Agu Relishes New Setubal Role, Worried About Winless Run

Nigerian international Mikel Agu has expressed delight at the new role he’s been entrusted with after Vitoria Setubal Coach Lito Vidigal moved the midfielder from his central midfield role to the left side for the Green and Whites.

Agu, who’s been a bargain acquisition for Setubal following his deadline day loan move from parent club FC Porto, claims he’s willing to play anywhere the manager wanted as it reflects faith in his ability to deliver on the pitch.

“I play more as a number 8 now and I think I’m enjoying my game better. I have more time on the ball and can actually dictate the pace of the game. It’s all good for me and I’m willing to play anywhere as long as it helps the team to win,” he told Completesports.com in an exclusive chat from Portugal.

However, a string of poor results on the pitch has left the 25-year old worried and he admits the whole team is under pressure for their inability to score from several goal scoring chances.

Setubal are on a seven-game winless run which dates back to last December when they won their last game 1-0 away at Maritimo. Since then they have lost five Premeira Liga games and two Cup matches.

They lost to Benfica and Santa Clara at home, lost two games on the road to Portimonense and Boavista and drew their last home game 0-0 against Chaves. In-between these league games they also lost two home games to Sporting Braga in the Taca de Portugal and Taca de Liga respectively.

A worried Agu fingers a blunt attack as the reason for their poor form.

“I think our results so far have not reflected the efforts we put into games. Except for maybe one game, we’ve done very well in all our matches but poor marksmanship is our problem. We can’t seem to get the ball into the net.”

The poor run has now seen Setubal slid to 13th position in the table from an impressive 6th late last year.

“Everybody is worried and we are under pressure to win games. We are doing our best but without results, it’s like you’re not doing anything. We need to score goals. I don’t know if the manager will bring in players but our job is to score and win games, regardless of who plays or not,” he lamented.

While Setubal have a good defence with the fifth least number of goals considered, they’re a poor 14th in attacking might after scoring just a miserly 15 goals in 16 games.

The Green and Whites chase a first victory in eight games to Rio Ave who they play away on Sunday at the Estadio dos Arcos.

By Johnny Edward.