Picking Oliseh’s brain as he seeks to emulate Guardiola

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Enthusiasm is high as Sunday Oliseh takes over as the new coach of the Super Eagles. This is mainly because of what Oliseh has done in the past as a player and then captain of the team before acquiring a UEFA pro license to join the FIFA Technical team.

Oliseh coached a third division side in Belgium whilst working for various organisations as analyst and started some football projects there.

Giving his resume, one can definitely foretell some happenings in the Super Eagles over the next few months.

He was even lauded at his unveiling by the Nigeria Football Federation president, Amaju Pinnick, as the ‘Pep Guardiola of Africa’. Although that is a high praise indeed – there are some definite likeness between the two.

Eagles will be proactive in matches

In an interview with CNN, Oliseh said, “Africans need to learn how to start pressurising the opponents. Football has changed now. It’s no longer football where you pick individuals and expect them to do well.”

So expect the Eagles, largely known for playing at a slow pace and retreating when the opponent have the ball, to be pushed up higher on the pitch to give the opponent less space and time to operate. This is a philosophy made popular when Guardiola took over Barcelona in 2008.

Improvements with defending and set pieces

Oliseh revealed in one of his numerous interviews that he learned so much about team dynamics when he played with Ajax in Holland.

He told CNN: “We were taught on where to be to counter the opponent, the areas in which to play the ball to have the greatest advantage over the opponent. Now it’s more about team work, team dynamics, team schemes, things that are planned out. Football has become how to look at the opponent, how to bring about antidotes to the opponent’s playing star.”

So, we can expect the Eagles to have Plans A and B, when they come up against opponents. This may in fact be the reason he has brought with him a scout called Thomas Sjoberg on his technical team.

More combination play and tactical discipline

Oliseh told the BBC after his unveiling: “My plan for the Super Eagles is to get us to play as a team, a better team and create some harmony within the players. And create a style of play in which each player has an idea of what we ask of them when they are playing.”

And this is where the cerebral nature of Oliseh will be in direct conflict with some Super Eagles players who do not like being constrained when they come to play for the national team. Oliseh is going to demand the same tactical discipline the players are used to playing at their European sides.

So there you have it.

Oliseh believes the reason why no African country has reached the last four in the World Cup is because there has been a lack of long term planning.

He has a three-year contract and he must counter this statement made to the CNN in 2014: “Football in Nigeria during our generation hit the highest it could go.”

Now that he is the coach of the team, he has to ensure that the former is greater than the latter.