[ 2014-03-05 ]

Six things Ghana coach Kwesi Appiah must experiment with against Montenegro
Ghana take on Montenegro in an international
friendly with just two months until the World Cup
training camp begins.

There are however a number of questions that need
to be answered about the Black Stars team before
the head to Brazil for their third successive
appearance at the World Cup.

1. Split halves between Adam Kwarasey and Stephen
Adams

Due to the absence of Fatau Dauda, Appiah is going
to be forced to experiment in the goalkeeping
department between Adam Kwarasey and Stephen
Adams.

And even though Dauda is likely to remain no.1 it
will be only prudent to see whether indeed we can
continue to rely on Adam Kwarasey as either a
backup plan or probably the real deal before the
World Cup.

It is also important to find out whether indeed
Stephen Adams is a Black Stars material.

2. The central defensive pair

The central defensive partnership of John Boye and
Jerry Akaminko can be tested again to see if it
remains as closely viable as when they were with
Heart of Lion in the Ghanaian top flight.

Ghana is lacking a sound central defensive pair
and Wednesday’s game against Montenegro will
offer a great opportunity to see whether we are
making in-roads in that department.

3. Who to play at right back

Samuel Inkoom should be given a run out to see if
his form has indeed improved with regular games at
Greek club Platanias.

An inform Inkoom is always an asset to the Black
Stars but we first have to be certain of what we
are to get if he is going to make the World Cup
squad as expected.

David Addy must also start this game on the left
now that it’s quite clear Harrison Afful will
not be making the trip due to visa issues.

The Vitoria Guimaraes man is the only natural
left-footed left back we have in the team. He
needs a run out for to help eliminate all the
doubts hovering around him.

4. The midfield

Ghana’s undeniable strength is in the midfield
but we really need to sort out the balance of the
team.

The central midfield pair of Michael Essien and
Sulley Muntari was made to look lethargic in the
second leg of the World Cup playoff against
Egypt.

It therefore begs the question, can two players
who are rotated off and on the bench at AC Milan
be relied upon at the World stage, the friendly
against Montenegro might perhaps help in answering
this question.

There is also the issue of where best to play
Kwadwo Asamoah – Ghana current ‘true’ and
‘consistent’ performer. We need to find the
chap the best position in order to benefit from
his immense talent and Appiah must begin to figure
this out against Montenegro on Wednesday.

5. The attack

We know Asamoah Gyan and Majeed Waris will be the
preferred attacking pair. We however do not know
what Jordan Ayew brings on board in current
times.

It was good for the young chap to get his first
goal for Sochaux before joining up with the Black
Stars squad and he needs some precious
international game time to prove his worth.

It is also quite clear that the midfield is pretty
much chocked and we also know that Kevin-Prince
Boateng could be a bankable asset for scoring
goals.

Appiah must therefore give the Schalke man a more
attacking role than defensive – purely because
he sucks at it (using Real Madrid’s thrashing as
reference) – to hone his goalscoring potential.

6. The coach

Kwesi Appiah didn’t overly impress during the
qualifiers – even though he rightfully gets the
credit for qualifying Ghana for the 2014 World
Cup.

It has been four months since the last time he was
on the touchline with the Black Stars and must
therefore show some improvement.

We want to see signs of tactical variations, try
new things, thrill us like other enigmatic coaches
have done. Simply, start putting the signature of
your philosophy or pattern of play on this very
talented and fairly experienced side.

And also improve his fashion sense – just taking
a cue from his daughter’s recent interview.

Source - Ghanasoccer

... go Back