Wednesday 28 October 2015

Eagles coordinator defends Oliseh


Festus Abu
Super Eagles Coordinator Patrick Pascal feels Nigeria coach Sunday Oliseh has been unfairly criticised over Vincent Enyeama and Emmanuel Emenike’s retirement from the national team.
Lille goalkeeper Enyeama announced his retirement from international football on his Instagram account after he was stripped of Nigeria’s captaincy by Oliseh in favour of Russia-based forward Ahmed Musa ahead of the friendly game against DR Congo in Belgium on October 8.

United Arab Emirates-based striker Emenike followed suit with a similar announcement on Instagram last week, saying he had decided to draw curtains on his international career “to avoid insults”.
Oliseh has come under heavy criticism from fans and pundits over the players’ exit. Some critics have questioned his tactical nous while some have blamed his management style for the alleged disagreements between him and some of the senior players in the team, leading to Enyeama and Emenike’s decisions to leave.


And former Nigeria defender Pascal, who lamented the duo’s decisions to call it quits with the Eagles, said Oliseh should not be blamed or vilified for the players’ retirement.
“It’s not true that Oliseh does not treat his players with respect,” the former Shooting Stars player told our correspondent on the telephone on Tuesday.
“I’m not happy with Enyeama and Emenike’s retirement from the national team. They really tried their best and they will be missed.
“But we have players who can replace them. No player was born into the national team.
“Enyeama and Emenike got the opportunity to play for the Eagles because certain players left.
“It’s not fair to blame Oliseh for their exit because he treated them with respect.

“Oliseh insisted on Enyeama playing for the national team when he (keeper) had problems with the Nigeria Football Federation.”
“The coach was criticised by the local media for inviting Emenike and leaving (Odion) Ighalo out of the team for the game against Tanzania.
“They said Emenike should not be invited to the Eagles because he was not scoring goals for the team. But Oliseh turned a deaf ear to the criticism.

“I expected Emenike to have discussed his retirement plans with Oliseh before announcing it on Instagram.”
The 1996 CAF Champions League silver medallist says he is not impressed with Enyeama’s behaviour after the Eagles’ armband was given to Musa.
Pascal, who was on the alternate list when the national Under-23 team won the Atlanta ’96 men’s football gold, said,   “The coach has the right to appoint another player as captain of the team.
“Thiago Silva didn’t quit the Brazilian national team after the coach (Dunga) stripped him of his captaincy and gave the armband to Neymar.

“Thiago Silva didn’t complain. In fact, he is still playing for his country. Enyeama shouldn’t have left the Eagles because the coach made another player his captain.
“Our players should respect Oliseh. David Beckham’s career at Manchester United ended after he disagreed with Alex Ferguson. Our players should listen to Oliseh because he is their boss.
“Enyeama and Emenike must realise that they won’t play football forever. They could find themselves in Oliseh’s position tomorrow.”

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