Thoughts on the Game & 2nd Viewing

[vancity eagle]

Throw Aribo and Osimhen in this game and the outcome would have been different. Next game I want to see what the likes of Chidera Ejike, Tijani, Dessers can do.

I am not worried at all. We should have done better but overall I dont think the game was as bad as we think. I will watch it again.

Onuachu made us minus 1. Rohr needs to act quick and get rid of players we dont need, and integrate the right ones.

If we do poorly against Tunisia I would be worried.

[vancity eagle]

Throw Aribo and Osimhen in this game and the outcome would have been different. Next game I want to see what the likes of Chidera Ejike, Tijani, Dessers can do.

Wait till Ejaria and Nwakali join the team. Just wait.

Ejaria, Lookman and Nwakali will bring some serious creative edge to this team.

Like I said a week ago.

After seeing Lookman for 2 small Fulham cameos, I believe he is our best winger.

Todays game makes me believe that even more.

Can't wait for Ejaria to join, and I also think Nwakali has something to add.

[vancity eagle]

The making of sausage is .

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

Hold on this is not true.

Yes you can point to certain games that weren't the greatest, but I can point to RECENT GAMES

against

Brazil, Ukraine, Lesotho where we played great passing football, so be honest because you are telling stories.

We played great against Cameroon, Tunisia, South Africa at the AFCON.

We played great football in the 2018 WCQ destroying Cameroon and Algeria in the group of death. So to say Rohr has been horrible is just a lie.

this game was without 4 starting outfield players, the team hasn't played in a year. You think we will come out looking 100%. It ain't gonna happen. Look at the lessons learned and move on.

Like I said, we will see how we do against Tunisia before we try to make any stronger conclusions.

[mystic]

Algeria is okay. I wouldn't say they are very good. But compared to the Eagles today they are very good. Nigeria was poor. Which is understandable for a meaningless friendly.

Algeria is very good. It was a disjointed display. But we have seen this before. We will be fine.

[vancity eagle]

Just finished the First half Second time around

- It is becoming a common theme that the match I saw the second time is not the one I remember

- No way was this game as bad as people are saying, even I am guilty in this regard

- Algeria and Nigeria were both dead even. It was an even match, dare I say we actually even had the better chances to score, other than the sloppy goal at the beginning of the match

-the tired cliches about us "not being able to string together passes" is a complete lie and fabrication by either emotional people stressed at watching live games (myself included) or those with an agenda. We had some very neat passing play at times. In fact we did not give the ball away as much as I remember, and when we did it was usually when the Algerians double or triple teamed our guys with a high press.

- Our defence was SOLID. It is understandable why Rohr went back to the "Oyibo wall" Nothing was getting by these guys, and the wing backs were great as well and it is understandable why the Algerian website gave their attackers such low scores.

-Onyeka was not as bad as people made him out to be. He got disposessed once early in the game in a bad area, but other than that, he worked hard, covered lots of ground, and even tried to get into the attack part of the game. I would definately not write him off, and want to see more of him vs Tunisia.

- Ajayi also wasn't bad at DM, and he won lots of ball in the air from midfield as well as on the ground. He is an extra tall body on the pitch for set pieces.

- Onuachu is just not a fit for this SE. Not a diss on him, but we dont need that kind of forward. We need a guy who will press the defence, and a guy who is far more dynamic. Onuachu is not it, and it wasn't just about "service" He is too one dimensional, not a good fit.

- Iwobi is very talented, we are lucky to have a player like him. The hate against him needs to stop. He was everywhere, covered lots of ground, dropped back deep to make things happen, made intelligent passes and decisions. Iwobi is a G, and he can only get better.

- Kalu and Chuks were OK, but I expect a lot from them, they weren't bad, but they were just OK, they defended as well too.

- Zaidu what an upgrade from that hapless Collins. Frankly with Aina and Ebuehi both able to play left back, I struggle to see the relevance of Collins in a SE 23. I would rather take Aina, Ezibuhe, Ebuehi, Sanusi to any tournament. I hope Rohr can see things this way, since he loves players who can play multiple positions.

- Ebuehi was very good defensively and has quick recovery speed, would like to see a little more in attack.

- Chei Balogun still has it. That boy get vexxed and joins the attack to try and make something happen, I was one of those writing him off, but he is here to stay for the time being. Omeruo and Awaziem will be the ones to lose out.


