₦airaland Forum

Icon4s:
All just because Alampasu didn't make match day squad. Haha haha

The truth is there are no good goalkeepers in Africa any more. I mentioned this fact months ago.

If I look into the NPFL for instance I can't even think of any goalie that is credible enough to face Cameroon in the absence of Ikeme.

No just mention Alampasu o bc that game go be like horror movie. I no go watch.

I don't even know why Emmanuel Daniel is being ignored. I have more confidence in him than Alampasu.

Let us see the goalies Rohr will invite against Cameroon.

BascoVanVeli:
Nigeria: Why Bafana Loss Can Be a Luxury for Eagles

By Jide Alaka

Three days after, what is left is a dull pain in place of the thudding heart palpitation on Saturday. The memory of the 2-0 loss in Uyo is still very present with the goals flashing through our collective consciousness.

Particularly the first, by Tokelo Rantie, his third goal against Nigeria in just the 11 goals he has scored for his country. Does he just love playing Nigeria or is it the Godswill Akpabio Stadium pitch that he loves?

Gernot Rohr suffered his first loss as Super Eagles manager while the South Africans enjoyed a first-ever win over their Nigerian opponents since their first competitive matchup in 1992.

So what really happened to the very "young" Nigerian side? Is there a need to panic? We have heard the Minister called an emergency meeting of the Nigeria Football Federation [NFF] executive committee in Abuja on Monday to discuss the loss.
As much as it is worth, there is an interesting post by a former national team player, Adokiye Amiesimaka, who believes the goal posts have been moved on account of Rohr being a foreigner.

I would state the following things, which I believe, make this loss a luxury that can become a stepping stone.

Calls for Mikel's retirement will be cooled

It was unfortunate the substantive captain of the team, Mikel Obi, was unavailable but it was also fortunate for the former Chelsea midfielder as his worth definitely escalated with his absence. With no coordinating general in the middle of the park, the Eagles floundered when they were put under the pressure of giving up the first goal and were very exposed for the second.

We have no goalkeeper at the moment

This is not in any way blaming the two goals conceded last Saturday on Daniel Akpeyi - it just subsists that the Chippa United goaltender has not been one to elicit much confidence. Though it has to be said - to his credit that he is a good shot-stopper, his clout and knowledge of the game do nothing to help his defenders.

Iheanacho cannot perform alone in a 4-3-3

It was plain for all to see that Kelechi Iheanacho will not succeed as a lone striker - that is why Pep Guardiola is willing to listen to offers for him. He is not very fast and gets isolated easily upfront. Though the former U-17 World Cup winner is very good in combination play, his ability to play with his back to goal has never been his strongest point.
The core players need more playing time

Bafana Bafana especially cruelly exposed the rustiness in the games of both Alex Iwobi and Iheanacho especially. There was no rhythm to their game as their lack of game time towards the end of the season came to the fore. The best thing for Rohr and the Eagles would be for his core players to play week in, week out for their respective clubs.

So many gaps for Rohr to plug

Stuart Baxter explained his game tactics in the post-match press conference and it was very simple - let the Nigerians have the ball and in the second half, the team moved five metres forward and that was the end of the domination enjoyed by the home team. Itumeleng Khune, in goal for Bafana Bafana, was not put under any pressure despite the 10 corner kicks the Eagles won.

Why have the goal posts been moved?

Amiesimaka wrote on Facebook, "Since Nigeria lost 2-0 at home in Uyo to South Africa this evening (for the first time in a competitive encounter), I've heard too many Nigerians request that the Rohr-led technical crew should be absolved from blame, noting how the game can be unpredictable, etc.

"Let me reiterate that Nigeria never lost to South Africa, home or away, in a competitive match under an indigenous coach!
"Would the narrative not have been different had a Nigerian been in Rohr's shoes today?

"Imagine for a moment that it was our own Christian Chukwu, or, the late Amodu Shuaibu, or, the late Stephen Keshi...

"No doubt, allegations of 'technical incompetence', 'inability to read a match', etc., would have been made against him, with very loud calls for "the infallible white man" to take over."

Why is the NFF apologizing?

Ahmed Fresh Yusuf, an NFF executive board member, wrote on Twitter, "Crucial matches ahead of @NGSuperEagles, the @BafanaBafana game has opened our eyes to our flaws. We apologized for the poor result. Thanks!

