₦airaland Forum

I reiterate, that every player should be played in the same position they play in their club and not in their preferred position.

Iwobi needs to play on the right as a winger, while FDB plays in the advanced midfield role.

Raph can take the CDM role while another CM, preferably Uche Chrisantus takes the CM or b2b role.

Happy new year to all analysts and fans in the house🥳.

Truidstarr:
Relax sir, we go qualify.

We really need to start every player that has scored in the Super Eagles for the rest of the qualifiers.

Lookman pairs Osimhen in a two-man attack just like he currently does for Atalanta.

FDB plays behind the both strikers.

Iwobi and Onyedika form the base of the mid-field.

Bruno and Ola Aina at WBs.

Bassey,Ekong and Osho as CBs.

The above is a 3-4-1-2.

Pundits in the house.
Pls if someone is using the bet9ja app, and it keeps asking for fingerprint most times, could it be due to a log in by another device or technical issues with the app?

UncleHaba22:
Omo make wrong transfer no kee lookman career Sha

He needs to go where he'd be a stater even when he loses form


Going to a big team with many big players might hinder his growth sha

As long as he is deployed as a false 9 or very close to the box.He will thrive.

We won't see his best if they choose to play him as an inverted winger or a wide forward.

Pair him in attack with another 9 and see him explode.

ChrisKels:
This is how creative I want Looman to also be when playing for the eagles. He doesn't always have to go for the goal himself especially when he isn't sure of it.

Lookman in his last 5 games for Atalanta no longer plays as an AML or LSS but now plays as a false 9 in a 2-man attack ,with Pasalic playing behind them as CAM.

Joebie:
I agree on Iwobi, but thinking 4-2-3-1, who will be on the other side of the flank? Lookman, Moses? And who will be the AM?

This is 4-2-3-1 (a), and 4-1-4-1

Your first line-up will bring out the best of our forwards.

Joebie:
was there a chance he missed against Rwanda?
Is there a guarantee he will score in every game when fit?

His chances of scoring in every game is at 90%.

You see Raph and Fisayo, we need the both in our starting lineup if we are to win 80% of our matches, as we find it difficult to score in some matches.

Fisayo was nursing an injury(a knock) that kept him out of the Benin match, hence was not fully fit for the Rwanda game.

A fit Fisayo would've scored against Rwanda.

daveP:
What now happened vs Rwanda? Nawa o

He wasn't fully fit, as a knock kept him out of the Benin game.

Tolu Arokodare scores against Osimhen's former club Sporting Charleroi.

Can we see this guy in our next FIFA window?

joelsteron:
Super Eagles Pirlo/Busquets. Baller

In one of my earlier posts,I reiterated that he has the potential to be better than Rodri.

Currently,at par with Mikel.

Give him the creative midfield role,we assigned to Mikel against African opposition and see him perform wonders.

O boy, that boy is class, technically astute and a good game reader.

A food for thought.

Have the Super Eagles ever failed to score in a game that he was on from the start?

TheSuperNerd:
Honestly, Iwobi as a wide creator in Fulham's 4-2-3-1 so far this season both from the left and recently from the right is giving me an idea.

You failed to add that he has excelled as a wing-forward this season.

We should consider starting Iwobi on the right of a 3-4-3.This is the position he has played throughout this season and has created so many chances as a wing-forward.

Iwobi is not a 10.I would've said he is a DLP, but he happens to create a lot of chances for this Fulham side as a wing-forward.

ChrisKels:
Fun fact. We have only failed to qualify for the world cup twice since our debut in 1994.

We did not qualify in 2006 and in 2022. The Super Eagles manager both times was Austin Eguavoen.


Cc Otite Dafe

Will Eguavoen break the jinx this time?

What if we add Samson Sia Sia to his back room staff?

Eguavoen shouldn't be combing the top 5 leagues for a creative Midfielder, but should scout for that CM or CAM who will average at least one goal in 2 matches.


Get us a scoring midfielder.Iwobi and Onyedika are already creative.All we need is a born scorer in midfield like Bellingham of Las season to complete the midfield set-up.

We can only qualify, if we start scoring midfielders and forwards and not creative r midfielders and forwards.

Onyedika and Iwobi is enough creativity in the middle.


Eguavoen should stop relying on Boniface as backup to Osimhen.

He should give Akpom, Arokodare and Maja in that other a chance.

TheSuperNerd:
Serious Question: Creative conundrum of the Super Eagles

Elyte89, if you were given the Super eagles job right now, which player would you call up ahead of March as the creative deputy to Alex Iwobi??


I ask this because of this Eguavoen statement below post-match...


