What Keshi Must Do To Improve The Super Eagles II

This is the concluding part of my article which I started last week on how Stephen Keshi can turn the fortunes of the Super Eagles around so that we can take our rightful place amongst the best teams in Africa and even the world .

Last week I took a look at the goal keeping options we currently have and also the defence and concluded that a new understudy for Vincent Enyeama is needed. Keshi also needs to find a new right back and possibly, a cover for the first choice right back.

The midfield remains Keshi's biggest challenge

The Super Eagles midfield still remains Keshi's biggest weakness. In modern football, the top teams have a creative and efficient midfield. Keshi has to find a fine balance between the defensive personnel and their attacking/creative counterparts when building a solid midfield for the Super Eagles.

Keshi has to search both home and abroad for creative midfielders who can help the current crop of misfiring strikers to create lots of chances so that the strikers can put some away. There aren't too many creative Nigerian midfielders flying high at club level in Europe today, sad to say. We depend so much on wing play which could be frustrating when we come up against teams happy to sit back and defend. Our lack of creativity in midfield affected us at the last AFCON qualifiers when we played both South Africa and Sudan away from home. In both games we failed to score or create many decent opportunities.

The dearth of creative and talented midfielders to replace ageing players in the Super Eagles is a serious indictment on the NFF's youth development programmes and our junior teams. Since Austin Okocha quit the Super Eagles in 2006, there has been no genuine successor for that number 10 shirt. 

John Obi Mikel looked to have the potential to fill the boots left by Okocha when he bust into limelight at the FIFA World Youth Championship in 2005 but his move to Chelsea under the guidance of 'the Special One', killed that hope. Mikel has become a defensive midfielder who prefers the easy and safe options of square plays and back passes. This is not what we need at this time.

Unfortunately, Mikel remains arguably our best midfielder which is a sorry situation because what this means for the Super Eagles is that, as long as he remains our best, we will never rise above mediocrity in the midfield. We have never been short of defensive and box to box midfielders. What we lack in abundance is a creative player. If Keshi can find a midfielder half as good as Okocha, the Super Eagles team could become the top team in Africa in no time.

Kelechi Iheanacho looks to be the solution to this midfield conundrum. The bad news is, it appears he may have miscalculated in joining a team like Manchester City to develop his game since City rarely give players in the feeders a look in whether in the short or long term. Manuel Pellegrini's position at City appears under threat. If he survives the axe that could fall on him come end of the season, he is unlikely to look Iheanacho's way for respite.

A dependable goal scorer needs to be sought after quickly

One of the biggest failings of the Super Eagles at the World Cup in Brazil was our failure to score goals. It was no different at the last AFCON qualifiers where we struggled to score and when we managed to, we were quite wasteful. Emmanuel Emenike has not scored for Nigeria since we played Ethiopia during the World Cup qualifiers for Brazil. Ahmed Musa is one of our biggest culprits when it comes to not taking easy chances. Victor Moses has been over looked by Keshi since Moses' poor performance at the World Cup.

But the attack after the goal keeping department still remains the strongest part of the Super Eagles. There is, of course, a need for some changes in personnel. Moses needs to be re-called. He is arguably the most in form Super Eagles player in Europe presently. Emenike was effective on the wings at the World Cup in Brazil, Keshi could give him a look in on the right wing. 

For the striker position, Keshi needs to look in the direction of Victor Anichebe. The only snag is his wretched injury record and Anichebe's self imposed exile from the Super Eagles. Keshi has to try and persuade him to come out of retirement. Shola Ameobi is an alternative but he needs to score goals to prove he is worth an invitation. So far, Sone Aluko looks to be the real deal in attack. His ability to play on the wings or behind the main striker is an added advantage for the team if tactical changes need to be made.

A case could be made for Brown Ideye but his penchant for missing easy chances was probably the reason he was over looked by Keshi for the World Cup and ever since. 

There are quite a lot of options in attack but the tricky challenge for Keshi is discovering a good and potent combination that will trouble defences and score goals. The jigsaw puzzle still remains the creative midfield which Keshi can manage in the short term with effective wing play coupled with hard working midfielders but Keshi has to make sure he doesn't leave his position when his contract expires without solving the midfield puzzle.