"This is the moment we should all support @NGSuperEagles. Enough of the blame game; let's help the team focus ahead of the Cameron game." But really, why is the NFF apologizing for a loss? No football team no matter how good is mandated to go unbeaten in any tournament or league - defeat is all part of the game. What they should be apologizing for is the non-explanation of missing balls and other issues - not losing a game!

We heard that the NFF did not have $250 to clear the balls sent by CAF, which meant the players never trained with the official match balls until Saturday. But just like other misdemeanours in the past, we are almost sure nobody will be held responsible for that mishap.

BascoVanVeli:
Give one example of a wayward pass he made? U guys are taking advantage of the fact that stats are not kept. Are u scared to admit that the other players were bellow par? People have been bashing Onazi for so long that I guess they are ashamed to admit he did better than the players they have been clamoring for. Now u want to blame a DMF for not finding the striker that is just ridiculous.

forgiveness:
And they are still banging in more goals than some of these young fresh bloods.

Go and check the Spanish, Italian and Brazilian teams, they still have quite a number of players that went to 2 or 3 World cups.

Besides, I guarantee that after 3 years, these same set of young players will be discarded for another set of young players. Na d norms be that now for Super Eagles .

AIG07:
i'm not against it Sir. But you know the Nigeria factor will always set in in such set-ups.

Which Afcon'13 and world cup'14? Our performance in those tournaments was due to individual brilliancies from the coach down to the players... Cos if I recall, the squad we took to those tournaments were far from the best we had as at that time.

Icon4s:
At a point in time a few days ago I was even thinking of deactivating my account from here and leave because of the kind of analysis I was reading.

No objectivity. Hate, favoritism, selective criticism and so on.

I am really disappointed.

AIG07:
with these resolutions coming from the NFF our football might be heading south!

My question is who are folks in technical committee? Are they even technically sound? If yes, do they have the progress of our football in mind or they are after their pockets?

Because me I'm afraid of lobbying and corruption from this group of people calling themselves football technocrats... which we've seen before and once again letting it ruin and set fire on the only thread bonding this nation-FOOTBALL.

Icon4s:
Akpeyi is not good enough I know. But he is getting an unfair criticism. They left the CBs that were out of position out of the blame and put everything on Akpeyi for not taking a red card. Na wa.

Daninya11:
The highlights of the NFF technical committee were as follows;
1.Coach Rohr match day squad will be vetted by the technical committee.He must give reasons why each player was selected.
2.Only after the technical comtee are satisfied with the match day squad before the match day squad team list will be made public.
3.Coach Rohr will make the match day squad team list public before journalist in a press conference.
4.Coach Rohr will answer questions raised by journalists in the press conference.He will defend why he selected his players.
5.A thorough search for better goalkeeper for all our national team has began.They are not satisfied with the choice of some gk when the need arises.

Kog45:
My man u are right but do we need to give reason for anybody's poor performance against South Africa.If we are trying to give reason for Nacho poor performance and bad conduct after substitution then we must give reason for Akpeyi poor performance to defence!abi what do u think,honestly enough of comments trying to shed any player from blame.The whole team was a disaster,mehn losing at home,two goals against South Africa.Imagine some are even pointing accusing fingers at Nigerian assistants not even Rohr for God sake.

My man our eyes w soon clear against Cameroon if Rohr failed to do d needful,imagine a Porto B defender starting up in Super Eagles line up and some are still expecting Alampasu a rookie and third division goalkeeper to manned d post for Eagles.

Honestly our player invitation should be review coz i don't see any reason inviting Ndidi,Onazi,Agu all DM and left Ogu out of d squad especially in d absence of Mikel Obi.Do we think Etebo can do d job?capital No,he lacked d class.

We need to ask Rohr one big question,what really stopped him from inviting Ideye to camp coz seeing Ideye,Mikel and Nacho build up towards Nacho goal against Zambia shows that pairing of d duo w suit eagles,though against Algeria Ideye was on d bench but we have Moses Victor on d field doing it with Nacho.

Rohr should not be deceived about all this rookies,it is only talented ones that can break into d team and gel not average ones like Awaziem,Ebuehi even talented Iwobi is not finding it funny.

I just hope Ikeme,Mikel,Moses,Balogun make d party against Cameroon even Ideye and a fit Anichebe coz am seeing physical and brutal Cameroon side.

