Alex Iwobi insists the Super Eagles will work to turn things around in Freetown next week Tuesday following their disappointing 4-4home draw against Sierra Leone on Friday, reports Completesports.com.
The three-time African champions led 4-0 in the first 29 minutes of the game, but were later pegged back by the visitors.
Iwobi bagged a brace in the game with Victor Osimhen and Samuel Chukwueze scoring the other goals.
Read Also: Osimhen Suffers Shoulder Injury In Super Eagles Draw Vs Sierra Leone
“Deeply Disappointed , We’ll Work To Put Things Right,”Iwobi wrote on his Twitter handle.
The Super Eagles maintained top spot in Group L with seven points despite the lacklustre draw.
Gernot Rohr’s men will face Sierra Leone in the reverse fixture on Tuesday at the Siaka Stevens Stadium, Freetown.
16 Comments
… Hahaha. Una never see anything. NFF thought it’s by overdesigning jersey all the time. I hate the new Jersey even. It’s time to remodel and rebrand the Nigerian jersey permanently and the eagle. That eagle as logo is a weak dumb eagle designed in 1945.lets redesign a fierce eagle clawing a ball with wings spread up ready for flight… an eagle on the ready for takeoff and relegate this current dumb eagle. Remodeled the jersey to become permanently Green over white shorts with our old patterned shirt jersey like the Netherlands orange block patch of 1988… We used to have that Netherlands pattern on our green before and used it in some Junior tournament like Scotland 87. Pattern something unique like Argentina Hve had for ages… What we use now as jersey is the funniest thing I have seen in football. You will never see Danmark jersey without rank… Argentina without sky blue stripes… Give us something unique and simple Amaju Pinnick. See the simple thing Sierra Leone wore to disgrace us yesterday. It’s not by overdesigning jersey like some fashion show…
Oga the jersey has nothing and will have nothing to do with performance, the boys were just overconfident and complacent, then the clueless coach added salt to the wound by making clueless substitutions…for the team,we have a team that can stand even brazil…all they need is just a change in attitude and more dedication periodt
Jerseys should be a symbol of brand and identity… We must not keep redesigning jerseys all the time… Let’s have something unique and final like all other serious national teams… The patten Argentina has goes back to the ages… It’s unique and beautiful… Uruguay plane sky blue over black shorts… Egypt Red over black… Our Jerseys are always overdesigned until because funny without identity.
Also, Brazil trademark jersey is yellow & green, France is blue with red socks, Japan is Samurai blue, Ireland is light green & white pants.
Under Pinnick, Nigeria’s SE has no identity. It’s a confused mix of all & any shade of green – all in the bid to chop money with new jersey contracts. The current jersey is so childish. After the global praise for the Russian 2018 one, why was that changed? They don’t understanding branding certainly.
Pinnick simply has to go. Same with Rohr. I now see most of the points of his opposers. Rohr is truly guilty of those flaws. Wrong subs all over. Wrong tactics etc. Your 120th ranked opponent was clawing back & at 4-2, you didn’t know what to do to plug the leakage. That’s the standard definition of CLUELESSNESS.
@Kel… You be better football fan. In a serious match go and tell Brazil to design jersey and wear other than yellow over blue with green collar. Jerseys are a symbol of identity and some instill fear in opponents. Pinnick is eating a lot of money from designing and redesigning our Jerseys ever one and half years… that man is fraud, that’s how he planned palace coup at caf and was thrown out from there…
We must learn to support our national team in adversity.We must stop screaming and rejoicing when they’re doing well only to turn around and stab them when things go wrong. Is there snybody who does not have a bad day in the office?
Exactly @Ako Amadi the whole team were complacent and relax immediately they were 4 goals up but am sure they av learnt their lesson that never will u underrate any opponent or simply went to sleep after taking a comfortable lead anything they says is possible in football. I think the coach as equally learn something to and will correct that in the return leg.
Am just angry !!! Please we need a new coach
Just go to freetown and redeem yourselves…..that’s all. And nothing short of a 4-0 victory will be a redemption. The act of indicipline of all of you – players, coaches and administrators – before and during the match must stop. Even without a coach’s intervention you cant be leading sierra leone by 3 goals in the 70th minute and allow them to claw their way back…..even if you captain is not there with you on the pitch. Its completely unacceptable. The complacency and unseriousness in the team has reached unacceptable proportions. Anyone who doesnt want to shed his blood on the pitch should ship out…enough of big-boyism on the pitch.
Thank you Dr Drey. Those boys need to be spanked. They are bunch of unserious fellows wasting tax payers money. In the coach, he has lost it. I have lost my respect for him. He is becoming big headed and partial. Why play akpoguna ahead of Aina or ebuehi. Why not bring Aina or ebuehi in when you foolishly took out balogun. Why is ajayi that has shown that he is very poor I. The air always playing ahead of some guys who are better. Remember he played him defensive midfield in the friendlies despite his below average performance. Rohr will begin to see the other side of Nigerians. He is too rigid and lack creativity. He embrarrede us yesterday.
