[ANCQ] Nigeria 2 - 3 Congo: FT (Efe and Salami for Nigeria)

[paj]

...we beat SA...and then beat Congo away then we are ok..

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

Terrible display all around by our boys. With that performance it'll have been cruel to get anything from the game. This hurts but all isn't lost given we have 5 more games to play. Back to the drawing board. Hopefully we get back on track with a win at SA. No time to cry over spilt milk. What's done is done.

Administrative issues aside...

Keshi needs to sort out his team ASAP. The personnel deployed was not right... the way they lined up (formation) wasn't right... and then you have your entire backline playing like some Akrija FC...

[platinum]

Terrible display all around by our boys. With that performance it'll have been cruel to get anything from the game. This hurts but all isn't lost given we have 5 more games to play. Back to the drawing board. Hopefully we get back on track with a win at SA. No time to cry over spilt milk. What's done is done.

Administrative issues aside...

Keshi needs to sort out his team ASAP. The personnel deployed was not right... the way they lined up (formation) wasn't right... and then you have your entire backline playing like some Akrija FC...

Gaping holes in between the midfield and defense, and the midfield and attack. So much isolation you'd think they were auditioning for 'castaways'.

Igiebor came in and helped link the attack phase somewhat but in defense, nothing. Add in the lack of leadership from mikel, i.e. getting his troops to tighten up and well....bad day in the office.

P.S. even with the looseness of the side, this loss came down to excellent defending from congo and elementary school errors from us.

[Odas]

KOC should go and verify and see if Congo used a suspended player.

Chei, Bigpokey24, na you be the man - my broda! KOC, abeg make you go check quick, quick. We want your helep.

[balo]

Why are this blame blame?CIV is suffering at home and Ghana is been help by ref.No more small teams in Africa

CIV equalizes. And you better believe they are going to win it.

[Cellular]

why do we constantly play on that awful bouncing pitch , haba .. at least they should do something about it of move the team somewhere else

Because the country is messed up, so messed up they cant see what is obvious. How a country like Nigeria in this day and age cannot present a standard pitch has become a mystery of the 21st century. I mean common Benin republic have a standard pitch, never mind deserts like Bourkina fasso.

Egbon,

Pitch na only one of many problems but today pitch had little to do with silly mistakes made especially by the fullbacks. Add in an off form CB pairing and the recipe for disaster was set. I predicted 4-2 naija and in reality na congo suppose win 4-2. 3-2 wasnt a fair reflection of the game.

Like pontius pilate, i dey wash my hands off....whatever the FA wan do, mek dem do. Too much rot.

Trust me i am not for a minute implying that the pitch is the reson for the loss, no no no, we have been playing them for some time now. I made mention of the pitch just to highlight the bigger picture and my frustration with the naija football scene in general.

The pitch is part of the problem... it starts from the top down.

Folks are busy politicking on how to share money or who go dey di list when time to share money come dat dem no dey care about details such as field condition...

The mindset by Naijarians that just bring in a World Class coach den all awa problem will be solved na why dem go drag NFF election to the point of destroying di golden goose.

[Spicyee]

I don't think it is because we don't have a good team, it has been about the balance, something is just not right with this team , it has to do with the balance and how they are set up for matches. One minute the team looks unplayable the next it just looks totally flat as if they are a pub club. Sometimes i want to ask if they really know what they should be doing on the field.

Oloye, even you?

[balo]

Why are this blame blame?CIV is suffering at home and Ghana is been help by ref.No more small teams in Africa

CIV equalizes. And you better believe they are going to win it.

I never even finish typing and CIV is leading already.

[paj]

why do we constantly play on that awful bouncing pitch , haba .. at least they should do something about it of move the team somewhere else

Because the country is messed up, so messed up they cant see what is obvious. How a country like Nigeria in this day and age cannot present a standard pitch has become a mystery of the 21st century. I mean common Benin republic have a standard pitch, never mind deserts like Bourkina fasso.

Egbon,

Pitch na only one of many problems but today pitch had little to do with silly mistakes made especially by the fullbacks. Add in an off form CB pairing and the recipe for disaster was set. I predicted 4-2 naija and in reality na congo suppose win 4-2. 3-2 wasnt a fair reflection of the game.

