A Level Headed Analysis of The Czech Match

[mojojojo]

[1] I felt that SE were holding back in the first half because of fear of getting injured. The Czechs were more aggressive and incurred more fouls. The Czech were winning all the one vs one situations despite fielding less talented players.
[2] In the second half we tried to claw our back. Suddenly the players realized that they could lose the game and became much more serious. However we all know how difficult it is to breakdown a team that parks the bus like the Czechs did.
[3] Our best chance of equalizing was through a set piece but our delivery and execution failed us.
[4] The fact that we got so many set pieces and corners was a pointer to how dominant we were in the match.
[5] Tactically Rohr made a few mistakes. Mikel as the most advanced midfield player did not work. Iwobi scored in the last game and was our best player and Rohr's reaction is the move him deeper into the midfield away from goal.
[6] Ebuehi is far better than Shehu.

[mojojojo]

A link showing stats on the match
http://kwese.espn.com/football/matchstats?gameId=506534

[green4life]

http://kwese.espn.com/football/report?gameId=506534

Uninspiring Nigeria fall to Czech Republic

Tomas Kalas's first-half winner condemned an uninspiring Nigeria to a 1-0 defeat in their final pre-World Cup friendly at the Rudolf Tonn Stadium in Schwechat, Austria on Wednesday.

It was a second successive defeat in four days for the Super Eagles, a disappointing conclusion to preparations ahead of a sixth World Cup appearance for the West Africans, who have to improve ahead of their opening group game against Croatia on June 16.

Despite expectedly making two changes in midfield from the England defeat, with John Ogu and the returning Wilfred Ndidi coming into the line-up for Ogenyi Onazi and Joel Obi, the alterations did little in improving the Eagles' fortunes.

Nigeria were living dangerously early on, conceding seven corner kicks within the opening 17 minutes. Abdullahi Shehu also had to produce goal-saving blocks to deny Josef Sural an opener and to prevent a John Obi Mikel own goal.

Francis Uzoho came to his side's rescue to deny Patrik Schick on the volley, but the Europeans couldn't be denied in the 25th minute when Kalas broke the deadlock.

Tomas Soucek attacked Vladimir Coufal's corner, and his effort was saved by Uzoho's thighs, but the rebound was tucked in Kalas.

The goal prompted a response from the Nigerians, who went close through efforts from Odion Ighalo and Ndidi, but on both occasions, they were denied by fine saves from Tomas Vaclik.

Despite switching to a 3-5-2 formation in the second-half and bossing possession, Nigeria failed to break down their opponents.

The best chance fell to Victor Moses, who failed to control the ball with just the goalkeeper to beat in wet conditions.

[1naija]

What is level headed about this?

[pajimoh]

What is level headed about this?

Not calling it what it is, lame performance

[DIMKA76]

Lesson - Don't concede a goal if you don't have the creative players to unpark a bus.

[gochino]

7 corners in 17 mins??? That must be a new record. We concede too many corners and that's because we don't have defenders who are good at passing the ball out, all they do is boot the ball out to no one in particular and most times we concede corners or throwings. If we meet a team at the world cup that presses agressively,then we are doomed!...I also noticed we lose all 50 / 50 balls no matter the team we are play!

[Kabalega]

9ja just has to fix 2 main issues:

1. Speed up the transition from defence to attack.
The speed and quickness of 9ja's forward players are wasted by the slow D, and even slower MF, especially Mikel.

The team looks more dangerous with the 3-5-2 because the wingers bypass the problem.

2. Improve defending and scoring from set pieces!
Rohr has 9 days to fix these and it is possible.

[soccernut]

Ighalo has to change his technique as a striker. He hoards the ball too much by keeping the ball between his legs. He needs to sprint more, play one touch, release the ball run into space for a follow-up pass, push the ball forward, then strike at goal or dribble in motion to avert a defender-- not dribble, stop and then hold up play. That's what a defensive midfielder does. For him to make these adjustments, he needs to drop some bulk (another few pounds), stop lifting weights on those heavy shoulders so as to be more flexible, and he needs to sprint when he gets the ball, not do a fast jog. Although, something tells me that fitness is highly questionable here. A true center forward does not wait for supply all day. Rashid Yekinni in his day or Brazilian Ronaldo will drop deep to pick up a lose ball or pass, then work his way into the eighteen. As a number 9 when you have tremendous speed, good ball placement skills, a powerful shot and possess a good header -- you pose a constant threat to any team! In short-- you can turn a game on a dime!

