₦airaland Forum

andrew444:
What same level? a draw in a friendly match?

This same mexico beat croatia in 2014 world cup,the same team you could not beat,and mind you the same croatia has a younger modric and mandzukic then,there was also perisic there.

This same mexico that brazil could not beat on their home soil in 2014 when they played a goaless draw with the host nation.

As far as i am concerned they are better than us for the past 6 years.

Did Mexico and Brazil meet at the world cup?

tbaba1234:
Shehu offers nothing going forward, we had zero width from both fullbacks. How he gets selected over Ebuehi is a mystery.

in the match against Serbia Ebuehi was just as bad offensively. the truth of the matter is that as a fullback playing the same wing with a winger like VicMo in a world cup where more emphasis is laid on not losing as against winning then you can't blame Shehu at all.

TheGoodJoe:
Explain why we were deadlier when Nacho came on for Ighalo if Mikel finding Ighalo was the problem to you. I repeat, our problem was poor movement up front.

Finito.

Oga just stop this rubbish you have been saying since yesterday. Just stop it please I beg of you

Joebie:
Since the England game I opined that we lack the creative edge in the final third. We are not threatening at all upfront. That has been our problem. We are sure to concede a goal or two , but how do we respond, or will we ever take the initiative to go ahead first?

but they said we dominated England in that second half and that Rohr was keeping his cards close to his chest.

TheGoodJoe:
I said when you have Mikel pressing, you have a problem. It means your striker is not capable enough to press.

With Nacho on the field, Mikel pressed less compared to Nacho.

Gerrit?

for goodness sake Musa was also pressing then

I am done, happy fathers day

TheGoodJoe:
It would have because Nacho's movement and pressing would have given us more chances to cause the Croatians havoc. Ighalo lacked mobility and found pressing difficult. This made it easy for the Croats to repeatedly build-up plays from the back and exploit gaps in our play.

we are here telling you that Mikel was not pressing well, neither was Iwobi and Moses, and you are saying that bringing in Iheanacho would have made us press better. Baba fear God small na

goldfish80:
Your analysis is very apt and totally spot on. It's unbelievable, at this age people are still sentimental and defensive of their favourite players.

Fact is that Ndidi and Mikel were piss poor in ball circulation. I lost count how many times Ndidi passed the ball straight to an opponent.
I think Rohrs plan was to contain the Croats and hope for something to drop, while the Baltics played it safe and didn't try to force anything, knowing that Nigeria will self implode at some point, especially from dead balls and corner kicks.

The problem with our tactics is that Rohr had no contingency plan if his team went a goal down. Because it's a different ball game matching the Croats, which he set up to team to do than trying to force the opening when you are a goal behind.

Again, back to Mikel, do you know it took until the 2nd half before we had a shot at goal? A tame shot for that matter.The fanatics here made us believe the absence of Mikel against Poland and Serbia was the reason why we hardly had a shot at goal in those games.Being the most advanced midfielder, what was his job, if not to create chances?

the issues, I had assumed previously, were quite obvious for all to see. But I have just been shell shocked since I came online, people are blaming everyone except the players who should actually be blamed. watch them twist what you said bowl

TheGoodJoe:
Not Ighalo in any way but the coaching. The balance is wrong. We are still disorganized.

so why are you sounding as if Nacho upfront would have made any difference?

TheGoodJoe:
Throughout Ighalo was on the field, how many times did you see Ighalo go to press the Goalkeeper to pull out the ball early? In the few minutes Nacho was upfront, it was repeated. When Simy came on, it stopped.

We have no striker for now that offers that in the team. So Nacho deserves the nod to spearhead our attack or we suffer from build-up plays from the back of our oppositions.

Finito.

I give up, you win.

Iheanacho is the messiah we have been waiting for.
Finito

TheGoodJoe:
When you have Mikel doing your pressing, you have a problem.
Finito.

should we blame Ighalo or the coach

TheGoodJoe:
How many times was Musa ahead of Nacho pressing? Did you see Musa ahead of Nacho pressing the central defenders? Keep in mind, I said Nacho carried the bulk of the load. In the case of Ighalo we are talking of Mikel carrying a heavy chunk of the load.

Note also, Ighalo had a sufficient amount of time with Musa on the pitch but Mikel still had that burden to help with the pressing. With Nacho, Mikel lacked that responsibility.

