NewStats: 3,263,878 , 8,181,715 topics. Date: Sunday, 08 June 2025 at 01:52 PM n1j1v

Much better play to close out the half. Yusuf needs to be in the SE set-up moving forward. Him, Ndidi and a creative midfielder would be solid. Onyeka, Onyedika and two other midfielders would be good.

Blueelf:


Come and move me please

Bro, what of use do you have to say? Just coming to crack dry jokes. Abeg dey where you dey. We don hear your prediction finish, just leave until AFCON finishes. You’re not saying anything of value

Blueelf:
I stand on my prediction of Nigeria to looe or draw

Bro, abeg just leave this thread until the end of this AFCON, you like adding unneeded negativity.

JP took until the first game of AFCON to drop Uzoho and go with a proper three man midfield. It is well.

I’d have preferred Onyedika for Onyeka and Bassey for Ajayi.

The team still lacks another midfielder but this formation will do us well.

If only we still had Ndidi and called up either or both of Bashiru and Nwakwali, I’d be more confident for this tourney.

Regardless of this tourney’s outcome, SE need to get a template/philosophy of how they play and recruit the player profiles accordingly. Similar to how the Dutch generally employ a 4-3-3, we should have 2-3 default formations that we can build on but modify depending on available personnel.

Recruiting for a deep and solid midfield core has to be a key priority, however.

Danielnino00:


Even that 4-4-2 can still work if the right personnel are used. Like I suggested some days ago, Iwobi should be deployed to the flank in the 4-4-2.. Iwobi loves dropping into midfield and as such, he would provide extra body in the midfield..

This could would work if Iwobi is RM and we have a CM pairing of Onyeka and Onyedika. Kelechi can Osimhen and the other wingers can fight for the LM position.

Danielnino00:


Another issue with our own 4-4-2 is that the two players that ought to start RM and LM aren't exactly adapted to the role.. I'm referring to the duo of Lookman and Chukwueze..Even Simon isn't that adapted to the role... They drift away from midfield too often and that leaves space for opponents to explore...
I'll say it again, if Peseiro wants to stick with playing 2 forwards up front, 3-5-2 is his best bet..

100% with you on the bolded. 3-5-2 would be the best as it helps stabilize our MF and gives cover to our back line. Our strengths are in attack and the wing back areas. This formation would maximze our strengths while mitigating our weaknesses, but this JP guy na better fool.

Odunayaw:
Even Uruguay plays 442 and they do well

Na our ASUU comrade of a gaffer no just wise

This is true, even Argentina played a 4-4-2 at times during the last WC but the difference is the 4 across the midfield had at least 3 actual midfielders in Rodrigo De Paul, Enzo Fernandez and Alex Mac Allister. It was more of a 4-3-3 as Messi would play as a RW and Alvarez as ST.

We play 4-4-2 but with only two midfielders. That is the issue.

Marjoribanks:
Of course! I am hearing Moffi and Tella for Boni and Kele!

I would prefer Tella and Bashiru to be honest.

Marjoribanks:
Boniface out of AFCONNNNN!! Oh my Goddd!!

Might be a blessing in disguise if we call up another midfielder. Same thing with Kelechi.

Although Boniface is a big miss, I think we have enough firepower as is.

I’m not sure we should be taking a half fit Kelechi for AFCON. Replace him with another midfielder. I’d also drop one of Musa or Sadiq for another midfielder as well.

Maybe bring in Nwakali and Bashiru so we have some variety in the middle of the park. We are already stacked up top.

Samueltemi337:
So here is the line up of the team that won the practice match in camp
It was a 4-3-3 Formation


Ojo


Aina
Ajayi
Bassey
Sanusi

Onyeka
Aribo
Iwobi

Lookman
Osimhen
Simon

Need to replace Aribo with Yusuf

kendrick93:
You can't force an unwilling horse.
The Saka's, Olise, Musiala's etc have at no time indicated even a slight interest in playing for Nigeria..A total non starter.

Correct on the bolded. Hence me saying there was never really any chance in flipping them.

Eze was really the one that had promise. He indicated interest in playing for SE, especially if we qualified for WC’22. To be honest, us missing out on that WC was also a miss on convincing players like Eze and Tosin to the SE.

Kog45:
Alaba,Akanji,Saka,Musiala,Tomori and if we miss Olise it would be painful cuz am not happy how we failed to cap Eze.

