Mikel Obi: Sunday Oliseh destroyed togetherness in Super Eagles team

Former Chelsea midfielder, Mikel Obi says Sunday Oliseh destroyed the togetherness in Super Eagles team during his time as Nigeria National team coach.

Oliseh was appointed head coach of the Super Eagles in 2015 and endured a turmultous reign on and off the field.

To add to inconsistent results, Oliseh’s reign witnessed coach-player disputes which led to the untimely retirement of goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama.

Speaking on his ObiOne podcast, Mikel recounted a tense encounter with Oliseh, where the coach accused the players of having excessive influence in the team and threatened to exclude them.

The altercation, particularly with goalkeeper Vincent Enyeama, escalated, leading to Enyeama’s abrupt exit from the camp.

Mikel went on to criticize Oliseh’s coaching style, stating that he had no clue about managing a team. He described Oliseh as bitter, jealous, and lacking respect for everyone in the squad, from players to staff.

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Mikel highlighted the detrimental impact Oliseh had on team togetherness and cohesion.

Oliseh’s tenure as Super Eagles coach was marred by controversies, including clashes with players, inconsistent results, and public disputes with the Nigeria Football Federation.

“I remember the first day he came into the camp. Then we reported to the camp for International duties, then he came straight at me and Vincent Enyeama, the goalkeeper, who also was very powerful back then,” Mikel said on his ObiOne podcast.

“He came straight at us and Elderson Echiejile, and he said a few things. He said he heard there was a lot of player power with us.

“Then Enyeama was like, ‘What’s wrong with you? Where are you getting all of these from? We are a nice group, and you just come in, and the first thing is to attack us?

“He was like ‘I heard about you guys.’ And then Enyeama stood up and told him he couldn’t say that because we had been here for so many years. They started arguing, and literally, they were going to have a fight.

“He took Enyeama out of the team, and he came at us saying he was going to take us out of the team. He said he was going to take us out of the team; he said he was going to make sure we didn’t play anymore.”

“Enyeama could not take it, and despite my pleas, he left the camp angrily and never came back.

Obi added per the former Fortuna Dussedolf managers coaching ability: “He (Oliseh) had absolutely no clue of how a manager is. He was a fantastic guy in his playing days, but as a coach, he was very terrible. He absolutely had no clue of what he was doing,”

“The players never understood anything he was doing, and he did not know what he was doing. He was just confused because he just came in and destroyed the team togetherness.

“His excuse when he got fired was that the people and FA did voodoo on him not to succeed. He was easily the worst manager I played under.

“He was so bitter with everybody, jealous with everybody, and had no respect for speaking to anybody, whether the physio or anybody.”