₦airaland Forum

TheSuperNerd:
This is true especially for the second half but we still had problem checking how they steamrolled through the middle anytime they went forward especially in the first half.

We did recover ourselves in the middle game after half time but Bassey (playing LB) made more recoveries than both midfielders that day. Aribo did his best in duels winning 8 (Iwobi won 7) but the MF vs Ecuador cried for a genuine ball winner who is also a decent passer to complement the Deeplying playmaking of Iwobi.

When Ndidi returns and we have to maintain the 442, my two CM picks would be Ndidi and Iwobi. Yes, Iwobi over Aribo based on his ability to dictate from deep which is something Aribo cannot offer. The ease with which Iwobi switched plays, controlled our sequence of plays and created huge chances through the middle reveal this.


Aribo may need to take a rest in a 2man Midfield if Ndidi returns and Iwobi keeps up this rejuvenated form unless Peseiro moves to a 3 man midfield which will accommodate all 3 with Iwobi playing deeper as the DLP/CM-playmaker and Aribo doing his thing further forward, close to the box and ofcos with Ndidi being Ndidi.




Note:
This analysis is based on Iwobi's obvious post-afcon transformation into a surebet in the deep, CM roles.

Don't forget I strongly criticised his Afcon performance which was truly shambolic but post afcon, the lad is reborn.

His evolution since he returned to Everton under Lampard saw a marked difference between the Iwobi who played under Benitez and the one who did so under Lampard.

On twitter, I compared both times and his transformation is remarkable. His workrate too has gotten better.

It's amazing how I have been crying out for a deeplying creative outlet through the middle and had eyes only for Nwakali and Alhassan because they are through and through bonafide CM operators with a creative conducting brain for middle game plays and also because it seemed Iwobi wasn't gonna be played any deeper, anytime soon even though when he has in times past at Arsenal showed good potential there. Iwobi was on my list of options to be tried deeper but not at the fore front because of how coaches kept using him at Everton until Lampard came.

Right now... Iwobi is the guy I wanna see manning that Deeplying CM role... conducting plays and running the show. He is in such good form and high on confidence that any other DLP/CM option will only be welcome to play backup from the bench right now.

AndSunGorilla:
My brother na so me sef reason am jare. Bet make we dey sidon dey look with the hope that this coach succeeds with whatever formation he wants to use. But then from his friendly games, I think he is quick to tweak his formation if it's not working.

yinkeys:
I agree but praising Ejaria & Yusuf
Don’t know much about their stats though
We had a Keshi though who was smart enough to give us an NPFL surprise package in the midfield named Mba. He stood out in our tough games against Burkina Faso & Ivory Coast


All foreign based, no home based invited that will play in African hot sun & bad probably bad pitch. It takes a longer time for foreign based people to acclimatize to our weather compared to home based.
I thought Ishaq Rafiu would be recalled to the team

Only Bonke is the natural DM there
Hopefully he doesn’t get injured
Too many forwards
They omitted Ejuke whose quicker than all the wingers we’ve got

Joebie:
our WC miss has not taught us a lesson. We go hear am for AFCON proper

Philosopher1979:
THE SAME MISTAKE AGAIN
WE REFUSE TO WORK ON OUR MIDFIELD
THIS TEAM IS BOUND FOR MEDIOCRITY
WHAT ABOUT NATURAL MIDFIELDERS LIKE OVIE EJARIA, ALHASSAN YUSUF ETC
I TELL YOU EXCEpT WE WORK ON OUR MIDFIELD WE WILL NOT ACHIEVE MUCH
AHMED MUSA HAS NOTHING TO OFFER
I AM NOT WATCHING NIGERIAS MATCHES AGAIN
OUR COACHES ARE DUMB
SINCE THE TIME OF WESTERHOOF WE HAVE NOT HAD ONE GOOD OR INTELLIGENT COACH
WE ARE CURSED WITH BAD COACHES
ETEBO IS HALF FIT AND INJURY pRONE
BONKE IS NOT INTELLIGENT AND IS ALL BRAWN WITH LITTLE BRAIN
IF WE CONTINUE LIKE THIS WE ARE NOT GOING ANYWHERE
WE CANNOT SpEND THE NEXT 4 YEARS HAVING A MEDIOCRE MIDFIELD
WE WILL NOT GO pASS THE QUATER FINAL OF THE NEXT NATIONS CUp
WITH THIS NONSENSE AND STUpIDITY

elyte89:
Rohr played very well too in his friendlies most especially in his early years on d job..so me no dey moved at all

Curtisaxel10:
Honestly, I think we should forget about scorelines at the moment and focus on gameplay. I saw a lot of positives in the game.

I commend Peseiro for trying to have the team pass the ball out from the back. Unlike the ballooning galore we had before. All we need now are decent technical CMs/DMs and the soup is ready .

Karlovych:
Simon has been a headless chicken in this game

Boomgist:
4-4-2 clearly isn't a favorable formation for the super eagles in recent times.
Let's assume this new coach is sticking to it because of scarcity of players, let's just assume.

