Williamson discusses game plan vs Esperance
Courtesy of the Standard
Gor Mahia coach Bobby Williamson has said the team will avoid conceding at home when they take on Tunisian giants Esperance in Saturday’s Champions League first round match at Nyayo National Stadium. The team resumed training yesterday at Nairobi City Stadium after successfully picking three league points at the expense of Mathare United in a 1-0 win in Machakos. Speaking after taking his team through the morning session, Williamson said: “It is a big match for us and the strategy will be to avoid conceding at home so that the return match is easier to navigate.
Kenyan champions to avoid conceding goal in first leg . Gor Mahia coach Bobby Williamson has said the team will avoid conceding at home when they take on Tunisian giants Esperance in Saturday’s Champions League first round match at Nyayo National Stadium. The team resumed training yesterday at Nairobi City Stadium after successfully picking three league points at the expense of Mathare United in a 1-0 win in Machakos.
Speaking after taking his team through the morning session, Williamson said: “It is a big match for us and the strategy will be to avoid conceding at home so that the return match is easier to navigate. “It is always costly to concede at home because then you have to score more goals away, which is more difficult. Gor Mahia have been boosted by the return of Patrick Oboya and Kevin Omondi from injury, something the coach says has increased competition for places. “As a coach, it is delightful to see your players competing for starting places in the team and this is the situation we find ourselves in ahead of the match.
Technical options
“Oboya and Omondi are fully fit and their presence will give me and my technical bench options as we sit down to pick the starting line-up,” he added. The two players did not feature in the preliminary match where Gor Mahia eliminated US Bittam of Gabon. Oboya played some part in Sunday’s 1-0 win against Mathare United in the KPL match at Machakos Municipal Stadium. Gor Mahia captain and goalkeeper Jerim Onyango has in the meantime said the team is highly motivated to take on their opponents, especially after they bundled out their West African opponents in the preliminary round.
“The win over Bittam has given a lot of confidence and now we believe in ourselves. We want to tell our fans to come up in large numbers and give us the home advantage. Their presence will make a big difference,” he said. Historical memories Onyango said majority of the players look forward to featuring in the match, which has historical memories for most of them. “I was only three years old when Gor Mahia beat Esperance to win the Mandela Cup in 1987.
A good number of players in the team were either too young or were not even born. “This has given many of us the motivation to want to repeat that 1987 feat. A lot has changed since then, but we believe it can be done again,” added the goalkeeper. Onyango is, however, doubtful for Saturday’s match after picking an injury during the league match at Machakos Stadium and did not train with the rest of the squad.
historical moment ndio hii hapa sato…kosa uchekwe…
Best way to beat esperance:
1. Fully utilize set pieces and create scoring chances.
2. Do not defend, always attack, attack, attack, it distracts them from planning their game.
3. Be tactful, Waste time, train on how to hold the ball for long and occasionally deploy counters attacks through the middle.
4. Make full use of your best tactful players.
I have watched any 2 combination of the above destroy esperance fc and most recently tp mazembe beat them 5-0 by deploying option 2 and 4. Orlando pirates beat esperance last year by deploying option 1 and 2.
In 1987, we won by deploying option 4 and 1 because we had Peter dawo , Abbas hamis magongo, Tobias ocholla and Sammy onyango jagooo.
So which combination will kogaalo deploy this time ? Esperance can indeed be beaten and am sure the coach knows what is to be done.
jakoyo@2….unfortunetly for us,our set piece execution is extremely poor and not just at Gor but all the teams in the KPL.Cant remember the last time i saw a good goal from a set piece in the kenya premier league!!!makes me wonder if they train on set pieces during practice….simply woeful!!!
Our one and only Benson disi in the name of Jakoyo is back today after broadcasting errors live from Bitam.I dont want to dwell so much on jakoyo but with me personally i don’t recognize him in this blog especially after cheating us during the team outing at BITAM.on the issue of esperance let us come to the stadium on saturday and fill the stadium to cheer boys up .,kosa uchekwe bloggers.
actually i think these are gor mahia’s options;
1.play possession football like orlando pirates and al ahly. this is the best way but they will still have counter attack threat.
