Having been overlooked for the last two qualifiers, the Stoke City winger has returned to the national side; what must he now do to stay in the team?
The 24-man squad for the Afcon 2015 qualifiers double-header against Sudan in October marked something truly momentous: it is the first time since perhaps the 2013 tournament that Victor Moses has been picked for the Super Eagles on the basis of form.
It was a veritable coup when Moses decided to pitch his international tent with Nigeria. Then at the height of his powers and reputation at Wigan Athletic, and having played for England at all youth levels, he seems set to tow the path of the likes of Gabby Agbonlahor and John Fashanu, Nigerians who opted to play for the Three Lions.
Perhaps Moses learnt from the career trajectory of those two before him; perhaps his affiliations to the motherland ran deeper, having been born in Lagos, Nigeria. Perhaps the tragic loss of his parents in riotous violence in Kaduna imprinted its own unique seal on the explosive winger; whatever his motivation, he opted for the nation of his birth, and did so with a vengeance.
It is difficult to distil Moses’s performance at the Africa Cup of Nations in 2013. He finished the tournament with two goals, both from the penalty spot, but this really does not do justice to his contribution.
Or maybe in a way it does: those penalties marked a turning point; the Super Eagles crossed the rubicon and began to soar, buoyed by the silken movement of Moses’s winged feet, Nigeria’s own Hermes bridging the divine and the mundane.
Much like fellow Afcon hero Sunday Mba, bad decisions had already begun to undermine him at the zenith of his personal affirmation. An ill-advised move to Premier League giants Chelsea, and subsequently a loan spell at Liverpool required him to up his game and compete, something that perhaps does not come naturally to Moses. I wrote of him in April:
“The pattern is clear; the [then] Liverpool man will thrive only where he is the alpha dog, or at least certain of his place. Pressured by competition, he seeks the shade.”
It is this realisation that Stoke manager Mark Hughes has hit upon to turn around a promising career that was tailing off, after a forgettable World Cup had seen him dropped from the Super Eagles. His five games for the Potters have yielded three assists; as Nigeria toiled and huffed against the Republic of Congo and South Africa, his absence was keenly felt.
However, it is now abundantly clear to Moses that no longer is he untouchable within the Super Eagles set-up. So now that he is back in the fold, what must he do to keep his place?
Continue to perform at a high level for the Potters
Moses has found his form again with Stoke. It is a lot more than just the assists, the confidence in his running, his willingness to beat his man (he has completed 3.02 take-ons per game in the Premier League so far, per Squawka) and also the awareness of when to move the ball on quickly when the situation demands.
There is a case to be made that this was exactly the sort of move he should have made upon his decision to leave Wigan in 2012: a gradual step-up rather than a quantum leap. Hughes raves about him, and has delivered on his promise to make Moses a mainstay of the first team. He would do well to repay that confidence and keep up a consistent level of performance, not only to salvage a career that has taken a two-year hit, but also to keep his place in the national team.
Play less to the gallery
It is an understandable temptation for players of great individual skill to try to do too much. However, not all mavericks translate to world-class players, and it is telling that those who manage to are usually the percentage who learn to subjugate their mercurial talents for the good of the team.
Moses must learn to do the simple things quicker, especially when playing with the Super Eagles. Sometimes, the simple option is the more effective one; just look at a player like Xavi, who has made a model out of setting the pace and tempo with reliable short passing and spatial awareness.
John Obi Mikel’s comment during the World Cup about the team playing as a collective and no individual trying to “be Maradona” was clearly a dig at Moses, who was demonstrating an infuriating propensity for losing the ball needlessly.
To whom much is given, much is expected; but he must learn to trust his Super Eagles team-mates and the system within which he functions.
Step out of the comfort zone
Moses is an exceptional talent, breathless in full flight with the ball at his feet. Hughes said of him following a quality display against Newcastle on Monday, “He just wants to play, and every time he gets into those positions, in the wide areas, you always sense something is going to happen.”
While this is high praise, there is a level above ‘give him the ball and let him run at people’. He needs to develop his all-round game as well. One of his major weaknesses, as I pointed out in that April article, is his “lack of a consistently telling final ball”. This is something that he must work to improve, especially when you consider that he plays with carte blanche for the Super Eagles. The national team looks to him to create further forward, as John Obi Mikel occupies a deeper midfield position.
There is only so long that he can get by on his pace and dribbling before the national team handlers (whoever they may be) decide that a player like, say, Sone Aluko who possesses a much better final ball, is a better option to play between the lines of midfield and attack.
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