₦airaland Forum

somehow:
Chai, too many sentimental comments on this thread, some people won't see anything wrong with the players they like.

What exactly was Iheanacho doing on that pitch after 45 mins? He was no where to be found and had no connection whatever either with his fellow striker or the midfield. If they don't feed you balls, why not come for the balls?

Even when he was subbed, he was walking off the pitch like we were 10 goals up and an SA player had to come remind him to hurry out. Yesterday was a sad day.

Ideye must not be discarded yet, he's been the best SS since 2012. We just need to conclude on a good 9 which we currently lack except for Osimen and Kayode who are still raw.

The midfield lacked creativity, the 3 midifielders played the same way! No one took charge of being creative.

For the defence, save for awaziem, the rest did well but then when you don't attack, you put pressure on your defence especially when you have a dead midfield.

Ok first of all, he was still in that pitch after 45 mins because we were looking for a goal, he had no business getting subbed in that game except if we were ahead.

Second I thought we played a 4-5-1 hybrid formation? Which fellow striker is he supposed to connect with? I doubt if you even know the formation we played, but of course you have the right to criticise.

Finally, Ideye our best SS since 2012? SS actually means support striker and not shadow striker and that is definetly not Ideye. Can't really see why we want to bring back Ideye when Fanendo Adi is exactly the same type of player and quite frankly he scores more goals than Ideye

komekn:
This is the heart of the problem discarding tried, tested and proven quality experienced players. For assumed new emerging talent, Mbappe, Rashford, Dele, these are classed as new emerging talent not players who are on the bench or youth team players. We have a warped definition of new talent.

For young upstarts who play in youth teams in low level teams and leagues and or are confirmed bench warmers.

If you are not making waves in your club how on earth are you supposed to make waves in the SE.

There are exceptions if you are in Real Madrid, Chelsea, etc, with top world class players limiting your opportunities.

Real Madrid I can understand but Chelsea?! Is it Solanke that is chopping bench because of a below average Bathsuayi? Did you know who Marcos Alonso was? Why can't Aina become prominent there? So you mean Man City does not have quality players? Or who in this Chelsea team do you think can bench Ozil in the no 10 role? Every single soul in this thread is sentimentally biased at some point.

BascoVanVeli:
Leave Onazi out of it because he was the best Nigerian on the pitch.

he was the most agile Nigerian probably but he wasn't doing his job at all. you will hardly ever see Busquets but he is doing his job and that's what the dmf position is all about, not running like a headless chicken and getting caught out of position

komekn:
And where have all the drills and training got us today with our selection of youth players, bench warmers and b team players.

If you are a mouse in your club you can't come to the SE and become a Lion over night. Eéeeeeee no go work.

NUFF SAID.

you guys are not even making sense. you want to invite Solanke and Onomah, both of whom are yet to play up to 50 minutes put together this past season yet when Osihmen was called up you guys cried foul? pure double atandards

TheGoodJoe:
Same thing that came to my mind. Onazi's lack of discipline made it look as if he was playing CMF.

Do not make me laugh I beg you. Nigeria lost today.

even the guy that wrote that rating rubbish that Forgiveness is carrying around does not even seem to.understand that part of the game. his ratings were poor, where, when and how did Onazi create chances with his passes? all these amateur journalists tire me

Icon4s:
Not true.

Ndidi played the DM role while Onazi played the CM.

are you sure we watched the same match? or maybe Onazi's lack of discipline confused you

Icon4s:
Who played DM today Ndidi or Onazi?

Onazi!!!! and that was the problem

sontoly:
because the coach trust him that's all, and who else do u think can play that position?.
any one that plays that position will certainly not score today.

I didn't know we had a prophet in the thread

Oasis007:


Does Today still look like Sunday to you?! LOL!

What did he do wrong in the Match? He connected well with the Defence and made some good Tackles and Interceptions.

Pls! We shouldn't heap all the Blames on him, I barely saw his Faults in the Goals we conceded.

first of all he didn't connect well with the defence. also a dmf should be looking to connect the defence with the amf not connecting himself to the defence as that makes no sense, but do you know how Onazi tried to connect defence and attack? by playing aimless, boring long passes over and over and over again back to back, he didn't not perform the primary duty of a dmf connecting the defence to the next line of attack

TheGoodJoe:
This your better off weaks me. If we are playing a 4-5-1 formation, Iheanacho is the best option upfront. If we are playing 4-4-2 option, Iheanacho is my best bet to play support striker.

You come up with a game plan and then think of the best personnel in each role.

is it that Nacho cannot just sit on the bench?

