The wide attackers divide opinion among fans of the Super Eagles, but is the perceived indifference to the pair justified?
You’d be hard-pressed to find Nigerians lining up to watch Sunday’s Ligue 1 encounter between Bordeaux and Nantes, despite the potential presence of Samuel Kalu and Moses Simon.
Both players may have represented the Super Eagles a combined 56 times, with the Nantes star nearing a half-century of appearances, but neither have won over the West African faithful.
Simon’s erratic nature in possession often defeats all the industry and intent, while there’s a nagging feeling that Kalu really can’t be relied on due to concerns over his health, intermittent injuries, unexplained absences and a lack of application.
For the more experienced wide attacker, the disparate performances for club and country still beggar belief.
When Simon features for Antoine Kombouare’s Canaries, there’s a different player, a difference maker and the team’s principal source of creativity. In Nigeria’s colours, however, the 26-year-old’s end product exasperates fans and neutrals alike.
Even though the ex-Gent man fashioned the African giants’ biggest chance in the 1-0 defeat by the Central African Republic last Friday, hardly anything else he attempted came off. His deliveries from set-pieces were either under or over-hit, mostly failing to get beyond the man at the near post or drifting beyond anyone on the rare occasions he cleared the first man.
Juxtapose this with life in Ligue 1 where he currently carries the Canaries’ creative burden from open play or set-pieces, and questions emerge over the contrasting nature of his end product for club and country.
Simon’s fashioned five chances termed big chances in nine appearances in 2021/22—only Kylian Mbappe and Andy Delort have created higher.
With 2.7 key passes per game at this stage of the season, the Nigerian ranks higher than every player in the division except Olympique de Marseille’s Dimitri Payet and his volume of key passes in total (24) betters all but Stade Rennes’ Benjamin Bourigeaud.
For a player who’s had an almost storming start to the season with Nantes, Moses Simon’s inability to replicate those performances under Gernot Rohr has, at times, been beyond one’s grasp.
Indeed, Kombouare will count on the in-form attacker to come up trumps on Sunday when Les Canaries visit Bordeaux, looking to end an extended run without a positive result at the Matmut Atlantic.
The Girondins have dominated proceedings in this encounter in the last seven years, remaining unbeaten in that time. With five wins and two draws on their travels to Bordeaux in recent years, it’s no surprise the Nantes boss called on his team to be brave in Sunday’s Atlantic Derby.
“We will have to be strong; we also have to be able to do whatever it takes to cause them problems,” Kombouare remarked on Friday. “We must be vigilant at the back, but we must be brave offensively. I do not want to see a repeat of Reims (they lost 3-1), in which we were timid, especially in attack.
“Boys like Ludo (Blas), Randal (Kolo Muani), Moses (Simon) can carry this team.”
Simon has probably been the club’s go-to in the final third in 2021/22, evidenced by the raw numbers and underlying statistics.
The 26-year-old’s 4.64 shot-creating actions place him ninth in Ligue 1 and 0.88 goal-creating actions puts him fifth in the French top flight. No other Nantes player features in the top 20 for average SCAs or GCAs, further emphasising his importance to the team in open play and from dead-ball situations.
On Sunday, the oft-criticised Simon faces his countryman who isn’t far from censure either. Kalu’s development has stalled in the last 18 to 24 months owing to inconsistent game time but he remains a threat in possession with his ball-carrying and inclination to force the issue—he currently outranks every colleague for progressive carries per 90.
Despite his paucity of minutes in the opening weeks, the Bordeaux man still ranks sixth for passes into the final third and completed passes into the 18-yard box, while he sits seventh for progressive passes per 90.
While Simon is an important facet of Nantes’ attack, Kalu has so far been a peripheral component under Vladimir Petkovic who took charge after a successful Euro 2020 with Switzerland in the summer.
Both men are likely to play varying parts on Sunday evening as their sides look to secure positive results in the Atlantic Derby.
Regardless of their showings, though, you sense it wouldn’t move the needle with Nigerians, whose opinions of Simon and Kalu appear to be set in stone.
