Play defensive midfield for Super Eagles or drop to the bench - Sunday Oliseh tells Mikel Obi

Super Eagles coach Sunday Oliseh has cautioned John Mikel Obi that he risks dropping his Super Eagles playing spot if he refuses playing as a defensive midfielder for Nigeria. Mikel Obi has had revival this season while playing as a defensive midfielder at Chelsea but chooses to play offensive midfield when playing for the Super Eagles, a development Oliseh wants to stop.

Defensive midfield was also the similar role Mikel played when he broke out globally under Coach Samson Siasia at the 2005 FIFA U20 World Cup in the Netherlands.

“With the national team, it’s not what you want that matters, it is what will bring us results,” said Oliseh in a radio interview. “If you don’t want to do that, I will play players who want to help us, like I did against Swaziland. My personal opinion is that he should be given a more central defensive role, like Guus Hiddink is using him. He should be the umbrella for the two central defenders,” He said.