Oasis007:


Are you satisfied with his Pair Mate? Did he offer anything better Onazi? What about Etebo, did he play your your Satisfaction as a No. 10?

all the teams I follow play a similar formation. go and check all the matches were Busquets was poor, the rest if the Barack midfield looked like trash. before Zidane integrated Casemiro, Modric and Kroos looked like primary school players. the DMF sets the tone for your other midfielders, that is basic football, when the dmf isn't doing things right the whole midfield collapses

Oasis007:


We played 4-2-3-1. Yet the Midfield was porous and couldn't save their Lives!

Shame!

only God knows what would have happened if we played a 4-3-3 with Onazi as the main dmf. I won't watch that match

tglobal:
I preface my comment by saying I am not someone who understands tactical formations. I however have an observation on Nigeria's perfomances in the past using the 4-3-3 formation.

I have never understood why coaches try to shoehorn the Super Eagles into this formation that has never brought out the best in our teams. The golden era of our football saw us thrive with playing 2 at the front. We had a Yekini/Amokachi, Yekini/ Siasia, Kanu/Amokachi pairing at different times. I also observed that Keshi's team did well with playing Emenike/Ideye in front at Afcon 2013. Keshi appeared to have experimented with 4-3-3 prior to the quarter finals and the team barely scaled through our group. We were more devastating when he reverted to using two men upfront resulting in Nigeria breezing through the rest of our matches. For some reason, even he didn't stick with his winning formula with the exception of he match against Italy where he used Ameobi / Dike combo to devastating effect.

My belief is that teams should be allowed to play to their strengths irrespective of whatever formation is in vogue. Conte rejigged his tea to play to Chelsea's strength and all of a sudden 3-4-3 looks romantic even though its been around forever. Ranieri did the same with Leicester two seasons ago using 4-4-2, only for him to tinker with the team last season to disastrous effect

problem was that we were not even playing a 4-3-3

TheGoodJoe:
Kayode would have been stranded upfront. I doubt he would have made the kind of runs Iheanacho made but yet Iheanacho could not get the passes needed to cause damage. Daddy and Iwobi were dangerous also but we lacked the perpetrating passes from the middle.

So I do not think the choice of who we the striker was the problem. We need to work on having a replacement when we do not have Mikel Obi.

have you watched his matches for Austria? that team lacks creativity, his goals are all about grit and hard work unlike Nacho who needs constant deliveries. this Kayode boy is a speed star and a pressing machine, Nacho did not press at all in this match and I wonder why

TheGoodJoe:
I can respect that but you missed the fact that Kayode came in. With his experience and form, he should have showed the initial gra gra but he could not. Instead Osimhen with even less time looked more dangerous. So the notion that any decent striker could do the same simply does not work.

I said this before the game, psychology is an important aspect of football. You are the mvp in your league, the goal king over there and you are forced to sit on the bench for someone who does not even have a permanent spot on the city bench, if I am Kayode I will be saying it serves the coach right and I wouldn't be playing with all my heart.

komekn:
Right now we need the best players that are available to Nigeria no youth players and or bench warmers.

Simply proven tested and quality irrespective of age the best. Today we did not have our best.

I even believe if Efe Ambrose was in that defense it would not have looked this bad.

not supported, Ambrose? that guy looks more like TB Joshua than an actual footballer and quite frankly we have better players around

komekn:
Be objective and realistic if you bring a half decent striker from non league and you give him 10 minutes to throw in everything he has when everyone is tired and lethargic.

Of course he will look fired up and even a little bit dangerous. For me I didn't see anything exceptional beyond initial grateful gra gra, sorry but that's my opinion.

supported actually. like Iheanacho performing better in preseason than other top stars because he wants to impress, IGG THAT'S ALL

komekn:
I will ask Dominic Iorfa to sort out his long term contract asap and play for Nigeria.

I will ask Solanke too I already know Aluko is ever willing. From what I see we need new quality proven and established players not just potential future prospects.

quality? and Solanke is the quality player here? lol

Kog45:
Michael2 don't mind some guys here,our eyes w soon clear by d way we are hyping our players.Some even see it as a taboo to criticize Rohr.
I hope w get it right coz Cameroon match is around d corner,this is not d time to keep on arguing endlessly with sentiments.We need to be factual,Cameroon match is not for d likes of Osimeh,Oyekwuru,Ebuehi,Alampasu,Agu.

I hope Mikel.Moses,Balogun,Ikeme w be available and Enyeama have a rethink and come back coz Cameroon match is damn too importan

from today till August, novena for Mikel and Moses to be fit and for Enyeama to come back. we can manage without Balogun but not these three

TheGoodJoe:
Naturally, if you were to pick between Onazi and Ndidi to seat deep and one to roam, who will you pick?

I am blaming both but Ndidi takes it more because he is the one with the ability to shield that defence completely and hit the right passes into space.

