1. Last night against Greece, Moses at times looked unplayable! I exaggerate a little...But certainly Nigeria looked at its most dangerous when he had the ball. He looked a far cry from the tentative player at Liverpool...
2. He looked unplayable, until you look at the hard numbers: crosses delivered, chances created, passes completed, shots on goal, shots off target, turnovers, etc as compared to number of touches on the ball.
3. His major approach was to run at the defence in open play and unbalance it with the dribble at pace. Nothing wrong with running at a defence...Barcelona are at their most potent when Messi is running at a defence in open play....
4. However, Messi's runs are not ahead of the team, but rather a subset of the team game. His team play and the movement of players around him is designed to create the space that he subsequently attacks. Even more important, it is discriminant in the choice of where to initiate the run and when.
5. In the case of Moses, his dribble runs are non-discriminant. He is running from deep in the Nigerian half, from midfield and from high up the pitch.
6. He first creates space with the dribble and then brings the rest of the team into play, when he chooses.
7. Now, Moses is a talented player with good technique. At the World Cup he will succeed with his dribbles. But the non-discriminant nature of it means he will also be a turnover magnet and WILL be targeted.
8. Ultimately, it will come down to a risk-reward thing.
9. The Nigerian game; at the heart of the Nigerian football culture is its spontaneity. I understand that. The structured European style team game will constrain a Nigerian team as we saw sadly with Berti Vogts.
10. But spontaneity can be enhanced by a solid structure, not diminished. The devil as always, is in the balance....
