The interim head coach of the senior national team of Nigeria Finidi George took charge of the team for the first time and led them to a 2-1 win over Ghana in an international friendly game played in the Moroccan city of Marrakesh.
Finidi who was assistant to Jose Peseiro who left upon the expiration of his contract last month, maintained largely the same players who prosecuted the Africa Cup of Nations tournament, where they were beaten by the host Cote d’Ivoire 2-1 in the final.
However, a player in the team who spoke to OwnGoalNigeria.com on the conditions of anonymity has listed five major things, the Enyimba coach did differently from the Portuguese who was in charge for 18 months.
1. Aggressive Pressing – He told us to press high and squeeze the opponent and it led to a high turnover thrice during the game against Ghana. Peseiro isn’t a fan of pressing high, he prefers we keep our shape and stay deep in our half.
2. Passing From The Back – In the game against Ghana, the instruction was clear that you only go long when you have no passing option from the back. We were told to build from the back using the three centre backs and the full backs who are meant to invert to increase our numbers in the midfield when we are in possession. It wasn’t the case under Peseiro, who prefers we go long.
3. Overload The Opponent’s Box- Having numbers in the opposition box was Finidi’s strong words before the game. He made it clear that we should always have bodies around the box and not leave the top striker isolated. So we have two players in attack at every given moment. It was majorly Victor Osimhen on his own under Peseiro.
4. Inverted Wingers, Wide Full Backs – More like how most modern wingers operate. When we are in the opposition half they tuck in to overload the box while the full backs go wide. The only time our wingers stay wide is when they are tracking the full backs. With Peseiro the wingers were made to play more advanced but wide and the full backs can’t take advance position because the idea was to defend first.
5. Keep The Ball – This was the most valuable instruction Finidi gave us. His idea is to have us dominate the opponent and not be in a hurry to release the ball . Always pass to the closest player and move as a team. With Peseiro we dwell less on the ball , he want us to play it forward as soon as possible.
Mohammed Mowiz Suleiman
