Former Chelsea midfielder, John Obi Mikel has blamed England coach, Gareth Southgate for Super Eagles’ 2-1 defeat to Three Lions on Saturday at Wembley.
Eagles conceded two goals, courtesy of strikes from Gary Cahill and Harry Kane in the first half before responding with an Alex Iwobi strike after the break.
Southgate deployed a 3-5-2 formation against Gernot Rohr’s side, with Gary Cahill, John Stones and Kyle Walker the central defenders, while Ashley Young and Kieran Trippier were the wing-backs.
Mikel, however, said Rohr’s men were defeated by Three Lions because of the tactics Southagate employed.
”We played against a team with five in the back. They always have an extra man,” Obi Mikel told reporters after the game.
”How do you play against a team with five in the back? It is always difficult but I think in the second half we played with five in the back as well to try and match them and that’s what we did.
”We played much better, we created chances and we scored the goal. We know we can play better, we have to be playing this way.
”We need to be together, we need to be strong as a team.”
Nigeria will face Czech Republic in their next warm up game on Wednesday, before heading out to Russia and getting their 2018 FIFA World Cup campaign underway in two weeks’ time.
Comments