₦airaland Forum

TheSuperNerd:
The ball fell away from its first landing zone after the cornerkick didn't it?

Onyeka had one job yesterday in defensive phases aside him tracking players. Watch your CDM zone. Throughout yesterday, he almost always left that zone unprotected. Even the Cornerkick situation saw the ball land for Atal and Onyeka had time to easily move into that zone at the top of the box. He wasn't so far away.

chrisooblog:
My brother there's a saying that from the morning you will know how the day will turn out but make we dey watch sha

charlesemeka85:
but bro from your assessment do alhassan deserve the hype he gets here based on what you hv seen in his game the few times u ve had the opportunity to watch Antwerp’s match this season?

benji93:
Calm down and read. You are not following Sir. Ask @Charlesemeka. . Must i always add emojis?

Utonwanne:
No. I'm not fascinated!

He's just another 'OK' player to me.

TheSuperNerd:
Mister. I have analysed Onyeka as a Pressing CM on this thread. I know exactly the kind of midfielder he is.

So stop making stale excuses for him.

Now, in the context of yesterday's game, he was the CDM. He was the one primarily tasked with defensive duties. He was the one meant to protect the defence. Did he do a good job of that? Not really.

He did have his defensive moments and won couple of duels, marking and tracking opponents but times and times again, he also left gaps in the middle, showing poor positioning and also didnt cover himself in glory as regards his passing range.

And again, shots like that sometimes get past the first Man trying to block and ends up at the block of the 2nd or 3rd man in the path of the ball.

Had Onyeka been present in his defensive Zone, we would/might not be talking Iwobi close to the ball. Iwobi did what he could.

All he had to do was take up his position centrally in his DM zone and act as a barrier in anticipation of a strike. But no... baba was ball watching.

Onyeka had a generally underpar yesterday. Don't sugar-coat it further abeg.

BascoVanVeli:
Even if he ran full speed he won't have reached. I am surprised u are talking about Onyeka when Iwobi was the closer midfielder to the situation.

That being said neither one of them was to blame. We had 8 players in the box defending 5 Algerians and nobody accounted for the guys outside the box. Plus all of that would have never happened if Uzoho caught a very simple ball.

codemaniacs:
You're the one making excuses for Iwobi..

A player that is not a DM cannot play the DM position the same way a DM will play it.

When a team is in possession they are in an offensive state but when a team is not in possession they are in a defensive state so all 10 players are meant to protect the defense.

charlesemeka85:
hmmmmm e no go easy here if this your assessment turn out to be true wen dem don already give am nick name “midfield sound sultan”

Mk we Dey watch sha

charlesemeka85:
hmmmmm e no go easy here if this your assessment turn out to be true wen dem don already give am nick name “midfield sound sultan”

Mk we Dey watch sha

BascoVanVeli:
Even if he ran full speed he won't have reached. I am surprised u are talking about Onyeka when Iwobi was the closer midfielder to the situation.

That being said neither one of them was to blame. We had 8 players in the box defending 5 Algerians and nobody accounted for the guys outside the box. Plus all of that would have never happened if Uzoho caught a very simple ball.

TheSuperNerd:
And that @bolded... partly explains why he should NOT have been invited in the first place. This is part of the tactical viewpoint I wanted Utonwanne to understand.

One, he is a Benchwarmer.

Two, he doesn't have the positional discipline for the role.

On a flip side, Iwobi wasn't even the closest to the ball. It was Moses Simon.
So no excuses made for Nigeria's best player yesterday.


Finally, Onyeka didn't make the right steps into that zone. If he did, we won't be analysing his second mistake which isn't obvious to the peripheral eyes.

How do you call yourself a defensive minded player with instructions to help protect the defence in defensive phases and you are defending space behind that do not lead to the goalmouth from where Atal's shot was taken?

SMH. Enough of this. You are just here defending a underpar showing from a player with very limited abilities but high energy for defensive actions. And even defensively, he still flunked.

elyte89:
Werey say sound sultan ....no b only sound sultan na Timaya u go c
Na midfield sultan dem nickname d guy o

TheSuperNerd:
I have done it before mister. Have you ever heard of the word, "Multi-tasking"? Don't use your own limits or brainpower level to measure with another. We are all built different.

Also, what is common ground for all at least is that you can easily watch one game starting at 12noon or 11.30am (Dutch leagues or others) and move to another starting at 2pm. All 90mins games not clashing and we have a lot of that every weekend on Naija players. They don't all clash all the time especially concerning players we really want to watch.


