Super Eagles captain Wilfred Ndidi has demanded that Éric Chelle remain in charge as head coach of the team,reports Completesports.com.
Chelle failed meet the target set for him by the Nigeria Football Federation, NFF, before the start of the 2025 Africa Cup of Nations.
The Malian was mandated to guide the Super Eagles to final of the competition.
The three-time champions however fell 4-2 on penalities to hosts Morocco in the semi-final.
Ndidi insisted that the 48-year-old should continue leading the team.
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“I want us to keep the coach,” the Besiktas midfielder said at a pre-match briefing in Casablanca.
“We should be focused on continuity at this point.”
Ndidi also said Eric Chelle has demanded much from the team.
“He is so demanding. I’ve never seen a coach as demanding…Not just on the field but off it, even down to how we eat,” he remarked.
“He’s a nice guy and connects with his players, but when it’s time for the job, he doesn’t joke.”
By Adeboye Amosu
10 Comments
I wont be carried away by SE performance in Morocco under chelle’s guidance as coach because with the quality and caliber of players we hv SE should be talking about winning the cup. Last AFCON pesero took us to the final with same players. Chelle’s has some flaws that can prove costly in some situations. He is too rigid. No plan B. Against morrocco our full backs which had been our attacking outlet couldnt go forward becase of Diaz and Akim. I keep wondering why the coach did not switch to a 4; 2; 3; 1 which allows our natural wingers Moses and chukwese/lukeman to run at and dribble Morrocco who were focusing so much on Osihmen. Another mistake was playing only Onyedika at the base of the midfield when he knew that Ndidi was suspended. I hv watched the video over and over again and found that we couldn’t high press Morrocco like in other matches because Onyedika kept losing the ball when in transition. Also he was slow in decisions making. Yet Chelle kept believing in Diamond. Guys, dont be deceived a Diamond midfield is not the almighty. Every system is good but u chose formation accordingly to the opposition and availability of players. A diamond midfield needs a strong, physical imposing holding midfielder at the base which suits Ndidi very much. But onyedika does not fit in. Even onyenka should hv been a better fit than Onyedika. Folks sorry i’m over emphasizing this position . This is because i know that is the primary reason we fail to beat morroco in regulation time. Now talking about tactical flexibility I wil go with Late Stephen kechi , the boss. He was so flexible. Can play like 3 system in one match. Thats why he won us the AFCON. If Our football must grow lets go out for standard sound foreign Coach. I like chelle. My worry is that he is too rigid. Starts well but ends badly
First we have to be patient with a new coach, because he has to get to know his players. It is correct that Chelle’s substitution and in-game management is poor. I want to believe this reflects the difficulty in knowing a 26-man squad. It’s easier to know your starting 11 men because they play more than every other player in the squad.
My main complaint against Chelle is tactical rigidity. I will also say that this is also my complaint against Eguavoen and Peseiro.
Each of these three coaches have implemented different SE tactics . Eguavoen’s wing-play (AFCON quarter-finals), Peseiro’s 5-man defense (AFCON final) and now Chelle’s midfield diamond (AFCON Semi-final). It is to the credit of the players (because they’re the same players) that they have adapted to all these changing tactics.
However in a tournament, any tactic you use at the start of the tournament is subject to the analysis of your opponents certainly by the time you reach the quarter-finals. This requires a coach with the confidence (and flexibility) to change tactics.
There is no football tactic under the Sun that does not have a countermeasure, and if you’re not equipped to vary even successful tactics You can be sure that by the quarter finals of a tournament you’ll find opponents that will have analysed and play to disrupt your game.
This Nigerian team has the ability from past experience for wing-play, 5-man defence and midfield diamond. Tactical variation is what brings success because it disrupts an opponents pre-game analysis of your tactics.
Finally, NFF, NFF, NFF… How many times did I call you! It is time to hire pre-tournament set piece coaches! A set piece coach is not a permanent appointment so the issue of money should not arise. Most specialist set piece coaches work on 3 month contracts pre and during tournaments.
Nothing I have said should be taken as being against the continuation of coach Chelle. I along with others support his continuation on an even longer contract.
There is always room for improvement, and my prior comments should be taken in that regard.
