Former Wimbledon striker John Fashanu is of the opinion that the lack of battle for spot in the Nigeria senior national team is harming the team performances.

Fashanu

Fashanu said that first team players of the Super Eagles are not pushing to hold on to their spot unlike the past and that has affected their performance.

“We have a set of players who know their position in the first team isn’t under threat, they are now complacent and their performance is a proof,” he said.

“In the last two years they were home based players who were preferred ahead of the foreign professionals.

“They were on their toes and the foreign pros were eager to displace them and claim their spot.

“It brought about a healthy rivalry which culminated in the team lifting the Cup of Nations, but after that we lost it.”

Fashanu insists that competition for spots in the team was not fresh after the AFCON victory as players called up are below the standard of the first team players.

“The players called up to the Eagles after the AFCON triumph are way below those they are supposed to displace and it has been a case of working with a set of 13 players,” he added.