₦airaland Forum

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.

komekn:
Dude 😎 you are getting gassed and over hyping comparing Mikel to Onyedika is delusional.

When last did you watch Onyedika?

He is Club Brugge's most impactful player this season.His goals in the play offs last season help them win the pro league(about 5 goals).

Onyedika has improved tremendously.

Please watch his last three Champions league game and come back for us to argue.

Lookman-Osimhen is more like an Icardi Osimhen partnership.

We must always start our ball strikers in midfield like Bashiru,Raph and Chrisantus while Ndidi and Iwobi comes from the Bench or starts with the aforementioned duo.

mekabuachi:
Swrs!! Love how samu is picking up
Osihmen. Lookman chukwueze🔥

The second-half formation against Libya in Uyo will be better and should be our formation going forward.

Since Simon is inform with up to 4-5 assists this season and Chukwueze is back to his usual self. A 4-2-4 is the way to go.

Osimhen and Lookman upfront with Simon and Chukwueze on the flanks.

We just have to drop one CB (Ajayi) while deploying a midfield duo of Raph and Bashiru or Ndidi and Iwobi.

Pls Onyedika is very talented, has the potential to play for the top three clubs in Italy,Spain and England but must discipline himself.

I think this is his second red card this season.In their last Jupiter league match we saw him reacting angrily at a sub in the 83rd minute against Westerloo.Today he is picking up a red in a champions league game against Milan.

He should learn to control his anger.As this can stop him from being the best super Eagles holding midfielder of all time.

For now, he is currently at par with Mikel.

kennysville:
Onyedika red carded

TheSuperNerd:
He cannot be benched. Fisayo cannot shoulder the Creative burden of the team and he is no 2nd phase midfielder.

Fisayo is a final third killer MF. An AM with vertical thinking, good drive/ball carrying, good passing and brilliant ball striking. But he cannot fall deep to orchestrate plays like Iwobi does.

IT WOULD BE FOOLISH BENCHING OUR MOST CREATIVE MIDFIELD PLAYER. Fisayo should play alongside him not replacing him.

i.e to say Fisayo is more of an attacking midfielder/support striker who can as well play as a b2b midfielder while Iwobi is better as a Deep lying playmaker(DLP).

humility33:
I just hope so

We need fresh legs to compliment the ones we have already.

We need look into the defence and striking department

I personally want that Monaco and sparta Prague kid

Tolu is just like Awoniyi nothing much difference...I don't really rate him much.

We need to also invite Akpoguma, Jordan and Chima to beef up the defence line

Do you think we can beat the FFF to the signature of George Ilenikhena of Monaco?I heard he is on their radar.Recall we lost Michael Olise to them. I've not seen much of Tolu's game anyway.

humility33:
This your analysis deserve 52 likes

I think AE needs to reach out to the Monaco and Sparta Prague kid Olatunji Victor. Those guys have hunger and drive like oshimen

We also need to integrate Kelvin Akpoguma and some of the German guys Chima and Co into the team to see what they have to offer at least if we qualify on Tuesday with out last 2 match remaining we can use it to see what they have to offer

If we beat them on Tuesday.The next FIFA window will see Eguavoen invite the likes of Olatunji,Arokodare and co, since we must have secured our AFCON ticket.

Eguavoen did this in our third group stage game in the postponed AFCON 21, where he rested six of his starting eleven.So I expect to see new players in next squad by November.

Do you think we can beat the FFF to the signature of George Ilenikhena of Monaco?I heard he is on their radar.Recall we lost Michael Olise to them.

mrwilliams9:
Great questions bros.

For me, we should keep AE for the remaining AFCONQ, AFCON 25 and the 2026 WCQ campaign.

Chopping and changing managers will not do the SE any good if we want to build stability going forward. Just look at England, for all the stick he got, Southgate is still one of the most successful England managers. The players took a liking to him and he had the backing of the English FA to build long term.

Our current players seem to take a liking to AE and we already know this current squad is capable of reaching an AFCON final. We need to build on the good work done in the last campaign and push on forward. There has to be some stability to build properly. Look at Cisse at Senegal, he was backed even after the 2019 AFCON loss in the final and it paid off well for them. We can do the same with AE.

AE was a bit unfortunate at the 2021 AFCON with the Iwobi red card and our GK issues. I think with the rise of Stanley, we have that solidity between the sticks to not have a repeat of 2021 AFCON.

With a win on Tuesday against Libya, we have all but secured our ticket to 2025 AFCON. I still think we can qualify for the WC as our group opponents will likely take points off each other.

I do think hiring a more sound assistant manager to help with the tactics would be a better approach but AE should remain.

Too much broth spoils the soup.
Dan Ogunmodede and Eguavoen are capable assistants.If we must add another assistant let it be one who is into active coaching in a club side, preferably NPFL.

Samson Siasia is available but must get himself a job before we appoint him as assistant.

I'm okay with the trio of Eguavoen, Ogunmodede and Ilechukwu.

EEGA:
Teamwork

What do you think of a 3-4-2-1 formation with Ejuke playing as the AMR/RSS not as both LW and RW like Simon played in the last AFCON?

Let both lookman and Ejuke both play behind Boniface and not as wide forward like Simon did in the last AFCON with only Lookman playing behind Osimhen.

