343 WAS A TOTAL BUST TODAY LIKE I SAID

[kali]

The first half was indeed dire. The fact that they could turn it around in the 2nd speaks to the resilience of the team. We were lucky on this one for sure. They had a great chance in extra time to finish us off.

Two things surprised me. How easily they bossed the midfield and how we were unable to cope with the long balls which are usually bread and butter for Ekong and Ajayi. I think this may just boil down to the chemistry between Mokoena and Evidence.

Thank goodness Osimhen came to ball cos Lookman and Simon were off like National grid

Chief they didn’t boss the midfield, they simply played a medium to low block
and waited for out players to force passes into traffic and the counter with the change of possession.
It’s also football 101 that you don’t play a high line without pressure on the ball.
So we gave them easy outlets because neither forwards nor midfielders were pressuring the deep passers.

If you can’t pressure the passer then the defensive line has to anticipate the pass and drop deep and the goalie plays high. It’s not complicated at all

Tell me about it. Messi's goal against us at the 2018 World Cup happened exactly because of this.

You are perfectly correct. If you keep a high line ie medium to low level block without pressure on the ball, against good teams, you will be destroyed like Messi did against us in Russia.

The weakness of Super Eagles has always been positional awareness and weakness dealing with overhead balls. Broos tried the floaters to exploit this and use the spaces especially against Troost Ekong who has slow foot speed.

But Tau was no Messi who only needed three touches to beat Omeruo. Had SA played the floaters a few yards in front of the backline and then attacked from there they might have been more successful.

This is the weakness of 3-4-3 that CIV will look to exploit. They will counter wide and drag backs like Calvin and Ajayi wide and pass into the middle hoping that they will overload Ekong there.

Again, Paseiro will need to change his formation back to a 4-3-3 with an extra CB supporting Troost. His attacking midfielder should be iheanacho and not Iwobi or Yusuf. Then he has a good chance.

But if he repeats the formation of the first round CIV is going to target that hole behind Iwobi or if Onyeka cuts in to support, exploit the right wing hole to get past Ajayi.

Conclusion. Nigeria needs 4 at the back and an AM that knows how to defend not aimlessly like Yusuf or non existent like Iwobi.

[omonaija]

We can all celebrate, but we are lucky to get through.

The lottery that was PK's should have been completely avoided.

Peseiro was very poor today IMO. The man is a COWARD.

How on earth do you play 120 minutes of football in desperate search of a goal and you have 3 centrebacks on the pitch the entire time. Not once did this coward think to play a more expansive game and switch to a 433. Not once.

This clueless man tires out or ONLY creative midfielder by playing him as a DM in a 2 man setup. He then subs him off at 70 minutes because YOU MADE HIM DO DONKEY WORK.

Instead of playing Iwobi in an advanced position you tire him out doing the work of an Innocent Bonke. Absolute trash and rubish !!!!

HOW MANY CHANCES DID WE CREATE IN 120 MINUTES ?

Just 2. One was Lookman who was played through, the other being the Moffi break. Thats it. 2 chances in 120 minutes.

VERY VERY POOR.

I dont care that we won, this is absolute trash and cowardly football.

Vanity,
If you truly know football like you claim you do which in totally doubt you would understand that what Jose is doing with his tactics his the same Jose Mourinho did when he got to Chelsea. Chelsea wasn't playing a fancy football ball. They defended and counter you. He had workaholics in the midfield that sacrificed their flair and can play to his tactics.
You are interested in scoring more goals but understand that Nigeria coming from behind will also lead to us possibly conceding another goal. SA came with the right strategy in the first half which worked against us but the second half was different. Nigeria played much better resulting in our first goal. SA actually had to change their strategy after the goal to start playing from the middle instead of lobbying ball over our backline. The game was not interesting by any means which is fine but winning the match is very important. How many scoring chances did SA have during the game? First half they had one that Nwabali parried away, second half they had a shot their number 9 missed after a dummy on Ekong and lastly after the free kick by Mokoena.

We didn't have much in the first half but second we created few more chances almost about equal if not more to SA and we scored 2 goals from it even though one was nullified.

It is the Semi Finals what do you expect. The last time we played SA in Afcon in Egypt we won by 2-1 in the QFinals.

Have you ever coached any team before vanity? You assumptions are very emotional sometimes but you have to get away from that and use your head. Sometimes luck happens in football when you didn't play your best and you still win. Would you rather play your best and lose in a tournament or play your worst and win? I will take a win any day anytime because knowing we could always play better. It would hurt me that we played our best and lose...Maroc 88 still bothered me till tomorrow. We dominated the game against Cameroon in the finals and still lost!

[anointed]

We have scored 7 goals across 6 matches.

2 penalties and 1 own goal.

We have scored 4 goals from open play in 6 matches.

Let that sink in.

And no.

We are no longer creating many chances.

Not good enough.

Leave that alone. Cameroun scored 4 to win 1988 afcon while we scored 5 in second place. In 1992, CIV scored CIV scored 4 and Nigeria scored 8, yet they won and we were 3rd. Abi did Spain not score just a measly 8 goals to win the 2010 WC? Germany scored 16. Have you ever seen any Spaniard query the outcome?

