Jimmy Cobblah struck a forlorn figure in his technical area as he watched his diffident King Faisal side lose 3-0 to Asante Kotoko at the Kumasi Sports stadium on Monday evening.
Steven Mukwala, Richard Boadu and Nicholas Mensah scored to hand their city rivals their fourth defeat of the season.
Of course, not all the ire has been solely at Cobblah; nor the club’s current predicament entirely his making. But the obvious point is if he cannot win supporters round with improved performances, then he will find it difficult at the helm.
Below are four things we learned from the game
Cobblah has got some work to do
It would be fair to say that Jimmy Cobblah will not have been all that impressed with what he saw from his boys at the Baba Yara Sports stadium on Monday, especially in the first half.
A lot of sideways and backwards passes, very little movement in attacking zones, a complete crisis of confidence and aversion to attempting anything remotely risky.
Whether these players are just bad footballers or good ones playing like bad ones, it is unknown, but one thing is clear, Cobblah must get them playing at a higher level than they did on Monday if he wants to make the team beat the drop. If they are unable to adapt and develop, there is only one response: replace them.
Steven Mukwala silences his critics.
Great players choose special moments to announce their presence. Since joining the Porcupine Warriors some months back, the Ugandan forward struggled to find the back of the net earning him of criticism of the many a Kotoko fan.
The least opportunity, they get, they calumniate him forgetting how prolific he could be on a good day.Fortunately for Mukwala, he was presented with an opportunity to prove his critics wrong and he never disappointed- he scored a goal, conceded a penalty which was calmly netted by Richard Boadu and also assisted Kotoko's third on the night. He was everything good for Seydou Zerbo's side.
Kotoko's mentality was (mostly) superb
Nobody has ever questioned the ability of Kotoko's relatively young squad; it’s their mentality that has been called into doubt on occasion.
In the opening exchanges, they were sloppy and looked out of their depth, but how they bounced back to score two goals before the interval was exemplary. King Faisal Babes were left to rue letting the visitors play their game in an atmosphere where many would have crumbled.
Zerbo building a strong Kotoko side
On paper, there is nothing particularly special about this Kotoko team. Yet Seydou Zerbo has succeeded in creating a unit which is more worth more than the sum of its parts- and that bodes extremely well for the side.
Every member of the team knew his individual and collective responsibilities on Monday, and although there were moments when thee Porcupine Warriors relied on a bit of luck, they generally carried out their tasks well.
The confidence he has instilled in the team suggests a bright future; they play a lot with a huge gulf in quality and Zerbo deserves the chance to build something long term if he so pleases.
