All defenders who featured for the Super Eagles in Tuesday’s 3-0 loss to Guinea-Bissau have come under fire for their lack of resilience and loose marking during the game, Sports247 reports.
The heavy hammer of criticism fell directly on the quartet of Bright Osayi-Samuel, Semi Ajayi, Calvin Bassey and Bruno Onyemachi, who all started the match in Bissau but they appeared to be relaxed and overconfident in the early stages.
While taking a closer look at the run of play on the ill-fated day, former Super Eagles’ striker, Victor Nosa Ikpeba scolded the defenders for failing to ‘close down’ The Wild Dogs’ attackers, who kept on running free towards Nigeria’s goal mouth.
Rather than scold the team as a whole, Ikpeba heaped all blame on the defenders for the Eagles’ heavy defeat in Bissau during their second match of the 2027 Africa Cup of Nations qualifiers.
Although many analysts and fans scolded the strikers – Akor Adams, Taiwo Awoniyi, Tolu Arokodare and George Ilenikhena – for failing to convert chances that came their way during the encounter at 24 September Stadium in Bissau, Ikpeba reasoned otherwise.
‘The Prince of Monaco,’ who was African Footballer of The Year in 1997, reflected on the game that kept Nigeria behind Guinea-Bissau in second place on the Group L qualificattion table and affirmed that the back-four let their goalkeeper down.
In his reckoning, the former hitman, who made hay for RC Liege of Belgium, AS Monaco of France and Borrusia Dortmund of Germany during his heyday, reasoned that the defenders failed to mark in front of their goalkeeper, Stanley Nwabali, which allowed The Wild Dogs to surprisingly hit the bullseye three times.
Ikpeba posited, “Defensively, we didn’t defend well. If you don’t defend well in this type of game, you can’t qualify for the AFCON. Defensively, we were poor. They saw that we were poor defensively.
“When we lose the ball, (our defenders) are not closing up on the striker or the number 20. So easy. The first goal, they did not close up on the striker. We lack closing up on players. So, we were punished.”