TheGoodJoe:
Please stop this. The striker drops deep to help build up play. In this case, build up was not a problem. Is that too hard to understand? If build up is right, then the player must be in position for the pass.

In what you are quoting, did you not see help in build up? If the build up is okay, does it need help to you?

Haaaaa.

Go and watch the game and see Iheanacho's runs when the overhit passes happened.

TheGoodJoe:
Iheanacho did not get any quality service. All the final balls were extremely poor. Too poor for even Academy player. So Iheanacho does not deserve the blame.

Icon4s:
I was one of those in the earlier days that kicked against Iheanacho being made a CF. But then Ighalo was still in the spotlight.

But ever since Ighalo fiddled out I have come to agree that Iheanacho should be our main striker.

Why?

He is our most lethal striker. And we all know that.
We know what Iheanacho can do when he is in position with the ball.

Who should have been played as a lone striker in that SA game? Kayode or Osimhen?

Iheanacho for now until another top striker springs up will always get the nod as our preferred striker.

And very importantly I think we are expecting too much from the young lad. Recall he is just 20 and is still learning the ropes with each passing game.
I know a lot of us here (from arguments past) do not agree that age is a factor in football. But it surely is.
iheanacho IS NOT THERE YET. in the absence of another top striker let's give him time.

TheGoodJoe:
The Journalist that asked that question needs to go and learn how to read the game because he is atrocious. Changing Iheanacho was a wrong option and a wrong call by Rohr and that Journalist is asking why Rohr did not make a wrong call earlier.

Na wa.

The problem we had in the first have was poor final balls. Rohr should have fixed it earlier by getting someone with the ability to deliver better balls. Not removing a striker. Rohr pulled out Iheanacho and Kayode was ineffective too. Is that not enough to tell you that the Call was wrong?

Mickael2:
After watching this match for the 3rd time just now there are a few things I noticed.

1) Whoever says that Ekong was average in this game needs to tell me the match he watched. None of the chances created came through his side of the defence, he literally shut down that side of the defence, nothing and nobody moved there, in fact he was awesome. When you watch that game again without tension or anger you will understand. Awaziem however needs to go back to training school, his clearances from the very first whistle were funny, he was swiping at the ball wildly, and he is no ball-playing CB. He was always afraid to carry the ball more than 20m beyond our box which shows lack of confidence and ball playing abilities.

2) watching Onazi was like a comic release. He was literally everywhere except where he should be. Most times it was as if he was playing as the LB, not that Echejile was out of position, I don't know if I should say that he just wants the glory or he has too much energy to burn. And then when Echejile will go forward thinking that Onazi has him covered, Onazi too will go forward thinking that a supernatural being has him covered as well.

3) Our fullbacks were poor. Where was that Echejile that scored a goal at the 2013 Afcon? The poor showing was exemplified by a particular passage of play in the first half, Iwobi had the ball on the edge of the box with only one defender ahead of him, he held the ball for 5 seconds thinking that Echejile was bombing forward to support him(like any good LB would) and by the time he realized that we had an imposter on the left side another SA player had already returned and a potentially dangerous situation was laid to waste. Shehu I cannot complain about, his side was balanced together with Ekong, brilliant player that boy but he needs to brushen up his ball playing abilities, needs to learn how to take on his man.

4) Simon is just what he is. He skinned both the LB and RB repeatedly and only if he could cross to save his life we would have scored a lot of goals. He was switching wings to devastating effects but the final ball was lacking. And the final ball has always been lacking in his game, he was our best forward/midfield player on the day. Iwobi however was literally kneeling down and begging for a passing partner with Echejile being totally non-existent. Iwobi wasn't poor, the system was poor, with a good LB Iwobi would perform well which is why I don't understand why someone would say that he isn't a wide midfielder, truth is if we are playing a 4-5-1 then nobody suits that position more than Iwobi, except we want to change to a 4-3-3.

5) Etebo needs to be dragged backwards. Killer passes just isn't his game, he should stamp down on that CMF position where all he needs to do is spray short passes and burst forward every once in a while, his decision making needs some work as well. Ndidi wasn't briliant and his strikes lacked their usual accuracy.

