Former Nigeria international Etim Esin has revealed that the current Super Eagles are still lacking a creative midfielder in the mould of legends like the late Henry Nwosu, Austin Okocha and himself.
Speaking on the Play Zone Podcast, Esin stated that Lookman is the closest player in terms of creativity in the Super Eagles but has not showed enough of it.
“I think we are still looking for that creative talented midfield player. Lookman comes into that but not really for Nigeria.
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“For his club, he does that very well but when it comes to Nigeria, I think we still need that creativity in the middle of the park.”
Esin explained why it is important to have a creative midfielder in every team.
“He is the architect and magician in the squad. He makes things happen. Even if he does not score, he can lay an assist and make things happen in the game. If you have that in your squad, you will have the confidence.
“Number ten like me, Henry {Nwosu}, Jay-Jay (Okocha), if we are with the ball the opponent will be intimidated.
“You have to intimidate the opponent and let them know you have this kind of player that can drag two or three players and create space and lay a pass for someone. I think we still need that in our national team which we don’t really have,” he said.
By James Agberebi
8 Comments
Creative midfielders are nice luxuries to have, but they are not a must for success. In fact, creative midfielders can become a liability if they hold the ball for too long, and fail to contribute to defensive efforts.
In modern football, tactics and team work is what swings the pendulum in your favour.
Quick, intelligent passing is more destructive to the opponent than dribbling/show boating.
Iwobi is doing just fine Mr.Esin!
Iwobi! That one has turn musician ho. He has finally revealed to us where truly His heart belong.
The guy is creating career for himself after football. We fans are the one that didn’t catch this jist on time.
Abeg Chelle start looking beyond the present crop of mid field players.
@Wike, the midfield is weak.
@pompey, this present super eagles team don’t have both qualities.
To me we are still so much in rebuilding process. We still don’t yet have quality combination at middle that will properly link our back to the front.
Will still so much rely on the side way which is the wing.
Our Asiri will tu if I may use this word here when Simon and lookman finally leave the scene.
@Wike, well said.
Hahaha Wike, make our asiri no tu ooo!
Already, asiri don tu with failure to qualify for back to back world cups. Abi wetin we wan talk again?
As the matter dey so, we have to work with what we have.
Iwobi in my opinion is the creative spark in our midfield, and he has been doing a pretty good job of late. Iwobi may not be a dribbler that can take out 2 or 3 players of the opponent with one dribble, but his line breaking passes in my opinion are even more dangerous than dribbling.
I have high hopes for Chrisanthus Uche, but so far nothing nothing.
Who else do we have that can play that number 10? Perhaps Lookman could fill in there. An Okocha only shows up once in a lifetime, so it’s unrealistic to be looking for another Jay Jay. Instead of that, let’s focus on tactics and team work, and build the team around the players we have.
Look at Senegal. They don’t have a natural number 10, although Illiman Ndiaye could probably play that role. Mane is, and remains a winger, even though he wears the number 10 jersey. Yet, Senegal is one of the most difficult teams to beat in the world at the moment. We can borrow a page from their book.
You are right sha.