Time to sort out our attack

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waka-man
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Time to sort out our attack

Post by waka-man »

The SE remain very much a work in progress. As with all such projects, we will have a lot of ups and downs in the next couple of years as this team matures.

What’s clear is that an identity is emerging of a well drilled side, rugged in defence and powerful in the midfield, relying on pace and guile to score great goals up front. It is very much a team mentality, as opposed to being a team designed around one or two star players.

And excitingly, it’s a team that looks well placed to cope with the eventual departure of John Mikel Obi.

Over the last few games as Rohr has tinkered, we finally seem to have a variety of systems in both defence and midfield. They continue to work on set piece defending but it’s great to see that it is a team that gives up very few shots on goal. In the middle, Etebo and Ndidi provide a youthful spine that’s got a decade to run with decent supporting cast emerging.

For this World Cup, the work I expect to see starting with the Argentina game (and hopefully extending beyond that) is a lot more sophistication in our attack. 3 things we need to do next:

- understand our philosophical approach when we break through the middle. Mikel, Ndidi and more often Etebo found themselves running at the back four against Iceland on quite a few occasion. Each time they elected to shoot because ahead of them no one was making a run to drag defenders out of place. These movements only come from lots of practice on the training group where the front 4 or 5 operate as a unit. We’ve got a sense of what we want to do when we attack from wide areas; less so when we attack from the middle

- get the from two closer to each other. In many ways yesterday, Nacho and Musa were not operating as a partnership, but rather as attacking options for their suppliers. Both of them have the skill to work in tight spaces and both a cold hearted finishers. Time to teach them how to operate as a unit around centre backs and create tiny bits of spaces from which to wreak havoc. A few dedicated sessions in training and this could be worth a goal a game.

- owning the 6 yard box. Nigerians love a cut back. But with teams increasingly massing the middle, it’s tough to score from outside the 6. Just look at the stats on blocked shots in this WC. It’s impoetnat that our players learn to play off the last man. Our pace is so frightening that many teams will elect to drop deep. That creates opportunities for us to get closer to the goal and for wicked balls in no mans land for them to convert. The delivery is tough to get right, but right now Nigeria’s strikers are not getting into those positions anyway. It’s time to start doing so.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by Shownoja »

waka-man wrote:- get the from two closer to each other. In many ways yesterday, Nacho and Musa were not operating as a partnership, but rather as attacking options for their suppliers. Both of them have the skill to work in tight spaces and both a cold hearted finishers. Time to teach them how to operate as a unit around centre backs and create tiny bits of spaces from which to wreak havoc. A few dedicated sessions in training and this could be worth a goal a game.
We invested in a goalkeeping coach prior to the World Cup. Might not be a bad idea to invest in a striker coach too, even for a short period.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by metalalloy »

waka-man wrote:The SE remain very much a work in progress. As with all such projects, we will have a lot of ups and downs in the next couple of years as this team matures.

What’s clear is that an identity is emerging of a well drilled side, rugged in defence and powerful in the midfield, relying on pace and guile to score great goals up front. It is very much a team mentality, as opposed to being a team designed around one or two star players.

And excitingly, it’s a team that looks well placed to cope with the eventual departure of John Mikel Obi.

Over the last few games as Rohr has tinkered, we finally seem to have a variety of systems in both defence and midfield. They continue to work on set piece defending but it’s great to see that it is a team that gives up very few shots on goal. In the middle, Etebo and Ndidi provide a youthful spine that’s got a decade to run with decent supporting cast emerging.

For this World Cup, the work I expect to see starting with the Argentina game (and hopefully extending beyond that) is a lot more sophistication in our attack. 3 things we need to do next:

- understand our philosophical approach when we break through the middle. Mikel, Ndidi and more often Etebo found themselves running at the back four against Iceland on quite a few occasion. Each time they elected to shoot because ahead of them no one was making a run to drag defenders out of place. These movements only come from lots of practice on the training group where the front 4 or 5 operate as a unit. We’ve got a sense of what we want to do when we attack from wide areas; less so when we attack from the middle

- get the from two closer to each other. In many ways yesterday, Nacho and Musa were not operating as a partnership, but rather as attacking options for their suppliers. Both of them have the skill to work in tight spaces and both a cold hearted finishers. Time to teach them how to operate as a unit around centre backs and create tiny bits of spaces from which to wreak havoc. A few dedicated sessions in training and this could be worth a goal a game.

