Goalkeeper of Spanish second division side Elche Francis Uzoho conceded five goals as his team slumped to an embarrassing 1-5 defeat at the hands of Cadiz in a league game.
Owngoalnigeria.com asked three of Nigeria’s finest journalist to review the goals conceded by the first choice goalkeeper of the Nigerian team to know if he should be blamed for the goals conceded.
Here is their verdict.
Solace Chukwu
While there can be little blame apportioned directly to Uzoho on the goals, there are clear points of improvement. Most notable is his positioning when the ball is in wide areas.
By standing outside of the near post, he places himself at a disadvantage in terms of reacting to the ball played across the six-yard box. He therefore has more of the goal to cover when turning, causing him to panic, and meaning he is never set for the finish. More intelligent positioning, on the first and second strikes, might have given him more reaction time.
Andrew Randa
‘Uzoho’s positioning in three of the goals is suspect. Granted not being beaten at the near post is one of the core fundamentals in goalkeeping but he was too far gone into that area on those occasions.
‘If he had followed the progress of the game at the point his team was under pressure, it should have been imperative to him that he should have been aware of the gaps left between him and the other parts of his posts. He missed that and it cost him and his team.
Mohammed ‘Mowiz’ Suleiman
Maybe for the fifth goal because he was beating at his near post but I guess he was injured prior to conceding that goal. Bar that one he can’t be blamed for any of the goals.
A goalkeeper is as good as his defence line and against Cadiz he was left exposed. Maybe he should have organized his defence better but the crosses should have been prevented from getting into the box by the defenders manning the full back positions. However he still need to work on his footwork and judgment of crosses.
