Former Super Eagles’ midfielder, Edema Fuludu, has faulted the Nigerian national team’s current technical adviser, Eric Sekou Chelle, for taking over full control of the home-based squad at this year’s Championship of African Nations (CHAN 2024).
Sports247 reports that Fuludu is of the view that Chelle should have left the real job of training the team and selecting each line-up for their CHAN matches to his assistants, Daniel Ogunmodede and Fidelis Ilechukwu, who he believes know the home-based players better.
The player-turned-administrator opined further that there were some good players in the Nigerian squad to CHAN 2024, but reckoned that their talent and quality were overshadowed by inputs from a coach who did not know enough about each of them.
“Unfortunately, the CHAN Eagles disappointed us, but I am still saying that we saw some quality players in that team. We have players who can excel in the right atmosphere, but coaching is very important in football.
“When you have an array of stars without proper coaching, without good tactics and technique in the thick of the game, you may just falter,” Fuludu reasoned.
The ex-international further pointed out that Chelle would have escaped from all forms of hammering if he had left the major tasks to his assistants, but added that the Franco-Malian tactician must now take the blame for the B-squad’s shortcomings at CHAN 2024.
Fuludu declared, “When it happens like this, the buck stops at the coach’s table. So, the coach who did not qualify them, who was not involved when the boys got the ticket to CHAN, took over the team.
“I was thinking that he would allow the coaches who were on the ground to do the job while he just supervised them, but he took over completely.”
Fuludu concluded with a verdict that coaches who are familiar with the style of players in the Nigerian Professional Football League (NPFL) would have stood a better chance with the CHAN 2024 squad, unlike an expatriate tactician who barely knows anything about the country’s home-based lads.
“He took a leap, but I’m sure he didn’t really know the players. For Nigerian players, maybe it’s like those in Super Eagles’ team-A, he may know a little about. But, for this CHAN Eagles, he didn’t know about them.
“He didn’t watch enough of our league games. So, what he needed to have done would have been to watch the other coaches work and just try to make an impact on how they play,” Fuludu submitted
