Two positive signs from Peseiro's first game that bode well for Super Eagles

Despite losing their first game under Portuguese coach Jose Peseiro, the Nigerian Super Eagles have made progress.

While there were mistakes made in the game as expected from a team under a new manager, none was as fatal as the own goal that was scored by William Troost-Ekong.

While there may be some concerns due to the loss, allnigeriasoccer.com provides two positive signs from Peseiro's first game in charge.

1) One most notable trait during the game was Peseiro's attempt at controlling the game. Contrary to popular belief, controlling a game does not always mean having the larger portion of possession.

Teams control games in different ways. Control can be achieved by limiting the opposition from getting into the areas where they are most effective or deceiving them into areas where your team's strength lies.

Let's take a look at the UEFA Champions League final between Real Madrid and Liverpool. Everyone knows that Jürgen Klopp's men are pressing demons.

Carlo Ancelotti bypassed that by limiting the number of times his team tried to play out of the back.

The Italian also set up his team to limit Liverpool's strongest point which is the half-space cross into the back post.

By doing this, Liverpool got frustrated and overcommitted numbers into the attack which gave Madrid a single opportunity to grab glory which the Spanish giants did gratefully.

Peseiro's team were missing a lot of key players and his attempt to control Mexico's penetration was encouraging.

Even if it didn't pay off, it showed that the manager knew what he was doing.

2 Peseiro's flexibility was evident against Mexico. He chopped between a 5-4-1, 5-3-2 and later moved into a 4-2-2-2.

He also tried a mid-block in the first half before reverting to a low-block in the early stages of the second half.

While it is important for a manager to settle on one style of play, it isn't always linear with international teams due to the limited time they spend together and the denial of being able to buy the right profile of players like clubs do.

This makes flexibility important and Peseiro has shown that in abundance.

These signs bode well for the Super Eagles future and the fans would surely be hoping good things come from the reign of Peseiro.

Sofoluwe Mayowa

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