DOES NIGERIA HAVE PROBLEMS PLAYING TACTICALLY?

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Eaglezbeak
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Re: DOES NIGERIA HAVE PROBLEMS PLAYING TACTICALLY?

Post by Eaglezbeak »

Nigeria has problems on and off the pitch.
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Re: DOES NIGERIA HAVE PROBLEMS PLAYING TACTICALLY?

Post by goke313 »

hestonap wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 4:46 am Great thread.

Like most things in life, natural talent will only get you so far.

The discipline to do the simple and do it consistently well is often what distinguishes the successful from the not so successful. I don't know but there is something about the psyche of a people that is invariably in how their teams play.

As the late great Keshi said 'its football anything can happen'.

Against Nigeria - certain things are very likely to happen....you can bet that Nigeria will almost certainly concede goals from set pieces, lose concentration at the most crucial of times. Have off field issues that will destabilize their onfoeld performance. Allow folks to break their duck against them. A striker has scored in moons, he plays against Nigeria, he does his thing, a substitute comes off the bench, he is likely to score against us in record time. I do not think I will be incorrect if the stats show that we have consistently conceded goals from set pieces in every world cup we have played in since 1994.

In the 90s we had outrageously talented players that somehow allowed us to get beyond inferior completion locally, but when it came to the highest levels, we were shown up for what we were. We lost to a relatively poor in form Italian side at the time we came up against them.

Rally through to 98, I still remember with disdain, the attitude of Amokachi and his ilks while on the bench against Paraguay in the last group game chewing gums and smiling away while we were trailing 1-3 because we had qualified for the second round. Clowns were dreaming of playing against Brazil while the Danes beat us like we stole something.

Please lets not talk 2002 or the disaster of 2010.

It is an unserious attitude and lack of attention to detail that has derailed us as a team and often failed to allow a core of players to break through to the highest levels. Couple that with a perennial unprofessional FA, we aint going to be winning anything anytime soon.

The margins have closed up and we no longer have the superior talents of the past.We have not shown ourselves capable of the work ethic of doing the small things well as a people and it shows up in our football.

I truly do not see things picking up anytime soon. I think our football has finally and is finally reflecting the rot and true psyche of the Nigerian nation.

It is hard to give up on one's nation, but life is too short to keep 'fighting' the same battles over and over again.

No one claims any nation has a God given right to win, but bloody hell, why can't we and why do we seem incapable of getting the very basics right.

I still remember Nigeria steam rolling Japan at he Confedrations cup in 1995....look at the gulf in class years down the line.
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Re: DOES NIGERIA HAVE PROBLEMS PLAYING TACTICALLY?

Post by goke313 »

Robotnik wrote: Thu Nov 24, 2022 3:09 pm Problem is simple. Lack of talent and discipline (attacking and defending). Mostly also the mental capacity to concentrate for 90 mins. No coach can solve that.

Someone should do the average percentage of completed passes of African Teams vs European teams at the world cup. Also the same for set-piece goals, and shots on target then you will see part of what I am talking about.

Ghana and Senegal are two West African Countries with relatively more discipline that Nigeria and more likely to go deeper in a world cup (and this has already happened)
Does Nigeria National team have a sports science/analytics group?

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