Ladan Bosso Lauds Gernot Rohr, Faults Him In One Area

The Super Eagles head coach has done well enough to earn a new contract, however, there is still room for improvement, says President of the Nigeria Football Coaches Association, Ladan Bosso.

Former Kano Pillars coach, Bosso, has commended Super Eagles Technical Adviser Gernot Rohr for the fine job he’s done so far, but he has charged the German tactician to change his perception of home-based players.

Rohr, hired since August 2016, is on the verge of signing a contract extension that may see him remain in charge of the national team until after the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

While the former Bordeaux manager has impressed by leading the Super Eagles to qualify without hassles to the last editions of the World Cup and the AFCON, critics have knocked him for relying heavily on Europe-based stars.

Goalkeeper Ikechukwu Ezenwa is the only NPFL player to have made it into the squads that Rohr took to Russia 2018 and Egypt 2019.

The 66-year-old tactician insists Nigeria’s best footballers ply their trade abroad, but Bosso punctures that argument, maintaining that players on the domestic scene are just as good as their colleagues overseas.

“Relatively, he (Rohr) has done well for this country,” Bosso told Daily Trust.

“My problem with him is his inability to look inwards, to involve or think about the home-based players for them to be part of the Super Eagles. That has always been my problem with him.

“I am one of the longest-serving coaches in the Nigeria Professional Football League, NPFL, so I know the abundant talents we have in there.

“So I believe that he can get good players in the NPFL who can compete favourably with those players based in Europe. They can give them a good run for their money.”