Asante Kotoko interim Johnson Smith assures supporters of “good football” and is building “unbeaten teams” ahead of next season
Asante Kotoko have been on intensive preparations ahead of the 2019-2020 Ghana Premier League season. These preparations may have been geared towards continental football but following the Ghanaian giants’ poor representation in the CAF Champions League and the Confederation Cup has saw preparations tailored towards only domestic football.
For weeks now, Kotoko have been involved in various forms of training regimes at the Adako Jarchie training complex with the motive of playing beautiful football and dominating their opponents, with such disclosed by Johnson Smith.
Meanwhile, Johnson Smith is a former player and coach of Kotoko about 10 years ago, however, his recent appointment last month brought him back to the Kumasi based side as assistant manager.
Smith who guided Karela United to the final of the NC Special Competition last season would have been hoping to join forces with his boss Kjetil Zachariassen to drive Asante Kotoko in the 2019/2020 campaign, but was only unlucky to see the Norwegian sacked from his post in the Kumasi club days after joining from Karela.
Since the departure of Zachariassen, the former Karela trainer has stepped in to manage Kotoko on the interim basis where it is believed that Johnson Smith has worked very well, and is eventually turning Asante Kotoko into a formidable side again ahead of the coming Ghana Premier League season.
Kotoko are win-oriented football club irrespective of how they do the win. But they have been traditionally admired when the win is accompanied with beautiful football. On the contrary, the Ghana Premier League record holders have shown small portion of their beautiful play, and have even struggled to win most of the games at their favorite Baba Yara Sports Stadium in last 10 years.
The interim manager Smith, who is familiar with the tradition of Asante Kotoko in terms of style of play has disclosed his thought of letting his club play “good football” and “dominating” their opponents next season.
“The players are very familiar with themselves but we have to make sure that they adapt to the system we want to play. We want to play good football and win as well.” “It is not just about winning. We should be able to dominate our opponents as well. Smith said, as reported by Dailyguidenetwork.
It’s well known that supporters of the club are immediate expressers of worries and anger whenever Asante Kotoko exhibited poor football and Smith have plans of making his supporters happy when they come watch Kotoko games and build “unbeaten team”.
“We want the supporters to feel comfortable whenever they come to the stadium to watch our games”, the interim added. “Our training sessions are focused on achieving that. We want to send the signal out that Kotoko is a mature team. Moreover, we want to build an unbeatable side.
“As I said earlier, the players are already very familiar with themselves. But what needs to be done now is a little beef up to certain departments of the team”, Smith concluded.
This could be a dream or reality for the former Karela United coach depending on whether or not Asante Kotoko appoint a substantive manager which according to latest reports, the Ghanaian champions could announce a foreigner trainer as their new boss.