- owning the 6 yard box. Nigerians love a cut back. But with teams increasingly massing the middle, it’s tough to score from outside the 6. Just look at the stats on blocked shots in this WC. It’s impoetnat that our players learn to play off the last man. Our pace is so frightening that many teams will elect to drop deep. That creates opportunities for us to get closer to the goal and for wicked balls in no mans land for them to convert. The delivery is tough to get right, but right now Nigeria’s strikers are not getting into those positions anyway. It’s time to start doing so.

:clap: :clap: thankfully there are still a few people with brains left on this site. These are things that become second nature with drills and extensive time together. Mexico that people have been hailing have been together since 2015. Firing the coach after one loss or poor performance when the team has shown flashes of excellence or the potential of how lethal they could be in several games is not the way to achieve any success.

As for the cutbacks, i would say that we do not do it enough. We have settled for crossed to the box and with the relatively diminutive strikers we have that have no history that shows heading is one of their strengths, we will never win those crosses. IF we have the likes of moses or musa actually drive to the by line and cut the ball back on the ground for on rushing midfielders/ strikers to run onto and shoot, we will create and convert more chances than we currently do.

Excellent write up sir.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by waka-man »

Mexico’s second goal and the simplicity of its execution is exactly what we need to aspire to.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by metalalloy »

you see that German equaliser? thats the cut back im talking about that is so dangerous as opposed to crosses
We have been brainwashed by the Premier League that it's the best in the world. Nonsense. It's the best brand
Roy Keane: ITV 02/25/14

He says that we are currently "brainwashed" into believing that the Premier League is the best competition in the world, and that we are now a long way off dominating the Champions League again.
Gary Neville: Mirror: 12/23/14

I think Spain’s by far the best league.
Scholes. UK Guardian 9/6/16
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by waka-man »

Cut-backs are super effective. Got us to the World Cup.
But we need our strikers to poach in the 6 yard box. It’ll only make the cut backs more effectuve
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MY NAME IS WAKA-MAN, and YES, I AM A CHELSEA FAN. Please don't hate me - I was fan when David Ellery dashed Cantona two penalties as Man U beat us 4-0 in the FA Cup final. So I've paid my dues.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by metalalloy »

waka-man wrote:Cut-backs are super effective. Got us to the World Cup.
But we need our strikers to poach in the 6 yard box. It’ll only make the cut backs more effectuve
I couldn't agree more. Im mainly against the cross after cross into the box. we will never score from those.
We have been brainwashed by the Premier League that it's the best in the world. Nonsense. It's the best brand
Roy Keane: ITV 02/25/14

He says that we are currently "brainwashed" into believing that the Premier League is the best competition in the world, and that we are now a long way off dominating the Champions League again.
Gary Neville: Mirror: 12/23/14

I think Spain’s by far the best league.
Scholes. UK Guardian 9/6/16
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by folem »

metalalloy wrote:
waka-man wrote:Cut-backs are super effective. Got us to the World Cup.
But we need our strikers to poach in the 6 yard box. It’ll only make the cut backs more effectuve
I couldn't agree more. Im mainly against the cross after cross into the box. we will never score from those.
How did we score the first goal?
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by amafolas »

you have to play to our strengths. Etebo is a driving midfielder. he is not going to give you much of assist-type through passes. His strength is really drive and shoot. And thank God he does not mis-place short routine passes like Onazi sometimes does. Personally, I love watching him shrug off defenders. Mikel can pass long, short and through. If he is driving, he is looking to play someone through. Ndidi can do long and simple short passes. Iwobi is the other person that can give you assist-type passes, he has a lot of finesse to his game but he lacks the brute power of Etebo.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by muzines »

waka-man wrote:The SE remain very much a work in progress. As with all such projects, we will have a lot of ups and downs in the next couple of years as this team matures.

What’s clear is that an identity is emerging of a well drilled side, rugged in defence and powerful in the midfield, relying on pace and guile to score great goals up front. It is very much a team mentality, as opposed to being a team designed around one or two star players.

And excitingly, it’s a team that looks well placed to cope with the eventual departure of John Mikel Obi.

Over the last few games as Rohr has tinkered, we finally seem to have a variety of systems in both defence and midfield. They continue to work on set piece defending but it’s great to see that it is a team that gives up very few shots on goal. In the middle, Etebo and Ndidi provide a youthful spine that’s got a decade to run with decent supporting cast emerging.

