Who will play one-twos on the edge of the area in Russia?

[Ayo Akinfe]

[1] Let me make the point again to you all here. We should not get carried away with topping our World Cup qualification group
[2] Yes it was labelled the group of death but if we want to be honest with ourselves, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria were poor teams
[3] Ask yourselves if any of them would even be in the reckoning if they were in Europe of South America
[4] Come the World Cup, defences will not be as easy as our African brethren to score against. They will not allow Victor Moses the space and time to do what he wants on the counter attack as we saw in the qualifiers
[5] If you ask me, the best goal we scored in the qualifiers was Iheanacho's goal away to Zambia. It was a patient build-up that involved stringing several passes together and prising open the Zambian defence
[6] If you want to score against teams like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, England, Uruguay, Mexico, etc, you need to carve openings like that and take the rare scoring chances when you have done so
[7] To do this, you need intricate one-twos on the edge of the penalty areas as we saw in Ndola. For now, I am struggling to see where this will come from
[8] Mikel is by far our most talented player and the one with the best playmaking abilities but alas, he lacks the pace and legs to play quick one-twos and go past defenders to score
[9] The only other person best suited to the role is Alex Iwobi. However, Iwobi lkacks the physicality to shake off defenders challenges and is inconsistent. He can sometimes be anonymous throughout the game
[10] When I look at the likes of Neymar, Modric, Fabergas, Hamsik, Lemar, Sanchez, Ozil, Kroos, Lakitic, Hazard, etc, you can see what the Eagles are missing. If you ask me, I am just hoping that Kelechi Nwakali can come through before the World Cup starts just as JJ did in the 1993/94 season. That was JJ's first season in Die Bundesliga and he came through just in time.

[Ayo Akinfe]

[1] If you want to actually compete for the World Cup rather than just participate in it, you need to have a variety of attacking options
[2] You need a targetman you can play the ball up to
[3] You need a playmaker who can create chances
[4] You need fullbacks who can create chances by crossing from wide
[5] You need long range passing from deep in midfield as Mikel currently offers
[6] You need players who can go past opponents one-on-one
[7] You need to be able to sustain intricate passing moves that carve open defences after say 12 passes
[8] You need a goalkeeper who can offer you the "Route One" option
[9] You need a dead ball expert
[10] You need players who are good in the air who can chip in their quota of headed goals

I am sure Mr Rohr will be aware of all this and working towards finding solutions. As things stand, he still has a lot to do. From what I can see, he is not interested in just participating for the sake of it. He wants to make an impact!

[marutimon]

[2] Yes it was labelled the group of death but if we want to be honest with ourselves, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria were poor teams

No, they weren't. And you make me want to ridicule you for making such absurd statements.

[3] Ask yourselves if any of them would even be in the reckoning if they were in Europe of South America

In Europe all three would be. If Iceland could qualify, even more so could any of the three abovementioned teams. In South America it would be harder due to their current depth.

[6] If you want to score against teams like Germany, Brazil, Argentina, Italy, England, Uruguay, Mexico, etc, you need to carve openings like that and take the rare scoring chances when you have done so

You overestimate the comparative strength of those teams.

[cic old boy]

Ayo, why not do this as one post with 20 "points" instead of two 10 pointers? And I use the term "points" very loosely.

[marutimon]

[1] If you want to actually compete for the World Cup rather than just participate in it, you need to have a variety of attacking options
[2] You need a targetman you can play the ball up to
[3] You need a playmaker who can create chances
[4] You need fullbacks who can create chances by crossing from wide
[5] You need long range passing from deep in midfield as Mikel currently offers
[6] You need players who can go past opponents one-on-one
[7] You need to be able to sustain intricate passing moves that carve open defences after say 12 passes
[8] You need a goalkeeper who can offer you the "Route One" option
[9] You need a dead ball expert
[10] You need players who are good in the air who can chip in their quota of headed goals

I am sure Mr Rohr will be aware of all this and working towards finding solutions. As things stand, he still has a lot to do. From what I can see, he is not interested in just participating for the sake of it. He wants to make an impact!

1. Done.
2. Done (Ighalo, maybe Kayode, unless Osimhen or someone of that mold comes good).
3. Done. Mikel, maybe Iwobi and Nwakali.
4. Shehu on course, maybe Nura. Aina on the left side (no better options at the moment)
5. Done. Mikel, maybe Nwakali.
6. Done. Mikel, Iwobi, Etebo, even Ndidi is pretty good at that.
7. Moses, Etebo, Iwobi, Mikel and an upgrade on the left flank.
8. Not critical. Enyeama, Uzoho unfortunately no.
9. Moses for the time being, Nwakali long term.
10. Ighalo, Kayode, Osimhen, any of the CBs.

[Ayo Akinfe]

[2] Yes it was labelled the group of death but if we want to be honest with ourselves, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria were poor teams

In Europe all three would be. If Iceland could qualify, even more so could any of the three abovementioned teams. In South America it would be harder due to their current depth.

