₦airaland Forum

Any quick, hard-tackling midfielder would do. This is a friendly I'd rest Ndidi and play Etebo

Oasis007:
So who would you prefer in the Midfield?!

pyrex23:
U guys have forgotten that this match is a dead rubber nd probably rohr was just testing a few things out..
I can even believe someone is blaming iwobi..
For me iwobi was d best in our attact today..
He showed skill nd pace but d picth definately let him down..
I dont know if its only me but as for now i prefer iwobi on d wings dan in d Am position..

On a better pitch with iwobi nd onyekuru on d wings algeria for chop am...
Ogu also did quite well especially in d second half...
Also did any1 notice etebor crosses on d pitch.. It was rarely wayward nd always met their man.. Very Good i must say

beats me how people think Iwobi would do anything as an Amf or CMF, the guy has the pace and trickery of a winger. Is he creative? Not even close to an AMF at all. I believe theGoodjoe watched Mancity vs Arsenal, in that game(and sadly most of his games) Iwobi was not inventive at all, he was always keeping it simple which is not what an AMF should be doing, it's as if losing possession is a sin for him. I easily prefer him in a wide position just that he needs to improve his stamina, for someone so fast he does not cover his fullbacks

Oasis007:
My preferred Lineup against Argentina. (4 - 4 - 2) Formation needs to be tested by Rohr, we can't rely only on 4 - 2 - 3 - 1 every time.



------------------- Akpeyi --------------------

Shehu ------ Ekong --- Balogun ------- Aina

-------------- Ogu ------ Mikel --------------

Iwobi-------------------------------- Onyekuru

----------- Iheanacho --- Kayode -------------

I picked Akpeyi over Ezenwa simply to know if he deserves a place in the Team to Russia. This should be his final Test, and if he fails it, then Rohr should stop inviting him.

He's more exposed than Ezenwa professionally, hence it's a big Shame Ezenwa is considered ahead of him as Eagles present No. 1.

The Backline is solid against the Algerians. I think it's better we allow the quartet to starting gelling together henceforth. We need to know what they can offer in Russia, starting from the next (Friendly) Match.

Ogu and Mikel Pivot gonna be a good Combo. Both can tackle superbly and shield/hold on the Ball excellently. While Ogu is dealing with short Passes, Mikel would be dealing with long range Passes to the frontline.

They do not need to attack, rather allow the Wingers - Iwobi and Onyekuru doing the Job. Their primary Assignments would be; shielding the Defense, controlling the Game and freeing up the Wingers and the Strikers doing the damages.

Iheanacho is a creative Player, with good eyes for Goals and decisive passes. Playing him and Kayode upfront gonna be a Menace for the Argentine Defenders.

Iheanacho can shoot from outside, Kayode gets the Pace, Onyekuru gets magical feet, and Iwobi is technically gifted.

I hope to see what the Lads can offer in a 4 - 4 - 2 Formation.

you've drawn up a formation without a workhorse, that is a sure recipe for disaster. All the Argentine midfielders are fast and very very tricky, Mikel and/or Ogu are not known for their one-on-one tackling abilities, we have Di Maria and Banega, Di Maria is easily very fast and skillful and except you did not watch the match between Sevilla and Spartak or the match between Sevilla and Liverpool way back you'd never know how skillfull Banega is too. That midfield would be overrun

soetanoreoluwa:
I know you will mention iwobi...

It seems people are making case for nacho and iwobi Tonite... Hmmm..

But seriously what did you think about Ogu game.. Be neutral... No sentiments...

what was Ogu even playing yesterday? Sometimes he was so far up the pitch that you'd think he is the Amf/Cmf and sometimes he'd fall back into the DMF role but let's blame the pitch sha

Daejoyoung:
This is for Mickael2 who argued the Algerians played better, the stats indicates otherwise in terms of possession, shots on targets and passes completed.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BbVIhOlhrV3/

haba, you need stats to tell you the Algerians were better? Their shots off target were what exactly? Slimani's header in the first was half was a clear goal but he sent it off target, the stats don't explain that. That header from a corner which was a certain goal was sent off target, the ground cross that Ezenwa came for and missed before Slimani again put it wide would be recorded as a shot off target, their final header would be recorded as a shot off target but these were all glorious chances way better than any we created. The ball possession was 49-50 but they created more chances and that shows they played better, way better in the second half(we were like 56-44 up after the first half, just keeping the ball no bite). You are actially kidding if you think we were better than the Algerians yesterday

TheGoodJoe:
Pitch to blame for the faulty passes from Iwobi. On one occasion, Iwobi did not actually pass the ball but the ball hit a contour on the field. It bounce and hit his shin.

