The Super Eagles lost 1-0 to reigning African champions Algeria in Friday’s international friendly in Austria.
It is now 19-game unbeaten for the Algerians who have also now beaten the Eagles in their last three meetings.
Following the outcome of Friday’s game, Completesports.com takes a look at five observations on the part of the Eagles….
– Maduka Okoye had a decent performance in first Super Eagles start
The Sparta Rotterdam goalkeeper had the chance to make his first start for the Super Eagles and put up a decent display.
Could not be faulted for the goal as his defenders failed to react to a rebound from a corner.
Pulled off a brilliant save to parry a dangerous free-kick by Algeria’s Andy Delort on 36 minutes.
Was called into action again with five minutes left in the game as he tipped away to safety a dangerous cross from Yacine Brahimi.
Okoye’s decent performance has no doubt made life more difficult for Gernot Rohr in the goalkeeping position.
–Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Joe Aribo Hugely missed in midfield
The absence of the trio of Wilfred Ndidi, Oghenekaro Etebo, Joe Aribo was felt as the Super Eagles midfield was non existent.
The Algerians controlled the midfield well which caused the Eagles, most especially the defence and attack problems.
Semi Ajayi, Frank Onyeka and Mikel Agu all struggled to make any meaningful impact as the Algerians continued to create problems for the backline due lack of protection.
–Zaidu Sanusi showed promise
If what FC Porto left-back Zaidu Sanusi showed in just his debut for the Eagles is anything to go by, then Jamilu Collins has a big fight on his hands.
After struggling initially trying to stop one of the deadliest wingers in world football, Riyad Mahrez, Sanusi gradually got into the game and impressed.
He created the Eagles first real chance when he sent in a dangerous cross which Paul Onuachu failed to put away.
He went close again after he made a brilliant run from behind but his low cross from a tight angle was stopped by the Algerian keeper.
–Paul Onuachu again failed to justify Super Eagles call-up
Time seems to be running out for Paul Onuachu as he once again failed to make an impact.
The tall striker had the chance to impress in the absence of Victor Osimhen but failed to leave his mark in the game.
His only opportunity in the game came in the first half when he connected with Sanusi’s cross which took a touch on the Algerian keeper and rolled away for a corner.
Aside that he laboured to get into decent positions and did not really trouble the opposition defence as he was well taken care of.
–Struggle to impress against a well organised opposition
Just like what happened at last year’s AFCON, the Algerians once again showed that against a formidable opposition the Eagles will struggle.
Gernot Rohr side could not string passes together, failed to create enough scoring opportunities and produced a flat performance.
Despite the introduction of Kelechi Iheanacho, Ahmed Musa and Moses Simon, they still could not trouble the Algerian defence.
By James Agberebi
Got what it Takes?
Predict and Win Millions Now
38 Comments
Rohr still doesn’t seem to trust Ramon Azeez enough,else he would have drafted him into the squad in place of an injured player.
Azeez would have been an upgrade on makeshift Semi Ajayi in the midfield atleast, and considering he plays in a top league and gets some fair share of playing time doesn’t make him crap as he is being seemingly portrayed. He is aquinted with the team unlike a rookie Frank Onyeka and he would have sloted in the midfield seamlessly—his natural position—unlike the makeshift Semi Ajay that was drafted in there. Moreso, with Ndidi, Etebo and Aribo out, we were short in central midfield but had a glut in central defence. Reinforcement in the central midfield should have been in the mould of drafting in a central midfielder.
That a certain Tyrone Ebuehi that was initially put on reserve but later got beckoned at to replace an injured got to play in the right back ahead of Ola Aina and Chidozie Awaziem and even emerged as one of the best performers on the night calls to question the wisdom behind leaving Tyronne Ebuehi on reserve initially. Simply put, you had initially dropped an inform player for those who weren’t on thesame wavelength of form with him until fortuitous circumstance came to play to correct that anomaly.
