Manu's attacking selection backfires

The trouble with the invincibility (or the sense of it) is that it emboldens, and the trouble with boldness is that a surplus of it then makes us vulnerable, not to external forces, but to our own weakness. Make no mistake,the Flying Eagles' 4-2 loss to Brazil in the wee hours of Monday was wholly self-inflicted; and no, this is without reckoning with Joshua Enaholo’s second-half nightmare.

It is a shame that the MFM goalkeeper, the saviour many times over as Nigeria spluttered to the title at the African Youth Championship in Senegal, contrived to lay an egg as the team chased the game late on. What would be truly unfortunate though, is if his non-performance were perceived (both by fans and the coaching crew alike) as the sole differentiator between Nigeria and the five-time world champions.

Ultimately, the seeds for this loss were sown by the timing of the arrivals of certain players, and the preferential treatment afforded them. Both Kelechi Iheanacho and Isaac Success are viewed as integral parts of the team, rightly so. Neither was a part of the team’s very successful training camp in Germany though, and neither have had the benefit of a full week’s training with the Flying Eagles since the close of the European club season.

Expectedly, after a bright start here, both were soon running on fumes; their fading exacerbated by the unfamiliar roles they were tasked with playing.

Success, while certainly adaptable to an inside-forward role, simply offered no protection whatsoever to left back Abdullahi Mustapha. While it is a trade-off some coaches will accept (see Cristiano Ronaldo), and which paid off for his equaliser, his lack of understanding within the team structure meant he ended up making the same runs with and getting in Taiwo Awoniyi’s way.

It is no coincidence both of Brazil’s first-half goals came from overloads in that channel, The midfield double-pivot of Ifeanyi Matthew and Ifeanyi Ifeanyi were often forced to give up vertical compactness trying to provide half-space support in the left-back zone, resulting in huge gaps through the middle.

For his part, Iheanacho gave a glimpse of his ability with an exquisite curler that came back off the frame of the goal, but ultimately had little influence playing centrally behind the striker. A large part of his success two years ago at U17 level was his positioning on the left-side of the attack, his drifts unnoticed between the lines and the consequent understanding with captain Musa Muhammed on the overlap.

Here, it was Musa Yahaya on the left; the Tottenham man is more a direct dribbler, and Muhammed was unable to profit from intelligent movement.

Considering the right-back is the major source of attacking width in the team, this caused a huge problem. The narrowness of the front four made it easier to counterpress, and the Flying Eagles did brilliantly in the first period, forcing quick turnovers and trying to get in behind quickly (they were caught offside seven times, an indicator of their inclination to exploit Brazil’s backline while it was disorganised). The second goal, scored off a counter from a defensive corner, underlined this well.

The downside of counterpressing is its unsustainability over 90 minutes, and once the team tired in the second period, Brazil used their width from full-back to even greater effect to control the game.

On their part, there was very little control to the Flying Eagles’ display. The lack of compactness in the double-pivot has already been touched upon, but in possession they were not much better. Ifeanyi offers work-rate but is average with the ball, while Matthew is a creative presence, but does not bring the intelligent movement to evade pressure.

There were two ways to combat this in the build-up: either get both full-backs higher up the pitch and play out through them; or Iheanacho dropping deep to find space and dictate. The former was impossible because Abdullahi was being terrorized down the left, while the latter left the team without a body between the lines to tempt out the centre-backs.

For a coach who prides himself on the tactical cohesion of Total Football, it must have been an agonising watch for Manu Garba. It is however impossible to deny his own complicity, much as he is highly rated.

In terms of forwards, Garba may well have the best range of options in the entire competition as he says, but if anything, this match was greater evidence that quantity does not equal substance. His desire to shoehorn as many attackers as possible predictably left his team vulnerable defensively – attack may the best form of defence, as the saying goes, but not against the very best teams.

cc: Goal