Five Things We Learned From Nigeria's 1-1 Draw With Algeria : Echiejile Better Than Aina, Iwobi & Iheanacho Struggled

A late controversial Yaccine Brahimi penalty robbed the Super Eagles a record victory in the FIFA World Cup qualifying series after they had all but looked set to pick up their fifth group match win.

But then, if the Super Eagles resilience and tenacity in matching up to everything their desperate opponents threw at them and even with their deficiencies not exposing their soft under belly (no thanks to Slimani and Mahrez's profligacy), this encounter, thus sprouted vivid themes — some of which we are inevitably accustomed to.

1) The Algerian attack was particularly lethargic — It was shocking that the Super Eagles nondescript start in the rear was not actually capitalised on by the fearsome trio of Brahimi, Slimani or even the tricky Mahrez, with Slimani particularly culpable here.

When one is forced to equally pontificate on the fact that neither of them even looked like carving out clear goalscoring opportunities in the first period in spite of Balogun's momentary jitters, then you have to feel for Raber Madjer, who would most certainly have desired more from his firepower.

What summed up their frustrations in front of goal? Mandi headed over with the goal gaping and Slimani missed an
unbelievable sitter, miscuing when he should have freakishly guided home: one would just wonder what The Fennecs are up to offensively.

2) Ola Aina might not match Echiejile's defensive astuteness just yet — It could have been a debut appearance to forget for the 21-year old had Riyad Mahrez really been in the mood and most people would agree that perhaps, the defensive line is better off with the much-maligned Echiejile, the Chelsea defender's tendency to occasionally switch off defensively though.

For all we know, the regular left-back is not a speedster going forward, but defensively, even when he is caught out,
would always find a way to recover and put his body on the line.

The same can not be said of Aina(at least for now) who looked fidgety and unconvincing with clearances and whenever Mahrez was on the break, his only positives being his overlapping runs to join attacks and even most of his final balls were disappointing.

3) The goalkeeper berth is still very much up for grabs — Not in any way to taint the FC Ifeanyi Ubah goal tender but then, it is still very clear that Ezenwa might not match up with what quality firepower might throw at him, say an attacking class of Lionel Messi and Paulo Dybala, or Harry Kane and Dele Alli was almost certain to find ways to breach him.

That said, the 29-year old is yet to truly convince and his inferior composure when facing spot kicks had equally not helped.

4) Balogun and Troost-Ekong might always be called upon to bail out defensively — They hardly put a foot wrong
in ditching out their defensive duties and even Balogun's out-of-sorts start never looked to be exploited.

No secret too that he eventually grew into the game to post a near-untainted display, nonetheless.

Troost-Ekong on his part, took no prisoners as usual and we soon lost count of his clearances and stifling Slimani almost completely out of play.

5) Iwobi and Iheanacho's performance poor by their standards — Iheanacho's listless display out wide left much to be desired and might have petered out badly, especially if The Desert Warriors had taken their chances at the opposite end.

So there is no gainsaying that he should have performed better, judging by his standard.

Iwobi who fared better should equally have been disappointed with his end product and it is such performances that the youngsters would quickly want to forget and put behind them, especially with the likes of Henry Onyekuru and Ahmed Musa waiting in the wings.

Emmanuel Chinaza