Gerrit?

actually you are not making much sense seriously. Why does Musa have to be ahead of Nacho? OK let's say Ighalo is pressing the GK and the other two defenders are free the GK would easily pass to one of the defenders and if you form hard man and continue chasing the second defender they will use you as middle man. That was the predicament Ighalo had to live wit. Please let me ask, did we really play better with Nacho in the game? The Croatians actually had more chances to score a third and a fourth

TheGoodJoe:
When Iheanacho was on the pitch, Mikel reduced his pressing duties and Iheanacho carried most of the load. It was until Nacho came on we had the keeper under pressure to disturb their build-up plays which was a big part of their game.

I repeat, when Mikel has to do a lot of pressing when you have a striker on the field, you have a problem. Heck, repeatedly, Mikel was ahead of Ighalo pressing. That already spelt doom for us.

I did not say Ighalo was stationary but not mobile enough to cause the Croats problems.

why are you always twisting facts? So Musa was not pressing? it was only Nacho doing all the pressing? At one point you are blaming Ighalo for not pressing alone yet you want us to believe that Nacho was pressing alone when Musa was also pressing like MAD? brother, did Moses ever press? What Mikel was doing would you call that pressing? Play Ighalo with Musa and know if they won't press just as much, even better. I mean if Ighalo presses the GK and he passes the ball to the defender and nobody is pressing the defender what happens? We lose one player

TheGoodJoe:
Watch the first shot Nacho had and watch his movement to the ball. As long as you have an attacker with movement, the midfield has chances. Ighalo did not offer that all game. Also, Ighalo was too lazy to press all game, causing Mikel to aid in the pressing.

I hammered on this before. If Mikel has to do the pressing, you have a problem. Mikel was all over the pitch working hard and that can not be a description of poor performance. Simple we were not mobile enough and that was basically what nullified us.

So why were we not mobile.

Simple.

Shehu and Ighalo.

wait oh, so Ighalo was supposed to press the entire back four alone? So Mikel does not have to press even though he is the second most advanced player as per Messi or something? I think it was in the beginning of the second half when we actually created a chance for Ighalo did you not see his brilliant movement to get onto the wrong side of his marker? if not for that brilliant block he would have scored. There was a time Ighalo had the ball on the byline but Iwobi was too slow to get into the box, that summed up what was happening. Ighalo played upfront alone because Moses was busy showing off his skills in a wide area

TheGoodJoe:

Oh common. Shehu should not be blamed because Moses dribbles. Really? If Ebuehi was there he would keep the Croatians under pressure with his constant runs, with or without Moses.

Quick question, have you ever played as a fullback in your life? If you have, we would not be having this conversation. I don't know if it was Etebo or Ndidi that was always open for Moses in the middle but time and again he'd choose to beat his man instead of just passing the ball. By the way what Shehu did yesterday was no different from what Abidal used to do for Barca, and it was to be expected because he was marking Perisic, you know...their best player?

TheGoodJoe:
The opportunity came because of Nacho's movement. If we had more movement upfront, Mikel would have created more. You can not blame him for our conservative style.

the opportunity actually came because of Mikel's movement. Nacho was standing on the same position that Ighalo was standing all game long but in that sequence Mikel actually decided to attack through Moses' wing instead of going through the other side as he was doing all game long. No offence but Ighalo would have dropped the ball back for Mikel to shoot which was the better option at that point too

Mujtahida:
We didn't play badly and we didn't play well. My pain is that Croatia with all their above average, star studded team didn't do anything magical, nothing whatsoever. We made it too easy for them.

who said they didn't do anything? If you were busy preparing for a serious mathematics exam and you are served primary school mathematics won't you just drop your calculator and start solving manually? They didn't need to get out of first gear because what we were playing wasn't even close to their own gear1 so why exert energy too much when your next match is against Argentina? For the record the only shot on goal we had was Ighalo's tame header, if we had brought our A game they would have played a lot better than they did. watch their performance against Senegal, an African team that actually came to play football

Martz101:
prior to this worldcup you keep saying keep iwobi on the bench, bring him on when mikel is tired, me and some people here asked you what if mikel don't get tired?

you people should quit the i told you so game, we are not out yet....i still believe

If you said something and it actually happens, wouldn't it be grammatically correct to say 'I told you so'?

