Kele don hang vs Man U(diving header)

[Scipio Africanus]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

Extremely valid point. Our wide players cannot execute basic football skills like crossing the ball and using spaces. Very hard for a striker to succeed in that environment, no matter how good he is.

[marutimon]

I still think Iheanacho should have started in the second leg. The experiment was all wrong. One thing guys like Iheanacho and Osimhen struggle with is Moses Simon type players who run with the ball constantly instead of looking for the pass. Nigeria fielded too much of those.

[bushboy]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

But they had chances oga! Osimhen alone had at least 4 good chances over the 2 legs, and he fluffled them all! In crucial games, we all know chances will be hard to come by, but when your top striker cannot stay onside or finish chances, and your other players (Moses and Aribo) cannot finish chances from 6 yards out, wetin again? Ronaldo would have had at least 4 goals over both legs with the exact same chances we created.

[The YeyeMan]

Kele the point man in a 433. I will not be pleased if he scores today after being MIA against Ghana

He wasn’t MIA. That’s just the narrative of you Lookman lovers. Well, you got what you wanted, didn’t you


Cheers.

TonyThePussyLicker, Kelechi was MIA in the 1st leg and rightly dropped for the 2nd leg.

[Sunset]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

[adeaderije]

I confuse o.

Before it was "one clear cut chance and 3 decent half chances". Now it is "at least 4 good chances"

By tomorrow, it will be 4 sitters

[Scipio Africanus]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

A winger can help the team in several ways:

1. Watch and anticipate the runs of his teammates and consistently pass the ball into dangerous spaces for midfielders and strikers to run onto

2. Play quick give and gos with midfielders and strikers to unsettle defenses and create scoring chances

3. Consistently deliver high quality crosses for headers

4. Combine with overlapping fullbacks(give and gos or simple passes) to stretch defenses and make it easier to play dangerous through balls, or simple crosses from overlapping fullbacks.

5. Cut in and take quality shots that even if they don't result in a goal, result in a rebound that can be fired home for a goal, or used to destabilize the defense further.

The job of a winger is not to perform endless purposeless stopovers, twirls and turns. You distort your own team's shape more than you do the opponents, and if you do that nonsense when your fullbacks have overlapped, expecting a pass from you, and you lose the ball .... Now they are out of position and your team are ripe for the counter attack slaughter.

Our wingers in Abuja delivered about 3 decent crosses all game, in over 90 minutes of football. Disgraceful.

Speaking about slaps ...

This is what these 2 bit footballers have reduced us to. Writing PhD thesis on football that nobody will ever read, instead of getting ready to support our team at the Mundial. Thunder faya dem!

[Sunset]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

A winger can help the team in several ways:

1. Watch and anticipate the runs of his teammates and consistently pass the ball into dangerous spaces for midfielders and strikers to run onto

2. Play quick give and gos with midfielders and strikers to unsettle defenses and create scoring chances

3. Consistently deliver high quality crosses for headers

4. Combine with overlapping fullbacks(give and gos or simple passes) to stretch defenses and make it easier to play dangerous through balls, or simple crosses from overlapping fullbacks.

5. Cut in and take quality shots that even if they don't result in a goal, result in a rebound that can be fired home for a goal, or used to destabilize the defense further.

The job of a winger is not to perform endless purposeless stopovers, twirls and turns. You distort your own team's shape more than you do the opponents, and if you do that nonsense when your fullbacks have overlapped, expecting a pass from you, and you lose the ball .... Now they are out of position and your team are ripe for the counter attack slaughter.

Our wingers in Abuja delivered about 3 decent crosses all game, in over 90 minutes of football. Disgraceful.

Speaking about slaps ...

This is what these 2 bit footballers have reduced us to. Writing PhD thesis on football that nobody will ever read, instead of getting ready to support our team at the Mundial. Thunder faya dem!