The end of a tournament is the time to outline strengths and weaknesses revealed, in order to correct gaps in both training and tactical regimes.
The display of the Super Eagles allowed us all to dream, we enjoyed the tactics introduced and its dynamic impact.
I would on a positive note thank the players, coaching staff and even the NNF, for producing the best display of football at the tournament!
My brodas, penalties are a game of chance, there is no guarantee dat if Osinhen had stayed on a played a penalty he would’ve scored. Roberto Baggio, one of d finest footballers and penalty taker in Italian history missed a penalty at d worldcup against brazil. Great players have missed penalties, faulting Chelle for d missed penalties is very unfair. Pipo saying Chukwueze’s penalty was poor is bcos d goalie caught it, if he had sold d keeper, we all will say what a penalty. Onuachu’s oenalty was no different just dat d keeper went d wrong way. Who knows maybe during training Chukwueze and Bruno were excellent penalty rakers but d pressure of d moment and good fortune of d Moroccans gave dem d victory. To say Chelle is poor is disingenous in my view, personally if 9ja should mek d mistake of letting Chelle go, we will take our football back 5yrs i can guarantee u guys. Yesterday just wasn’t our night and we move. Chelle played dofferent formations yesterday, he started woth 3 in d middle, with onyedika holding then switch to 2 in d middle with Onyeka holder, 2 upfront with Akor and Osihmen then later moved Akor to d side. He had used dis on several occasions, saying Akor doesn’t play from d wing isn’t all accurate. We’ve seen Akor play there in diz competition. We’ve seen him play left and ring wing in dis tournament, so why is it an issue last night? Again i reiterate, Ndidi was a huge miss yesterday, the leadership, calmness, balance, structure, leadership that he brings to d team is 2nd to none, pipo might not agree but the confidence Iwobi gets knowing Ndidi is there to always give him option, same with Bassey and Semi, Inyedika in 10yrs can’t bring dat kind stability, not knocking Onyedika ooo but the gap in class is too wide. We lost to a very good side. If i recall, didn’t Morocco beat Portugal or Spain enroute to d semis of d worldcup, were those coaches bad or tactically inept too? If i am NFF i will tell Chelle, we’ve gotten enough Bronze, so play those young boys like Nnadi, Akinsanmiro, Salim Fago, Ogbu, Ryan, etc, don’t worry about d outcome of d game, we need diz guys to have tournament experience that will be beneficial in d future. Who cares about bronze medal, lets blood in diz young players now in tournament atmosphere and see how they fare. Nff if una like una go fire Chelle, just expect nothing to come from SE for d next 5yrs. To me d fact that Chelle was able to salvage our worldcup hope considering where we were at meant he exceeded expectation, he can’t go score penalties for d team. He took d team to the semi final with an excellent brand of football dat we’ve been craving for, took almight Morocco to penalties, same Morocco dat has defeated major european juggernauts and we say he is not good enough. Who is good enough for d SE then? Pep abi Slot abi Zidane or Ancellotti? Sport Minister do d needful and extend d man contract sharp abeg. Just my take
Hugo Broos was the last foreign coach that led a team (Cameroon) to the AFCON title in 2017.
Since then, it’s been African coaches:
2019 (Belmadi, Algeria)
2021 (Cisse, Senegal)
2023 (Fae, CIV)
On Sunday, another local coach will clinch the trophy.
Since Nigeria is yet to “raise” home grown quality coaches; since it is impossible also to hire the Pep kind of coaches that will not endure being owed salaries for the national team; since afcon 2027 qualifiers are imminent for a championship that will happen in 18 months time to chase for gold; since all those afcon winning African coaches weren’t “gone” after 4 months but stayed long in their posts to imbibe their football philosophy in those teams; Chelle, for me, should be encouraged to continue.
The current generation won silver in 2023, hopefully, they win bronze tomorrow, they can still chase gold in 2027 and 2028 afcons if they have stability in coaching.
Peserio walked out of the team after getting free house and money and that decision cascaded into bringing 4 different coaches to prosecute “ordinary” qualifiers for world cup with completely different game patterns.
Thanks to CAF, with 3 nations hosting the next afcon, we should have “fewer” games to navigate in the qualifiers but it is also likely some “big boys” might collide in the groups too.