Oasis007:


Guess we can finally come to terms with some Critics of Rohr and his Team, especially Mickael2. They don't hate the Team, only being realistic with Rohr Tactics, Lineup and Conservatism.

They ain't like some Folks that believed in the Team only to sharply turn around because we lost a Match out of 3 in the Group Stage.

Who says we can't still make it to the next Round?! Mathematically we are in the Competition. Realistically we ain't a walk-over Team, and hopefully our Boys will bounce back and do us proud again.

#SoarHigherEagles

That's not what matters now but how the team will move forward, they are representing Nigeria anyways. But there are some issues here

First of all Mikel was poor, very very poor. There was only one reasonable chance that Mikel created, the one he gave to Nacho which Nacho should have dropped back for him because Mikel was in a better position yet he choose to shoot, looking for the glory for himself. Mikel dispossessed Modric by the corner flag and he just passed the ball to Subasic, is that a chance created? Mikel was supposed to do a 1-2 with Moses but passed the ball far ahead of Moses and there was no way Moses was going to get that ball so he dived, is that a chance created? Modric was easily the best player on the pitch followed by Rakitic why? Whenever Modric had the ball no Nigerian player bothered to press him, and that was supposed to be the work of Mikel and since nobody was pressuring him he had enough time to pick his passes precisely. In fact from the 52-78 minutes Modric was not dispossessed even once because nobody dared to mark him. Even when Rakitic also dropped into Modrics role towards the end of the game nobody was marking him either. Mikel was bad, let us not hide that fact but to me he remains our best bet in the AMF role, there is no assurance that Iwobi would have done better.


All the blames on Shehu are all pointless. Two seasons ago at Barca, Alba was very very poor because he was playing on the same wing with Neymar but last season he was a totally different beast. When you play on the same wing with a player who likes to dribble so much, you as a fullback will be reluctant to attack knowing fully well that any mistake and you would be out of position badly and that was what clearly restricted Shehu. There were times when Moses had better options yet he choose to beat his man, after seeing that will you still want to attack knowing fully well that the person you are living behind is Perisic, a quick winger? Also, the lack of press on Modric by Mikel was easily the reason why Perisic kept on receiving accurate long balls but instead of blaming Mikel we blame Shehu? The young guy contained Perisic which nobody can really guarantee that Ebuehi could have done especially since we were a goal down and the onus would have been on Ebuehi to attack leaving gaps for Perisic. Cut Shehu some slack, he was not bad today. not outstanding but absolutely solid.


we really need to tell our GK that there is a difference between winning and losing. even when we were losing it took him hours to get the ball back in play allowing the Croatians to regroup and easily counter our long balls.


this one is going to create serious controversy but I wasn't overly impressed with Etebo. too many back passes, just too many. too much ball hogging, just too much. he pressed well, won the ball back well but did absolutely nothing with it except the driving runs that he made once or twice which all happened in the middle of the pitch which really didn't matter. Now peeps want him to play as the 10 after that performance against Algeria and SA in that role? that should not happen any time soon. Ndidi was anonymous in this match, he was not the deepest midfielder so I would have guessed that it was his work to carry the ball forward which he absolutely did not do all game long.

Mujtahida:
Marcus oooo, where are you ooo.

you see why I talk say the pig go turn bacon this night?

Iwobi out and I am going to bed

Moses has been very very very poor when it comes to crosses

kennysville:
This Rohr's tactics of trying to use Ighalo to wear out the opponents in first half.... hmmm i hope it works. We are matching Croatia yes.... but a game like this is one we need to be putting our best foot forward. But lets see 2nd half and lets hope it wont be too late

matching Croatia where? zero shot on target, they have created like three or four good chances to put the game away

neighy:
Who noticed iwobi moved to the middle going into the end of the match... Nd we attacked better

the thing would have been simple. just take Etebo to that left side and take Mikel back and let's watch how they perform for the next ten minutes, no need for any sub yet

Goke7:
so why keep musa and iheanacho on the bench if we lack pace

ask the coach. and this Croatian defence is slow, how we are not utilising pace sure beats me. and we are hoofing long balls to a short Ighalo

safarigirl:
Ighalo is unlucky and useless once again

Nobody tell me any nonsense about midfield feeding him or not. CR7 was running to collect ball from defense, what can Ighalo do even as hr is at least 5 years younger?

