₦airaland Forum

Heres me thinking that Tunisia were the weakest African side - at the mo id say that this Tunisia and Morocco are the best prepared of the Africans. Its still a friendly but they this will give them alot of confidence.

KK555:
If they play with such intensity and consistency of performance, England will find them a hard nut to crack. They have not lost in their last 4 friendly matches. I think they will come out of their group in the world cup.

Bloody heck they almost scored - Tunisia are bossing this well

goldfish80:
They just missed a third chance. Did you see that?

However have you noticed that Spain are not finding it easy playing there tappy tappy football because Tunisia are not only defending well but are passing the ball with intent. Nigeria should pay attention to this game.

goldfish80:
They just missed a third chance. Did you see that?

its 28:28 time right now - no i didnt

goldfish80:
They just missed a third chance. Did you see that?

I wouldnt go as far as saying they are out balling but they are most certainly playing well - they have neutralised Spains tappy tappy football and have had the better scoring oppotunities - early days still

goldfish80:
Tunisia out balling former world champions Spain. They should have been up 2:0 in the first 15mins.
Spain is playing at home, I must add.

Yea like he was just pooped out of the horses bottom

BascoVanVeli:
Hey! why are we all the way at the bottom hiding behind Messi's horse? Kill the artist.

Yes that's what I saw over three games I've watched them play. The Peru game was telling. They do not like teams that can hold the ball and play aggressive offensive play

bengine:
have been
watching this senegal vs Croatia game..they are not superb as some would make us believe here..

They terribly lack pace..senegal should have been 4 goals up now if they weren't wasting their chances..

Senegal Gk just conceded Akpeyi kind of goal..

Not sure if you guys have noticed but Argentina did not play alot of.friendlies. what do you make of it?

Dont mind me im practicing reverse psychology - but i dont want to see a repeat of previous WC - i do believe that Nigeria can beat all three teams but Nigeria is a nation of disappointment - anyway as always i will always support them

PS you should have seen me celebrating Nigerias goal against England - i was in the home supporters end - the look i was getting from the England supporters was priceless -

No mind me - im just frustrated

safarigirl:
MTCHEW!

Why are you telling us? Comman show us the great African team you want to support

Maybe na Egypt wey collect 3 from Belgium

Or Senegal that cannot win one friendly match like us

Or Morocco wey dey same group with Spain and Portugal

Or is it Tunisia?

Once again, Mtchew. Nonsense plastic fan, abeg shift make we see road

Man im worried Iceland 2 Ghana 0 - i think ill be supporting another African team - i dey fear ooooo

Iceland look good - hence the reason why they topped there qualifying group - Nigeria i hope you are watching - dont take these guys for granted or they will shock you

I'm throwing my hat in, Nigeria will beat Croatia and Argentina. Iceland will likely be a draw.

I agree - your right about that combi. Etebo can be that surprise that we need and he knows how to score. The one thing that bothers me is that Mikel appears.tonhave the earnof our coach and I'm wondering whether Mikel is also picking the formation

SerVik:
I feel the problem with this team has always been the lack of a mobile box to box midfielder to link-up the defense with attack. Playing mikel - a slow player as AM means that a mobile midfielder has to literally take the ball to his feet due to his poor tracking back.

In reality, we have failed in this aspect. In the qualifiers, we made Ndidi sit while onazi roamed. Onazi is another immobile midfielder, so instead of moving with the ball, we resorted to long balls, some of which ended up outside the stadium.

Fast forward to our friendlies, we tried Joel in this role and it simply didn't work. We seem to think that we do not need a midfielder that can move with the ball, that we can result to passing the ball right from defensive midfield to attacking midfield. The irony of this is that, we have played against teams that play with compact midfield, that intercept those passes before getting to their targets, that is why we've been complaining that the team seem incapable of stringing 2-3 passes, because the moment they attempt a forward pass, it is almost always intercepted. What the team needs is a midfielder that collects the ball from the DM, moves the ball, creates space with his movements before releasing the ball.

Rohr saw this too that is why he deployed iwobi to this role. It was nice of him to pick up on this but the personnel deployment was wrong.
Yes iwobi moves the ball well, yes he beats his marker, yes he releases the ball when due but he doesn't have the gas to play such energy sapping role. Playing him there also denies the team of his valuable creativity upfront.

