₦airaland Forum

goldfish80:
Emmanuel Daniel (7) : Cannot be blamed for the two goals conceded by the Nigerian team. The Germans would have scored more if not for his crucial saves. Should improve his positioning.
Abdullahi Shehu (5) : Was caught out several times by the German strikers. Was unable to read the game and did not know when to overlap or stay back to defend.
William Troost-Ekong( : Ekong was poor in Nigeria’s first game in Rio but has been one of the best players as the competition progressed. Worked like a horse, looked solid and dominated the defense.
Sincere Seth (5) : Struggled as the fullbacks. Has no international quality. Saturday would have been a better option.
Stanley Amuzie (4) : I’d say the best position to play Amuzie at this tournament was as left winger, especially with Madu also making the squad. Did not offer anything in all the games he featured, defensively. Played too high up the pitch, will not be happy watching a replay of his wasted free kick in the 81st minute.
Ndifreke Effiong (4) : A big task for the local lad to step into the shoes of Okechukwu. Failed the test. Lacks international quality and it’s strange how he made the 18-man squad in the first place.
Usman Mohammed (6) : Poor boy. Was only going to struggle due to the absence of Okechukwu. Did not shield the backline as expected.
Aminu Umar (5) : Has always played well for the Nigerian teams but was not at his best against the Germans.
John Obi Mikel (7) : Excellent going forward., with good dribbling skills. Had a good chance to equalize in the first half. When he was not with the ball, he lost his way. Poor decision making to allow Amuzie take the free kick in the closing minutes.
Sadiq Umar (2) : The worst performance by a Nigerian player at any level I have witnessed in the last 30 years. Wasted a good opportunity in the first half, was nervous throughout the game, had no physical presence. One should question the coaching abilities of Siasia, seeing him on the pitch for more than an hour.
Imoh Ezekiel (6) : The former Standard Liege young star has been Nigeria’s most hardworking player in Brazil. If he can add goals to his game at international level, sky’s the limit. Well done Imoh!
Substitutes
Junior Ajayi (4) : An unfit Junior Ajayi had more physical presence than Umar when he was introduced. Could not put his imprint on the game due to his match rustiness.
Saliu Popoola (3) : Was running aimlessly after he came on. Failed to launch attacks. But one thing you can’t take away from him is that he has excellent public relation skills.

http://allnigeriasoccer.com/read_news.php?nid=20124

That is allnigeriasoccer.com assessment of Sadiq on the night 2/10. I find it quite perplexing how much you have gone out of your way to defend him over the past few days. It's quite astonishing to be honest.

TheGoodJoe:

LWKMD. Who pays these guys to write these? I asked this before.

That Usman Mohammed's write up is hilarious. Usman Mohammed was not the only one who suffered in the absence of Azubuike. The whole team did. It destabilized the balance of the team.

Throughout the history of this Coach Siasia's Dream Team, Azubuike was a constant. Playing against a well prepared German side would affect everyone.

I am not much of a fan of player ratings by these guys because they leave out a lot. I am tired of hearing the players were poor.

The Question is why were they poor in that game. When they can answer that, let me know. That is what I tried to explain long ago.

Coach Siasia was naive to think every team will seat back and play him. I pointed that before and after the Colombian game.

We played this match with higher intensity. Coach Siasia did not make any step to nullify the compact game of the Germans and he expected smooth playing games.

goldfish80:
You cannot bury your head in the sand when a lot of people are pointing accusing finger at one particular person. The whole world cannot be wrong at the same time.

Does it not strike you that something was wrong if the coach pulled culled him out first when he needed a goal.
If not for injury, which coach will pull out his top striker when in search for a goal?

That alone should tell you something was wrong with his performance.

goldfish80:
If he played as well as you make him out to, the writer who have not seen this back and forth would not have scored him 2/10.

TheGoodJoe:

How can I bury my head after reading such ridiculous write up. That writer is a disgrace. Did you read what he wrote about Popoola? That was thrash and throws a light on how myopic his write up is.

That Popoola write up shows the guy's writing is very weak. Popoola made interceptions, completed short passes. Sprayed long accurate balls. Yet that writer said Popoola ran aimlessly on the field.

Let them ignorantly point at players performance and not face the fact that we set up the team wrongly.

Verdict:
Thrash report.

goldfish80:
Aren't you contradicting yourself abit? Clearly you rate Sadiq's performance very high but in the same breath you don't want him near the super eagles.
Your have to be consistent!

goldfish80:
Aren't you contradicting yourself abit? Clearly you rate Sadiq's performance very high but in the same breath you don't want him near the super eagles.
Your have to be consistent!

TheGoodJoe:

Read my comments again.

Let me explain instead of taking you back.

I was impressed with his work rate and pressing. It increased my respect for the young man and I believe we have a bright talent in him.

Pressing and continuous pursuit against such organized play is difficult. I have seen top players battle to cope.

That is what I was praising.

I believe in a better set up, with more support, Sadiq Umar would have performed better.

The Bad.

He could not meet up with the battle against the defenders when it was time for the offence. He could not handle the compact play of the Germans.

If you look at the set up from back to front, Sadiq was the only one who spent most times without support. Mikel was battling the Bender Twins.

So naturally, I will not expect Sadiq to light fire works in that set up. I already disagreed with the set up. Long balls to such a set up made it worse.

I believe a more experienced player like Ibra, Lukaku would cope better. Not excel.

So I think with more experience and playing time he can deal better with the pressure.

Was Sadiq Umar awesome? No. Does he need improvement? Yes.