Overall a very good work out so far. I am not worried about this team at all.

Now on to the 2nd half.

[Damunk]

I need to rewatch the game myself because my feelings coming away from the live game were mostly negative. Ebuehi and Okoye for sure.
Even with Sanussi who many rate highly, I seem to remember him giving the ball away whilst all the good work he did was a blur.
It is only natural I guess and why I hardly tune into live games on CE.

The overall result colours a lot of what we take away from any game.
Moreover, we will see all the negatives as they happen live and 'undersee' the positives, especially if they don't result in a significant end result such as a goal or a near miss.

[mystic]

Just finished the First half Second time around

- It is becoming a common theme that the match I saw the second time is not the one I remember

- No way was this game as bad as people are saying, even I am guilty in this regard

- Algeria and Nigeria were both dead even. It was an even match, dare I say we actually even had the better chances to score, other than the sloppy goal at the beginning of the match

-the tired cliches about us "not being able to string together passes" is a complete lie and fabrication by either emotional people stressed at watching live games (myself included) or those with an agenda. We had some very neat passing play at times. In fact we did not give the ball away as much as I remember, and when we did it was usually when the Algerians double or triple teamed our guys with a high press.

- Our defence was SOLID. It is understandable why Rohr went back to the "Oyibo wall" Nothing was getting by these guys, and the wing backs were great as well and it is understandable why the Algerian website gave their attackers such low scores.

-Onyeka was not as bad as people made him out to be. He got disposessed once early in the game in a bad area, but other than that, he worked hard, covered lots of ground, and even tried to get into the attack part of the game. I would definately not write him off, and want to see more of him vs Tunisia.

- Ajayi also wasn't bad at DM, and he won lots of ball in the air from midfield as well as on the ground. He is an extra tall body on the pitch for set pieces.

- Onuachu is just not a fit for this SE. Not a diss on him, but we dont need that kind of forward. We need a guy who will press the defence, and a guy who is far more dynamic. Onuachu is not it, and it wasn't just about "service" He is too one dimensional, not a good fit.

- Iwobi is very talented, we are lucky to have a player like him. The hate against him needs to stop. He was everywhere, covered lots of ground, dropped back deep to make things happen, made intelligent passes and decisions. Iwobi is a G, and he can only get better.

- Kalu and Chuks were OK, but I expect a lot from them, they weren't bad, but they were just OK, they defended as well too.

- Zaidu what an upgrade from that hapless Collins. Frankly with Aina and Ebuehi both able to play left back, I struggle to see the relevance of Collins in a SE 23. I would rather take Aina, Ezibuhe, Ebuehi, Sanusi to any tournament. I hope Rohr can see things this way, since he loves players who can play multiple positions.

- Ebuehi was very good defensively and has quick recovery speed, would like to see a little more in attack.

- Chei Balogun still has it. That boy get vexxed and joins the attack to try and make something happen, I was one of those writing him off, but he is here to stay for the time being. Omeruo and Awaziem will be the ones to lose out.


Overall a very good work out so far. I am not worried about this team at all.

Now on to the 2nd half.

A few points:

1. The game was disjointed because there were two teams on the pitch who haven't played a match in 11 months. Believe me, Algeria are much better than they showed and the same thing goes for us. We had more new players than Rohr usually invites as well and the last time I remember us playing such a patchy game was in the friendly against Senegal.

2. We indeed struggled to string passes together and were consistently harried into mistakes by the Algerians and their pressing. We could definitely be better there.

3. Onyeka wasn't as poor as some of the comments in the game thread would indicate, but he also failed to seize his opportunity. He will likely get another chance against Tunisia and hopefully justifies his call up.

4. Ajayi can be an emergency DM, but shouldn't play in midfield if we can avoid it.

5. I will save the bulk of my thoughts for after the Tunisia game. It's after that game that we'll be able to more properly judge the benefits (if any) of the Super Eagles activity in this friendly window.

[Damunk]

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

This is what happens when you allow your understandable disappointment to overwhelm your judgement.
Can you actually prove this factually or should we just put it down to stress?

When we played our two competitive AFCON games last year, did you say the same thing with the same conviction.
You skipped those two games and went for the Madagascar game as a 'typical' example.