Paul Onuachu’s style had never suited the Super Eagles.He is too lanky, lethargic, ponderous and lacking the fluidity, vigour and agility of a striker best suited for a brand as the Super Eagles. He may have recently found a rich vein of form for his club, but that is as far as it gets. We need capable deputies for Osimhen. Osimhen’s absence or a momentary lost of form shouldn’t hold the Super Eagles to ransome. The technical department of the Super Eagles should have cast its dragnet wider and maybe extend an invite to Umar Sodiq. He performed brilliantly last season for his club with 17 goals and 17 assists and had scored 7 goals in 11 matches or so this season for Partizan Belgrade before moving to Almeria. He is an upgrade on Onuachu. He is faster and more agile, imbued with more agility and can put the ball in the back of the net.
Moreover, why was an Onuachu who was originally placed on reserve made to start ahead of the other strikers who were in the main squad? If Onuachu is so good in the reckoning of the coaches, he should have made the main list initially. If the other strikers who were benched for Onuachu were only good for the bench, Onuachu should have made the main list ahead of one of them atleast.
It is lessons learnt for the Super Eagles and thank God it’s just a friendly.
@Akin your thoughts are quite valid.
However, you can speak like this now based on hind-sight. The grass is always, always greener on the other side till you get there. Every player is the best until they get the chance to play, if Onyeka was not invited or played, there would still have been hue and cry that Rohr doesnt give new players a chance….this and that. If Semi Ajayi had not been played in the DM, most of us would still have been of the opinion he can play there comfortably, When Onuachu was not invited initially, all hell was let loose as to why he wasnt invited, lo and behold, he was a man disadvantage for us today. Tyrone started today probably because he showed more hunger and fitnes in training, he hasl obviously played more games this season than the other right backs, moreover, we havent seen him in a long while, so when best can the coach get to blend him in other than is friendly match like this and he did a good job on the day.
The beautiful thing for me now is that At least after today, the number of names people come here to drop will reduce…call this…call that…call that….call this. Real life football is not plug and play….where you just plug an new player into the team then the whole team plays with the highest level of optimality. Its not video games. Call this person, call than person…..every player is the best until they get the chance to play.
Don’t blame Onuachu for a team with dysfunctional midfield and very shabbily-showboating wingers… I don’t even want to see that Samuel Kalu face near Super Eagles… he only wants to dribble and shoot, people like him and Samuel Chukwueze are feeling too comfortable now… We should try Peter Olayink and Dennis Bonnaventure on this wings and sit those two over-hyped dribbling bunch of chukwueze and Kalu on the bench. Football is business not where unserious players with no teamplay idealogy come to show they can dribble more than Messi.
Even at AFCON where there was na fully functional midfield what did he play….against ordinary Burundi was he not short 1 too, Against Guinea and Cameroon he came on and our attack shut down completely. Rohr trusted him to lead us at AFCON, but had to revert back to Ighalo when he proved to be tall for nothing. Even though I also blame the wingers tonight because they we all kak, they didnt do their jobs….but even Onuachu didnt do his….is his only job just to stand in the box and head balls…??? Even to defend corner he couldnt. The same Kalu, Iwobi, chukwueze that played alongside Osimhen vs Ukraine, Brazil, Benin and Lesotho are the same one that played alonside Onuachu tonight, so why everything come different….?
I think the Coach needs to find good substitutes for samuel kalu and Samuel Chukwueze. The two players failed to do the needful.They failed to play as a team with other players in the team.Both players played individual game.
for me, Paul is a failure and do not deserve a shirt in Eagles team
Good talk @ Drey. kinda laughable, that people think emotions play football. Yesterday’s game was more of reality check on players as far as i am concerned, if only to quash all those vain postulations that a player’s clubside performances always translates to making the grade at national team level.
Its never easy to dethrone a champion, and definitely not in a case where you’re playing without your regular midfield combination who may have already struck a rhythm. You can give all the excuse about midfield not being present for Onuachu failing to turn up, thats just bull shit, because hes played with good midfielders before but same low key performance. But does that make him a bad player? Definitely NO, I will say. But accept it or not Onuachu is not NATIONAL TEAM MATERIAL. It will only make sense to keep inviting him, when we dont have any other available striker but unfortunately for him, we have got almost a plethora of strikers begging for a chance. Someone asking that Chuzzy, and KALU, who have both performed excellently on many occasions to not be invited again, simply because of a bad day in office and at same time, that Onuachu who has always failed to performs to be exonerated, leaves a huge question mark on such persons understanding of football albeit respected as just his personal opinion, which no reasonable coach or fan will take seriously.
