After the kettle cools....

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charlie
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After the kettle cools....

Post by charlie »

After taking a deep breath to calm down and analyze our performance, I have to admit the performance was not as bad as it looked.

First of all, we faced a better team, plain and simple. They had more experience and poise and snuffed out any danger before it could develop. If we were more experienced, we might have done some things differently offensively, but give Croatia their credit. They deserved the win hands down.

A few positives:

1. Uzoho continues to improve. He owns that goal keeping job now and well into the future.
2. Etebo might have signed to early for Stoke. He was excellent today in his role. Very positive and aggressive in his midfield play. We have a budding midfield maestro of our own in Etebo and Ndidi.
3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game. All the goals where self inflicted, and that can be corrected.
4. That draw between Argentina and Iceland was a god-send. As I said earlier, it will work in our advantage. Instead of chasing 2 teams with 3pts, we are only chasing 1 team, with the other 2 teams we will face only 1pt away from us. Our destiny is still in our hands.

Things that must improve:
1. Ighalo can never be left on an island again. He tried his best, but he had zero support from the midfield. It makes us look really blunt. We need to play 2 players up front moving forward.
2. Set pieces,...set pieces,...set pieces. Teams will continue to drop balls into that 18 against us. Both goals where avoidable. We have to do better. Watch how Croatia stay organized on both near and far posts when balls come into their box. We can learn alot from watching how our competition defend set pieces.
3. JMO does not have the gas to play an AM role for 90mins. We were missing someone with pace to press that Croatian back 4. Maybe Etebo and Mikel should have switched roles at some point. Moving forward, I would like to see Mikel play from much deeper, and Etebo or Iwobi play a more central/attacking midfield role.
4. Finally, we need to play with our Nigerian flair and passion. Nigerian football is known for its creativity and joy on and off the ball. Its been missing for a few games now. I know this team has it in them to play better. I am hoping they will find this in themselves as well.

All is not lost. We are still in this tournament. Have faith best of luck Super Eagles!!!
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by Benedict Iroha »

They were not better....Nigeria was just poor. Stop trying to sugarcoat the performance and giving credit to them...They didn't have one shot on goal and their goals came from fluke set pieces.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by charlie »

Benedict Iroha wrote:They were not better....Nigeria was just poor. Stop trying to sugarcoat the performance and giving credit to them...They didn't have one shot on goal and their goals came from fluke set pieces.
They were the better team. Call a spade a spade.
We were good defensively and organizationally, that is why we limited the damage and they were unable to create clear cut chances from open play.

Goals from Set pieces are usually created from flukes, deflections, etc. Experienced teams no how to limit this. It is still our achilles heel.

I do agree that we were poor offensively, but that can also be improved by taking more risks up front with the right personnel in the right positions. Stay positive my friend. It really was not as bad as it looked when put in its proper context.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by 9jaMan »

Benedict Iroha wrote:They were not better....Nigeria was just poor. Stop trying to sugarcoat the performance and giving credit to them...They didn't have one shot on goal and their goals came from fluke set pieces.

Why you dey respond to this cow brain
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Re: After the kettle cools....

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charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by charlie »

The YeyeMan wrote:
charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
[/quote]

Thats true but that was really in extra time when we had to throw caution to the wind to score a goal.
Other than that, we defended well for most of the game against a team that can break down most defensives from open play.

If we can be better at set pieces, we will become much harder to beat.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by maceo4 »

The YeyeMan wrote:
charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
[/quote]

I think these guys switched off by then or something, in fact the guy was selfish as there was a free teammate he should’ve have passed to for a simple tap in. There’s also the point blank shot over the top that was marginally called offsides. We weren’t that water tight defensively, both teams are just not the best attacking wise.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by charlie »

maceo4 wrote:
The YeyeMan wrote:
charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
I think these guys switched off by then or something, in fact the guy was selfish as there was a free teammate he should’ve have passed to for a simple tap in. There’s also the point blank shot over the top that was marginally called offsides. We weren’t that water tight defensively, both teams are just not the best attacking wise.[/quote]

The Croatian attacker was clearly offside at the beginning of that play. It would never had counted. Even then, we did enough to destabilize his attempt on goal.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by maceo4 »

charlie wrote:
The YeyeMan wrote:
charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
Thats true but that was really in extra time when we had to throw caution to the wind to score a goal.
Other than that, we defended well for most of the game against a team that can break down most defensives from open play.

If we can be better at set pieces, we will become much harder to beat.[/quote]

If you look at their qualifying games they score about 1 or 2 goals a game, they are not some dominating team that breaks defenses down anyhow from open play, not sure where you are getting that from. This wasn’t Brazil, Germany, Spain etc...
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by charlie »

maceo4 wrote:
The YeyeMan wrote:
charlie wrote: 3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game.
Yes we did, at the end of the 2nd half - good save by Uzoho.
I think these guys switched off by then or something, in fact the guy was selfish as there was a free teammate he should’ve have passed to for a simple tap in. There’s also the point blank shot over the top that was marginally called offsides. We weren’t that water tight defensively, both teams are just not the best attacking wise.[/quote]

The Croatian attacker was clearly offside at the beginning of that play. It would never had counted. Even then, we did enough to destabilize his attempt on goal.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by metalalloy »

charlie wrote:After taking a deep breath to calm down and analyze our performance, I have to admit the performance was not as bad as it looked.

