Cybereagles

Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA wrote:Glad I actually got to watch the game myself because most of the so called analysis on CE has been absolute rubbish so far. Including those posted even after watching the video on the link provided.

Imho, this was a scrappy game where neither of the teams really showed too much in terms of team cohesion or overall ability to sustain any kind of possession. No SE player really stood out much except for Ndidi and ogu, both were good at breaking up plays.

Akpeyi was terrible for the most part but we already knew that going in. The defense got better as the game went on, I didn't see any instance in which Senegal broke down our defense. It was mostly mf or keeper errors that got them in trouble. Echiejele and omeruo were mostly solid but were caught out of position a couple times.

The mf was destabilized after Onazi was taken out by the Senegalese.It took ogu and Ndidi a while to get a hold of things, this left several passing lanes open for Senegal and put the defense under pressure for a while. Iwobi turned the ball over a lot but this was never going to be a neat game for him. It was the scrappy play not the physicality that affected him the most. Etebo came in and steadied the mf. I'm now starting to appreciate Etebo.

I still don't think nacho can play as a lone striker, he needs someone to play off of. Success was good but I don't see what kayode did to deserve the praise. Musa and Simon worked hard. Overall, it was a good effort by SE but it wasn't pretty. We forget that is the first friendly game together, They also haven't played together for 4 months. The rebuilding of SE is going according to plan.

Well done ROHR.

After watching the game I have to say that yours' is the most rational and on point review of the game. I will only disagree with you on Kayode who played well coming off the bench and made a case for himself to be invited for the Nations Cup qualifier against South Africa.

DAgrin wrote:Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

Both Balogun and Ekong have not had that much game time this year, as a matter of fact, Balogun has not played this year due to injury, so the rustiness was evident. He got better as the game progressed.

Dammy wrote:

DAgrin wrote:Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

Both Balogun and Ekong have not had that much game time this year, as a matter of fact, Balogun has not played this year due to injury, so the rustiness was evident. He got better as the game progressed.

So why not play two central defenders who are less 'match rusty'?
The national team is not the place to regain form it is actually place you are called up for when you have proven that you are in form.
Oboabona and Omeruo would have been a better pairing under these circumstances.

thank goodness for HD video or else I would have to go by some of the useless analysis of some SE. Important to note that Senegal is just comming from the ANC a month ago whereas SE has not played in months.

Having said that I feel Nigeria was actually better in the first half, despite the common belief that we were much better once many of the subs were made. Most of the second half we were completely dominated until the final stages. Many of our players performances were WAY OVERHYPED. Other than Ndidi all of our players were either average or poor. That is the bitter truth and there is no way to spin that. Well actually Onazi was decent until he was injured, again other than him and Ndidi everyone else was average at best, and piss poor at worst.

Here are the true ratings


Akpeyi- 5.5 - Piss poor excuse for a goalkeeper. I had raised this issue before during the Luxembourg friendly. Exudes no confidence, flaps at every ball, even when he catches a ball he makes it look so difficult and laboured. Responsible for the Senegal goal.

Omeruo -6.5 - Decent outing, didn't offer much in attack, but decent defensive display.

Balogun -6.5 - Looks very casual at times, and at other times did a decent job covering, but looked out of sorts and jittery.

Troost -6.5 - Decent performance but still jittery at times.

Echijele -5.5 - mediocre performance. Gave the ball away on many occasions and was turned in side out a few times by the Senegal attackers. Very dissapointing for a veteran player.

Onazi -7 - For the time he was on the pitch, easily the best player not named Ndidi. He hustled well as he usually does and broke up Senegal attacks. Is still a very important part of the SE midfield.

Ndidi -8 - Best player by far. He was all over the place, covered a lot of ground, displayed awsome passing range, good control of the ball, and even had a shot to test the Senegal keeper. He will surely become a key component of the SE midfield going forward.

Iwobi -4.5 - I am a big fan but he had a very poor game. Was anonymous for much of the game, failed to really get involved, and the few times he did he gave the ball away. He did find Nacho for our best chance of the game in the first half, and you can still see he is a talented player, but just looked a step behind and off pace.

Moses Simon -6.5 Decent at times, but really not good enough at this level, tracked back and got involved, but just no real cutting edge.

