Sunday Oliseh tells Mikel Obi: Play defensive midfield for Super Eagles or drop to the bench

Sunday Oliseh tells Mikel Obi: Play defensive midfield for Super Eagles or drop to the bench

By   09:50   No comments:

Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has warned John Mikel Obi that he risks losing his Super Eagles playing spot if he refuses playing as a defensive midfielder for Nigeria. Mikel Obi has had a resurgence this season while playing as a defensive midfielder at Chelsea but opts to play offensive midfield when donning colours of the Super Eagles, a trend Oliseh wants to end.

Defensive midfield was also the same role Mikel played when he broke out internationally under coach Samson Siasia at the 2005 FIFA U20 World Cup in the Netherlands.

“With the national team, it’s not what you want that matters, it is what will bring us results,”said Oliseh in a radio interview. “If you don’t want to do that, I will play players who want to help us, like I did against Swaziland. My personal opinion is that he should be given a more central defensive role, like (Guus) Hiddink is using him. He should be the umbrella for the two central defenders,” Oliseh said.

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Every Player Has A Responsibility - Mertesacker

Every Player Has A Responsibility - Mertesacker

By   09:44   No comments:

Per Mertesacker says every player has a responsibility "to lead and give energy to the squad".

The World Cup winner is one of Arsenal's most senior players and captained the Gunners to a record 12th FA Cup last May.

As they prepare to continue their defence of the trophy against Burnley on Saturday, 
Mertesacker says everyone has a role to play in helping the team achieve more success.

“There’s always a balance between having good leaders and a good team, but everyone needs to lead,” he told the Arsenal Weekly podcast. 
“Everyone needs to lead, to talk and give energy to the squad. It’s a balance and you don¹t want to do too much or exaggerate at times, you just have to get the team going at times.

“In general we have a good balance in the team and a good squad. We’ve still got players coming back from injury but we’ve never complained about it, that is the main reason for our success."

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