joseph1013:
Echiejile and Ndidi, who was more atrocious?

TheGoodJoe:


I say Etebo walks into the team. We need his work rate in the middle. Onazi, Mikel, Etebo combination will make a solid midfield. Iheanacho goes upfront. That finish today by Iheanacho shows he deserves to strike.

TheGoodJoe:


I will say Echiejile was more atrocious because his problems came from him not being in position. Unlike Ndidi who was beaten severally by brilliant dribbles. Not position.

In France 98 Quarter finals between Brazil and Netherlands. Ronald De Boer, twin brother of the current Inter Milan coach, skinned Roberto Carlos repeatedly. The greatest wing dribbling I ever saw. Mystery how Finidi was far better than him.

De Boer dribbled Carlos and put in many crosses to Patrick Kluivert who missed a lot of nodders. Mario Zagallo, Brazil Coach advised Carlos to stop marking Ronald De Boer and go and block the nods from Kluivert.(Chuckles)

As soon as Carlos left Ronald free, Ronald had enough gap, to pick an accurate cross to Kluivert. Kluivert made no mistake and buried the goal. The header went in between Carlos legs.

What I am trying to say is, although Ronald De Boer skinned Carlos repeatedly, as long as he had to work to cross, it was better than the freedom to cross.

Echiejile gave the Zambians gap to hurt us but they had to work through Ndidi.

I saw Ndidi as the better player.

goldfish80:

Ikeme really surprised me with his sweeping. I know he's a god shot stopper but I didn't know he could sweep. He looks more like a fat lazy guy to be honest.
Omeruo virtually covered for every one. He handled the weather challenge better than the others probably because Turkey is a "warm country"... Onazi also didn't gas out, you can connect to dots.

Iwobi is a gem. A genuine world class player in the making. I don't know any midfielder within his age who finds the eye of a needle like pass Iwobi makes. He plays like a veteran. Its always a pleasure watching him play. The guy is so well coached at Arsenal, if you watch him closely, his first touch gets him away from his markers, just like Bergkamp and Pires. The boy is insanely talented

tbaba1234:


Chai!! Ndidi was better than anyone on that pitch... You are not being honest.

Icon4s:


Do you know how many we would have conceded but for Omeruo's timely interceptions?

Go back to the replay of that error. If you actually played football, i dnt mean PS, real football, especially on a bumpy pitch then u would understand what happened to Kenneth.

TheGoodJoe:


Absolutely honest. Even the error came from a ball from Echiejile's side.

You feel Echiejile was better because he was not there. Ndidi was in position most times. That is why you could see them skin him.

IyanuFanoro:

i respect u alot on dis thread nd nd agree with on nacho strikin buh if he strikes wat will happen 2 ighalo i would prefer it like dis
ighalo/success
iwobi nacho etebo
mikel onazi/azubuike

TheGoodJoe:


Absolutely honest. Even the error came from a ball from Echiejile's side.

You feel Echiejile was better because he was not there. Ndidi was in position most times. That is why you could see them skin him.

tbaba1234:


It was a poor cross that should have been dealt with.

Elderson was not exposed half as much as Ndidi and he offered help going forward.

TheGoodJoe:


I say Etebo walks into the team. We need his work rate in the middle. Onazi, Mikel, Etebo combination will make a solid midfield. Iheanacho goes upfront. That finish today by Iheanacho shows he deserves to strike.

BascoVanVeli:


They were crossing from the throwin line u don't expect any fullback to be positioned over there.

Icon4s:


I think i agree with Rohr on the role Iheanacho plays in the team: Just behind the main striker. He contributes a lot to the build up of attack and equally has the ability to finish off once in the position to do so. Watch the build up to our second goal and u would understand.

Ighalo can still remain as the man striker.

As for Etebo, we cannot adjust our formation just to accommodate him. He would have to unsit any of Iwobi, Iheanacho or Moses. This is no longer that mediocre Super Eagles where any player walks into the starting line up.

You saw even our ever starting Ahmed Musa come in as a sub with just abt 6mins to go. This a new and better Super Eagles.

TheGoodJoe:


Echiejile was not exposed because he was not there. Ndidi was exposed because he was there. Omeruo was tackling a lot on the left.

Icon4s:


I think i agree with Rohr on the role Iheanacho plays in the team: Just behind the main striker. He contributes a lot to the build up of attack and equally has the ability to finish off once in the position to do so. Watch the build up to our second goal and u would understand.