That's nice to read but can you produce a similar version for how a CM can help their team? Will it be as in-depth as you've made this one? Which is my point wrt this issue, you can blame our wingers as much as you want, but it wasn't wise from our coach giving 3 guys (LB, LW, RW) their first ever SE start in such a match? Chemistry is a big part of football, this is not a video game where everyone is automatically on the same page. Which is why my problem is with the midfield that is arguably the most important aspect to a functioning football team, but over the past few years has been mismanaged to the point that a not fully-fit Etebo was our best performer there over the two legs. By the 70th minute our whole midfield was non-existent, but i'm not hearing anything about that.

[Scipio Africanus]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

A winger can help the team in several ways:

1. Watch and anticipate the runs of his teammates and consistently pass the ball into dangerous spaces for midfielders and strikers to run onto

2. Play quick give and gos with midfielders and strikers to unsettle defenses and create scoring chances

3. Consistently deliver high quality crosses for headers

4. Combine with overlapping fullbacks(give and gos or simple passes) to stretch defenses and make it easier to play dangerous through balls, or simple crosses from overlapping fullbacks.

5. Cut in and take quality shots that even if they don't result in a goal, result in a rebound that can be fired home for a goal, or used to destabilize the defense further.

The job of a winger is not to perform endless purposeless stopovers, twirls and turns. You distort your own team's shape more than you do the opponents, and if you do that nonsense when your fullbacks have overlapped, expecting a pass from you, and you lose the ball .... Now they are out of position and your team are ripe for the counter attack slaughter.

Our wingers in Abuja delivered about 3 decent crosses all game, in over 90 minutes of football. Disgraceful.

Speaking about slaps ...

This is what these 2 bit footballers have reduced us to. Writing PhD thesis on football that nobody will ever read, instead of getting ready to support our team at the Mundial. Thunder faya dem!

That's nice to read but can you produce a similar version for how a CM can help their team? Will it be as in-depth as you've made this one? Which is my point wrt this issue, you can blame our wingers as much as you want, but it wasn't wise from our coach giving 3 guys (LB, LW, RW) their first ever SE start in such a match? Chemistry is a big part of football, this is not a video game where everyone is automatically on the same page. Which is why my problem is with the midfield that is arguably the most important aspect to a functioning football team, but over the past few years has been mismanaged to the point that a not fully-fit Etebo was our best performer there over the two legs. By the 70th minute our whole midfield was non-existent, but i'm not hearing anything about that.

Na only midfield? Why don't you ask me to write about the defense as well, or the coaching? Ma fren, there is such a thing as a topic of conversation, wingers fulfilling said role in the dying embers of this thread.

[EMIR KONGI JAFFI JOFFA]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

A winger can help the team in several ways:

1. Watch and anticipate the runs of his teammates and consistently pass the ball into dangerous spaces for midfielders and strikers to run onto

2. Play quick give and gos with midfielders and strikers to unsettle defenses and create scoring chances

3. Consistently deliver high quality crosses for headers

4. Combine with overlapping fullbacks(give and gos or simple passes) to stretch defenses and make it easier to play dangerous through balls, or simple crosses from overlapping fullbacks.

5. Cut in and take quality shots that even if they don't result in a goal, result in a rebound that can be fired home for a goal, or used to destabilize the defense further.

The job of a winger is not to perform endless purposeless stopovers, twirls and turns. You distort your own team's shape more than you do the opponents, and if you do that nonsense when your fullbacks have overlapped, expecting a pass from you, and you lose the ball .... Now they are out of position and your team are ripe for the counter attack slaughter.

Our wingers in Abuja delivered about 3 decent crosses all game, in over 90 minutes of football. Disgraceful.

Speaking about slaps ...

This is what these 2 bit footballers have reduced us to. Writing PhD thesis on football that nobody will ever read, instead of getting ready to support our team at the Mundial. Thunder faya dem!