Look at the 2nd and 4th goals against sierra leone, just like the 1st goal we conceeded against lesotho….same pattern….a cross from the wings….2 CD in the box….yet the opposition strikers still jumped higher and got the ball ahead of both CBs. On both occasions, the CDs were ball watching. If shows the hunger of the strikers to get to the end of the crosses was more than that of the defenders to get to the end of the crosses. As much as I blame Rohr for everything that happened yesterday, such nonchalance from CDs is unacceptable. How can opposing strikers be getting on the end of crosses into our box faster than our CDs….? Worse off it was Ekong and Ajayi that were the culprits in each of these ocassions……if they are not ready to put their bodies on the line they should vacate the team.
1st goal….Chukwueze was romancig the ball and lost it……and he just stood there watching as the sieraleoneans went on to score….he didnt bother to chase and recover the ball. 4th goal…Iwobi romacing the ball in a dangerous area….Sanusi instead of clearing it to safety is passing it back in the direction the opposition is running….like seriously….how do professional players toy with the national team like this when they cant try it in their clubs……? Nonchallance….complacency…..On this I fault Rohr. If he cant instill discipline in the team…both on the field and off the field then he should give way. football is supposed to be for 90 mins….but of late, our players find it hard to last the same 90mins in national colours that they last in their clubs. That Nonsense must stop henceforth. Everyone is becoming too comfortable….players, coaches and administrators….. and must shape up or shape out….! If Rohr loves himself and his job…he should put an end to the nonsense of everyone associated with the SE. No more gatecrashing camp, no more politicians training with the team….no more lackadiasical attitude from players, and he himself…nor more nonsenses from him.b if he cant yell sat the boys we will get another person to do so
Very much my stand. Thumbs up.
I blame the defenders so much. I think the forwards did their part by scoring so early. The defensive midfielders as well as the defenders should have taken clue from the forwards and do their bit effectively. With this result the Leone stars will upstage us in their Homeland.
I think if GR is smart he should use the same line up with just a little tweak. The team did well in the 1st half but complacency and I Discipline caused us. The little tweak should be Aina for Akpoguma, Dennis for Osimen, Akpoguma for Ekong. Then depending on the status of the game bring in Shehu to shore up the midfield for Aribo. Bring in Collins for Sanusi as he gets tired going forward. 60-70 min mark replace Iwobi with Iheanacho but move Dennis to the wing and put Iheanacho as the point man upfront. Dennis for Osimen makes sense as they hustle the same way. constantly Harrison the backline. When iwobi tires out then switch Dennis to the wing he can track back and help Sanusi or Collins compared to Iwobi. Aribo and Etebo need to communicate better in midfield and be aggressive with the SL players. Our boys will be low in confidence and will be prone to mistakes due to the scoreline of the last match, here is where GR needs to earn his keep by 1st telling them the previous game is done and over with and its how they respond to adversity is the hallmark of a champion. Play aggressive and leave everything on the field. Am sure we will carry tge day but it won’t be by 4 goals tho. Even if na 1:0 win na win. IMHO
@collins id ,Yes I agree with you 100percent u nailed it the blame should go the coach ,such a clueless coach …
Yes the match has come and gone, leaving behind loads of bruises. Very sad and worst of all Osimene got injured. Tough to recover from this embarrassment just after one night sleep,maybe four night sleeps and a resounding victory in Freetown will do. While I boldly say, that many factors both seen and unseen led to what happened, I will also put blames on Rohr and the entire playing staff. For Rohr, he will still continue to enjoy my support but he must now start to assert himself as manager and refuse any external influence even in the face of threat to his job. He must get right his INVITATION/ selection of players, He must stop favouritism in players selection, quite noticeable recently otherwise there is just no reason why Ola Aina should be sitting on the bench. That action alone could easily have dampen the moral of players like Aribo, Iwobi, Ajayi, etc who, knowing fully well how good Aina is, would have been wondering the rationale behind such action. Rohr must emphasize carrying the ball in movement in that midfield area instead of this one touch thing. One touch in the midfield section is very dangerous especially on that kind of pitch, wherein a pass intercepted by opponents can easily lead to goal through counter attack. Any midfielder who can not cover blade of grasees isn’t ready and should be dropped. Enough of this one touch ideology that never get job done. Runs like diagonal with balls creates powerful network and far better off. One touch football makes players forget that football and physicality goes together, hence easily fall into complacency. Now for the players, they all performed poorly, not one to be exempted. That doesn’t take anything away from the fact that these are all very talented players but they just didn’t get to the next gear physically, probably due to underrating Sierra Leone or some factors only the DIVINE can explain. Those players have what it takes to play/beat any team in the world but must learn to see football matches as WAR(FIGHT) and not just game because a defeat always leave behind bruised EGO.