Sporting Lagos Coach, Paul Offor reflects on narrow win over Niger Tornadoes

“Three points is the most important thing, three points is the most important thing”, these words were said repeatedly by Paul Offor, the coach of the Nigeria Premier Football League (NPFL) newbies Sporting Lagos, after a narrow 2-1 win against Niger Tornadoes at the Mobolaji Johnson Arena.

It was a respite for the fatigued but elated coach who couldn’t hide his joy at the three points obtained.

This is after the humbling experience at the Southwestern “New School Derby” in Ikenne exactly a week ago, and back-to-back draws on home ground against Doma United, and away against Akwa United in the far South before that.

Controversial or not, this was a win Coach Paul would bask in the euphoria of at the moment. At least, pending the next away trip scheduled.

Post-match reflection

In a post-match interview with PREMIUM TIMES, the “Noisy Lagosians” head coach gave some insights into his tactical switch, and pattern played, he also talked about how difficult it was for him and his crew to prepare for the opponents adequately due to low data availability on them.

On the obvious changes in his squad…Paul stated that it was a tactical switch in formation from his usual 3-5-2 and it was intentional one to match the opposition faced.

“Today (Sunda) we played with three strikers up, with Ibe and Jonathan behind Lokosa, we did that because we needed goals, we knew that we needed to score two early goals.

“We decided to go with the 3-4-3 against the 3-5-2 system that we usually play. We wanted them running into the channels more and it worked. We got 2 early goals in the first half.”

The Injuries

When asked about how the team is coping with almost all his first-choice line of defence out injured, he responded with praises for those who filled in the gap in the absence of the regulars.

“Kudos to Ekene Olisema, the way he started playing after Patrick got injured and the way he is also leading the defence, he is growing in confidence and I really appreciate the way he and Ozaveshe play.

“What Nnamdi did today in the second half, it was a difficult decision for him because he is naturally a midfielder, but we had the injury and there was no centre-back on the bench, so he had to step up and did a wonderful job.

“I’d rather focus on the positives they’ve done today than focus on the injury list,” He said.

Approach to the game

When asked about his approach to the game, considering it was a first-ever meeting between both sides, unlike a few clubs met during the pre-season competitions.

He said, “It’s difficult, especially this game, it’s difficult. If you see that the NPFL TV does not cover any Niger Tornadoes games.

“So, we were not able to prepare well, we were not able to get full information about their players and their playing style.

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“The little we got, we tried to exploit it. I am happy that we got 3 points, that’s the most important thing for us today.”

Fixture congestion management

Coach Paul when asked about how he and his team plan to manage the fixture congestion of three matchdays in a week, alongside injuries in his squad, was bullish and optimistic.

He said: “If we have to rotate, we rotate, we assess the team and see. But, we have to present a team that would compete.”

Up Next

Ahead of the next game in Ilorin, home of the Afonja Warriors, the tactician was more bullish about the club’s chances away from home.

“Of course, we are going to Kwara to try to win, to try to get points, we need points. This is a marathon league, the more points we can accumulate, the better for us.

“We are not going to Kwara to defend, we are going to use the full strength of our squad to make sure that we compete and get results.”

Coach Paul Offor and his boys will hope to bring the party to Ilorin on Wednesday in a mid-week mouth-watering encounter, against the “Afonja Warriors” playing in front of their home crowd by 4 pm.