AFCON 2023: Ex- International, Ajilore picks hole in Peseiro's pattern

Former Nigeria international, Femi Ajilore has reacted to the performances of the Super Eagles at the ongoing Africa cup of Nations in Cote D’Ivoire, advising coach Paseiro on what he had observed so far.

Ajilore meanwhile maintained that the Jose Peseiro led technical crew got their tactics spot-on in their match against the host nation, Cote D’Ivoire in which the Nigerian Super Eagles ran away with a hard fought one zero. However, he noted that the technical crew still has some work to do if the team is to make it to the semi final or the final.

Ajilore said, “It think the tactic was good, by closing the defence line. It was a good one when it comes to defensive play, but the other way round it will be very difficult for us to play well if we have to play like that.

“But when you look at our opponent you could see that they were an attack minded team, and it was very important that we were well prepared and I think that was what the coach observed and it stayed. To be honest, we played against a good home team. We just needed to play in that way, and I think it made sense for him. We could have even scored more but unfortunately we were unable to utilize those chances.

“But I will advise that if we are to play another team we have to play with the intention of scoring because because if we don’t score there is no way we will win. We were lucky to have gotten a penalty and the penalty decided the faith of the game for us. We have to play a more open game against other teams so that we can create opportunities to score. If you score and you defend well you will win. But if we are only defending and we are not attacking to score even at the end of the day you will not win.

“I really think it is important that we built more in our attack. Defence wise, we were very good, well organized, the midfielders did their best, but we really need to play more in the third half of the opponent if really we want to get to the semi final or the finals of the tournament,” Femi Ajilore concluded.