Make Gyamfi a trump card to unlock opponents defence – Ibrahim Tanko urges Zachariassen

National U-23 side the Black Meteors head coach Ibrahim Tanko has urged Asante Kotoko head coach Kjetil Zachariassen to make more use of speedster Emmanuel Gyamfi as a catalyst to unlock impenetrable defence of opponents the club will face in their ongoing CAF Champions League campaign.

The Black Stars assistant coach was at the Baba Yara sports stadium on Sunday when Kotoko beat Nigerian Professional Football League side Kano Pillars 2-0 to qualify to the last round of the Champions League preliminary qualifying stage with a 4-3 goal aggregate following a 3-2 defeat to the Porcupines in the first leg at Kano.

The former Wa All Stars winger Emmanuel Gyamfi was instrumental in the victory over Kano Pillars as he was involved in all the two goals Kotoko scored on the afternoon. Gyamfi picked up the ball from the right wing and raced to the right side of attack and struck a ferocious shot at goal and goalkeeper Suraj Ayeleso would punch it out for a Kelvin Andoh rebound to put the red boys in front just 2 minutes after kickoff.

Gyamfi proved too tormenting for the defence of Kano Pillars who couldn’t handle the slippery winger. Gyamfi displaced a brilliant link up play with striker Richard Arthur before maneuvering his way through the defence to slot home Kotoko’s second of the afternoon at the 80th minute.

Tanko, who was impressed with the overall performance of the Porcupine Warriors, expected the team to have made more use of the Gyamfi’s speed to kill the game earlier.

“Most of the departments did well (against Kano Pillars), if you look at the two centre backs they did well and then Justice Blay (the holding midfielder), if you have a player like him who was doing almost all the dirty works and then he has that kind of good passes”, Tanko gave his observations, speaking to Fox FM.

Coach Ibrahim Tanko however expected the team to have used Gyamfi’s side the more to unlock the defence of Kano Pillars and make the game very easier. “What I feel they should have used more is, because Emmanuel Gyamfi is very fast and any ball given him the defenders are unable to handle him when he takes them on, so I was expecting that they’ll use him more”, he revealed.

Tanko further suggested, that due to the speed of Gyamfi, coach Zachariassen should ensure there is always a striker in the opponents goal area who will knock home the crosses that come from the wings, especially Gyamfi.

“Keita (Naby) and Richard Arthur one of them should always to to stay in the box because most of them when they are possessing they go out of position so any time Gyamfi gets to the crossing side, he raises his head then they are not there, so I feel one of them especially Richard Arthur should always stay in the box. I think it’s the coach (Zachariassen) who trains with the boys definitely after the match they will watch the video and he will see where he needs to work on”, he said.