Super Eagles head coach Jose Peseiro has revealed that his players begged him to accept a pay cut to remain in charge of the team following the expiration of his contract in June.
The 63-year-old signed a new short-term contract with the Nigeria Football Federation NFF in the summer.
Peseiro, who accepted a reduction in his salary stated that his players asked him to accept the new pay, so that they could win the 2023 Africa Cup of Nations.
The players pushed me to stay because they believe we can win (the AFCON),” he told Sky Sports.
“We can win it. The players know it. They come with the same energy, the same belief, to fight for the Super Eagles.”
Peseiro has however warned his players they will need to be at their best to conquer the rest of the continent in Cote d’Ivoire next January.
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“The main goal is to win the AFCON,” he added.
“We will need to be at our maximum because we know that there is good opposition. There is Senegal, Tunisia, Morocco, Egypt, Ghana and Ivory Coast. But we believe we can do it. I believe. And the players believe.”
Peseiro took charge of the Super Eagles in May 2021.
His team will face hosts Cote d’Ivoire, Equatorial Guinea and Guinea-Bissau in Group A at the 2023 AFCON.
The Super Eagles will take on Equatorial Guinea in their opening fixture at the Alhassan Quattara Stadium on Monday, January 14.
They will face Cote d’Ivoire and Guinea-Bissau on January 18 and January 22 respectively.
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22 Comments
Definitely they giving you bribe to cover up the loss.
If you think ya’ll will win AFCON with Calamity Frank then dream on – talk about living in cloud cuckoo land!
Personally, I’ve long given up on this guy while keeping my thoughts to myself. His tactical coaching is very poor, this can be seen in the ball movement between players. His match tactics are as predictable as Eguavoen’s as his team rarely advances through the middle, instead always seeking to progress the ball through the wings. Drawing Saudi and beating Mozambique 3-2 is nothing to beat your chest about. Mali destroyed Saudi and Senegal and the Ivory Coast trounced this Mozambique team.
It is clear we have a higher caliber of players than the coach who does not seem to have the capability of devising the necessary tactical methods to create a world-beating side. His players have the measure of him, they know his limitations and he resorts to political games of player loyalty to cover up. That’s why discipline declines because the players would soon stop respecting this coach.
All SE players play in top-class leagues with top-class coaches who give top-class tactical instructions. They can recognize an incompetent coach when they see one. That’s why coaches like Peseiro shy away from criticizing players and rely on political games of loyalty.
He is slow to introduce and blood new talent and his only laudable achievement is dropping Ahmed Musa.
Can I LIKE this a THOUSAND times???
Very logical
Very factual
Very well detailed
God bless you
Peseiro bonds with his players. It’s a signal they believe in his knowledge of the game.That is crucial.
And the players are are aquitting themselves well to his tactical methods.
Mastering these have taken a while,but in the last few games you could see the players are adapting well.
It’s work in progress,i am sure the team will come good in the next couple of months..
No team anywhere in the WORLD comes GOOD playing 442!
Please mention just 1
The only top team I know of that currently plays 442 is Bayern Munich, and they massively suffering from this obsolete formation
Real Madrid uses 442 but with a diamond midfield. Not this unreliable wing play from wingers that consistently performed below par in Se
Perhaps we should revert to 5-3-2, Mercy: wink! wink!
🙂
there is no way a team will be offensive that will not play wing play or do you expect a team to have 4 center players on the field . Looking at our team very well , we only play 442 when trying to curtail opponent but when we are attacking we are using 424, and I think this is where the problem is , when attacking we need two holding midfielder to be at the middle supported by 2 defenders while two defenders stay permanently at the back and the formation turns to 244. Interpreting this formation is a problem especially now that Ndidi is more attacking conscious which makes our formation to be 415 which exposes our midfield . I will suggest the coach to station 2 holding midfielders . The coach is also talking about inviting Akpom as our 10. Then Boniface can also be used as 10 , he has the character to move the ball forward without losing it and let Ihanecho be the supporting striker because he hardly misses besides he is the most intelligent super eagles since the day of Kanu
@Greenturf I agree with you. The players are beginning to gel to his tactics . In game of football creating chances in the final third is the most difficult , most teams can defend very well by sitting down at the back to launch attack, but going forward is difficult and requires intelligent players to solve this puzzle. I give Peseiro a thumb up, he has turned around Eagles into an attacking machine that put pressure on opponents .
