My analysis of the Nigeria vs Tunisia game in Austria last night

Ayo Akinfe

(1) Gernot Rohr ruined the match as a spectacle for the fans and also made a mockery of the need to try out new players with his line-up. Playing Semi Ajayi in midfield again after it was shown to be disastrous against Algeria is a sackable offence in my opinion. That is just downright negligence and unpardonable incompetence

(2) We actually started off with a 4-1-5 formation, which made any thought of cohesion and team chemistry an illusion. Kenneth Omeruo was playing right back when we had Ola Aina and Tyrone Ebuehi available

(3) Iwobi was effectively playing as an anchorman alongside Ajayi in midfield, giving our defence no cover when the Tunisians broke. We did not have one ball winner on the pitch today. Tunisia scores from a simple cutback. If we had midfield cover, such a ball would easily have been cut out

(4) The last coach to play this kind of nonsensical line-up was Christian Chukwu against Morocco in the Nations Cup. I could not figure out the roles of Chukwueze, Simon, Iheanacho, Musa and Iwobi. None of them appeared to have clear defined roles

(5) Rohr has got to let go of old players. His nostalgic attachment to some members of the old guard will result in ultimate disaster. If he does not drop Musa and Simon, the NFF should refuse to send them invitation letters. Did either of them have one attempt at goal tonight?

(6) Leon Balogun surprised me with his performance. I had written him off but he was immense tonight. It may be an idea to use him and Akpoguma as our central defensive partnership

(7) I was very impressed with Akpoguma as he is comfortable on the ball. It would have been nice to see him and Ajayi play but alas, Rohr appeared not to know what he was doing

(8) We started the game without a proper striker. We appeared a lot more dangerous when Dessers came on and the ball started to stick upfront. Rohr should explain to us why Dessers did not start this match

(9) By any standards you want to use, the biggest benefit of today’s game was the emergence of Chidera Ejuke. What a talent! Can Rohr please tell us why that boy did not start

(10) I like the way Zaidu Sanusi showed some improvement with his final ball too. He is not yet the finished article but he is getting there. The same goes for Maduka Okoye. Sadly, Rohr did not try out more of our youngsters. Who knows, Samson Tijani and Matthew Yakubu may have blown us all away