Waffiman wrote:
What is real opposition?
real opposition like those we played at and pre-wc where ighalo laid egg after egg game after game.
Did anybody notIce that the only game we won at the WC was the one ighalo didnt start in or he same argentina we put four goaals past without
the great Ighalo came back to knack us 2-1 with the great ighalo on the pitch
Ighalo just cannot win with you guys. When he was not scoring, ignoring every other qualities he brings to the team, you all justified your reasons for wanting him out of the team on him not scoring or missing chances. But all strikers miss chances and Ighalo is no different. However in a team that does not create enough big chances, any miss is seized on. But we must put misses in context of other factors, like team philosophy, quality and number of chances created etc if we are to be constructive and fair in our criticisms.
pray tell me what qualities are these ? his speed his height , his ball control , his shots from range ? his free kicks . i must have missed it
Furthermore you talk as if Ighalo himself has no responsibility towards creating chances . Previous strikers we have had Ikpeba, aghawonder , yekini, osaze , utaka, emenike all created chances for themselves even when others didn't
Go back to anc 2004 where kanu lays an outlet pass to utaka who carries it about 20-30 yards and slots it in with Cameroonians in hot pursuit . Does anybody on this forum think you can give ighalo that kin pass and he will score with his slow pace ?
abeg spare me
At this AFCON, Ighalo has delivered goals and assists
and so ? is it only ighalo that can deliver goals and assists ? and of those tap in goals how many came out of ighalos creativity ?
- big and crucial goals and assist that has won games or come when the team needed it most. He has also delivered on his other qualities for the team, the critics have nothing to say, they are now giving us this subjective opinion of not scoring against 'real opposition'. What is this so called 'real opposition'?
we still dont know what these
qualities are that you are talking about. you are accusing people of being subjective but yet you keep repeating abstractions that you yourself havent defined
Here is Ighalo performing at our next important tournament to the WC, yet his efforts are been questioned and belittled. I am left with no option but to conclude that most his critics issues with him are based on their own agendas which has little or no bearing on his performances.
Abeg spare us the POETIC sentimental crap. the reason is very simple we have better more creative faster strikers we are not using ..
nothing more
Let's take an holistic approach to Ighalo's job is in this team given the way we want to play and try to highlight a key attribute he brings that enables our tactical approach in attacking.
We are basically a defensive team. We are set up to be compact and tight. The reasons are understandable, Rohr seems to have concluded that it is the system that best suits the players he has. We can agree or disagree but it is the way it is.
We have problems building attacks from defence, especially when attacking through the middle due to the quality of too many of our defensive players on the ball. Too many of them cannot play passes that break the lines or make a sudden switch with a long pass to an attacker who is in space or a 'one on one' situation. We do not have a deep lying play maker, and fo not play like we have one.
Ok assuming alll that is true wouldn't the answer be to use more mobile faster strikers that can come to the ball if the ball cant come to them? . Isnt that what we are saying ? dont great players make up for the deficiencies of their surrounding cast ?
Consequently, we struggle to build attacks from defence and through the middle. E.g. Just watch how many 50/50 long balls we lump up there for the lone Ighalo to fight two CDs for.
You are making my point for me . lobbing balls to big burly strikers is 1970s soccer .
In the mordern game , quick mobile strikers is what its about hence slow immobile players like ighalo are surplus to requirements
ps the likes of ikpeba knew how to position themselves away from the big bulky cd's so for them it was a non issue
We cannot go through the middle, so are left with trying to attack from the wide positions. We try to get our wide attackers and Wide Backs on the ball, looking to get behind the opposition from these wide positions. This is where Ighalo physical presence and physicality becomes really useful. When have the ball in these attacking positions, Ighalo occupies one CD, but the other CD cannot ignore Ighalo, he tries to be close to his CD colleague cos he knows Ighalo is a handful that can easily get the better of his CD partner.
You are beginning to believe your own fantasies so much so that you are now contradicting yourself .furthermore i dont know which games you have been watching but I dont know of any game where Ighalos supposed Physicality that we have heard so much about has been of any benefit whatsoever to us .. perhaps you can show me what goal has resulted from this physicality.. Ok maybe aganst cameroun during the WCQs when we won 4-0 but aside that please show
In trying to be close, the CD leaves space between himself and his full back. If the full back compensates by covering the space left by the CD, our wide attackers have space out wide. This domino effect if creating space and exploiting the space created, usually starts with Ighalo.
Even if we do not go from the wide positions, just watch when Ighalo gets a pass in that middle CD zone, watch how tight they are on him, but being tight causes the opposition to leave space and our players exploit and capitalised on this space consistently. So why do we ignore this crucial aspect of our play that Ighalo makes possible?
All this one na theory and it appllies to every player abeg. which player arent they tight on causing opposition to leave space ?
I am no coach, but I not only watch, I also use the stats to analyse. We need to be fair and constructive in our criticisms. Like all the critics, I get angry and disappointed when Ighalo misses chances. It is natural, however we must also recognise that misses are part of the game and try to understand putting things in context.
you are definitely no coach you are right about that one
Talking about context, given the way we want to play. Those who proffer negativities about Ighalo only, never seem go to come up with a credible and bonafide alternative to the player. I wonder why.
No need to wonder why .. we have told you many times Onyekuru and ahmed musa are credible PROVEN bonafides
even bein sport commentators had a field day pointing out that ighalo was stinking up the joint. Did they have an aqenda too?
Anyway thanks for the epistle
.. so much sentimental hubris contained therein but it was a pretty amusing read to say the least