“Goals win games, we all know that. They are scoring goals in their club sides, they are scoring goals in training. But when it comes to the game, they don’t score goals. I keep asking the same questions,” Eguavoen told journalists.

“But you know there are some players who can make a difference, who can put the ball into space for them to go to goal. But we are still looking for that player who has that flair and creativity. A good playmaker who can put the ball into space for them.”









P.S: Anyone else who has a serious answer to this question can kindly go ahead and answer. Throwing names alone won't cut it. You must name that lad and correctly profile him as the creative head needed. Don't just name-drop. Name-drop correctly with the creative midfield profile in mind. Thank you.

A fit and inform Bashiru seeing 70+ mins in the Europa league is the solution to our midfield dilemma.

Eguavoen needs to hold conversation with Lazio coach and Bashiru as regards playing time in his club side.

He is the only midfielder asides Onyedika that can score when our forwards are marked out for most parts of the game.

Bashiru we saw against Rwanda was not fully fit as he was still recovering from a knock that made him miss the Benin game.

He should be played just behind Osimhen or on the right side of the midfield not on the left like he was deployed against Rwanda.

Playing on the right side of the midfield enables him to shoot and come in with his stronger foot(left foot).

It's not just finding one who can give those line breaking passes but one who can also score when the forwards are finding it difficult to do so.

daveP:
Make God just epp us

Cos with this table like this, we need to win ALL 6 games left. That is the big business ahead of this team. The terror of missing consecutive World Cups should be the starter motivation to go alllllll the way. Anybody that is showing any rubbish attitude, no matter how talented, should getat. NFf should do their part and stop the mental gymnastics and get the manager that can take this team to the world cup now.


We don't want a nobody handling the WCQ because they plan to get a foreign manager after the December AFCON. That would never work.

6Wins
No loss
And a compact defense
No excuses for mediocrity. Bring on the A-game and dust away that 'no minnows' excuse. Our mediocrity birthed that crappy punchline excuse.

Once again, the two managers that contributed to this debacle.. i no wan swear for them.

All these testing testing with Tanimu and Osho, Sadiq should be thrown out the window.


This is possible if we take on a superiority and classy mental approach like we did at the last AFCON, but even more clinical on both ends.

Yeah, i should lower expectations. But i will after the 7th game of the WCQ. Till then.

we can qualify for the mundial but we must start all our scorers in midfield i.e Bashiru and Onyedika.

A fully fit Bashiru will be crucial for our WC qualification.

Some teams double or triple up on our forwards whenever they have the ball and this leaves scoring to our midfielders.

Benin did this to Lookman and Osimhen in Abidjan.

We should use the next FIFA window to try out new players like Uche Chrisantus of Getafe,Chuba Akpom of Ajax and Tolu Arokodare of Genk.Ojediran of RC Lens can also be called up.

Moffi>>>>Boniface.

The latter has about 3 goals to his name in Super Eagles colours.

Boniface is yet to score in about 8 apps for the Super Eagles.

Give Arokodare and Akpom a chance.

opes:
Eguaveon just ruined his chance and chances of local coaches. No team play, only individual
brilliance of Chuckwueze got us the goal. Boniface is not just it, Ekong exposed, he needs Bassey to cover for him, Okoye could not take the chance, Onyeka playing like farmer..for me, I miss Zaidu
Thank you Libya for the Greek gift, we may not have defeated them at home..

Nawaa ooo on top a dead rubber game.

For crying out loud,he qualified us for the AFCON with 2 games yet to be played.So, our last two games of the qualifiers was inconsequential as we've already secured qualification for the Biannual show-piece.

In our next game, Boniface and Umar should be dropped for Arokodare and Akpom.

I understand Bashiru was nursing a knock that kept him on the bench against Benin, so I wasn't surprised with his performance tonight as he wasn't fully fit.

That Chukwueze goal is the kind of goal Bashiru do score for us when the match becomes tough.

You need that attacker who can take on 2 -3 players before slotting the ball into the net.

DeloitteNG:
Why don't we win matches when Onyedika starts
In as much as they want to push Ndidi to the bench he is still a big name in our midfield

We won against Mozambique with a midfield trio of Onyedika,onyeka and Bashiru.The match ended 3-2 in our favour with Omeruo at CB.

Most games Onyedika started for us have always been in the absence of Osimhen or with Osimhen coming from the Bench.

We have not always played to our best without Osimhen.