Like pontius pilate, i dey wash my hands off....whatever the FA wan do, mek dem do. Too much rot.

Trust me i am not for a minute implying that the pitch is the reson for the loss, no no no, we have been playing them for some time now. I made mention of the pitch just to highlight the bigger picture and my frustration with the naija football scene in general.

The pitch is part of the problem... it starts from the top down.

Folks are busy politicking on how to share money or who go dey di list when time to share money come dat dem no dey care about details such as field condition...

The mindset by Naijarians that just bring in a World Class coach den all awa problem will be solved na why dem go drag NFF election to the point of destroying di golden goose.

...olboy havent we won on the same pitch before?No be the same pitch Congo created MORE chances than Nigeria?

[Coach]

Just back from the game, the referee was clearly bribed, needless to say he has previous with *Arsenal, 4 reds and 6 penalties against us. Perhaps a centre-half and certainly a defensive midfielder should've been brought in during the window, but everyone behind a computer screen thinks they're a manager. True Goons can see the promise here others can uzo and support **Chelsea.

*, ** substiute for Nigeria and Ghana respectively during international calender.

[oloye]

I don't think it is because we don't have a good team, it has been about the balance, something is just not right with this team , it has to do with the balance and how they are set up for matches. One minute the team looks unplayable the next it just looks totally flat as if they are a pub club. Sometimes i want to ask if they really know what they should be doing on the field.

Oloye, even you?

Abeg educate me my good friend what i have said that is wrong, we may not have a world class players, but we definitely do not have a bad team. I hope you understand what i mean by unplayable, because that should not be too hard to accept with this team, they have played some matches that make you go wow, and then the next they go limp like a man in need of heavy dose of viagra.

[Cellular]

...olboy havent we won on the same pitch before?No be the same pitch Congo created MORE chances than Nigeria?

We won in the same stadium...

Put that pitch was Baddd even bifor dem kick ball...

Abeg lets not make dis game about di pitch but a team like Naijaria knows the kind of pitch that they play at their optimal level...

We don't have the luxury of being that good to not pay attention to little things that gives us the edge or reduces us to being a below average team.

[SylverEagles]

Why are this blame blame?CIV is suffering at home and Ghana is been help by ref.No more small teams in Africa

CIV equalizes. And you better believe they are going to win it.

I never even finish typing and CIV is leading already.

It is always a defeatist, ridiculous gambit to claim - 'Oh look those other guys are failing too.'!

That's not a path to success!

[Spicyee]

We just lost to a better - coached team, and people are blaming the pitch and the referees...anyone and anything but our inept and greedy coach and his horendous selection of players? Nigeria we hail thee!

[Odas]

Just back from the game, the referee was clearly bribed, needless to say he has previous with *Arsenal, 4 reds and 6 penalties against us. Perhaps a centre-half and certainly a defensive midfielder should've been brought in during the window, but everyone behind a computer screen thinks they're a manager. True Goons can see the promise here others can uzo and support **Chelsea.

*, ** substiute for Nigeria and Ghana respectively during international calender.

Coach - what are you saying? I am lost

[txj]

Terrible display all around by our boys. With that performance it'll have been cruel to get anything from the game. This hurts but all isn't lost given we have 5 more games to play. Back to the drawing board. Hopefully we get back on track with a win at SA. No time to cry over spilt milk. What's done is done.

Administrative issues aside...

Keshi needs to sort out his team ASAP. The personnel deployed was not right... the way they lined up (formation) wasn't right... and then you have your entire backline playing like some Akrija FC...

Gaping holes in between the midfield and defense, and the midfield and attack. So much isolation you'd think they were auditioning for 'castaways'.

Igiebor came in and helped link the attack phase somewhat but in defense, nothing. Add in the lack of leadership from mikel, i.e. getting his troops to tighten up and well....bad day in the office.

P.S. even with the looseness of the side, this loss came down to excellent defending from congo and elementary school errors from us.

When have we not played like that in the last 3-4yrs?

There are too many things wrong with our football that Keshi's obvious mistakes are almost irrelevant...

We have serious problems...and it appears the element of luck (a legitimate variable in football) we had going for us is disappearing.