The Madagascar game has now become representative, just like Okoye has been repeatedly used as the whipping boy of Rohr's 'inconsistencies' and 'prejudice'.

I am keenly watching to see how the climate will change now that Okoye might be proving to be an inspiring choice.

As for your 'four passes' lamentation, I will take a second look.

[waka-man]

Two African heavyweights field experimental teams with a sprinkling of starters, play a competitive fixture, with one team scoring a very early off a set piece. Both managers probably happy to have seen where they have some depth, and able to make a final call on some fringe players.

Both sides clearly have many levels to go up in a real dance.

All in all a good showing for African football.

[gochino]

The making of sausage is .

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

Hold on this is not true.

Yes you can point to certain games that weren't the greatest, but I can point to RECENT GAMES

against

Brazil, Ukraine, Lesotho where we played great passing football, so be honest because you are telling stories.

We played great against Cameroon, Tunisia, South Africa at the AFCON.

We played great football in the 2018 WCQ destroying Cameroon and Algeria in the group of death. So to say Rohr has been horrible is just a lie.

this game was without 4 starting outfield players, the team hasn't played in a year. You think we will come out looking 100%. It ain't gonna happen. Look at the lessons learned and move on.

Like I said, we will see how we do against Tunisia before we try to make any stronger conclusions.

I said in tournaments, because that's is where he needs to perform and justify the 5 years he has spent building and rebuilding. The only ok game i remember was against Iceland and maybe Cameroon at the Afcon.

[vancity eagle]

Just finished the 2nd.

Pretty much more of the same, but it seemed we were more tired than the Algerians.

My main takeaway from this second half was that I now see what Rohr is doing by playing Ajayi at DM, and I totally agree.

Of the 3 midfielders who played significant minutes (Ajayi, Onyeka, Agu) Ajayi was by far the best, the most composed, the best on the ball, and the best in the air. He won many balls in the air in midfield and had by far the most tackles and interceptions. With Ndidi gone, I think Ajayi is the best man to replace him. Do not be surprised if Rohr goes with Ajayi in that position with Ndidi gone.

It also makes sense because it means we can bring one less carpenter in our squad and have a more technical midfielder or an extra attacker. Frankly other than Ndidi, every other midfielder should have some technical or attacking aspect to their game. The days of carpenters is over. Even Ajayi sef has nice touches and he even dribbled some opponents. I like what he brings.

I'm pretty sure Mikel Agu is done after this window. Onyeka is on probation, and must have a good game vs Tunisia. If he proves to be yet another carpenter, he will only be a player called upon, when injuries happen.

[vancity eagle]

The making of sausage is .

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

Hold on this is not true.

Yes you can point to certain games that weren't the greatest, but I can point to RECENT GAMES

against

Brazil, Ukraine, Lesotho where we played great passing football, so be honest because you are telling stories.

We played great against Cameroon, Tunisia, South Africa at the AFCON.

We played great football in the 2018 WCQ destroying Cameroon and Algeria in the group of death. So to say Rohr has been horrible is just a lie.

this game was without 4 starting outfield players, the team hasn't played in a year. You think we will come out looking 100%. It ain't gonna happen. Look at the lessons learned and move on.

Like I said, we will see how we do against Tunisia before we try to make any stronger conclusions.

I said in tournaments, because that's is where he needs to perform and justify the 5 years he has spent building and rebuilding. The only ok game i remember was against Iceland and maybe Cameroon at the Afcon.

Was today a tournament ?

The team you say "cannot pass" finished 3rd in the first 24 team tournament, losing at the last minute to a team that twice beat Senegal in that tournament, shutting them out twice, and thrashed Colombia 3-0 to cap off their trophy.

This hyperbole is not helpful.

[Gotti]

This is what happens when you allow your understandable disappointment to overwhelm your judgement.
Can you actually prove this factually or should we just put it down to stress?

When we played our two competitive AFCON games last year, did you say the same thing with the same conviction.
You skipped those two games and went for the Madagascar game as a 'typical' example.

The Madagascar game has now become representative, just like Okoye has been repeatedly used as the whipping boy of Rohr's 'inconsistencies' and 'prejudice'.

I am keenly watching to see how the climate will change now that Okoye might be proving to be an inspiring choice.

As for your 'four passes' lamentation, I will take a second look.

