Mikel’s experience vital in Alexandria

During the 2012/13 PL season then Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho executed 2 masterclass away victories at Man City and Liverpool that really should be taught in Coaching Schools. In those matches CFC arrived as underdogs against teams that at the time were rampant in their attacking prowess.

As the Samson Siasia coached Super Eagles face Egypt in the must win encounter in Alexandria it would be great if he could watch both these matches and plan the assault accordingly. Yes, Nigeria need to win. However, the most important thing here is not to go chasing the game so early and end up losing it completely and start scrambling for a face saving, campaign useless draw.

Anyone who knows the history of Hector Cuper will know he is a student of counter attacking football. In Mohammed Salah he has a twinkle toed speed merchant while in El-Nenny he has a muscular, combative but tactically astute central midfielder with a range of passing to spring Salah. Egypt will be content with a draw so this is a good situation for Cuper.

How does Siasia approach this. Like said before, it is important to keep it tight. What was clear from the Kaduna match is that the Nigerian defenders do not have the speed to match Salah. To combat this Nigeria need to apply the “touch tight” defending set up that Mourinho used in those fixtures at the Etihad and Anfield. John Obi Mikel is crucial here. For the first hour he must drag his fellow midfielders inside, they must plug the gaps that will appear between the centre backs and the full backs. It will help if Oghenekaro Etebo is joined by Ogenyi Onazi so the team can be compact. Much later in the game a more attack minded midfielder can come on.

To execute this completely the team has to defend deep. No space for balls to be dropped in. Surrender possession or no need to chase superior possession stats. Let the hosts have it. Let them come win the match. Football is such that even though the home fans know a draw is good enough for them they will not be comfortable with the team not knowing what to do with possession.

Beat Cuper at his game by going long as soon as possession is turned over. To this end Kelechi Iheanacho needs to start on the bench so we can have Alex Iwobi as one of the wide forwards. The Arsenal man is quick of feet and a fabulous footballer and he should know what is required when we counter attack. Victor Moses for his experience should have the other wide position. Simply put Odion Ighalo is the person to lead the line. The Egyptian centre backs will be worried about his reputation forged in the PL and he will score. He missed what I thought was a good chance in the last minute of the first half and I strongly believe that he is fired up to set that right.

Set-pieces like Corner kicks and free-kicks are going to be so very important and here again the West Ham man, Moses will come in handy. When a team is set up in the way described above then Set-pieces have to be very good. Mikel’s deliveries are not good enough and he should be man enough to stand back for Moses. Efe Ambrose, Godfrey Oboabona are powerful enough to join both Mikel and Ighalo to provide threats.

An 89th minute winner off the back of Iwobi’s calf from a goalmouth scramble is just as great as an Ighalo overhead kick. Team has to be calm and disciplined in every area.

Two years ago Mikel played one his best games for Nigeria in the 2-2 draw with South Africa that was ultimately not enough to get Nigeria through. In this game, his experience in those two Chelsea wins above should be handy. As captain he must show discipline, must be ready to give the referee lip if decisions are not going our way because he has the clout.

This is a game made for John Obi Mikel.