Legendary Nigeria defender, Taribo West, has blamed Jose Peseiro-led coaching crew for the Super Eagles’ loss to Côte d’Ivoire in the AFCON 2023 final.
The Eagles hopes of a fourth AFCON title was dashed following a 2-1 loss to the Ivorians.
It was a performance to forget for the Eagles as they were second best throughout Sunday’s tie.
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Despite taking the lead through William Troost-Ekong, the hosts fought back thanks to goals from Franck Kessie and Sebastien Haller.
Commenting on why the Eagles struggled against the hosts Taribo, said on Brila FM:“I hold the bench responsible for the loss to Côte d’Ivoire. In 1990 Nigeria lost 5-1 to Algeria in the opening game but in the final it was a different ball game.
“Though the Algerians won 1-0 in the final they realised it was a different Nigerian team to the one they faced earlier in the competition.
“I remember when we faced Brazil at the Olympics they beat us in the group stage but when we met again in the semi-final, even though they were 3-1 up we were still able to comeback. They knew they were up against another Nigerian side.
“For me, the coaching crew should have come up with another strategy after meeting Côte d’Ivoire again.”
It remains to be seen if Peseiro’s contract will be renewed by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF).
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COMMENTS
I complained about osimehn not living up to his primary duty of scoring as a striker but some of you here opened your brown teeth and black tongue to say no he is helping the team…
Have you guys ever imagined that if osimehn had scored in the final maybe 2 goals, we would have won the trophy but because you guys now have him a new role as a midfielder ND defender, he now concentrated all his energy there and left those who is not their primary duty to score, to be doing the job
Monkey post . Ur brain dull. Tell me one pass that was given to oshimen to score. If you have nothing to say just say tomorrow is the market day .
You are a real monkey. Please face your defeated Banku nation and leave us alone.
Paseiro’s 3-4-3 defensive formation already limits the potential of a top 9. The formation only depends on counter attack with limited attacking options. Osimhen has no option than to fall back to defend.
Get that into your cranium and leave our Osimhen alone.
If you remove Osimhen from that team, from the first match to the last one, we’ve got nothing going forward. Dude scored against EQG, caused pen against CIV, forced an own goal against GBU, provided an assist for Lookman against Caneroon, dragged Teo players away to create space for Lookman against Angola, caused a penalty against SA. In the final match, it was obvious the ref never wanted him to play. He worked so hard for the team. Without Osimhen, we wouldnt see the final, in terms of scoring. Guy played through pain barrier throughout. And you’re there vomiting rubbish. You even failed to see that Peseiro never intended that the team score many goals in that competition. All he wanted was justba goal and n2xt you see is the team defending and defending while seeking opening through counterattacks. Osimhen became a defender as a striker, putting his body on the line for other players to score. If you know what’s called football, you won’t sit behind your pad and condemn that young man. Why are people not dragging him like Iwobi with just one goal in the completion? I do feel the flaks coming Iwobis way are totally uncalled for but is ot only you that Osimhen os worse? Yoruba has a saying that Oro asiere loma n yato. Ask any anyone around you who knows the meaning to interpret that for you.
Did you know how many Osimhen’s goals VAR chopped off? So wrongly so! If those goals has stood, will you open your won brown teeth here run him down?
Someone once said “You know who people are by what they write.” That’s so right! So correct! You seem to be this ungrateful, awkwardly difficult to please, selfish and annoyingly awkward personality. Wish I could see you in life and blood too whoop your dirty ass for being so unreasonable. You are so negative. You no get joy at all.
Osimhen was isolated upfront. U know nothing abt football formation and how tactics works dumbass
Do you realised that Osmehin suffered from a stomach virus before the semi final, and still unwell during the final game against ivory coast? Yet, he played the two crucial games, all because of patriotism! Please appreciate the guy and stop complaining!
He is not Dynamic cha cha!!!! A coach that cannot utilise his 25 man squad he dropped a hint about that when he insisted on 25 instead of the 27 allowed by CAF. He said, “27 players becomes to hard to manage”, go figure he could only utilise 15 players out of the 25 he took.