Note: if he didn’t use onuachu some of us would still blame him. The list was drafted before onuachu began to hit the goals in Belgium. He was not included initially because we need to see others like dessers but unfortunately dessers was not doing very well again in his new club. Based on reports we got from their training onuachu did well in training. We did well to try frank onyeka and even Mikel agu again because they are playing in their clubs.
You see this is a friendly and it just helped us to know what’s working or not. We don’t have to win all friendlies. Belgium used new players and drew with cotediviore at home.
In real match situations this will be different.
I only faulted Rohr for using new players out of their natural position eg akpoguma and onyeka. Semi Ajayi had no business in the midfield. Let’s see dessers in the next match. Let’s see ejuke too. Even if we lose its not a problem but we should not lose scandalously. Thank you for your analysis
Apart from Olayinka and Dennis, Rohr should also look at Lookman and Osayi-Samuel. We need real quality on the wings. These guys are good dribblers, but they are also more serious minded, in my opinion. It’s such a pity that Chukwueze in particular is not realizing all the potential he showed in the past. We all thought he would become the next Arjen Robben, for crying out loud, not this clueless, hapless, predictable, no-end-product person that he has now become. Chukwueze will receive the ball, and dribble himself into a tight corner, and then run out of ideas. Over and over and over again! If Chukwueze and Kalu could only play more give-and-go, release the ball quicker, rely more on intelligent passing of the ball, they would be a lot more dangerous, because they both possess the pace to trouble most defenders. But all the unnecessary stepovers and dribbling only give the opponent time to recover. And opponents have studied Chukwueze’s game so well, they know him inside out. The Algerian left back today had his number completely. He correctly anticipated Chukwueze’s every move. It was painful to watch.
Rohr needs to start benching this guy, hopefully that will make him feel less comfortable, because as it is, he thinks he’s untouchable in his position, and he is not working hard enough to improve. Or perhaps we expected too much from him, and the time has come to face reality that Chukwueze is not all that. Perhaps he is just over rated.
SE still need the service of tricky and experience players like Victor Moses. It is obvious that the future of SE CM lies on Ndidi, Azeez, Aribo & Etebo. Although the young lad Tijani showed some good flashes.
Replace Ekong with Ajayi or Akpoguma and the defence will not be shaky..
Dennis, Maja, Olayinka and Sadiq deserve to be given opportunities.
… @Larry thank you. This game shows we should never celebrate mediocrity. It’s going to be extremely difficult for anyone to convince me that Samuel Kalu and Samuel Chukwueze are anything but average henceforth… Super Eagles fans will no longer be fooled by one-dimensional rigid players… they take the ball on the wings and try to dribble and shoot aimlessly all in a bid to be glorified as goalscorers instead of looking to feed players coming and cutting in through the middle… Sometimes all you need as a winger is a run down the flank and a simple cut-back pass… very deadly, that’s if a winger cant Conveniently cross the ball. We are suppose to really start trying to bring in Nwakali no matter his club situation once he is fit and training… Midfielders are born not coached… all those unripe products like Onyeka and Mikel Agu who always mysteriously shows back every now and then should be completely forgotten henceforth… We can’t start dealing with big boys in Africa and we want to think ourselves capable of competing on the real world stage… Coach Rohr should start Tijanni, Iwobi and Ajayi next game and play 3-5-2. Instead calling up real midfielders by art like Azubuike Okechukwu and Ramon Azeez… looking at coach Rohrs call-up list and standby list you will know he still yet does not know Nigerian players properly… Lookman should be a starter once his switch is concluded and Ejaria should be fast-tracked as soon as possible. Peter Olayinka can do better and more productive work on the left than Chukwueze who hasn’t really mature in his game… Dennis should also be tried on the right… Ekong should no longer be a starter… He has never played with conviction. Iheanacho should work his weight to fitness he seems to me round around the waist and stomach a little protruding… We begin to also nurture Tijani Samson and Akinwunmi Amoo properly on time since they appear to be talented midfielders… No player on the wing or attack of current super Eagles has the work rate and precision of Peter Olayinka… Let’s give that young man some real chance. I will see we change wingers against Tunisia and give Onuachu another chance with strict instructions for our wingers to serve him quality crosses and release ball and passes on time… Either Semi Ajayi or Kelvin Akpoguma should pair Balogun against Tunisia. If Rohr and his tactics still appear unconvincing against Tunisia and if we loose, I will say NFF should start shopping for a more capable coach. If they pay our indegenous coach half of worth they pay Rohr… They will do wonders!