[Kabalega]

Ighalo has to change his technique as a striker. He hoards the ball too much by keeping the ball between his legs. He needs to sprint more, play one touch, release the ball run into space for a follow-up pass, push the ball forward, then strike at goal or dribble in motion to avert a defender-- not dribble, stop and then hold up play. That's what a defensive midfielder does. For him to make these adjustments, he needs to drop some bulk (another few pounds), stop lifting weights on those heavy shoulders so as to be more flexible, and he needs to sprint when he gets the ball, not do a fast jog. Although, something tells me that fitness is highly questionable here. A true center forward does not wait for supply all day. Rashid Yekinni in his day or Brazilian Ronaldo will drop deep to pick up a lose ball or pass, then work his way into the eighteen. As a number 9 when you have tremendous speed, good ball placement skills, a powerful shot and possess a good header -- you pose a constant threat to any team! In short-- you can turn a game on a dime!

You know that Ighalo is playing within systems that require him to play a particular way in specific zones?

[Vindave]

The truth is that Ighalo is not a complete striker... We are only trying to make do with what we have.... He is very in consistence and couple with the fact that the midfield don't feed him with ball regularly. .. He gets frustrated so many times, and once he have the ball he try to do too much unnecessary display round himself and before you know it defenders clog him and take away the ball.

He has shots on his leg too but most time his shots are usually off the bar

[kali]

Ighalo is an average striker. He wastes time on the ball, Is slow in the box and has weak positioning. Iwobi should be played as a false 9 with iheanacho and Etebo in support. Then you have three players that can strike.

Moses should go back to his wb role since he is too predictable as a dribbler.

This is how I would line up

Uzoho
---- Balogun -- Ogu -- Ekong ----

- Ebuehi - Mikel - Ndidi - Moses -

-------------------- Iwobi ------------------

----- Iheanacho --- Etebo -----------

[smartbrother]

i watched the game and my thoughts are as follows:
1. This is one friendly match in which i can say the result should be ignored as it doesn't tell the story. We were by far the better side.

2. For the first time in 5 games our build up play was competent and in spells, very good!
Even with the strange strategy of playing mikel ahead of iwobi we kept possession well and controlled the match
Our three first choice midfielders are class. (the bench is a different story)

3. 3-5-2 is fine when we are ahead or level. But not when we are chasing a game. I'm surprised Rohr didnt take off Ogu , bring on Nacho or Etebo and switch to 4-3-3 earlier in the game. I hope he is more tactically reactive at the world cup than he was yesterday. We cannot be an attacking force playing 3-5-2 because idowu and Echejile are very poor left wing backs. We only have ourselves to blame for that situation

4. Ebuehi did nothing special whatsoever.
In fact after he came on we -perhaps coincidentally- started attacking from the left more than the right So he wasnt as involved in the match as Shehu.
I would say he had a quiet decent game -a far cry from the hyped reviews he was getting here.
Whether we go with Ebuehi or Shehu I think ROhr needs to make his mind up.
Playing a different player in each half unsettles the back four/back 5. Which in turn leads to disorganized comical defending like we saw yesterday
These players should have been scouted long before camp began.
Their strengths and weakness should have been fully understood by now.
He should not be using friendlies on the eve of the wc to audition these guys for the right back position.This isnt xfactor.

5. Ighalo performed as well as one could expect in the lone striker role. Ive been pleasantly surprised by his workrate in recent matches. He was unlucky not to score against England. He is not going to score many goals but he leads the line well.

Rohr seems to have a chaotic unfocused mind.Preparation for this WC has been marred by poor call ups , poor squad selection and poor use of the friendlies. Still, I believe we have enough world class players in mikel, moses, iwobi and ndidi to get out of the group.

[cchinukw]

9ja just has to fix 2 main issues:

1. Speed up the transition from defence to attack.
The speed and quickness of 9ja's forward players are wasted by the slow D, and even slower MF, especially Mikel.

The team looks more dangerous with the 3-5-2 because the wingers bypass the problem.

2. Improve defending and scoring from set pieces!
Rohr has 9 days to fix these and it is possible.

Too late to improve on speed.

They can certainly fix defending. Scoring? Well depends on the frontline personnel.

I hold Rohr responsible for the selection of this team. He should live or die by the outcome.

