Nigeria vs Croatia: Okocha slams Rohr, Mikel, defenders

Former Super Eagles midfielder, Austin Okocha has slammed Coach Gernot Rohr for his tactical approach in Nigeria’s 2-0 defeat to Croatia.

Okocha also blamed the team’s poor defending which led to the two goals conceded in each half.

He added that Mikel was not creative enough in the midfield, adding that the position he was fielded did not allow Moses and Iwobi do well in the flanks.

“It was a decent first half but maturity was the edge the Croatian team had over the Nigerian team,” Okocha said on SuperSport.

“The Super Eagles got done by the movements of the Croatian team in their box. The Super Eagles midfielders were not doing their best both in defending and in attack.

“Eagles didn’t get the best out of Alex Iwobi and Victor Moses because the manager was trying to accommodate Mikel Obi in the team.

“The manager didn’t earn his money today. We were not a threat in the first half and I was expecting him to play three at the back, five players in the midfield and two strikers to the team a chance to get back into the game.

“It is sad because I know we can do better than this. Of course there is still hope but we have to do it the hard way now.

“These (Croatians) are world class players who know how to win by exploiting little details.”

“We didn’t have a creative player today,” the former Nigerian playmaker said.

“Mikel has been a good servant to the national team. His best position is playing in front of the defence. We saw what he did playing for Chelsea where he had a glorious career.

“The most creative player in that team is Alex Iwobi but he was played on the flanks. He (Iwobi) can play on the flanks at Arsenal because they had better players in that role like Mesut Ozil.

“The reason why we lost was because we played our best players out of their positions.

“Playing Mikel in that position didn’t help Moses and Iwobi on the flanks.”