How Asante Kotoko ‘mistake’ confused Liberty Professionals

How Asante Kotoko ‘mistake’ confused Liberty Professionals

A misunderstanding between Christopher Nettey and Fabio Gama might have been the reason Asante Kotoko secured a deserved 2-0 win against Liberty Professionals on Monday.

Asante Kotoko are now 6th in the Ghana Premier League table thanks to two goals from Kwame Opoku.

However, Asante Kotoko’s win against Liberty Professionals could be credited to a mistake and ‘mere misunderstanding’ between Christopher Nettey and Fabio Gama; Nettey was supposed to play in the midfield, with Fabio Gama taking a more attacking role. But Nettey started the game at the right side alongside Kwame Opoku and William Opoku Mensah in a 4-3-3 formation, with Fabio Gama playing in the right midfield alongside Sarkodie and Adom Frimpong in the first half.

Christopher Nettey’s new role threw confusion into the defensive line of their opponents who thought the defender would be playing from the right back position. Nettey’s new role gave him so much freedom that he almost opened the scoring just few minutes into the game and had subsequent opportunites to assist his teammates but his end product was not as good as his positioning.

After the game, Liberty Professionals coach David Ocloo revealed Kotoko outsmarted him by playing Christopher Nettey upfront; a decision which he admitted unsettled his backline and helped Kotoko score two goals in the first half.

David Ocloo who wasn’t aware of the misunderstanding in Kotoko’s setup praised Johnson Smith for his tactical brilliance in the game.

“We didn’t expect Christopher Nettey to play were he played, we were expecting him to play at the right-back position” he said.

“Football is a tactical game, and Kotoko were better tactically and that was why they won the game today” he added.

Liberty Professionals read the game and made tactical adjustments to match Kotoko in the second half but couldn’t get back in the game despite dominating the second 45 minutes of the game.

Asante Kotoko coach Johnson Smith who was pleased with the win however revealed that Nettey’s position in the first half was a mistake and a ‘mere misunderstanding’ between the player and Fabio Gama.

“It was a mere misunderstanding between Nettey and Gama, It wasn’t planned at all,” he said.

Asante Kotoko have now won two league games in a row since Johnson Smith took over from Maxwell Konadu.