Was Coach Eric Chelle Being Fair to Have Criticised Debutant Femi Azeez After Scoring a Brace Against Zimbabwe?

Chelle is a tough task master o!

The guy has a keen eye for what he needs to lead Super Eagles to the promised land and he will not settle for less.

Whereas the whole Super Eagles fan base are praising Femi Azeez to high heavens, Coach Chelle spared no words in expressing that he is expecting more, much more from the Wrexham winger in subsequent matches, despite his eye-catching debut display against Zimbabwe.

“ Femi Azeez scored two goals in that match, I congratulate him, but he lost a lot of balls, so not happy with him even though he recovered some of these balls,” Eric Chelle said at the post-match media briefing.

"I also asked them to do the high pressing for the whole 90 minutes.” Chelle concluded.

It has to be recalled that Eric Chelle has had zero compunction dropping players he himself invited after said players' performances dipped after promising starts.

The likes of Olakunle Olusegun and Tolu Arokodare come to mind even as players like Moses Simon, Fisayo Dele-Bashiru and Samuel Chukwueze have become part-time players under Chelle's no-nonsense tactical selection policies as the Malian continues to run a tight ship.

So, if I were Femi Azeez, I would not let those 2 goals get into my head, I will, instead, take heed.

For, under Chelle, no player's starting position is safe, despite a promising start.. After all, Samuel Chukwueze was the star of the same centre attacking midfield cum winger position that Azeez played yesterday in last year's Unity Cup before Chelle ultimately picked and stuck with Ademola Lookman for that same position after Chukwueze failed to sustain that performance!

For Chelle, a player's position is secured on a perform-and-play the next game basis.