Have you ever seen Iceland dash away goals like the Plantain Brothers? I think England will tell you that Iceland are very hard to score against. Go and look at Moses' first goal against Algeria again. Only European teams like Luxembourg, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands, etc give away freebies like that!

[marutimon]

[2] Yes it was labelled the group of death but if we want to be honest with ourselves, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria were poor teams

In Europe all three would be. If Iceland could qualify, even more so could any of the three abovementioned teams. In South America it would be harder due to their current depth.

Have you ever seen Iceland dash away goals like the Plantain Brothers? I think England will tell you that Iceland are very hard to score against. Go and look at Moses' first goal against Algeria again. Only European teams like Luxembourg, Cyprus, Malta, Gibraltar, the Faroe Islands, etc give away freebies like that!

You obviously haven't watched a lot of the qualifiers.

Again you overestimate UEFA teams. This discussion is pointless.

[cic old boy]

This discussion is pointless.

If you don't know, now you know!

[pajimoh]

I think next time Nigeria qualifies for a wc, we should all just go on holiday and leave the site for Ayo. For goodness sake

[Ayo Akinfe]

If you ask me, this is the most balanced team we can put out at the moment:


**************************************Kayode*****************************************

**********************Moses*************************Onyekuru**********************

******************************************Nwakali*************************************

**********************Mikel******************************Ndidi************************

***Idowu*****************Udoakhai****************Balogun****************Aina***

**********************************************Uzoho***********************************

Just my humble opinion as a fan. From what I have seen of these boys so far this season, this looks like our best 11. However, things can still change between now and next June.

[pajimoh]

If you ask me, this is the most balanced team we can put out at the moment:


**************************************Kayode*****************************************

**********************Moses*************************Onyekuru**********************

******************************************Nwakali*************************************

**********************Mikel******************************Ndidi************************

***Idowu*****************Udoakhai****************Balogun****************Aina***

**********************************************Uzoho***********************************

Just my humble opinion as a fan. From what I have seen of these boys so far this season, this looks like our best 11. However, things can still change between now and next June.

We are not asking you So you saw Kayode play last night and your formation has changed again. Don't worry, you'll soon see other Nigerians play tonight and tomorrow..... Just keep changing your formation until a few hours before our first game at Russia 2018.

[metalalloy]

can ayo get his own sub forum within EN for these spam posts?

[Scipio Africanus]

can ayo get his own sub forum within EN for these spam posts?

Seconded! Hell, give him two

[kawawa]

What's with Udokhai in all of Ayo's line up. The guy has not expressed any interest. Why not work with you have not what you wish you had

[Kako]

If you ask me, this is the most balanced team we can put out at the moment:


**************************************Kayode*****************************************

**********************Moses*************************Onyekuru**********************

******************************************Nwakali*************************************

**********************Mikel******************************Ndidi************************

***Idowu*****************Udoakhai****************Balogun****************Aina***

**********************************************Uzoho***********************************

Just my humble opinion as a fan. From what I have seen of these boys so far this season, this looks like our best 11. However, things can still change between now and next June.

We are not asking you So you saw Kayode play last night and your formation has changed again. Don't worry, you'll soon see other Nigerians play tonight and tomorrow..... Just keep changing your formation until a few hours before our first game at Russia 2018.

[danfo driver]

The guy don add Kayode!

[danfo driver]

By the way, Ayo, you speak about the negatives of our African competition. Their defence is bad. However, you dont take into consideration other issues --

1. Better pitch
2. Less physical teams
3. Less skillful teams
4. our players are more used to competing against these lot
5. Neutral stadia

etc etc .As many disadvantages there are, there are also advantages

[Kako]

can ayo get his own sub forum within EN for these spam posts?

Na wa o

[kawawa]

Part of our curse for qualifying. A thousand 10 pointers and line up before June 2018. It's like death by a thousand cuts.

[Kabalega]

[1] Let me make the point again to you all here. We should not get carried away with topping our World Cup qualification group
[2] Yes it was labelled the group of death but if we want to be honest with ourselves, Cameroon, Zambia and Algeria were poor teams
[3] Ask yourselves if any of them would even be in the reckoning if they were in Europe of South America
[4] Come the World Cup, defences will not be as easy as our African brethren to score against. They will not allow Victor Moses the space and time to do what he wants on the counter attack as we saw in the qualifiers
......

KPOM!
Respect for being honest with yourself.

[Ayo Akinfe]

This is division theee defending:

[Ayo Akinfe]

Come the World Cup, no one is going to dash us goals like this:

[smartbrother]

Having meditated on the subject for a whole 30 minutes, i have now reconsidered my earlier post

I now consider the following our absolute best possible 11

......Bezee Dessers Onyekuru
..........Ejaria
....... Ndidi Esiti
Tourinagha ...Ekong...Efe...Nura
..............Enyeama

Can any team outside of Brazil, Spain and Germany produce a better starting 11 than this