Ighalo can still remain as the man striker.

As for Etebo, we cannot adjust our formation just to accommodate him. He would have to unsit any of Iwobi, Iheanacho or Moses. This is no longer that mediocre Super Eagles where any player walks into the starting line up.

You saw even our ever starting Ahmed Musa come in as a sub with just abt 6mins to go. This a new and better Super Eagles.

BascoVanVeli:


Oga i do not agree, he could have easily cleared that ball with his leg. U can go back to the first half he did the same thing and conceeded a corner kick. He should have know that he could take no chances, just clear the ball.

tbaba1234:


Not true.. he was not excellent but he was not poor. Ndidi was shaky from the start of the game. In the first half, kalanga blindsided him to get a point blank header. No way, he should be beating ndidi to the header. He twisted Ndidi, in the first half and annihilated him in the second.

Elderson was not that dominated.

BascoVanVeli:


Oga i do not agree, he could have easily cleared that ball with his leg. U can go back to the first half he did the same thing and conceeded a corner kick. He should have know that he could take no chances, just clear the ball.

BascoVanVeli:


The only Nigerian happy about Brown Ideye's performance was Odion Ighalo.

TheGoodJoe:


Where should he be positioned? He should block the crosses from his side of the wing. Something Omeruo did a lot.

Echiejile worked very hard but his positioning left a lot of gaps.

Did not plan to take shots at the hero. He really worked hard.

TheGoodJoe:


I am not expecting an immediate feature of Etebo. He was long out and will need time to break in. I do not see him staying away for too long. His work rate is amazing. He might not exchange the ball as sweetly as Iheanacho but he will help keep any defensive midfielder under pressure.

I see Etebo taking that place because of his work rate. Certainly he still has competition because Iheanacho combines sweetly with Iwobi and Mikel.

BascoVanVeli:


If I saw Ndidi hugging the touch line then u would have a point but it was obvious he was were his coach placed him. The Zambians changed tactics at halftime. We killed the midfield, the only thing we didn't do was place a Nigerian flag there, they could not play passes around our box and so they started launching longballs, the coach saw the why in came Esiti. As we noticed the crosses slowed down after that.

TheGoodJoe:


You still do not get it. Echiejile was off position most times. That was why Omeruo and Onazi put a lot of shift on the left. If they stuck to their roles...

Icon4s:


U know the calibre of players he will have to come against.

Rohr seems to be a "big players" coach. Iwobi, Iheanacho, Mikel, Onazi seem to have gotten hold of the Midfield and AM positions. Etebo would have a lot to prove to break into the starting 11.

tbaba1234:


I disagree.

Elderson was in position and was beaten a few times by pace and one time, he lost his man. He made very good interceptions sometimes.

Ndidi was shaky, it was obvious that he was not comfortable in that position.

TheGoodJoe:


I think he is also a coach ready to change things. With the way he invited Egbuchulam and Obaje to camp. His decision to keep Musa Mohammed in the squad. His decision to call Success.

Ekong became a regular from the Olympics. He also knows we are still wasteful upfront. If Etebo can fill the midfield, he can use Iheanacho to help knock in goals.

The only problem I see are the sweet combinations of Mikel, Iheanacho and Iwobi.

TheGoodJoe:


Absolutely honest. Even the error came from a ball from Echiejile's side.

You feel Echiejile was better because he was not there. Ndidi was in position most times. That is why you could see them skin him.

TheGoodJoe:


How did you see him in position? That ten had many free chances on our left.

The main thing I saw is that we could not use Echiejile's runs because of the pitch. When we lost the ball, the were many times Echiejile was off.

I doubt anyone will say Echiejile stayed back more than Ndidi.

Icon4s:


How could he have cleared a ball that bounced off about 7-8 feet in front of him. That would have even led to a penalty bc that would amount to raising his leg too high against Mbesuma.

I accept that was a costly error on his part but we should also look at the other sides of his game. Over all he was fantastic.

TheGoodJoe:


I think he is also a coach ready to change things. With the way he invited Egbuchulam and Obaje to camp. His decision to keep Musa Mohammed in the squad. His decision to call Success.

Ekong became a regular from the Olympics. He also knows we are still wasteful upfront. If Etebo can fill the midfield, he can use Iheanacho to help knock in goals.

The only problem I see are the sweet combinations of Mikel, Iheanacho and Iwobi.