AFTER Spate of Internationals: Questions arise on Super Eagles....

[Enugu II]

Although Nigeria's Super Eagles came off unscathed following its recent three games, there may be lingering concerns that this team may not have escaped the questions that have surrounded it since the start of Gernot Rohr's second tenure back that ended in 2021. Prior to Rohr's second tenure, the Super Eagles were arguably one of two or three high flying African teams. No other team, bar Senegal, could claim to be clearly above Nigeria at the time.

Can Nigeria get to the finals of the World Cup in 2026? A decision on playing approach could prove critical

However, as Rohr's second tenure began, the team nosedived into a freefall with nondescript African teams increasingly challenging Nigeria. Rohr's firing did not stem the free fall. Eguavoen and Finidi did little to assuage concerns. Peseiro was not better. Peserio only restored confidence during a short stint when he changed the team's approach midway through the last AFCON. He introduced a defensive approach that took the team to the championship game going through a stretch of games where the team did not concede a goal. This is important because prior to the time, the team consistently conceded at least a goal per game. After that stretch which was propped up by a solid 5-man defensive formation when the team was defending, pressure from fans pushed the team to the beloved attacking approach. With this detour also returned the constant concession of goals.

Eric Chelle

New Manager Eric Chelle has stuck with the attacking approach and the result in the most recent three games is telling. In each game, Nigeria conceded at least a goal! From a 2-1 win over Ghana, a 2-2 tie against Jamaica, and a 1-1 tie in Russia. In none of those did Nigeria not retrieve a ball from its own net. That has been a mantra now associated with Nigeria's Super Eagles. An inability to come out of a game without conceding at least a goal.

Victor Osimhen

With World Cup qualifiers approaching and a date in South Africa sufficing as the key test, one wonders if Chelle's approach should be favored. Will Nigeria be able to afford conceding a goal in South Africa and still coming out victorious? In my view, the chances of such a result is less than 5%. The more likely result from a scenario of Nigeria conceding a goal in South Africa is a tie and no more. If Nigeria seeks to take all three points in South Africa, I am convinced that a solid and stingy defense is required, with Osimhen snatching a winner.

I wonder what the thoughts are from other Super Eagles' fans.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

The only significant development at the unity cup and vs Russia is the addition of Uche, Agu, Frederick and Okoye’s performance. Otherwise, nothing noteworthy happened we didn’t already know.

[Enugu II]

The only significant development at the unity cup and vs Russia is the addition of Uche, Agu, Frederick and Okoye’s performance. Otherwise, nothing noteworthy happened we didn’t already know.

Unfortunately, it appears that you are looking at the wrong place. This is not about identification of players. The issue is about impact of team formation and the results that have come from it from Rohr II to date.

[Kneedeep]

Based on history the defensive approach is optimized when "anybody can score"(Westerhoff/Bonfrere) or we have a "dependable" such as Aghahowa/Agali/ Osimhen (Bonfrere/Amodu/Peseiro)that will score given certain types of assists.
The "free-flowing" football myth is a huge drag on progress.

[Orion]

Rohr's second phase was not a failure. Many SE fans are deluded. They keep expecting the team to play like the 2018 guys when we didn't have the players to back it up in 2021. The likes of Obi, Moses, and Ighalo were gone, and many others were past their best in 2021 with no viable replacements. Rohr made the best of what he had at his disposal and got the required results. He met his targets. EII, the delusions of people like you have contributed to our problems.

Look at the tables below. The other teams in the image performed very similarly to Nigeria in the group stages of the WCQers and all eventually qualified for the WC. Why exactly was Rohr fired? He was fired because of the delusions of SE fans.