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The Portuguese coach is achieving the impossible: he is somehow making an abundance of attacking talent not only ineffective, but tedious to watch
The thing with football tactics is this: it’s a trade-off, really. Playing in any shape, a fundamental question any manager must answer is that of where he can afford to leave space, as it is impossible to cover every square inch. Having reached that conviction, he must then be fervent, even to the point of religious dogma, in following it; there can be no half-measures or middle grounds.
In order for Jose Peseiro’s structure and selection in the shock home defeat to Guinea-Bissau to work, it was imperative that the entire team function as a block without the ball, either completely sitting off the opponent to protect the space behind their defence or utterly imposing upon them to dominate Guinea-Bissau territory. What not to do, in any circumstance, was what was done for the game’s only goal: between two stools, the Super Eagles were caught with their pants down, and as a consequence now find themselves looking up at the summit of Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) qualifying Group A.
“Normally, if you play like we did today, you can beat any team,” Peseiro said afterward. “Today, Guinea(-Bissau were) very lucky.” And in a sense, he was correct, but in the same sense he was not. The Djurtus certainly needed, as any minnow does when the odds are so heavily stacked against them, some good fortune. However, it is damning that, in this case, they did not need very much of it, and even more so that, taking their goal out of it, they were themselves unlucky, having created another chance of similar quality not long after.
Peseiro’s vantage point was probably better, but especially after the interval, it is difficult to remember goalkeeper Jonas Mendes needing to make too many saves of note. It was a siege, but only of the lamest kind. Wilfred Ndidi, shocked by his own intrepidity, seemed nonplussed by the prospect of having to finish and tickled Mendes with his effort when through on goal. Moses Simon dragged a presentable chance wide on his weaker foot. The iron giant Paul Onuachu, brought on for just such an occurrence, headed the game’s one presentable cross wide; look closely enough and you likely would have seen some rust flaking off his bonce upon impact.
If, as Peseiro surmised in the aftermath, the game could have gone on for hours without Nigeria scoring (and this was clearly a line that was briefed in the dressing room—Alex Iwobi repeated it verbatim), it is because they never really looked like it in the second period. This time marker is a vital one, as the biggest failing on the night was, ultimately, one of composure. Not only was Peseiro unable to stick or twist when it came to his team’s stance out of possession, but when the heat turned up, his lack of conviction showed in how quickly he jettisoned his initial gameplan as well.
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16:38 - 24.03.2023
AFCON 2023 Nigeria v Guinea-Bissau: Super Eagles starting lineup explained
Breaking down and explaining Nigeria's formation against in the AFCON qualifier against Guinea-Bissau.
Not to say that his opening gambit was ironclad, of course. There are legitimate questions over the efficacy of Ademola Lookman starting from the left (at Atalanta this season and even in the drubbing of Sao Tome back in September, he has performed markedly better on the right flank), and Kelechi Iheanacho seems to not understand his role as a second striker when on international duty. However, there at least appeared to be the semblance of a plan, the team moving the ball around and producing impressive enough interplay to force (for what else can one do on pasture but toil?) a number of openings in the first 25 minutes of the game.
In electing to throw that out of the window at half-time, Peseiro betrayed not only a lack of conviction that belied his bullishness after the fact, but also his own players. This is, after all is said and done, an eminently talented crop of players, many of whom – Lookman, Victor Osimhen, Samuel Chukwueze, Terem Moffi and Iwobi, to name a few – are having their best seasons at club level. Yet here, as individuals and as a collective, they were made to look decidedly ordinary: even Osimhen, the masked nightmare that haunts the dreams of Europe’s best centre-backs, was reduced to stumbling about and raging in impotent fury at every blast of the referee’s whistle.
Overabundance of strikers harms Nigeria's AFCON 2023 chances
It is not all Peseiro’s fault – Iwobi was savvy and good-humoured enough to sidestep the question about the ridiculous state of the playing surface at the press conference – but the former Sporting CP boss cannot, in any good conscience, be exonerated completely for, as he said, he watched the trainings and picked the team. More pertinently, it is to him that this phase of the Super Eagles project, if it is not overstating things to call it even that, and the lack of flow or blueprint is attributable to no one else.
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At the core of it, the entire point of coaches in football is to facilitate and accelerate synergy; without them, it is eminently possible for a group of individuals to figure things out, given unlimited time and the presence of common will. If a coach, on account of incompetence, cannot manage that, then the least obtrusive thing he can do instead is to leave the collective no worse.
Somehow, Peseiro is managing a stunning feat: he is making a team brimming with some of the most exciting attacking talent in the world a tedious watch.
Super Eagles player ratings as Guinea Bissau claim shock win over Nigeria
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