Sugarboyy:
You will be a very bad coach
We are all shouting that a 2 man midfield isn't working, you are still here proposing it.
What's Ndidi and Onyedika as our pivot midfielders in a match?
What's Bashiru playing as a RW because he is left footed?
And who told you the SE didn't reverted to a 3 man midfield when Onyedika came in? Onyedika came in for Osho who is a defender and our 3 man midfield became Ndidi, Onyedika and Iwobi.
There is no much talks, AE should stop playing 3 defenders because it's not working for him. He should be playing 433 instead

Nwabali

Aina Ekong Bassey Bruno

Ndidi/Onyeka
Onyedika Iwobi/Bashiru

Lookman Osimhen Simon

Or Lookman can play a SS to Osimhen, why Chukwueze takes the RWF position.

Personally I will prefer a midfield 3 of Onyeka (a workaholic), Onyedika (a decent CM), and Bashiru (a scoring AM). With this 3 man midfield, we won't lack power, control on the midfield and a scoring midfielder to compliment our attackers

Our saviour yesterday wasn't a 3-manid-field but the introduction of a midfield general in Raphael Onyedika.

Iwobi was moved to CAM i.e in front of Ndidi and Raphael but couldn't contribute anything to the team either defensively or offensively, reason why he was hauled off for Boniface,though I would have preferred Bashiru who is more of a scorer.

You are against a 2-man midfield, but we are runners up in the last edition of the AFCON is thanks to a two-man midfield.

A 3-man midfield couldn't get us a win in our first game against Equatorial Guinea.That's a midfield of Iwobi,Alhassan and Onyeka.

It's not about playing a 2-man or 3-man midfield.Each has it's weaknesses.

Maximising the strength of a 2-man midfield lies in the deployment of personnel.

I mentioned Bashiru playing on the right but it isn't as perceived by you.It's more of a role like that of an AMR or RSS.

Bashiru has been deployed a couple of times on the right in his former club in the Trendyol Super liga.He even scored the goal that kept out of the relegation zone while playing on the right on the last day of the season.

Currently our RWs have been subpar with Chukwueze finding quality game time hard to come by.Simon is more of a LW and his assists both in the AFCON and AFCON qualifiers have always come with him playing from the left.

Bashiru will start there but will see himself playing behind OSimhen from the right.

The 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 is the only formation that can help us start all our scoring guns at once.

As Simon can play in his most effective position which is the LW while lookman will pair Osimhen in attack or play just behind him.

Please learn to wwatch and analyse the game from a tactical perspective or skip my posts.

You can upgrade your knowledge of the game by pick up a Basic Coaching Certificate.

Sugarboyy:
You will be a very bad coach
We are all shouting that a 2 man midfield isn't working, you are still here proposing it.
What's Ndidi and Onyedika as our pivot midfielders in a match?
What's Bashiru playing as a RW because he is left footed?
And who told you the SE didn't reverted to a 3 man midfield when Onyedika came in? Onyedika came in for Osho who is a defender and our 3 man midfield became Ndidi, Onyedika and Iwobi.
There is no much talks, AE should stop playing 3 defenders because it's not working for him. He should be playing 433 instead

Nwabali

Aina Ekong Bassey Bruno

Ndidi/Onyeka
Onyedika Iwobi/Bashiru

Lookman Osimhen Simon

Or Lookman can play a SS to Osimhen, why Chukwueze takes the RWF position.

Personally I will prefer a midfield 3 of Onyeka (a workaholic), Onyedika (a decent CM), and Bashiru (a scoring AM). With this 3 man midfield, we won't lack power, control on the midfield and a scoring midfielder to compliment our attackers

Our saviour yesterday wasn't a 3-manid-field but the introduction of a midfield general in Raphael Onyedika.

Iwobi was moved to CAM i.e in front of Ndidi and Raphael but couldn't contribute anything to the team either defensively or offensively, reason why he was hauled off for Boniface,though I would have preferred Bashiru who is more of a scorer.

You are against a 2-man midfield, but we are runners up in the last edition of the AFCON is thanks to a two-man midfield.

A 3-man midfield couldn't get us a win in our first game against Equatorial Guinea.That's a midfield of Iwobi,Alhassan and Onyeka.

It's not about playing a 2-man or 3-man midfield.Each has it's weaknesses.

Maximising the strength of a 2-man midfield lies in the deployment of personnel.

I mentioned Bashiru playing on the right but it isn't as perceived by you.It's more of a role like that of an AMR or RSS.

Bashiru has been deployed a couple of times on the right in his former club in the Trendyol Super liga.He even scored the goal that kept out of the relegation zone while playing on the right on the last day of the season.

Currently our RWs have been subpar with Chukwueze finding quality game time hard to come by.Simon is more of a LW and his assists both in the AFCON and AFCON qualifiers have always come with him playing from the left.

Bashiru will start there but will see himself playing behind OSimhen from the right.

