Former Nigerian players, Etim Esin and Edema Fuludu, have advised Nigeria technical adviser, Gernot Rohr, to be wary of Algeria’s new Belgian coach, Georges Leekens.
Nigeria will be facing Algeria in the day-2 of the Russia 2018 World Cup qualifier in Uyo next month and the AFA on Thursday announced the Belgian as the new coach of the Desert Foxes following the sack of Serbian Milovan Rajevac, who left the post after their 1-1 draw with Cameroon in their opening match of the World Cup qualifiers. Nigeria tops the group B on 3 points, while the Greens are third in the group with a point.
Cameroon, which also has one point, is second while Zambia holds the rear with no point.
Leekens is having his second spell with the Algerian national team following a first stint in 2003 when he resigned for family reasons after qualifying the Algerians for the 2004 Africa Cup of Nations.
Leekens resigned from Belgian club side, Lokeren to take up the Algeria job.
The 67-year-old led Lokeren to an eight-match loss out of 12 games this season.
Etim Esin believes the former Tunisia coach, who also coached the Belgian national team in 1997 and 2010, will be hoping to start his second Algerian stint with a victory in Uyo before leading the Foxes to the 2017 Africa Cup of Nations.
The coach led Tunisia to the quarterfinal of the Equatorial Guinea 2015 AFCON, where he lost to the hosts after extra time.
Etim noted that the Belgian is familiar with the African pattern of football, calling on Nigeria to be careful.
According to Esin, a former Lokeren player, “I know Leekens very well in Belgium and he is a fantastic coach. He is very familiar with the African style of football and Nigeria have to be very careful when playing his Algerian team next month.
“The arrival of a new coach makes the Algerians even more difficult to play. The coach is coming with a new mentality and a new approach to the game; he is going to instill a new sense of purpose and direction in the team, which will make it quite difficult to beat them.
“What is happening to Algeria happened when we got our German coach too but ours came at a time when we weren’t under pressure to get results.
“Leekens’ team will be very difficult to beat given that he also has talented players to get the job done for him – players like the Leicester City duo (Riyad) Mahrez and (Islam) Slimani – and Nigeria cannot afford to sit back and watch them steal the points from us at home.
“They will be at the Nations Cup while we won’t, so we cannot allow them to get points for the World Cup qualification at our backyard.
“Leekens is a very technical coach and the Algerian team will be very unpredictable for that match. Our coach should employ the right tactics as he did against Zambia and ensure that a positive result comes out of the match.”
On his part, Tunisia 1994 AFCON winner, Fuludu is of the opinion that Leekens appointment will serve as a psychological boost for the Algerian players.
He said, “Algeria’s appointment of a new coach is a good thing for them; it serves as a psychological boost for the players because they will be seeking to impress him just like it happened when Rohr was appointed ahead of the Tanzania game. The players will want to do everything for him and ensure he succeeds.
“Nigeria should be careful and prepare very well for their (Algeria’s) visit because Leekens’ arrival just made the match tougher. The players now have an extra motivation to play and beat Nigeria at home.
“And for Nigeria to qualify for the World Cup, we have to win all our home matches. I believe Rohr should be working on his defence because they almost let him down against Zambia.
“The Eagles attack is okay and strong. The work remains on the defence and partially the midfield. If this is done, the Algerians will surely fall in Uyo with their new coach.”
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