As for the midfield and defense this is not as difficult as we think , it is all about dishing instructions and few tactical awareness and the team will be good. All things being equal you can’t play a team that is offensive like Nigeria by being offensive. Mancini coach of Saudi Arabia said something about our attack as being terrifying , he even said the players on the bench are as deadly as the first choice. If a coach like Mancini can say something like that , then there is something we are not seeing in our present team now that is hidden..
two weeks to camping for the nations cup is enough to work on the midfield and defense but it takes more than 6 months to work on offensive play . As for the keeper I believe Peseiro knows what to do , he is seriously looking for better alternative, you don’t expect to come out publicly to condemned Uzoho , no good coach does that .
Repect your comment is so right and and rational, I recomnend coach Peseiro to work hardly to fix midfield and defense before AFCON. final in Cote ‘Ivore on 13 january 2024,so he must make in his defensive tactics, play with strict and rigorous style, instruct defensive midfielders and side backs to be sitting down when the rival makes pressing play or keep the ball, also Peseiro must cover well on 18 line or out 18 from the shots from distance which Super Eagles lack covering them tightly; on center backs Peseiro must give them strong instructions to have eagles’eye over the rival especially set-pieces and crossing by rival, also rival’s corners which SE back line always mistake and flub on the right riddance of the ball, soI think Peseiro must begin from SE qualifier fixtures of Lethoto and Zimbabwe next 13 november and 20 of the World Cup qualifier 2026.
Nigeria can never and will never WIN A TEA CUP with PAJERO! Quote me anywhere. He’s tactically poor. No country in today’s football can win anything playing 442 System. Not a 442 where the gaffer plays ONYEDIKA and ONYEKA as his 6 and 10. Laughable. Playing 2 Defensive midfielders as his CENTRAL MIDFIELD pairing. No wonder MOZAMBIQUE with a player down since the FIRST HALF lost by just a goal margin. Imagine playing an inferior opponent with a MAN less for over 50 minutes and ended up conceding a goal to that opponent
Chelsea with 1 man down and without Drogba, won Barcelona at camp Nou…I for like see you coach
AM tired of people coming to this forum to rubbish 442 system adopted by the coach as if any one of us knows better than him. The poorest coach in the world is still better than all of we fans of supper eagles. The coach has already said he is adopting a formation that allows the team strength to flourish . It is not formation only that wins matches for any team but the mentality and discipline of the players as imbibe in them by the coach.
Let us just keep calm and pray for the team , if you have ever play soccer on PlayStation or xbox one will discover that no matter the formation you play with if you meet a player that is good , such player will still beat the hell out of you.
Then another complaint I hear is eagles can only score with wing plays , what is wrong in playing wing play . These are trivial issues the game itself will dictate how we play at the nation cup.
Let us humble ourselves and let the coach do his job
@deo
Sometimes it is not about the formation but about:
personnel playing the formation
The coach tactics and the opponent
I won’t mind playing 442 if we had the same 94 set of players in this current SE.
Today’s SE is different. With due respect to Ndidi and Iwobi they cannot give what Oliseh and Okocha gave to us. Oliseh+Okocha combination has more goals, assists and better ball possession stats than Ndidi and Iwobi combine stats. Likewise, the 94 wingers have better stats than this SE current wingers.
It is a shame to be beaten by a Portuguese team by 4:0, a team that was bundle out of the WC by an African team.
That’s just it. No matter the formation used if the players are not disciplined and not conscious of the spaces that opponent can take advantage of it will still be the same old story. 2013 eagles that conquered the whole Africa weren’t spectacular but they wanted the cup , initially they were’t sure of themselves but after their match against Ivory Coast which they won then became courageous and they knew they could do it . Hence fort they were mindful of every space opponent can take advantage of , and that was it.
The last nation cup , our problem started the moment we beat Egypt because to us all Egypt was the best team in Africa because of Sallah , we felt like if we can beat Egypt then Tunisia was going to be beaten no matter what.
Most times eagles perform well in a tournament though least expect especially with the way their friendly matches have been going. Eagles are built for for tournament of African nation cup , forget about countries like South Africa, or Mali these are countries that perform well at friendlies but fumble when the real tournament kicks off.
I hope players like Gift Orban and Tella can be given opportunities to express themselves
Akuko ndi ara
The 4-4-2 formation is still a valid formation in top level football and is widely regarded as one of the most balanced formations in football and as such should not be completely disregarded. But in our case its not the best system going towards due to its central limitations in defensive transition cos it can only be used to either press or defend in shape.
International football coaches have LIMITED amount of time to work on detailed tactics like body orientation when recieving the ball,pressing organizations and orientations, movement patterns etc. And they rely on understanding & cohesion as well as hybrid personell use to full effect.
In Peseiro’s case the required tactical structure he deploys lacks the necessary flexibility to adapt to the personell at his disposal and also lacks the defensive nous to bring balance to his preferred attack-at-all-costs methodology which leads to the SE being good in attack but below average defensively.
