Low-flying Super Eagles post-mortem

[cic old boy]

I refuse to blame Maduka Okoye for the loss. Yes, he should have saved that shot easily. I think he lost concentration - a problem when a goalie isn’t busy. But you win and lose as a team. We were not playing well before and after the goal. There was still about 40 minutes to go after they scored. Enough time for us to equalise if we had a plan and a system.

Tunisia was the better team. Eguavoen’s substitutions were baffling. Decision making by our players was woeful. Our best player Moses Simon kept trying to win on his own when football is a team game. Tunisia planned for him and were sometimes triple marking him. With a bit of sense, he could have freed teammates with passes. I kept wondering why Eguavoen didn’t sometimes get Simon and Chukwueze to switch flanks.

I would have kept Iheanacho on. You don’t sub your most likely goal source when you need a goal.

[Lolly]

In this game, Iheanacho’s first touch let him down too often and it looked like he was always going to lose the ball at crucial moments. He had to be subbed. We didn’t have time for such luxury on the pitch.

[Prince]

In this game, Iheanacho’s first touch let him down too often and it looked like he was always going to lose the ball at crucial moments. He had to be subbed. We didn’t have time for such luxury on the pitch.

They had a lot of attention on Simon Moses, which means there is space elsewhere, I would have gone with Iheanacho as striker, and Nwakali in a 3 man midfield to keep feeding Iheanacho. It was poor bit of coaching and also our players need to work on technique, even with the attention of Moses Simon, he was not decisive enough in his decision making, Skill two and shoot at goal or pass. The guy that had the last chance I cannot understand why you will try and curl the ball with your right foot of course it will curl out. You open your body up if you are right footed its always low and hard into far corner, you can curl with left foot to far corner or through the legs.

[cic old boy]

They had a lot of attention on Simon Moses, which means there is space elsewhere, I would have gone with Iheanacho as striker, and Nwakali in a 3 man midfield to keep feeding Iheanacho. It was poor bit of coaching and also our players need to work on technique, even with the attention of Moses Simon, he was not decisive enough in his decision making, Skill two and shoot at goal or pass. The guy that had the last chance I cannot understand why you will try and curl the ball with your right foot of course it will curl out. You open your body up if you are right footed its always low and hard into far corner, you can curl with left foot to far corner or through the legs.

Abeg, forget Nwakali. He doesn't belong at this level.

[Cellular]

I refuse to blame Maduka Okoye for the loss. Yes, he should have saved that shot easily. I think he lost concentration - a problem when a goalie isn’t busy. But you win and lose as a team. We were not playing well before and after the goal. There was still about 40 minutes to go after they scored. Enough time for us to equalise if we had a plan and a system.

Tunisia was the better team. Eguavoen’s substitutions were baffling. Decision making by our players was woeful. Our best player Moses Simon kept trying to win on his own when football is a team game. Tunisia planned for him and were sometimes triple marking him. With a bit of sense, he could have freed teammates with passes. I kept wondering why Eguavoen didn’t sometimes get Simon and Chukwueze to switch flanks.

I would have kept Iheanacho on. You don’t sub your most likely goal source when you need a goal.

Like Uncle 1Naira eloquently put it, he is not at fault for the loss but he is at fault for the goal.

Now that we have gotten that out of the way lets talk about the things you mentioned. Yes, we had 40 minutes to get an equalizer... but the Red Card didn't help.

I agree he should have tried switching the wingers.

He did make changes hoping to attack centrally.

Funny enough, Iheanacho change was because he was carrying a card and made it sorta easy to be sacrificed when we wanted to chance the game.

[1naija]

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

[Flex Swift]

I remember an occasion while Conte was manager @Chelsea and the team went down to 10. They were playing with four at the back. Conte took off one of the full backs and played 3 at the back and continued to play 5 in midfield and one up striker upfront. The team won and they didn’t look like they were a player down.

I have also seen where Manchester City go a man down and still win. The Brazilian manager Soclari prepared the team for going a man down so during the 2002 World Cup match between England and Brazil Ronaldinho got sent off but Brazil still won the match 2-1.

