Former Super Eagles stars Tijani Babangida, Sam Sodje and Ayo Makinwa say the current national team has lost their identity and they have called for an overhaul of the national coaching strategy, The PUNCH reports.
They also believe the Eagles don’t have a coherent playing style.
“What is our identity? We don’t even have one despite the bunch of talented players we have in the team,” Babangida, who was capped 40 times and scored five goals for the Eagles, said.
“When we were playing, we had a style of play because Clemens Westerhof at that time brought the Dutch football style to the country and the players imbibed it. That was how we played.
“It helped us a lot even when he left the team, but now we don’t even know which style the team plays.”
Makinwa, who featured for the Eagles at two AFCON tournaments in 2006 and 2008, said, “You could put a player from the U-17 team in the senior Spanish team or Italian team. He might not have the attributes in terms of physique and speed to be able to deal with it but he knows what to do because that’s what they’re taught, day in, day out.
“Under Westerhof, we had an identity then, free-flowing football but under Rohr, we are yet to get an idea of the pattern of what he wants to implement in the team.
“Since his appointment, I don’t think we’ve actually really seen an identity, where you could say, ‘That’s the Super Eagles team’.”
Sodje on his part said, “I don’t think we have the technical depth to match the calibre of players we have now in the team at the moment which is sad.
“The defenders are good individually but to win games you must have to be great defensively, which is what we lack at the moment.
“The Eagles don’t have a system under Rohr. The likes of Pep Guardiola, Jose Mourinho, Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel all have a philosophies, but we are yet to see that from our own coach (Rohr).”
