IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

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HOW THE SUPER EAGLES WILL LIKELY PLAY POLAND: Line-up

Post by Obong »

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2018/03/22/ho ... echiejile/

Owngoalnigeria.com has obtained details of how the Super Eagles of Nigeria lined up in their evening training session yesterday which was supervised by coach Gernot Rohr.

The team had a practice game with coach Rohr separating the players into two teams for a practice game which ended 3-1 in favour of the team that looks likely to start.

Ikechukwu Ezenwa had his first session with the team, and he was in goal for the team many believe is the B team while Francis Odinaka Uzoho manned goal for the A team.

The shock inclusion in the A team was Brian Idowu who started as left back for the team that had lost of the likely starters. His selection ahead of Elderson Echiejile and Ola Aina was the only major change in the team A.

Line Up Team A:

Francis Odinaka Uzoho ( GK)

Shehu Abdullahi

Brian Idowu

Leon Balogun

William Troost-Ekong

Wilfred Ndidi

Ogenyi Onazi ( Joel Obi)

Kelechi Iheanacho

Alex Iwobi

Victor Moses

Odion Ighalo



Line Up Team B:

Ikechukwu Ezenwa ( GK)

Ola Aina

Elderson Echiejile

Chidozie Awaziem

Kenneth Omeruo

Uche Agbo

Joel Obi ( Eddy Onazi)

Moses Simon

Ahmed Musa

John Ogu




More details from Wednesday's practice:

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2018/03/22/iw ... g-session/

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2018/03/22/tr ... ing-onazi/
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IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Obong »

http://owngoalnigeria.com/2018/03/22/ea ... -of-mikel/

The absence of the captain of the Super Eagles of Nigeria John Obi Mikel has forced the coach of the team Gernot Rohr to reshuffle the playing position of some players ahead of tomorrow’s game against Poland.

Owngoalnigeria.com checks on the training session can exclusively reveal that the coach will maintain same 4-2-3-1 formation he used the most during the World Cup 2018 Qualifiers, but this time around some players are set for new roles.

Already the absence of Mikel has lead to the coach experimenting with Kelechi Iheanacho in his role, and the Leicester City forward didn’t look lost in the role in yesterday’s session witnessed by our correspondent.

Although he struggled to connect very well with Ogenyi Onazi in the first half of the session, he was at his best in the second half when Joel Obi teamed up with him in the second half of the test game.

It appears Iheanacho will play in the number ten role against Poland tomorrow, while Alex Iwobi whom many were expecting to fill the void created by the absence of Mikel will operate from the left of a three man attack.

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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by smartbrother »

seems like an idiotic idea
but you never know
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by olu »

Hope it's not true. Iwobi or Joel Obi would be better suited for that role. It's a friendly though, so if there's anytime to experiment it's now. Rohr has to find the difficult balance between experimenting and building chemistry among his core players.
Last edited by olu on Thu Mar 22, 2018 10:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by vancity eagle »

smartbrother wrote:seems like an idiotic idea
but you never know
its not an idiotic idea at all, it actually one which should be tried out.

it can be a 433 which can turn to a 442

people have talked of playing Iheanacho and Ighalo together saying that nacho is at his best when paired with another striker.

We need to prepare to play without Mikel should injury or cards become an issue.

The best options are Iwobi, Nacho, Joel, Ogu in that order.

With Nacho like I say above it can switch between 433 and 442, but Nacho will have to keep his workrate up.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Siddonlook11 »

smartbrother wrote:seems like an idiotic idea
but you never know
lol..."idiotic" could have been "bad" :roll: :roll:
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by deanotito »

If memory serves me right, many people claim Iheanacho played this role at U17, and did it quite successfully....

However....

In watching Leicester, I have never seen Iheanacho perform optimally outside of the center forward position...he can be pretty poor if he's not in that position
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Mr Shows »

The good thing is that if it doesn't work, Rohr has the personnel to change things around. Nacho's ball possession skills are questionable, also he is not big on pace or playing a high pressing game. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Etebo would have been the natural replacement but it's a good opportunity to try out our plan C.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Siddonlook11 »

Mr Shows wrote:The good thing is that if it doesn't work, Rohr has the personnel to change things around. Nacho's ball possession skills are questionable, also he is not big on pace or playing a high pressing game. So it will be interesting to see how it plays out. Etebo would have been the natural replacement but it's a good opportunity to try out our plan C.

