Gor Mahia slowly regaining form
With two successive wins over Muhoroni Youth and even more importantly over arch rivals AFC Leopards Gor Mahia are slowly but surely rounding back into the form that saw them go 18 matches unbeaten last season.
3rd Successive win
It marked the 3rd successive win for Kogalo over Ingwe. Indeed Logarusic has yet to loose to Ingwe since he joined the team in 2012. New Leopards coach Luc Eymael having been outcoached by Loga, left the field in a huff and did not participate in post-game interviews as required by sponsors.
Its all in the tactics
On Saturday, coach Zdvarko Logarusic showed his tactical acumen by making timely changes in formation and personel that completely changed the direction of the game and resulted in a crucial win over Ingwe. Logarusic has in effect quieted the chorus of doubters which had started to become a crescendo after successive draws with bottom sides SoNy Sugar and Kakamega Homeboyz.
Loga Elated
Logarusic could not hide his joy as he heaped praises on the players calling the win the starting point to their title challenge.
“I am a very happy man today as it was a very tough match but we held on despite the strong challenge from our opponents. The resilience and determination by my players paid off handsomely as they effectively used a counter attack to finish off leopards and this are some of the tactics we have been practising,” an elated Logarusic told supersport.com.
“This win is a huge motivations factor for the team and from now on we have set sights to winning our remaining matches to give the title chase another shot this season. I would also like to thank our fans for being very supportive as they stood with us until the end of the game,” he added to supesport.
Rewards
After the match, Deputy president William Ruto rewarded the players with a cash donation of Ksh 500,000. According to George Bwana, the entire sum will be shared by the players. he also indicated that each player received ksh 10,000 for the derby win.
Inching Upwards
Gor Mahia are now three points adrift of league leaders Thika United. Club secretary general George Bwana has indicated that the players will not get too excited: “We don’t want to be carried away. We want to take it a game a game and see where we will be at the close of the first leg” Bwana told futaa.com
This should be a lesson to some blogers who easily run out of their patience when the team is not wining. Recently we had a wining drought and some of our fans started unnecessary accusations. What we were undergoing is normal and can happen to any football team in the world, but does not indicate that the coach has run out of ideas. Am appealing to the entire Gor fratenity to have patience and support the tech. bench, the players and the EC at all times. It is a reality we can not win all the time. On another dev. i still kindly appeal to the TB to use the second 11 in the top 8 tournament.
@1, GOR MAHIA is a winning club and also a community one !!! therefore if they are NOT winning we have a right to shout, heckle and point fingers at the person’s responsible. That’s how we hold them accountable…….
As we ask them to be accountable we should know that at times we will play poorly and win, poorly and lose ,play well and win or even play well and lose. The problem with us fans is that at times we are overzealious in our support. Losing a single match should not have us condemning everyone as we are fond of doing. as @George Ochoro says PATIENCE PAYS and the issue that matters is how fast we rise after a loss.
Otherwise let’s continue praying for the team and for Mutiso and Kiongera to heal fast and provide the required options upfront. Though we still need a midfielder or two and a striker to assit our front line. Otherwise good wishes to the team
We are not playing well and Logarusic must wake up and not be a rotten potato himself or otherwise the club should sell him in June. The players are the same we had last season and therefore i have a right to ask him to perform. I know he can do much better.
When the season started he talked of five games and we would see good soccer and yet we still win through sheer luck and disjointed play and go around celebrating as if we don’t have standards to look up to from our past.
There is no day i’m allowed to enter the stadium free because they won’t play well. I must get value for money the whole season. Those who don’t agree with me should check how much an ordinary Kogalo fan parts with in a season and compare with other fans from opposing teams.
Lastly, June is fast approaching and the club scouts must act like they know what they are doing. Why consistently recruit players for the bench? For the past many seasons, we have recruited 6-8 players only for a single player to prove first team material. Plan well and use money wisely.
The sense of entitlement by some paying fans is out of this world. Even Ferguson was never assured of winning every game after more than 25 years of managing one of the richest clubs on the globe. And he was the master of winning ugly. Log has been immense. We cannot ignore the fact that our boys play as a team, or the improved performance of the likes of Mosoti and Jagoal. Should we blame him for keeping faith with out of sorts performers like Akumu who were in form a while back. As has been stated above, patience is called for with a dash of reality. If we must criticize/castigate for whatever perceived reason, lets direct the venom towards the EC because there is a great deal more to offer from them.
We may have won because of demands for something by some of us.
It is a choice for each of us to praise someone all the time whether w win or lose.
We are not under any obligation to put on a uniform opinion as fans..the only time we are required to behave uniformly is when condemning hooliganism, poor officiating and Club mismanagement.
The truth is that we are still very uncomfortable with ball,naive when facing the opposing goalkeepers and just not there in maturity. Saying this does not mean one hates someone and is a hell material! These are just truths and we see other teams in KPL do better on ball control, dribbling and game presentation.
I also wonder how come year in and out our midfield is weak!
The TB should work on the midfield if we want to win this league. 2nd leg is coming and we cannot rule out fatigue and if we can hold on the midfield we only need to beat a few teams and the league is ours. Defense has registered a big improvement and i wish it can play consistently the way they did against efusi. Forward will depend solely on supply from the midfield and here is the headache. To you TB
Kassam some of us on this blog dont believe loga can do a mistake and he is not to be critised
we critique not criticize,otherwise the truth be said the midfield need to supply the balls upfront.We have the best strikers and defenders.Our mid of late,calls for some minor surgery.For that matter Log had shown us the quality soccer,that is why we cant accept something less.Winning and loosing is football and we understand that.We expect some improvements day by day and that shows Growth.
@ Erico jarae we are not saying someone should not be criticised, but remember in any game of sports players and coaches need support and encouragement all the time for them to deliver. I was once doing some duty on the field and i speak from experience. Mistakes and errors may be experienced. These are challanges that we must expect. And when challanges crop in, how do we face them? Who else does’nt know there is a problem in our midfield, and we have appealed several times. Pointing at a mistake is healthy and brings growth. But critisise in a manner that also respects the rights of that person.
@4..logarusic must wake up and not be a rotten potato ….. Is this one realy criticism or abuse to the coach.
@George Ochoro you are spot on.
Its only that at times you look at how things are done thrice and the fourth time you wonder how come persons responsible do not see and yet they’re professionals who should know better!
At times people behave as if they’re already very comfortable with the situation to the extent that we’re worried if their negotiated salaries and allowances are an end to them and work seems no longer important..all these at the expense of our commitment to the team and passion for the game.
No one around here jumped into contempt after we presented a horrible game against Ulinzi. We all saw the same approach in the next game and next…hence the red flag must be raised when things are mediocre.