2. tp mazembe play a a similar game with esperance of pressing but the 5-0 defeat they were 10 men and i doubt we have the fitness to play the pressing game
3. play defensive and cut out the trio behind the striker and do not concede set pieces.
Am not a coach but just allow me to think aloud. BW,how do you ensure you do not concede an away goal? Sometimes it is more to do with how your attack is organized. Oboya needs to play this game, Blackberry needs to play this game, just find space for the them on the wings. You seem not to know these two well,these are the players who have the capacity to keep them busy at the back and they will have very little time to organize attacks.What I know with North Africans is their knack for blitz zigzag counter attacks especially from the wings and most of their goals are scored from wing crosses ending up in deadly headers.
actually i think these are gor mahia’s
options;
1.play possession football like orlando
pirates and al ahly. this is the best way
but they will still have counter attack
threat.
2. tp mazembe play a a similar game with
esperance of pressing but the 5-0 defeat
they were 10 men and i doubt we have
the fitness to play the pressing game
3. play defensive and cut out the trio
behind the striker and do not concede
set pieces.
Bw will gv us the wnng formula 4 nw prayers
The above thoughts are very interesting. At least it shows that we have an idea of how we can beat these guys.It is already showing signs of being technical. The good thing is the gap is no no longer as wide as it was. I think that on of the things that will help us carry the day is Confidence and hard tackles that are not dangerous. Just show the toughness ya mtaa. Can you remember the friendly game we played against Mumbi in the pre-season preparations? That is the game that will pin them down. Take every chances at the goal mouths. This is just my thought.
Ticketing information for this match plse, we do not want confusion on this issue plse
Or better still, here it is:
Gor vs Esperance
VIP ksh. 1,000/-
Terraces 200/-
Availability of tickets:: Thursday to Saturday
Locations:
1. DTB branches:
Nation Centre (Western Union Centre),
Ronald Ngala Branch,
Wabera Street Branch,
T-MallBranch.
2. DTB approved agents:
Ngao Credit Limited-Moi Avenue opposite Ibrahims Supermarket,
Donholm Pharmacy next to Equity Bank,
Kenon Hardware Agencies – opposite City Stadium,
Ansell at the Old OTC – next to Jack and Jill Supermarket,
JKS Comms – Uchumi Jogoo Road,
Chapacom – Buruburu,
Jimad at Hurlingham.
let us nt talk tuff rem bitam talkd tuff lts put mo in mid n attack well
oboya is gd in tunisian games tri hm Bw
My winning formula:
Confidence will win us the game. Let the players know its eleven against eleven not more or less.
Let Bobby take his usual tough decisions without unnecessarily playing safe.
@6 jathur gi ji,why don’t you let Oboya and Blackberry speak for themselves? The best way is by convinsing the coach by working hard in training and rightfuly earn their place in first 11.To the EC, please advertise the ticket selling points through other forms of media i.e radios,tv’s, newspapers or even posters since not every fan has access to the internet.Lets avoid the chaotic scenes we witnesed during city stars match.
Dont warry boyz,najua kevo atakaa hapo,ssere,berry,rama,shakava,kenga watatafuta goal,israe umuge,atachukua gap ya calabar,najua playz watacheza poa,niko na imani ,,bobby anafanya kazi yake kwa moyo,2kichukua hyo cap ya caf,gari kwake,2takontribute
Winning formula. Just play a very very very fast and full attacking and raiding football throughout the 90 minutes and Gor will win. No resting until it is over. Watch out for counter attacks. And in the return leg pack the behind. So fitness and resilience is a factor for Gor Mahia coaches to consider, endurance. All the best.
i wish gor the best bt its obvious they will fail.poor ball control n poor free kicks n corners will b our undoing.