National Daily Esther Egbe spoke with Remo Stars Technical Adviser, Osho Fatai have said his side are filled with optimism going into the 2017/2018 Nigeria National League (NNL) set to commence on the 31st of March, 2017.Osho spoke on his targets, tactics, club youth system, challenges and many more.
The Nigeria National League (NNL) have another date for the commencement of the season, what are your plans?
Our plan is like any other team in the league, it will not be different because if you are playing in that league, the ultimate thing is to get to the Nigeria Professional Football League (NPFL) and we are quite aware of that. I believe we have had the best of preparation and ultimately we want to play in the NPFL because we believe that is where we belong. We will work so hard to achieve that and I think at the end we will get that done.
Coach, you will start the league with sets of new players unlike the players you had last season in the NPFL, do you think you will be missing any other player?
Actually we are talking of players who have been together for a long period of time, now they are out because they have to move on and there is no reason we have to put them back but we believe we have a good youth system and that have taken charge of the vacuum they could have created. If you remember we played most of our U19 boys towards the end of the league, some are the around and they will be very relevant in the course of the league. We are a team that have reservoir of talents and if players are going out, we don’t believe without them we won’t be able to play. We have what it takes to mould the boys up and we have other now set of players we have also recruited, it is more like a brand new team. The only challenge I think we will have is cohesion because they haven’t played together for a very long time and I doubt if there is any other team who have had good preparations than us. We have played in different competitions and that tells slot about our preparations.
Are you satisfied with your new players going all the way to meet your club’s target?
Exactly, if we aren’t sure of their capabilities I will have changed them long ago but I am really satisfied. Looking at the results of our friendlies, it is a pointer to the fact that we are are on course and that’s the way we are looking at it. They have responded so well to the trainings, they are doing very well and are very optimistic going forward.
“No success without challenges” What are your challenges?
Even teams that win World cup will tell you they have challenges. That is how nature is, even the world but we are not looking at those challenges, we are looking at the positives as a team. There are many things we have that many other teams will dream to have and if that is the situation, I don’t think we have to start crying fowl unnecessarily. We look good and the players are well motivated and we can only get better.Remo Stars had two wonderful kick takers, Do you think you have developed or built new sets of player to replace them in taking the kicks?
Anybody who is conversant with the way I coach will know I am very dangerous with set pieces and most of those are not designed based on individual players. It is always designed as a group and that is why in that area I think we will be comfortable. The set pieces is not basically an individual player thing but it’s more like a group and I think we would be more okay in that area. These are what I call little fight in football when you go to football field and you can from no where bring out a set piece and get results. I don’t joke with it with teams I have handled in this country and I think this present set of players are well equipped in that area.
You are experienced in the NNL with different clubs, majority of the coaches out there are always scared of your tactics. Are you scared of any of them and will you stick to your tactics?
I will be honest with you, for you to get results as a coach, you have got to respect other coaches. We have many great coaches in this country and I can’t be carried away with reports that I am taking tactically superior but I am more concerned about how prepared is the team coming to particular competitions and I respect all oppositions coming into the competition or league this time around because they have sound and better coaches. When you respect those coaches, it means you must do everything humanly possible to get results but if you come in with a swollen head, you will leave to regret that because good coaches are springing up daily in this country, we are blessed with great players and coaches in Nigeria. I insist I have respect for all of them. As regards to how my team will play, there won’t be a complete deviation from but we grow everyday and there are one or two things I will also add to my team and style of play but in terms of how we play generally, people know what to expect from me.
Remo Stars will start the season away from home, will the result be a determinate to what to expect all through the season?
I don’t see it that way because every match in the league will play a role in terms of us getting what we want. We can’t just play it to the fact that if we get good result in Osun will determine but getting good result there will build the confidence of the team and put us in a good step to actually achieve what we intend to achieve but it doesn’t really boil down to that particular match, every match in the group is of great importance and its until we get the ticket. If you look at the way the league is designed now, we can’t get the ticket out rightly topping the group. It means we are just about to start the first phase of the battle and the second phase is actually where to get the job done.