₦airaland Forum

Curtisaxel10:
"In terms of preparation and strategy, we had a special plan for Mohamed Salah because we know his quality,” Eguavoen told BBC Sport Africa.

“Basketball is one game that I love so much. When you are playing against the likes of Allen Iverson, Michael Jordan and others, if you don’t double-team you’ll have a problem.

“That is the same strategy that I bring into football. So when Mo Salah is with the ball, the closest person goes to him and the next person has to double-team to make him play back.

“It worked for us like 80%, but Salah broke loose on one or two occasions which is normal, but again congratulations to the boys because they are so intelligent.” - Austin Eguavoen.


Does this man realize that his opponents will monitor his press statements? Why explain your tactics to the world when the tournament is still far from over and you may need to employ the same tactic again? Let Eguavoen bridle his tongue o!

TheLoneCitizen:
So what has this useless experiment yielded?

1. Andrew (bro, no vex) who termed people who supported Donald Trump’s controversial tweets as “ass-lickers” did exactly the same thing he condemned.

Although he claimed to “stand by Osimhen” he failed to do this in both words and deeds.

While Osimhen was immature in his response, Andrew showed the exact opposite.

2. Safarigirl who said a true man is one who responds aggressively to insult very likely contradicts herself.

If I wish upon her a child that becomes aggressive, and doesn’t remain composed and mature, when he/she is insulted, she is 100 percent going to reject it.

If you accept it Safari, just quote this post with an amen and let the good God do his thing.

3. With all respect, this thread is full of the superficial.

Some weeks ago, TheSuperNerd blasted me for criticising players I claim to like. He said and I quote:

“And I know you rate the lad (Ejuke) but at times it is as if you feel you have to drop one or two sour points on lads you rate so as to seem unbiased towards them.”

More recently Subzero047 was eager to differentiate his “love for Aribo and Balogun” with my toxic relationship with Onyekuru.

He said and I quote:

“I report when they do well but the guy has a love-hate relationship with Onyekuru.”

Criticizing a player you love doesn’t necessarily mean you hate them, it just means you like them so much that you want to see them improve.

If you like Osimhen but criticize his actions, this doesn’t take anything from your affection, it just shows you want to correct the wrong in him.

Nobody on this thread has hyped Iwobi, Onyekuru and Dessers more than I on this thread, but nobody has criticised them more than I have.

In fact, in Onyekuru’s first game for Olympiacos where he scored his only goal, I still criticised his poor performance.

And today we see the result, because he has failed to work on his deficiencies, he has so far underwhelmed in Greece.

So criticism is constructive in nature, made to uplift someone and doesn’t take away your liking for them.

4. A lot of people will suggest that aggression is what works for Osimhen but this is a lie.

Pogba told the media a while back that Kante is one of the most driven players he has ever seen and that the Frenchman hates to lose.

And we see this in the way he aggressively makes tackles.

But off-the-pitch, he is the darling of football including opponents.

Bottom line: Osimhen’s aggression is very welcomed on the pitch, but off the pitch, especially as a public figure in this particular industry (not hip-hop), his best behaviour is expected.

do4luv14:
Am telling you, those runs Simon had, would had been a goal/assist, from Vicmo,

that side netting, Vicmo would had dived for a Pk, by cutting back,

that Ejuke last moment, issa sure goal/assist from Vicmo,

anywell it is well, we muuuvvvve

SerVik:
Someone that has been telling whoever cares to listen that eagle's pattern rely heavily on wing play.

humility33:
I nor go lie we miss that guy

If he was in this team trophy sure like stew

Imagine we have both players playing against Egypt

andrewbaba44:
If you think most of our starting line up will be sent to the bench then you must be kidding

Everybody wey start last game go start next game ,no room for experiment oga ,even onyeka self

Sadiq Nwakali ,none should start next game as far as our first team players are fit abeg ,well I trust the coach sha

kellycute:
you can not change a wining team!.

kellycute:
you can not change a wining team!.

andrewbaba44:
The perfect reply

You cannot change a winning team

Well said .

TheSuperNerd:
But your man-crush does it almost all the time.

seankafor:
supersport no dey comment on English

do4luv14:
Am telling you, anytime he went on that his runs, am always on my feet directly to the TV, if not goal, gonna see some sweet movement that can result to an assist, or the usually Diving all the way from mount Fiji to river naija

andrewbaba44:
We call that rotation

TheSuperNerd:
I like the lad and rate him but everything you have pointed out is true.