We need stability in the coaching crew right now because there are no guarantees in the time line to grasp the playing style of a new coach for qualifiers that should begin after the world cup WE COULDN’T QUALIFY FOR AFTER 5 COACHES INPUT
@proudly 9ja, point of correction. Chelle did not start with 3 in the middle .. He started with 4 . A diamnd midfield with Onyendika at the base and iwobi and Onyeka a bit advance while lukeman plays at the tip of the diamond closest to the 2 strikers ; Akor and Osi.. Actually its a very strong system use especially for high pressing through the midfield. The problem with it is that it requires a strong holding midfielder with physical presence
at the base to provide stability for two advanced midfielders to explod. My worry with chelle is that when Ndidi got suspended he will hv switch to a 4: 2; 3; 1 which is also a good system but with 2 holding midfielders. Instead he took a gamble with Onyedika which backfired.. U mention that he switched formation . thats not true. When he brought on moses simon for Onyeka late on he moved Onyeka to the base of the midfield still a diamond with iwobi and simon a bit advanced. Whether we like it or not chelle is a learner. He will get there. For we need a coach with tactical flexibility and gamble management skills. If u ask me i will recommend tom feit . The malian coach. Very good and experienced
Yeah chell should stay thats what sensible and forward thinking people should do,keep him start planing with him ahead of d next Afcon and getting to the semi-finals of d 2030 world cup is achievable if its well planned ahead let’s borrow a leaf for football giants like Spain,to be very honest with you guys am proud of chells and this SE guys for a while now you haven’t seen the players play with so much commitment and zeal,just within the space of one year we could play these brand of football,we might not have gotten to our desired goal but with chells we wll surpass our target in d future,truth be told Ndidi is d live wire of the midfield his absence was solely missed and contributed to us not winning at regulation time the battle was won in the midfield and chells analysed d match well enough that prompted him saying he will bring in new players if he is allowed to stay trust me the coach knows what he is doing and the good thing is morroco didn’t outclass us despite their home advantage and coach stability and bad officiating even d match official were happy it ended on penalties,to cut the long story short pls NFF extend chells contract let’s plan ahead n prepare better let’s not allow what happened to us after d dismissal of GR happen to us again,coach chells and the boys we love you guys you guys are amazing heads up brothers we move,go get d job done against Egypt,one thing is sure if d morroco match was played on a neutral ground we for show them wetin fire go use rat ear do weldone guys I love you all
I double support ndidi on this, retain chelle and I believe he will take us far.
This is true
Thumbs up to Chelle. The man has really tried.
Considering metrics like renumeration, support, facilities and other resources offered by football federation, Chelle is currently the best coach in Africa. Among the last four teams, The football federations of Egypt, Senegal, and Morocco are far ahead of Nigeria except corrupt practices
Morocco and Senegal are perfect examples of the significance of stable coaching system. Both teams benefit from years of commitment and investment to build a solid structure and system.
In his first year, Cisse could not qualify Senegal fo WC, he was really close. The football federation supported him and he later transformed the team to one of the best in Africa.
Rohr won us bronze after previous failure, he got sacked and replaced by Egu go couldn’t even go past the second round.
Peseiro took over and worked on the team’s defensive strength to reach the final of AFCON for the first time in 10yrs. He left and as usual our local Guardiolas dismantled the team structure infiltrating it with favoritism and other corrupt practice. Finito benched an in-form.lookman in his first match!! The technical deficiency and unprofessional practices of Finito and Egu cost the nation the WC. Not forgetting, the dirty games of the nff.
Now that the team has finally found a coach in Chelle who has has reconfigured the team with free flowing system and still WIP.
The nff should give Chelle 4 year contract with free hand to fix the team. For the Super Eagles to be considered at the same level with these teams prove that Chelle’s system is highly effective. He only
needs to complete the project of 3 deserving players in every position. Especially, the midfield needs to be more competitive. I’ve watched the match again and it was obvious the midfield was highly
Technically gifted youngsters that can serve as alternatives or backups for Ndidi, Onyeka, and Iwobi are needed. No need to recycle players that have failed to step-up. Competition for places brought out the besr in Bruno and Osayi.