Okocha says Super Eagles lost because players were out of position

Here are the reactions as Croatia beat Super Eagles 2-0 at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.

Okocha blames Rohr for Super Eagles defeat to Croatia

Super Eagles legend Jay Jay Okocha has stated that Nigeria 2-0 to Croatia in their 2018 FIFA World Cup, group D opener because Gernot Rohr put players out of position.

Croatia beat the Super Eagles 2-0 through an own goal by Oghenekaro Etebo, and a penalty converted by Luka Modric.

Speaking after the disappointing result for the Super Eagles, Okocha blamed Rohr for putting players in position they were not suited for which eventually led to the defeat.

The Croatians secured maximum points against the Super Eagles  (AFP)

Okoch gave his opinion in his post match analysis where he stated that Rohr should have deployed his nephew Alex Iwobi down the middle while playing Captain Mikel Obi further back.

Speaking as an analyst on SuperSportOkocha said, “We didn’t have a creative player today,” the former Nigeria No.10 added.

“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."

Okocha explanation revealed that Mikel was not creative enough to supply properly to the wider players Moses and Iwobi.

He said, “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.”

Nigeria will aim to bounce back against Iceland  (FIFA)

The Super Eagles will hope to bounce back against Iceland in their next fixture on Friday, June 22.