Jimmy I was typing same time as you, some of our post align. I also agree with the Amoo trial, nothing wrong with GR trying him to give Iwobi competition. Iwobi as good as he is is a 60-70min player cos he shows alot for the ball 1nd runs alot too so he tires quickly.
Let them go watch games of Finidi, Amuneke, Babangida, dimeji lawal etc. Players that dominated the wings and put in neat crosses inside the box. Miss those old days, this current kids are nothing to right about
**Aribo**
I think GR needs to try the 352 formation with a twist. I would like to suggest something drastic where we play chukwueze and Kalu (he does a lot of tracking back for his team) as wingbacks? I know it looks weird but it could work. Victor moses was converted to good effect. With 2 strong solimmd holding midfielders whose sole roles is mainly to win balls and have iwobi as the creator in the #10 role Upfront we have 2 forw1rds in Iheanacho-osimen combo. For the backline, we go with Awaziem-Akpaguma-Balogun. I selected Awaziem ahead of Omeruo bcos of his left foot (unique 1bout aw1ziem). Until the likes of Lookman and others join the fold, the best in terms of wingers we have are Kalu and Chukwueze if we are honest. If they are average then the rest are below average. The holding midfielders will stay put and cover for the wingbacks wen they venture forward. In certain games instead of Chukwueze and Kalu as wingbacks we can deploy Sanusi and Ebuehi or Jamilu and Aina in the wingback role too. This way we are always balanced in the midfield. Ndidi-Ejaria (when available) and Etebo-Aribo can do this comfortably. If the players can play quick passing football (give and go) with less showboating we will be ok. With the speed of our wingbacks we will cause defenses a lot of problem. Just a thought.
If I were GR, for the next game I will play Yakubu in goal, Awaziem-Ajayi-Omeruo as the back 3, Onyeka-Tijani as holding midfielders with the sole purpose of winning balls. Ejuke and Simon as wingers/wingbacks, with Iwobi as 10 and Iheanachi-Desser as forwards for 1st 45 mins. 2nd half bring in Aina and Collins. Let Ejuke take Iwobis position as option no too dey, remove Iheanacho and bring in Simy (if him dey), so we go get Desser-Simy for attack. Remove Simon and let Aina take him role and Collins take Ejuke role as he has now moved to Iwobis position. Na condition make crayfish bend. Ejuke must know when to dribble and when to release the pass with big emphasis on releasing the ball quick.
I ve said this several times, I would say this again iheanacho and Onuachu are not needed in super Eagles for now, this guys are just taking up valuable spaces, we need smart, aggressive skillful players.
FIFA ranking or No FIFA ranking, this is just a friendly match that some new players where tried out.the essence of friendlies is to access players and check out new formation.. At least we now know we need quality beef up in the midfield.I have always said it that ademola lookman will do a better job for us on the wings trust me..ejeria,olishe azubuike,bassey as sanusi back up…another point is that super eagles game has always lacked intensity under Rohr,he prefers to seat back and hit on counter that is gradually becoming outdated…
SE fans sometimes behaves like all this nigerian chelsea fans.
The way they were hyping ONYEKA as if we have gotten another MICHAEL ESSIEN or DIRRA or KANOUTE in nigeria but only to discover that the young man is just a normal average player.
As if that was not ok; they started shouting AGU AGU AGU AGU AGU!!!
I thought within myself if my sight was deceiving me the day i watched that young man against ZAMBIA in UYO.
how did he just zoom like that was the question i asked myself?
But after his introduction we saw a lower version of BAKAYOKO.
Commiting fouls up and down.
ONUACHU THIS,, ONUACHU THAT,
He scored 8goals in 6 matches.