For this World Cup, the work I expect to see starting with the Argentina game (and hopefully extending beyond that) is a lot more sophistication in our attack. 3 things we need to do next:

- understand our philosophical approach when we break through the middle. Mikel, Ndidi and more often Etebo found themselves running at the back four against Iceland on quite a few occasion. Each time they elected to shoot because ahead of them no one was making a run to drag defenders out of place. These movements only come from lots of practice on the training group where the front 4 or 5 operate as a unit. We’ve got a sense of what we want to do when we attack from wide areas; less so when we attack from the middle

- get the from two closer to each other. In many ways yesterday, Nacho and Musa were not operating as a partnership, but rather as attacking options for their suppliers. Both of them have the skill to work in tight spaces and both a cold hearted finishers. Time to teach them how to operate as a unit around centre backs and create tiny bits of spaces from which to wreak havoc. A few dedicated sessions in training and this could be worth a goal a game.

- owning the 6 yard box. Nigerians love a cut back. But with teams increasingly massing the middle, it’s tough to score from outside the 6. Just look at the stats on blocked shots in this WC. It’s impoetnat that our players learn to play off the last man. Our pace is so frightening that many teams will elect to drop deep. That creates opportunities for us to get closer to the goal and for wicked balls in no mans land for them to convert. The delivery is tough to get right, but right now Nigeria’s strikers are not getting into those positions anyway. It’s time to start doing so.
I understand your point, but this analysis is wrong. There were multiple times especially in the second half- around the 70th minute where Kelechi and Musa were completely open, but Etebo decided to shoot. The main issue was Etebo, not the strikers, who were wide open.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA »

muzines wrote:
waka-man wrote:The SE remain very much a work in progress. As with all such projects, we will have a lot of ups and downs in the next couple of years as this team matures.

What’s clear is that an identity is emerging of a well drilled side, rugged in defence and powerful in the midfield, relying on pace and guile to score great goals up front. It is very much a team mentality, as opposed to being a team designed around one or two star players.

And excitingly, it’s a team that looks well placed to cope with the eventual departure of John Mikel Obi.

Over the last few games as Rohr has tinkered, we finally seem to have a variety of systems in both defence and midfield. They continue to work on set piece defending but it’s great to see that it is a team that gives up very few shots on goal. In the middle, Etebo and Ndidi provide a youthful spine that’s got a decade to run with decent supporting cast emerging.

For this World Cup, the work I expect to see starting with the Argentina game (and hopefully extending beyond that) is a lot more sophistication in our attack. 3 things we need to do next:

- understand our philosophical approach when we break through the middle. Mikel, Ndidi and more often Etebo found themselves running at the back four against Iceland on quite a few occasion. Each time they elected to shoot because ahead of them no one was making a run to drag defenders out of place. These movements only come from lots of practice on the training group where the front 4 or 5 operate as a unit. We’ve got a sense of what we want to do when we attack from wide areas; less so when we attack from the middle

- get the from two closer to each other. In many ways yesterday, Nacho and Musa were not operating as a partnership, but rather as attacking options for their suppliers. Both of them have the skill to work in tight spaces and both a cold hearted finishers. Time to teach them how to operate as a unit around centre backs and create tiny bits of spaces from which to wreak havoc. A few dedicated sessions in training and this could be worth a goal a game.

- owning the 6 yard box. Nigerians love a cut back. But with teams increasingly massing the middle, it’s tough to score from outside the 6. Just look at the stats on blocked shots in this WC. It’s impoetnat that our players learn to play off the last man. Our pace is so frightening that many teams will elect to drop deep. That creates opportunities for us to get closer to the goal and for wicked balls in no mans land for them to convert. The delivery is tough to get right, but right now Nigeria’s strikers are not getting into those positions anyway. It’s time to start doing so.
I understand your point, but this analysis is wrong. There were multiple times especially in the second half- around the 70th minute where Kelechi and Musa were completely open, but Etebo decided to shoot. The main issue was Etebo, not the strikers, who were wide open.
Very true! I’d sacrifice Etebo for Iwobi vs Argentina. Iwobi’s movement and passing will be key!
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by kali »

The only player that sees space through the middle has been Iwobi. He scored such goals against Argentina, Zambia and England from those positions.

The central midfield of Ndidi and Etebo needs to link better with the forwards by anticipating runs when they break and shoot if there is a greater than 50% chance of actually scoring.

The midfield need to work on diagonal passes that England used to great effect to cut through our midfield like knife and Mexico with Germany. It requires forwards to make diagonal runs to take advantage.

In terms of attack we need to make more runs into the box. The times we got there we punished all comers Argentina, England, Iceland.
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Re: Time to sort out our attack

Post by muzines »

Etebo actually works hard and is full of running. He’s always in the right position, but his quirk if shooting first and passing second is messing up the flow of our game offensively.
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