Landi Lacks the Tactical Nous


By Wleh Bedell
Sr Editor
bedellblessing@yahoo.com
 

For the fifth time in a row the senior national team of Liberia the Lone Star will end at the basement of their group in the qualifiers. It can be recollected that since the glory days of the legendary George Oppong Manneh Weah led Lone Star, the red, white and blue outfit then under indigenous coach Kadala Kromah ended at the bottom of their group in the 2004 African Nations Cup qualifiers.

It was the same story in the qualifiers of 2006 when the team was under the guidance of Kadalla KRomah then later Joseph Sayon, alias Kofi Bruce, in 2008 under the tutelage of Frank Jericho Nagbe, Sr. and the German Antoine Hey in 2010. And, while connoisseurs were keen to see such lackluster form obliterated the story is unchanged as a trio of expatriate tacticians could or cannot rescue the situation. Particularly, with the coming of the new Liberia Football Association (LFA) leadership with its much heralded commercialization package as a means of football development which brought to the fore from a Lone Star perspective one Bertalan Bicskei now deceased and then a certain Italian in Roberto Landi as successor amidst controversies and doubts, the Lone Star faithful were very sanguine that the glory days had reappeared, but to the discontentment of many, the woes continue as the national team’s minnow status continues.

The Harare Fiasco
It was quite a very interesting issue when the Lone Star found itself in a must win situation against the Warriors of Zimbabwe away in Harare. The LFA president had earlier made his usual promises claiming that the team would have travelled to South Africa in preparation for the contest and expressed optimism of a win in ‘enemy territory’.

Then, it was a further boost with the pronouncement of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf promising USD$ 5,000.00 for each player if they pull a win in the land of Robert Mugabe. But, there was a tactical mishap as Landi and his bunch of ex-internationals cum technical staffers did not do the right selection or implore the right tactics.

Firstly, the Italian failed to realize that the contest was an away one and needed industrious players, natural ball winners and folks who could cover lot of grounds as the fray would have been energy sapping. The 55 year old should have opted for grit order than finesse, but he ignored and did the opposite. Laughably, it was reported on a local radio station that one of Landi’s technical crew members indicated that they got the system wrong as they used a 4-3-3 instead of their tried and trusted 4-4-2 formation.

But, that was just an escape route and was an indication that Landi and co. showed their tactical act of bemusement as the Lone Star are licking the wounds from the Warriors humiliation.

Poor Travelers
Taking into account that the Lone Star are poor travelers by evidence of not winning a competitive away fixture since August 2001, in their 1-0 win away to the Leone Star of Sierra Leone in the 2002 African Nations Cup qualifiers, and the fact that the match was as well a must win one for the Zimbabweans, the team needed a double pivot, as a 4-2-3-1 formation would have being appropriate.

By this, they would have shown respect to the opposition, adopted the containment game where they would have played on the break and as well provide coverage or protection for the back four. A double pivot would have brought to the fore two gritty holding midfielders in the French based Husein Keita who was left to work alone in the middle of the park in the 3-0 trashing and the surprisingly isolated Turkish based enforcer Theo Weeks would have complemented each other and provide the steel in front the back four.

Besides, the pronouncement that Jimmy Dixon could not make the trip due to injury should have made Landi and helpers find an ideal replacement. No disrespect to the rising Teah Dennis, Jr., but his best matches were at home against an offensive shy- Cape Verde and then three non competitive matches with Gambia, Angola and Niger. As a pointer, the pair of Teah and another local lad in Myers Garlo proved disastrous as they conceded an average of 3.2 goals per match in just three games.

Lone Star 2-4 away loss to Cape Verde, the national U-23 1-1 draw to Nigeria in the All Africa games qualifier as well as the 6-0 demolition in the corresponding fixture. But, while one may argue that this time Dennis, Jr. was not paired with Garlo but another local in Solomon Wesseh who was used as a holding midfielder in the heavy loss to Cape Verde, it proved that the leadership aspect in such key department, the defensive heart, was lacking as it was just the locals. In the narrow 1-0 win against Cape Verde, while Teah played well, he had one veteran Joe Nagbe picking the crumbs at the back and then two holding midfielders in Ben Teekloh and Husein Keita providing stability as the visitors only looked threatened in the very dying ambers.

Thus, another oversea based player should have being paired with either Wesseh or Dennis to show a semblance of organization, and while would the Bosnian based Patrick Nyemah Gredhardt reduced to the bench in two matches against Cape Verde and then Zimbabwe for locals made many to wonder. “Did he Nyemah come on tourist mission? If the locals are better than him, why waste money to send for him just to warm the bench? Something or a role another local could play with money being saved for other purpose”. In the 4-2-3 1- formation, three midfielders should have been the Indonesian based Stephen Mennoh in the center with Jabateh and Laffor as the wide men. No disrespect to Isaac Pupo and Dulee Johnson as they are both fantastic players, but they were not to be part of the personnel for such enormous task as their work ethic leaves a lot to be desired. Don’t ask me of who should have being the lone front man as Francis Doe was the best choice.