90% of his Starting 11 players played 90plus minutes the entire knockouts Starting from round of 16. Which shows his scope in team management is poor..he almost cost Osimhen injury by over playing him go figure in the Finals when Osimhen was tired from like the 60minute of the game he still keeps him on. I said here or social media befire the final if Nigeria loses the final it will be because of our coach. Moreover who goes to a final with the parking the bus as tactic? Even after your semi final opponent exposed that tactic in all honesty the tactic was only supposed to be to navigate the group stage not to be stuck with the entirety of the Tournament.. no… Go figures it is because the coach had no other option because of his poor team selection no Nwakali no Tella no Orban nothing granted he had injuries but no mbano the coach also knows Nwakali is also more equipped at taking free kicks than most on that roster. No man i will much rather lose a final fighting than witness what i watched on Sunday.
Nigeria got to finals by luck in retrospect. Pure talent those boys played with no game plan the entire tournament. Just defend and counter.. also who is fine tuning there long range passes if that wS part of his tactic…Nigeria is a big country like SA and some other countries we need winners as a coach not rejects who get out smarted by a player coach who barely has his coaching colours in a Final for that matter??
Nigeria qualify for the final by luck this AFCON if Nigeria is to qualify for WC Peseiro is not the man he is limited with tactical play
It looked like juju
The players were too tired and couldn’t cope with the pace and energy of the Ivorians on the final day. The coach is not to blame for the lethargic play of the entire team except Ekong.
@Tony K, if the players were too tired in the final as you said, who’s to blame for it? Why were the Ivoriens not equally tired? People get tired from doing too many things at the same time or doing one thing many times with no break.
Paseiro overworked the players. Aina was going forward and backward and switching positions at the same time against a team that was playing 100% offensive on the day. Our number 9 was going back to join Paseiro’s park-the-bus tactics after Ekong’s goal. Zaidu was chesting the ball down for Adingra to use. Calvin get blocking shots after shots. Nwabali was exposed.
Everybody was drained as CIV had the ball 67% of the time (possession). Who wins a final with 33% ball possession? You’ll just keep inviting pressure on your 18-yard and eventually cave in. The omen was all over the team in SM against South Africa. In fact, Hugo Broos is so confident now they can snatch the WC ticket from Nigeria come June when we play.
Compare Paseiro’s mentor in the park-the-ball philosophy, Mourinho with Pep or Klopp. Mourinho’s mojo always fades eventually and he gets fired. By contrast, Pep and Klopp leave their roles when they get tired. Clubs don’t sack them cos their tactics are sustainable.
Paseiro’s method will eventually capitulate. 36% against South Africa. 33% against CIV. EMBARRASSING. What will he play against Brazil or France? 10%?
@Kel and @Sammy don’t mind Nigerians they will see red and call it black now the fact that this Peseiro got us to final (by LUCK might I add) will become the bane of our existence.
I mean the worst is Aina face in the finals you could see he was angry at something he new the tactics Coach Peseiro set out in the final would not work why? Because it was exposed in the semi’s by Bafana Bafana..against Angola Osimhen was overworked had a cramp and got stretched off and the Coach still send him out again the same game. If I was Napoli’s president just that act alone will make me deny allowing Osimhen go to international duty if that coach is still in Charge of the Nigerian nationl team.. it even makes it more funny the haste he used to send Umar Sadiq back home from camp after all the injuries he was getting only to bring Paul who after watching what we already knew the coach could not count on Paul as it was clear as we all knew the tournament was too fast for Paul.
This leads me to all those injuries we got on camp if you look at how the coach managed his team ingame during AFCON are you people suprised that we had all those injuries leading up to the tournament?.. If your answer is no dey play
@kel, Tony K, and Ugo Iwunze, God bless you people for saying the bitter truth.
The coach did nothing to build the Super Eagles. So, why ask him to continue?
The best thing is to let him go shikena. We appreciate coach Paseiro, but he should please go. Ire o. God bless Nigeria!!!
Did you read what I wrote. He did not manage his personal properly. How can you allow your starting 11 to play 90plus minutes a game the entire knockouts right from the last group game as we had to make sure of a win due to the fact the game was NOT a dead rubber..
The players were lethargic because they were overused to the point their legs couldn’t take it.. He almost cost Osimhen an injury against Angola for that matter..
