Categories: Sports

Okocha Relish Playing Football Under Sam Allardyce

Jay Jay Okocha has relished his time playing football under Sam Allardyce
Says understanding made it easy to play under the manager

Ekohotblog reports that Jay Jay Okocha has relished his time playing football under manager, Sam Allardyce.

Okocha, who left Ligue 1’s Paris Saint Germaine for Bolton Wanderers in 2002, played the entirety of his Bolton career under Allardyce, achieving huge success at the Reebok Stadium.

The one time captain of the super eagles made 124 appearances for Bolton, more than any side in his career. In 2004/05 he helped take the Wanderers from just outside of the relegation zone to qualifying for the UEFA Cup for the first time.

Jay Jay Okocha

In an interview with talkSPORT, the club icon talked about what it was like playing for Allardyce.

He said, “It took me a while to really understand what Sam’s philosophy was, but once I understood it, it was a bit easier then.

“After a while, I realised that it’s not really that kind of long ball person, but it was all he had then, the players that he had then he can only play direct football with them because they haven’t got the ability to out-possess the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea or Man United, so he was playing to his strengths.

“But then when we came in and when he started bringing players with better quality in his squad, we started playing a bit more possession football.

“One thing he kept to was ‘fannying’ about in our own defensive line.

“That gets him crazy so he made it clear to us that whatever we’re bringing to the team, our own ideas should be in the final third and not in our own half.

“One thing he kept to was ‘fannying’ about in our own defensive line.

“That gets him crazy so he made it clear to us that whatever we’re bringing to the team, our own ideas should be in the final third and not in our own half.

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David Titiloye