But quite unfortunate we discovered that we’ve another ARISTEDE BANCE in nigeria.
Bros abeg all of una,,,, let’s stop all this hype.
Let’s allow our boys to grow and fully mature.
Introducing players to ROHR and pressurising him to extend invitation to them should stop.
Now everybody is after OLAYINKA.
I trust ROHR,,, He will surely invite him.
Atleast all this hype will end.
I don laugh my eyes out..bros u funny die
Hahahahahahah, bn laughing my ribs out after reading all ur comments above. Invite this, invite that. This one is over hype and all that . The truth as far as im concerned is Nigeria presently lack top quality players. How many of our players are playing as starters in top teams like liverpool , Barcelona, real madrid etc.? Even in the last transfer window only Osigoal made a big move. Imagine Sadiq umar moving from partsan to Almeria. Since Mikel and victor moses left the s.e we have bn struggling against top opposite. I still believe strongly if victor moses was in last afcon Nigeria will hv beaten Algeria. Pls lets allow Rohr to manage our average players lets see how far he can go.
Hahahahahahaha…..Nigerian fans are clowns. See analysis everywhere! Abeg, lets allow the coaches to do their job. You win some and lose some.
Hmmm more names are being dropped someone said they should invite amoo akinwunmi as competition for iwobi hmmm oookk let me drop one name na.
OBINNA NWOBODO THE MIDFIELD GENERAL. He can compete with likes of Iwobi, Aribo, Etebo, Kalu, simon, musa, chukwueze etc.
Hmm when kalu and chukwueze were dazzling opponents and scoring goals and winning games no one criticized them but now because of one loss in the whole year everyone wants them benched. Na wa o.
@UBFE Bros abeg u no go kill me with laff which one be lower version of bakayoko
Thank you UBFE for that beautiful reflection of yours. I pray NFF does not put the coach under the same pressure that these our armchair, e-coaches are trying to put him. Its a friendly and it is okay to lose sometimes. No team on earth wins forever. Maybe I should also suggest that we bring Jonathan Akpoborie for Onuachu, bring Eddy Dombraye for Ekong and crown it all with Aiyegbeni on the wing. What is really wrong with us????
From my personal observation, I think Algeria has found a way of beating us. They press us aggressively really deep, causing our defence to make mistakes and our midfield to become disorganized. And whilst doing this, you would expect us to launch counter attacks through the wings, but hell no, they know this too well and makes sure that never happens by putting two or three men to check any runs by our wingers. This is where a good striker with forward direct runs will in my opinion make a huge impact because if you are a striker depending on the wingers/midfielders to get you the ball, you may never get it. An OSIMENE, would have destroyed that Algerian team yesterday, as he is the type of striker that does it all. He goes collect balls from the midfield, from the wings etc and runs directly towards the opponents goal creating openings for other players to score when he is not in a position to do so. Going forward, I will suggest that our midfielders must learn to be very aggresssive and quick with their movement, while in cases like yesterday, the winger must not be too focus on only running down the line, no wasting time in trying to beat a defender there, any obstacle , quickly switch movement into the midfield area and release the ball just to keep the team moving. This kind of wing play is what made Luis Figo, world best player whilst playing from the wing.
I doff my hat for you sir. People wey sabi nor need brag. When dem write we go know.
For those who cannot comprehend what @Glory wrote up there, those who are making excuses for Onuachu’s insipid performance in all his SE matches so far as if his head is the only part of his body he can use….pls watch this
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvuSccByHLg
Osimhen did not spend more than 30 mins on this pitch, but even the Parma Central defense felt the presence of somebody.
This is the perfect description of how a modern day CF should play. Your job is not to sit in the box and waiting for crosses alone. Your opponents are not blind or dumb…they know you are tall and so they will put a tall man with you and stop your wingers from even getting a sniff of the ball talk more of having the time and space to put a pin point cross on your head.
Even Peter Crouch in his days was not only famed for his headers. He does every other thing PLUS heading balls into the net. He gets involved in play, he pressured the centre backs, holds up play for his teamates to get into positions, he serves as outlet for his teams with long balls from defense and set pieces….he wasnt just a ‘wait and get’ striker.
