The striker’s two goals moved him up to joint-top of
the Premier League scorers’ chart and signifies why the Nigeria coach
should give him more respect
On a Saturday afternoon when Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh most probably was not watching as his congratulatory tweets to players from last weekend dried up, Odion Ighalo took apart Newcastle’s defence as he scored twice in a very important victory for Watford.
It was the first back-to-back victory ever for the recently promoted side in the Premier League as the Nigeria striker’s brace did all the damage they needed away from home.
Ighalo, ignored by Oliseh for this month’s pair of international matches, has remained positive thus far and in that time has scored three key goals in two victories.
Saturday’s goals were beautiful, they showed a striker capable of turning little chances into goals and his awareness of the opponent’s area was uncanny.
For his first, he sneaked it in just in front of a defender to beat Tim Krul while his second came from a Troy Deeney pass which left him rounding the Dutch goalkeeper and maintain cool composure to score.
And every time he did it, he raised his arms in the air to give thanks to the Almighty. He made 45 touches of the ball in a 90 minute period and won 31.3 per cent of duels with a key interception.
His passing accuracy was 66.7 per cent out of 24 passes and he had a total of five shots, three on target and he scored two.
Ighalo has now scored 20 goals in 2015, more than any other player in the English topflight.
The 26-year-old is surely in a place of high confidence where he is not afraid to take on defenders and shoot for goal.
It was why Oliseh’s decision to leave the striker out of his Super Eagles team earlier in the month was confusing, but that has now been corrected with a recall to the side that will take on Congo DR and Cameroon in friendlies next month.
With a striker in the form of Ighalo, who is obviously our most deadly forward at the moment, Nigeria would face their old foes with greater confidence and better scoring threat than was had against both Tanzania and Niger.
And if Odion continues to score, Watford would be certain of maintaining their place in the Premier League at the end of the season.
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