If we picked other players same way perhaps they would also turn out to be "inspiring" choices...
Shame that Solomon Otabor (of the ex-Bulgarian fame) did not turn out to be similarly "inspiring".

Dude, it's one thing to cut Rohr a break on GKs, but please pull your head out of 'there' and call a spade one.

[Gotti]

Was today a tournament ?

The team you say "cannot pass" finished 3rd in the first 24 team tournament, losing at the last minute to a team that twice beat Senegal in that tournament, shutting them out twice, and thrashed Colombia 3-0 to cap off their trophy.

This hyperbole is not helpful.

But YOU PERSONALLY campaigned to fire (and apparently wished DEATH) on a coach that won the same 24-team tournament...

[Lolly]

The making of sausage is never as sweet as the final product, what we saw today was an experimental team trying to find its strength during its first game. Its unreasonable to expect the SE to come out blazing vs a well drilled Afcon Champs like Algeria. Algeria scored through a lucky bounce of the ball, dominated the MF but huffed and puffed to create any clear cut chances.

POSITIVES

1, SANUSI-------- One of the best defensive efforts I've seen against Mahrez. This boly is a top notch LB. No wonder Porto snapped him up and sent Zelles packing. Excellent debut!

2, OKOYE ------------ We found a keeper here folks. Confident, prganises the defense well , good with,not a vampire and rather agile for his size. If he ever gets regular time in Holland Uzoho will be in trouble.

3, EBUEHI ‐------------ A joy to see him getting back to his best self even though he seems to be a step slower. More games should fix that.

NEGATIVES

1, THE WINGERS ------- We have too many so called wingers who are just not productive enough to be starting yet let alone together. Chukwueze and Kalu starting together should never happen again. They're too similar and offer very little attacking output, their lack of defensive disciplined laso,puts more pressure on the MF. Iwobi and Simon should move to the left wing, no more cul-de-sac sac wingers.

2, ONYEKA ----‐-- I felt sorry for him and Ajayi. They were simply overwhelmed in MF b u t had little in terms technical ability to do much but hustle. I'll give Onyeka a pass and take a raincheck on judging him until I see him in a more balanced team.

THE UNAPPRECIATED

ONUACHU --------- what was he supposed to do? He got absolutely no service whatsoever but won his aerial duels and flicked on a few balls. Was he suppose to run into lanes that weren't open to score imaginary goals? Players like him need a stable MF and wing play to flourish. Judging him harshly is tantamount to football ignorance.


CONCLUSION ‐-‐--------- it was just a friendly afteral. ROHR must be happy as he got to see a few new players perform and got reassurance about the ability of others that haven't played in a while.
Has to be stoked about Okoye and Sanusi and happy to see Ebuehi performing again.

The thing that annoys me about this argument esp when you bring Algeria into it, is they built the sausage in about half the time that Rohr has had. Remember how this exact same set of players was so poor and we whooped them home and outplayed them away what 2 years ago. They appoint the appropriate coach and 2 years later they are African champs playing us off the part, and we are still talking about how we need to give our coach even longer to build and how impatient we are. While Algeria is an example of getting rid of the coach that couldn't bring out the best from the talented players they had and appointed one who immediately did and they are on a 19 game winning streak. Abeg, make we just put that excuse to one side, the players we used today weren't good enough, but we are also not well coached and need to stop talking about giving the bobo more and more time to produce. We know what he can produce, he's been very consistent average, he can't take a mediocre set of players and get them to play above their level, in fact his tactics stifles the few useful ones we have.

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

I don’t need to remind you guys that the same Rohr’s team destroyed Algeria when he was less than 2 years into the job. So the theory of him being in charge of a team for 4 years does not hold.

The key issue is the change of personnel on both sides. Algeria has strengthened in key areas and we obviously had a weaker team yesterday. That was pretty obvious even before the match started. Playing Ajayi, Onyeka, Iwobi and Onuachu along the spine of the team was always going to produce a disjointed display, especially against more technical North African players. And friendly games are the right place to try new players and new combinations. We can only hope Rohr has seen what we saw yesterday in certain players. I don’t need to mention names.

[Gotti]

I don’t need to remind you guys that the same Rohr’s team destroyed Algeria when he was less than 2 years into the job. So the theory of him being in charge of a team for 4 years does not hold.