Etebo has a knock.. maybe Iwobi.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by waka-man »

Etebo is Mikel’s understudy in this role. But he’s out too. Nacho is a logical option C, but I expect all three of Moses, Iwobi and Nacho will find themselves in the middle of that three.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Synopsis »

Iheanacho played the mikel role vs Zambia and Tanzania. Scored a goal in both games.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by ogiso »

It will serve us well to remember the role that Iheanacho played, not only as scorer, but as a very competent creator in the U17s victory in 2013. Quite honestly, I always thought he will be more of a 10 than a 9. Seems his more natural position for me.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Enugu II »

This role is slightly different from what Mikel does and has been applied previously by Rohr in his first two games with the team i.e v Tanzania and v Zambia. In those games Iheanacho was the most advanced midfield player/support striker.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by The YeyeMan »

Hmmm.... not convinced this role suits Iheanacho.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by maceo4 »

deanotito wrote:If memory serves me right, many people claim Iheanacho played this role at U17, and did it quite successfully....

However....

In watching Leicester, I have never seen Iheanacho perform optimally outside of the center forward position...he can be pretty poor if he's not in that position
At U-17 Iheanacho played mostly on the right wing and cut into the center with his left foot. At U-20 against Brazil he was played in the hole behind Success and Awoniyi and was rather underwhelming. For SE he played that role the first game vs Tanzania, Zambia (and in some other friendlies too), he scored a beauty of a goal in both but gave the ball up a lot in midfield also.

Its not his best position and Rohr overtime has seemed to settle for Etebo as more of a like for like backup for Mikel's in that position (played the role in Mikel's absence at last game in Algeria - underwhelmingly so if I may add). But since both are unavailable the likes of Iwobi and Moses are other options there. But to me Kele gives the ball away a little less than Iwobi, and we saw that experiment fail with Moses at Liverpool and against France in 2014. But, throughout the game they will be moving and changing positions and Moses/Iwobi might spend a lot of time going in and out of that role. We just need our CM/DM's to be alert once (not if) Kelechi loses the ball in a dangerous area...
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by TonyTheTigerKiller »

Isn’t this similar to the role Nacho played for the U17 team, a role he played quite brilliantly I might add? Why all the belly aching :?: :!:


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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by TonyTheTigerKiller »

Isn’t this similar to the role Nacho played for the U17 team, a role he played quite brilliantly I might add? Why all the belly aching :?: :!:


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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by ANC »

TonyTheTigerKiller wrote:Isn’t this similar to the role Nacho played for the U17 team, a role he played quite brilliantly I might add? Why all the belly aching :?: :!:


Cheers.

Yeah but have you seen the man play of late. Since joining EPL the man is now with a lead foot. How’s going to play that if can’t control the ball well?
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by mystic »

Enugu II wrote:This role is slightly different from what Mikel does and has been applied previously by Rohr in his first two games with the team i.e v Tanzania and v Zambia. In those games Iheanacho was the most advanced midfield player/support striker.

Exactly
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by metalalloy »

deanotito wrote:If memory serves me right, many people claim Iheanacho played this role at U17, and did it quite successfully....

However....

In watching Leicester, I have never seen Iheanacho perform optimally outside of the center forward position...he can be pretty poor if he's not in that position
You must have missed his game against West Brom two weeks ago (March 10) when he came on for Okazaki, scored and provided an assist in the withdrawn role? He was excellent.

I like this idea. We are too reliant on Mikel in that role. We saw how we fared against SA in his absence and tend to lose fluidity in attack after 70 mins once he is withdrawn.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by Synopsis »

Etebo doesn’t play well when played in the “Mikel role.” He shouldn’t be the second option.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by 9jaMan »

Synopsis wrote:Etebo doesn’t play well when played in the “Mikel role.” He shouldn’t be the second option.

Mikel's role is about calm and calculated ball retention, intelligence, vision and passes, unfortunately no other player can currently play that role like Mikel. Etebo surely lacks the intelligence, patience and skill for that role. Kele can attempt to share that role with iwobi during a game, they both have the intelligence and vision to play the role.
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Re: IHEANACHO TO PLAY MIKEL ROLE - Owngoal.com

Post by oloye »

People still comparing U17 to full international.... :lol: There is a wide developmental gap, as wide as the sea separating africa from europe. No one comes close to replacing or replicating Mikel's role, not even Iwobi whose style is different
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