Former Nigerian international, Abbey George has expressed his thoughts concerning the Super eagles’ journey thus far at the ongoing African Cup of Nations.
Nigeria qualified to the quarter finals following a 2-0 win over Cameroon on Saturday night, and now await Angola in the next round.
Abbey George, in a chat with Brila Media on Tuesday morning, where he shared his thoughts about the journey thus far and what to come.
George said:
“Before the start of the tournament, I always said we have a good squad, we have quality in the team, it all depends how this coach sets our team up. The first time, he plays four at the back, I’ve always said right from Gernot Rohr time, we don’t have the quality of center backs to play a back four. For me, to give us that security, we always need a back three slash back five”.
“You saw what happened with Chelsea, Antonio Conte started the back four, it didn’t work, back three, they won the league with Chelsea. So for the squad we have and the quality of center backs, I think the safest option was the back three. Luckily enough, this coach saw sense and changed in the second game to a back three. We now see a Super Eagles team that is solid. There’s no gaps. The teams are not creating chances against us to score, which is all I’ve always asked for”.
“Going forward, we know we’re gonna score goals. That’s not a problem. We’re gonna create chances and we’re gonna score goals. If we can keep it solid at the back, we have a big chance of winning this AFCON. So I’ve been really impressed from when they changed to a back three, how we’ve gone about our business. The team spirit looks good, the confidence is high. I just hope we don’t bring in any complacency or overconfidence against Angola.
Keep your feet on the floor, do the basics right, work hard as a team, and we can go and get to the semi-finals”.
