₦airaland Forum

TheGoodJoe:

The introduction of those defenders will tighten the defence but Mikel in the defensive midfield brings something very few players will bring to the Olympics. A vast wealth of experience playing a particular role. Mikel is one of the World's most experienced defensive midfielder in the game today.

Playing Mikel in another role will mean not utilizing his experience to the highest level. That is what the Olympics overage spots is for. Why play Azubuike there when we have to one of the most experienced defensive midfielders in the team?

Adding Mikel to part of the defensive set up will bring a rock solid shield to the team and a possessive pivot to sit the team. This will aid the attacking players to play with more freedom and confidence.

I still opt for Mikel to play deep and shield the defence.

Icon4s:
My point exactly.

My only concern may jst be that he may b off pace. This crop of U23 as far as i have watched them have been playing with so much pace. Etebor and Dimgba are very quick players and would need a CMF that would lay d balls quickly and in a sleek manner. Ifeanyi Mathew would have perfectly fitted into dat role bt na Siasia know o. Siasia needs to really work on integrating Mikel as quickly as possible into the main stream of that team. I hope he reports to camp early enough.

tbaba1234:
Dimgba is not good at all. If Siasia takes him, I hope he does not make the starting lineup. I can't see what he offers in terms of danger.

Icon4s:
Ok. Bt which other natural winger would u place ahead of Dimgba?

lakesidepapa:
Playing Mikel in the DMF role will shield more to the defense while playing Azubuike as CMF and Etebor as 10 will bring good attacking possession to the team. I agreed with sir Joe

tbaba1234:
Imoh Ezekiel looks like the only decent choice available. He really has genuine pace. Against Brazil, he was one of the stand-outs.

Godwin Saviour struggled against Mexico but he offers more than Dimgba in my opinion.

Icon4s:
Siasia prefers natural wingers than converted wingers. Saviour and Dimgba are abt d two natural wingers left in d team.

Imoh might make d team as a striker and nt as a winger.

Icon4s:
Well, u have a point there. Mikel may nt b able to cope with d pace of the team if played as a CMF.
Youth teams are typically quicker than the senior national teams.

I fear Mikel might end up as an over load instead of an over age in that team. Onazi or Raheem Lawal would have been more effective IMHO.

tbaba1234:
Imoh Ezekiel looks like the only decent choice available. He really has genuine pace. Against Brazil, he was one of the stand-outs.

Godwin Saviour struggled against Mexico but he offers more than Dimgba in my opinion.

Icon4s:
Well, u have a point there. Mikel may nt b able to cope with d pace of the team if played as a CMF.
Youth teams are typically quicker than the senior national teams.

I fear Mikel might end up as an over load instead of an over age in that team. Onazi or Raheem Lawal would have been more effective IMHO.

Icon4s:
My brother, our problem is nt in s midfield. Even with d massive withdrawals we still have options to debate about.

What do u think is the way forward for our attack?

TheGoodJoe:

When it comes to sitting deep and protecting the defence,. Mikel trumps Onazi and Lawal. It is essential in today's game. Coach Gus Hiddink shielded his defence with Mikel and Chelsea stopped leaking goals.

Zidane made Casemiro a regular and they won the Champions league. Before the final game, Diego Simeone pointed Casemiro as one of the key players of Real Madrid's fortune changing.

In Manchester City, Pellegrini made Fernando a regular towards the end of the season and our results became better.

A team with a defensive midfielder that sits deep and protects the defense is deadly. Remember Chelsea in the Champions league they won. That was how Di Matteo used Mikel and Mikel shone like a Super Star because it was a perfect role for him.

Mikel playing at that deep role will flourish and our defensive record will improve drastically.

TheGoodJoe:

Hence we have solid midfielders, I will opt for us going with a midfield based team formation. I say we play a 4-5-1 formation. This nullifies the weakness in attack.

