Analysis of yesterday's game??

[Damunk]

I wish they had hired Finidi to come work on the wingers to improve their crosses. They should be taking at least a hundred crosses each per session.

I often visualise the goal JAG scored against Sweden at WC2002 from a peach of a cross by Yobo. That play should be a regular in our repertoire.

I honestly don't think you need Finidi to do this. They just need drills. Drills on defending corners and on taking crosses. If the coaches in there can't execute that without some ex-world class player, then I'm not sure they're worth what they're being paid.

All they need is drills...over and over again. Ideally, one would hope that our players were self-aware enough to practice on their own and get better (especially with crosses), but I haven't seen any signs of this in the last 5 years.

Totally agree.

[theYemster]

Can anyone who has seen the game yesterday provide a short analysis? Also, how was the line-up, 4-2-3-1?
I'm sorry I had to miss the game yesterday...

Some points I am curious about:
Has Akpeyi overhauled Uzoho?
Was Iwobi a 3rd midfielder playing predominantly on one flank, or was he infront of Mikel and Etebo in a central role?
How did the play change when Onuachu was hauled off?

Akpeyi was not tested but his ball distribution was miles above Uzoho´s distribution. Also I noticed that when Akpeyi or Ezinwa is in goal, the defense seems a lot more organised. It could be a phsycological thing due to Uzohos age and experience, maybe the defenders are more relaxed when they know that they dont have a 19 year old in goal with little experience.
Iwobi played as the number ten in front of Mikel and Etebo. Midfield possession was good as we had two very intelligent footballers running things in the middle, Iwobi was however careless with the ball and gave away possession a couple of times.
Onuachu was a bit disappointing to me, he was always crowded by defenders and did not really do much! Despite his height I did not remember him getting one single header. We really need strikers that can find space and run behind defenders, so that our midfielders can have more options.

The SE failed to utilize Onuachu. THe wingers were not whipping in crosses rather, they attacked. With that rainy condition, putting the ball in the air for Onuachu would have been the best route to goal.

I wish they had hired Finidi to come work on the wingers to improve their crosses. They should be taking at least a hundred crosses each per session.

I often visualise the goal JAG scored against Sweden at WC2002 from a peach of a cross by Yobo. That play should be a regular in our repertoire.

I honestly don't think you need Finidi to do this. They just need drills. Drills on defending corners and on taking crosses. If the coaches in there can't execute that without some ex-world class player, then I'm not sure they're worth what they're being paid.

All they need is drills...over and over again. Ideally, one would hope that our players were self-aware enough to practice on their own and get better (especially with crosses), but I haven't seen any signs of this in the last 5 years.

Its so obvious we don't work on set pieces, both defending and taking them given how poor we are at them...

It actually should be a self improvement effort done on their own personal time even when back at their respective clubs.

Stay back after each and every team training session and work on drilling sessions taking like over a hundred free kicks/crosses until it is almost a gimme. Beckham, Messi, Ronaldo weren't born with it. Ray Allen would come in early to work on his shots before training, and also sometimes stay back and continue after training. He used to take hundreds of shots per session.