Lawmaker charges Oliseh on players’ management

A Lagos lawmaker, Mr Yinka Ogundimu, on Monday urged the Super Eagles’ Coach, Sunday Oliseh to adopt requisite management skills in order to bring out the best from his players.

National Daily reports that the coach is preparing the national team for the Championship of African Nations (CHAN) 2016 in Rwanda.

The Eagles are also preparing for the final round of qualifiers for the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations in Gabon and the 2018 World Cup in Russia among other tournaments.

Ogundimu, the chairman, Lagos State House of Assembly’s Committee on Finance, said that the rift between Oliseh and some of his players that retired from the national team was not good enough.

“If players do not see their coach as a good manager, the best out of them cannot be achieved.

“The welfare of the player must be paramount as well as building confidence in them. The coach should be able to show them love and care,” he said.

The football enthusiast advised the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) to stop indiscriminate change of coaches to build a healthier team.

The lawmaker said that the federation would not get it right if it continued to change coaches for not getting the immediate desired results.

According to him, a coach should be allowed to build a formidable team that can win laurels for the country.

“We are part of our coaches’ problems because our expectations are always high.

“We don’t want any coach to build a team. We want instant result, we don’t want to wait to build a team, and all we want is result.

“There is no way we can get it right if all we do is to put aside all coaches that try to build a team.

“Keshi was about getting it right building a team before he was relieved of the job.”

The lawmaker said emphasis should be on building home-based players, though experienced players were needed to instil confidence in the team.

“I will want Oliseh to look for a plan; he should have a team and a feeder team, nurturing them to take over from the experienced ones.

“He should create competition in the national team. Nobody should have a permanent shirt; this will make the players to work extra to be able to retain shirts.

“He should have about three or four players on a wing. He should create healthy competition and shun the habit of having anointed players,” the lawmaker said.

Ogundimu said he was confident that Oliseh was the right man to lead the national team to the 2018 World Cup finals in Russia.