Invite Frimpong Manso To Coach Black Stars Defenders

It is obvious that the defense of the team above is porous and leaking badly. It is even more hellish as the attack labors to score. After they score, the leaking defense will decide whether that advantage will hold till the final whistle sounds. More often than not, opponents equalize, and score more to win. This is real trouble. The steady decline and the string of uninspiring results are dampers that weigh on the nation like logs.

Sitting by the television and watching their games, it looks as though it is much easier to read their games from this observatory than being at the stadium. What the television audience sees, perhaps the technical bench does not see.

Clear loopholes sometimes remain with the team until the end of matches. Reference to dramatic irony is not meant to slight the technical capabilities of the bench but it is an existential reality begging for confrontation.

Having discovered their weak points, opponents have grown in confidence in how to perforate that disastrous barrier. It is like a basket full of water.

To put the ball behind that defense for a clear view of scoring opportunities, attackers lay siege on a lateral defender who is noticed for some of the lapses in the team, and holes in the basket. They lure the defender to the action spot, and as he surges to stop the attack, the forward player releases the ball to a stealthy colleague.

Others create melees in the 18-yard box. Then a player pops up to shoot through the forest of legs speculatively. This scheme blinds and deceives the goalkeepers and they are often displaced even as the ball rolls in a good direction. These are how the team is attacked on the wings and from the middle.

With his exploits as a coach at Sunyani-based Tano Bofoakwa in the Ghana Premier League so far, he looks alluring. It is early yet in the league though. On the platter of precedent, being his playing style during his football career, Frimpong Manso emerges as the one who can possibly bring his acumen to positively bear on the rather shaky defense of Ghana Black Stars.

His last outing for the Black Stars as a right half-back was Senegal’s ’92 AFCON.  Frimpong Manso together with Emmanuel Armah and Emmanuel Ampiah mounted an impregnable barrier on other contenders. Ghana was lucky in that period to have clinical finishers upfront as well.

As an individual during his playing career, Frimpong Manso effectively tackled swift attackers and made sure the surge at Ghana was decelerated. He did incur infringements but on the whole, the dependable defender swept clean the defensive line.

Former Kumasi Cornerstones and Asante Kotoko player Frimpong Manso needs to be invited to the Ghana bench to help coach Chris Houghton retrace the steps to the heydey when Ghana’s defense was insurmountable.