I mean, it was damn frustrating. The most annoying was the one he squandered after being neatly put through by Nwakali who took his time to carefully combine with him and orchestrate that beautiful counter attacking transition... Oya Ejuke, thanks for driving forward with your insane speed to the box... now fool the keeper and square it to any of Iwobi and Sadiq... Ejuke said Mbanu!! I MUST SCORE MY FIRST SE GOAL! I never score since my debut!

He needs to learn team work comes before Personal Glory Hunting. A real talent he is but he won't go far with such selfish on-field attitude. This is why I like Simon despite some bad times... Baba still works for the team. It's always Team first for Simon.

Anyways, I believe Ejuke will learn. He will come good. He still has time.

TheSuperNerd:
It's Sofascore and I do have an issue with the way they rate players performances sometimes.

A player can have a good game via assisting a goal and even creating 2 big chances but because he lost 5 of his 8 duels and missed 3 big chances and was dribbled past maybe twice... omo, your ratings will just drop.

But I notice this pattern doesn't always hold for some popular footballer names.
It is well. We go manage am like that. Thanks Goodness I got other stats apps and sites to always cross reference.

Meliforme:
There was no way he could have passed the ball.
Take a look at Basco's video again.

I am not saying it is possible or not, i am just weighing on probables. What if Iwobi and Sadiq benefits from a rebound or deflection of his shot.

Again some people will as usual say that he is fond of flair and dribbles, had it been he did exactly what you suggested and maybe the pass was cleared or deflected by the defenders who have already closed down on him.

Anyways, as long as he did not score, thirty million blames on him.

Ejuke, one of the most intelligent forwards in the fold.

TheSuperNerd:
Then we shall call our own too, rotation. Finito.

Meliforme:
There was no way he could have passed the ball.
Take a look at Basco's video again.

I am not saying it is possible or not, i am just weighing on probables. What if Iwobi and Sadiq benefits from a rebound or deflection of his shot.

Again some people will as usual say that he is fond of flair and dribbles, had it been he did exactly what you suggested and maybe the pass was cleared or deflected by the defenders who have already closed down on him.

Anyways, as long as he did not score, thirty million blames on him.

Ejuke, one of the most intelligent forwards in the fold.

daveP:
exactly. I kon dey wonder if Ndidi no popular atall. Yeye stats.
I'm not going to take their ratings serious again.
Does Opta Africa exist?

TheSuperNerd:
Analysis of Teams' styles after MD 1: Afcon 2021, with special focus on Nigeria's Super Eagles.

Courtesy: @OptaAnalyst


Note: Passes per sequence means average number of passes made before an attack.

1). Passes per sequence.
Nigeria's passes per sequence is just a little short of 2.5 passes per sequence. Meaning we didn't take things so slow in our buildup from the back before an attack. We were more direct. 1,2,3 passes and we were already threatening.

The goal for instance is an example.

Ekong to Aina... back to Ekong... Ekong moved leftwards and found Omeruo who drove forward on the left channel and found Simon with a nicely angled diagonal ball which Simon fed on to drive further forward down the left wing channel to put that cross in. I count about 4 passes there before that cross. Only 4 and gbam! Danger. Lol


A couple of such moves involved even shorter number of passes. Ekong straight to Simon and the latter crosses.
Or Omeruo straight diagonally to Simon and the same thing, he drives and crosses into the opposition box.

So we didn't really do much buildup or recycled as much passes. This partly explains why Egypt "out-passed" us even though we were Dominant in almost every other stats

Note that Algeria conducts a more patient build up play (4.2 passes per sequence). Same as Senegal (3.9 passes/sequence).

Even Egypt has a patient build up play. Theirs is 3.15/3.2 passes per sequence.



2. Direct Speed Upfiled

The other stat shows where we place graphically in terms of how quickly we get up the field from our defensive third into the opposition third/final third to threaten their goal or create something.

Ours stand at just under 2.0 meters per second (about 1.8 or 1.9 m/s).

You can see Sierra Leone and Burkina Faso are related to Route One. Lol.





Now for comparison, take a look at Man City in the 2020-21 season.

You can easily tell that Algeria is the Man City of Africa in terms of Build up plays.

TheLoneCitizen:
So what has this useless experiment yielded?

1. Andrew (bro, no vex) who termed people who supported Donald Trump’s controversial tweets as “ass-lickers” did exactly the same thing he condemned.

Although he claimed to “stand by Osimhen” he failed to do this in both words and deeds.