First of all, we faced a better team, plain and simple. They had more experience and poise and snuffed out any danger before it could develop. If we were more experienced, we might have done some things differently offensively, but give Croatia their credit. They deserved the win hands down.

A few positives:

1. Uzoho continues to improve. He owns that goal keeping job now and well into the future.
2. Etebo might have signed to early for Stoke. He was excellent today in his role. Very positive and aggressive in his midfield play. We have a budding midfield maestro of our own in Etebo and Ndidi.
3. We didnt concede any clear opportunities from open play. We kept our shape defensively through out the game. All the goals where self inflicted, and that can be corrected.
4. That draw between Argentina and Iceland was a god-send. As I said earlier, it will work in our advantage. Instead of chasing 2 teams with 3pts, we are only chasing 1 team, with the other 2 teams we will face only 1pt away from us. Our destiny is still in our hands.

Things that must improve:
1. Ighalo can never be left on an island again. He tried his best, but he had zero support from the midfield. It makes us look really blunt. We need to play 2 players up front moving forward.
2. Set pieces,...set pieces,...set pieces. Teams will continue to drop balls into that 18 against us. Both goals where avoidable. We have to do better. Watch how Croatia stay organized on both near and far posts when balls come into their box. We can learn alot from watching how our competition defend set pieces.
3. JMO does not have the gas to play an AM role for 90mins. We were missing someone with pace to press that Croatian back 4. Maybe Etebo and Mikel should have switched roles at some point. Moving forward, I would like to see Mikel play from much deeper, and Etebo or Iwobi play a more central/attacking midfield role.
4. Finally, we need to play with our Nigerian flair and passion. Nigerian football is known for its creativity and joy on and off the ball. Its been missing for a few games now. I know this team has it in them to play better. I am hoping they will find this in themselves as well.

All is not lost. We are still in this tournament. Have faith best of luck Super Eagles!!!
Please go and rewatch the game. Our defensive shape was anything but organized and shocking to say the least. There was enough space between our players all day for the Croatians to pick out passes at will .

We played some decent football in the first half, but lacked any true bite upfront as Ighalo cut a lonely picture up there.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by Benedict Iroha »

9jaMan wrote:
Benedict Iroha wrote:They were not better....Nigeria was just poor. Stop trying to sugarcoat the performance and giving credit to them...They didn't have one shot on goal and their goals came from fluke set pieces.

Why you dey respond to this cow brain
It's just annoying...
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by Bell »

I'M NOT ONE FOR FORMATIONS, BUT...


...there seems something wrong with the way the players are deployed offensively and defensively. Ighalo seemed isolated upfront and his efforts, as has been the case mostly, were easily snuffed out. A greater attacking presence is needed. Defensively as I've seen again and again in many matches, the opponents complete passes easily because the SE players do not play anticipatory and tight defense. Before you know it they are knocking at the door sending the defense into panic mode. I think those two changes are badly needed even if I'm not sure what the formation would be called.
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Re: After the kettle cools....

Post by metalalloy »

Bell wrote:I'M NOT ONE FOR FORMATIONS, BUT...


...there seems something wrong with the way the players are deployed offensively and defensively. Ighalo seemed isolated upfront and his efforts, as has been the case mostly, were easily snuffed out. A greater attacking presence is needed. Defensively as I've seen again and again in many matches, the opponents complete passes easily because the SE players do not play anticipatory and tight defense. Before you know it they are knocking at the door sending the defense into panic mode. I think those two changes are badly needed even if I'm not sure what the formation would be called.
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Their defensive shape is shambolic. Just watch the Iceland game and how they moved as a unit and then watch how we defended and the difference is stark. And i agree with you re Ighalo, he is way too isolated up front. All that industry is just wasted and he is not the type of player than can drive forcefully on goal and create a chance out of nothing (like a D. Costa)
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I think Spain’s by far the best league.
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10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by Ayo Akinfe »

[1] First and foremost, what hurts most about the loss is that Croatia did not do anything to deserve a win. On the balance of play and the tame performance of both teams, a 0-0 draw would have been a fair result

[2] If we had lost 0-2 to Spain, I would not have minded but Uzoho was virtually on holiday throughout the game and yet had to pick the ball out of his net twice. Very unfair result if the ask me. We were extremely unlucky. We have played worse than this and won games

[3] From what I saw, the main problem was a lack on spirit, enthusiasm and dynamism from the team going forward. Our problems were all in the last third. We failed to have one shot on target. Where this team is totally lacking is in the area of creativity

[4] Rohr's biggest failing is that he has not taken the issue of a creative playmaker seriously. I have repeatedly said that Mikel lacks the legs for the role but was called all sorts of names on this site. I hope those of you talking nonsense can now see how silly you appear. At 30, Mikel is in the twilight of his career and canot play the one-twp give and goes on the edge of the area. Even at his best, Mikel was never a fast player and lacked the urgency you are looking for in a top class playmaker

[5] I hope all of you who were disparaging my calls for Kelechi Nwakali to be our playmaker can now see how dumb you are. Can you just imagine how he would have taken the inititiative, gone past a few Croatians and had several shots at goal were he playing?

