Kwabena Yeboah, the President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana
• Kwabena Yeboah says Barreto’s tactics were wrong against Hearts of Oak
• He is unhappy with the tinkering of the team
• He believes the Super Clash was one-sided as Hearts dominated play
Kwabena Yeboah, the President of the Sports Writers Association of Ghana(SWAG) has blamed coach Mariano Barreto for Asante Kotoko’s defeat to Hearts of Oak in a matchday31 fixture of the Ghana Premier League on Sunday, June 27, 2021.
Speaking on Hello FM in Kumasi, Kwabena Yeboah commended Hearts of Oak for their performance and posited that they deserved more goals from the game.
He however noted that Hearts’ superiority on the day was aided by coach Barreto’s decisions and indecisions. He criticized him for deploying Brazilian midfielder Fabio Gama as Kotoko’s main striker.
He also lamented the continuous changing of the starting team and wondered why Barreto gave a start to Evans Adomako.
“Before the game, I said that there was no way Kotoko could beat Hearts and the reason is that, Hearts have been consistent in their last eight matches in terms of personnel as opposed to Kotoko who continued tinkering. I don’t know what is wrong with the team but Barreto kept tinkering with the team. Any team that does well is a team you can easily define. Any team that you can’t name their first eleven off-head is not in a good shape.
“With Kotoko, Barreto keeps changing the team. You find Abalora in the post and the next time it’s Baah, I don’t understand. You have Imoro who was so consistent for Kotoko, for which reason he even gained invitation to the national team and then he is missing. Apau comes on and Nettey plays some game and he is dropped. I don’t understand.
“Gama for instance is an absolutely brilliant offensive midfielder. He is brilliant in the heart of midfield and then suddenly in the last two games, you are trying to play him as a false nine. It does not work like that. Hearts were brilliant but Barreto made it very easy. The selection he came up with, the deployment of the players., I don’t understand.
“For example, Adomako has not been playing for Kotoko throughout the season and then he plays in one FA Cup and scores and suddenly in a massive game against Hearts, you play Adomako. He was missing completely. He spent too much time on the field of play. He has potential but you don’t throw him in a game like this. Okrah and Kumi should have come on earlier”.
Kwabena Yeboah said that Hearts dominated the game and should have scored more goals than they did.
“Kotoko were very lucky Hearts scored only one goal. It could have been more disastrous. Throughout the game, Kotoko had only one clear chance. That was when the ball broke lose to Augustine Okrah. I think he wasn’t paying attention. It was not even from constructive build up. Hearts were absolutely impressive.
“ I have watched a number of Hearts versus Kotoko game and this is one of the games where Hearts of Oak outplayed and outmuscled Kotoko and outscored them. Kotoko were very fortunate to have conceded only one goal,” he said.