Asante Kotoko need to improve on their performance in midfield and become more compact to increase their chances of going far in the 2018/19 CAF Confederation Cup competition, coach Charles Kwablan Akonnor has disclosed.
The Porcupines Warriors saw off Kenya’s Kariobangi Sharks in the second round of the competition with a 2-1 aggregate win, courtesy a barren draw in the first leg match played in Nairobi, last week, and a 2-1 triumph at the Baba Yara Stadium on Saturday.
Abdul Fatawu and Amos Frimpong scored at both ends of Patila Omoto’s strike on an afternoon where the visitors enjoyed a fair bit of possession and made dangerous forays into the hosts’ penalty area in the closing stages of the game.
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Akonnor was happy with the win, but admitted the midfield needed to improve before the third round tie though he has the personnel to engineer that course.
“We were not too exciting today, I must admit,” Akonnor said. “The opponent really did well. We struggled a bit and were not compact enough in the midfield.”
“Umar Basiru gave us the stability we needed when he came in. We were leading at that time and so the idea was to contain the pressure and if the opportunity comes for us to score, we score.”
“It’s a problem that we need to work on. If we are able to strengthen the team from within and improve the way we play from the middle, I think it will solve a lot of problems for us.”
“Thank God we have somebody like Umar. Anytime he comes in, he is able to stabilize things for us and I think we need that stability. Whether he will start or not, there is a competition. There is also Kwame Bonsu, who is working so hard to be in the team. We look forward to seeing everybody progress.”
