10 things I have to say about the Italy game yesterday

[waka-man]

Three mistakes:
Onazi's gamble by over-committing to Balotelli
Kwambe getting lost between Rossi and the scorer
Dike not sensing the danger despite his decent positioning at the start of the play.

The zonal system has nothing to do with it. And every one of those mistakes can be made by the best players in the world. Plus once Onazi fails to nick the ball, Italy's execution is flawless.

[Gotti]

why celebrate a draw? Africans must get over our inferiority complex with European teams. we have to believe we can beat them before we can actually beat them. a draw with a good team is fine. but to celebrate the way SE fans are doing here? good grief!!!

I don't think anyone is "celebrating" the result; to go from not qualifying for the ANC in 2012 to winning it and qualifying for the WC is quite an achievement. We must always remember that we have a ways to go before being regarded as elite again and these performances are indicative of how far we have come.

Why do you even bother with folks like these?

[Gotti]

At last, we can now see the plan.

Marketers claiming to be fans. Hope NFF gave you contract to look for TRAINING GROUND ASSISTANT for Keshi.

smh

From what I can see, if Dike had tracked back, that goal would have been prevented.

KPOM. That is exactly the problem on this play. He should have anticipated the danger with Giacherini setting up behind Kwambe and knowing that the defense would have to shift towards the strong side. He cannot simply stop completing a play. One second taken off at this level can lead to disaster as this demonstrates.

In fact, in comparison take a look at Nigeria's second goal in that game. Note that as the four Italian defenders shift towards the strong side, that a fifth player (likely a wide midfield) makes a strong run to cover the backside of the defense (a run Dike failed to do in the case of Italy's second goal).

In my discussions with the NFF staff while they were in London, Keshi is generally very receptive to suggestions about how to improve the team. He may need a training ground coach to come in and work on these matters. Do you know that in England, there are certain coaches like Don Howe, Mark Lawrenson, Bob Wilson, etc who are always behind the scenes working on the training pitch but never actually managing teams?

To me, it appears that Keshi needs this kind of assistance. Someone who is a technocrat that will work on all these finer details with him and the boys.

[txj]

Much as I hate to do this, I need to point out you are misinforming peeps about what a zonal system is about. Its not the 5th amendment that any defender who screws up can plead.

There are three elements that define tactics on defence- the ball, the player and the goal.

From the clips above which element do the Nigerian players appear to be primarily responding to? The ball, the goal or Balotelli?

A defensive area is typically subdivided into 3-4 zones. From the pics how many zones do the SE defenders appear to be occupying?

There are two facets of zoning, the space dimension, and then the player's movement/reaction within the time space/dimension.

Even IF the allegation of zoning by the SE is given the benefit of the doubt, by the time the ball got to Giacherini, the strong side had flipped and the challenge of the zonal defending had moved from the space dimension to the player movement/reaction WITHIN HIS ZONE. Its called awareness of the opponent; a similar mistake made by Oboabona in Mexico.

The zonal defence is a tactical concept. But its not entirely abstract. That's why you cannot blame zonal defence for Arsenal failing to defend the set piece that led to RVP's goal...

Try and understand these concepts bro...

A wide back who doesn't defend his blind side cannot plead the 5th amendment!

Several goals conceded by Barca from Dani Alves' blind side led to his being benched last season...

TXJ, I'm not gonna get into tactics with you , you probably know more about that. I want to ask you a simple football 101 question. What do you think kwambe should have done in this situation ?

I was primarily responding to the zonal defence issue raised, not so much on individual culpability.

I'm not sure what is gained by your question. Not trying to avoid the issue, but realistically where does one start?

its as good a case of failure of team defence as you can find..

Is it Dike for instance: to absolve him, one would have to see merit in a man failing to put out a smoking chair in his house cus he thinks its the responsibility of the fire service!

[Ayo Akinfe]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

[txj]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

[Sunset]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

Kwambe was not at fault for the second goal, but where was he for the first?

[Ayo Akinfe]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

Kwambe was not at fault for the second goal, but where was he for the first?[/quote

Errrmmmm, for the first, the two strikers combined to score. Egwuekwe was supposed to be marking Balotelli and Oboabona marking Rossi. Neither of the fullbacks were culpable in my opinion.

[Sunset]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

Kwambe was not at fault for the second goal, but where was he for the first?[/quote

Errrmmmm, for the first, the two strikers combined to score. Egwuekwe was supposed to be marking Balotelli and Oboabona marking Rossi. Neither of the fullbacks were culpable in my opinion.

So Oboabona should have given Balotelli a free path to goal?



[/video]

[Ayo Akinfe]

Can we all agree that Solomon Kwambe has done nothing wrong here. Was he to leave Rossi have a clean run on goal and just stick with Giaccherini?

Kwambe was not at fault for the second goal, but where was he for the first?[/quote

Errrmmmm, for the first, the two strikers combined to score. Egwuekwe was supposed to be marking Balotelli and Oboabona marking Rossi. Neither of the fullbacks were culpable in my opinion.

So Oboabona should have given Balotelli a free path to goal?



[/video]

We conceded that goal because Balotelli successfully took out our two centrebacks! Sometimes you just have to applaud brilliance by the opposition!