[Odas]

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

[Odas]

I remember an occasion while Conte was manager @Chelsea and the team went down to 10. They were playing with four at the back. Conte took off one of the full backs and played 3 at the back and continued to play 5 in midfield and one up striker upfront. The team won and they didn’t look like they were a player down.

I have also seen where Manchester City go a man down and still win. The Brazilian manager Soclari prepared the team for going a man down so during the 2002 World Cup match between England and Brazil Ronaldinho got sent off but Brazil still won the match 2-1.

Exactly what I thought; that is, in most cases, being a player down does not necessarily mean the team's hope of winning the game is completely dashed.

The Tunisians came to the game with a plan to not allow us operate from the flanks, so anytime we tried to go there, we were met by three players and the rest was history.

From my experience with these North African teams, the way to win them is to NOT allow them score first, else the opposing team can ALMOST forget it because of their antics or 'ojoros.'

[azuka]

Abeg you guys stop blaming the goalie for not saving a goal that swerved mid air. If someone must be blamed, then blame Eguavoen for his tactics. Start the blame game by asking Eguavoen to tell us why he played Iheanacho as a #10 rather than a striker. Any wonder why our attack was toothless?

[wanaj0]

Abeg you guys stop blaming the goalie for not saving a goal that swerved mid air. If someone must be blamed, then blame Eguavoen for his tactics. Start the blame game by asking Eguavoen to tell us why he played Iheanacho as a #10 rather than a striker. Any wonder why our attack was toothless?

See this Arsenal fan. What role did Ihenacho played when he we defeated Egypt?

Almost all the goalies at the AFCON will save that goal.

Having watch the match over and over again, we lost because the players found it difficult to hit the target! Pure and simple

[1naija]

What that game really proved is that there is a significant drop in quality between our regular starters at the forward position and the new players we used . People get all emotional when Awoniyi's name is mentioned, but you won't win many games, especially in a tournament when the forwards can't produce. We had one real goal in 4 games between our 2 starting forwards in this tournament. That was the real issue in the game. We had at least 3 clear chances to at least tie the game and couldn't convert!

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

[maceo4]

The red card was what really sent Egu into a panic and he wasn’t sure what to do to affect the needed change. Understandable since he hadn’t had time to work on imprinting his own strategies to be used in differing scenarios. That said we still did get behind the Tunisians and create chances which I think with 11 would have led to an equalizer. But we’ll never know. As far as Kele, he needed to come out he was having a crappy game. Those crappy games that I’ve seen him have at club level and you just know he won’t score or do much even if he plays for 3 more hours other than just dash opponent the ball…mschew

[maceo4]

What that game really proved is that there is a significant drop in quality between our regular starters at the forward position and the new players we used . People get all emotional when Awoniyi's name is mentioned, but you won't win many games, especially in a tournament when the forwards can't produce. We had one real goal in 4 games between our 2 starting forwards in this tournament. That was the real issue in the game. We had at least 3 clear chances to at least tie the game and couldn't convert!

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

I think everyone agrees both Awoniyi and Sadiq are not good enough replacements and are a significant drop in quality from Osimhen…

[azuka]

Abeg you guys stop blaming the goalie for not saving a goal that swerved mid air. If someone must be blamed, then blame Eguavoen for his tactics. Start the blame game by asking Eguavoen to tell us why he played Iheanacho as a #10 rather than a striker. Any wonder why our attack was toothless?

See this Arsenal fan. What role did Ihenacho played when he we defeated Egypt?

Almost all the goalies at the AFCON will save that goal.

Having watch the match over and over again, we lost because the players found it difficult to hit the target! Pure and simple

How will you hit the target when your best striker on current form is deployed very far away from where the target is.
And that he was on this pitch alone is enough contribution. Oga his role is not only limited to scoring. If Eguavoen had played hime where he was more effective in the overall play of the team, the result might have been different.

Almost all goalies will save a shot that swerved mid-air?

[1naija]

Not everybody!

What that game really proved is that there is a significant drop in quality between our regular starters at the forward position and the new players we used . People get all emotional when Awoniyi's name is mentioned, but you won't win many games, especially in a tournament when the forwards can't produce. We had one real goal in 4 games between our 2 starting forwards in this tournament. That was the real issue in the game. We had at least 3 clear chances to at least tie the game and couldn't convert!

