The Eagles are very slow in
transiting from defence to
attack.
Despite having flair players,
the Super Eagles were extremely slow in
building from the back. This enabled the
Tahiti midfield and defence to re-organise
and get their shape back which in the long
run constituted a problem in the first half.
Fegor Ogude who was saddled with the
responsibility of bringing the ball out of the
defence and releasing it to Mikel Obi didn't
stick to the principle, this has to be
addressed.
Mikel's role in the team now looks to be of
an offensive nature unlike the 'Makelele'
role carved out for him at Chelsea,
unfortunately he tends to dualise the roles
which left Ogude in a bit of quagmire,
which became an issue in the long run
because they were getting in each others
way. Their roles must be clearly interpreted
and hopefully the players can adapt
properly to it.
We are most effective playing from the
wings:
Probably the argument to how Nigeria
should play or what patter to adapt has
been put to rest, five of the goals that the
Super Eagles scored came from crosses or
penetration through the wings. from
Adokiye Amasiemaka Finidi George, we
depended on the wing play to provide the
goals or assists during our glory days.
This should be exploited to full effect. We
have pacy wingers in the tricky Nnamdi
Oduamadi who i must add here is not a
striker but a winger. Ahmed Musa's
crossing leaves a lot to be desired, but with
him running at defenders, the threat will
always be there. If we can create chances,
then we will get a couple of goals.
Ambrose Efe is not a right back:
The Celtic man is a fantastic defender as
he has proven time and time again. I have
been opportuned to have followed his
career from his early days in Kaduna. He is
physically a beast. He can play in the
defensive midfield position and is also
comfortable on the ball, but we will never
get the best out of him at the right back
position.
He was used there during our Nations Cup
triumph, but the jury is still out on wether
he is the solution to the problematic right
back position and his displays against
Tahiti didn't convince me much that he is
suitable playing from the right side of the
Super Eagles defence. Ambrose made
incursions into the Tahiti area but failed to
track the movement of the pacy Tahiti
front line.
Ahmed Musa had to cover that area time
and time again and even gave away the
corner for Tahiti's only goal of the game.
The Celtic man will serve us well in the
central defensive position better which
translates the Steven Keshi's search for a
traditional right back continues.
The team is taking shape.
Not the most impressive performance by a
Nigerian team by a mile, but I can see a
pattern gradually developing. There was a
bit of shape in the Eagles play and it looks
like they are beginning to understand each
other. Steven Keshi retained the same back
four for the third consecutive game.
Only Fegor Ogude was the only change
from the Namibia starter albeit because of
Ogenyi Onazi's injury. For a very long time
you couldn't envisage naming a starting
eleven, but now the reverse is the case. He
now has the core of the team. This can
only get better, and with an efficient
supporting cast, the team can grow and get
better.
The way the team is set out to play looks
promising too. A square back line of four
defenders transited with a four man
midfield with the fourth midfielder going a
bit forward to support the lone physically
imposing centre forward has worked well so
far.
The system is a dynamic one and it's easy
to change, it might look like 4-3-3 from the
onset but can be switched to a 4-5-1 or
even a 3-5-2 depending on the opponents.
This looks promising, and with the
imminent return of Victor Moses and
Emmanuel Emenike, the possibilities are
limitless.
Our attackers are a 'waste':
It was shocking watching how we lost
countless chances again and again after
doing the hard work by creating them.
Uruguay and Spain will be a different kettle
of fish. Everybody knows it will be difficult
to create chances against Spain, but you
need to take your chances when you get
them and take them well.
The Super Eagles were extremely poor in
the final third. We had about half a dozen
one on one situations which we fluffed.
Prior to the Tahiti game, we had scored just
once in virtually all our World Cup
qualifying games. The attackers were
wasteful against Namibia and it also
showed in the Tahiti game.
At this level you need to kill of your
chances and make sure you keep tight at
the back. Steven Keshi has to talk to the
attackers and find a way to stop their
profligacy in attack.
Goals win matches, If you don't score you
can't win, yes we hit six past Tahiti, but
with due respect to the Oceania
Champions, they are not Spain or Uruguay,
If we do the hard work of creating chances,
we need to finish them off.[color=#006600][/color]

It's match not march.

sKeetz: It's match not march.

sorry man. dictionary on! things