The key issue is the change of personnel on both sides. Algeria has strengthened in key areas and we obviously had a weaker team yesterday. That was pretty obvious even before the match started. Playing Ajayi, Onyeka, Iwobi and Onuachu along the spine of the team was always going to produce a disjointed display, especially against more technical North African players. And friendly games are the right place to try new players and new combinations. We can only hope Rohr has seen what we saw yesterday in certain players. I don’t need to mention names.

Perhaps we are sliding backwards then...ooops!

BOTH teams played understrength lineups last night...
Thus the jaga-jaga nature of performance was understandable.

[gochino]

The making of sausage is .

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

Hold on this is not true.

Yes you can point to certain games that weren't the greatest, but I can point to RECENT GAMES

against

Brazil, Ukraine, Lesotho where we played great passing football, so be honest because you are telling stories.

We played great against Cameroon, Tunisia, South Africa at the AFCON.

We played great football in the 2018 WCQ destroying Cameroon and Algeria in the group of death. So to say Rohr has been horrible is just a lie.

this game was without 4 starting outfield players, the team hasn't played in a year. You think we will come out looking 100%. It ain't gonna happen. Look at the lessons learned and move on.

Like I said, we will see how we do against Tunisia before we try to make any stronger conclusions.

I said in tournaments, because that's is where he needs to perform and justify the 5 years he has spent building and rebuilding. The only ok game i remember was against Iceland and maybe Cameroon at the Afcon.

Was today a tournament ?

The team you say "cannot pass" finished 3rd in the first 24 team tournament, losing at the last minute to a team that twice beat Senegal in that tournament, shutting them out twice, and thrashed Colombia 3-0 to cap off their trophy.

This hyperbole is not helpful.

Dude we have always been a super power in African football, finishing 3rd in the continent is no big achievement! Keshi, Chukwu, Eguavoen and Amodu all did this, so what exactly is Rohr doing differently??...The point is Rohr has not performed too well in tournaments and that has to change, it does not look like we are moving forward and I do not think Rohr is capable of taking us to the next level but thats my opinion.

[gochino]

The making of sausage is never as sweet as the final product, what we saw today was an experimental team trying to find its strength during its first game. Its unreasonable to expect the SE to come out blazing vs a well drilled Afcon Champs like Algeria. Algeria scored through a lucky bounce of the ball, dominated the MF but huffed and puffed to create any clear cut chances.

POSITIVES

1, SANUSI-------- One of the best defensive efforts I've seen against Mahrez. This boly is a top notch LB. No wonder Porto snapped him up and sent Zelles packing. Excellent debut!

2, OKOYE ------------ We found a keeper here folks. Confident, prganises the defense well , good with,not a vampire and rather agile for his size. If he ever gets regular time in Holland Uzoho will be in trouble.

3, EBUEHI ‐------------ A joy to see him getting back to his best self even though he seems to be a step slower. More games should fix that.

NEGATIVES

1, THE WINGERS ------- We have too many so called wingers who are just not productive enough to be starting yet let alone together. Chukwueze and Kalu starting together should never happen again. They're too similar and offer very little attacking output, their lack of defensive disciplined laso,puts more pressure on the MF. Iwobi and Simon should move to the left wing, no more cul-de-sac sac wingers.

2, ONYEKA ----‐-- I felt sorry for him and Ajayi. They were simply overwhelmed in MF b u t had little in terms technical ability to do much but hustle. I'll give Onyeka a pass and take a raincheck on judging him until I see him in a more balanced team.

THE UNAPPRECIATED

ONUACHU --------- what was he supposed to do? He got absolutely no service whatsoever but won his aerial duels and flicked on a few balls. Was he suppose to run into lanes that weren't open to score imaginary goals? Players like him need a stable MF and wing play to flourish. Judging him harshly is tantamount to football ignorance.


CONCLUSION ‐-‐--------- it was just a friendly afteral. ROHR must be happy as he got to see a few new players perform and got reassurance about the ability of others that haven't played in a while.
Has to be stoked about Okoye and Sanusi and happy to see Ebuehi performing again.