There is a reason why an $80m striker has not played a shot on target in the serie A, yet fans, club legends an neutrals are praising him left right and centre.
Many thanks @ Drey for popping out this video at just the right time. Here is the quality of a striker our SE style of play is built on. If you don’t have this quality, you can’t fit in.
It is obvious you watch games with your nose. What a rubbish video to justify why Paul was useless. Please let people with good eyes watch the video, was Victor not fed the ball by the wingers. How many balls did your wingers get across to him, even the midfield that was not in existence until iwobi came alive. So are you now saying paul should go for the ball and go and score.
You that watch the matches with you mouth wide opened like that of an hippopotamus, ngwa come and teach us how to watch matches na.
See that video above again and see how Victor was drifting to the right wing, left wing, centre….he even dropped down to the centre circle to pick up balls and initiate attacks.
0.11 of the video he was central and even charged the defender into making a mistake.
0.15 he was making runs from the left wing (as if he is the no 11 of napoli), he held up play for his team mates Lozano and Mertens to get into no 9 position in the box
0.35 Diagonal run into space you drag the center back wide and creates space for the AM Insigne to run into for a 1-2 and a shot at goal
0.48 he even dropped into his own half to provide an outlet for his team to get direct balls out of defense and initiate attacks
1.01, he’s attacking from the right this time around as if he is the no 7 of napoli
1.33 another attack from the right wing from a no 9
1.39 Back in defense to defend a set piece.
How many of the above did you see from Onuachu last night. Even if your brains cannot reason, can you eyes not see too…??? How many crosses did you see Napoli wingers give osimhen…? How many times did you see him doing “wait and get” in the box despite being a tall striker too and very good in the air.
Even ball control was very difficult for Onuachu to execute. Iwobi was awesome last night and was dragging the team forward, but onuachu will sandwich himself in between algerian central defenders like akara in between bread.
Some people just talk wah wah wah sometimes like walkie talkies that have low batteries.
Is it only heading balls Onuachu can use…? Even at AFCON, vs Ukraine and vs Brazil where we had a stable midfield what was his output….What is your excuse for him on those occasions too.
Go and tell you ‘wait and get’ striker to give way and letter better strikers who are hungrier and ready have their chance in the SE….he has proven time and again that he is not useful.
Anyone watching this video and still can’t see why Onuachu has no place. I repeat boldly, has no place in this SE team is only refusing to accept the obvious for some personal reasons. Onuachu is not the type of striker quick to run into space or dart away from his marker. Onuachu can’t run some distance with the ball. Onuachu yes massive in size but do little to use that to his advantage. There are so many negatives about his game I’d rather keep away from public media just so I don’t run down his confidence for there are teams he will sure function well but not this team, take it or leave it. And @ Jimmyball, I reckon you played football, but surprisingly some of your write up begs one to disagree except you kinda shying away from just sticking with the obvious. Please Jimmyball, we all know how good Christiano Ronaldo is with using his head , but how often does he have to rely on wingers to cross for him to score? The earlier Onuachu start realising he has to work himself all around the attacking half of the pitch and not just sit and wait for wingers to cross for him to head, the better for him.
…is it not when you get a pass as a striker then your quality will do the rest? Didn’t you see positive forward play from Napoli team mates to Osimhen? When Chukwueze and Kalu had balls what were they doing? They were playing street football and trying to dribble… If Osimhen was played out like Onuachu yesterday he will be rendered annoyingly useless on the pitch. Most of our overhyped players are just average… Algeria has now created fear in Super Eagles henceforth… Iwobi, only one shot which agonisingly went off-target as usual.
What about AFCON…? There was not midfield then too abi…? The same midfield in which Onuachu didnt function all through the tournament was the same midfield that made Ighalo top scorer. What about against Ukrain and Brazil….was there no midfield in those matches too…? Osimhen can never be played out anywhere because he brings himself to be a part of the play….Against brazil, if was his wide runs that got us our only goal, against Lesotho it was his charge at the defenders that got us our 1st goal, his dropping to the middle to retrieve balls released Chukwueze for our second goal….he made a similar move vs Benin that Chukwueze put over the bar. You guys should go and what highlights of matches we’ve played in the last 2 years with Ighalo or Osimhen leading our attack and see things for yourselves instead of spewing off points and cooking up flap excuses here.
