Babalade want hard men for eagles defence

Former Super Eagles
defender, Ajibade Babalade,
wants Super Eagles' boss,
Samson Siasia and his
backroom staff to scout for
hard men to play at the
back-four.
Babalade, who is now team
manager of Premier League
side, 3SC, said this strategy
worked perfectly for former
Super Eagles Dutch manager,
Clemens Westerhof.
The defender, fondly called
‘ Kunde’ was one of the
several ‘hard men’
Westerhof developed into
great defenders.
“Defenders require specific
qualities and one of such is
to be hard, ” Babalade said
“As a defender, you must
have safety at the bottom of
your mind first. There is no
need for you to show skills
when your area is under
attack. When you have taken
care of the opponents, then
you can show your skills,”
he added.
The former Africa Sport and
Sturm Graz defender told
our source that
Westerhof depended on
other ‘hard men’ like Austin
Eguavoen, Chidi Nwanu, Uche
Okechukwu, Mike Emenalo,
Ben Iroha, Stephen Keshi,
Albert Anijekwu and Abdul
Aminu to achieve results at
the rear over a period of
time.
Babalade applauded Siasia
for his faith in skipper of the
team, Joseph Yobo.
“Yobo has a big role to play
in the team considering his
experience. He has to
ensure that the younger
players understand the job
to be done.
“It’s also good to have a
defender like Kano Pillars’
Wasiu Sowemimo in the team.
"Sowemimo has played
against my team and remains
a difficult customer to
manage. He has the qualities
needed to be a hard
defender, ” he stated.