Peseiro wasn’t given the chance to go at this tournament by majority of Nigerians. I have always said it…We have just one world class player in our team. It is a squad of average players. We expect every foreign coach to perform magic on our bunch of average players. We have seen someone like Samuel Chukwueze enough, that’s his level. Average level and there is nothing we do about it.
I used to pile pressure on coaches until I saw the team very well in Garoua. Don’t get it twisted we should understand our level for now. It’s at average phase.
A lot of us have forgotten that Jose Peseiro inherited a team in Egypt. A team that was also in the wilderness with lots of overrated players.
He doesn’t have Messi, Ronaldo, Modric, Bellingham and co to select. He will only pick average players available.
Peseiro struggled with this average bunch of players and took time to study what best suits the team.
The other time at the qualifiers, players like Chukwueze, Ndidi and co were just playing like farmers. Is it the fault of Peseiro?
Another thing that Peseiro has done right for us is his passion for the NPFL. The calendar of the NPFL affects a lot of things and the coach will only select players who have integrated with the team. I am happy that he will handle the CHAN Eagles team.
Another thing we need to take serious is our age grade teams. That’s our reservoir.
- Every coach wants to surprise the opponents at key stages. It might backfire or work. The overrated/overhyped Chukwueze was involved in the penalty against South Africa with his layoff to Osimhen. If the coach decided to start him in the final I don’t see anything wrong in it. Don’t forget it was still 1-0 when Moses Simon climbed off the bench, Good substitution.
- A sane coach doesn’t change what works for him. The 3-4-2-1 is a good formation. I just feel our boys were fatigued yesterday. Some of our key performers like Ola Aina, Ademola Lookman and Calvin Bassey were poor yesterday. It wasn’t easy handling such gruel schedule in Cote d’Ivoire.
- When was the last time Super Eagles midfield functioned very well in the last 8 years? And I will present facts and stats to support my points. The midfield has been a concern for us in those period. Iwobi doesn’t have business in the middle but lack of talents make him the option. The likes of Kelechi Nwakali and Fikayo Dele Bashiru have failed to impress when called upon. The reason why I am urging the NFF to focus on the Age grade teams and the league.
- Peseiro picked the likes of Onyedika, Ndidi, Onyeka and Iwobi initially. They were the best as at the time of selection. Onyedika was playing well in Europe. Ndidi was reborn at Leicester. Onyeka got minutes at Brentford. Iwobi was massive for Fulham. There are limits to number of players Peseiro could pick in his squad. Alhassan only came in because of Ndidi’s injury. We all knew Alhassan will perform.
- We failed to solve that position problem since Carl’s issue. Akpeyi, Uzoho and Ezenwa all failed to impress. Then came Maduka who we thought was the solution. Maduka was performing well until that madness in Garoua. His career wasn’t the same again until he moved to Udinese. The boy was supposed to be part of the AFCON team but he opted out to focus on club matters.
On Uzoho, Peseiro kept faith with him. Do you blame a coach who has faith in his goalkeeper? That’s what Eguavoen and Amunike should have done to Maduka but they judged the boy based on one gaffe.
On Adeleye Adebayo, he didn’t do enough to impress Peseiro. Most of these foreign coaches don’t like short keepers.
On Nwabali, he was third choice at Chippa United and rose to the first choice.
Let me address something. Peseiro has a solid backroom team who help him monitor our players. His passion is second to none. He has been monitoring Bobo Nwabali for a long time. Though it came from recommendation.
- Friendlies are fake. Morocco, Senegal, Tunisia and Algeria are Kings of warm ups. How market with them….It’s winning at the tournament that matters and not all these pre stuffs.
By self acclaimed Daddy GO, Jose Peseiro Believers Ministry, Abayomi Ademetan