₦airaland Forum

SymphonyRad:
I don't blame him, if Nigeria didn't turn itself to Osimhen fc with all our talent pools and huge population, we wouldn't have to keep depending on Osimhen while recycling players like Moffi and Onuachu who are dedicated players (God bless their efforts) but are limited in the system we play. That's why Chelle shouldn't use this summer break to just relax, he should keep beaming his radar on young strikers like George Ilenikhena whom he has mentioned already, there are also several undiscovered Nigerian talents in the lower rungs of Europe especially the Czech league that seems to be the new talent factory for Nigeria.

I completely agree

Kog45:
Oga in a competitive match can you stake Nigeria beating Portugal?

Even with our stars, them go beat us
We were lucky to escape with 2:1 yesterday
Many people are not seeing that

We played well in moments, yes
But we were outclassed most times..

No shame in that
We take the lessons and we improve

Kog45:
Ronaldo just played canon fodder match against Nigeria,so what are you saying...

Ronaldo no even put body for game sef
No urgency, no must-win spirit, just miss goals and smile..

SymphonyRad:
Brosky we are saying the same thing, call it moral victory or self-consolation...but the scoreline at the end was 2:1, and it will go on the record books that Portugal with it's full complement of world class players failed to drub a considerably second string Nigerian side at their backyard. That's why it pains me the likes of Osimhen and Lookman (especially Osimhen) always find ways to avoid top draw games like this. I'll still insist and bet any amount that if we had Osimhen, Lookman, Benjamin, Azeez, Aina and Nwabali...this should have on any odds being a 2-2 type of scoreline. Remember Akor missed a good opportunity to score from a break and Dele Bashiru killed a counter that should have led to a goal, not forgetting Chukwueze's gaffe as well...put Osimhen, Lookman or Azeez at the end of those counters...we might have seen a different outcome.

At the end we were lucky, but we competed well...another team would have been annihilated by Portugal.

I agree with you
Your final paragraph summed it up nicely

Kog45:
My takes on Portugal friendly

1.Goalkepping...Okoye for the first time proved that he has come of age and good that we are having two solid safe hands,am waiting for Okonkwo real grade A match.

2.RB,good that we have options in Bewane and Akpan but they are not better than Aina and Osayi for now

3.LB,Bruno is solid as usual,good performance but we need strong back up,not really comfortable with Sanusi

4.Midfield,Ndidi,Iwobi and Oyenka are doing extremely well and i do not see reason why Oyenka should be on the bench for Fisayo Dele Bashiru..good that we are having Nnadi but we need more midfielders to give healthy competition in the team

5.Forwards,we missed Osimhen but Akor proved that he is reliable..Moffi and Onuachu will continue to be on the bench and i do not see Onuachu lasting in the team,we need third attacker and Moffi and Onuachu cannot do it.

6.Wide forwards,we missed Lookman,nothing to say on Simon and Chuckwueze performance cuz we are use to it but good that we are having Azeez in the mix and hopefully Zodak progresses...

Generally,Chelle and his men are doing extremely well cuz we are having identity now not like before,but need to continue pushing for more talents

Beautiful

Odunayaw:
All the replays showed that ball wasn't a goal o

Yeah Chief, I've seen that now

Goke7:
Exactly just like against Morocco he was trying to ginger our midfield!

Dude understand the mentality for big games

Exactly..

DeloitteNG:
The funniest thing is that Bassey made more errors than Ajayi in that match

Yes he did
Gave the ball away a few times
But he's appreciated because we all saw how he was trying to get the team going with his runs..

Fredrick, Nwaiwu and Bruno are the other defenders who can run with the ball like that..
Aina and Osayi too..

That's what we needed our midfield and wingers to do..
Hold the ball, beat the press, run at their defence sometimes

SymphonyRad:
It wasn't a goal

Okay

We did well in that regard, yes
But truthfully, the respectable score line was majorly because Ronaldo missed like 3-4 clear cut opportunities he would usually score..
Make we no lie, the scoreline flattered us
But somehow we didn't fold, we kept trying to do something in the game, we stayed positive..
But the difference in quality was too much to overcome

SymphonyRad:
That high line pressing game we played was really a bad idea, but honestly if we had Osimhen, Lookman, Femi Azeez, and Benjamin/Nwaiwu partnering Bassey...we should have drawn this match, the backline save for Bassey was as bad as any makeshift backline can get so we did well to hold arguably the best team in the world to a 2-1 game.

Tinneh:
After being played out of positions in past games, he got an opportunity to stamp his authority in a very familiar role and unfortunately he ghosted for most parts ,,,

Bro!!!

elyte89:
If the whole ball crossed the line..d ref gadget will beep ..so it wasn’t a goal .

Guess we were let off the hook then..

Amedino99:
I think the ball landed on some paint.

Baba that goal na clean goal

Amedino99:
He plays like aribo. Useless in the midfield but somehow you will see him in the opponent's box 18.

