[dropcap]S[/dropcap]uper Eagles Technical Adviser, Gernot Rohr lost his first friendly match as the Eagles were well beaten 2-0 by Serbia on Tuesday night at The Hive Stadium in London.
“You learn more from a defeat than a win and the showing exacerbated some deficiencies in the Eagles squad” were the words of NFF President, Amaju Pinnick immediately after the encounter…
Just like they did against Poland, the presumed youngest World Cup team was not cohesive through the middle leaving the strikers with a little to no goal scoring chances.
Here are the ratings of the starting 11.
Francis Uzoho – 5
The Derpotivo La Coruna Goalkeeper looks to be improving after earning his second consecutive start in the Eagles jersey, he was not at fault for the two goals scored, Uzoho also showed good reflexes and defended set pieces better than against Poland. He was quick to cover up his defenders and made some good saves, but he needs to improve his distribution of the ball.
Tyronne Ebuehi – 4
He replaced the injured Shehu Abdullahi, Ebuehi was overwhelmed with the pressure from the Serbian wingers. Couldn’t cope with the trickery coming from Kostic. And Was well beaten in the build-up to Mitrovic’s second goal of the night.
William Troost-Ekong – 5
The Bursaspor defender was impressive again although the two goals conceded do not paint his defence well, He Had a good individual game but the experiment of partnering him with Awaziem was null and void. Both were beaten in the build-up to the second goal and was caught off position several times.
Chidozie Awaziem- 4
The Nantes defender failed to partner well with Williams Troost-Ekong. He Failed again to deal with Aleksandar Mitrović as the striker netted twice to give Serbia the win., The lack of communications between him and Williams, and his efforts to impress by covering for the ineffective left back, Brian Idowu made him guilty after all.
Brian Idowu – 3
The Amkar Perm defender is standing in for experienced Elderson Echiejile, Found it hard to do his job in defence, playing out of position every time, and showing a distinct lack of attacking prowess with his left foot. Idowu always have to turn to his right foot to make a run and break up momentum. He’s yet to show his abilities to be the replacement for Elderson Echiejile.
Ogenyi Onazi (C) – 4
A very poor game from the Captian, he tried too hard to impress by defending but offered nothing with the ball, the former Lazio midfielder also lost possession on several occasions.
Wilfred Ndidi -5
The Leicester City star went about his job once again and was very deep to help the defence. He showed some good class and made good passes up front and held on to the ball well except on few occasions when he got fouled.
Joel Obi – 3
The Former Inter Milan Midfielder Seemed so confused about his role on the pitch. He was supposed to be replacing John Mikel Obi, but the Torino man Created nothing with the ball and didn’t go deep enough to help out the back line.
Alex Iwobi – 4
The Arsenal forward was again showing flashes of dribbling skills with not decision heading towards the opponents half, he drifted into the middle a lot to create and showed some fine footwork. Footwork, however, don’t win games and he was nowhere close to helping the team win.
Victor Moses – 5
The Chelsea Full back remains the most dangerous Super Eagles player moving forward, He’s got a bit of the flair and the dribbling skills, but he tried doing it all alone by himself which made nothing work.
Ahmed Musa – 5
The CSKA Moscow Started as the False Nine up front but never got any chance. Tried to use his pace to his advantage but Branislav Ivanovic was too intelligent, so, there was no space.