[6] Where Rohr messed up big time was taking Iwobi off instead of Mikel. He should have brought on Iheanacho to play Iwobi's tole out wide and then played Iwobi as his playmaker. A frobnt trio of Moses, Iheanacho and Ighalo with Iwobi playmaking behind them would surely have had a greater impact

[7] Rohr is also obsessed with Shehu Abdullahi and Bryan Idowu for some weird reason. In all fairness, the due performed their defensive functions well but offered us nothing going forward. I put it to you all that Tyronne Ebuehi and Joel Obi as our fullbacks would have made a huge difference. Did Abdullahi or Idowu provide one cross throughout the 90 minutes? Contrast that to the way Šime Vrsaljko was bombing forward all game

[8] William Ekong was responsible for both goals. On the first one he let Mandžukić lost him and get a header then he gave away a penalty for the second goal. Obviously Rohr had told him to mark him tighter of corners and the man got over-enthusiastic. Clearly Ekong has a problem with man-marking. We had more corners than the Croatians and never threatened them but alas, whenever we defended a corner, Ekong was in trouble. Is it too late to bring in a defensive coach to drill the boys on this?

[9] Mikel is clearly not fit as the Chinese league has been on a break and only just resumed. What Rohr should have done is get him and Igalo, to train with a European team when their league was off. This would have ensured they are fully fit for the World Cup

[10] Despite our loss, I am not going to panic and make rash and wholesale changes to our team. that would be irrational, irresponsible and tantamount to flying off the handle. For our next game, I would like to see this line-up:

****************************************Ighalo*******************************************

**********************Moses****************************Iheanacho*********************

*******************************************Iwobi*****************************************

*************************Ndidi******************************Etebo***********************

***Joel*****************Balogun*********************Ekong******************Ebuehi***

******************************************Uzoho*******************************************
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by AreaDaddy »

From his press conference Rohr is convinced his lineup, substitutions and tactics were correct and the player's are just not following instructions.

So expect a similar line up against Iceland.
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by mojojojo »

Why is Ighalo there?

A striker that has not scored in the last 7 or so games.

How many shots on target did he have?
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

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AreaDaddy wrote:From his press conference Rohr is convinced his lineup, substitutions and tactics were correct and the player's are just not following instructions.

So expect a similar line up against Iceland.
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by ANC »

Ayo, spot on.
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

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Iwobi never played the #10 in the qualifiers.. Remember against SA, in Uyo, no Mikel, Etebo was handed the #10 role, we were toothless in the attack.. Personally, I would ask the coach to go 4-4-2 and ask Mikel n Ndidi to play as Central MFs.. Striking paring of Ihenacho and Ighalo and have Iwobi and Moses on the wings..
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by TonyTheTigerKiller »

It is counter productive not to admit that there were various flaws in the selection:

1. Ighalo - 73 minutes and no credible shot on goal. Need I say more? Nacho, anyone?

2. Uzoho - I can’t possibly be the only one who’s observed that he reacts poorly to grounders and is often positionally unaware. He might have had a chance to save Etebo’s blunder had he been where he should have been and not rooted in the center of goal.

3. Etebo - Given that we opted to sit back, Ogu might have been a better option.

4. Idowu - A downright liability. Iwobi saved us quite a few blushes by tracking back to defend against incursions from the right flank.

5. If Moses persists with his wasteful antics of diving then replace him with Musa.

We need more experience and our best talent on the field against Iceland. That means Echiejile, Ezenwa, Ogu and ihenacho :!:


Cheers.
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by ANC »

chuks69 wrote:Iwobi never played the #10 in the qualifiers.. Remember against SA, in Uyo, no Mikel, Etebo was handed the #10 role, we were toothless in the attack.. Personally, I would ask the coach to go 4-4-2 and ask Mikel n Ndidi to play as Central MFs.. Striking paring of Ihenacho and Ighalo and have Iwobi and Moses on the wings..

Etebo, tried small, but he has traits of a headless chicken.
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Re: 10 observations I have to make about the Croatia game

Post by Ayo Akinfe »

mojojojo wrote:Why is Ighalo there?

A striker that has not scored in the last 7 or so games.

How many shots on target did he have?

How many shots did Mandzukic have on target? Neither team created any chances. What exactly was Ighalo supposed to do? Go and get the ball off the defenders and dribble the whole Croatian team to score?

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