Defence actually wins you tourneys.

[txj]

The first half was indeed dire. The fact that they could turn it around in the 2nd speaks to the resilience of the team. We were lucky on this one for sure. They had a great chance in extra time to finish us off.

Two things surprised me. How easily they bossed the midfield and how we were unable to cope with the long balls which are usually bread and butter for Ekong and Ajayi. I think this may just boil down to the chemistry between Mokoena and Evidence.

Thank goodness Osimhen came to ball cos Lookman and Simon were off like National grid

Chief they didn’t boss the midfield, they simply played a medium to low block
and waited for out players to force passes into traffic and the counter with the change of possession.
It’s also football 101 that you don’t play a high line without pressure on the ball.
So we gave them easy outlets because neither forwards nor midfielders were pressuring the deep passers.

If you can’t pressure the passer then the defensive line has to anticipate the pass and drop deep and the goalie plays high. It’s not complicated at all

In that heat/humidity its suicide to press high. What we were doing is use a compact shape and the defence line to deal with the possession and ball over the top.

However, in 1HF, first we were not very disciplined in collapsing into the block in the 2nd phase of SA possession. Some of the players were being sucked into a press when the SA CDs had the ball, exposing space behind the lines. This got corrected at the 1st water break.

2nd the D-line was not dropping back effectively to address the ball over the top. This was fixed at half time.

I'm hoping Zaidu's fit for the final and that if not, the coach brings on Bruno at LWB.

KPOM! That being said,I highly doubt Zaidu's precense would have made that much of a difference with the specific issues that they faced vs South Africa. CIV is highly unlikely to try the same tactic with Nigeria, and i doubt they have the players to carry it out as effectively as SA did. Tau and that No 9 were a handful. Also, shout out to Aubrey Modiba. He was a baller in that game.

It most definitively would have, in more than one way.

1. Improved positioning and execution of the block
2. Greater communication and understanding in the D-line between the CDs and the wingbacks
3. Greater balance
4. Ability to stretch SA by playing wingbacks on their stronger foot

[vancity eagle]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

[Damunk]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

How come you suddenly have instant faith on OwnGoal?

[Sleaky72]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

How come you suddenly have instant faith on OwnGoal?

Yeah man is seriously clutching at straws in a desperate attempt to be negative

[vancity eagle]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

How come you suddenly have instant faith on OwnGoal?

Owngoal is right at least 50% of the time.

I know what I saw with my own 2 eyes and what Owngoal is reporting obviously makes sense.

[metalalloy]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

you really should take up comedy professionally sir.

[Scipio Africanus]

The first half was indeed dire. The fact that they could turn it around in the 2nd speaks to the resilience of the team. We were lucky on this one for sure. They had a great chance in extra time to finish us off.

Two things surprised me. How easily they bossed the midfield and how we were unable to cope with the long balls which are usually bread and butter for Ekong and Ajayi. I think this may just boil down to the chemistry between Mokoena and Evidence.

Thank goodness Osimhen came to ball cos Lookman and Simon were off like National grid

Chief they didn’t boss the midfield, they simply played a medium to low block
and waited for out players to force passes into traffic and the counter with the change of possession.
It’s also football 101 that you don’t play a high line without pressure on the ball.
So we gave them easy outlets because neither forwards nor midfielders were pressuring the deep passers.

If you can’t pressure the passer then the defensive line has to anticipate the pass and drop deep and the goalie plays high. It’s not complicated at all

Tell me about it. Messi's goal against us at the 2018 World Cup happened exactly because of this.

You are perfectly correct. If you keep a high line ie medium to low level block without pressure on the ball, against good teams, you will be destroyed like Messi did against us in Russia.

The weakness of Super Eagles has always been positional awareness and weakness dealing with overhead balls. Broos tried the floaters to exploit this and use the spaces especially against Troost Ekong who has slow foot speed.

But Tau was no Messi who only needed three touches to beat Omeruo. Had SA played the floaters a few yards in front of the backline and then attacked from there they might have been more successful.

This is the weakness of 3-4-3 that CIV will look to exploit. They will counter wide and drag backs like Calvin and Ajayi wide and pass into the middle hoping that they will overload Ekong there.

Again, Paseiro will need to change his formation back to a 4-3-3 with an extra CB supporting Troost. His attacking midfielder should be iheanacho and not Iwobi or Yusuf. Then he has a good chance.

But if he repeats the formation of the first round CIV is going to target that hole behind Iwobi or if Onyeka cuts in to support, exploit the right wing hole to get past Ajayi.

Conclusion. Nigeria needs 4 at the back and an AM that knows how to defend not aimlessly like Yusuf or non existent like Iwobi.

Wouldn't 3-5-2 be a better formation to nullify that threat? We still get to keep 3 at the back for more defensive solidity and use our wing backs to keep CIV honest on the wings.