By the way, he made brilliant moves on the right to describe his play as that of a headless chicken.

the headless chicken was a joke ofcourse

TheGoodJoe:
Impossible. Did you see how many times Balogun had to drift to the left side of the pitch to prevent attacks from the flanks? Some of the aerial balls he won. The work of covering the central defence and the sides repeatedly puts Balogun ahead.

which match was that? I have already pointed out that Balogun is the type of guy that wants to attack a winger, drifting to the leftside is his style of play and he wasn't great at it today but please, don't let me spoil your assumption that Balogun was good today, infact everybody was good even Nwakaeme and Iheanacho

soetanoreoluwa:
Lol... You are not serious.. I know we won't lose... Can you see now...

The game is very poor... Very very poor expect Ekong Ndidi, shehu and maybe Etebo... Others j
Had bad game...

We need a goalkeeper...

Oga mickeael2 who are the players that run like headless chicken Tonite?

Iwobi sha showed characteristics of a headless chicken. Two counters, two wrong passes. Atleast you agree that the game was poor, seems like saying the truth is a crime in Nigeria, once we become succesful we stop trying to improve and we end up stagnating till others catch up, poor poor stupid native African mentality

TheGoodJoe:
Few players that really stood out for me despite the atrocious conditions the players played on where

John Ogu
Balogun
Shehu Abdullahi
Iwobi
Ekong to some extent

Ekong was better than Balogun today na

Mujtahida:
When you saw that Ighalo, Moses, Onazi were invited you changed from we were not going to win to we were going to lose


When Ighalo, Moses and Onazi were injured your analysis disappeared(your analysis that we were going to lose because they were in the team disappeared) and became neutral abi as in there was no analysis as to the outcome of the game on your part. Is that what you are saying?

you know I haven't be around for a long while, never said anything about this game since then. This is the last I am talking about this Algeria game

safarigirl:
no offence bro, but you are talking arrant nonsense.

An Algerian football journalist just admitted that thy got lucky on two counts:

Brahimi should have seen RED for that head-butt. Algeria ought to be one man down by the end of the game

The penalty was DUBIOUS

An Algerian admitted that and you are here yarning dust.

We had higher possession in both halves.

Oga, go and sleep abeg. You just wan talk

I have heard you, hope your day was good

TheGoodJoe:
Phenomenal. That one is not even a debate. From the first to second half, Ogu was the most consistent player behind Brahimi. From the start of the game, he stood out and he is clearly the best defensive midfielder I have seen in years play for the Super Eagles when it concerns all round play.

Oga please which match did you watch? I noticed SS9 was showing a repeat of Nigeria vs Uruguay sha

tbaba1234:
I disagree, we did not deserve to lose.. The only chances for Algeria were slip-ups from Ezenwa

I am not talking about the chances they got....for now.

We hardly created two chances, our midfield was jittery all game long, there was no leadership and the team was disjointed, we did not deserve to win. Not all their chances were 'cause of the gk

Humility017:
if you were in his shoes how will you feel...ola who came yesterday is already playing full 90 mins...
why do you think the English coach is capping Abraham and co....

you need give this guys sense of belonging...
keep inviting him every time to make up the numbers.....

show them that you believe in them...
give him few minutes under his belt...it is good for his confidence......
a very inconsequential match like this would have been better if he was allowed to play few minutes....

after all he is not doing badly for his club....

and the worst part is that Shehu will still play against Argentina, why not leave this one for the younger lad

tbaba1234:
Too many complainers, we just completed the easiest WC group for a very long time. There is work to be done and i believe we are on the right track.

we have played two games without Mikel and in both games we deserved to lose, easy to see why people are complaining

I no wan comment on Ogu but please don't blame Aina, when your GK keeps on goofing over and over again, omo me I go dey clear all the balls even when he is beside me

sontoly:
Some one said Ogu was bad today, humility or what, guess he was doing more of typing than watching, Ogu was the best player apart from d goal he scored, the worst been his fellow team mate nwakaeme.

Ogu almost eliminated the loopholes of mikel, the commentator even confirmed it that we had better possesion of the ball prior to the goal.

I think Nwakaeme last game was today.

Henry Onyekuru needs to be given more time nxt match we saw a glimpse of him and his tracking back.

Ola did well but lacked good communication with keeper and balogun.

nice game.

mank1234:
If Nwakali doesn't play against Argentina, then I'll join forgiveness and co in suspecting shady deals in call up.

the Nwakali I know would have offered more than Ndidi and Ogu combined. I love Ndidi but this wasn't his best match. This was a dead rubber match anyways, let's not judge Rohr yet

Humility017:
Lol...rohr need go for refresher course...
that nacho play from the flanks was a serious waste..
kayode would have been deployed there and nacho play the CF and iwobi the AM role....

etebo can then play the wings too...or probably Henry.


I never expected this formation from rohr

New convert

Daejoyoung:
What about us, were we strengthened?

that I have said before that without Mikel(and maybe Moses) we do not have a team. I don't want to talk much about this game, let's wait for Argentina

Mujtahida:
Habaaa you first said we won't win. Later on you said we would lose. Habaaa be honest na

i did not deny that at all. When I saw the list of invited players we had Ighalo and Moses who would have definetly started plus Onazi so I changed from not winning to losing, it wasn't a prediction at all, just analysis based on the players present, the players were changed so the analysis disappeared

Daejoyoung:
But this is an Algerian team complete with their stars against a Nigerian team without Moses and Mickel, and having a few rookies in the line up.

they were missing 3 defenders plus Benteleb, that is 4 players missing so yes they were weakened very well.

