Why haven't we seen any through balls for Osimhen?

[onovo]

Osihmen is being marked tightly and playing a conventional 9. Lookman has reaped the benefits because most times it leaves him open. Osihmen has been more successful when he drifts wide to exploit space and drag the defence wide.

And Osimehn is the ONLY forward to be marked tightly ?

The true greats will find space to operate no matter how tightly they are marked.

Osimehn needs to IMPROVE.

Watch the way Osihmen plays for Napoli and for SE. For Napoli he plays centrally in a 4-3-3 where he has two good dribbling wingers who often opt to cut into the box or interplay passes to him there. For Nigeria he has been isolated up top by Lookman and Moses who only cross in to him.

Osihmen played a whole lot better with Chukwueze on the wing who finds him. Unfortunately Chukwueze is very poor in defense.

Good observation ! Osimehn plays better when Chukwueze operates from the wing, have noticed that. In this tournament though he is been isolated in the attack as Peseiro keeps shouting for Simon and Lookman to fall deep and help cover for defence.

[Scipio Africanus]

Making through passes is not easy. Think about this, how many through passes have been made against Nigeria's defense? The reason is just how the defenses are set up. The defenses, at this competition, are often compact meaning they squeeze the spaces and, thus, prevent through passes. The only one you can make successfully (without it being intercepted) is to the wide areas where the block is thin and may not quickly get over and what is happening is that such passes that get there are actually the reason you are seeing more crosses because the recipient often cannot shoot directly at goal and is left with the cross being the only viable option beyond a back pass often to an upcoming wingback. Go watch the videos.

Solid points but we have executed several nice counters in this tournament. Counters present some of the best opportunities for making through passes

[gochino]

Osihmen is being marked tightly and playing a conventional 9. Lookman has reaped the benefits because most times it leaves him open. Osihmen has been more successful when he drifts wide to exploit space and drag the defence wide.

And Osimehn is the ONLY forward to be marked tightly ?

The true greats will find space to operate no matter how tightly they are marked.

Osimehn needs to IMPROVE.

The true greats would find a way to impact the team and be involved in 90 % of their teams goals scored on the way to the final.

[airwolex]

Osimhen is having a phenomenal tournament and trust me, without him we wouldn't be here but just off the top of my head

- Through ball from Iwobi against Equatorial Guinea
- Through ball from Chukwueze against Ivory Coast
- Throwing from Aina against Ivory Coast
- Several good crosses that he normally scores

Let's hope he is saving the goals for Sunday but the service to him has been good.