[Kabalega]

9ja just has to fix 2 main issues:

1. Speed up the transition from defence to attack.
The speed and quickness of 9ja's forward players are wasted by the slow D, and even slower MF, especially Mikel.

The team looks more dangerous with the 3-5-2 because the wingers bypass the problem.

2. Improve defending and scoring from set pieces!
Rohr has 9 days to fix these and it is possible.

Too late to improve on speed.

They can certainly fix defending. Scoring? Well depends on the frontline personnel.

I hold Rohr responsible for the selection of this team. He should live or die by the outcome.

It is not as difficult as you think.
Nigeria has fast forwards and Iwobi up front.

It is the MF, especially Mikel who slow things down. Bypass the slow MFs and see how fast the ball moves from defence to attack.
This late release of the ball also contributes a lot to Ighalo's offsides.
Fix it and you will see goals galore as the forwards will have more space to operate before they close them down.

The goal should be from defence to Igahlo or Iheanacho, in less than 15 seconds.
Unless the situation warrants slowing things down.

[nanijoe]

Abeg if we play 3-5-2, why cant Moses play as one of the 5? why do we need 2 full time defenders on the outside of the 5?

[cchinukw]

i watched the game and my thoughts are as follows:
1. This is one friendly match in which i can say the result should be ignored as it doesn't tell the story. We were by far the better side.

2. For the first time in 5 games our build up play was competent and in spells, very good!
Even with the strange strategy of playing mikel ahead of iwobi we kept possession well and controlled the match
Our three first choice midfielders are class. (the bench is a different story)

3. 3-5-2 is fine when we are ahead or level. But not when we are chasing a game. I'm surprised Rohr didnt take off Ogu , bring on Nacho or Etebo and switch to 4-3-3 earlier in the game. I hope he is more tactically reactive at the world cup than he was yesterday. We cannot be an attacking force playing 3-5-2 because idowu and Echejile are very poor left wing backs. We only have ourselves to blame for that situation

4. Ebuehi did nothing special whatsoever.
In fact after he came on we -perhaps coincidentally- started attacking from the left more than the right So he wasnt as involved in the match as Shehu.
I would say he had a quiet decent game -a far cry from the hyped reviews he was getting here.
Whether we go with Ebuehi or Shehu I think ROhr needs to make his mind up.
Playing a different player in each half unsettles the back four/back 5. Which in turn leads to disorganized comical defending like we saw yesterday
These players should have been scouted long before camp began.
Their strengths and weakness should have been fully understood by now.
He should not be using friendlies on the eve of the wc to audition these guys for the right back position.This isnt xfactor.

5. Ighalo performed as well as one could expect in the lone striker role. Ive been pleasantly surprised by his workrate in recent matches. He was unlucky not to score against England. He is not going to score many goals but he leads the line well.

Rohr seems to have a chaotic unfocused mind.Preparation for this WC has been marred by poor call ups , poor squad selection and poor use of the friendlies. Still, I believe we have enough world class players in mikel, moses, iwobi and ndidi to get out of the group.

Thankfully, you are coming round to the same conclusion I have had about Rohr.

[nzeogwu]

Nanijoe, the beauty f the 3/5/2 is that it only requires one holder, and not two. The wing backs alleviate pressure on the defense so you don't need two holding midfielders. Moses can play in the five.

[Odas]

Lesson - Don't concede a goal if you don't have the creative players to unpark a bus.

"unpark the bus." This place (CE Site) is good, very good, indeed.

[Odas]

9ja just has to fix 2 main issues:

1. Speed up the transition from defence to attack.
The speed and quickness of 9ja's forward players are wasted by the slow D, and even slower MF, especially Mikel.

The team looks more dangerous with the 3-5-2 because the wingers bypass the problem.

2. Improve defending and scoring from set pieces!
Rohr has 9 days to fix these and it is possible.

Chief Kabalega, did you say this? Dem go attack you-o!

In reality, Mikel has been as slow as SNAIL since I have been seeing him play. For Nigeria or a fast paced team, he (Mikel) destroys the quickness with which the pacy team (Nigeria) would have attacked the opponent(s).

To me, Mikel is - a lot of times - a liability if we are depending on "counter attacks."

[Sheikh]

i watched the game and my thoughts are as follows:
1. This is one friendly match in which i can say the result should be ignored as it doesn't tell the story. We were by far the better side.