[Siddonlook11]

All talk of formation starts or ends with player adherence, discipline and conditioning. When you get tired you make MISTAKES or forget all manner of plans. when you panic same happens, when you too happy same thing happens ...

[anointed]

So Owngoal is now reporting that the players do NOT want to play the 343 for the final match.

Claim is that it made them suffer and it tired out players like Iwobi and Onyeka.

Turns out once again I WAS RIGHT.

Yet nothing but abuse from know nothing forumers.

How come you suddenly have instant faith on OwnGoal?

Owngoal is right at least 50% of the time.

I know what I saw with my own 2 eyes and what Owngoal is reporting obviously makes sense.

Those two eyes of yours also saw and reported Lookman waiting for Simon's pass when he was actually running in at top speed. Can those two eyes be trusted?

[ohenhen1]

It would be a major gamble to change formations now.

[Enugu II]

It would be a major gamble to change formations now.

What did these same players achieve when they did not play the new formation? RUBBISH. The coach should persist with a formation that has been successful and took them to the championship game and led to clean sheets since beyond a penalty conceded. This is not about players' enjoyment but about championship winning.

[vancity eagle]

It would be a major gamble to change formations now.

What did these same players achieve when they did not play the new formation? RUBBISH. The coach should persist with a formation that has been successful and took them to the championship game and led to clean sheets since beyond a penalty conceded. This is not about players' enjoyment but about championship winning.

Again like you and others are IGNORING.

We played 433 in our first match.

Our first match created BY FAR the most chances. Osimehn and others did not finish.

Also according to the xgoals we also limited the opposition to THE LEAST CHANCES, in that first match.

Our chance creation, as evidenced by our low xgoals ever since switching to 343 is simply not good enough. We have just been lucky, and we can only ride that luck for so long.

[donadoni]

Vic Moffi
Moses Iwobi Tank Lookman
Bassey Ekong Ajayi Aina
Stanley

Gives Vic support upfront and more opportunity for one twos and chances on the ground versus only headers

Still has the overlapping potential on both left (bassey) and right (aina)

Still has 4 solid defenders on the field

If everyone puts in the workrate defensively we can still keep it tight while having more firepower to score goals

We need to snuff out hope for the home team early not let them grow into the game and start tapping into the “twelfth man” of the crowd etc. If we score 2 or 3 we can re-jig to a more defensive formation to take it home

[onovo]

It would be a major gamble to change formations now.

What did these same players achieve when they did not play the new formation? RUBBISH. The coach should persist with a formation that has been successful and took them to the championship game and led to clean sheets since beyond a penalty conceded. This is not about players' enjoyment but about championship winning.

Again like you and others are IGNORING.

We played 433 in our first match.

Our first match created BY FAR the most chances. Osimehn and others did not finish.

Also according to the xgoals we also limited the opposition to THE LEAST CHANCES, in that first match.

Our chance creation, as evidenced by our low xgoals ever since switching to 343 is simply not good enough. We have just been lucky, and we can only ride that luck for so long.

I have rewatched all our games. Our first match was actually our best game played, though we had some missed opportunities. We were solid defensively and our attack was fluid. Equatorial Guinea rarely had clear cut chances in our goal except their goal scored. Our missed opportunities can be attributed to the anxiety of the first game, weather conditions which the players are yet to acclimatise to. etc.

However, the argument for 343 has been that it has provided the results and has taken us this far and so why change what works ? I for example don't see 343 as a sustainable football style for our football on a long term basis. But then this is football, it can be sometimes cruel.

[Enugu II]

It would be a major gamble to change formations now.

What did these same players achieve when they did not play the new formation? RUBBISH. The coach should persist with a formation that has been successful and took them to the championship game and led to clean sheets since beyond a penalty conceded. This is not about players' enjoyment but about championship winning.

Again like you and others are IGNORING.

We played 433 in our first match.

Our first match created BY FAR the most chances. Osimehn and others did not finish.

Also according to the xgoals we also limited the opposition to THE LEAST CHANCES, in that first match.

Our chance creation, as evidenced by our low xgoals ever since switching to 343 is simply not good enough. We have just been lucky, and we can only ride that luck for so long.

I have rewatched all our games. Our first match was actually our best game played, though we had some missed opportunities. We were solid defensively and our attack was fluid. Equatorial Guinea rarely had clear cut chances in our goal except their goal scored. Our missed opportunities can be attributed to the anxiety of the first game, weather conditions which the players are yet to acclimatise to. etc.

However, the argument for 343 has been that it has provided the results and has taken us this far and so why change what works ? I for example don't see 343 as a sustainable football style for our football on a long term basis. But then this is football, it can be sometimes cruel.

Onovo

We did not win that first game, remember. Results matter. That formation 4-3-3 was used long before the tournament and it regularly led to Nigeria conceding goals. That certainly is not what you want. This new formation creates situations where Nigeria is regularly compact defensively, unlike before. We have used it and conceded only once and it was not from open play. Those stats are important.

[vancity eagle]

Who was right yet again.

343 displayed horrific, cowardly football today.

What were the final stats ?

Terrible.