Musa -5 - Has been stinking up the joint for a while now, and this game was no different. He is the attack killer, because he will be in a good position and just waste the chance with a piss poor cross or pass. Offered nothing going forward at all, but put in a shift defensively. Definately worse than Simon Moses, who himself was nothing to write home about. Should NEVER start a match and as far as I'm concerned does not even warrant being called up for a squad unless there are serious injury problems. We need to see the likes of Onyekuru and Kalu ahead of him. Just useless.

Iheanacho -6.5 - Not good enough. Good movement but wasted 2 opportunities, had a couple of nice touches and interplays but failed to really come into the match. I am really starting to wonder about him playing the lone strike role, but he certainly wasn't helped playing with 2 mediocre wingers and an absent Iwobi. The skill is there though.

SUBS

Ogu -6 - A lot of hype about his performance but I certainly didn't see it. Nothing bad, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary. For all the talk about him starting vs Cameroon. Hell no. Nowhere near as good as Ndidi, Onazi, Etebo, Lawal. I still dont see why he is called up when we can be looking at the likes of Mikel Agu, Nwakali X2, Lawal. I dont see what on earth this player brings. Just an ordinary player.

Success -6 - Another hyped up performance, and I am one of his biggest fans. He had one good move where he beat a player out wide, other than that he spent too much time diving to ground trying to win fouls. This is a problem I see with him at club level. He needs to spend more time being productive and stop diving around, especially a player of his size and power, it is just disgraceful at times. I know the talent is there, he just need to apply himself more.

Etebo -6.5 - Dug himself in the battle a few times and displayed some nice touches. Definately a good squad player.

Kayode -6 - And another completely hyped up performance based solely on the fact that his hustle won a ball and he set up Nacho on the breakaway. Other than that I saw nothing from him, and certainly nothing to suggest that he can cast aside Ideye or Ighalo. Absolutely not. I didn't see him on the ball enough to make any sort of bold statement as such. To me he is still behind Ighalo, Ideye, Anichebe, Success, Oshimen as a lead striker.


After all of this I think we should be lining up like this vs S. Africa



********************************IKEME***********************************

OMERUO*************TROOST**************BALOGUN***************ECHIEJELE



*************************NDIDI*******ONAZI*******************************


*******************************MIKEL**************************************


SUCCESS/IWOBI*************************************************VICTOR MOSES


*********************************IHEANACHO*********************************



I would still like to see Nacho up top with a competent midfield and wingers. He was not helped by the poor supporting cast against Senegal, but he has some of the blame himself. Mikel is clearly our best AM, he brings stability, strength, calm, vision, and creativity to our midfield that nobody else can. Ndidi and Onazi behind him will bring hustle, and Ndidi will also bring stability and passing. Etebo can be a sub. Success needs a full game to be fully assessed but certainly looks much better than Musa or Simon. Iwobi doesn't look it in the middle but is still much better than Musa and Simon out wide. Its a toss up for me between Success and Iwobi out wide for the other wing position. I am leaning towards Success. Victor has the other spot locked down. I would like to see better options for both wingback positions. Echijele was very dissapointing, while Omeruo is a decent stop gap measure for now until we hopefully see, Aina, Odubajo, Nura.

DAgrin wrote:Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

They weren't too shabby considering lack of playing time particularly in the case of Balogun whose match rust was readily apparent. The Centrebacks often received the ball under pressure as a result of bad or ill advised passes. The team's off the ball movement was very stagnant as well which made it difficult to find outlets (this was part of what affected Iwobi's game in addition to the scrappy nature of the game and his own poor effort on the day). So I'll cut them some slack.

Overall it was a very poor and disjointed display from the Super Eagles. But I suspect that we would have put up a much better effort against Burkina Faso had the game not been cancelled. For a team which hasn't played together in several months those extra training sessions would have gone a long way in helping us put up a more cohesive performance.

LOL. I just finished the first half. I think when analyzing friendly games, one needs to understand the circumstances surrounding the game. I am satisfied with the performance in the first half. We were missing our two biggest players, Mikel + Moses, we havent played in months, several of our players are clearly not match fit, senegal (as everyone accepts) is one of the best teams in Africa. etc etc...


And as bad as Iwobi, may or may not have been, lol. One again needs to understand circumstances. His form has been falling for months...he played against an outrageously physical team that pressed hard. It doesnt mean that he cannot play that role, it simply means the coach now sees where his strength and weakness may be. Against such physical team, would it be best to move him out wide? When we play against Europeans teams, will he be best inside. These are what friendlies are used for. He wasnt great, yes..he wasnt even good at all.. but he is a very important player that gives us what we do not have in abundance. Think about that clear chance he created for Kelechi from the left wing?? I am happy with him.


