LIKE OLISEH LIKE MOURINHO

No one saw it coming and no one expected that the special one, the happy one could be swimming deep in troubled waters at Chelsea. Mourinho, one of the best coaches in the world has over the years built a reputation for himself owing largely to his intimidating C.V that is stained with

an array of successes and major trophies from different major leagues in Europe. With the accolades and respect that the football world accorded him, he became ‘The Mr. Right’ who does no wrong and is never at fault. Someone who believes he has a better opinion that every other person, not just in the game of football alone or sports, but in life generally. The one who knows better than the best; and who dare question his team selection?

            Sooner than we even expected, the harsh realities of the game started pulling down the tall walls of his ego at Real Madrid when he got soaked in controversies with the club’s big and powerful players. This, coupled with a trophy less season, he walked away from Real Madrid into the awaiting arms of Chelsea. Mourinho returned to Chelsea with a new self proclaimed title, “The Happy One”. He took Chelsea on another journey of a trophy less campaign only to come back the following season to run away with two domestic trophies [Premiere League and Capital One Cup]. The trophies rejuvenated his ego and he went to sleep while other teams were busy in the market shopping for fresh legs to strengthen their squads.

            After kick starting the new season in an awful way, the best solution he saw as a manager was to transfer his frustration to the club’s female team doctor, Eva Carneiro, whom he blamed for his team’s 2-2 draw with Swansea because she rushed to treat Eden Hazard on the pitch when she could have tactically done otherwise in order to delay time. Despite the outrage and public outcry, he striped Eva Carneiro of her role as Chelsea’s first team doctor. A couple of bad results, and his frustration harmer fell on the club’s legendary captain, john Terry.  But despite all these, the bad results have continued to pour down on the blue side of London, turning the Portuguese manager into a shadow of himself. Despite all these, he is still waving the flag of pride, wanting everybody to accept every of his decisions [including the awful ones] as the best in the game even without a corresponding good result.  

            Now our, brand new, loved, and cherished Super Eagles coach, Sunday Oliseh who was hired out of faith even without having an ink on his C.V concerning a professional managerial role, has started preaching ‘The Mourinho Gospel’. This is a man who was appointed largely due to his show of an in-depth knowledge about the tactical aspect of the game on Super Sports, and not the successes that he had previously recorded as a football coach. Just like Jose Mourinho, the NFF accord him loads and loads of respect, they demonstrated this by paying him three months salary even before he started work as the head coach of  Nigeria. Again, just like Mourinho, Oliseh has started painting the team with controversy. He has striped Nigeria’s most caped player Vincent Enyeama of his captainship for arriving the team’s camp on Tuesday October 6 [a day after the deadline] forgetting the fact that he [Enyeama] had just buried his late mum on Saturday October 3. what is more surprising is Sunday Oliseh’s decision to appoint Ahmed Musa as the new Captain of the senior national team ignoring other players like Mikel Obi and the rest who had been in the team years before Ahmed Musa even debuted for the Eagles. Though I agree that age and experience are not always the criteria for captainship, but one fact in football is that experience, respect and stewardship always play a great role.

            If there is any patriotic, committed, and dedicated player in the current crop of Eagles that we have, that player will be Vincent Enyeama. Bringing an Ahmed Musa and openly evicting one of the best shot stoppers that this country has produced from the throne of captainship just because you want everyone to know that you are a tough, disciplined, and no nonsense coach is definitely a wrong step in the wrong direction. Being a football manager goes beyond your technical/tactical knowledge about the game, it includes your ability to manage players in order to get the best out of them. Though I’m not advocating for Enyeama to be the Super Eagles captain forever, but I think there are 1001 other ways Sunday Oliseh could have resolved this issue without the fans raising their eyebrows. Being too bossy like Mourinho is not what we need at this time. Just imagine if a country like Spain collecting the Captain armband from their legendary goal keeper, Ike Casilars and giving it to Fabregas. Just because you invited a new goal keeper who did incredibly well on his debut match is not good enough reason to humiliate Enyeama out of the team. Oliseh could as well decide to keep Enyeama on the bench for the two friendly matches as his punishment for coming late to camp and then allow Ahmed Musa to captain the team instead of rushing to the media to cause a storm in a tea cup. Well, this is what you get when the NFF decide to turn our national team into a laboratory where coaches are experimented.