our two most advanced players are Ighalo and Mikel, absolutely no pace there or goal threat either

Unlimited22:
Go watch the minutes leading to the shot that led to the corner.

so you have never seen a winger beating a right back? he did his job and cannot be blamed except you just don't like him

Unlimited22:
Abdullahi Shehu is the problem!!!!

what did he do exactly about the goal?

we still have a chance in this match. Either of Etebo or Ndidi needs to drop for Iwobi in the middle. Bring on Iheanacho and move into a 3-5-2 or even 4-4-2

Mujtahida:
marcus!marcus!!marcus!!!
how many times did i call you?

you no go like leave the pig alone? Something wey go turn bacon in a few weeks

safarigirl:
Uzoho MADE, not WILL MAKE

And he is saying, y'all roasted him for that and made it seem like good goalies don't make mistakes

I remember when we had that argument, one of you or goldfish made the statement that "A top goalie can't make such an error"

We have seen De Gea make it, so, next time, make una calm down

He made it sound like if Uzoho makes a mistake we all should clap, smile and nod our heads saying that a top goalie has made the same mistake too. I don't even understand the nonsensical comparisons we generate here

realpoacher:
Uzoho critics how far?


Na almighty De gea naim fucck up so o!

See as him catch ball like Akpere keeper

Sir goldfish08... Atleast you can cut Uzoho some space for Harry kane's goal

I want to understand something, what business does De Gea making a mistake that cost Spain have to do with Uzoho making a mistake that will cost us? what is the relationship there

Mujtahida:
i guess this is a subject dear to your heart cos i doubt if you have ever written so much as this ever since i joined this thread.
the statistics support your position: all the countries that have won the WC have done so with indigenous coaches. westerhoff stayed here so long and imbibed our way and this influenced how he made our players play. i do not see anything magical about the tactics deployed by the top footballing nations that we cannot match but like you said greed and corruption is our bane. this is what spoils it for our coaches.

Seriously it touches me more than anyother thing. I'd have felt like a mad man if not that Oasis too grabs the fact that Siasia is close to everything we need. Some/most of our local coaches are only good enough for U17 people where ego is yet to set in. Look at Iheanacho's U20, IIRC Success came to the tournament a day or so before the first match yet he told the coach he wanted to play and the coach didn't check his ego and played him, in fact he ended up playing Awoniyi out of position. On a normal no African parent would behave like that, as a coach you need to be a tactician and a father to the players, that means you need to understand what they need and that is why top countries recruit local coaches. Isn't it funny that CAF coaching licence does not make sense, is it the Europeans that will teach us how to play football in Africa? Football did not start anywhere, just like you are black and naturally you can't have curly hair, so also you can't be able to do what the Europeans do. No African player can pass very well like Xavi, which is why Barca hardly waste their time recruiting African players. But no European is going to be as fast as Ikedia for 90mins straight, they naturally do not have that ability. All continents produce dribblers but obviously Africa produces a lot more than Europe because here nobody cares about the defender, only that fanciful winger who left 3 players in his wake, and the guy that scored the goal, that's how we work in Africa. So our advantages are, easily, our strength and our dribbling ability. Trying to imbibe a possession game will not make sense to us because naturally it isn't what we do, we do the direct approach to everything. So the sooner we realise that possession game, though it may be the norm, isn't our game. South Africa for example have almost all their players from the local league, the problem is that they tend to think that they are less African, they coach themselves in the European way trying to pass their way out, it may work in one or two matches but in the long run it won't work. Like I have said before, if Rohr was the team manager and Siasia the tactician going to this world cup, I would have applied for my leave, pay the 520k that I saw in one ad and go to Russia because I am sure we would be getting out of the group. Our problem is that our good local coaches almost always allow greed to take over them. For a moment just pause and wonder if Ike Uche or Obafemi Martins was our second choice striker in 2014, if Joel Obi had been the one entering that French game instead of Reuben, if Igiebor had been the player going in when Babatunde got injured, trust me had it been we utilised the proper tools we had France for dey go house, but even with only 11 players and 12 other farmers, Keshi got to the Round of 16, that shows you what we could achieve if we remove greed.


I don dey write too much sha because this is a topic that seriously appeals to me and it exposes our over-dependence on foreign stuffs and why we need to stop it.