Lessons from Juarez: Play 3-5-2 or forget about winning the African Nations Cup 

Watching the Eagles leave Juarez with a point against Mexico left me fuming. I was not disappointed or angry with the draw, any organisational problems, the commitment of the players or even the last minute penalty loss but with the total waste of valuable talent.

Yes talent. When you play a good player out of position and force him to carry out tasks not suited to his capabilities, you are wasting him. Asking strikers like Martins and Utaka to play in a 4-3-3 formation that would involve them spending half of their time tracking back to shore up the midfield, is not only a waste of talent but outright vandalism in my opinion.

In all our friendlies so far and recent games, the team has played using either the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 formation. We have not learnt the lessons of the past that have resulted in humiliating losses, poor performances and limited silverware.

I am sure everyone will agree that whenever you have a playmaker like JJ Okocha or Rabiu Ibrahim in the team, you only have two options. You either play a 4-5-1 or 3-5-2.

This is because in the modern game you need two central midfielders in front of the defence like Gilberto and Viera or Gerard and Makalele who can break up opposing attacks. One of them sits in front of the defence, protecting it, while the other distributes the ball once it is won.

In the case of Nigeria, I believe these would have been two out of Mikel Obi, Oladapo Olufemi, Chris Obodo and Yusuf Ayila. Make no mistake about it, Nigeria is ill-equipped to play 4-3-3 at the moment, which was responsible for woeful draw in Juarez.

Against Mexico, we had no control of the midfield whatsoever and the Mexicans ran riot in this part of the field with about 65% of possession. There was a distinct lack of creativity in midfield, a lack of numbers in the middle of the park and none of the midfielders was getting forward enough to support the strikers.

We were outrun in midfield because we opted for that suicidal 4-3-3 formation which meant that John Utaka and Obafemi Martins had to spend half their time tracking back to help out in midfield. Neither are suited to this purpose, so they did not perform the task admirably.

Asking a striker to perform a midfielders role is the biggest waste of talent I can ever think of. It is not too dissimilar from asking Taiye Taiwo or Joseph Yobo to be our main goalscorer.

In the modern game, a playmaker can be the difference between winning and losing as he is the one who will link up with the strikers, spray passes, feed the front two and open up stubborn defences. Those thinking that Mikel will ever perform this playmaker function are just deluded. Imagine how Rabiu Ibrahim and Oladapo Olufemi would have got forward to latch on to flick-ons from Martins and Uche or how they would have played one-twos with the strikers?

There is simply no way Mexico would have had that much space in midfield with Olufemi’s ability to run with the ball. They would also not have been able to get at us through the channels with Mikel on defence duty.

Whatever one says about Mourinho, you have to give him 10 out of 10 when it comes to Mikel Obi. He is one man who knew exactly where this boys’ strengths lay and knew precisely how to use him to get maximum output, in a way it is kind of similar to the way David Moyes realised that Yobo's best position was that of a centreback.

If Nigeria wants to get the best out of Mikel, we have to use him as a shield in front of the back four, winning balls, breaking up opposition moves, covering for overlapping fullbacks, making the simple pass out of defence and delivering the accurate 50-yard pass. Playing Mikel further up the field is simply not playing to his strengths. He may do a few good things there but nowhere near as much as he would deliver playing in his natural position.

Against Mexico, had Mikel been our anchorman, I believe he would have dropped back to fill the leftback spot whenever Taiwo ventured forward and cut out the supply of the two moves that led to the goals. In 2005, Mikel may have forraged forward a bit but the productivity Siasia got out of him is nowhere near what Mourinho and Grant have got out of the man in his natural position.

Mikel is never going to be that playmaker bombing forward, running with the ball, spraying passes left, right and centre, threading balls through to the strikers and taking shots on goal. Oladapo Olufemi is the best runner with the ball I have seen in Nigeria's central midfield since Muda Lawal and Alloysius Atuegbu. Rabiu Ibrahim is also the best playmaker I have seen since JJ Okocha. Our best bet is to start playing both of them now in the hope that they will grow into these roles as the African Cup of Nations comes close and wears on. Anyone denying that this is Nigeria's best team is just being dishonest.

Berti appears to be unable to get the best use of the flanks because of his stubborn refusal to play three centrebacks. Play two dashing wingbacks who can get forward, provide width and stretch the play and we are on the way to Eldorado.  
I just hope this is the last time we have seen this nonsensical formation. After it cost us a humiliating loss to Ghana, I would have thought that we would have had the sense to abandon it.

Taiye Taiwo and Chidi Odiah also both also play as wingbacks for their clubs and are ill-suited to the role of fullbacks in a back four and need the security of an extra centreback behind them to enable them get forward and play to their strength, which is supplying crosses. If Odiah is not fully recovered, I believe we should play either Ifeanyi Emeghara or Richard Eromoigbe as our right wingback.

Wingbacks are there to provide width, feed the strikers with crosses, shore up the midfield, give us numeracy in the middle of the park and track back to help the centrebacks. Playing a converted centreback like Onyekachi Apam as a wingback knowing that he will never get beyond the halfway line, is sheer follt.

If we continue to play a 4-3-3 with the current crop of players, we will end up having our strikers carrying out those ball-winning duties, negating their ability to effect matters at the other end of the pitch. Likewise, we will have no width as our fullbacks will not get forward, leaving us bereft of creating goals from the flanks as Mexico did against us.

Somehow, I do not think that message has got through to most Nigerians yet. In France 98, Nigeria got whipped by Denmark because of the 4-4-2 system and at Brentford, we got thrashed because we played 4-3-3.

Take it or leave it but 3-5-2 is Nigeria’s natural way of playing because we will always produce a playmaker in the mould of Austin Okocha, Rabiu Ibrahim, Wilson Oruma, Nduka Ozokwo, Henry Nwosu or Uche Kalu. Every neighbourhood has its local Pele who can perform this role and it is inevitable that there will always be such a player in the Super Eagles ranks.

Berti should either switch to a formation which suits the talent we have or should stop misleading us into believing that we have a prayer of winning Ghana 08. With the personnel we have, Nigeria could easily play 3-5-2 effectively and I believe that had we played this way in Juarez, we would have come away with a win. 

This is how it would work for instance:  

******************Martins***** ******************Uche******** *********** 

****************************** ****Rabiu********************* ********* 

******************Mikel******* ***************Olufemi******** ************ 

***Taiwo********************** ****************************** *Odiah*** 

**********Afolabi************* **Yobo*****************Apam*** ********* 

****************************** *****Ejide******************** ************ 

. 

Regards 

Ayo Akinfe

London