And when you have simon and musa as wingers, you will suffer. Both players are not interested in creativity in terms of ball creation...they are only interested in get the ball and run! Their final passes are poor..etc..etc. I am not surprised we kept losing the ball ...

Ndidi...oh! Ndidi, what can I say. Thank God sha... Hopefully, Mikel can last until after the world cup and then we know we just need one more midfielder to compliment both of them. Or midfield will be difficult to play against.

After watching the game it's obvious that Musa and Simon should not be invited against the next team we play, Ndidi is good but I rather go with etebo, onazi , mikel as a three man midfield. The attack is loaded, if iwobi gets better he can start with Vic mo and kelechi, Kayode and success can be super subs

DAgrin wrote:Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

I don't want to comment until I watch the game (which may not be until later in the week). I also don't want to look for the trouble of 1naija & Obong.

vancity eagle wrote:thank goodness for HD video or else I would have to go by some of the useless analysis of some SE. Important to note that Senegal is just comming from the ANC a month ago whereas SE has not played in months.

Having said that I feel Nigeria was actually better in the first half, despite the common belief that we were much better once many of the subs were made. Most of the second half we were completely dominated until the final stages. Many of our players performances were WAY OVERHYPED. Other than Ndidi all of our players were either average or poor. That is the bitter truth and there is no way to spin that. Well actually Onazi was decent until he was injured, again other than him and Ndidi everyone else was average at best, and piss poor at worst.

Here are the true ratings


Akpeyi- 5.5 - Piss poor excuse for a goalkeeper. I had raised this issue before during the Luxembourg friendly. Exudes no confidence, flaps at every ball, even when he catches a ball he makes it look so difficult and laboured. Responsible for the Senegal goal.

Omeruo -6.5 - Decent outing, didn't offer much in attack, but decent defensive display.

Balogun -6.5 - Looks very casual at times, and at other times did a decent job covering, but looked out of sorts and jittery.

Troost -6.5 - Decent performance but still jittery at times.

Echijele -5.5 - mediocre performance. Gave the ball away on many occasions and was turned in side out a few times by the Senegal attackers. Very dissapointing for a veteran player.

Onazi -7 - For the time he was on the pitch, easily the best player not named Ndidi. He hustled well as he usually does and broke up Senegal attacks. Is still a very important part of the SE midfield.

Ndidi -8 - Best player by far. He was all over the place, covered a lot of ground, displayed awsome passing range, good control of the ball, and even had a shot to test the Senegal keeper. He will surely become a key component of the SE midfield going forward.

Iwobi -4.5 - I am a big fan but he had a very poor game. Was anonymous for much of the game, failed to really get involved, and the few times he did he gave the ball away. He did find Nacho for our best chance of the game in the first half, and you can still see he is a talented player, but just looked a step behind and off pace.

Moses Simon -6.5 Decent at times, but really not good enough at this level, tracked back and got involved, but just no real cutting edge.

Musa -5 - Has been stinking up the joint for a while now, and this game was no different. He is the attack killer, because he will be in a good position and just waste the chance with a piss poor cross or pass. Offered nothing going forward at all, but put in a shift defensively. Definately worse than Simon Moses, who himself was nothing to write home about. Should NEVER start a match and as far as I'm concerned does not even warrant being called up for a squad unless there are serious injury problems. We need to see the likes of Onyekuru and Kalu ahead of him. Just useless.

Iheanacho -6.5 - Not good enough. Good movement but wasted 2 opportunities, had a couple of nice touches and interplays but failed to really come into the match. I am really starting to wonder about him playing the lone strike role, but he certainly wasn't helped playing with 2 mediocre wingers and an absent Iwobi. The skill is there though.

SUBS

Ogu -6 - A lot of hype about his performance but I certainly didn't see it. Nothing bad, but certainly nothing out of the ordinary. For all the talk about him starting vs Cameroon. Hell no. Nowhere near as good as Ndidi, Onazi, Etebo, Lawal. I still dont see why he is called up when we can be looking at the likes of Mikel Agu, Nwakali X2, Lawal. I dont see what on earth this player brings. Just an ordinary player.