Grand Pa’s Exclusion
The exclusion of Doe on grounds that he could not go with the team since he insisted he wanted to first sign a contract before joining the team was another sluggish decision from Landi in objecting to such ask. At least the lad was keen to play for country, but since the career comes first and one must never downplay the idea of being attached or signing on with a club as such is the means of survival for an active footballer, and knowing that Doe was the player who made the Lone Star get its first competitive home win in five years when he netted in a booming header against Cape Verde, he should have been allowed to sign his contract with his new club in Egypt (though it is reported that such contract did not even take place as he is now said to be hunting in Germany) and then book a flight for Harare.

Landi got it quite wrong as he should have lost with his best to avoid eyebrows being raised. With the above lacking, the team was certainly vulnerable and sank without trace as the Italian was hapless and could not help at all from the dugout.

Average Age of 21 as an Excuse Path
After his side dismal outing, Landi shamelessly told Cafonline.com that his side was an inexperienced one as the average age was 21. This was quite an escape route as the Italian knows quite well he must say something of such to be looked at in the eyes of his employers as not being the problem as he is keen to cling on the job. But, such argument or assertion is quite a weak one as the average age of a team now has literally not much to do with its performance. Privileged information is the 2010 World Cup in South Africa.

The Black Star of Ghana were the youngest team in that World Cup with the average age of 24.1, but managed to against all odds reach to the quarter finals. Germany was the third youngest side with an average age of 25.0 and won the bronze medal as they ended third with eventual champions Spain the fifth youngest side with an average age of 25.9. So, if the experience factor was something to go by in all aspect, then the oldest team in the competition England with an average age of 28.7 followed in the order Brazil, 28.6, Australia, 28.4, Landi’s native Italy, 28.2, Paraguay, 28.1 and Honduras, 28.1 should have being either the champions or stopped at the last four.

Besides, it is not the age or the average age of a team that matters, but the performance, and while the Lone Star may be considered a young side in terms of age, it does not in any way mean the players are inexperienced as most of the guys on hand have won several caps and played in several qualifiers.

These are just few examples that make such statement to be very salient as the Lone Star can still boast of some experienced campaigners that are by far more experienced than some big guns or names as far as international football is concerned. Captain Anthony Snorti Laffor at age 26 has won 17 caps since 2003, midfielder Dulee ‘Diego A’ Johnson at age 26 has won 25 caps since 2001,the 30 year old all-rounder George Gebro has 35 caps to his belt as of 1997, silky Isaac Pupo is 23 years of age with 6 caps, since making his debut in 2005, the rugged Solomon Wesseh at age 27 has won 7 caps since 2003, Francis ‘Grand Pa’ Doe has won 11 caps since 2005 and is 25 years old while the 27 year old Ben Teekloh has 10 caps to his belt as of 2001. Any professional Coach would be appeased with such statistics as far as the Curriculum Vitae is concerned as they are tried and trusted with Gebro and Dulee forming part of the Lone Star squad in the 2002 African Nations Cup finals, though the latter was a peripheral figure.

To make matter worse, the tactically struggling Italian reportedly berated the players after his sterile tactics did him no good when his side was mauled by the Warriors. He blamed the players, noting they lack commitment and has further adapted the blame game putting the sporting public against Laffor as he reportedly threatened to take the Captain arm band from him as he is wasteful in front goal. By bringing such to the fore, the undoubtedly unsuccessful, mal adroit, not result oriented and bemused coach has taken himself from the spotlight and placed the South African based Captain and his teammates there as the Lone Star faithful become increasingly frustrated due to their side dismal outing.

Coach not on the Ground
The lowly rated Coach as far as his records are concerned does not in any way seems serious or committed to develop the country’s football. Since he was appointed Coach of the Lone Star at least due to the influence of his close friend Musa Shannoh who is the Vice President of Administration of the LFA, something connoisseurs describe as conflict of interest, the Italian has always made frequent trips back to his native land reminiscent of an air hostess. Astonishingly, after each match, Landi would ignore even the need for a post match press conference, but would fly to his home land only to return a week to the following match.

He rarely watched the local league and if he did watch a game he became passive. Sources close to the FA said his justification for not remaining on the ground or his constant travels was due to the fact that national teams in the world over do not train regularly as they are not clubs. According to them, only clubs need coaches that would be stationed on the ground and since most of the players were from oversea there was no need to continuously be on the ground.

The comparison has been drawn to the works done by coaches coaching the likes of Ivory Coast, Ghana Nigeria, England etc. whom they say operate like Landi, something that investigations find to be a pathological lie as the likes of Francois Zahoui, Samson Siasia, Fabio Capello etc. are on the ground doing more scouting and when they do travel such trips are based on them watching their players in the leagues they play and only return home on specific holidays as enshrined in their contracts order than running home after each match .