The thing that annoys me about this argument esp when you bring Algeria into it, is they built the sausage in about half the time that Rohr has had. Remember how this exact same set of players was so poor and we whooped them home and outplayed them away what 2 years ago. They appoint the appropriate coach and 2 years later they are African champs playing us off the part, and we are still talking about how we need to give our coach even longer to build and how impatient we are. While Algeria is an example of getting rid of the coach that couldn't bring out the best from the talented players they had and appointed one who immediately did and they are on a 19 game winning streak. Abeg, make we just put that excuse to one side, the players we used today weren't good enough, but we are also not well coached and need to stop talking about giving the bobo more and more time to produce. We know what he can produce, he's been very consistent average, he can't take a mediocre set of players and get them to play above their level, in fact his tactics stifles the few useful ones we have.

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

I don’t need to remind you guys that the same Rohr’s team destroyed Algeria when he was less than 2 years into the job. So the theory of him being in charge of a team for 4 years does not hold.

The key issue is the change of personnel on both sides. Algeria has strengthened in key areas and we obviously had a weaker team yesterday. That was pretty obvious even before the match started. Playing Ajayi, Onyeka, Iwobi and Onuachu along the spine of the team was always going to produce a disjointed display, especially against more technical North African players. And friendly games are the right place to try new players and new combinations. We can only hope Rohr has seen what we saw yesterday in certain players. I don’t need to mention names.

Since then they have hired a new coach won a tournament and beat us twice! While we are still giving excuses for a coach that has been on the job for close to five years and is still going to tournaments to learn about football! Does it look like we are moving forward?

[Lolly]

I don’t need to remind you guys that the same Rohr’s team destroyed Algeria when he was less than 2 years into the job. So the theory of him being in charge of a team for 4 years does not hold.

The key issue is the change of personnel on both sides. Algeria has strengthened in key areas and we obviously had a weaker team yesterday. That was pretty obvious even before the match started. Playing Ajayi, Onyeka, Iwobi and Onuachu along the spine of the team was always going to produce a disjointed display, especially against more technical North African players. And friendly games are the right place to try new players and new combinations. We can only hope Rohr has seen what we saw yesterday in certain players. I don’t need to mention names.

Perhaps we are sliding backwards then...ooops!

BOTH teams played understrength lineups last night...
Thus the jaga-jaga nature of performance was understandable.

Perhaps we in the middle of rebuilding after losing a few 1st team players to retirement/age (Mikel, Moses, Ighalo, Onazi, Ogu) and not having 3 of our current central midfielders available yesterday. That is what you call sliding backwards?

Meanwhile, yesterday was a friendly with both teams playing understrength but our own understrength was worse. Ajayi (as DM), Onyeka, Onuachu are really understrength. Kalu and Chukwueze are out of form. And Algeria are the current African champions. And yes, they looked better than us. That is the purpose of friendlies.

[Lolly]

The making of sausage is never as sweet as the final product, what we saw today was an experimental team trying to find its strength during its first game. Its unreasonable to expect the SE to come out blazing vs a well drilled Afcon Champs like Algeria. Algeria scored through a lucky bounce of the ball, dominated the MF but huffed and puffed to create any clear cut chances.

POSITIVES

1, SANUSI-------- One of the best defensive efforts I've seen against Mahrez. This boly is a top notch LB. No wonder Porto snapped him up and sent Zelles packing. Excellent debut!

2, OKOYE ------------ We found a keeper here folks. Confident, prganises the defense well , good with,not a vampire and rather agile for his size. If he ever gets regular time in Holland Uzoho will be in trouble.

3, EBUEHI ‐------------ A joy to see him getting back to his best self even though he seems to be a step slower. More games should fix that.

NEGATIVES

1, THE WINGERS ------- We have too many so called wingers who are just not productive enough to be starting yet let alone together. Chukwueze and Kalu starting together should never happen again. They're too similar and offer very little attacking output, their lack of defensive disciplined laso,puts more pressure on the MF. Iwobi and Simon should move to the left wing, no more cul-de-sac sac wingers.

2, ONYEKA ----‐-- I felt sorry for him and Ajayi. They were simply overwhelmed in MF b u t had little in terms technical ability to do much but hustle. I'll give Onyeka a pass and take a raincheck on judging him until I see him in a more balanced team.

THE UNAPPRECIATED

ONUACHU --------- what was he supposed to do? He got absolutely no service whatsoever but won his aerial duels and flicked on a few balls. Was he suppose to run into lanes that weren't open to score imaginary goals? Players like him need a stable MF and wing play to flourish. Judging him harshly is tantamount to football ignorance.