2. For the first time in 5 games our build up play was competent and in spells, very good!
Even with the strange strategy of playing mikel ahead of iwobi we kept possession well and controlled the match
Our three first choice midfielders are class. (the bench is a different story)

3. 3-5-2 is fine when we are ahead or level. But not when we are chasing a game. I'm surprised Rohr didnt take off Ogu , bring on Nacho or Etebo and switch to 4-3-3 earlier in the game. I hope he is more tactically reactive at the world cup than he was yesterday. We cannot be an attacking force playing 3-5-2 because idowu and Echejile are very poor left wing backs. We only have ourselves to blame for that situation

4. Ebuehi did nothing special whatsoever.
In fact after he came on we -perhaps coincidentally- started attacking from the left more than the right So he wasnt as involved in the match as Shehu.
I would say he had a quiet decent game -a far cry from the hyped reviews he was getting here.
Whether we go with Ebuehi or Shehu I think ROhr needs to make his mind up.
Playing a different player in each half unsettles the back four/back 5. Which in turn leads to disorganized comical defending like we saw yesterday
These players should have been scouted long before camp began.
Their strengths and weakness should have been fully understood by now.
He should not be using friendlies on the eve of the wc to audition these guys for the right back position.This isnt xfactor.

5. Ighalo performed as well as one could expect in the lone striker role. Ive been pleasantly surprised by his workrate in recent matches. He was unlucky not to score against England. He is not going to score many goals but he leads the line well.

Rohr seems to have a chaotic unfocused mind.Preparation for this WC has been marred by poor call ups , poor squad selection and poor use of the friendlies. Still, I believe we have enough world class players in mikel, moses, iwobi and ndidi to get out of the group.

The problem with Ighalo is that he is consistently unlucky! I have watched him since his Under 20 days, through to Granada, Watford, and the stint under Siasia etc. He had one good season at Watford 3 years ago, and then went back to type (pretending to be active and fluffing easy chances). He acts the part (the unlucky striker). He flatters to deceive. He will not be my first choice striker.

[Sheikh]

i watched the game and my thoughts are as follows:
1. This is one friendly match in which i can say the result should be ignored as it doesn't tell the story. We were by far the better side.

2. For the first time in 5 games our build up play was competent and in spells, very good!
Even with the strange strategy of playing mikel ahead of iwobi we kept possession well and controlled the match
Our three first choice midfielders are class. (the bench is a different story)

3. 3-5-2 is fine when we are ahead or level. But not when we are chasing a game. I'm surprised Rohr didnt take off Ogu , bring on Nacho or Etebo and switch to 4-3-3 earlier in the game. I hope he is more tactically reactive at the world cup than he was yesterday. We cannot be an attacking force playing 3-5-2 because idowu and Echejile are very poor left wing backs. We only have ourselves to blame for that situation

4. Ebuehi did nothing special whatsoever.
In fact after he came on we -perhaps coincidentally- started attacking from the left more than the right So he wasnt as involved in the match as Shehu.
I would say he had a quiet decent game -a far cry from the hyped reviews he was getting here.
Whether we go with Ebuehi or Shehu I think ROhr needs to make his mind up.
Playing a different player in each half unsettles the back four/back 5. Which in turn leads to disorganized comical defending like we saw yesterday
These players should have been scouted long before camp began.
Their strengths and weakness should have been fully understood by now.
He should not be using friendlies on the eve of the wc to audition these guys for the right back position.This isnt xfactor.

5. Ighalo performed as well as one could expect in the lone striker role. Ive been pleasantly surprised by his workrate in recent matches. He was unlucky not to score against England. He is not going to score many goals but he leads the line well.

Rohr seems to have a chaotic unfocused mind.Preparation for this WC has been marred by poor call ups , poor squad selection and poor use of the friendlies. Still, I believe we have enough world class players in mikel, moses, iwobi and ndidi to get out of the group.

The problem with Ighalo is that he is consistently unlucky! I have watched him since his Under 20 days, through to Granada, Watford, and the stint under Siasia etc. He had one good season at Watford 3 years ago, and then went back to type (pretending to be active and fluffing easy chances). He acts the part (the unlucky striker). He flatters to deceive. He will not be my first choice striker.

[nanijoe]

why not use Moses as a wing back in our 3-5-2 since we know we are not getting anything from Idowu or Echiejile when we attack... for the the SE's problem has simply been , not having enough people on offense

Nanijoe, the beauty f the 3/5/2 is that it only requires one holder, and not two. The wing backs alleviate pressure on the defense so you don't need two holding midfielders. Moses can play in the five.