-------------------------------------------Sadiq Umar (CF)-----------------------------------------------
Godwin Saviour (LMF)-----------------------------------------------Usman Mohammed (RMF)
------------------------------------------Etebor (CMF)-----------------------------------------------------
---------------------Wilfred Ndidi (DMF)-----------------John Mikel (DMF)--------------------

Saviour, Usman Mohammed, Etebor, Mikel, Ndidi, make the five man midfield. We still have Azubuike who could make the starting Eleven.

Icon4s:
For a player of Mikel's calibre we need him to b more involved in the build of play. This is largely y our national team coaches deploy him mostly as a CMF.

U saw David Alaba play AM in this Euro 2016. They needed him more in the thick of things rather than as a LB.

Nani and Ronaldo are being used as strikers in the Portugues team bc dey need them more in those positions rather than as wing forwards.

I know Mikel is unargueably d most experienced DMF in that team bt i feel we need his experience more in d main stream of the game rather than jst prevention of goals.

If Omeruo and Troost-Ekong would form d CB pair i personally feel Azubuike and Ndidi can do d "sitting deep in front of the defense" job.
I jst feel we need more from Mikel rather than sitting deep in front of d defense. If that is all we need Mikel for then we have jst wasted another slot cos i believe if Omeruo and Troost/Ndidi will feature at CB then Azubuike can do d DMF job.

Remember this is nt d senior world cup so we are nt expecting Messi, Ronaldo, Ozil, Alexis, Hazard, Arguero, Bale, Pogba and d likes. Thus far d biggest player i know dat is attending is Neymer. So hu will d Mikel b sitting deep to defend against?

I expect more from Mikel rather dan to sit deep with d defense else we dnt need him.

Pavarotti:
Young Nigerian Ola Aina seals new deal at Chelsea

https://www.chelseafc.com/content/cfc/en/homepage/news/boilerplate-config/latest-news/2016/07/aina-seals-new-deal.img.png

http://www.soccerassembly.com/forums/topic/young-nigerian-ola-aina-seals-new-deal-at-chelsea/

TheGoodJoe:

What I am pointing out is that the sitting deep role is under estimated. Ronaldo and Nani are attacking because of no attackers. So they need them to feel that role.

In this case, we also need our overage players playing at their best.

Mikel's call up will not be wasted if we use him to the best of his ability. Ndidi, Azubuike and co. are not as disciplined as Mikel. With the way Coach Siasia plays, we get exposed a lot.

You are also underrating the deep defensive role. Zidane referred to Makalele as the engine of the Galacticos. It takes genius thinking and discipline to pull it off.

Azubuike has been in that team and the team has continued licking goals. Just putting good defenders do not make the defence tight. The good defenders need a shield. We can not rely on Azubuike.

Ndidi can not be the one because he drifts forward to contribute to the attack. That is why he scored some lovely goals.

So Mikel's call up is not wasted. If we play him in front of the defence to shield them, with the quality defenders coming in, we have a team that does not leak goals.

Then we work on how to score.

We can not attack well with out a strong defence. If we want the medals, especially goals, we need our best players at their best. Mikel is best shielding and our most decorated and experienced player in that team.

TheGoodJoe:

Hence we have solid midfielders, I will opt for us going with a midfield based team formation. I say we play a 4-5-1 formation. This nullifies the weakness in attack.

-------------------------------------------Sadiq Umar (CF)-----------------------------------------------
Godwin Saviour (LMF)-----------------------------------------------Usman Mohammed (RMF)
------------------------------------------Etebor (CMF)-----------------------------------------------------
---------------------Wilfred Ndidi (DMF)-----------------John Mikel (DMF)--------------------

Saviour, Usman Mohammed, Etebor, Mikel, Ndidi, make the five man midfield. We still have Azubuike who could make the starting Eleven.

Icon4s:
Hmmm nice attempt.
But let me point out some loop holes.

1. Sadiq Umar is nt a tested player, so on what basis are u fronting him to start ahead of Ighalo, Ezekiel, Ajayi and Awoniyi.

