IKENWA NNABUOGOR laments the lack of quality and men in the Super Eagles midfield and wonders what Gernot Rohr is up to…
Never in the history of Nigeria football have we experienced this apparent lack of personnel in the Super Eagles midfield so much that creativity and grit are fast deserting the team’s engine room.
The Eagles are reputed to produce great midfielders in the likes former captains Muda Lawal, Henry Nwosu, Sunday Oliseh and Austin ‘Jay Jay’ Okocha, John Obi Mikel, Mutiu Adepoju as well as Thompson Oliha and Wilson Oruma, but Rohr’s Eagles have come nowhere near this quality.
Apart from lacking in numbers, the spark for which Eagles midfield exhibited which also struck fear into opponents, has long belonged to the archives.
Lately, Mikel led his men as well as dictated the pace of the game in the Eagles middle, though, his swan song days before his retirement were not nowhere near his best.
Leicester City holding midfielder Wilfred Ndidi’s absence has further shrunk the little spark the midfield struggled to provide, leaving that department to the mercy of sharp and mobile opponents.
The team’s games of late showed the weak link in the midfield as the strikers and wingers struggled to score or at least put the opposing defenders on their toes. Too bad!
The numbers in the midfield keep going down each time the squad list for games are released, making the Eagles look so ordinary.
The current list named a mere four players in the midfield and even adding a right back Tyronne Ebuehi as one of the midfielders.
What that means in true sense of it is that only three midfielders were invited for the double header AFCON 2022 qualifiers against Sierra Leone.
Does it mean that there are no midfielders in the world for Rohr to look up to?
In the past, the Eagles midfield was peopled with at least seven competent legs but sadly not the same any longer, making it appear as if there is a dearth of midfielders to keep things busy and tight in the team.
Is Rohr afraid to try other midfielders with a view to crowd the department or he’s just contented with what he has got?
West Bromwich Albion central defender Semi Ajayi has been drafted into the holding midfield role as a stop gap measure for unavailable Ndidi, but it appears the lanky defender is struggling to adjust.
The lone actor in that department now is Everton star Alex Nwobi, but a few more competent legs will definitely breathe a fresh life to the midfield.
Things will be a lot tighter in the midfield with the return of Galatasaray midfielder Oghenekaro Etebo and Glasgow Rangers’ star Joe Aribo but the Eagles’ midfield has not remained the same since exit of Mikel and Russia-based star Victor Moses, who provided the much needed width and finesse to the department.
Now is the time to fast track the acquisition of two English-born midfielders – Ademola Lookman and Crystal Palace youngster Eberechi Eze.
Take it or leave, these two will bring something special and bring back the lost spark in the Eagles midfield for the attack will start firing again.
Both youngsters possess amazing attributes of enforcing attacks with their breath-taking ingenuity and total awareness.
Lookman for one, is the quintessential midfielder Eagles need and complementing him with Eze will certainly bring back the lost spark in that department.
Lookman’s attacking instincts have also endeared to the England’s Three Lions, so does Eze’s amazing ball carrying skills and both players will certainly add value to the Eagles team.
Both are young and going guns and will bring the full dose of English flavour alongside Iwobi and Aribo into Eagles and opposing teams will have tough customers in them.
Sadly, the lack of bite in the midfield due to lean numbers, has left the Eagles midfield vulnerable for sharp opposing counterparts to take over and dictate pace.
The Olisehs, Okochas, Nwosus and Lawals struck fear into Eagles’ opponents in their hey days to make Eagles one of the most formidable teams around.
But that cannot be said of the Eagles midfield of today that has continued to chase shadows.
Eagles have got a long list of games to play to fly to Cameroon in 2022 for the AFCON and World Cup in Qatar few months later, but they will have to be at their best in the midfield to compete with the best.
Rohr, this is certainly not the time to remain contented but the time to explore and take risks particularly in the engine room.
