Cybereagles

Like everyone else, I obviously wish we were going to the World Cup. But our demise completes a descent into mental illness culminating in suicide which began after the 2002 Nations Cup. If you remember, we came third at that tournament, only to sack the captain and vice-captain for insubordination,...

People are missing the point. Abbey has not had a single decent offer because he is a player of lower-division ability. He is not good enough for the Premiership or the Championship. The reason Stockport only let him train with them is because he wasn't good enough to be worth employing. And if Port...

You keep hearing "Yobo" for two reasons:

1) Our midfield can't get the ball,

2) Our full-backs are doing nothing but foul people.

We are actually being constantly outnumbered in midfield: it's that old 4-4-2 versus 3-5-2 argument.

Handball by Yobo, free-kick to Gabon.

It's now nearly 15 minutes since Nigeria retained the ball for more than two passes. Throw in to Gabon

Udeze has just given away an unnecessary free-kick. Shot deflected wide, first corner to Gabon.

Cross from the right wing, first time shot by Thierry ?Simo, wearing 21. 1-0 to Gabon, 28th minute. I speak French, but it's 210 in Australia and I'm off to bed. Basically, Nigeria is failing to retain possession "ils ne font rien"...and it's a horribly scrappy game. I know I sound like a ...

I have absolutely no worries about Babayaro. We have seen at the 2002 World Cup and at Euro'2004 that players at the huge clubs (Real Madrid, Chelsea etc) who play too many games will be burned out when the next World Cup comes around. I am happy for Babayaro to surrender more playing time to Wayne ...

31 minutes in Bochum is leading 1-0. Oliseh is showing just what we missed in Tunisia: he barely needs to run as his anticipation puts him in the right place to close down spaces and deny Bayern the chance to build from midfield. Three times he has received the ball half-way inside his own half with...

After five matches of midfield drudgery we are finally starting to mount a threat in the Play Off.

And the difference is that Pius Ikedia runs at the opposition and they need two, even three players to stop him, which opens up gaps elsewhere.

Olofinjana is unlucky all right. Unlucky that he passes as inaccurately as a third division player. Unlucky that his football brain is so slow that by the time he sees a player free to receive a pass the chance has already gone. Unlucky that his poor anticipation means that he is always out of posit...

Many readers of this site seem to have been amazed when watching BBC2 and BBC3 to see that: 1) Sunday Oliseh loves his country 2) Sunday Oliseh is proud of upcoming players, not jealous of them 3) Sunday Oliseh has a much deeper understanding of football than Chukwu and Onigbinde put together. The k...

I thought he was absolutely terrible. 1) He made countless unforced errors. 2) His positioning was a disgrace: Eto'o should never have received a pass from the centre circle for their goal: Olofinjana was totally AWOL. 3) His passing was appalling. I know I can't expect Oliseh-quality long-passing, ...

Olofinjana is so crap it's unbelievable.

Had the ball unchallenged 20 metres out: just wafted it sOOO wide.

Lovely goal and that is why:

1) Kanu's bad points are worth tolerating
2) Three man strike forces neutralise formations with 3 central defenders.
3) Cameroon went out of the World Cup as early as we did.

Time to sub Lawal: a few terrible minutes now.

We are drifting now, because Kanu has run out of gas too.

I reckon that we only have two or three players who can read the game, which is why Kanu looks so much better today in a faster, more complex game where his anticipation is an asset.

Lovely goal! Two main half-time observations: 1) Cameroon only ever create when we make unforced errors. 2) We do keep coming much closer to breaking down their defence. We don't need both Udeze and Lawal to cover Geremi: we can afford to replace one of them and bring Ikedia on wide on the right whe...

Disappointing: we were on top. Three problems with that goal. 1) Okoronkwo is so slow that Yobo shouldn't have been up for the corner. 2) Olofinjana should have closed the move down in midfield but was totally AWOL. 3) Okoronkwo's positioning exposed his lack of speed. It's not over yet, but our lac...

I'm not complaining, just trying to analyse it. Poor Lawal is struggling because this is much the fastest and technically most sophisticated match of the tournament: Mboma just skinned him. Oh No! Abbey just had a clear shot at goal but smashed it over. ALL our players are trying their hearts out, b...

We need to get Yobo at right back somehow. Abbey just had a great unchallenged crossing opportunity but just hung it in the clouds when we needed a quick whipped cross. We are creating good moves on the right, and they are all crumbling when Abbey gets the ball on the right wing. We need to find a w...

Okocha, Kanu and Utaka look good: we might just win in spite of Abbey (terrible so far), Udeze (as bad) and Olofinjana (could be playing for Cameroon).

Olofinjana just played a terrible pass under no pressure (and he displaces Oliseh!) and then ten seconds later Udeze skied it 40 feet in the air but straight to an opponent.

Pagal in the commentary box says that our full-backs are an accident waiting to happen.