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.
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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