Did he work hard? Yes. Did he give his all? Yes.

TheGoodJoe:

Pressing can be done as a team or by an individual. You can not say Sadiq Umar did not do his job because you do not know the Coach's game plan.

I have seen Manchester United sit deep and Tevez pressed solo to force the defence to loop out the ball.

In the 2009 Champions League final game between Manchester United and Barcelona, the Manchester Team sat deep. There was a time CR7 broke out from the pack to press.

In the game against Germany, Sadiq Umar was the main man up front. Mikel is not fast enough to do the work. What Mikel did was assisting.

Of you watch Tevez games, you see the same kind of pressing with the team sitting behind. If you press a possessive side who keeps the ball well in number, you play to their strength. This is due to the gaps created behind.

There was no caution from the bench or a change of pattern when our players came out after the half time break.

Sadiq Umar was useful to us on the pitch because of his pressure on the defenders. When he left, it was like a huge load lifted off the shoulders of the German. They could play in a more controlled way.

TheGoodJoe:

How can I bury my head after reading such ridiculous write up. That writer is a disgrace. Did you read what he wrote about Popoola? That was thrash and throws a light on how myopic his write up is.

That Popoola write up shows the guy's writing is very weak. Popoola made interceptions, completed short passes. Sprayed long accurate balls. Yet that writer said Popoola ran aimlessly on the field.

Let them ignorantly point at players performance and not face the fact that we set up the team wrongly.

Verdict:
Thrash report.

TheGoodJoe:

When Michael Laudrup coached Mallorca, he faced Guardiola's Barcelona. He opted for a high pressing system to counter the Catalans.

Mallorca played very well. The players gave good account of themselves but lost three Zeros.

It is unfair pointing out the bad without mentioning the good. Sadiq Umar had some poor highlights but had some very impressive points. Also in a better set up with more support, he would have done better.

king94:
who bronze epp

BascoVanVeli:
Nigeria.

TheGoodJoe:

How can I bury my head after reading such ridiculous write up. That writer is a disgrace. Did you read what he wrote about Popoola? That was thrash and throws a light on how myopic his write up is.

That Popoola write up shows the guy's writing is very weak. Popoola made interceptions, completed short passes. Sprayed long accurate balls. Yet that writer said Popoola ran aimlessly on the field.

Let them ignorantly point at players performance and not face the fact that we set up the team wrongly.

Verdict:
Thrash report.

zicky:
Just to paint a good picture of how Sadiq tried, someone went to the extent of comparing Nigeria as westham and Germany as Bayern.

king94:
it's better we don't even collect bronze cos if we do, our 'wonderful' sport minister will say it's a sign of improvement from London 2012.

joseph1013:
Your defense of the team's poor performance is weak.

You say the team played the best they could play in the game, but when told that Siasia said they did not play to instruction, you say it's a lie and that the coach is responsible for their inability to complete simple passes.

Now you are here saying that Popoola completed short passes and sprayed long balls. If others could not complete short passes and Popoola could in your view, is that still the fault of the coach or due to the brilliance of the Germans?

I've chosen not to criticize Umar Sadiq because he's still a kid who is going through a lot, and I will leave it at that, but saying he played anything in that match is stretching the truth.

goldfish80:
Apart from chasing people down, what other thing impressed you about Sadiq's performance?
His close control? His hold up play? His chance creating? Am curious.

Mickael2:
for me as well Popoola did nothing after he came on. I doubt if we created one good chance after he came on. I might blame it on tiredness but he wasn't close to being good in that game at least, just my own view though, I might be wrong about him because Sadiq already had me swearing at my TV before he came on, so my thinking was no longer straight then

Mickael2:
they played in a more controlled manner because the sub was worse, they were even playing a calm game with Sadiq around.

Anyways even when you think that Tevez is pressing like a headless chicken, he always presses from one particular side thereby cutting off one part of the defence from the other. Sadie was just running around, I will try to get his heat maps from the game so you will understand my point then compare it with that of Tevez

Mickael2:
they played in a more controlled manner because the sub was worse, they were even playing a calm game with Sadiq around.

Anyways even when you think that Tevez is pressing like a headless chicken, he always presses from one particular side thereby cutting off one part of the defence from the other. Sadie was just running around, I will try to get his heat maps from the game so you will understand my point then compare it with that of Tevez

BascoVanVeli:
Wouldn't he have said the same if we won gold? The boys deserve at least a medal for their efforts. It is not about any minister.

BascoVanVeli:
Wouldn't he have said the same if we won gold? The boys deserve at least a medal for their efforts. It is not about any minister.

TheGoodJoe:

I get your point but in most of the games Tevez played for Sir Alex Ferguson, the teams were dominated by Manchester United, the pressing can be controlled.

Most of my praise of Sadiq Umar was down to effort. The odds were stacked against him but he gave his all. It was his effort and passion. His running and covering grounds was impressive.

Just as you talked about Sadiq Umar not being a pacy player. That was what makes what Sadiq Umar did impressive. He was playing off his comfort zone. He covered long distances in a short time.

In my earlier comment, I added Mikel into the picture because these guys gave their all.

Yes we had lots of problems (which I blame the set up) but despite all these, I saw these guys fighting.

That was why before the tournament started, I said something like these are not the best players we had but these guys were fighters. Even Ndifreke Udo was on.

Most criticism hurled at them were on the ball performances. What of when the Germans were in possession. These guys were like madmen of the field and they get my respect.

Thanks for your brilliant additions.

Mickael2:
we can totally agree on this. he was giving his all but.....