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After
the first round, Paa Kwesi promises to catch up
By David Kyei
15:49 GMT, 15-01-20
Having led his charges to stutter to the seventh position at the
end of the first round of the Glo premier league, Kotoko
trainer, Paa Kwesi Fabin says he is going to judiciously use the
one-month break to catch up in a mid-season training program.
According to the coach who for the major part of the fifteen
weeks of the first round had to combine the difficult job of
coaching Africa's club of the century with pressure from an
impatient section of the club’s base, he had no time at all to
have a pre-season training with his squad.
“This phenomena had a very big negative impact on the team as we
could all see that we most of the time had to struggle to be
able to match the fitness of the clubs that had the opportunity
of a pre-season training”.
“Though we did not perform that bad, we have had to hold on to
our own for all these while and the break is a big relief for us
to make a catch-up”.
Despite the difficulty, he had to contend with, Paa says that
though he was in a way disappointed with the position of the
club on the league log, he was not worried because he has so
much confidence in his team and is sure of their success and
their ability to make amends in the second round.
“Player for player, we are not that bad so I am sure the second
round would have a different and successful story to tell”.
Much as he has confidence in his team, he still has a problem at
hand in relation to the squad size that though he has promised
in earlier interviews to prune down to his acceptable , he is
yet to make a firm and final decision on.
Whilst he has sent his preferred squad list to management for
approval, he is yet to receive their consent but this
development, he says will not deter him form sticking to his
guns of having the squad pruned to thirty-five players.
“Having been in and out of Kotoko, I am the wise for it that I
will be fired if I do not do my work well and to ensure that I
would be able to stand up and be held responsible for the team
and her performance, I am going to stick to the thirty-five
players that I have penciled”.
“It is this squad that I am going to seriously work on to ensure
that they get into the fitness that I want to go into the second
round with. Those who do not make my team would be the
prerogative of management and as to what and how they would
handle their case, I would leave to them”.
With his mind set on making a greater impact in the second
round, the 2008 Best Coach says he has made various suggestions
and options on how to get his team in shape to management for
approval and that as soon as it gets their consent, he would
move the team out of Kumasi for a residential camping.
“I prefer to take the team to a coastal town so that we take
advantage of the vast Ghanaian beaches to build on our endurance
and conditioning”.
Goal scoring undoubtedly was the number one bane of Kotoko
during the first round and as a way out, many have suggested the
recruitment of an additional striker to beef up the team, but
the trainer thinks otherwise.
“Much as its not a bad idea to have the team boosted up with a
clinical finisher, I must also bring to the fore that we have
all been complaining about the size of the squad and any
addition for now would defeat my reason for pruning the number
to a sizeable thirty-five”.
“We have some good strikers in our team just that we they have
been bogged down with injuries. We are going to be on the
medical team to ensure that all our injured players get back
into fitness before the start of the second round”
On his personal note and his being crowned as Ghana's best coach
of 2008 as a backdrop, many have expected Paa Kwesi to achieve
more in results than he has currently achieved at Kotoko and
this Paa shares in.
“People have the right to be concerned about why I have not been
able to hit the target and repeated the performances that won me
the prestigious title. However, I must say that I have not lost
the touch, just that Kotoko, I am facing bigger challenges than
I had anticipated”.
“Personally, I am surprised that the Baba Yara Stadium has all
of a sudden become a waterloo for Kotoko. Yes, if I had my way,
I would prefer to play my home matches away from the Baba Yara
Stadium for a while and make sure that we get our luck back
before returning to Baba Yara” was his answer to the question as
to whether he sees the Baba Yara Stadium as jinxed.
Much as he is worried that his team did not do well, Paa Kwesi
says he has not regretted his decision to take over the coaching
job at Kotoko.
“Life is about the issue of taking risks and I think I too a big
risk to come to Kotoko. Now that I am having challenges, I only
have to brace myself up and surmount it. With god on my side, I
am surely going to overcome”.
He intends to overcome the problem but to the fans who have
increasingly gotten disappointed, there is not too much time
available for the team to keep giving promises since they still
have the African champions’ league appearance on their minds.
“I perfectly understand the supporters, but I would continue to
urge them to exercise patience as their pressure on the players
is also not getting them to focus well for matches. We have them
at heart and would work hard to reverse the fortunes that we are
currently experiencing,” he ended. |