And listen... I insist that you watch the entire 90mins of a game on any of our lads 3 times if indeed you are going to have an authoritative say on them, if at all.

I cannot invest my time watching these lads as detailed as I do only to come argue with you, who don't watch them or don't watch enough and you still wanna come rub minds with me. The difference is I see everything and will analyse holistically while you will only analyse in parts and via nolstagia from previous seasons that may not hold true in the here and now.


And I am not lying. I even dedicate more than 3 hours on certain day offs to watch our lads. I can go 12noon - 9pm on a Saturday if that is my day off just watching and keeping tabs on our Nigerian footballers scheduled within that time frame.

It happens except I have other project engagements even on my day offs.

Why that is hard to believe for you is very funny. A few of us take time to really observe, Utonwanne. You should also do same if you must truly have anything soundly authoritative to say on these lads.

Utonwanne:
Oga, You can't watch 3 matches at a go. You don't need to impress me with your supposed brain superiority.

And why would someone watch ball from 12 noon to 9pm every weekend. You are just being dishonest to yourself.

Funny thing is that most weekends, you are here analyzing and updating on our boys performance. Which App do you use to float Nairaland on your screen while watching 3 matches and updating scoreline and performances in more than 6 different matches at a go.... With a steady gaze for more than 8 hours

Guy, you are not being truthful at all.

TheSuperNerd:
No no no... Basco. The point was not for him to reach Atal. Atal was far away.

And there are reasons my focus is on Onyeka and not Iwobi. First, that was Onyeka's defensive zone. Also, Onyeka was ball watching instead of setting himself up as a 2nd barrier in anticipation of the ball strike.

Your screenshots explain my point beautifully. See how relaxed he was as Atal lined up that shot.

Look at his positioning. He should have come more centrally at the top of the box into Atal's shot view.

Look at how laterally placed he is away from the center of his zone with respect to where the goal mouth that he is "meant to be defending" actually is. He should have taken steps centrally to where the goalmouth, behind him, was and not away from it.

His steps woud have brought him into the path of the ball.

A good DM will not be covering space away from where the goal mouth should be when trying to anticipate a shot coming from further forward outside the box centrally.

Further shots show it below......


Las Las Uzoho is just as bad as Okoye is right now. But I couldn't help but notice Onyeka's poor positioning when moving away from inside the box.

TheSuperNerd:
And that @bolded... partly explains why he should NOT have been invited in the first place. This is part of the tactical viewpoint I wanted Utonwanne to understand.

One, he is a Benchwarmer.

Two, he doesn't have the positional discipline for the role.

On a flip side, Iwobi wasn't even the closest to the ball. It was Moses Simon.
So no excuses made for Nigeria's best player yesterday.


Finally, Onyeka didn't make the right steps into that zone. If he did, we won't be analysing his second mistake which isn't obvious to the peripheral eyes.

How do you call yourself a defensive minded player with instructions to help protect the defence in defensive phases and you are defending space behind that do not lead to the goalmouth from where Atal's shot was taken?

SMH. Enough of this. You are just here defending a underpar showing from a player with very limited abilities but high energy for defensive actions. And even defensively, he still flunked.

codemaniacs:
Iwobi and the other players outside the box should have closed down the player.. he is on the bench because the team he plays for favors Danish players not because he is not good and he started been benched because he came for AFCON.

Before AFCON he was in the starting 11.

Utonwanne:
You no get talk oga.

Onyeka was not at fault for the second goal.

Prime Busquet wouldn't have done anything to prevent the goal.

zuchyblink:
In an official game with VAR,we would have beaten Algeria last night. The problem(s) we discovered was the goalkeeper and the lean Midfield. The referee was algeria's 12th man

Utonwanne:
And it took just 5 seconds from Uzoho's punch to when the shot was taken and a pass in-between.

BascoVanVeli:
How many times have seen the person who jumps to defend a corner also dash out to close down a shooter outside the box? I could see if he didn't have to jump and was already on the edge of the box but this situation is different

BascoVanVeli:
Relaxed or not he was never going to reach the shooter and iwobi was much closer to the danger. He could also have attempted the things u say Frank didn't attempt. For me both midfielders had the same duty cos we played more of a double pivot.

At the end of the day the set up by the coach wasn't right and all our players were slow to react. I don't see the good in singling out Onyeka in this situation.

TheSuperNerd:
You don't have "eyes". That's why you don't "see."

Below is Onyeka towards the right of this shot below.

He was partly at fault. See the space behind that he was defending. Not even in line with the goal mouth.

Lad kept his lateral position with respect to the line of the goal mouth that he was meant to be protecting and he had all the time to had moved centrally BUT HE DIDN'T.