Keshi's contract extension: A reward for mediocrity?

Stephen Keshi is set to be offered a 2 year contract extension by the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to manage the Super Eagles presumably till the 2017 Nations Cup finals if we qualify. The deal ought to have been signed since Friday 17th April, 2015 but the NFF seem unprepared to finalise the deal for reasons best known to them. And if reports are anything to go by, the deal will not be signed any time this week. We wait and see how the signing ceremony will pan out.

The aim of this article is not to criticise the incompetence of the NFF in their shoddy handling of the failed contract signing ceremony of Keshi but the decision of the NFF board to reward Keshi with a new contract.

Does Keshi deserve a new deal? Is the hand of outgoing president, Goodluck Jonathan, involved in ensuring Keshi remains coach of the Super Eagles? Is there no other manager the NFF can hire to take the Super Eagles to the next level?  When other coaches like Christian Chukwu and  Samson Siasia failed to qualify Nigeria for a major competition they were shown the door, why is Keshi's case different?

If we are to look at this scenario based on his achievements with the Super Eagles and his past record with other nations then Keshi would get the backing of many to lead the Super Eagles into the future especially because of how he was able to bring in some unheralded players like Sunday Mba who were in the local league to limelight. Players he used ultimately to bring glory to Nigeria in the African Cup of Nations (AFCON) in South Africa in 2013 and our qualification for the World Cup in Brazil last year.

However, if we are to look at the team's performance critically, especially after the Brazil 2014 World Cup and their failure to qualify for the African Cup of Nations held in Equitorial Guinea to defend the title they won in 2013, then one wouldn't be overly excited that Keshi's contract is being renewed. In fact, in other climes, many managers' heads would have been chopped off without a moment's hesitation if they had overseen such a mediocre performance that the Super Eagles showcased during the last AFCON qualifiers.

The reality of football today is that you are as good as your last game. And the Super Eagles' recent performances at the AFCON qualifiers where they struggled to beat Sudan in Nigeria and failed to beat South Africa over 2 legs as well as embarrassing losses to Sudan away and Congo at home are the type that even the best in the business of football management would struggle to survive.

To be fair, Keshi didn't have the goodwill and support of the NFF board who were neck deep in crisis between themselves. Who could forget the drama they regularly served the watching Nigerian public as the battle for the leadership of the NFF board unfolded? We had different chairmen emerging through every kangaroo election they held and FIFA were kept busy monitoring the farce as they unfolded.

How many times did Nigeria flirt with FIFA's hammer? Nigeria eventually got suspended though. It took good old president Goodluck Jonathan's intervention for sanity to be brought back to the Glass house and the resulting bans from FIFA lifted.

There were even more twists that played out during the ill fated Equitorial Guinea AFCON qualifiers. Keshi after presiding over a hard fought victory over Sudan, was sacked the following day by the NFF but was reinstated a few weeks later after technical director, Amodu Shuaibu, wisely rescinded his decision to accept the job of managing the Super Eagles for the rest of the qualifiers. He had probably thought  that it was better Keshi was allowed to finish what he had started. The team was in such disarray that no right thinking coach worth his salt would accept such a poisoned chalice which was Keshi's post.

Clearly, Keshi was being frustrated by the NFF hierarchy and it probably had an effect on the team's performance. That notwithstanding, the team had their AFCON qualification hopes in their own hands but at the end, they narrowly escaped defeat to South Africa's Bafana Bafana after another sloppy performance especially at the back in the last round of matches in the group. Two late goals from Sone Aluko could not save Nigeria from being bundled out of AFCON as we forced South Africa to a 2-2 draw.

Now that we are back to the drawing board and Keshi has been given the nod to manage the Super Eagles again, he needs to sort out several problems with the Super Eagles. Problems which led to the fiasco Nigerians witnessed during the last AFCON qualifiers and problems if resolved could aid the Super Eagles to reach the pinnacle of African football again.

These problems and what he should do to tackle them would be discussed hopefully in my next article.