My humble deduction; Etebo should play that role, he was born for the role. Before you come for my head, I know about his supposed inconsistencies but those have come in matches where he was play in a restricted AM role. Etebo normally likes running. In the AM role, he doesn't run enough and so doesn't even use up half of his energy reserve. This excess energy that he doesn't let out makes him implode. Etebo has the trickery to evade his markers and he has the ability to release the ball when required. A midfield trio of ndidi-etebo-mikel should have been tried out instead of the Ndidi-iwobi-mikel. The good thing about that midfield is that during the course of the match, Etebo can also drift to the LW, forcing iwobi to move centrally just in front of mikel.

I believe that midfield combination is very flexible and can easily be tweaked as the game progresses. In Ndidi and Etebo we have a combination that have the energy to put pressure on opposition midfield and relieve the defense of unnecessary pressure.

I noticed this problem against Argentina where he kept holding the ball and running from central defense with the ball but kept surrending the ball to opposition
It was obvious that he lacks the guile to get around players

Dedetwo:
The problem is Leon Balogun. Awaziem is better than Leon Balogun as a central defender. Leon Balogun is weak.

Igahlo can't shoot with his left. Manñnnm

I don't understand why we are seemingly rebuilding the work that got us thru to qualifiers. Roth only needed to make small adjustments now hes almost messed up what he started with.

Iwobi playing deep is dump. Either dump Mikel or play him as a defensive midfielder. Iwobi is far more dangerous as an attacker

This I don't get

FBS:
Iwobi playing behind Mikel and Ndidi? Like Rohr is confused or just a deliberate decision for training purposes? Ighalo probably only touched the ball 4 times.
Team relying on Fullbacks to get ball in? What happened to real wingers? So Moses na the set piece specialist now? Na this same team dey go world cup?
anyway sha shay they say na Naija jersey fine pass? It's all done then. Carry fine jersey go win match.
This is terrible to watch.

2nd half oya!

You cannot have Iwobi as a sub for Mikel because Mikel is not fast and has slow recovery especially when he loses the ball. No Mikel and Iwobi are different players right now

WizzPoll:
Ahmed Musa is one of our most important players. His speed is deadly and he needs to be starting games

Iwobi is good but not consistent. He can come in as Mikel's sub depending on the game, or sub one of the defending midfielders and Mikel drops deep. But Iwobi is not ready to carry the hopes of Nigeria at the world cup as our main number 10.

if we are playing 4-2-3-1 then Ahmed Musa and Moses need to start on the flanks. If we are playing 3-5-2 then I can understand if Musa comes in as a substitute striker.

in some games Victor Moses should be ready to play LWB for us and help the country. He is not as big as he thinks he is. DiMaria plays LWB for Argentina sometimes and yet Victor Moses is not bigger than DiMaria.

I think Iceland will surprise many.

kmaster007:
we can still managed to beat Iceland..
draw with Croatia..
loss to Argentina..
do will still make it...

Aniother thing about Croatia is that they go in very hard - this game against Brazil is a friendly but they appear frustrated and have been quite heavy handed. I would say that against Nigeria we will have to be at our best and defensively sound - with the 23 list being drawn and Joel Obi and Onazi being included id say that it will be a long night for Nigeria

Croatia are doing quite well - they have issues judging from this game and Peru in dealing with a side that can pass and hold the ball well. However i believed that Croatia were being hyped up but from this much it's obvious that they are quite solid in that they are all working together like a well drilled unit

MarijuanaLORD:
50-50

More like 70-30


Crotia midfield no dey even exchange passes as expected

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dnQ82mKMqVc

Croatia v Brazil

Totally agree. It was against Argentina that I made my mind up on him. Ekong is a beast. He is very assured. Balagun gives me the jitters especially when he goes forward

Mujtahida:
Me I have not recovered from the jitters with which Balogun ended the WCQ. Till now I don't trust him. He's not as assured as Ekong.

I was at the game and agree with everything you said. This game was better at analysing Nigeria's flaws than the other games including Argentina. Nigeria will do well

Donwyz:
my opinion about the game
1.uzoho is good but still needs more game time and test games to boost his confidence
2. the well praised partnership of balogun and ekong was tested today and I'll say that they disappointed with Leon not living up to expectation
3. my beloved ebuehi should start at the world cup. that bro offers a lot while going forward and does well compared to shehu.
4. onazi and Joel obi failed again, they struggled to keep possession and string passes together correctly. they did same against Congo and now the same thing
5. idowu is a little better than echiejile reason being that he knows how to support attack and defend as well
6. iwobi should never be deployed to the wings again. he does well centrally. And ndidi is needed in the team in terms of ball winning and keeping possession
7.ighalo is a good finisher as evident in the way he controlled that iwobi's pass and hit the woodwork
8. Mikel needs to be more of a Yaya toure for Nigeria in terms of surging forward with the ball and making good decisions when he gets to the final-third
9. rohr is a good tactician
10. if not for onazi and Joel's woeful perfomaces, we would'nt have looked foolish in the first half. Lastly john ogu is good. I like his body movement and confidence on the ball

trytillmake:
The midfield is not existing, what is going on can't this coach see that why should moses be dropping back so deep to collect balls wetin be this. Onazi confused behavior caused the first goal abeg Coach drop that guy also joel obi i don tire.

