Former Super Eagles captain, Austin Okocha has revealed that the current team lacks ‘natural’ offensive midfielders.
Okocha believes the Eagles need midfielders who can get on the ball and pick a pass as well as drive at the opposition consistently.
Gernot Rohr in the last one year played Alex Iwobi and Joe Aribo in the No.10 role for the Eagles but both players have not been convincing in recent games.
“What the Eagles need now are natural midfielders who can create chances and change the course of a game. “We need midfielders who can run at defenders and pick their teammates with good passes,” Okocha said during a radio programme ‘No Holds Barred’ on Brila FM.
“We have good midfielders but not in at that level at the moment. Some of them are just scared and the fact that they are being compared to the 1994 Eagles brings a bit of pressure on them.”
Okocha is also convinced that Rohr has made positive impacts on the national team, considering where he met the team when he was hired four years ago.
Rohr took over an Eagles team that could not qualify for two consecutive AFCON tournaments in 2015 and 2017 and guided it to a third-placed finish at Egypt 2019.
“For now, I will score him seven out of 10 because when he came in, things were not steady, and he has steadied the ship now,” Okocha continued.
“He inherited an abandoned team, and so for now, he is following his own direction. He has created his own team.
“But we all know football is about results, of course, if the results don’t go his way, our people will criticise him, you know everybody in Nigeria is a coach.
“But if results go his way, of course, we will praise him. Even if you are the best coach, if you don’t get results, you will be under pressure.”
When asked about Rohr’s contract extension, the former Bolton Wanderers star backed the NFF move.
“I’m in support of the contract extension because for every country to be successful, you need continuity, and you need direction.”