Funny Nigerians keep praising Osimhen for being the only one playing lol. OSIMHEN was not fit and was exhausted after Angola and should have been used more sparringly especially as we knew he is scared to take penalties. Needless to say Osimhen was supposed to have neen takinh out earlier against SA and and when he got Injured against Angola taken off and not sent back on I mean who sends their star play back on the pitch at 84 mins after he was stretched off..
Look its this simple if we want to qualify for World Cup peseiro is not the man for yhe Job
The coach is 100% to blame for the way he mismanaged the squad. It was his duty to make sure the core of his team was not overworked so they are available for crucial stages in the tournament. He used nearly the same players throughout. Even after they had run themselves ragged beating Cameroun in the second round. We were run very close by Angola and outplayed by South Africa because of this mismanagement, and then it cost us the final.
Where have you seen nearly the same players, playing every 3 or 4 days in that humid weather for almost one month without squad rotation?
But you were sure Kel that he was going to win the Ivory Coast match even though you knew we played park the bus with 33% possession in our semi final match.
So what changed for you between your confidence in the semi final (using the same system) and the final?
All the things you said were already crystal clear in the semi-finals when your confidence in Nigeria lifting the trophy was through the roof.
@deo true. I remember you were skeptical about us winning the trophy and insinuated a silver medal won’t be bad. I was confident we would win – but not cos of Paseiro.
I like Paseiro to some extent. His style is similar to Mourinho, but I dislike him for the same reason I dislike his friend, park-the-bus when the stakes are high and you think the opponent is tough. It’s kind of a cowardly tactic to me.
I was confident because of the quality of our players, and much less about Paseiro’s technical abilities. I saw the unity, vibe, and energy in the SE players to win the trophy. They brought their A-game we never knew before – Simon and Onyeka in particular.
I was confident also because I never really rated CIV. A team that was dismantled 4 – 0 by ‘common’ Equatorial Guinea that barely escaped defeat with us on the only day Paseiro chose to play offensive football and not smash and grab with a counter and defend for 60 minutes.
I was confident because CIV had a rookie coach in my opinion. I thought at least Paseiro should be able to outwit him with tactics. But shockingly we were the ones on the back foot against a rookie coach. I couldn’t recognize the Super Eagles again. Osimhen was frustrated and kept remonstrating. Nwabali lost his cool and was not 100% alert. Lookman was missing in action. Chukwueze was lost in the sea. The tactic was totally wrong. It was shambles. By the time the final damage was done (at about 83rd minutes), it was too late.
We didn’t lose against CIV. This CIV cannot beat a Nigerian team on their day. Our coach gifted them the match. Some have even suggested, though extreme, that the match was rigged to make CAF, CIV the host country, and their president happy after investing $1B in the tournament. How can a team that was literally out bounce back to win with their assistant, trainee coach? The refs and the VARs too were clearly friendly. They won with the last kick against Mali and Senegal had a clear penalty overlooked without VAR check.
But, granted, these are wild permutations and conspiracy theories. So what changed @deo. Paseiro did. He didn’t prepare for that match. Not only did Fae outsmart him, Broos too did. he got lucky with our sheer quality. I thought that element would still help us scale the last hurdle. But how far can you go with a quality work tool but average workman?
Kel,
Thanks. For all your praise and acknowledgement of the players’ hunger and abilities, Peseiro’s philosophy harnessed these to get us to the final.
Peseiro didn’t change, on the contrary. The same attributes that endeared you the players were the same ones that Peseiro sought to use in the final. A few minor lapses here and there in the same set up that brought out the beast in the players prior just failed to congeal into a winning product in the final.
What changed was you. You have always been critical of Moses Simon but Peseiro made you fall in love with him. You were optimistic of a win based on how Peseiro harnessed the skills and talents of the players only to turn your back on him after the same players failed to deliver in the final – in effect reverting to your original position and perspective on Peseiro pre-afcon.
Recall, Peseiro didn’t start with negative football, he only adopted it after these same players you laud failed to convert multiple chances in our first game against Equatorial Guinea with Messiah Nwabili conceding a simple goal.
So failure from the same players forced Peseiro’s hand. He became negative, you came on board only to drop off the train after the same negative football that sucked you in failed (only after 75 minutes, mind you) in the final.
If football only lasted 60 minutes, Nigeria will be champions now because Peseiro’s negative football held out for a massive 60 minutes (a whole 66% of the match, most of the match in fact as we conceded the losing goal after 80 minutes).