2. Ur team does nt have a number 10 this is going to isolate ur lone striker as he would depend more on crosses which can easily b intercepted by d opposing defense. 4-5-1 typically goes with a number 10.

3. A team like Nigeria can not go into a tourney to face teams like Japan, Sweden and Colombia and u start with 2 blocking 4. One number 4 will do and d other slot should go to a number 10(in a 4-5-1) or SS (in a 4-4-2).

lakesidepapa:
Sorry sir Joe, Is it sure Usman mohammed will make the list and is he with the team? I'm confused.. That guy is a complete player, he played very nicely at the last concluded chan

TheGoodJoe:

Usman Mohammed is on the 35 man list, I do not see why Coach Siasia will drop him.

TheGoodJoe:


In this case, what I am proposing is actually not a defensive set up but an attacking one. Even though I put two defensive midfielers, I expect or would like Ndidi to slip into the CMF role when we are attacking.

Coach Siasia likes a high tempo game. Etebor, Usman, Godwin can bring this. When they press forward, they bring support to Sadiq.

I put Sadiq there because he is in camp and Ighalo has been out of form up front. I can not guarantee Sadiq delivering the goods but his few stats look promising.

If Ighalo makes it to camp, then I will say he leads the line.

I do not trust Awo or Ajayi. Not sure of Ezekiel.

In what I am proposing, the five midfielders work as a compact unit. When they press forward, Ndidi takes the CMF and Etebor becomes a ten. It is not compulsory that there must be a creative midfielder role all the time diring the game. The wingers become Wing forwards.

When the lose the ball, they fall back quickly and form a compact unit behind the ball. Similar to the formation I posted.

Icon4s:
Inclusion of Omeruo Troost-Ekong and Ndidi is like including 3 over aged players. A CB pairing of any two of these 3 will so greatly improve d defense As o earlier said, it is nt as if we are facing the senior teams of Japan, Colombia, Sweden and others. I feel the U23 CB-DMF partnership can effectively cope with d opposing attacks.

Lets deploy Mikel to a more Central position.

Icon4s:
Ur second to last paragraph simply puts Ndidi as CMF and Etebor as number 10. Bt do u think Ndidi has enough creativity to play that role?

Remember this is same player dat was a defender only 3yrs ago.

I am even thinking Siasia would pair him with Omeruo at CB.

Icon4s:
Ur second to last paragraph simply puts Ndidi as CMF and Etebor as number 10. Bt do u think Ndidi has enough creativity to play that role?

Remember this is same player dat was a defender only 3yrs ago.

I am even thinking Siasia would pair him with Omeruo at CB.

In a pool of Awoniyi, Sadiq, and Ajayi i would pick Ajayi to start.
Sadiq might seem promising bt he is nt tested.

lakesidepapa:
Oh really.. That's nice. But I don't think he play with the team in their friendly matches

TheGoodJoe:

We can only propose what we think is best. At the end, Coach Siasia can make contrary choices to what we expect. I hope Usman makes it because he is quality.

TheGoodJoe:

To be honest with you, I do not know what Coach Siasia is thinking. How does he want to play one of the brightest upcoming defensive midfielders in the World in Central defence? I believe he does not want a competition for Azubuike. Especially with Mikel coming.

Ndidi should be in the midfield. Not defence of three years ago. Walter Mazzari of Watford wants Ndidi the midfielder. We are talking of a man who signed Gokhan Inler from Udinese to Napoli. He knows a good DMF.

As for Ndidi, I expect him to cope when we press because it is a similar strategy he plays in his club. His club plays the high line and Ndidi slips forward from his deep defensive midfield roles. I think he can cope.

Icon4s:
In the national team it is usually a different ball game. In d national team players are often deployed to positions where dey are needed. U saw Ronaldo and Nani play as attackers in Euros and Alaba as an AM.Ndidi's defensive back ground gives him an edge. If we need him more at CB so b it.

TheGoodJoe:

Guardiola has started drilling your boy.
cc: joseph1013, thesupernerd, safarigirl, confun, tbaba1234, lakesidepapa