just once. In that time they scored 20 goals, letting in just nine. That would be an average of 2.2 goals per game.

Numbers aside, it would be in the intangibles that we can see what effect Siasia has had on the team.

The challenge, when the former striker came in, was two-fold. One was on-field, the other was off-field.

The first, on-field challenge, was to move the team away from the slow, laborious, and predictable play, to quicker ball movement, more efficient use of the wide players, and finding the forward quicker with more direct play.

To achieve that, Siasia changed the shape of the team from the 4-4-2 he met, to a more flexible 4-2-3-1.

The tactical strategy was for the team to press high and quick to deny the opponents time and space on the ball while controlling possession as much as possible.

Overall, the objective was to create more chances and score more goals by controlling possession through denying the opponents time and space.

A good illustration of this was when Joel Obi drifted out from central midfield to motor past Nicolas Otamendi and cross for Ike Uche to score Nigeria's first goal against Argentina in that 4-1 win in Abuja.

A barometer of how much this is working is the marked increase in the average chances per game created by the Super Eagles.

A rough estimate puts that figure at a minimum of between 5-8 clear chances per game. Which explains that average of 2.22 goals per game.

On the more intangible side, the players are moving the ball quicker, the wide players are more involved in the game, and the team as a whole are getting more comfortable with how they are expected to play.

More importantly, Siasia encourages the players to communicate more on the field and solve problems on their own rather than look to the bench at every opportunity.

During training, or in analysing opponents’ videos, players are presented with various scenarios and allowed to work out solutions on their own before the coach steps in. That has translated to players taking more responsibility on-field. Again, the effect has been on the numbers.

Naturally, some errors remain. But these kinks take a while to iron out and these Eagles are on the right track.

The second was in dealing with the lax attitude of players to national team duty. While they do get rewarded amply, more perhaps than almost every other national team on the continent for representing their country, it was a fact that Nigeria players did tend to treat the national team with some levity.

While attitude like that cannot be excused, it is sometimes understandable. Some of these players play for clubs where things are planned and organised in a way befitting of international stars, and come home to meet a situation that doesn’t quite meet up to those expectations.
Siasia set himself a personal task of ensuring players treat the national team, and each other, with respect.

That meant reporting to camp on deadline, being present and punctual to all team gatherings, and respect for officials.

He de-emphasized stardom and tried instead to elevate the team above the individual. His recurring mantra was that 'the team is the only star here'.

The so-called 'fall-outs' with members of his squad were simple cases of keeping those boundaries well policed.

In doing so, Siasia also tried to protect the players. All of those incidents were usually brought to the public not by Siasia, but by others.

He always insisted on keeping things in-house, and spoke only when the issues became public knowledge. A remarkable sense of self restraint for a man who enjoys jousting with the media at every turn.

In the days before the last game, the team had settled into an ordered rhythm. Players no longer reported late for meals or departure for training. In fact, most had started to come in around five minutes early, where in the past some would saunter in long after the others had left the dining area, for instance.

More impressively, players were taking it upon themselves to ensure that team mates respected set times. That was the kind of team that Samson Siasia was building for Nigeria.

There is a sound argument of those who want the coach sacked. But eight coaches in eight years have done little for the fortunes of our football.

Clemens Westerhof is always pointed to as the symbol of Nigeria's glory years, but he had five years, even after stumbling in the World Cup qualifiers in 1989 which, like Siasia, he picked up from someone else's start.

Allowing Siasia to continue would be the best possible solution for Nigeria at this time.

This Super Eagles team is seriously deficient in certain key personnel areas, and he is working hard, away from public glare, to fill in those gaps.

He has set up a scouting system in England wheer players of Nigerian descent will get together at regular intervals and play games.

Those who cut it will then be recommended to the youth team squads and monitored for the Super Eagles ahead of 2014 and beyond.

He has planned a training camp for local players to find the few who can fit into the squad in the long term.

He enjoys a superb working relationship with the federation, has built trust and respect with his squad, and is playing within a tactical system that allows his players the freedom to play the kind of football that leads to goals.

Siasia has made mistakes. Even he will admit it; scratch that, even he HAS admitted that! But he will learn from those mistakes, he IS learning from those mistakes.

Qualifiers for the 2013 African Nations Cup start in January. There are only two ties of four games to play to reach that tournament. Should we tear down a house that is halfway built to satisfy an urge, or should we give it at least one more year and see where it takes us?

Voters in our KickOffNigeria poll are 70-30% in favour of keeping him. That is surely a good sign.

In 1990, in Alex Ferguson's third year at Manchester United, fans unfurled a banner at Old Trafford which said "Three years of excuses and it's still crap, ta-ra Fergie."

A quarter of a century later, he enjoys legendary status after becoming the club's most successful manager.

Perhaps this is the time to show some faith in a coach who is clearly doing most of the right things.

In time, we may well look back at this time and be thankful we did.



Colin Udoh

Candid questions. If siasia had remained at heartland, would they have won f.a trophy? Why did siasia transform ocean boys into a relegation team? Why did siasia generously dashed away the wafu cup to togo? I need answers

kasiem:

Candid questions. If siasia had remained at heartland, would they have won f.a trophy? Why did siasia transform ocean boys into a relegation team? Why did siasia generously dashed away the wafu cup to togo? I need answers

Because no coach in the history of Soccer has won in every competition he has participated in. That is why it is sports- win some, lose some. In case you do not know, go and ask Imo state governemnt if Siasia transformed Heartland. It is absolute foolishness to expect a coach to win all the time. Please name any "super-human" coach in the world that has won with every club or country or competition he had coached. I need answers

ahidjo:

Because no coach in the history of Soccer has won in every competition he has participated in. That is why it is sports- win some, lose some. In case you do not know, go and ask Imo state governemnt if Siasia transformed Heartland. It is absolute foolishness to expect a coach to win all the time. Please name any "super-human" coach in the world that has won with every club or country or competition he had coached. I need answers

SHUT UP ALREADY, WHICH COMPETITION HAS SIASIA EVER WON AS A COACH? JUST NAME ONE YOU SILLY THING.

Ok, Siasia has been sacked already. That is a fair decision by the FA. If we sacked Philipe Troussier in 1997 for qualifying for the world cup (but Nigerians clamoured against the dull play of the Eagles), sacked Mr. Amodu twice for qualifying for 2 world cups and 2 nations cups and actually coming 3rd in both NC's in 2002 & 2010 loosing to Senegal (after extra time) and Ghana (1-0), which teams that later got to the Q/F of both world cups, sacked Eguavoen and the Chairman Chukwu for claiming bronze in respective NCs in 2004 and 2006, WHAT IN GOD'S NAME WILL BE THE EXCUSE FOR RETAINING SIASIA

After 5 years from now, you guys on nairaland will Love SIASIA, mark my words.

When it happens refer to this page dated 31/10/2011. Siasia got the skills but we are not patient as Nigerians, cheers.