If football was played in 60 minutes, Nigeria will be champions now. It will then be interesting to see whether fans will call for his sacking.
Tell osimehn to learn from drogba, eto, these are poty past winners
The coach does not deserve contract renewal. It was an eyesore watching a flatfooted team in the final match with the highest stake. Against South Africa, you could see good football, very interesting game but against Ivory Coast, I kept on asking myself if this was the same team I watched from the start of the AFCON. It was so agonizing. The memory I would have loved to have was that of a team that played well and lost but here was a team that played very badly and still lost
NFF should go straight for Hansi Flick, or other Top profile coach out of contract. Atleast they’ve $4m winning price of the 2nd place.
It’s high time they stop trusting the National Team with average Coaches. They can’t complain of finance now because they’ve atleast more than enough to sign a qrade A coach for 2 years.
This is the only help they can do for the players. If the players play under a successful and tactical coach, you will definitely see the seriousness in their approach to match even if a player get just 10 minutes of play, you will definitely see their best.
If they renew Peseiro contract, then that’s good as giving SA the world cup ticket. The AFCON is gone we all knows what caused us the title. Not bcos Ivory Coast are superior but because of the SE starting 11 are tired. Fatigue already set in from the semi final. All this happened because of poor team management. No squad rotation eventhough i will blame CAF for allowing a final to be played just 4 days after the semis. The players are not robot.
I’m not sure if UEFA European Nations Cup will do that. They will atleast give a week interval after the semis.
Do they have Hansi Flick money? Do you think such high profile manager will work in environments such as ours? Where salary will not be paid for 9 months.
@Golden child They’ve $4m 2nd place price from the AFCON. They can easily hire him for 2 years and set aside his payment. Abi you prefer them to just embezzel the whole money as usual ?
Nigeria actually overachieved reaching the final of this AFCON. If anyone wants to be realistic it is in fact a monumental achievement that we reached the final. The last AFCON took our football back to 1982. Lmao!!
Now we have a team to build on with some top talents coming through from the recent FlyingEagles and some other youngsters doing well in Europe. All we need is to inject more quality into the current squad.
According to sources Peseiro was talking to a youngster playing for Lecce who happens to be a left wing back before the WorldCup qualifiers. In fact the kid is rumored to be on the radar of ManCity. He was also courting a defender who is on loan from Atalanta. Those are quality additions to the squad and of course a certain Igoh Ogbu.
In my humble opinion any player who can not cope with the energy sapping formation that made us the team that created the most chances at the AFCON should just retire from the SuperEagles. There are two upcoming midfielders in the FlyingEagles going to the All African Games.
We need more energy and dynamism in the team and anyone that can’t cope should just excuse themselves. The likes of Boniface, Sadiq, Ndidi and Awoniyi were missing yet we reached the final. As in eh! Make una reason am now? That we even reached the final with that midfield was a stuff of legend. It shows we actually have depth.
Peseiro should be allowed to remain in charge of the team and tie his contract to the next AFCON in Morocco next year summer. The funny thing is that people who never expected the team to make it out of the group stage are the one shouting above their lungs now to let him go. Lmao!! No problem sack him and start all over with another glorified 94 comrade and watch your WorldCup hope go down the drain.
There’s nothing like “coping with the energy sapping formation”! You claim your coach is defending low to catch teams on counter-attack, how many attacks did Nigeria make in the final against CIV. Your coach lacks tactical intelligence simple. The Jose Mourinho team like Real Madrid that your coach wanted to copy had Bale on the right, Ronaldo on the left, Benzema up top and Ozil just behind him to counter, please tell me which team can stop that? Nigeria played 9-0-1 against CIV and expect to win. The Ivorian defence is so bad that Nigeria scored with the first attempt on goal! That defence conceded 4 against EQG and the coach didn’t have the confidence to exploit that. All I know is that the team that scored the most goals win matches and over-defending always leads to conceding own goals, soft goals and deflected goals. Nigeria would have won the final simply playing 3-5-1-1 as the Ivorian strength was in the midfield. Got more to say but my only advice is just to back Finidi with some technical brains who can read games and implement tactical changes during a game and the team is good to go.
Although Nigeria super eagles tried but then some element blames still needs to go to the coach .