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

I think everyone agrees both Awoniyi and Sadiq are not good enough replacements and are a significant drop in quality from Osimhen…

[maceo4]

Abeg you guys stop blaming the goalie for not saving a goal that swerved mid air. If someone must be blamed, then blame Eguavoen for his tactics. Start the blame game by asking Eguavoen to tell us why he played Iheanacho as a #10 rather than a striker. Any wonder why our attack was toothless?

See this Arsenal fan. What role did Ihenacho played when he we defeated Egypt?

Almost all the goalies at the AFCON will save that goal.

Having watch the match over and over again, we lost because the players found it difficult to hit the target! Pure and simple

How will you hit the target when your best striker on current form is deployed very far away from where the target is.
And that he was on this pitch alone is enough contribution. Oga his role is not only limited to scoring. If Eguavoen had played hime where he was more effective in the overall play of the team, the result might have been different.

Almost all goalies will save a shot that swerved mid-air?

I think this is Monday morning quarterbacking, there is no guarantee that there is any difference in the game with Kelly playing the striking role except he would lose more balls for sure. He was having a very poor game even playing deeper where he had more space he was still losing balls, talk less of in traffic. Yes he’s a better finisher than those two but then expect a lot of ball turnovers if you play him up there.

[maceo4]

Not everybody!

What that game really proved is that there is a significant drop in quality between our regular starters at the forward position and the new players we used . People get all emotional when Awoniyi's name is mentioned, but you won't win many games, especially in a tournament when the forwards can't produce. We had one real goal in 4 games between our 2 starting forwards in this tournament. That was the real issue in the game. We had at least 3 clear chances to at least tie the game and couldn't convert!

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

I think everyone agrees both Awoniyi and Sadiq are not good enough replacements and are a significant drop in quality from Osimhen…

Unless they were watching this ANC with their eyes closed…

[maceo4]

[delisyomie don]

I refuse to blame Maduka Okoye for the loss. Yes, he should have saved that shot easily. I think he lost concentration - a problem when a goalie isn’t busy. But you win and lose as a team. We were not playing well before and after the goal. There was still about 40 minutes to go after they scored. Enough time for us to equalise if we had a plan and a system.

Tunisia was the better team. Eguavoen’s substitutions were baffling. Decision making by our players was woeful. Our best player Moses Simon kept trying to win on his own when football is a team game. Tunisia planned for him and were sometimes triple marking him. With a bit of sense, he could have freed teammates with passes. I kept wondering why Eguavoen didn’t sometimes get Simon and Chukwueze to switch flanks.

I would have kept Iheanacho on. You don’t sub your most likely goal source when you need a goal.

I NO BLAME OKOYE ALONE ,YOU FORGOT THE RED CARD AND 3 OF OUR MAIN STRIKERS DID NOT MAKE THE AFCON WE MISS TWO GOAL CHANCES AGAINST TUNISIA WITH THAT 40 MINS LEFT WE DOMINATED THEM [NO LUCK]

[1naija]

[1naija]

They always watch games through tinted glass.

Not everybody!

What that game really proved is that there is a significant drop in quality between our regular starters at the forward position and the new players we used . People get all emotional when Awoniyi's name is mentioned, but you won't win many games, especially in a tournament when the forwards can't produce. We had one real goal in 4 games between our 2 starting forwards in this tournament. That was the real issue in the game. We had at least 3 clear chances to at least tie the game and couldn't convert!

I really dont know how you guys watch games. Eguavoen's substitutions were baffling? Really?

Most people blamed Okoye for the goal (and rightfully so), but not for the loss. We lost mainly because of the red card, that .. 1. Reduced us to 10 men, and 2. Compounded the problem Eguavoen was trying to solve with the substitution.

Agree, but with 10 players, teams still play as if they are missing nobody and win games.

In all, the Tunisians had a better game plan than we did and I can say so because their gameplan worked for them

I think everyone agrees both Awoniyi and Sadiq are not good enough replacements and are a significant drop in quality from Osimhen…

Unless they were watching this ANC with their eyes closed…

[asabatex]

Thank you...Taiwo Awoniyi, Sadiq and the other players...