Ndidi needs to take that responsibility from now on.

thank you now you are seeing reasons with me.

naturally Ndidi would sit for me obviously I would never trust Onazi anywhere around my box, but that's the problem. because of Onazi's limited passing range the coach is forced to let him sit and that spells doom. in all honesty my dream midfield trio would have Ndidi, Aluko and Mikel, the job description is already perfectly outlined between the three, Ndidi sits, Mikel plays the roaming style and Aluko as the amf. of Course Mikel with his experience will know that whenever youthful exuberance gets the better of Ndidi he should fall back instantly. Onazi just does not.cut it for me

BascoVanVeli:
Ndidi was off today simple as that. His touch let him down one too many times and he wasn't influential with his passing.

Play Busquets in Rakitic's role and you will see what will happen.

those blaming Ndidi are oblivious as to how a two man dmf system works. I noticed it when Chelsea played this season, once they concede you will see Luiz talking to Matic and never to Kante because Kante is the roaming dmf, he has no business with sitting deep except when under pressure, once the pressure let's up a little he bombs forward and leaves the space for Matic. that was what we tried to replicate in this match with Ndidi playing the Kante role and he did it well, above average in fact but Onazi is no Matic, work rate he has that well enough but awareness, passing accuracy and the rest he has none. people see him running around and start shouting but he isn't actually doing his job, if he must play then Ndidi should not play and a player like Ogu will sit deep and he will also have a creative player like Mikel or Iwobi ahead of him so that all he needs to do is win back possession and drop the ball. this is basic coaching stuff

Kog45:
But Enyeama was in goal in d last match against South Africa and conceded two goals.

do you know how many goals he saved in that game? I lost count of the number of times he saved one on one versus rantie, there was one he saved during the dying minutes and he carried the ball almost to the enter circle before launching it forward, I can't forget that play ever

TheGoodJoe:
With the arrival of Osimhen in the Team, it is only matter of time before he takes over that role. Within the few minutes he had on the pitch, the young man showed drive, passion, determination, skill, work rate and the ability to cause defenders problems.

I totally disagree with anyone saying Iheanacho is not a number 9 because in this game, the problem we had was not creating chances for the forwards. Ironically, the best chance came from Iheanacho to Etebo which Etebo missed. If Iheanacho had more chances like that, he would have taken it.

Time we adapt to a 4-4-2 attacking set up. With Osimhen and Iheanacho we have a fantastic pair. With a better set up midfield, we can create loads of chances and cause havoc to opposing defenses.

no.offence but did you just type this with a straight face?

TheGoodJoe:
Osimhen is a star.

for the future no doubt, but we should wait for the future to arrive before we start inviting him

edi287:
That would've made sense if we had someone who could dictate play from deep. Unfortunately neither Onazi or Ndidi can do that. Ogu should've started with Mikel not around. Rohr should've taken a risk and started Onyekuru.

Ndidi can actually dictate play from deep but that was not his obstruction today unlike the match against Senegal when he totally bosses everything and was spraying over the top passes like they were his birth right. however with Onazi in the team he was instructed to push further up where he has to put ground through balls and that is not one of his strongest points. one of the two had to sit but sentiments sha

eterisan:
Where are those shouting awaziem up and down...come out now! The kid looked lost in that defence today and was clearly culpable for the first goal..how can he let his man get a free header? Rohr must be regretting starting him now..the occasion was just too big for him..our defence was all over the place after we conceded..

cut the young lad some slack, the midfield ahead of him wasn't great today either so he can be forgiven

Chrismario:
This match just weak me

Henry might av done better than Alex

it's quite simple to see. meanwhile I saw the typo, you said Henry might have been better than Onyekuru

kingphilip:
it seems he can't just bench any of them

I think he should have subbed one of them and allow Etebo run the box to box

subbed? one of them should not be in the starting line up and for me it had to be Onazi but well we have lost, let's cool down and think forward

kingphilip:
The most important thing I learnt from this match is never pair Ndidi and Onazi

I have been hammering this since God knows how long. how a grade A coach cannot seem to understand the basics about coaching sure beats me

WORLDPEACE:
We don't have a coach. It's very evident. You can see that man has no clue what to do next. What that team needed from the very beginning was directness.

Oga go and sleep

safarigirl:
it's Saturday dear

So, what went wrong? Drills or experience?

now that I have come to terms with this loss, I think it's not just the coach's decision that is the problem here. I think some players just did not come to this match. If you watch Echejile's performance against Togo and then this one you will be wondering if this one isn't an imposter. soo many things went wrong, experience was part of the problem when you consider Akpeyi and drills was part of the problem when you consider that Awaziem started ahead Omeruo, but sha Super Eagles till the devil says the Lord's prayer