As a fullback, playing down the wings shouldn't be much of a problem, most fullbacks were once forwards, the attacking mindset is there. He can contribute defensively too which be hasn't. I might be wrong though

cheche35:
My observations so far

The right side of the attack is completely non-existent.

Moses should learn how to play with his fullback(Bassey) makes him more unpredictable

Cyril Dessiers is a good player Technique wise
Awaziem has been poor offensively, perhaps due to the fact that the right winger has been missing.

Overall I love the fact that they are showing commitment.
Bassey is a good player.
Iwobi has really impressed me too.

AndSunGorilla:
I can't understand why no one us providing the updates.

Ok guys, break time is over, provide camp updates now asap!!!
1) Any new additions to the team for the Ecuador game?
2) is Aina there?
3) why haven't we heard anything about Alhassan?

And while you are at it, make it quick!!!!







Na joke o, if u get update, abeg yarn us now

charlesemeka85:
I think we hv good DMs in ndidi,bonke,Onyeka and upcoming onyedika. Also I believe with time Lesley ugochukwu will rescind his decision and play for us

The cb position is my biggest worry and it’s high time the likes trio of omeruo,ekong and balogun are allowed to concentrate on their club careers

Celtic’s osaze,ozonwafor, elche’s new boy,akpoguma and ndah should be given more chance to stake a claim in the cb positions. Bassey already na untouchable and also it won’t be bad approaching torunarigha again

drDoom3:
Takeaways:

Dessers is good. He should get more chances.

In that team today, only Aribo, Iwobi, Ajayi, Bassey, Awaziem, Dessers and Uzoho should be playing matches for Nigeria. The rest are not good enough to even get invited if we are looking to build a world beating team.

Simon's decision making is so abysmal, I don't know how a player that loses the ball with every two touches should be playing international football for Nigeria.

Ekong, business as usual.

Bassey is a baller on the ball. Off it there is a lot to be improved, especially with positioning. You can already see the TAA traits in his crossing and dribbling. Also, he is not as fast as he thinks he is, if he didn't learn that against Ghana he sure did today. Pace will not cover for poor positioning, and I hope he realizes that.

Moffi has a long long way to go. I was surprised not to see Awoniyi invited, he would have done much better.

The home based showed why they were home based. The Faisal guy (no. 7) tried though, although it is nigh impossible to play worse than what Bonke displayed today.

Peseiro has Rohr genes. Defend as long as you are not losing. We could have done much more if we started the first half the way we started the second half.

TheLoneCitizen:
What are you saying, brother?

This is now a 4-4-2. First half was 3-5-2.

TheLoneCitizen:
2-1.

But all we needed were wingers. Game on.

Danielnino00:
Ekong... smh

yinkeys:
Link pls

Cocking:
Unless he twerk his formation in the second half, the formation is too defensive for me, zero shot on target for the super eagles, haba mana, we're not playing Brasil for goodness sake

labas370:
Rohr knows how to play this 3-5-2 than this new coach. I don't want to give an any excuses but this pitch is not it.

Pidginwhisper:
One funny thing about our goalkeeping department is that since Enyeama left, we’ve had pretender upon pretender manning our goalpost.

They’d perform extremely well on their debuts and flatter us, we go be like “ Omo na goalkeeper be this, he should be starting” blablabla, but for subsequent matches yansh go begin to open, unto the the next one.

We never get goalkeeper yet, the last goalkeeper we had was Enyeama.

charlesemeka85:
na fools go always make u believe that they re not good enough

BascoVanVeli:
Finidi has done a good enough job for his first season IMO. The team is hard to breakdown and they are also attack heavy. Funny thing is that he lost so many points due to mistakes made by Ojo Olorunleke and look who made the list

Salisu should worry about Kano Pillars not getting relegated. I wouldn't give him any job just because of their performance

komekn:
Nobody said Tega Abraham is world class, nobody even said he has the potential to be world class.

Nobody said he was a singular yardstick for being World class.

But your prejudice against him and your favouritism for Victor has befuddled your sense of reason.

Can you please tell us specifically where Tega Abraham AVERAGE STRIKER needs schooling ❓.

komekn:
Nobody said Tega Abraham is world class, nobody even said he has the potential to be world class.

Nobody said he was a singular yardstick for being World class.

But your prejudice against him and your favouritism for Victor has befuddled your sense of reason.

Can you please tell us specifically where Tega Abraham AVERAGE STRIKER needs schooling ❓. Bros I don't have any favour or prejudice against any player. I also criticise osimhen here on areas to improve. Just stop using Tammy as example here. He needs to learn a lot too and you know that. you can revisit your write ups anyway. Probably your sense must have been befuddled by higher grade of favoritism for Tammy and prejudice for osimhen.

BannedLarge:
I agree that, they’re both upcoming talented strikers that has the potential to become world class. I just disagree with the way Nigerians talk down on other people strikers

BannedLarge:
Yes, he does o. This season and overall as a footballer. You guys don’t realize that Tammy Abraham has over 100 career goals so far

BannedLarge:
Average player that has more goals than a world class player this season and overall as a player. If Tammy is average, osimehn is ……