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GOR MAHIA: WHY THE STRUGGLE CONTINUES



No matter how you look at it, Gor Mahia failed last season. They won no major trophy, lost arguably the best coach the country has yet seen. Numbers do not lie. Compared to 2015 season when Gor Mahia almost swept all trophies on offer while playing some of the most breathtakingly beautiful attacking football Kenya has yet seen, 2016 was a year to forget: no trophy, beaten by our major rivals and docked 3 points for crowd troubles. Things couldn’t have been worse. Coach Ze Maria is as clueless as they come. His defense minded game plan, over-reliance on crosses and long balls: an adherence to the much maligned ‘direct’ or ‘route one’ approach has taken Gor Mahia decades back and the numbers are telling. Compared to Nuttal’s final season (2015) when Gor Mahia scored a record breaking 60 goals, they only managed a dismal 35 goal tally last year (2016) despite fielding almost the same players as the previous season. Consequently Gor Mahia’s goal difference for the season dropped from 48 to 21.
Coach Jose Marcelo Ferreira’s approach has significantly stifled Gor Mahia’s scoring output. In his first season in charge there was no match where Gor Mahia scored more than 3 goals. No, not even one. In 2015 in contrast, Gor Mahia beat Mathare 4 -2, walloped KCB 6 – 1, thrashed Chemelil 4 – 1, before smacking Nakuru Allstars 5 – 0. Even more telling is the fact that Gor Mahia’s leading scorer was distant forth in the league under Ferreira. Jacques Tuyisenge, lethal as he is, scored only 10 goals for the season. George Odhiambo managed 6, a mere trifle considering that under former coach Frank Nuttal, Olunga alone had 19 goals, Kagere had 13 and Abondo 11. The contrast is enormous.
With Ferraira Ze Maria focus on defense at the expense of an expansive attacking football – the hallmark of ccoach Nuttal’s reign, one would assume he’s improved Gor Mahia’s offensive display. Not even a trifle! Under Nuttal, Gor Mahia conceded 5 goals in the first 4 games before going into a 10 game winning run in which they never conceded a goal. Nothing much can be said of Ze Maria’s defensive performance. Ze Maria’s Gor Mahia conceded 2 more goals than did Nuttal despite keeping the same defense that won the league unbeaten in 2015. Of the first 11, Ze Maria only lost 3 starters. That cannot be an excuse because they were replaced like-for-like. Furthermore, even Tusker, the eventual champions, lost their and the League’s top scorer in Jesse Were.
Ze Maria has failed to impress despite having a strong squad.
Jose Marcelo Ferreira’s decision making is suspect. Why did he sell Khalid, the mainstay of Gor Mahia’s title winning midfield? If you can recall, he replaced him with some hitherto unknown personage – what was his name? A guy who has since been released without ever kicking a ball for Gor Mahia. Ze Maria’s substitutions have hardly been effective, his fielding sometimes questionable and his tactics pathetic. He goes into a match trying not to lose other than trying to win. The fact that he’s been sacked in all his previous jobs without completing even one season is evidence of his tactical ineptitude, track record of failure and inability to learn. He is the Kenyan version of Arsene Wenger at least as far as adapting to change is concerned.
P
W
D
L
GF
GA
GD
POINTS
RANK
Frank Nuttal
30
24
6
0
60
12
48
78
1
Ze Maria
30
15
12
3
35
14
21
54
2

































 I know Gor Mahia has recently hired Zedekiah Otieno and Willis Ochieng to deputize Ze Maria. But this is unlikely to turn things around because it is still the Brazillian in charge. I even wonder how Zedekiah with his explosive character will work with Ze Maria. I won’t be surprised if I heard they’ve fallen out with each other.
With the squad that Gor put together, a team full of internationals, an average coach should have had huge success. But Ze Maria defied all logic and failed spectacularly. Other coaches have figured him out: just stop the crosses coming in and Gor Mahia won’t score. But that is not surprising given his track record of failure. The man has not won a major trophy anywhere. Anywhere!!!???
Failure is beckoning. The writing is on the wall. Gor Mahia lost 3 out of 3 preseason friendlies against frivolous opposition and what has been shelled out as explanations are nothing but flimsy excuses. Of course Ze Maria is the master of excuses. “The team is still gelling, the opposition had more time to prepare, we are still rusty, other teams are extra motivated when they play against us” and so on and so forth. Two league games have already been lost too. Catching up with Posta Rangers will not be easy. I know they beat Tusker in the FKF Super Cup. But that only because they were lucky to be awarded a penalty. Gor Just seemed unable to score a goal. How they put 3 goals in the net against Leopard is a mystery that defies all logic. Despite fielding a team full of established international attackers (Francis Kahata, Meddie Kagere, Jacques Tuyisenge, George Odhiambo I could go on and On..) Gor Mahia has continued to struggle for goals.
  Most of Gor Mahia’s successful managers in history have been Scots or Britons. I wonder why Gor did not pick their manager from there. So, unless Gor Mahia sack Jose Marcelo Ferreira they will not win any trophy. I wish he could prove me wrong.

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