To be honest. Akanji, Saka, Musiala and Olise were/are very unlikely to be won over by the SE. Leave the fact that afrobeats and Naija culture is now “cool” / en vouge. 10 years ago when most of these players were teens, being African wasn’t as cool as it is today in the West. Most of the Euro dual nationals have more affinity to their Euro nations.

To me, Eze is the more painful one because there was genuine interest on his part but we failed to act quickly enough. And he’s the type of midfielder we need that can pick out a , drive with the ball but is also good on set pieces.

With Alaba, I heard there was some promise early on but once he was established at Bayern, Austria did the needful.

Tomori is another one I’m hurt about. Our CBs need a massive upgrade and I could have seen him being a stalwart for us for many years to come.

We have to start acting like /England and capping the dual nationals we think have potential early on. Tosin at Fulham should be one of the first on our list of players to flip.

The lack of planning from the NFF/SE is bewildering. Where was the tinkering of formations and personnel during our friendlies agains KSA and Mozambique?

It was in the dead rubber match against Sao Tome and Principe that we should have been trying out new formations and giving different players a chance. Their performance(s) might give the coach something to think about. Look at Fermin Lopez at Barca. Played a very good game in the pre-season El Classico in the USA and now he features for the squad regularly.

The fact we are still calling up Musa, an out of form Sadiq and only 5 midfielders is criminal. Should be 7 midfielders at minimum and since our wingers aren’t giving us much joy, why not switch to a 3-5-2, 3-4-1-2 or 3-4-2-1. Team is far more balanced and will get more joy from the strength in our wing back positions.

Naija sha…

Samueltemi337:

Which club ready drop €200m way ADL dey find

He had to sign the new contract to input a release clause in the deal and that's the only way he can leave

No

I disagree. His prior contract ran through summer 2025. In January 2025 he could have signed a pre-contract with any other club for a free transfer. He had ALL the leverage with Napoli.

Napoli would have had to sell him in summer 2024 or risk losing him for a free in 6 months essentially.

A €130M release clause is far too much. Kane was in a similar situation where he had 1-yr left on his contract, didn’t sign a new contract and Bayern bought him for €100M. Kane is a much better striker than Osimhen, although a few years older.

Had Osimhen not signed a new contract, I’m sure ADL would have accepted closer to €80-€90M this summer. ADL is greedy but he’s not stupid. Take something rather than nothing.

Glad that Victor is back in the goals. Idk who said it but I agree, he hasn’t fixed his habit of straying offside. This is one of the reasons I want him to go to a bigger club, he’ll get better coaching on these small details to his game.

Take Nunez for example. His first season at Pool he was often caught offside, but now, he’s much better in timing his runs/returning from an offside position.

Watching this Leverkusen game and it is obvious that Boniface would be better as a striker than an out and out no. 9.

I’d like to see SE go to a back 3. Osimhen striking, Iwobi and Boniface as the ing players just behind him. Ndidi and Onyeka in the midfield being flanked by Bruno/Aina.

yinkeys:

I prefer Moffi though

Moffi has blown very cold this season. I had very high hopes for him. Hopefully he picks up form. I don’t think Nice is the place for attackers.

I think a move to someplace like Crystal Palace could be a good move for him.

yinkeys:
I have a question

Which striker do you guys prefer amongst these guys

T. Moffi & V. Boniface

Boniface although he’s not as clinical as he should be. I do think Boniface is the better all around package.

Boniface isn’t one to lead the line, however.

TheSuperNerd:
If Nacho and Boniface will start alongside Iwobi, then Iwobi won't play 10. There would be no #10. Rather we would have advanced 8s. Iwobi will play deeper.

Think 3-4-2-1 formation. No wingers. The 2-1 is Boniface-Iheanacho playing in the half spaces close to Osimhen. The 4 is Ndidi-Iwobi flanked by the wingbacks of Osayi and Bruno.

Gbam! I’ve been saying for a long time that the SE should move to a back three and play with 2 inside forwards like Boniface and Nacho. Osimhen is the only striker we really need.

charlesemeka85:
and Nwakali is better than the ones we hv currently in the team? Keep on capping 🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

We invited 4 midfielders for our last two WCQ games….Nwakwali is one of the few midfielders with a DLP profile and some people are saying we shouldn’t call him up.

Question: who should we call up instead that has that DLP profile??