[Enugu II]

...olboy havent we won on the same pitch before?No be the same pitch Congo created MORE chances than Nigeria?

We won in the same stadium...

Put that pitch was Baddd even bifor dem kick ball...

Abeg lets not make dis game about di pitch but a team like Naijaria knows the kind of pitch that they play at their optimal level...

We don't have the luxury of being that good to not pay attention to little things that gives us the edge or reduces us to being a below average team.

Cell,

To be frank, I think the Congolese unsettled us with high pressure on our defenders very early in the game and made our usual build up from the defense very difficult. It was a very difficult game and I think the Congolese deserved the win. It was just a bad bad day at the office.

[paj]

..for some reason I feel more bad for the team/coach than pis*ed..

[green4life]

P.S. even with the looseness of the side, this loss came down to excellent defending from congo and elementary school errors from us.

The loss was primarily due to Congo being better organized than we were on the day. Congolese ball control, passing, dribbling & off the ball movements were all usually on point and allowed them to control the game pretty much from start to end.

The pitch didn't help but the gaps partly due to school boy positioning by our three central midfielders. Azeez can be excused for being relatively new especially as a starter, but Mikel & Onazi played like they didn't understand their roles. When either one pushes forward, the other failed to stay back & cover. Inexcusable. Part of it may have been due to playing at home were we are expected to win. They lost tactical discipline chasing goals from the first half (even after we scored first) and conceded three goals from amateurish defending. Our boys played like they weren't prepared for this match. Folks would love to blame Keshi but there's enough blame to go around.

[txj]

...olboy havent we won on the same pitch before?No be the same pitch Congo created MORE chances than Nigeria?

We won in the same stadium...

Put that pitch was Baddd even bifor dem kick ball...

Abeg lets not make dis game about di pitch but a team like Naijaria knows the kind of pitch that they play at their optimal level...

We don't have the luxury of being that good to not pay attention to little things that gives us the edge or reduces us to being a below average team.

Cell,

To be frank, I think the Congolese unsettled us with high pressure on our defenders very early in the game and made our usual build up from the defense very difficult. It was a very difficult game and I think the Congolese deserved the win. It was just a bad bad day at the office.

If u lack an established structure for playing out of defence, an elementary pressure will unsettle you...

[yannick]

Just realized the referee was Ghanaian,this match was never going to go well with us from the onset

[Spicyee]

I don't think it is because we don't have a good team, it has been about the balance, something is just not right with this team , it has to do with the balance and how they are set up for matches. One minute the team looks unplayable the next it just looks totally flat as if they are a pub club. Sometimes i want to ask if they really know what they should be doing on the field.

Oloye, even you?

Abeg educate me my good friend what i have said that is wrong, we may not have a world class players, but we definitely do not have a bad team. I hope you understand what i mean by unplayable, because that should not be too hard to accept with this team, they have played some matches that make you go wow, and then the next they go limp like a man in need of heavy dose of viagra.

Oloye, you're my friend, but I disagree with you on this one: The past three years, this team has always played disjointed football, relying on the individual dexterity of a handful of players. We have always struggled each time we face any team with a decent ability to keep possession. Are those weaknesses not a pointer to a coaching and selection problem?

[Cellular]

...olboy havent we won on the same pitch before?No be the same pitch Congo created MORE chances than Nigeria?

We won in the same stadium...

Put that pitch was Baddd even bifor dem kick ball...

Abeg lets not make dis game about di pitch but a team like Naijaria knows the kind of pitch that they play at their optimal level...

We don't have the luxury of being that good to not pay attention to little things that gives us the edge or reduces us to being a below average team.

Cell,

To be frank, I think the Congolese unsettled us with high pressure on our defenders very early in the game and made our usual build up from the defense very difficult. It was a very difficult game and I think the Congolese deserved the win. It was just a bad bad day at the office.

The better team won... no doubt about it.

Funny thing is that they adapted to the pitch and pressed us knowing that with the way the ball was bouncing it will be difficult to control the ball well... the shame is that we did not employ the same tactics...

Sadly, the goals they scored did not come out of pressing.

I go back to not playing to your strengths or giving yourself the best opportunity to win the game...