That's nice to read but can you produce a similar version for how a CM can help their team? Will it be as in-depth as you've made this one? Which is my point wrt this issue, you can blame our wingers as much as you want, but it wasn't wise from our coach giving 3 guys (LB, LW, RW) their first ever SE start in such a match? Chemistry is a big part of football, this is not a video game where everyone is automatically on the same page. Which is why my problem is with the midfield that is arguably the most important aspect to a functioning football team, but over the past few years has been mismanaged to the point that a not fully-fit Etebo was our best performer there over the two legs. By the 70th minute our whole midfield was non-existent, but i'm not hearing anything about that.

Kpom! Thank you jare.

All u have to do is go to the lineup thread that was opened hrs before the game and see how little people know about the game they claim they follow. Anybody with a rudimentary knowledge of the would knew that the starting lineup was not going to work as chemistry would trump tactics . ust go look at that thread. Some of us raised the alarm before kickoff but the love of the team on paper was overwhelming. Well... as it turned out, it didn't work.

You dance with the ones that brought you to the dance. Trying to beat Ghana with that lineup was an insult to Ghana. Kele, Zaidu,Simon,Ighalo, all on the bench and you're trying to win? Gtfoh!

[packerland]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

Extremely valid point. Our wide players cannot execute basic football skills like crossing the ball and using spaces. Very hard for a striker to succeed in that environment, no matter how good he is.

That’s why I think Awoniyi should be given another chance in the right setup. You can’t tell me Union Berlin has world class midfielders.

[Sunset]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

GBAM!!!
For me the midfield remains the biggest issue as it's not dynamic at all which makes our wingply very predictable.
Some people here seem to think all you have to do is pass a winger the ball and delivers a pinpoint cross to the striker like it's that simple

A winger can help the team in several ways:

1. Watch and anticipate the runs of his teammates and consistently pass the ball into dangerous spaces for midfielders and strikers to run onto

2. Play quick give and gos with midfielders and strikers to unsettle defenses and create scoring chances

3. Consistently deliver high quality crosses for headers

4. Combine with overlapping fullbacks(give and gos or simple passes) to stretch defenses and make it easier to play dangerous through balls, or simple crosses from overlapping fullbacks.

5. Cut in and take quality shots that even if they don't result in a goal, result in a rebound that can be fired home for a goal, or used to destabilize the defense further.

The job of a winger is not to perform endless purposeless stopovers, twirls and turns. You distort your own team's shape more than you do the opponents, and if you do that nonsense when your fullbacks have overlapped, expecting a pass from you, and you lose the ball .... Now they are out of position and your team are ripe for the counter attack slaughter.

Our wingers in Abuja delivered about 3 decent crosses all game, in over 90 minutes of football. Disgraceful.

Speaking about slaps ...

This is what these 2 bit footballers have reduced us to. Writing PhD thesis on football that nobody will ever read, instead of getting ready to support our team at the Mundial. Thunder faya dem!

That's nice to read but can you produce a similar version for how a CM can help their team? Will it be as in-depth as you've made this one? Which is my point wrt this issue, you can blame our wingers as much as you want, but it wasn't wise from our coach giving 3 guys (LB, LW, RW) their first ever SE start in such a match? Chemistry is a big part of football, this is not a video game where everyone is automatically on the same page. Which is why my problem is with the midfield that is arguably the most important aspect to a functioning football team, but over the past few years has been mismanaged to the point that a not fully-fit Etebo was our best performer there over the two legs. By the 70th minute our whole midfield was non-existent, but i'm not hearing anything about that.

Na only midfield? Why don't you ask me to write about the defense as well, or the coaching? Ma fren, there is such a thing as a topic of conversation, wingers fulfilling said role in the dying embers of this thread.

Well I didnt ask for your initial winger breakdown but you still shared it responding to my post where I'm talking about how our midfield effected the team play in a negative way, but it seems like you didn't read it...