🤣🤣🤣

Goke7:
Once Iwobi can’t get his rhythm we are cooked

Same thing against Morocco at the AFCON
This is where you need midfield drivers to take the game by the scruff of the neck, like Bassey was trying to do..

Lookman too would have done that though

The referee even helped us sef
That other ball that hit the crossbar, the ball even crossed the line sef
That was a clean goal
Baba just throway face
😃😃

Goke7:
💯 your head Dey there, I like honest assessments

My bro...
Just said it as it is
Our midfield work never complete o
LBs too
We are adequate in other positions

Samueltemi337:
We will see them at the world cup they won't reach the semis

Okay bros
We gather dey

Mujtahida:
I really don't understand that FDB

I'm not really sure what his strengths are
I know TheSuperNerd talks about it all the time, but I just don't see what FDB brings to the fold..
I know he's mostly disciplined and positionally aware, can pop up with a few goals, apart from that, I no know again..

But again, Portugal s superior midfield exposed flaws in our system and playing personnel
We should continue scouting for midfielders, proper CMs and AMs, not DMs again abeg..
This is where I would have loved to see Chrisantus

Samueltemi337:
They are not that good
They don't have a good defense or attack
Na midfield them get

That's good enough
You no see their midfield yesterday?
On another day, we for don chop 5 goals for first half

BascoVanVeli:
Match Highlights

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yuQ9nVg47UQ

Omo
On another day, we for chop like 5:0 this first half alone
The chances Ronaldo himself missed, very uncharacteristic of him..

minfelix:
Chukwueze is gradually losing that spark…he is threading the form of Iheanacho that made coach to discard from selection

Truth

Karlovich:
I have no idea why some of you love to blame goalkeepers, did you see the amount of saves he made in this game.

Instead of people to be proud that the SE has 3 excellent goalkeepers now, they are busy with meaningless comparisons.

Word

Meliforme:
Regarding his midfield selections, Eric Chelle could have done better.
Featuring FDB and Iwobi at the same time, is a bad recipe especially during phases that involves breaking up opposition play through making and winning tackles, defensive duels, and loose ball situations.

I cannot recall a single defensive duel that Iwobi and FDB won in the match against Portugal. They were always beaten.
This poor mix of players is not new. I pointed it out during the AFCON.

Why not include an extra midfielder who can help break up play and win possession. FDB does not help defensively. Ademola Lookman in FDB's position contributes far more defensively, the same as Samuel Chukwueze.

You know book
Fisayo was almost useless in this game

Meliforme:
.

Yes, we need midfielders who can not only win the ball, but can create chances.

Simple

WarHammer2000:
It's actually the highest test if you ask me. Portugal is a strong contender for the WC trophy. They've got Mendes, Vitinha, Neves, all current Champions League winners. Plus other elite talent in all departments. And they started their best against us.

Any other African country would have conceded more than 2 without scoring any. In fact, only few European countries can survive this current Portugal.

If Portugal don't get to the semis, the whole world will see it as an upset
They are that good..
That's a potential WC winning side and we remained competitive throughout

Meliforme:
All these facts about Alhassan Yusuf are not true, especially his passing range.
His passes are good both in the short and long range.

We even still need like 3-4 more midfielders

Meliforme:
If Bruno were to play the RB, only Aina has what it takes to sideline him.
As far as the defensive phases of football in the Super Eagles is concerned, He has outperformed every fullback including Aina.

Bruno even played CB for around 15-20 minutes today and was flawless
Intercepted balls to Ronaldo I think twice ..

Dude is an elite defender..
No one is benching him in that LB position

Clint02:
Just look at this bro.

Even me that's not a professional, I know to just pass the ball in front of the defender for Moffi to run to and be one on one with the keeper

Chukwueze is too frustrating and hasn't grown over the years

SymphonyRad:
My main worry now is that there is no certainty NFF have any plans to renew Chelle's contract, after the September games for the AFCON qualifiers, it won't be far above NFF to pull a shocker and frustrate Chelle out of the job...those idiots are very predictable.

At this point, they can do what they like
They have a choice.. to continue to grow with the team and Chelle, or to fall back into the doldrums of mediocrity and irrelevance..

The choice is theirs

..

After Chelle rang the changes in the second half, we seemed to up the tempo a bit, we were pressing, forcing Portugal to make errors and even seemed fluid in our passing..
But that's as good as it got..

Portugal responded by stepping it up even higher..
Started swarming our players, pressing the life out of us, suddenly we couldn't string 4-5 passes without losing the ball
We dropped deeper and deeper into our half and I knew the second goal was just a matter of time..

Very big lesson learned today..
How Chelle responds will tell me how far he can truly take this team..

Clearly Portugal and Poland are not mates..

Then again, if Bewene had started, we might not have conceded that first goal, another mistake I think Chelle made, Starting Akpan in this game..