PBP Thread: Match #8, Croatia vs Nigeria, 16 June 2018 [R]

thanks for posting this. It's interesting

 

What kind of a question is that? Do I have a track record of negative posts? Look at that performance by Nigeria yesterday and tell me how a Nigerian fan should react to that.

What Rohr did yesterday was like taking a knife to a gunfight, and then keeping the knife in his back pocket for the entire duration of the fight. Very, very poor. We waited 4 years for this? It will be a miracle if Iceland do not knock Nigeria out of the WC because this crazy coach is going to set out the exact same rubbish formation and tactics.

 

I was reasonably impressed by Croatia and its midfield, despite the lack of too many clear cut chances and shots on goal. I felt they controlled the game well and fully deserved to take 3 points from this match.

Nigeria, on the other hand, didn't look impressive and appeared a bit clueless. However, I wouldn't read too much from one game. There are still 2 more games to play in this group and things can look very different by the time all the group games are played.

 

Wow what can I say.

A horrible performance by Nigeria who looked like nothing was on the line. I'm betting the coach was telling them to sit back and play defensive. The problem was that we gave Croatia FAR TOO MUCH RESPECT, and in the end we still lost anyways.

To be honest Croatia weren't very good either, but they didn't need to be after their fluke goal.

The game looked like 2 teams that were scared of each other and didn't want to attack, and played it cautiously. Croatia were slightly less scared, but really they didn't offer much more. 1 shot on goal the entire match.

We cannot play this way, it was just horrible to watch. What disturbs me is not even the loss, it was the way we lost with no fight. I haver never seen us play like this. Our coach gots to go, end of story, he is a cowardly, conservative fool. The blame is entirely on his shoulders. What a waste of an opportunity. That Croatian team was completely there for the taking, but that cowardly display just handed them the victory.

iheancho , Ebuehi have to start next match. Iwobi needs to play from the middle, but this coach is a fool.

We have to go at both Iceland and Argentina, Indont care if we lose but we cannot lose playing like scared b$&&3.

We have a better midfield than both Argentina and Iceland, so I still have hope, but not very much.

 

1008118606478086144 is not a valid tweet id

 

What I saw from Mexico against Germany is what I wanted to see from Nigeria. Play without fear. Croatia was there for the taking. We have the players to pull off counter attacks like that.

No one respects us well ******** them!!! We will make them pay!

 

Sure but first you needed to take the ball

 

the possession was damn near 50% for either team, what on earth are you talking about ?

 

Ball possession was 54% vs 46% even after 2:0 and Croats letting Nigeria play
For most part they chased the ball or should i say did not even bother to chase it at one point

Till 60th min ball possession was 63% vs 37%

 

If anyone had problems taking the ball away in midfield it was Croatia. They fouled Etebo 8 times, who still dribbled past Modric and co 9 times. His passing accuracy was the highest in the game.

Modric meanwhile was dispossessed 4 times, including one unforgivable situation right next to his own penalty area.

Truth is neither side really controlled the middle of the park. The trouble for Nigeria was that Nigerian midfielders weren't penetrating the defensive line, even when they had the ball, while Croatia from time to time did.

 

The only reason Croatia had more possession at any point in the game was due to poor tactics: Croatia played the ball, Nigeria hoofed the ball up front to Ighalo, thus losing the ball. Nigeria should have played on the ground from the start, especially given Etebo, Mikel and to a lesser extent Ndidi hold the ball exceptionally well.

Whenever Nigeria played the ball on the ground Croatia could not dispossess the midfield. And the stats back that up. Whatever Croatia did control it wasn't the midfield. Ndidi and Etebo had the highest pass rate in the game with Etebo completing the most passes in the whole game, between them they lost the ball twice (as compared to Modric and Rakitic 7 times). Whoever was losing the ball or struggling with possession it wasn't Etebo + Ndidi.

Whatever you think you saw - the stats don't back it up.

Objectively - Etebo was the best player on the pitch yesterday, but giving the MOTM to a player who scored an own goal and ended up on the losing side isn't ever going to happen.

Also how the hell players like Modric or Rebic didn't get a yellow for persistent fouling is a mystery (albeit how Moses didn't get a yellow for persistent diving is also a valid question).

 

I really have no clue what you are talking about so lets agree to disagree here

 

You're Croatian so you are biased. I hope you get bumped out in the group stage. You still can!!!

 

Etebo was not the best player. The header by Mandzukic was going in anyhow so it should not count as own goal.

 

yup according to whoscored.com both Ndidi and Etebo scored higher than Modric, even with him scoring a goal

No the header was not going in.

Etebo has more dribbles so far than any player in this WC including Messi, Ronaldo, and Neymar.

He also had apparently the highest pass completion in that match.

He was the most fouled player on the pitch

https://www.whoscored.com/Matches/1249954/Live/International-FIFA-World-Cup-2018-Croatia-Nigeria

Ndidi and Etebo both had more tackles than any Croatian player

Modric gave the ball away more than any player on both sides,



Statistically Nigeria did not play that bad, we were on par with Croatia, and even better in certain aspects.

We lost because of our inability to defend set pieces, that is all.

 

I felt it was a stale performance, none of the vertigo I had been expecting.

 

I don't rate teams based simply the quality of chances since that is often a reflection of a mismatch in some part of the field. A coaching error or mistakes by opposing players. Nigeria played compact enough to limit Croatia but that doesn't mean Croatia played poorly. In fact, I was impressed by them -- more so than previously. Nigeria didn't do as well as I would have expected, but I didn't get the sense that they would hopeless either.

 

The header was not going in. Else it wouldn't have counted as an own goal. And objectively speaking - it was.

BTW Even Rakitic and Modric admitted they struggled with containing Etebo.

 

well, you know what Iceland are good at, right? and will be looking to exploit..

 

Oh I'm not denying that at all. It was stale, we were scared to attack, or we didn't know how to attack. I'm going to go with the first, and say it was a tactical.

Thing is though, Croatia didn't play that well either, they didn't do much all game, although they were up after thirty something minutes. But even until they got that goal, they weren't doing much but shooting from far out.

 

All I kept reading from Nigerian fans was how there speed was going to kill the slow Croatian defense. Yeee not so much. Btw Moses wtf with the constant diving geez.

 

The Croatian defense was very good actually. Well organized. I was surprised how well they communicated together.

 

Yea i remember reading that too several times ^^

 

Will be much harder against Messi Aguero and their mates though...

 

You are obviously a Croatian NT supporter.

How do you feel about this game v Argentina? What would be your predicted outcome if you had to choose one?

I think its possible for the game to go both ways.. but i also believe Argentina will be the more desperate team in this situation.. and Messi will want to make up for the last game.. not saying he will.. but as you said, its going to be much tougher to contain Argentina then it was Nigeria