The bottom line is that we dont want ‘wait and get’ strikers in the SE anymore…strikers who have nothing to offer other than wait in the box and be waiting for crosses. Hold up play…Mba…..Diagonal runs…mba…..combination moves….mba…..high-press…baabu….ball control..zero……Even to defend cornerkick was a problem.
He should go n continue his ‘wait and get’ in Genk where they play police football to him.
Invite Peter Olayinka with game hustle like Osimhen then in the event Osimhen is not available… Olayinka to me should be starting SE games as a support striker or left side of midfield or wing…
@ Jimmyball, the wingers didn’t turn up yesterday because they were marked out by 2 or 3 Algerian players, everytime the ball gets to them, which obviously was the tactics employed by their manager. This is where a good striker would have taken advantage by going deep in the midfield to win the ball and make forward runs towards the opponent goal area, thus drawing to himself those defenders that may have been stationed to close down the wingers. But unfortunately, our Onuachu couldn’t do that. If you watch closely, he did try but truth is he’s not the type of striker that runs with ball, and if he forces himself to do that, he is going to burn out really fast, as it’s not easy work running with that huge body mass. Reason he prefers to sit in the opponent area waiting for crosses.
It will be alot easier to get our wingers to play better than trying to get anything out of Onuachu in this team, more like an herculean task. And that’s only going to make sense, where he is the only one available.
Okoye
Ebuhi apoguma balogun sanusi
Iwobi(am) ndidi(dm) aribo(cm)
Samue k. Vo9. Samuel c.
Rohr Team don’t play possessive football. It baffles me with the array of stars at his disposal . Check his records , he always come from behind to win , even with less fancied teams. The Atlanta and USA 94 team were known to be playing possessive football . They control the game by making sure they don’t loose the ball easily. By doing so, you dictate the pace of any game. But what I have seen of ROHR is a sharp contrast of our original style of play which is possessive football, very robust BACK LINE and with two deadly wingers. The way Eagles looses ball these days is baffling . Against Cameroon same thing happened if not for Chukwueze who made life difficult with his individual brilliance, it would have been a different kettle of fish. Against Argentina is same story, always coming from behind. In Afcon, Algeria scored first Eagles equalized and Algiers won. At the world cup , Argentina scored Eagles equalized through the brilliance of Musa and the Argentines took the day . Against ICELAND , he came from behind and ICELANDIC team won. That means there’s something fundamentally wrong with his coaching style. His Team barely string passes together without loosing it sheepishly. You can’t win matches when you give away the ball too easily to your opponent. You must be in charge and dictate how the game flows. He has so many skillful and gifted players but yet his team always look ordinary . I always panic whenever I see those ‘oyibos’ at the back . They make silly mistakes and most at times school boy errors. The other massive problem is they loose concentration immediately the commencement of any match. Most teams they have played get their goals in the first 25 mins of play – CHECK RECORDS. For me , if he doesn’t change his style, We might qualify and still go to the world cup for a jamboree. Time has gone when we should just go to the world cup for ‘mere’ participation. We should be thinking to smash the glass ceiling and go beyond first round , in fact we should be ambitious. God has blessed us with so many talented players this time around. Hence we should make the most of it. The way he speaks to pressmen always baffles me by belittling his team. ROHR show too much respect to his opponent thereby loosing the PSYCHOLOGICAL WARFARE in press conference. Great coaches don’t talk the way he talks. Take for instance, during the world cup , he showered encomiums on MESSI, there and then I knew he has lost the plot. YOU DON’T TALK DOWN ON YOUR TEAM LIKE THAT WHILST SHOWERING ENCOMIUMS ON YOUR ENEMIES. THE OTHER THING I HAVE NOTICED IN THESE PRESENT EAGLES IS LACK OF PASSION AND HUNGER TO WIN MATCHES. When Westerhoff was BOSS , you could see PASSION. Every game to him is like a war. This Coach needs to do something drastic with his style and mentality or else it will still be same old story.
sack rohr… even against Tunisia come Tuesday, we go still collect…. this team with average players who feel the v arrive will not make it to the world cup under this coach who keeps giving us false hope