In his quest to solve the issues begulfing him,he has tended to rely on individuality rather than systemic organization which leads to lapses and errors being occasionally an individual player’s fault. What this does is it dishevels the team’s shape and leads to unnecessary gaps when we are in the defensive transition phase and hopes are pinned on flat and slow-footed CBs to clean up the mess in which the outcome tends to be near disastrous.
Also the possession heavy approach in attack and the CF to AM layoff approach will be easily shut out by rigid defensive teams especially in a high stakes major tournament. Teams like Ghana,South Africa,Morocco, Algeria,Tunisia,Benin Republic,Gambia,Senegal,Tanzania will make life hell for our SE due to their tactical intelligence or backs-to-wall to-
counterattack approach while games against the likes of Ivory Coast,Egypt,Zambia,Mali,Cameroon will be a goalfest humdingers due to our lack of defensive diligence.
So Mr.Jose Peseiro has to:
a) Set his team up in a much more conservative and defensive approach whilst encouraging our attacking talents to shine with clear and complex sequences.
b) Deploy a formation that best suits the personell he has at hand like introducing a 3 man midfield to help protect the center from deadly transitions.
c) Employ comprehensive strategies for each opposition in order to maximize gain and minimize weaknesses in the SE.
With all due respect the time to employ the necessary is very little and as such our hopes of winning the upcoming afcon is left to chance and the stars will have to align for it to happen. I therefore wish the SE the best and hope for another Afcon miracle afterall who doesn’t like winning.
Well said, Codex.
The attack minded high press game is admirable, but issues in other areas of the pitch need to be addressed. The goalie department is perhaps the biggest priority at the moment.
Tactical flexibility is the key. We can’t deploy a cookie cutter, one solution for all problems approach. Peseiro needs to respond tactically to problems he faces from each opponent. 4-4-2 may work beautifully against a Sao Tome, but against more compact sides like Algeria, Ghana or Senegal, other solutions will be required. Peseiro’s ability to adapt and be flexible will be very important going forward.
Hi Codex,
Thanks for your submission above which I read with much interest. First of all, I am not here to blow Peseiro’s horn rather to give my take on what I have experienced thus far.
You helpfully submitted the limitations of Peseiro’s 4-4-2 formation above but you want to agree with me that all formations in football have their pros and cons.
You talk about limited time available in international football for managers to drill tactical discipline into players to function with a formation. I respectable submit that it will be reductive to suggest that this limitation only inflicts 4-4-2 formation.
First of all, I think we fans tend to use the words formation and tactics interchangeably. Nothing could be further from the truth. Formation and tactics are mutually exclusive.
Formation is overarching shape and arrangement of the team (it is static) . Tactics however are the specific actions or steps undertaken to translate the formation (it is dynamic or it defines the dynamics).
So 4-4-2 formation can have several tactical translations which lends it the flexibility that is not always visible to the naked eye.
Diego Simeone tactically translated his 4-4-2 formation to be overly defensive in Atletico Madrid. Also he used the same formation throughout a particular season, only adapting it based on the approach of the opposition.
And, Atletico Madrid was consistent in outputs and outcomes, maintained their adamantine defence whilst doing enough to win by a slim margin or grind out draws.
Back to Peseiro, on paper he could set up with a 4-4-2 formation but in practice his tactics could be adapt from game to game to better suit the nature of challenge before them.
Have you gone back to critical assess Nigeria vs Portugal? In 80 minutes of the match, before Emmanuel Dennis’ moment of penalty madness, Nigeria were defensive in their application on occasions.
We formed a bank of four midfielders in front of the four defenders suppressed deep in our area to contain Portugal. In this set up, Chukwueze and Simon had their hands full with defensive duties. They then moved in block to attack with the fullbacks pushing forward when the wingers were withdrawn, giving rise to our penalty, which Emmanuel Dennis made a pigs ear of. For me, that match ended 2:1.
4-4-2 formation can be defensive or balanced in orientation as we saw against Portugal or all-out-attack in tactics as we saw against São Tomé and Príncipe. It could support long balls and multiple crosses as we saw against Saudi Arabia or swift interplay of close range passes as we saw against Algeria.
If you go back and watch Peseiro’s games critically, you will observe nuances in interpretation and execution of the 4-4-2 formation per opposition.
As I mentioned, the crosses against Saudi Arabia were fabulous, the interplay of passes on grass against Algeria was neat, the blockage against Portugal was ineffective but noticeable whilst the reckless bombardment against São Tomé and Príncipe yielded bountiful goals.
My hallucination is that Peseiro is betting on himself drill his varied tactical disciple per opposition into the Super Eagles in a tournament environment with the opportunity of extended camping this presents.
I am willing to give him a chance.