Success -6 - Another hyped up performance, and I am one of his biggest fans. He had one good move where he beat a player out wide, other than that he spent too much time diving to ground trying to win fouls. This is a problem I see with him at club level. He needs to spend more time being productive and stop diving around, especially a player of his size and power, it is just disgraceful at times. I know the talent is there, he just need to apply himself more.

Etebo -6.5 - Dug himself in the battle a few times and displayed some nice touches. Definately a good squad player.

Kayode -6 - And another completely hyped up performance based solely on the fact that his hustle won a ball and he set up Nacho on the breakaway. Other than that I saw nothing from him, and certainly nothing to suggest that he can cast aside Ideye or Ighalo. Absolutely not. I didn't see him on the ball enough to make any sort of bold statement as such. To me he is still behind Ighalo, Ideye, Anichebe, Success, Oshimen as a lead striker.


After all of this I think we should be lining up like this vs S. Africa



********************************IKEME***********************************

OMERUO*************TROOST**************BALOGUN***************ECHIEJELE



*************************NDIDI*******ONAZI*******************************


*******************************MIKEL**************************************


SUCCESS/IWOBI*************************************************VICTOR MOSES


*********************************IHEANACHO*********************************



I would still like to see Nacho up top with a competent midfield and wingers. He was not helped by the poor supporting cast against Senegal, but he has some of the blame himself. Mikel is clearly our best AM, he brings stability, strength, calm, vision, and creativity to our midfield that nobody else can. Ndidi and Onazi behind him will bring hustle, and Ndidi will also bring stability and passing. Etebo can be a sub. Success needs a full game to be fully assessed but certainly looks much better than Musa or Simon. Iwobi doesn't look it in the middle but is still much better than Musa and Simon out wide. Its a toss up for me between Success and Iwobi out wide for the other wing position. I am leaning towards Success. Victor has the other spot locked down. I would like to see better options for both wingback positions. Echijele was very dissapointing, while Omeruo is a decent stop gap measure for now until we hopefully see, Aina, Odubajo, Nura.

I agree with you on virtually everything you wrote except Etebo. He is a key player for Nigeria in midfield and he took the battle to Senegal and changed the tide in favour of the SE.

And we still have to try out the likes of Aina(who is fast becoming part of the team), Ebuehi, Bazee, Onyekuru and a few others! Honestly we need at least 2 or 3 more Friendly's lined up to fully access this team...

Chimex101 wrote:And we still have to try out the likes of Aina(who is fast becoming part of the team), Ebuehi, Bazee, Onyekuru and a few others! Honestly we need at least 2 or 3 more Friendly's lined up to fully access this team...

We should definately line up another friendly before or after the South Africa match in Nigeria.

CIV, DR Congo, Mali, will do.

After watching this again. First time watching in full: Nigeria was lucky to get the draw.

When Senegal upped the tempo Nigeria really struggled in the early stages of the second half and got their goal. The domination continued until we made subs. This was the most worrying part of the game.

Something with the team was off on the night. Ball movement was missing in the final third. So many misplaced passes. Iheanacho should have scored his chance in the first half.

With Mikel, Moses and Ikeme back we should be good.

Robotnik wrote:After watching this again. First time watching in full: Nigeria was lucky to get the draw.

When Senegal upped the tempo Nigeria really struggled in the early stages of the second half and got their goal. The domination continued until we made subs. This was the most worrying part of the game.

Something with the team was off on the night. Ball movement was missing in the final third. So many misplaced passes. Iheanacho should have scored his chance in the first half.

With Mikel, Moses and Ikeme back we should be good.

Lucky? Dude we created far more goal scoring opportunities than Senegal, watch the game again!!! If anything Senegal was lucky not to have lost by 3 to 4 goals, though I agree our performance was very average, but that's what friendlies are meant for...the team is still very young and we haven't even seen the likes of Aina, Onyekuru, Bazee, Ebuehi etc

Chimex101 wrote:

Robotnik wrote:After watching this again. First time watching in full: Nigeria was lucky to get the draw.

When Senegal upped the tempo Nigeria really struggled in the early stages of the second half and got their goal. The domination continued until we made subs. This was the most worrying part of the game.

Something with the team was off on the night. Ball movement was missing in the final third. So many misplaced passes. Iheanacho should have scored his chance in the first half.

With Mikel, Moses and Ikeme back we should be good.