These guys should be confident playing ball they are all professionals noboby is better than them if they can only be confident in themselves.

GO SUPER EAGLES GO BY FORCE

Big issue was that I can't remember Mikel in the game it was Iwobi making things happen. The issue is who do you replace for Mikel, onasi and Obi. They need nimble players. Some of our players are big and fast but we need nimbleness and genius ball control when it matters

Maybe to much to ask for

spartan117:
So you were one of tho
se booing dele Ali


Good job! You represented well

Zanas:
They can still be removed, Nigeria can still drop two players

Thank you kind sir

I was at the game. Great atmosphere indeed.

As was the case with the previous games including Argentina we start to slow and concede to much space. Midfielders are not in the game and Oyinbo wall does not work.

Joe Obi and Onazi do not play well together and I'd say the J Obi should not be going to the WC.

1st half was a poor display in tactics and positioning of players in midfield was not good. We made England look like Spain or Brazile if you can believe that.

2nd half substitutions was amazingly effective. The goal scored was class. England now looked like the England we know and that's "not very good"

Nigeria have worked to do and what I saw its a 50 50 for me.

Croatia will not be a problem if Nigeria plays consistently 90 minuets. The team that will give Nigeria problems will be Iceland not Argentina.

From what I saw if rohr does not assert a first 11 we will not make it out of the group at all

Pluses

Goal keeper was brilliant

Iwobi was brilliant

And ekong was Sound

injurybaba:
better display in the Second half


Fact I got from the Game

Please can we just drop onazi and Joel already

just look how calm etebo was in that second half

It's looks like our coach is technically okay I mean his new formation matched England in the second half

We need another striker to help Ighalo because Iheanacho and musa re not strikers

Ebuehi is a natural right back

And finally is only naija can play with confidence we really have like 5 or 6 quality players that can make a difference in that team

Ok at the game and it's not a good look. Nigeria are making this team look brilliant. We have holes in midfield on the right and left. Midfield and defense look slow and the while teams setup is not containing England's passing which is embarrassing

Joe Obi is the wrong guy for midfield but to be honest the teams setup is porous. England by measure are taking the Mick.

No they played in 94 after the WC when England won by 1 goal to nil
It was a great game featuring new players like Kanu but I obviously was not impressed cause we should be beating teams like England all day every day

Bolowolowo:
For those of you that are big on Super Eagles history, will this be our first match ever in Wembley?

If Nigeria play like they played during the qualifiers then England will be beaten. England is not a good side at all - ive watched there qualifying games and they were atrocious. Nigeria can beat them and that includes Croatia, Iceland (Iceland I suspect will be tough for all the teams - you watch) and Argentina ( they have big problems - did you see them against Haiti - terrible)

Nigeria will dictate the game - watch and see

MetalJigsaw:
My guy I know that England are the favorites especially as the game will take place in their home yard. But you are Nigerian. It's your fatherland. And as a matter of, fact the Super Eagles are more than capable of defeating any team on their day. Ask Argentina and Poland.

Hmm i disagree with your statement - Cameroon played defensively true but they also played good possession football and the goals they scored were methodical genius especially against england. Ghana played good possession football and deep probing of oppositions defense combined with good technical skills and fast transition form defense to attack. I cannot remember how Senegal played but what i do know is that none of these teams played like "Iceland" for instance i.e soak up the pressure then hit you on the break. They all played just as well as the opposition

Martz101:
The truth is, if an africa team want to win the world cup then they need to play that way...most Africa team that went far in the worldcup play just that way, Cameroon,senegal and ghana

Based on what we have seen in the last 3 games I think what will happen is that rohr will.be sacked after the WC because of a disgraceful showing and Nigeria will go looking for a home based coach and the merry go round begins again.

The game against England will be a formality of the continued mediocrity that we have seen. The SE do not know how to keep possession which is our mainstay. Nope we are looking at a pounding at the WC.

yes but i am making sure i will not be disgraced. I am going with me cousins children and they are rooting for England to his embrassment - so i want nigeria to make these children sit up and be proud

Emekus92:
it is just a friendly match make una manage am. we go still play 4 Wembley Stadium next week