3 touches made before that shot was lined up and he was still ball watching.

The ball literally went through the same space he was meant to occupy had he taken those central steps into his DM Zone.

Poor positioning. Finito.

Utonwanne:
You failed to note that there's change of direction from right to midfield before the shot. Onyeka is one if the tallest and ought to defend corner kick.


You don dae change mouth small small.

From He's at fault to 'Partly at fault'.

Utonwanne:
You failed to note that there's change of direction from right to midfield before the shot. Onyeka is one if the tallest and ought to defend corner kick.


You don dae change mouth small small.

From He's at fault to 'Partly at fault'.

TheSuperNerd:
Nothing much to say about yesterday's game. A mix of disappointment and encouragement.... But I say these below.

Like had our second goal stood, we could have walked away with a victory.
And ofcos the refs were always gonna favour the Algerians as we literally were their guests.


- Our direct playing approach yesterday which is getting the ball quickly & vertically into the final third zones was an indication of Peseiro being aware of the fact that the midfield and set-up we paraded wasn't good enough to use the "Sustained" build up possession approach.
Man went strictly "swift vertical Forward-playing" and several of it came through Iwobi from midfield and others via the overlapping ball carries of Zaidu and Aina via the wings.

It has its perks but was always gonna be limited as it didn't afford us midfield control in the game. We literally struggled AGAIN to string passes together and most especially when chasing the game after Atal's goal.


- Akpoguma and Calvin Bassey needs to see more games together. They did okay playing for the first time as a pair. Onyeka didn't provide much cover for them.

- Iwobi gave everything again. Was as assertive in offensive phases, trying to make things happen vertically forwards just as he was also busy defensively covering passing lanes and Man marking.

- Frank Onyeka also gave as good as he got defensively. He covered grounds in terms of his marking, tracking and tackling but his positional indiscipline came to the fore again as he left Akpo and CB exposed time and time again.

Even Algeria's second goal was scored from the zone Frank Onyeka was meant to be covering. His DM zone.

Lad is a pressing machine and can cover grounds but perhaps that is also what contributes to him forgetting his primary duty in a game. He was meant to protect and occupy the zone in front of the defence when off the ball with the action close to your defensive third. Track anything entering that zone of yours and end it. That he didn't do enough and we paid for it.

Him giving away a penalty also for the equaliser means he has part blames in both goals. Sadly.


And when on the ball, he didn't contribute enough to our getting forward in our direct vertical playing approach. His distribution and passing range limitations was present again for all to see.



- Francis Uzoho I need not say much, do I? Our GK department NEEDS CRITICALLY INVASIVE SURGERY. Every shot thrown at them at vital moments in a game can end us.

Yes, I speak of Onyeka not covering his primary zone but for goodness sake, that is a Routine Save all day for most GKs. Terrible situation we find ourselves in as regards the GK issue.


- Terem Moffi had a good game. I love the way he really showed presence up top. Held up plays well. Took his goal well like a true poacher. The speed he used, coming from that Algerian defender's blindside during the ball bounce chaos in the box, to get in front of him and tap in showed great instinct and intelligence to attack space in the box. Also should have bagged an assist had Lookman's goal not been INCORRECTLY RULED OUT.


- Kelechi Iheanacho SHOULDN'T BE STARTING SUPER EAGLES GAMES. Tactically, he subtracts more than he adds. A technically gifted player but his tactical deficiencies outweigh the goodness of his sweet left foot.


- Jose Peseiro SHOULD REALIZE THAT UNTIL He addresses the tactical and technical needs of our midfield department, then he is going nowhere with this team.

The End... for now.

charlesemeka85:
nooo we hv decent enough midfielders in top flight european football

No need to drop the quality of the team by calling up a Spanish 2nd tier player, if say na English championship it would’ve been considerable enough

Imagine boasting of 4 midfielders in the epl(aribo,ndidi,iwobi and Onyeka), 2 in Belgian top fight(onyedika and alhassan), 1in ligue one(bonke) and we abandon one of these to go down the lower rugs of Spanish football to invite one

Na cheating na

TheSuperNerd:
I always maintained that he had a part to play in that second goal due to his poor positioning in his own DM zone.

I clearly called out Uzoho for his part in that second goal. I clearly labelled him at fault.

So where is the invisible mouth change? If I 100% blamed Onyeka, would Uzoho being at fault be in my first post on the game?

Stop abusing the word 'troll'. It's now a cliché

You are just making up nonsense as you go. Go on troll Utonwanne.

Utonwanne:
.