While Osimhen was immature in his response, Andrew showed the exact opposite.

2. Safarigirl who said a true man is one who responds aggressively to insult very likely contradicts herself.

If I wish upon her a child that becomes aggressive, and doesn’t remain composed and mature, when he/she is insulted, she is 100 percent going to reject it.

If you accept it Safari, just quote this post with an amen and let the good God do his thing.

3. With all respect, this thread is full of the superficial.
Some weeks ago, TheSuperNerd blasted me for criticising players I claim to like. He said and I quote:

“And I know you rate the lad (Ejuke) but at times it is as if you feel you have to drop one or two sour points on lads you rate so as to seem unbiased towards them.”

More recently Subzero047 was eager to differentiate his “love for Aribo and Balogun” with my toxic relationship with Onyekuru.

He said and I quote:

“I report when they do well but the guy has a love-hate relationship with Onyekuru.”

Criticizing a player you love doesn’t necessarily mean you hate them, it just means you like them so much that you want to see them improve.

If you like Osimhen but criticize his actions, this doesn’t take anything from your affection, it just shows you want to correct the wrong in him.

Nobody on this thread has hyped Iwobi, Onyekuru and Dessers more than I on this thread, but nobody has criticised them more than I have.

In fact, in Onyekuru’s first game for Olympiacos where he scored his only goal, I still criticised his poor performance.

And today we see the result, because he has failed to work on his deficiencies, he has so far underwhelmed in Greece.

So criticism is constructive in nature, made to uplift someone and doesn’t take away your liking for them.

4. A lot of people will suggest that aggression is what works for Osimhen but this is a lie.

Pogba told the media a while back that Kante is one of the most driven players he has ever seen and that the Frenchman hates to lose.

And we see this in the way he aggressively makes tackles.

But off-the-pitch, he is the darling of football including opponents.

Bottom line: Osimhen’s aggression is very welcomed on the pitch, but off the pitch, especially as a public figure in this particular industry (not hip-hop), his best behaviour is expected.

TheSuperNerd:
It does. In your head right now. You know, before physical manifestation, there is first a mental picture. A mental manifestation of that thing.

So yes, it does. Only if you start the company right now.

daveP:
Na Crystal Palace we be in comparison then.

Danielnino00:
That's from sofascore not CAF

TheSuperNerd:
I like the lad and rate him but everything you have pointed out is true.

I mean, it was damn frustrating. The most annoying was the one he squandered after being neatly put through by Nwakali who took his time to carefully combine with him and orchestrate that beautiful counter attacking transition... Oya Ejuke, thanks for driving forward with your insane speed to the box... now fool the keeper and square it to any of Iwobi and Sadiq... Ejuke said Mbanu!! I MUST SCORE MY FIRST SE GOAL! I never score since my debut!

He needs to learn team work comes before Personal Glory Hunting. A real talent he is but he won't go far with such selfish on-field attitude. This is why I like Simon despite some bad times... Baba still works for the team. It's always Team first for Simon.

Anyways, I believe Ejuke will learn. He will come good. He still has time.

daveP:
You wan turn prophet ontop me fa?

Okay, will mbappe win cameroun's Golden boot in this tournament?

andrewbaba44:
E go take permission now when people don call am out here

Danielnino00:
He needs to work on it fast..so he doesn't become another Musa with pace and skills and poor end product...
When he and Sadiq were introduced into the game, so many people at the viewing centre I watched the game didn't know who they are (most Nigerians don't follow the super eagles or it's players except when there's a major tournament). I told my guy neighbor who was there with me that Ejuke was a proper baller. You need to see the look he gave me after he missed that opportunity .
We have always been blessed with wingers who posses incredible pace and skills but with poor decision making.. I wonder why...

TheSuperNerd:
I have the Beinsports USA 10mins.32secs video highlights of the game right here and I've seen it...all of it...everything over and over.

He had passing options in that sequence of play. A little delay, a little pause...and he could have easily picked out Iwobi or Umar.

And let's not talk "what ifs". He didn't pass. Neither did he score.

Look, Meliforme... this is not a put-down of Ejuke who I strongly rate as one of the most game-changing wingers in African football today. Arguably the best Winger in Russia currently too.

This is only a pointer on something I know he can improve upon: His decision making in certain situations of play.

He has to balance out when to go it alone and when to seek out a teammate. He will learn, Meliforme. I trust he will but he was damn frustrating on Tuesday. That's the truth.