6) Who said Iheanacho was making runs? Iheanacho was standing in the exact same spot all match long. He was standing beside the LCB all match long, he didn't take up any other position and even when he dropped deep a couple of times to touch the ball, he lost it in both instances and even when Simon produced a nice cross to the back post that was begging to be nodded in, Iheanacho was not well positioned, that ball is what all strikers thrive on, that doesn't mean he isn't a good striker though just poor poor display from him, and that show of petulence should not go unpunished. Then watch what happened when Kayode came in, he actually took up two great goalscoring oppurtunities, one Etebo failed to pass but decided to shoot when Kayode was open, the next one he did receive the pass although he didn't hit the target but he gave the midfielders a passing option and they actually found him which shows that the midfielders actually know how to pass just that the striker wasn't giving them that opening. Promising display from him, if he had started that match he would have gassed out the two cbs and Iheanacho could pick the pieces but that's gone.

7) Let us now be plainly honest. Rohr is NOT A BRILLIANT COACH, he is a great man manager but far from a brilliant coach, no plan B nothing. I mean your plan B is a 3-4-3 formation but somehow the main player in your 3-4-3, you decide to leave out of the match day squad, makes no sense. No tactical tweaks during the game. IMHO, no team can outplay Sia1's team like that. I know he may invite his boys but they always deliver. If not for Moses we would have defeated Egypt, if not for Sadiq Umar we would have defeated Germany etc. The guy is a good coach but somehow we managed to tie down Rohr, but not that Rohr is bad but if we can get Sia1 as his assistant(not this Salisu guy), the combination would be perfect.

Oh and please BringBackOurEnyeama. Is Akpeyi a pro player?

TheGoodJoe:
That is why you need to learn how to read games before blabbing. The scenario on ground determines the action of the striker.

If a striker is closely marked and the midfield is having trouble getting the ball to the striker. Note, the midfield can deliver quality balls but the striker is shielded, the striker needs to drop deep or go wide when the wing back overlaps to be free to receive the ball to attack or build up play.

In this case, Iheanacho was not closely marked. He had room to receive the ball and cause damage. Repeatedly he made the right runs but the final ball to him was bad. With a quality midfielder supplying good balls, we would have been two or three goals up in the first half.

So dropping deep is not an option.

TheGoodJoe:
That is why you need to learn how to read games before blabbing. The scenario on ground determines the action of the striker.

If a striker is closely marked and the midfield is having trouble getting the ball to the striker. Note, the midfield can deliver quality balls but the striker is shielded, the striker needs to drop deep or go wide when the wing back overlaps to be free to receive the ball to attack or build up play.

In this case, Iheanacho was not closely marked. He had room to receive the ball and cause damage. Repeatedly he made the right runs but the final ball to him was bad. With a quality midfielder supplying good balls, we would have been two or three goals up in the first half.

So dropping deep is not an option.

TheGoodJoe:
That is why you need to learn how to read games before blabbing. The scenario on ground determines the action of the striker.

If a striker is closely marked and the midfield is having trouble getting the ball to the striker. Note, the midfield can deliver quality balls but the striker is shielded, the striker needs to drop deep or go wide when the wing back overlaps to be free to receive the ball to attack or build up play.

In this case, Iheanacho was not closely marked. He had room to receive the ball and cause damage. Repeatedly he made the right runs but the final ball to him was bad. With a quality midfielder supplying good balls, we would have been two or three goals up in the first half.

So dropping deep is not an option.

TheGoodJoe:


Before a player drops deep, it means the team is having trouble building up. The forward passes gets cut off because of the compact/organized set up. In this case, the passes were coming. Regularly for that matter. How do you expect the striker to get away from the passes coming to drop deep. Are you serious?

The solution was to get more accurate passes. Not Iheanacho dropping deep. Haba.

TheGoodJoe:


Before a player drops deep, it means the team is having trouble building up. The forward passes gets cut off because of the compact/organized set up. In this case, the passes were coming. Regularly for that matter. How do you expect the striker to get away from the passes coming to drop deep. Are you serious?

The solution was to get more accurate passes. Not Iheanacho dropping deep. Haba.

maidaboi:
When we win with this players nobody came here to critizised us here, now we lose every body is saying what he want continue
you will all put to shame again

TheGoodJoe:


Before a player drops deep, it means the team is having trouble building up. The forward passes gets cut off because of the compact/organized set up. In this case, the passes were coming. Regularly for that matter. How do you expect the striker to get away from the passes coming to drop deep. Are you serious?

The solution was to get more accurate passes. Not Iheanacho dropping deep. Haba.