The 4-4-1-1 or 4-4-2 is the only formation that can help us start all our scoring guns at once.

As Simon can play in his most effective position which is the LW while lookman will pair Osimhen in attack or play just behind him.

Please learn to wwatch and analyse the game from a tactical perspective or skip my posts.

In the first half, the Cheetah's pressed on our defence.They kept on attacking our 3-man back-line that you will truly wonder if there was one screening or shielding the defence.

They easily went through our midfield, thereby exposing the CBs to a barrage of attacks throughout the first half.

When things like this happens,the coach should react by throwing in combative,distributive and scoring midfielders.

Bashiru and Onyedika should have entered the game in the beginning of the second half to complement Ndidi.

Ralph's introduction stabilised our midfield and not our reversing to a midfield three.

Ahead of the start of the WC qualifiers where we need to win all our games and not our usual home win,away draw.

Bashiru and Onyedika must start in our midfield.The pair are the only midfielders that can get us goals when the going gets tough and our forwards are being marked, doubled or tripled upon whenever they have the ball.

Any of our line-up going forward or in a competitive game must have these two scorers in mid-field with Simon completing our attack.

Throw all your scoring guns in our next WC qualifiers.

Should we go with a 3-4-3, Simon starts alongside Lookman and Osimhen but must come from the left because that's his most effective position.

In a 4-2-4 which best suits both Simon and Lookman and makes our team more balanced and stable.

Ndidi starts alongside Onyedika in a double pivot.

Bashiru starts on the Right side since he is left footed, and should be made to drift into the midfield occasionally i.e playing as both RW and CAM.

Simon plays the LW.

Osimhen and Lookman leads the attack or Osimhen leads the attack while Lookman plays as a support striker in a 4-4-1-1 i.e just behind the main striker.

Simon,Raph and Bashiru have no business on Super Eagles bench.They should henceforth be part of all Super Eagles subsequent starting XI.

This is the only way for us to make it to the 2026 WC after missing the previous edition.

Osho to start tonight.

Iheanacho likely to play a role in today's game.

We need to play with 3CBs to beat Benin.

A 3-4-3 with Osho coming in for injured Ajayi and Simon starting ahead of Chukwueze will give us the needed victory.

A 3-4-3 against Benin Republic will give us the needed victory, with Osho coming in for injured Ajayi.

Moses Simon starts ahead of Chukwueze.

BankyGee:
Seriously. I'm still confused.

Ademola Lookman:
▶️ Played four finals only this year.
- AFCON (performed well)
- Coppa Italia (performed well)
- Europa League (performed historically and won it)
- Super Cup (highest rated Atalanta player that night)
▶️ First human to score a hat-trick in the Europa League final since its inception.
▶️ Seventh player to score a hat-trick in any UEFA competition final, which the last person to do so did in 1974-75 season.
▶️ Led Atalanta to winning their first European trophy EVER and their second major trophy since the Coppa Italia win in 1962-63 season.
▶️ AFCON silver medalist 🥈
▶️ Coppa Italia silver medalist 🥈
▶️ Europa League winner and Finals Man of the Match 🏆
▶️ Super Cup silver medalist 🥈
▶️ One of the best wingers in world football currently.

But somehow, Foden is in the top 10 and Lookman's not.

Till evening sha 😐

Lookman isn't one of the best wingers in club football but the best false 9/Left Support Striker/Left Attacking Midfielder.

He excelled in this same position in the AFCON under Peseiro and struggled as a winger under finidi.

charlesemeka85:
Voetbal24 says Palace are one of multiple Premier League clubs scouting Onyedika this season.

They were credited with an interest but did not back it up with a bid.

He was valued in the region of 18million euros last summer but has seen his stock rise to 30 million euros after impressing in the UCL this season.

komekn:
In a full match a long time ago.

"Most impactful player" that is a very subjective and opinionated deduction which is usually self birthed.

We make these over exaggerated claims that seem to have only support on this forum nowhere else.

If he was so good why is he still there ❓

Clubs are offering way less than the expectations of Brugg FC tells us how he is valued in the open market. That means he is not rated as high as you think 🤔

He is on an upward trajectory.

He is likely to move in the summer,as Brugge values him in the region of 30 million euros.

But he must work on his temperament while maximising his strength.He must'n't go in for every tackle, that's not his style of play but must focus more on shielding the Backline with good positioning just like Mikel did during his Chelsea days.

Mikel was a holding midfielder in the mould of a deep lying playmaker.He wasn't a Makelele or a prime Ndidi who could have an average of 4.2 tackles per game.

I recommend that he watches more of Mikel's Clip as a holding midfielder for Chelsea as it will help him perfect the holding midfield role.