No Criteria for Selection
Neither the Italian coach nor the LFA can give the criteria used for players’ selection. Players on the local scene as well as those oversea were brought in without any clear cut reason, as the authorities felt they were not answerable to anyone, though many were keen to know. Whether a player was active, unattached or whatsoever, players kept coming as Roberto Landi and his men ran the show, climbing on various radio stations that all was well and the players were up to the task.

No one knew whether the selection was based on current form or just sentiments as Bicskei’s successor showed a sign of unprofessionalism as in just his first match in charge which was away to Cape Verde on match day three, he allowed nine changes to be made from the starting line up in the squad that lost in the penultimate fixture to the now group leaders Mali in Bamako on match day two.

Sunday Seah was replaced by Saylee Swen in goal. Gizzie Dorbor, Alex Karmo and Jimmy Dixon were left out as Chris Gbandi, Myers Garlo and Teah Dennis came on in defense. In midfield, Solomon Wesseh, Patrick Gerhardt and Husein Keita were introduced as the trio of Steven Mennoh, Theo Weeks Lewis and Ben Teekloh were dropped while Patrick Wleh replaced Sekou Jabateh Oliseh who was dropped for Olympic qualifiers. Thus, only right full back Solomon Grimes and wide man Anthony Laffor were the surviving members of the starting line up in the Mali 1-2 loss.

It seemed the nine changes were not good at all as the team tumbled 2-4. This was a new coach in a new terrain who did not know the players, but in just probation role chose to get a seemingly new team which in the end did not yield dividend. Serious minded, organized or professional coaches newly taking over a job will be keen to pick up from where their predecessor ended and would firstly call for the DVDs of the previous matches, compare the players as far as their performances are concerned and then try to do some twigging if need be as a means of moving on. But, the then new Lone Star handler who in fact started as a caretaker since Bicskei was then ill decided to abandon any plan by the Hungarian as he felt he had the panacea to the team’s problems as he focused on “my way”. Besides, he virtually had no rule as a poor arrangement led to Patrick Doeplah giving the ghost on March 22 when the lad was seemingly affected as a result of he and other over sea based players sent for with no hotel accommodation issue being settled which led to the then Israeli based forward spending the night with his fiancée.

It showed no real lessons were learned as prior to the friendly with Angola in Monrovia, oversea based players sent for spent close to two days in places they would love before a camping site was arranged a day to the 0-0 contest. As the Lone Star sank without trace in the qualifiers, one could not tell which way the team was going as far as the coach’s philosophy, objective or principles are concerned.

b
Now that the Lone Star are out of the qualifiers with hope of Gabon and Equatorial Guinea now a sham, there is a need to effectively bring to the fore the following:

a. Part Company with the Coach- Now that it has become evidently clear that the Lone Star have once more failed to qualify for a major event, the focus must be on the coach as he is responsible for tactics. Whether it is good or bad as far as results are concerned, the Coach either gets the plaudits or the backlashes. In this case, Landi has failed and there is a need to get him out of the hot seat. Therefore, there is a need to set up a caretaker technical team headed by current deputy coach Thomas Kojo who will guide the team during the November match with Mauritius on the road to the group stage of the 2014 World Cup qualifiers. It is a doubtful truth that of all the ex-internationals serving as technical staff members, Kojo is the only one with the requisite training and credentials of a coach by evidence of his exploits in South Africa with FC AK and must be given the mantle in the dugout.

b. Need to focus on Youth Football- From all indications we have failed to make in-roads since the end of the Weah led generation simply because we opted to build from the top order than the bottom. Thus, there is a need to start major investment in youth football where the U-15 through the U-23 will be greatly prioritized. There must be a systemic sort of promotion with players going through the ranks. To make this very effective, a foreign expert on youth football development must be hired as technical director who could bring a trusted assistant through the blessing of the LFA that would come with a package to effectively run or develop youth football between four to five years which would mean well for the country’s football as such would be a long term program order than a short term one that has done us no good in the past. Such expert must as well have the necessary contacts to link the country’s players to top clubs overseas and as well be able to provide top notched trainings for local coaches who will after their period take over to handle the various national teams.

c. Strong and Competitive National League-Finally, there is a need to have a strong, competitive national league. The league must be attractive which would mean well to the various national teams. It is quite true that a country without a good or strong national league will effectively not have good or strong national teams. With the clubs serving as feeders of the various national teams, there is a need to empower them and place them in an effective league system that would lift the national teams. The sponsorship package must be encouraging that would get the best out of the clubs and players. Also, the clubs must be sponsored to partake in continental competitions when they do qualify at the end of the season. Through this, a lot of experienced will be gained which will in turn be translated to the various national teams that would serve as a spur in improving the country’s game.