Please Lookman and Boniface should learn to play together.In most parts of the away game against Rwanda, we saw the both going for goal when the other was free and in a better position to score.

Eguavoen should instruct them to play as a team in the absence of Osimhen.They should pass the ball to a free team mate who is in a better position in front of goal and not shoot from any angle.

This is my message for our AFCON double header against Libya.

The above was my post on 6th of October.

The same thing repeated itself.Boniface had a chance in our last game to pass to a free Lookman who would have put us 1-0 up before the halftime break but he did not.He preferred to shoot.

Eguavoen needs to sit Boniface down and school him on the importance of team work in football.The game is not about scoring but getting the needed 3 points.

Osimhen only scored once but he got us to the AFCON finals while grabbing assists and making goal contributions such as winning penalties and forcing an owngoal.

Boniface and Lookman has played in our last two games with no Chemistry between them.Pls they shouldn't start games together since don't seem to understand each other.

Competition is of paramount importance for every successful manager but this two especially Boniface dey play like say the both of them use Super Eagles dey drag APOTY.

We should at least be 1-0 up before you start playing your selfish game.

Boniface should borrow a leaf from Osimhen who despite the criticism from fans and football lovers at home and abroad was still selfless despite scoring only once in the AFCON.

I don't expect Bony to start our next game anyway.

Secondly, for a team like Libya with low block or that loves parking the bus, please start all your scorers in every department of the team.
Especially those who have scored or assisted of recent.

Raphael Onyedika after opening the scoring against Gernot Rohr's Benin deserves to start the game along side Dele Bashiru who got us the equaliser against South Africa and the winner against Libya in our last game.

If your Strikers are finding it difficult to score you must start all your scoring midfielder.

Simon and Chukwueze did well in our last game.A 4-2-4 won't be bad for the next game same with a 4-3-3.

Bony should be dropped.Ejuke should play a part in the away game if not start for his dribbles will help unlock the Libyan's sturborn defence.Our last game favoured the dribblers in our team and Ejuke won't be an exception.

The team that finished the game should start our next game.

A 4-4-1-1 formation will be nice.Raph and Iwobi as midfield pivot with Bashiru ahead of them while Lookman leads the attack flanked by Simon and Chukwueze.It could easily become a 4-2-4 with Lookman and Bashiru operating as false 9's.

Start all your scorers in our next game and secure the AFCON ticket with two games left to be played.

Big congrats to Coach Dan Ogunmodede(Ija ball master).He was the mind behind our tactical substitutes for the game.You can see him with his books and laptop as he prepared the trio of Raph,Bashiru and Awo to come on in our last game.

This is no surprise to me because his Remo Stars team has always been known for scoring goals.

Henceforth, I recommend that the assistants to any Super Eagles Coach should always be the winner of the previous season NPFL and his runner up.I thank Eguavoen for this initiative of employing the best of the previous season NPFL as his assistant.

Kudos to Coach Fidelis Ilechukwu for his contribution to the team.We are yet to concede since he was appointed as assistant Coach.If you have watched his Enugu Rangers side, you will realise they really defend well(more emphasis on defensive solidity while being compact at the back).

Pls,if we want to get maximum points from Libya in both games, we must start either Simon or Ejuke.Most preferably Ejuke as an AMR/RSS just behind Boniface and not on the wings.

Chukwueze should come from the bench, as he has not been starting games for his club.


...........................Nwabali............................


...................Ajayi....Ekoong......Bassey.......

Aina..........................................................Bruno

................................Iwobi.....Ndidi..........................

..........................Ejuke..........Lookman................


..............................Boniface...............................

It's a 3-2-2-2-1(3-2-4-1).

Teamwork

What do you think of a 3-4-2-1 formation with Ejuke playing as the AMR/RSS not as both LW and RW like Simon played in the last AFCON?

Let both lookman and Ejuke both play behind Boniface and not as wide forward like Simon did in the last AFCON with only Lookman playing behind Osimhen.

Please Lookman and Boniface should learn to play together.In most parts of the away game against Rwanda, we saw the both going for goal when the other was free and in a better position to score.

Eguavoen should instruct them to play as a team in the absence of Osimhen.They should pass the ball to a free team mate who is in a better position in front of goal and not shoot from any angle.

This is my message for our AFCON double header against Libya.

typicalgamer:
Seems you label Bassey world class

Bassey is slightly above average and his physicality is unparalleled and that’s all he has going for him

You see those silly mistakes he makes them but not as frequently as before e.g Ajax era

I I’ll watch Fulham match ahead of my Man U that’s how much I love Bassey and iwobi but denying his flaws only show that you’re biased asf

In Super E colors or Fulham he makes average player mistakes so don’t stand here and judge like his world class so calm down

I disagree with you.Bassey has some assists in super Eagles colours, with his last assist coming in the last AFCON.

He deserves some respect.

MasterShanghai:
Dele is playing as a advanced midfielder, has he played that role in the national team before?

He played it against Mozambique in an international friendly, where we won 3-1 with him bagging an assist.

He played it against SA in the WC qualifiers where he scored the goal in our 1-1 draw.

Fisayo is playing as an advanced midfielder today, with a goal and an assist with only 37mins played.

From their Napoli days Osimhen doesn't seem to score much with Mertens behind him as support striker.