The Traffic

TRUTH BE TOLD , FINIDI IS NOT READY FOR THE SUPER EAGLES JOB

By Micheal Obasi 

What excuse on earth does Finidi George have to lose to Benin Republic in a very crucial World cup Qualifiers in a neutral  venue like Abidjan.

With all the advantages at Nigeria's disposal, from having better high profile players to the advantage of the home team playing at a neutral venue, I am still trying to look for the excuse that could make me even absorb Finidi from the shameful 2-1 lost on Monday.

Breaking it down into clearer perspectives, the Benin Republic team did not beat the Super Eagles in either Cotonou or Port Novo, which could make one say maybe it was a case of home advantage because of either the fans-factor or refereeing.

This is not even a case of trying to join the emotional bandwagon call for the sack of Finidi George but a critical look at how he set up in the two games which was not good enough to get any meaningful result out of the games.

In those two games , Finidi cannot complain of not getting a total support from the Nigeria Football Federation to the best of my knowledge .

It simply means with all these positive factors in place and yet Finidi could not muscle at least four points from possible six , there is something run somewhere.

The way Finidi set up in the two games looked like a man just gambling with his team selection in such important games.

For a team that finished second at the AFCON in February and now looking almost unrecognisable in shape and playing style, tells a lot about the unreadiness of Finidi George to step into Jose Peseiro's shoes.

Before the game against South Africa which was Finidi's first competitive game as the gaffer , he had already played two friendly games against Ghana and Mali.

And this is the same Finidi who has been with many of these players for more than a year now, working as one of the  assistant coaches to his predecessor.

So naturally there shouldn't be a problem of not knowing the players enough before getting the job and in fact one expected him to quickly hit the ground running because of what supposed to be his vast knowledge of the team.

If you know that you still need time to work out your own footprint on the team, why not stick with the pragmatic and conservative style that gave the team success at the last AFCON, the five at the back formation with three central defenders.

You played the two games against South Africa and Benin Republic without Nigeria's unarguably best midfielder at the AFCON, Frank Onyeka because of the return of Wilfred Ndidi.

As good as Ndidi has been for the National team , he played his worse games in the national colours in the last two games and I am not surprised because he is in the twilight of his career.

Finidi also played players like Osai Samuel and Benjamin Tanimu out of position in the two matches.

I see no reason why you have to play Osai Samuel out of his original position of a right back just to accommodate Tanimu and played him at left back in both games and you had an Awasiem on the bench.

The way Finidi set up in these games was just a case of a tactical and technical gambling on his part.

Offcourse Nigeria had players like Ola Aina, Moses Simon, Victor Osimhen and Troost Ekong injured, but  Finidi still had enough Arsenal in the team to conjure something far better than the results and display the Eagles put up in the last two games.

 *Written by Michael Obasi*