OPINION

The Super Eagles of Nigeria have been boosted with news that some of the first team players who were absent in the surprise two nil loss to South Africa last month due to injury have returned just in time for the new season.

Players such as Carl Ikeme, Leon Balogun, captain, John Obi Mikel and Victor Moses have made returns from injury and will be important players for the Super Eagles if they are to pick up points against Cameroon next month in the World cup Qualifiers of the World Cup.

As it stands, Nigeria top the group with six points after wins against Zambia and Algeria respectively. Cameroon on the other hand is in second place with two points after playing out draws to Algeria and Zambia respectively.

With how the table stands, Nigeria and Cameroon, especially Cameroon would need to take three points from this encounter to boost their chances of qualifying for the World cup next year in Russia.

Cameroon have no serious injury problems as they are fresh from the just concluded Fifa Confederations Cup in Russia where they got knocked out in the group stages of the competition which Germany eventually won in the final against South American champions, Chile.

There is a old saying that if it isn’t broke then don’t fix it -something that I fully subscribe to when it comes to Chelsea’s backline. This clamor in the media that Conte needs to upgrade Victor Moses and Marcos Alonso as wing-backs seems shortsighted and without any real reason – given this is the team that won the title at a canter and had such great success with those two players playing big roles in the success of the new formation and subsequent winning run which saw them never drop from 1st place once they got there.

(Photo by Ian Walton/Getty Images)

Moses in particular was outstanding last season and proof that patience is everything in football. Conte’s faith in him and the implementation of three at the back has given Victor the freedom to attack at will and ultimately provide the perfect balance, pace and width we need. Likewise Alonso, who not as quick but provides the perfect foil on the left hand side to give Pedro and Hazard the freedom to roam forward.

The pundits out there see the full backs as the weak link and always highlight them, as the way clubs needs to set their teams up in order to derail us. Neville, Carragher and alike believe the space in between them and the centre half’s is the way to beat Chelsea – although its only Tottenham that exposed us there once and that was much to do with their own excellent full backs than the weakness in ours. The fact of the matter is that it is their attacking prowess and necessary width they provide that the opposition needs to quell as their stats have showed last season.

Talking to fans I know many have said that we need to strengthen our squad, with Champions League in mind; however, it was more that we need a stronger bench than we do replacing any first team regulars.

I suppose in many ways that is true, as defensively we are light and Tottenham have benefited from having Davies and Trippier on the bench to keep Walker and Rose fresh, but there certainly isn’t any upgrades on Alonso and Moses out there that are readily available and whilst Sandro from Juventus has been touted of late, I think that will be unnecessary and I would rather use that money elsewhere.

So what is everyone else’s view on Moses and Alonso and do you believe that we need to upgrade? It seems a tad harsh to replace arguably two of our best and consistent performers last year. Changing personnel always runs the risk of upsetting the balance of the team and after the season we have just had – why would Conte even contemplate it?

Author: David Tully