[gurrano]

They score because they get the chances. No use parading strikers if they are not getting chances. They say we play wing play,all I see is a lot of buzz on the wings and horrible crosses ,all buzz and no end. Then you have a midfield all they do is tackle and no creativity

Even Ronaldo will struggle to be Ronaldo in that set up.

Extremely valid point. Our wide players cannot execute basic football skills like crossing the ball and using spaces. Very hard for a striker to succeed in that environment, no matter how good he is.

That’s why I think Awoniyi should be given another chance in the right setup. You can’t tell me Union Berlin has world class midfielders.

First we need to find players who can get the ball into the box for a striker to take his chances.. until we do that debating about what other strikers besides Osimhen should be invited (Awoniyi, Sadiq, Onuachu, Slimy etc) is a premature conversation. I set Osimhen aside from the others because he is the best striker we have for the moment IMHO and can feed of scraps even when there is not much support coming from the midfield. This his predatory natural instinct to find goals out of no clear opportunities is one of the key features that sets him aside from his peers in the Eagles setup.

If Rashidi did not have the likes of Oliseh, Amokachi and Okocha supplying passes from from the midfield and Amuneke, Finidi and Iroha providing crosses from the flanks, he would not have been able to score one tenth of the goals he scored during his stint with the Eagles.

Besides these other players being able to get into dangerous positions in the final third would make it harder for opposing defenders to mark and or isolate the top striker as they would also be drawing opposing defenders out of position by getting into these positions and consequently be creating more chances for the top striker to lose his marker.

[fabio]

First we need to find players who can get the ball into the box for a striker to take his chances.. until we do that debating about what other strikers besides Osimhen should be invited (Awoniyi, Sadiq, Onuachu, Slimy etc) is a premature conversation. I set Osimhen aside from the others because he is the best striker we have for the moment IMHO and can feed of scraps even when there is not much support coming from the midfield. This his predatory natural instinct to find goals out of no clear opportunities is one of the key features that sets him aside from his peers in the Eagles setup.

If Rashidi did not have the likes of Oliseh, Amokachi and Okocha supplying passes from from the midfield and Amuneke, Finidi and Iroha providing crosses from the flanks, he would not have been able to score one tenth of the goals he scored during his stint with the Eagles.

Besides these other players being able to get into dangerous positions in the final third would make it harder for opposing defenders to mark and or isolate the top striker as they would also be drawing opposing defenders out of position by getting into these positions and consequently be creating more chances for the top striker to lose his marker.

Where did this players come from?

Why are we not investing in where those players were discovered?

[gurrano]

First we need to find players who can get the ball into the box for a striker to take his chances.. until we do that debating about what other strikers besides Osimhen should be invited (Awoniyi, Sadiq, Onuachu, Slimy etc) is a premature conversation. I set Osimhen aside from the others because he is the best striker we have for the moment IMHO and can feed of scraps even when there is not much support coming from the midfield. This his predatory natural instinct to find goals out of no clear opportunities is one of the key features that sets him aside from his peers in the Eagles setup.

If Rashidi did not have the likes of Oliseh, Amokachi and Okocha supplying passes from from the midfield and Amuneke, Finidi and Iroha providing crosses from the flanks, he would not have been able to score one tenth of the goals he scored during his stint with the Eagles.

Besides these other players being able to get into dangerous positions in the final third would make it harder for opposing defenders to mark and or isolate the top striker as they would also be drawing opposing defenders out of position by getting into these positions and consequently be creating more chances for the top striker to lose his marker.

Where did this players come from?

Why are we not investing in where those players were discovered?

Because we have been hiring lazy coaches who are not willing to do the hard work of developing talents from the domestic league and are risk averse. Outside of Okocha and Oliseh who were already in Europe before being invited, all the other players in the list were from the domestic league at that time or playing in other African countries.

Also there were special circumstances during the period we built this team as the coach at that time could bypass the disorganized and inept group of people we had at the then NFA (now NFF) to get things done and this gave him so much more freedom to take chances that other coaches who have come after him have not been able to take.