Cc tbaba

tbaba1234:
Oga, you said we will lose both games... I disagree.. Algeria were not that good.. The chances they had were simply down to poor goalkeeping

I agree, Algeria were not even good at all BUT THEY WERE BETTER THAN US. The first chance they created that Slimani would have headed in for his club was a result of our poor team setup not GK. The one that Slimani missed wasn't exactly the Gks fault, I have seen many Gks going for that kind of ball I wouldn't blame him but he was atrocious though

Mujtahida:
You said Algeria was going to win us and you know but for the soft penalty we would have won. So admit that your prediction fell flat

you want make I dig up where I said we wouldn't win? Bar that penalty there was no assurance that their final header would not have gone in. They were lucky I agree but they deserved their luck and if we had won this game it would have been undeserved

Icon4s:
I still give the boys credit.

This is a dead rubber game.

Some of our key players absent.

A couple of fringe players started.

Don't judge this team with this game.

I said it before that we may not win this game, not because we are not good enough but because it is a dead rubber game.

the coach simply did not employ the tactics that would suit the available players, quite predictable as well. Bar that goal and that counter from Iwobi I doubt we created any other dangerous situation all 90mins against a weakened Algerian team, dead rubber or not it was poor.


I already knew we wouldn't win, I expected a good performance though

tbaba1234:
Rub what in?? You said we would lose.. We didn't... Algeria needed a dubious penalty to score.

with better finishing we would have lost embarrasingly and you know it, they were EASILY the better team.


Meanwhile I said WE WOULD NOT WIN, I added that we would lose after we saw the list of invitees but due to injuries the team was almost completely changed

Icon4s:
That Ref should be investigated for match fixing.

Oloshi alakori.

so have you seen how poor we were?

Humility017:
the coach is not a tactician...I fear for nigeria..
come next year.

so you agree now? Komekn, forgiveness come now lads, we get to rub it in right now

Clementoke:
U kept drifting away from the main issue. The question is, did u watch the other players who made that ceremonial best eleven during the qualifiers. Prove by comparing them that they don't merit their spot in that team. For me, I only watched Mikel during the series but I can't say he was the best midfielder in the qualifiers since I didn't watch the others play for their national teams in other games whose efforts might have been overshadowed by the poor display of their teammates.

do you know how these things work? You cannot tell me that Ramos who is error-prone performed better than.....Koulibaly for example at Napoli, but Madrid won the champions league and Ramos made the FIFA pro XI. De Gea was saving one-on-ones like it was nobody's business but guess who won the best GK? Buffon. Your performance IS NOT independent of your team's performance, football is a team game and that is why these awards also depend on how your team, of which you are a part, performs.


We are looking at the best team, it can be agreed factually that the best team has the best midfield, Nigeria was the best team with the best midfield and we are asking if the best midfielder of that team(Mikel) should make the team?

tbaba1234:
According to owngoalnigeria, this is the starting line-up released by Rohr after the last training session:

Line Up.

Ikechukwu Ezenwa

Shehu Abdullahi

Ola Aina

Leon Balogun

William Troost-Ekong

Ogehenekaro Etebo

John Ogu

Wilfred Ndidi

Anthony Nwakaeme

Alex Iwobi

Kelechi Iheanacho

and what are their positions? If Etebo is the Amf and Iheanacho is the ST then we won't have a single shot on target

Icon4s:
If this is coming from you then no one else needs to be convinced about Mikel's abilities and input in the team.

That is why I call him "the orchestrator".

I don't see why I won't say something is good when it's quite clear. Maybe because Mikel won't score 20goals and people then think he offers nothing

Clementoke:
Though a fan of Mikel, I feel playing well in the qualifiers might not be enough to displace any of those who made that WCQ qualifiers best eleven unless if you can prove that he was actually better than the midfielders selected.

wait, are you missing the point here? I am to believe that we are the highest scorers, we have the meanest defence and we beat the best teams around, then you are telling me that the guy that is EASILY our own best player does not deserve to be in the team? It does not make any sense, you have players there who barely had 2-3 good games, Mikel was very good(atleast) in every game and once he leaves the pitch the entire team suffered, and he added goals and preassists too

nelszx:
Sentiment aside who should be displaced in his stead?

Check these.....

Nigeria vs Zambia, 2-1 Mikel was instrumental.

Nigeria 3-1 Algeria, Mikel was instrumental, even scored.

Nigeria 4-0 Cameroon, Mikel was instrumental, even scored.

Cameroon 1 vs 1 Nigeria, Mikel was okay.

Zambia 0-1 Nigeria, Mikel was instrumental.

This is a guy that makes the team play well, if he isn't there then that list makes no sense. VicMo missed a lot of games