SUPER EAGLES Focus on & accentuate Adeleye's strengths, not his weaknesses

The Super Eagles debutant goalkeeper had a good outing in Monrovia, and deserves better than to be reduced to his physical dimensions.

Football is a team sport.  But, like with all things we know, there is a tendency toward forgetting. 

This applies to the beautiful game as well: we are apt to forget its nature and think of it as an individual undertaking, especially where it concerns certain positions. To be sure, the individual matters. However, he/she does so within a context, and it is that context that gives action meaning and coherence. 

So when, in the aftermath of Nigeria’s 3-2 win over Sierra Leone on Sunday, there were misgivings about Adebayo Adeleye, the Super Eagles’ goalkeeper on the day, it was clear that, in more ways than one, a wave of amnesia was once more washing through.

Now, it is important to state, for the record, that this is not a definitive vote for Adeleye to assume the mantle of starting goalkeeper. The game in Monrovia was his first competitive start for Nigeria, and while he conceded two goals, there was little to fault. Overall, while he put his best foot forward and did not look indecisive, the sample size is a small one. Only time (and further opportunity) can tell.

What was difficult to stomach, however, was the fact that Adeleye, in many quarters, was dismissed out of hand on account of his modest height. This meant ignoring perhaps the biggest case study in Nigerian football history of not judging a book by its cover: Vincent Enyeama, the country’s greatest ever goalkeeper who, despite standing under 6ft, was in the post for 12 years.

Do physical dimensions not matter then? Of course they do. However, they can be overplayed: when Manchester United signed Lisandro Martinez, the media was awash with analysis that focused almost exclusively on his (lack of) height. Off the back of a largely impressive first season at Old Trafford, some of that initial scepticism has been walked back.

When you understand football as a team sport in its truest sense, you fixate on what is; when your gaze is directed toward the individual, you are drawn to what is absent. When you have a striker who is, say, 6ft 7in tall and slow, everyone instinctively understands that the rest of the team needs to alter its approach in order to make that striker effective. The same should be true for a goalkeeper like Adeleye who, as alluded to previously, is relatively small for the position.

Here is a novel idea then: instead of judging and damning Adeleye for the mortal sin of not being five inches taller, how about we treat football like the team sport it is and format the rest of the team to get the best out of him? Can we instead build a system to prevent situations where he would face a lot of crosses?

Now, this is no small imposition, to be clear. Adjusting in that fashion affects key tenets of a team’s out-of-possession structure, and condition some of the in-possession elements as well. That said, it is a decision you make cognizant of the upside, both for the team and for the system. Under Jose Peseiro, the Super Eagles have been porous at the back, and are especially poor when put under any sustained pressure and forced back. Already, there is obvious reparatory utility to defending higher: it would go some way toward addressing the lack of clarity and composure Nigeria at the back in defensive moments.

For some, Adebayo was simply a placeholder to tide the team over, and that may well be the case, especially if Jose Peseiro fails to agree to a contract extension come the end of the month. However, when it comes to evaluating footballers, unless one has a lineup of paragons to choose from, it is important to think of them in terms of what gifts they do possess, rather than those they do not.

• This article is an excerpt from an article that first appeared on Chaos Digest

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