KRC Genk midfielder, Wilfred Onyinye Ndidi appears to have gotten the nod to start for Nigeria’s Super Eagles against Algeria in Saturday’s 2018 Fifa World Cup qualifier in the right back position.
Ndidi, who plays in midfield for Genk was drafted to play at right back by Nigeria head coach, Gernot Rohr in the 2-1 win over Zambia on October 9.
The 19-year-old struggled to assert himself in an unfamiliar position as he was regularly given the run-around by the Zambian duo of Rainford Kalaba and Stopila Sunzu.
Rohr is however convinced by Ndidi’s credentials and is willing to throw him into the deep end in the same position against Algeria’s deadly attacking trio of Islam Slimani, Yacine Brahimi and Riyad Mahrez.
“We have been trying some different systems in training this week.
“We have a problem in the right back position. The reason for this is because our right back when we played against Tanzania (in Uyo on September 3) has not been playing regularly at his club.
“So it is difficult but we have been trying to find another right back and that was Tyrone (Ebuehi) but he chose not to come at the last moment.
“So for this game against Algeria, we have another solution or the same solution (as we did for the last game against Zambia) because Ndidi was not so bad (in Ndola).
“We know that he will likely be coming up against Mahrez who is a very good player,” Rohr said.
The German tactician then revealed that Chelsea man, Victor Moses may be required to put in a defensive shift against the Algerians on Saturday.
Moses has been playing as a wingback in Antonio Contion’s radically overhauled new tactical formation for the Blues.
Rohr says he may have to borrow a leaf from Conte’s blueprint to achieve expected goals against the Fennec Foxes.
“We must be strong on the wings and defensively too.
“(Victor) Moses plays on the right (for Chelsea), not as a defender but mostly from a midfield position.
“He defends when they lose the ball and attacks when they have the ball so we have to do a lot of work on the right side.
“We will try to play like Chelsea (in this regard) on Saturday but they usually have three defenders but we have two in that position.
He said:
“The major challenge we have had is that the time is too short to perfect these things.
“We have played two games together (against Tanzania and Zambia) and changing too much for the game against Algeria will be too much to ask,”
Credit: Supersports.com