Daniel Bravo Tells Bordeaux Coach Kalu Is Not Suited To Playing As A Defender

Published: March 17, 2020

Daniel Bravo has criticized the tactics of Bordeaux manager Paulo Sousa who has deployed attack-minded duo Samuel Kalu and Francois Kamano in defensive positions in some matches this season.

The Super Eagles winger has won 30 ground duels in his twenty appearances in the French top-flight this season, more than any other Bordeaux player.

Nigeria manager Gernot Rohr first used Kalu in a defensive position during an Africa Cup of Nationss qualifier against South Africa in 2018 before Sousa borrowed a page from the former Bordeaux coach.

"Shouldn't we adapt to the players we have ... I think that Paulo Sousa's error was to propose a fairly complicated system, with changes depending on whether we attack or defend, with players who have to slide," Bravo said on beIN Sports, according to girondins4ever.com.

"The players have to learn this tactical culture which is not easy to set up in matches. And Paulo Sousa has made a lot of defenders of players like Samuel Kalu, François Kamano, who are real attackers!

"I'm sorry, but when I saw them playing ... So, certainly, when they played they made the efforts, they listened to their trainer, but except that it is a mess!

"Today, at the level of the system, he returned to something classic because he saw that it did not really work, that it was not necessarily very understood by his players."

Kalu has worked his way back into the Bordeaux first team after falling out of favour upon his return to France from his Christmas vacation in Nigeria.

Igho Kingsley