Mickael2:
Onazi/Etebo IMHO worked because of Mikel's presence, without Mikel, Onazi/Etebo would be worse than what we saw on saturday. I may be tempted to agree that Ndidi could have been used as a CB(although I don't see why Omeruo shouldn't be there) but in that case Agu or Ogu or some other person plus Etebo would work.

Then we have the secondary problem of figuring out what formation we are actually playing. Icon4s thinks we are playing a 4-3-3, the coach thinks we are playing a 4-2-3-1(4-5-1) and some of the players are understandably lost. For example when you are playing a 4-3-3, Iwobi needs to stay very close to the opponents box as a forward not close to the center circle as a midfielder and at times you could notice that Iwobi was lost, Simon on his own part did not know if he was playing as a WF or a naturally wide midfielder, I think the coach needs to address this issue. If we want to play a 4-3-3 then let it be a 4-3-3 and in that case Iwobi is NOT A WING FORWARD by any stretch of the imagination and should not be there. If we want to play a 4-5-1 then Moses Simon is NOT A WIDE MIDFIELDER by any stretch of the imagination and should not be there

Icon4s:
Your first paragraph is just the summary of why our attack could not break down the SA defense.

For eg in that first half Iheanacho was practically kept off on several occasions. There were through balls from the midfield in that first half but they were either intercepted by their organized CB pairing or they kept Iheanacho off.

To rescue the situation, Iwobi had to play wide to pull usually two of the defenders to him. Expecting a disorganization of the CB pairing which could have given room for Iheanacho to operate. But his lack of athletism limited him to wide positions plus the SA defenders made sure he never made progress into the their 18yards box.

Etebo in an attempt to break the defence started making solo runs - what he is known for but his finishing touches let him down as he was always putting himself in a difficult position to aim at goal. Etebo's problem now I think is the 'Jack of all trade but master of none'. I think we need to define the role he will play for the national team and confine him to it. I recommend the CM. The role he played against Algeria.

Simon Moses has not improved a bit. He is not a starter IMO. He tried to use his skill and pace to outwit the SA defenders but his crosses were either not timely or too wide. At a point he was just playing crosses not directly targeting any player and expecting a miracle to happen.

Iheanacho was not much involved in the game. The major highlight I have of him was the pass he gave to Etebo that he missed. Secondly were the countless times he was caught in off side positions. The SA coach probably after seeing Iheanacho at City has understood that the only way to stop him from playing is not to allow the balls to get to him. We saw that happen several times at City this season. Iheanacho rides on the back of good Atracking midfield and wings play. He is still our most lethal finisher.

Kayode substituting Iheanacho was when the game ended for Nigeria.

Let me analyse Rohr's thinking before the substitution: We were on a 4-3-3 formation and under sparadic attacks from SA. Depleting the midfield further by removing either Iwobi or Simon would spell more doom. In the balance of play SA was having the upper hand in the midfield at that point in time. He left the two wingers and pulled out Iheanacho with the expectations that Kayode who is more of a natural striker than Iheanacho would have been able to use his pace and skills to outwit the SA defenders on a one on one basis. Alas it turned out that Rohr over estimated Kayode's abilities. At a time in the game I asked if Kayode was still on that field.

Musa's introduction was to introduce more direct play as Iwobi was practically kept wide and we made more incursion into the SA defense as he was even able to combine well on one or two occasions with Kayode. But the player to finish those moves was not there. Had Iheanacho been kept in the game.... who knows?

Osimhen, was the final trow of the die. We were 2-0 down already and so he just had to gamble by pulling out Simon. Osimhen made some good touches and edge of the box moves but not good enough to make anything happen.

Mikel and V. Moses would have obviously made the difference. What the SA defenders did was to keep Iwobi and Simon in wide positions something Moses would have been able to break with his dribbling skills, pace and direct play.
Mikel would have been able to break down the organised SA defense with his dribbling skills, ball holding and shielding abilities plus timely release of the ball for Iheanacho.

If it is doable I would have pleased with God to take Mikel's age back to at least 25!. We are not ready to move on without him.

All these wahala was bc we met a very organized defense.

Then also I think Rohr spent more time focusing on our strength and not much on SA's weaknesses while reverse was the case for SA.

I have the belief that we still qualify. We can also beat SA away.

I wish Ikeme, Balogun, Mikel And Moses quick recovery. They are the back bone of the team. August in not far away again.