CONCLUSION ‐-‐--------- it was just a friendly afteral. ROHR must be happy as he got to see a few new players perform and got reassurance about the ability of others that haven't played in a while.
Has to be stoked about Okoye and Sanusi and happy to see Ebuehi performing again.

The thing that annoys me about this argument esp when you bring Algeria into it, is they built the sausage in about half the time that Rohr has had. Remember how this exact same set of players was so poor and we whooped them home and outplayed them away what 2 years ago. They appoint the appropriate coach and 2 years later they are African champs playing us off the part, and we are still talking about how we need to give our coach even longer to build and how impatient we are. While Algeria is an example of getting rid of the coach that couldn't bring out the best from the talented players they had and appointed one who immediately did and they are on a 19 game winning streak. Abeg, make we just put that excuse to one side, the players we used today weren't good enough, but we are also not well coached and need to stop talking about giving the bobo more and more time to produce. We know what he can produce, he's been very consistent average, he can't take a mediocre set of players and get them to play above their level, in fact his tactics stifles the few useful ones we have.

Someone is Finally making sense here! The coach is not good enough, period! How can you be in charge of a team for 4yrs and your team can't even string 4 passes together without losing the ball? How can you coach a team for so many years and your team ends most of the matches with zero or one shot on goal in an entire match? Even against a team like Madagascar! I can't remember one single tournament game that the team really played good football. Why force yourself to keep a coach that is not bringing the desired result?

I don’t need to remind you guys that the same Rohr’s team destroyed Algeria when he was less than 2 years into the job. So the theory of him being in charge of a team for 4 years does not hold.

The key issue is the change of personnel on both sides. Algeria has strengthened in key areas and we obviously had a weaker team yesterday. That was pretty obvious even before the match started. Playing Ajayi, Onyeka, Iwobi and Onuachu along the spine of the team was always going to produce a disjointed display, especially against more technical North African players. And friendly games are the right place to try new players and new combinations. We can only hope Rohr has seen what we saw yesterday in certain players. I don’t need to mention names.

Since then they have hired a new coach won a tournament and beat us twice! While we are still giving excuses for a coach that has been on the job for close to five years and is still going to tournaments to learn about football! Does it look like we are moving forward?

Since then personnel has changed, and on both sides. Yes he beat us at AFCON in a game that could have gone either way.

2-3 years is a long time in football if you lose key players and have to rebuild with new ones. Many National team managers have delivered very good teams and won tournaments only to be sacked a few years down the line when their teams start to underperform. Germany is a good example of a team moving backwards if I can borrow your phrase. Does that make Joachim Low a poor manager?

[fabio]

- Our defence was SOLID. It is understandable why Rohr went back to the "Oyibo wall" Nothing was getting by these guys, and the wing backs were great as well and it is understandable why the Algerian website gave their attackers such low scores.

One of those mystical belief created during Rohr era. The defense was or is solid, yet we lost.

The scored ¨Wall¨ concede 7 goals in AfCon... The last time SE conceded 7 goals in AfCon, i can´t remember!

In the WC the Wall conceded 4 goals in three matches.

WC 2018. The teams which finished 3rd and 4th.

Saudi Arabia - 7 goals conceded.

Egypt - 6 goals conceded.

Australia - 5 goals conceded.

Iceland - 5 goals conceded.

Nigeria, Morocco, Serbia and Germany conceded 4 goals.

South Korea 3 goals conceded.

Peru and Iran 2 goals conceded.

[Chief Ogbunigwe]

WOWO

[Enyi]

Two African heavyweights field experimental teams with a sprinkling of starters, play a competitive fixture, with one team scoring a very early off a set piece. Both managers probably happy to have seen where they have some depth, and able to make a final call on some fringe players.

Both sides clearly have many levels to go up in a real dance.

All in all a good showing for African football.

The only sensible argument here......

both teams were poor, we got to see the new players and Ajayi in a new role. we now know what Onuacho can and cannot do. the RB and LB positions are settled. Iwobi impressed with his workrate not his ball retention...with better players, he will be great, Samu, Kalu needs to step up...Moses did ok...time to see Ejuke and co..

I think great work out after a year away for both teams and onwards to tunisia