Ex-international, Felix Owolabi (MON), has advised Coach Stephen Keshi to go and study the tapes of Nigeria’s match against Ivory Coast and Mali at the last Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa, insisting that the Super Eagles’ gaffer should pick his best squad from the players that featured in those two games en route to Nigeria’s triumph at the continental football fiesta.

The former Shooting Stars of Ibadan prolific left winger gave the advice while reviewing Nigeria’s outing at the FIFA Confederations Cup, which ends in Brazil tomorrow.

“My advice to Keshi is for him to go back and watch the tapes of Nigeria’s matches against Ivory Coast and Mali at the last Africa Cup of Nations. He should pick his team from the players that featured in those matches,” the man fondly called Owoblow began in a chat with Saturday Sunsports.
“Keshi is trying to test all the players available and that was why the Super Eagles lost rhythm at the Confederations Cup in Brazil. Any reasonable football person could easily predict the team. So, Keshi should concentrate on using the good players now. The more he keeps trying different players, the more he makes mistakes.

“People have been talking nonsense concerning our home-based players. But as far as I am concerned, we have good players in the domestic league, what we need is somebody to brush them up, which is what I expect Keshi to do. When Shaibu Amodu and Samson Siasia were in charge, they worked with only foreign-based players and what did they achieve?” he queried. Owolabi, who was of the opinion that the Super Eagles were not a total flop at the Confederations Cup after all, however, advised the coach to learn to vary his tactical options based on his knowledge of his opponent’s style of play as well as the individual characters and abilities of his players.

“Nigerians love football, but it is not everybody that understands the game. It takes long preparation to raise a winning team. The Super Eagles did their best at the FIFA Confederations Cup and I believe that there are lots of lessons to learn from the tournament,” he stated.

“I think that Nigerians expected so much from the Super Eagles at the Confederations Cup just because we won the last Africa Cup of Nations in South Africa. But for me, winning the Nations Cup was a bonus.

“When you are going for war, you must have many options. Keshi must learn to do that. Anytime you want to play a match, you need to look at your opponents and study their playing pattern to know the kind of players to field. “It is important for a coach to know the individual characters and abilities of each of his players so as to know how to use them. For instance, for Ahmed Musa who has speed, a coach should know when to start him in a match and when to bring him in as a substitute.

“Sometimes, you need to bring such a player in as a substitute to run out an already tired defender or to generally put pressure on the opponents’ defence so as to reduce pressure on your own defence,” Owoblow reasoned.

“However, you cannot talk about the players without the coach. What I am saying in effect is that it is the coach that makes the player,” he stated.