Lucky? Dude we created far more goal scoring opportunities than Senegal, watch the game again!!! If anything Senegal was lucky not to have lost by 3 to 4 goals, though I agree our performance was very average, but that's what friendlies are meant for...the team is still very young and we haven't even seen the likes of Aina, Onyekuru, Bazee, Ebuehi etc

Kelechi literally SHOULD have scoreda hattrick... I just dey read dey laugh

Chimex101 wrote:

Robotnik wrote:After watching this again. First time watching in full: Nigeria was lucky to get the draw.

When Senegal upped the tempo Nigeria really struggled in the early stages of the second half and got their goal. The domination continued until we made subs. This was the most worrying part of the game.

Something with the team was off on the night. Ball movement was missing in the final third. So many misplaced passes. Iheanacho should have scored his chance in the first half.

With Mikel, Moses and Ikeme back we should be good.

Lucky? Dude we created far more goal scoring opportunities than Senegal, watch the game again!!! If anything Senegal was lucky not to have lost by 3 to 4 goals, though I agree our performance was very average, but that's what friendlies are meant for...the team is still very young and we haven't even seen the likes of Aina, Onyekuru, Bazee, Ebuehi etc

On another day, Iheanacho, would have had a hat-trick. Most of the starting XI have not been playing regular club football and it showed in the initial stages.

very bad idea to play Musa and Simon at the same time. They both do not come inside and like to hug the line, which leaves the striker isolated.

One thing watching the match on TV you will not appreciate the conditions. It was very cold and windy. The goalkeeper arrived from Nigeria in the morning of match day. I live in the Uk and I don't normally feel the cold but I was shaking at the stadium.

The pace of the game was very quick because it was so cold. In Africa we will not play at such a frantic pace because of the heat. There is an argument that future friendlies should be played in Nigeria.

This match allowed us to view the debut of Success & Kayode which presents further problems for Rohr. Going forward does he call Brown and Ighalo or even Victor Osimhen, or Tammy Abraham.

Playing the ball out from the back when the high press is on force the defence to turn the ball over the team needs alternative strategy.

Flex Swift wrote:One thing watching the match on TV you will not appreciate the conditions. It was very cold and windy. The goalkeeper arrived from Nigeria in the morning of match day. I live in the Uk and I don't normally feel the cold but I was shaking at the stadium.

The pace of the game was very quick because it was so cold. In Africa we will not play at such a frantic pace because of the heat. There is an argument that future friendlies should be played in Nigeria.

This match allowed us to view the debut of Success & Kayode which presents further problems for Rohr. Going forward does he call Brown and Ighalo or even Victor Osimhen, or Tammy Abraham.

Playing the ball out from the back when the high press is on force the defence to turn the ball over the team needs alternative strategy.

Tammy Abraham...Ideye and Ighalo IMHO are very dispensable players right now even though they might still be called up...we are too stacked with options in attack right now and only merit will be the quotient for invitation

Isaac success, a winner! after the penalty, he grabs the ball and ushers everyone back ... so we can win, while the other players were more interested in high fiving

absolutely not a fan of john ogu, but he had an okay-to-solid game. Dont forget he was playing against Kouyate and Gueye. Two players rated in the English first division. he has improved.

The only thing lacking in the match was just a creative midfielder. There was no one to feed Nacho throughout the game till Kayode came in.
Re-play this same match with MIKEL in the midfield and we'll thrash Senegal.

Dammy wrote:

DAgrin wrote:Re-watching the game I must say our CD with Balogun and especially Troost Ekong are a liability.
In modern football you cannot afford to have 2 central defenders who are such uncomfortable on the ball.
Nowadays the built up starts with the goalkeeper or at least with solid central defenders with good ball control.
Our midfield combines quite fluently but every time they play back to Balogun or Troost-Ekong the fluent game stops.

I believe Balogun is quite solid and might be the best option at CD but Troost Ekong is just not it.
We need to find someone else.
Oyibo Wall, nawa oo!

Both Balogun and Ekong have not had that much game time this year, as a matter of fact, Balogun has not played this year due to injury, so the rustiness was evident. He got better as the game progressed.

Now I understand why Balogun's performance was far below my expectation. I was so shocked that he had regressed so badly. The games I have watched him played he had always acquit himself very well with bravura performances. I was wondering what was wrong with him until I find out now he has not played all year because of injury . That definitely explained his mediocre performance. Hopefully he will be fully recovered and regains his past form before the match against Cameroon.